Have car port will travel

I have to admit that I love to watch the live Cincinnati Traffic cameras when there's a storm outside. And we most definitely have a storm here -- where I live got about 7 inches of snow yesterday, then 1.5 inches of ice, and now more snow. To say that makes for bad driving conditions in southwestern Ohio is an understatement. Bad weather conditions make for good traffic cam viewing. I was looking at a camera that showed a fender-bender accident (you can see the car at the right bumper of the big truck below), and look what I see drive by! I know there's some perfectly good explanation for it - but I prefer to picture some industrious guy fastening his car port to his truck to keep it out of the snow! LOL Hey - I find my laughs where I can! UPDATE We're now under a Level 3 Snow Emergency here, with 10-15 inches (more? I hope not!) of snow forecast. This is what a Level 3 Snow Emergency looks like - taken about 1 mile south of Cincinnati in what is locally called "The Cut in the Hill". These trucks are traveling (or trying to) UP the hill. And this is what normally busy I-75 looks like, about 1 mile from my house:

Blowing the Dust off my Bread Machine

I haven't used my bread machine for awhile. In fact, my old machine, which got used daily for many years, broke and had to be replaced. The new machine took awhile to "break in" and it's only lately that I've been making breads I was pleased with. Brayden loves making bread with me. I put all the ingredients in small bowls, and he dumps things in as we discuss what they are and why I'm putting them in. We came up with this wonderful bread -- possibly one of the best I've ever made -- because Brayden loves Peach Yogurt and wanted to put it in the bread. This bread is wonderful. The hint of peach and nutmeg gives it a perfect flavor for eating as is, toasted, or as French Toast. (Honest, do try the French Toast with this bread!) I used Kroger brand Low Carb Peach Yogurt (with small peach pieces) simply because it's what I had on hand, and it's Brayden's favorite. Peaches and Cream Bread 1 cup warm water 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp wheat gluten 1 8oz peach yogurt 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/4 cup powdered coffee creamer (Cremora) 3 cups+ flour* 1 tbsp yeast *I use standard all-purpose flour. Of course, you can use Bread Machine flour, but with the addition of wheat gluten, I find no reason to buy the more expensive flour. Put all ingredients in bread machine, adding yeast last. Set bread machine at light crust, standard loaf. Add a bit of flour if dough sticks to side of container. Helpful Hint: Have you ever made bread, only to have it collapse when you try and slice it with a knife? To slice homemade bread (once it's cooled completely), use an electric knife! Let the knife do the work -- gently push down as the knife slices -- and your bread slices will come out perfectly!

Can one person make a difference?

Before you watch this, scroll down the right hand column of this page a bit and turn off the music. Amy's original YouTube posting here:

Swapalicious update

I don't join a lot of swaps because (cough) I have a hard time making sewing commitments and honestly hate to let anyone down. But when the stars and moon line up to motivate me, and a swap calls my name and the timing is right... I do a swap now and then. You can always find a swap at Swap-Bot. When you're new at the web site, you have to find swaps that will allow "newbies" to swap (those who have no ratings), and I found two that interested me. The first was a vintage button swap. You would not believe how many vintage buttons I have... I once said to my auction-addict husband, "If you see any vintage sewing items, keep me in mind" and a week later he came home with a 3-foot high x 2 foot across moving box full of vintage buttons. Gulp. That was 10 years ago and I've probably used 2 dozen buttons of the thousands he brought home. (OK, honey - enough buttons now. Thanks!) So when I saw the vintage button swap open to newbies, I joined. The swap requirement - 10 vintage buttons sent in an envelope. Way to simple for me, of course. My swap partner liked cats, bright colors and cutesy stuff, so with the buttons, I sent a little hanging pouch to keep them in: The little "penny pocket" comes a free pattern from The Happy Zombie. Love that web site! I thought the recipient could use the pocket to hold her embroidery scissors. The second swap I joined on Swap-Botz was for a recyclable grocery bag/tote. The recipient loved vintage fabrics and natural colors, so I came up with this: It's a large tote - about 16 x 20. And oh look! I managed to use some more vintage buttons! The fabric for the tote body is a very heavy duty woven home-dec fabric, and the bottom is reinforced with the cotton overlay. The buttons are on straight, I promise!