8-25-2015 Hiking

Lovely day for a hike at the park!

The GDs found a caterpillar.

Makes me miss all the many hikes DH & I took

over the 30 years we lived in Missouri.

The Ozarks were such a wonderful place to hike!

Iowa cornfields, not so much.

8-24-2015 Shawl from Poland

Received this beautiful Shawl

from a friend in Poland today!!!

Thank you so much!!!

I love it!!!

8-23-2015 Zentangle

Spent yesterday

at one of my fave places,

Sinsinawa,

for a Zentangle workshop.

Here are a few of the Zentangles I made

during the workshop.

You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

8-22-2015 First Boat Ride

The girls went for their first boat ride

on the Mississippi River

in the Channel Cat today.

When I asked them about it,

they told me it was scary!

8-21-2015 Desk

DH just finished building his desk

for the basement.

I think it turned out great!

I wonder if the kids will be able to find

the secret compartment!

8-20-2015 LuLaRoe Dresses

Wish I looked this cute

in my LuLaRoe dresses!!!

8-19-2015 Charlie Horse

Granddaughter

riding "Charlie Horse"

that Papa made.

Giddyap!

8-18-2015 Not Too Sure...

Pictures from my grandsons' recent trip to the zoo...

not too sure about these kangaroos!!!

...or these goats!!!

8-17-2015 Rain

Some rain is headed our way!!!

Wish we could direct it out west

to put out the wild fires

and relieve the drought!

8-16-2015 The Bottle Fairy

The Bottle Fairy (trash can)

came and took away the baby bottles

this weekend.

It makes Oma very happy

but the girls are a bit fussy about it!

It's now time to move on to sippy cups...

8-15-2015 Mary Poppins

Today DH & I headed back over to Prospect Park

to attend a production of the play

"Mary Poppins"

with our dear friend John 

starring as Mary Poppin's sidekick, Bert.

May I just say, he was AWESOME!!!!

You knocked it out of the park, friend!

I knew you had an amazing voice,

but who knew you had such

tap dancing skills?!?!?

8-14-2015 Pip Gets a Top Hat

Remember "Freckles" the Pip?

He now has a Top Hat

to which I need to add a Chicago Bears logo!

8-13-2015 Street Party

My youngest GS at a recent street party...

Our new neighborhood used to have a street party

once a year in the summer.

As the neighborhood grew to 3 blocks

it became a neighborhood outdoor movie night

once a month during the summer months.

Now, we don't do anything.

People are just too busy

and don't want to go to all the work.

8-12-2015 Exploring

Today DH & I went exploring

Prospect Park

and it's 100+ year old pavilion...

it had 3 walking trails

designated "easy, medium, and difficult"

and a beautiful pond!

It was the setting for the play "Mary Poppins"

we are going to see this coming weekend.

Yesterday, the girls and I

explored a nearby park...

they loved running across the bridges!

And, I wanted a pix of my DD 

in her cute LuLaRoe sailboat skirt!

8-11-2015 Raindrops

Tried knitting two different 

"Raindrops" stitch patterns the other day...

just to learn some new techniques.

8-10-2015 Matching LuLaRoes

Ready to face another week of

babysitting the GDs (ages 3 and 1)...

today they are sporting their matching

LuLaRoe dresses.

Just another day at the park.

8-9-2015 Art Show and Library Book Sale

...at Lake Geneva...

Took a pix of this silly hotdog

squirting catsup on his head

and texted it to the grand babies...

thought they might get a kick out of it! 

A much needed weekend get-away!

Thank you sooooo much, dear husband!

8-8-2015 Time for a Weekend Road Trip

Usually,

it is me tagging along with my husband

at a woodworking show

or a knife show,

but this weekend 

the tables were reversed

and it was he tagging along with me

as I attended the midwest yarn convention.

I came away with a few goodies...

...some "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock"

sock yarn from the "Big Bang Yarn Collection"

and some new shawl pins,

an abacus

and some new hexagonal wooden knitting needles!

8-7-2015 Quinoa Crust for Pizza

I recently saw on FaceBook

a video recipe for a gluten free

Quinoa Pizza Crust

and thought I would give it a try!

Soak 3/4 c. quinoa in water for 8 hours.

Drain and rinse Quinoa.

 Put Quinoa in food processor (I used my Vita-Mix blender).

and add 1/4 c. water...

 add 1 tsp. baking powder...

 add 1/4 tsp. salt...

 Now blend at medium speed for 2 minutes...

 until it is a pasty consistency...

Next, spread it into a 9 inch round cake pan

that has been buttered,

and has an 11" round circle of parchment paper pressed in the bottom

and butter the top of the parchment paper as well...

 Spread quinoa dough with a spatula to the edges of the pan...

 Bake at 425*F for 15 minutes...

 Remove from oven,

and using the edge of the parchment paper,

pull the dough out of the cake pan,

flip it over back into the cake pan (which now has no paper in it)

and bake another 10 minutes in the cake pan...

Now, flip the crust OUT of the cake pan

and ONTO a pizza sheet...

 and start adding your sauce and toppings...

Bake another 10-15 minutes at 425*F

(until the cheeses melt and start to brown).

Remove from oven. Cut. Eat.

(I forgot to take a pix of the finished pizza!)

The pizza crust got mixed reviews...

I absolutely LOVED it 

and will be making all of MY pizzas with this crust!

My DH absolutely HATED it

and picked off all his toppings,

ate them,

and threw the crust in the garbage.

So, there ya go!

Maybe I will try some other GF crusts and see

if I can find one that we can BOTH enjoy?!?!?