Zebras on the Loose

I recently finished a little project for my daughter. I thought I'd share it with you. It came from a book I bought a while back but never used until now. It's called Stray Sock Sewing by Daniel. It is a book of exactly what it sounds like. Animals made from stray socks.
This is the head of the zebra made from one sock.

And now ears have been added.

Now a second sock is used for the body with legs.

And it's almost finished. He just needs some arms and maybe some eyes.

So this is how it came out. The picture is not very detailed but considering who this is intended for, it's ok. I mean it's gonna get quite bit of abuse, so it doesn't need to be perfect.

See what I mean?

Gripes

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've not had a lot to say. Until now. This morning I was somewhat appalled to see not one but two disgraced former governors on television as guests. On my cable MSNBC comes between CNBC and CNN. All the news channels are grouped together. For some reason, CNBC had Gov. Rod Blagojevich hawking his book and CNN had Gov. Eliot Spitzer on talking about Wall Street AT THE SAME TIME. Why would anyone care what these two have to say? Just my opinion. Are there not any better qualified guests that they could have chosen?

Fried Green Tomatoes

Since I photographed green tomatoes on the vine in my last post, I decided to go ahead and fry them up for you. I am trying to limit as much fried food and fat from my diet as possible. But in this case I'll make an exception. First we slice them up and soak them in buttermilk. How much? As much as it takes to cover them for as long as you can, but at least an hour.

Then we dredge them in seasoned flour. I use this particular seasoning blend but you can use what you like. Even just salt and pepper. Then fry them up in about a half inch of oil, drain on paper towels and continue with the rest until they all are crispy. If you like, you can also make a sauce. For those of you in the South, you will recognize this sauce as being very similar to a famous chicken finger restaurant. It's just mayo, ketchup and some more of that cajun seasoning we used in the flour. The proportions are up to you. But I use enough ketchup for a dark pink color and about a tablespoon of seasoning. Of course it depends on how much mayo you start with. Make the sauce first. It needs time to the flavors to bloom or it will just taste salty.

Mosaic Time

I am participating for the first time in a Mosaic project at The Little Red House. Click on the link in the blogroll to see all the participants. Learning something new!!

Yard Sale Foolishness

A couple of months ago, when the weather was cooler, my daughter and I went to a yard sale in my neighborhood and found some old tin toys. These were used and loved in the fifties by the homeowner's mother. Take a look at what I decided to do with them. The inspiration comes from The Farm Chicks and their book which is in the picture next to the frig.

I just love these. They are right up there among my all time favorites.

A New Blog

Please click over to my daughter's blog, http://atleastmymomthinksimfunny.blogspot.com .
She's the one who owns and sorta trains Bernie. She's also the creative one in the family and always has been. I am looking forward to reading her take on life from a young person's perspective.

Pets

I wanted to show some pictures of the family pets. I don't know why or if anyone cares, but at least they're there for posterity. This is Bernie, a malti-poo. He's my daughter's baby. He's a little more bald than usual because she had him shaved to stay cool. But he's a pistol.

And this is Maggie. Magnolia to be exact. She's the queen. Yes she really is that fat. She weighs about 20 lbs. She is old and cranky and rules the roost around here.

Summertime in the South or What I had for lunch

I'm having lunch a little late today but it's ok because dinner will be late, too. Not that you care. But I just had to share this pretty homegrown tomato stuffed with chicken salad. How long has it been since you had a stuffed tomato for lunch? I remember my mother ordering it at the Sears cafeteria when I was a kid. But those were usually stuffed with tuna salad. Later, I had them at the cafeteria at the Kresge store. Kresge went on to become Kmart and I think they had them, too. There are no more Kresge's and very few Kmarts and most of those don't have cafeterias or grills anymore. I know there are diners that offer them somewhere, but they are scattered around. So I made my own. My husband grew the tomato, by the way. I can't take credit for that. It's so perfectly cool, refreshing and filling all at the same time. Served with the requisite iced tea, of course.

Updated look

I am so excited to unveil this new look for the blog. I realize it's not devilish but it suits my personality. This blog is a way for me to learn and practice skills that may become useful one day. I doubt I will ever have the patience to master writing html code, but I'm learning bits as I go. Maybe now that it looks better I will want to post more often.

Cookie Decorating

In order to feel more useful while I'm unemployed, I decided to practice my cookie decorating skills. This recipe is from Southern Living for chocolate sugar cookies. I won't bother to repeat the recipe. It is available online or any sugar cookie recipe will do. These are made with all butter which makes a crisper, flatter cookie for decorating. I'm specifically trying to master the outline and flood technique. Based on these cookies, I still need more practice. I have a hard time figuring out how wet to make it so the icing will flow smoothly. These are o.k. but they could be better. I guess that just means I'll have to keep making cookies!

Stefanie thinks they're yummy!

In the Beginning...

Too much do you think? Too Biblical perhaps? Oh well that's how I feel. I am sure a psychiatrist could have a field day with the devil and Genesis all in the same post. But that's how I roll these days. Having been recently laid off from my job despite years of selfless toil through snowstorms, wind, rain and drought, I now have time to dedicate to this particular form of humiliation. For the first time in my life, I am drawing unemployment, which is not as awful as some would have you believe. The state of Georgia has embraced technology that makes it almost painless through their use of the internet. I have no idea what people used to do when they had to stand in line for hours to get a paper check. Today it's all electronic.

I wish the construction industry was as efficient. For the past several years I was an administrative assistant in an office that no longer has anything to administer. I could write for days about this industry in this state but that's for another post. Besides it doesn't matter when you've lost your job. What matters is finding another job and keeping afloat until then. So this blog is both a use of excess time and a form of therapy. I suspect it is also a need that some of us have to record our opinions so that later we can say "I told you so".

You know, like your friend or your mom who loves to say "well don't say I didn't warn you". Then later we can be all smug about not saying"I told you so". Yeah some blogs, including this one, are about telling the world "I told you so".