Faux' Vacay!

 So, my friend Teresa is on Faux' Vacay this week! 

What is faux' vacay, you ask? 

First off, it's mostly for women although a few men would qualify. (not many!)

It's when you don't have to do your NORMAL job for the week

(such as your 8 hour a day job, or your part time job, or your babysitting job)

and you tell your family,

I am on faux' vacay this week! 

You HAVE to tell them SEVERAL TIMES!

Sometimes you have to tell them in color

I AM ON FAUX' VACAY THIS WEEK!

 Of course, they stopped listening at the word I.

I'm warning you....

They won't get it if you only say it once.

You stress  points such as "I will not be grocery shopping, cooking your meals, doing your laundry." (or stopping to do any of the every day regular routine things that interrupt my day and makes it impossible for me to get a project done.)

OK you don't tell them all of that because you will have lost them after you say

I will not.....

You have to be strong here ladies.

If you don't stick to it, you will not get to take faux' vacay.

Which is why you have to stress this point several times the week before.

I AM ON FAUX' VACAY THIS WEEK!

Yes, sometimes you have to say it LOUDLY! 

So I told her I was going on faux' vacay with her!

One time her and I went to faux' Florida!  We went to goodwill and filled up our carts within a 15 minute time frame of any Florida souvenir we could find. We met back up to see who got the most/best souvenirs.   It was our Spring Break Faux' Florida trip.

Hey, we do what we can.

On faux' vacay, if you want to share a pretty picture of banana bread, you don't bother with the pretty china dishes, because you are not going to wash them. 

The sink could pile up a little bit on faux' vacay.

 Look how dense this bread is.  We are on our fourth loaf!  NO NOT THIS WEEK.  Since I've discovered the recipe.  I always have a problem of the middle top not quite getting done.  I just cut that off. 

So here are MY/OUR faux' vacay plans.

Monday - we worked in my basement.

Tuesday - I don't know what all she did except that she did have to take her MIL places. 

It was her day.

Sometimes you don't get away from all duties.

I had an appointment for a tooth to get capped. 

Another story for another day. 

I keep falling apart and keep paying to put myself back together. 

I say, at least I can be fixed. 

Wednesday - today - we are working in her hoarder room.

Thursday - I have crochet and am supposed to be going with my parents and sister's fam out to eat BUT we are expecting storms.  That is also another story for another time but I will throw in here that we have had more tornado warnings this time of year than any I can ever remember.

We had four in one day just a couple of weeks ago.

OK ...back on track

Friday we are going shopping.

(hope there are no storm predictions)

Now, since I don't have an otherly job,

I have prepared a couple of meals ahead of time for my Shug.

But I also warned him I will be busy and or gone three out of five days.

Chicken salad for sandwiches

Banana Bread

Chicken pot pie

Leftovers

Hamburgers and fries tomorrow (I'll cook since I'll be home)

Eat out

So, I am going to give you a couple of sneak peak process pictures of Monday.

 The reason they are only sneak peak's is because the room isn't finished.

I need to clean that cabinet... 

I need to hang some stuff...

I need to paint some stuff....

But the "bones" are done. 

We have drug furniture out of the pole barn and basement storage and put things where they need to be.  Things I could not do on my own.  I can do the rest in bits and pieces. 

And that's the wonderful thing about faux' vacay. 

You help each other, get stuff done, and this one BIG HUGE looming job is now started and broken down into small bits than I can handle between dishes, laundry, dusting, grocery shopping.......

Try it!

Go on faux' vacay!

Oh one more thing....

I tried to sabotage faux' vacay but she was having none of it. 

I said, "let's get out of here and take a couple of days and head north."

She said, "no, I want to stick to my plan."

You must have a plan for faux' vacay.

WRITE IT DOWN and STICK TO IT!

Or you will waste your week.

OK - so I've talked enough.

You'd think I was drinking coffee instead of chamomile tea.

It's still night time and I wanted to go back to bed after the tea.

But before I go I thought I'd share the banana bread recipe.

This recipe came out of an old Bed and Breakfast cookbook, which are my favorites.  The recipes are always good because if you have a B&B, you bettah serve good food!

