Angie Pedersen's The Blog of ME

Massive Madison Snowball Melee

Sounds like it was an eventful day yesterday at my alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I was a student there the last time they canceled classes:

"According to [UW Spokesperson] Lucas, the last time a large portion of the day’s classes were canceled due to snow was Dec. 3, 1990, when then-chancellor Donna Shalala made the decision to halt classes at 10:30 a.m. Lucas said on that day 17 inches of snow fell over a period of 12 to 13 hours. He added that is the closest the UW had ever come to a full day closure in several decades, until now, adding that full closures are “extremely, extremely rare.” 

Read the full story here: Snow forces UW to cancel 1st ever full day of classes

But a day without classes wasn't enough.  No, a snowball fight on Bascom Hill "was initiated by three UW freshmen who created a Facebook event page late Monday night looking to blow off steam before finals.

To their surprise, memories of battle royales from last year and the snowballing power of Facebook quickly pushed the number of confirmed attendees into the thousands."

Read that full story here: Snow fight set for today.

Battle For Bascom Preview from The Badger Herald on Vimeo.

Snowball fight on Bascom Hill from The Badger Herald on Vimeo.

Check out other videos on YouTube and GoogleVideo.

If we were there, my husband would have been in the thick of it, no doubt.  In shorts.

Fancy a shawl in chainmail lace, anyone?

So you may have read some of my Twitter updates last week, indicating I was working on what I had *hoped* would be a lacy wrap to wear out to a nice dinner for our 16th anniversary last Saturday.

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going out to dinner in a fancy dress Saturday - hoping I have time to crochet this Sweet Scallops Shawl: http://snipurl.com/99zsp - 4:30 PM 12/30/08

I picked up black yarn for the shawl/wrap today at lunch - to go with my black dress. (black yarn should hide stitch errors!) 5:42 PM 12/30/08

Just got some GORGEOUS Feza yarn for my shawl - now must knit like the wind to finish by Sat nite! Too bad I still have to work 2day & Fri! 1:45 PM 12/31/08

In case you're dying of curiousity - it's Feza Mesmerize in Passions Kiss - Just stunning! 1:54 PM 12/31/08

settling in to knit in the New Year. I figure if my husband and kids can 'game' in the New Year, knitting isn't much geekier! 6:53 PM 12/31/08

getting very little knitting done - http://www.popcap.com/games 11:12 PM 12/31/08

definitely out of my comfort zone with this wrap/shawl - very lightweight yarn wants to fall off the needles. Making progress, though. 8:41 PM 1/1/09

just read some of the latest Artful Blogging - now to work on my wrap. I fear it won't be done by tomorrow. Looks chainmail-ish anyway. 1:46 PM 1/2/09

Make me feel better - does this look lacy & delicate, or rather like chainmail?   2:24 PM 1/2/09

one vote "do the hustle" and one vote "chainmail". Well...fart. Wonder if someone on Etsy can get me something by tomorrow?? ;) 2:51 PM 1/2/09

sigh - giving up on the shawl, I think. Wonder if I can find something local fast? A consignment shoppe, maybe? 3:26 PM 1/2/09
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I wound up giving up completely on knitting the shawl.  I started out loving the yarn and just all the possibilities of it, but then it just went downhill.  It was so fine - probably DK or even fingering weight, and it kept wanting to slip off my size 13 needles.  My neck and shoulders were so tight because I was so tense trying to keep it all together and finished in time for the dinner. And I finally got to the point where I was able to realize, and accept, that if you're doing or making something, and you're not enjoying it, and it's not really a 'have-to' kind of thing, just stop.  It's not worth it.  Time to regroup and figure out another plan.  A lesson I learned during Christmas crafting with the ill-fated family set of mittens plan.

So I went shopping after work on Friday, and within about an hour, I found a lovely silver wrap with a hint of lace texture.  Much prettier than mine would have ended up being, and just the thing.  And on double sale (marked down, after being marked down) - well, that's just a no-brainer! :)

All in all, I felt quite fancy. :)  This is me with my dear husband of 16 years.

It was a Super/Literary Christmas

We had what I have just decided I am calling a "super/literary Christmas".  My husband received multiple superhero movies on Bluray, and all four of us received multiple books.

