6-15-09 Squash and Swatch

I'm a bit bent out of shape...
Today for my birthday, I treated myself to what I call the annual "Squish & Swish/Squash and Swatch" treatment... a gift to myself and my family... my yearly Mammo and PAP exams. (My PAP today was a second, follow-up exam from the one I had posted last week.) I decided to take a photo of the instrument of torture for my blog today (and dare any man to have HIS family jewels compressed in this torture device and see if HE dosen't feel bent out of shape as well!!!)...

This is the beautiful setting outside the women's imaging center where one can go to regroup!

I decided that a Starbucks White Mocha on Ice would do a better job at reviving me than this waterfall, so went there instead after my "S & S!" Nice to have those tests done with for another year... am praying for "normal results."

6-14-09 All Dried Up

The pump quit pumping yesterday... my beautiful fountain is all dried up!
DH plans to install a new one when the hardware store opens tomorrow.
Sometimes I feel like this fountain... the pump is going out and I'm all dried up!

Like Bjork says, "I'm a fountain of blood. In the shape of a girl."

6-13-09 Star Trek

Took my dear daughter to see the new Star Trek movie today!

6-12-09 Friday Shoot Out ~ M

I think I went W A Y overboard this week!
I promise I'll scale back next Friday!

My Mouth!

M 'n Ms

Mouse

Mouse

Mouser

Music

Murphy's Law (rules my life!)

MOM

Moth

Muscle Makers

Mmmmmm, Mmmmmmm good! (Choc Sheet Cake!)

Maize (surrounds me here in Iowa)

Missions

Me @ Maya Tulum

Mask (from my digital photography class)

My Make Up Mask (I love Bare Escentuals!)

Marvelous Mountains!

More Mountains

Mountain tops (taken while hiking on the Appalachian Trail)

Mustache (the cutest one I've ever seen...Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago)

Mess

My Man

Magnificent Mound of Moisture Molecules (looking out my back door)!!!

Thanks for looking!

Hope you enjoyed my "M's!"

Love & Light ~ OM girl

6-11-09 Oh Joy!

Every woman's favorite day of the year... "the annual."
I love my doctor and was selfishly sad to learn that she is leaving the area and I need to find a new doctor... but I am happy for her and her new path! She will be missed!!!

6-10-09 So Far ~ So Good!

DH and I drove to Iowa City today, so I got in another 2 hours of knitting while he drove and I tagged along!
This is about how far one skein of my variegated yarn got me...
three more skeins to go! The yarn is actually three treads, one in the center around which the other two twist, the second one is army green, and the third one is variegated colors (orange-red-purple-blue-green-yellow). The texture makes it a bit challenging to knit but produces a soft & cuddly texture, and I am really liking the rainbow effect! It is a wonderful example of diversity with unity!!!

6-9-09 Knit One - Pray One

Here are some photos from the "Knit One, Pray One" Workshop I attended today at the "Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat." It was a wonderful facility and a fun, relaxing day! When my shoulders (or eyes) would get tired, I would go outdoors and walk the labyrinth.

"Heirloom" is knitting code for "This pattern is so difficult that you would consider death a relief. ~Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either. ~Elizabeth Zimmerman

I like making a piece of string into something I can wear. ~Author Unknown

I keep my end tables full of needlework and quilting so I don't have to dust them. ~Author Unknown

6-8-09

Rang in the new day with this bell...

6-7-09 A Single Rose

“A single rose can be my garden...a single friend, my world.”
Leo F. Buscaglia

I planted a single rose bush in my small garden this weekend, and said a prayer for it in church this morning... that it survive and thrive in this Iowa clay!

6-6-09 Sweet & Sour

Nothing says SPRING like rhubarb!!!
DH and I celebrated this beautiful Spring weekend by attending a local Rhubarb Festival (and came home with a rhubarb pie!).

One of the booths was selling Rhubarb Wine, and used balloons in place of bubblers, so thought I would get a pix of that for those who expressed interest in the wine making.

I love the sweet & sour flavors of all things rhubarb (and Asian!). We can't appreciate one without the other existing. They are a wonderful reminder of the Yin/Yang principle, or the concept of duality: light/dark... wet/dry... sweet/sour... male/female... cold/hot...
Without the one, we do not appreciate, or even recognize the other!

6-5-09 Friday Shoot Out - Random Pix

Random pix from across the street... got me to thinking...

what am I building in my life? How well is it constructed?

