10/19/16

Good News

If no news is good news, then welcome to my day of good news. Here's something though: the kids are coming for dinner on Sunday, which motivated me to clean my oven. This morning I practically wore out my index finger pressing that "Clean" button. When will someone invent a self-cleaning refrigerator? Mine could use that feature right about now. Oh well...something else to add to Mike's honey-do list in retirement. If I had a nickel for all the projects I've assigned him that would make us a million dollars...well, we'd be a millionaires many times over.

So here's all the non-news for those of you who read past that scintillating intro. I got an early start on quilting the 8th cat yesterday.


With 8 out of 12 done, I can say I'm 2/3 of the way there. After quilting cat #9 today, I'll be able to say I'm 3/4 done, which makes me feel as if I'm speeding right along.

There was a little bit of housework to do yesterday, but I had plenty of time to work on the nine-patches for the Gingerbread Square quilt. 


Now they're pressed open and I'm ready to add the other side. Here's where I left it yesterday.


It has been pouring rain for approximately a full week, and it poured rain all the way to and from picking up our CSA veggies yesterday. When I got home, the weather kind of cleared up, and we're seeing the sun and the mountains for the first time in a while this morning. During yesterday's afternoon rain break, I got outside to empty the compost pail, and I filled the bird feeders while I was at it. It had been a few days. This morning I noticed the blue jays were hard at it emptying the peanut feeder. (That's the red one, second from the right.) It was full of peanuts yesterday, but they've nearly emptied it out now.


Those peanuts in the shell aren't cheap, and so I only fill that feeder about every other day. They'd eat us out of house and home otherwise.

Also this morning, I noticed our Japanese maple tree has turned its fall colors now. It was completely green last week. By next week if will be bright orange. 


It's one of the autumn superstars in our yard.

Tomorrow I'm getting my monthly pedicure, and then I'll do my grocery shopping for the week. I was kind of waiting to see what would be in our CSA share yesterday before planning the menu for dinner with the kids this week. Happily, there were two nice big heads of Romanesco broccoli. You've probably seen them in the produce section of your grocery store.


They're very much like cauliflower and so I'm going to roast mine and then shred some Parmesan cheese over it. We're also having some roasted sweet potatoes, a multi-grain pilaf, Cornish game hens with a port wine-cherry glaze on them, and a pear salad with the pears poached in a port wine sauce. Oh yes, and apple crisp, which is Erik's favorite. He had a birthday this month, and so I'm catering to his likes and dislikes. The Romanesco is new, but I've made all of these things before. A lot of it can be made ahead. And all of that to say that today will probably be one of the last hard-at-it sewing days for the week. Tomorrow I'll need to get groceries and start cooking, although Friday is looking promising on the sewing front.

So that's all the non-news I have for you today. Better get at those cats while I have the time. I'm still hoping to finish them before month's end.

7 comments:

DeeDee said...

Yes on the self cleaning refrigerator! Wouldn't life be so much easier? Your progress on your cat quilt looks amazing. Your free motion is really coming along. Enjoy your visit with your kids. My mom is flying in to see us in three weeks. We're in central NC and she's in the Seattle area. We love that she's able to visit as much as she does.

gpc said...

Oh those Romans! What a pretty veg, I bet it will be delicious. I'm judgey that way, preferring to eat the pretty ones. My mother always said that no news is good news -- but in my life it mostly meant that NO news we got was ever good. I like your kind of good news better. :)

Lana said...

I have never seen that broccoli before. How beautiful. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks. And your cat quilt is so adorable.

Warm Quilts said...

Cute cat and beautiful quilting! Your Japanese Maple is so colorful and the broccoli is very intriguing. A little bit of something for everyone.

Kate said...

The self cleaning refrigerator would be a big hit in this house too. Maybe you should get Mike to design one, he's an engineer. You'd be able to live well in retirement off of that patent! You Sunday dinner plans are much more elaborate then ours, Drama Teen has been begging for hamburgers on the grill for some reason. I've never seen broccoli like that, very fancy looking.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

My self cleaning button doesn't work any more on my oven (I don't use it any ways), but love the idea of one for the fridge. Dinner sound delish, when should I arrive?

Susan said...

If Mike invents a self-cleaning refrigerator, he will be a billionaire. Think about it--a self-cleaning oven is empty most of the time. On the other hand, to make a self-cleaning refrigerator, he would have to figure out a way to have it empty itself of the contents and store them properly while it is cleaning itself and then put all of the stuff back in again. Plus, you have the freezer compartment to deal with as well.

I have never seen this kind of broccoli around here. It is very pretty. Reminds me of a coral reef or something I would see at the bottom of the ocean.