Our new Bluray collection now includes:

Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Batman - The Dark Knight
Hellboy II

My kids also received Dr Horrible on DVD from their uncle - which I believe counts as a superhero movie, even though the main character is a villain.  We watched it tonight - the bonus applications to the Evil League of Evil were awesome!  I think we liked The Reverend/Pastor Puppet the best.

Our family book collection also increased.  I won't be lacking for reading material for some time, as I'm also currently reading the third book in the Sign of Seven Trilogy, "The Pagan Stone", by Nora Roberts. For Christmas I got:

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K Hamilton
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

Funny story - a friend of ours from college always sends us "book prizes" for Christmas and birthdays.  This year, as usual, she sent us a package of four books, one for each of us.  We didn't see any markings on them indicating which was for whom, so we just read the descriptions and divvy'd them out as seemed appropriate.  Then later I was paging through one of the books and noticed a little gift tag stuck in the pages with my son's name on it.  So we looked through each of the books and realized we had 'assigned' all but one of the four books incorrectly!  So I think we will actually end up reading each other's, since we thought another was 'ours' in the first place!  :) 

For instance, my husband received "Bloodsucking Fiends: a Love Story" by Christopher Moore, which I thought was for me.  It 'goes' beautifully with my avid reading of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris (the basis of HBO's series, "True Blood".)  I've listened the the first book, "Dead Until Dark", as an mp3 audio book, and am now not-so-patiently waiting for the 2nd book, "Living Dead in Dallas", on CD on reserve from the library.  Now that I have new books, though, perhaps the waiting won't be quite so not-so-patient. :)

Today's To-Do List

1. finish tweaking webcopy for client
2. post recent projects to Ravelry
   (OneScrappyMama projects)
3. continue crocheting gingerbread gift bag
   (one of four sides done)
4. add velcro tabs on fabric "wrapping paper"
5. make newspaper gift bag
6. plan weekly menu
7. grocery shopping
8. nails
9. shower
10. Hit Michael's for frames, rickrack & felt embellishments (?)
11. oh yeah, and probably do some housecleaning

Teacher Christmas Gifts

Got my daughter's teachers' gifts wrapped up tonight - she chose to give gifts to her main teacher, a reading teacher, a science teacher, and a Band teacher.  Ordinarily we just give a gift to main teachers, but this year I've been feeling very crafty, so everyone gets to enjoy.  :)

The main teacher is getting a pretty stockinette scarf that I posted about previously.

The reading teacher is getting a thermal knit washcloth and a bar of locally handmade soap.  By 'thermal knit', I mean a variation on the thermal pattern used in Knitty.com's Thermal sweater pattern.  The Knitty.com pattern is K2, P2 for two rows, then two rows knit, then repeat the four rows.  For this washcloth, I did K1, P1 for two rows, then two rows knit.  Just a smaller ribbing.

The science teacher is getting a crochet coffee cozy - but since my daughter said he seems to drink only Mountain Dew, the cozy will be wrapped around a 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew (still have to pick that up...AND take a picture of the cozy!).

The Band teacher is getting a canister of "Mexican fudge" (milk chocolate with cinnamon).  I'm pretty pleased with the presentation, and consider myself pretty clever for it.  ;)  The recipe is soooo simple - just two ingredients!

Lazy Woman's Fudge

*Flavors of baking chips and frosting depend on whatever flavor you're craving!

• 1 (12 ounce) package flavored chips (i.e. chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, etc)
• 1 (16 ounce) can frosting

1. Put baking chips and contents of can of frosting into a microwave-safe bowl.
2. Heat on high for 1 minute at a time, stirring in between to prevent scalding.
3. Keep stirring and reheating until melted (it usually only takes my batches 1 min)
4. Pour into a well greased 8x8 pan and put in the refrigerator until set.

Instead of an 8x8 pan, I poured the melted fudge into mini muffin tins lined with wrappers - instant portion control and no cutting!  Sooo much easier that way!

THEN to 'wrap' for the teacher, I took off the label from the frosting canister and washed it out.  Then wrapped pretty scrapbooking paper around it, and put the little frosting 'cups' back in the canister.  Nicely sealed container and nothing goes to the landfill. (Well, until she throws it away, but maybe she won't, since it's 'altered' and pretty. Could make a nice pen jar for her desk.)

What are you giving for teacher gifts this year?

This is a Recession?

As I was out running errands and Christmas shopping today, I couldn't help but notice how the current economic situation is effecting local shoppers' buying decisions.