And what am I leaving behind?
Love & Light ~

OM girl

6-4-09 Wet Robin

Dang it! If this window screen wasn't here, I'd be havin' me some wet Robin for din din!

6-4-09 Bubbler & Tubing

Hello fellow bloggers!
To answer more questions that I have received regarding my Dandelion Wine...
1) The bubbler is a small contraption that screws onto the top of the gallon jar. You fill it about half full of water, and then as the yeasties feast on the sugars in the wine, they "fart" out gases (ha! I can't believe I just said that!!!), which then rise to the top like the carbonation fizz in soda pop/beer/etc. and come out through the bubbler. It is a way for the gases to get out, but still keep bacteria in the outside air from entering into the wine. I purchased my bubblers at a wine making supply store for 59 cents. If you don't have one of those available in your area, you can also use a balloon on top of the bottle.


The other piece you saw in the photos was a 5 foot length of 3/8" tubing from the hardware store, which we used for siphoning the wine out of (and back into) the gallon jars. This is NOT what I was referring to as the bubbler.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions. Let me know if your have any others and I will be glad to try and answer them!
Love & Light~
OM girl

6-3-09 Dandelion Wine Recipe

I have had several requests for my dandelion wine recipe, and since I am one of those people who love to share recipes, I thought I would pass it along to anyone interested!

BECKY's LIQUID SUNSHINE: DANDELION WINE

1 quart of well packed blossoms

(I pick 2 qts. of dandelion flower heads, then bring them home and cut the yellow petals off of the base and discard the base, using only the yellow petals, not the part that holds them together)

2 gallons boiling water

5 pounds sugar

1 cake or packet of wine making yeast

2 lemons, unpeeled (or 1 lemon and 1 orange) cut up, and squeezed a bit

I put the blossoms into the boiling water and simmer for about 5 minutes, pressing them against the side of the pan to "slightly crush" the petals to release their color and flavor into the water.

Then I turn off the heat and let them sit and steep/soak for about 2 hours. Next, I stir in the sugar and lemons (just give the cut up pieces a squeeze to release some of the juices into the mix in the pan, and then toss them into the pan and boil for 10 minutes. This dissolves the sugar. Cool to lukewarm, stir in the yeast, and cover the pan with a towel and let it sit for 48 hours. After those 48 hours, pour the mash through a dishtowel, or 4 layers of cheesecloth to strain it into 2 one-gallon bottles and put bubblers on top, and let them sit for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, siphon them into the pan, rinse out the gallon bottles (there will be a lot of "fall out" in the bottom) and pour the wine back into the gallon bottles with bubblers. Two weeks later, siphon again, a second time, rinse out the "fall out" in the gallon bottles, and pour the wine back into the gallon bottles with bubblers. Two weeks later, siphon again, a third/final time, rinse out the "fall out" in the gallon bottles, and pour the wine back into the gallon bottles with bubblers. After this, you will see a final "fall out" where the wine clears. It is then ready to siphon into individual wine bottles and cork.

Enjoy!

A great sight to read more about it: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/dandelio.asp

6-2-09 More Fungi Pix for GingerV

More pix (for GingerV) of the strange things growing in my mulch outside!
(Don't forget that you can click on the photo to enlarge it, then click the back arrow to return to the blog.)

6-2-09

Thank you sooooooo much Audrey,
for passing on this bloggers award to me!
I'm new to this whole "blogging" thingee...
This is the first blogging award I have received...
And coming from YOU makes it EXTRA special...
(As I ADORE your blog!)...
You are too kind!

6-2-09 Finished!

Woot! After 10 weeks and countless hours of work, the Protocol Project I have been writing at work is finally finished! YAY! The only thing left on the "To Do List" is cleaning/updating the file cabinets... sounds like fun, huh?!?!? I'll be needing some of my dandelion wine after that job!

6-1-09 Eeeewwwww!

Look what's growing in my mulch outside!!! Gross!

5-31-09 Schnupfen

Friday, I came down with a bad cold... today I've lost my voice and my runny nose is red 'n raw from running 'n blowing, so I went looking for some cream or ointment or Vaseline or something to ease the pain... all I could find is the 20+year old jar of Mary Kay Night Cream (colored, scented Vaseline)! Scary!!! I don't think they even make this stuff any more... not sure if I should still use it or not...
oh, what the heck...
I think tomorrow I'll head to the drugstore for something "fresh".