New Blog Idea

Over the past several months, my parents have been on a diet, which they call a "live-it"...it makes sense. :P Basically, they stay away from foods that have an excess amount of fat...and they can eat the good stuff until they burst if they like. :P Really, you wouldn't know that they were on a diet if you watched them eat a meal. The food is great, and you can have a lot of it! All you've got to do is make sure that it's not over a certain percentage of fat. If you're on a mission to lose weight, you want 20% fat or less. If you're healthy, it's best to stay below 30%. How do you tell the fat percentage? Easy. Multiply the grams of fat by 9, and then divide that number by the calories. There's your number. :) Now, if you start doing the math on the food you eat on a regular basis, you might be surprised - I was. And I thought that I had a fairly healthy diet. But it's not that hard to change, and add some better choices to your menu. Even if you're not overweight, I think we can all agree that eating healthy is still a good idea, right? :) If you still disagree...then maybe you'll change your mind when you see some of the delicious recipes that we've tried - and loved! That's where my "New Blog Idea" comes in. I thought that others might benefit if I were to share our recipes and ideas. So, I'd like some opinions. :) Are you interested? Would you use these recipes? They're mostly very easy, and the ingredients aren't difficult too find. Basically, I'd like to know if putting the time and effort into a blog would be helpful to anyone. Please leave your comments on this. :)

St. Louis Blues Wallpapers

I might as well just accept the fact that most of my posts are going to be "much-needed updates"...:P

Currently, I am knee-deep in knitting and wallpaper-making. Some of the Christmas gifts I gave were for knitted items and discs of computer wallpapers and screen saver slide shows. Now I am feeling the affects of those. :P

I've already finished four scarves and two hats. I have one hat to go and a pair of socks...if I can figure out how to use the pattern I have for thinner yarn. The pattern that I have and know how to do gives you a pair of socks that look more like slippers. They're very warm, though! :P

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of the wallpapers I've made thus far. :P
Click for full-size images ;)

Hockey and Christmas - Can It Get Any Better?

Ok, time for a much-needed update. :P

The game I went to was great! The Pens won 6-3. You can read all of the details here, if you like. ;) Though the majority of Blues fans weren't impressed with their own team, apparently Sidney Crosby was, LOL. That's good to know. :)

A couple of days before the game, I received my "Roaming Penguins" in the mail. These little guys are so cute! You can read all about them here, and about a special project that they're a part of here. And, if you click here, you can see what other Roaming Penguins are up to. One Marc-Andre Penguin has actually met his human counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury! I have a Sidney Penguin, a Geno Penguin, and a Marc-Andre Penguin (so far! :D).

My dog, Bunny, with Sidney, Geno, and Marc-Andre Penguin. They're all so cute!

And yes, Marc-Andre is actually sitting on Bunny's back. :P

A couple of weeks ago, Lizzy surprised me with an amazing drawing of Sidney Crosby. Now, i must take a minute to brag on my friend. ;) I showed her an icon I made using a picture that I found and mentioned that I would love to have a drawing made from it, but I would need to find a bigger version of it as this one was on 250 pixels. She said that if I found one she would try to do it for me, so I went to Google Images and started hunting. We were talking on Windows IM while I was looking, and I was sharing my results...some were quite interesting, and I found several good pictures (I probably added at least 50 new pictures to my rather large gallery :P)...but not the one I was looking for. About 50 pages into my search, Lizzy informed me that she found my picture. Quite amazed, I asked if she could send me the link. She said no, and sent me a file on IM. I was completely speechless - It was a drawing! She drew it while we were talking and I was searching. Isn't she wonderful? :)

This is the picture that I showed to Lizzy, and have yet to find a bigger version of.

I made a wallpaper using her drawing, and added a poem I wrote to go with it. I love how it turned out. :)

Click the image for a full-size version

Voting for the starting line-up of the NHL All Star game is now open. Somehow Canadiens fans have managed to cheat and get their players tons of extra votes...if it weren't for that, I do believe that Pittsburgh's own Crosby and Malkin would be in 1st and 2nd place for the Eastern Conference. None of the Blues' players have made it to the leaders' board yet. :( We're trying, though...

~*~*~

Moving on to a different subject (one that I'm sure my readers will be much more interested in! :P) - Christmas is coming! One of our local radio stations has already switched over to playing Christmas music, and another one will tomorrow. I've also started some of my shopping. :D This year, I'll be knitting as many gifts as I can. I have the yarn for three scarves...I have no idea who I'll be giving one of them to. :P And the other two I'm making using Lion Suede. I really love how the first one's turning out. I'm going to have to get me some later to make one out of. :D I'd also love to be able to figure out how to make socks before it's too late...and my Mom has requested leg warmers. The pattern I have for those has some unfamiliar stitches in it too. :P This past weekend, I invested in the Knitting For Dummies book, so I'm hoping that it can help me. :P

I still have yet to decorate my room. I hope to have it done by Thanksgiving. :) My sister won't let it not be. :P We have twice as much this year than we did last year...it should be fun. We even have lights to put up this year. :)

Also on the subject of Christmas...I'll be playing the part of a cow in a Christmas play at church. Yes, a cow. :P My mom volunteered me. Excepting the narrator, the cow is the largest part. I guess that's why she wanted me to do it...

My sister is drawing the animals that we'll use for the play, and I'm colouring them. You'd be surprised how hard it is to colour a sheep. :P

Ok, I think I'm done. :P Is this the longest post I've ever made? I think it is...

Now I have to go and locate all of the links that I need to add in...:P

Preparing for the Big Game...

What big game, you ask? A hockey game. :D

From a previous post, you now know that I'm a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they're coming to play our home team this year! *happy dance* It's this Saturday. It seems like it was just yesterday that my brother and I were counting down the months until November 1st. :P It was the beginning of July when we found out that the Pens would be coming here. With them being in the Eastern Conference, and us being in the Western, they'll only come here once during the season, if that. Unless we're one of the three Western teams that they play twice next year, they won't be coming here at all next season. So this is a big event for us. :)

So I decided to "Pensify" (a new word I created :D) my camera bag that I'll be taking to the game.

I found some cute little penguin beads at the store, and decided that I could do some neat things with them. So I got a few, and then headed toward the letter beads. I used one of the penguins in the key chain with the letters. End result:

(My favorite player is Sidney Crosby, and he's #87 :D)

The things on the side are neat little things I made with some of my home-made beads. (Have you noticed that I have no idea what to call some of these things? )

And the other three penguins I made into neat little chains:

I also bought some gold hockey player and goalie charms and hung them on the side of the bag, and used a couple as zipper pulls (I guess I didn't take pictures of those, because I can't find any! ).

My favorite are these cute little guys that I made out of clay.

I hung them on some leather cord like I did all of the other things and put them on the side of my bag:

Aren't they cute?? :D

I'll probably make a couple more key chains with player names on them after I visit the bead store again. I only had enough money to buy the stuff for one this time. :)

Lastly is a thing I made on my bead loom. I plan to make another one after I buy a bigger loom. :P I didn't have enough space to do this very well...so it looks a little stretched. I took a picture of the Pens' logo and copied it onto graph paper, and then made it out of seed beads on my loom. :)

5 1/2 Chip Cookies

Ok, I did something the other day that I've never done before...and I will probably never do again. :P

I gave a friend of mine a coupon for a batch of cookies for his birthday...and from past experience, I knew he'd try to pull something funny with it. But I never expected something like this! His request was chocolate chip cookies with no less than 5 1/2 chips per cookie...but no more than 5 3/4. He must have thought about that one for a while...making so that I'd have to cut the chips!

Well, I did it...

Do they look funny or what? :P