 

Everywhere I went the parking lots were PACKED.  People were definitely out en masse, spending plenty of money (and I contributed my fair share!)  Good to see that the local economy, at least, appears to be thriving here in Kansas City.

Dinner Tonight: Fettuccine with Blue Cheese Sauce

The recipe actually calls for mushrooms and artichoke hearts, but since I forgot to pick up either at the grocery store today, we'll be having this with spinach.  :)

Fettucine with Blue Cheese Sauce
POINTS® Value: 6
Servings: 4
From Weight Watchers "5 Ingredient, 15 Minute Cookbook"

Ingredients

• 10oz tub Refrigerated Light Alfredo Sauce
• 9oz package Refrigerated Fettuccine
• 2 tbsp blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup(s) chopped frozen spinach

Instructions
Cook pasta according to package directions.
While pasta cooks, cook spinach in microwave.
Place Alfredo sauce in saucepan and add spinach. Cook until thoroughly heated.
Place drained pasta in a large bowl. Pour sauce mixture over pasta; toss to combine.
Sprinkle with cheese.

Dinner Tonight - Tuscan Roast Chicken

Dinner tonight was a repeat of a recent experiment that didn't go so well.  I "fixed" the recipe, and this time it was 'approved'.  :)

Tuscan Roast Chicken
POINTS® Value: 6
Servings: 4
From the May/June 2008 issue of Weight Watchers magazine

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp rosemary
• 4 clove(s) garlic clove(s), minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon zest, grated(I used dried lemon peel)
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 4 breast(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2T white wine vinegar (recipe originally called for 1/4c balsamic vinegar, which was nixed in my family, so I substituted a little less white wine vinegar)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 deg. Mix the rosemary, garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Place the chicken on a 9x13 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake 30 min. Increase oven temp to 450 deg. Drizzle vinegar over chicken. Bake uncovered until the chicken is browned and an intstant-read thermometer reads 170 deg; about 10 min. Transfer to a platter and let stand 5 min. Skim any fat from pan juices. Serve the pan juices with chicken.

Dinner Tonight - Aimee's Stuffed Burgers

A bit of an experiment tonight - always a risky move on my part. My family likes what they like. But this was a hit, and has been officially "approved" to enter the dinner rotation. (Well, my teenage son agreed he would *eat* it again, but did not want to give the sense of actual *approval* of the dish. Eh.)

Because of the addition of stuffing, this recipe really does make 11 patties. DH (dear husband), DD (dear daughter) and I each had two patties, so I have four left over for another meal. Sweet!

The recipe is from the Aimee's Adventures website - a treasure trove of health-conscious (read: Weight Watcher-friendly) recipes.  Her calculations put this recipe at 2 Points per patty, but when I ran it through the WW Recipe Builder, it registered as 3 Points.  Just so you know.

Aimee's Stuffed Burgers

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 11
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup regular egg substitute
• 1 cup water
• 1 package bread stuffing dry mix (like Stove Top)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 scallions/green onions, sliced thin
• 1 pound 95% lean/5% fat ground beef

Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine the egg substitute and water. Stir in the stuffing mix and let sit five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add onion, garlic, and ground beef. Mix well to combine. Divide into 11 balls, about 1/3c each. Flatten into patties. Cook over medium heat on each side until no longer pink in the middle.

Recipe is for patty only - bun and condiments would be extra Points.

Recent crochet projects: Baby Hats and such

While I was home with pneumonia, I had plenty of couch time to work on crochet projects.  I made several baby hats, booties, and washcloths to send off to expectant moms via Operation Top Knot.  I really like the idea that I'm using one of my skills to contribute to a charity that supports the families of troops serving our country.

Operation Top Knot is a group of Soldiers' Angels volunteers established in November 2003 from a desire to do more to support the wives and children of U.S. soldiers.  Deployments are difficult on the entire family unit, and more so when the family is expecting a child. Our mission is to commend the women and children at home for their strength, let them know we are proud of their sacrifices as well as their husband's, and most importantly to do what we can to support them during such an emotionally difficult time.  Our dedicated volunteers knit, crochet, sew, quilt, and design blankets, booties, hats, onesies, bibs, and many more homemade gifts.

Baby Hat with earflaps

 

variation on the Jayne Cobb hat pattern
 

Spiral hat

 

Handicrafter booties

 

Dishcloth #70 from The Big Book of Dishcloths

Oh-so-soft Baby Washcloth