Now, before I show you the recipe I will say....

I change the sour cream to greek plain yogurt.

I throw in an extra banana, so I use three.

I throw in a scoop more of flour.

And I divide the dough into two pans.

I know....sorry

But you can use the recipe as is....

and I don't know if the B&B is still around.  This cookbook is probably 20 years old.

I will be posting when I can, and sharing more faux' vacay pics.

And I am SO EXCITED about our basement room. 

I'll share that with you too.

It is going to be CUTE!

Cindy Bee'

This and That

Some highlights of my week...

Last Friday our family and friends got together at Cool Creek Park in Westfield, IN to attend a Polka Boys Concert.

Dad and my bro

We go every year and always have a great time!

Our cousin Vickie and Sister Theresa and me

Mom, Dad, Sis, me, Bro

Me and my Shug

My faux' niece Lexi, my real nieces Taylor and Sarah.

 The next morning I donned my Birks, my hippie bag (which I got in Mexico) and went to the Farmers Market (I'm not this skinny, it was just taken at a great angle.  I wish I was though!)

 

 I love the Farmer's Market but I never know what to buy.  I bake, we have a garden, we get beef from a neighbor who raises cows...

 

  A lupine plant!  SOLD! 

Have you ever read the book Miss Rumphius? 

Well it's won awards.  It's a childrens book about a lady who lives in a cottage by the sea and she wants to make the world a better place so she plants lupine seeds everywhere she goes. 

READ IT

I've decided to be like Miss Rumphius!  I planted lupine seeds this year and I have teeny tiny plants.  Don't you think the leaves look tropical.

When I saw this older plant, I decided it was what I needed.

I think I'll go back to the market today if I can get there before the rain. (yes again)

Ok so I got off on a rabbit trail there.....

back to the Farmer's Market. 

I left the market and on the way back to the car I saw this!!! 

At a church! 

 

So many things I could have bought, but this was all I came home with.  I had seen a craft that could be done with these.  And even if I don't do the craft, we use these all the time under our furniture. 

I am in the process of getting rid of stuff, so I have to be very careful of what I come home with.

(anyone need any purses?  I have a bunch....)

When I got home, I was in the kitchen and when I looked out the window I saw this beauty having lunch in my Shug's garden!  I was thinking maybe I should have bought some tomatoes at the Farmer's Market!!!

Saturday evening we went to the fair and there was hardly anyone there. 

 Every year I weave a rug at the fair.  Our spinning group runs one of the cabins in the pioneer village.

 But this year I didn't make it.  We had a lot of rain and they even closed the fair early one night. 

My Shug and I went on a date on this evening.

The fair was very empty which surprised me.  It was the last night and the weather was perfect. 

I felt sorry for the vendors as we walked right up to whatever we wanted...

no lines.  Not even for the elephant ears! 

I think our fair has one of the best pioneer villages around.  This year they added a jail

and an apothecary.

 

On Monday evening these ladies came over for a visit.  I haven't seen the one in the orange shirt for 20 years!  She lived with the family across the street from us, during her and my senior year in high school.  She became a very good friend to me.  And the family across the street from us, growing up, happen to include the two ladies on the right.  The one in the back was my best friend growing up.  She moved away, and is now back.  I hope we get to visit more often.  The one in the orange shirt....well I reckon I'll have to go to Mexico to visit her!  Maybe in February......

So that was some of the highlights of my week and I have to say I enjoyed every bit of it. 

What fun stuff did you do this week?

Cindy

Crochet catch up!

So I thought I would share a few crochet projects our "little old lady crochet group" has worked on lately. 

I'm in the process of clearing out my phone again.  Too many pics!

 For some quick fun stuff, I made some pom poms with a pom pom maker.  When I was a kid I made them with cardboard or my fingers, but I think they turn out a whole lot fluffier this way.

And here is a group photo taken a couple of months ago!

You can see a blanket, a purse, a pillow and another blanket if you look hard enough.  I think the black and gray was a scarf. 

 So, this is the purse Debbie is working on but it's not "singing to her."  If something doesn't sing to her, she takes f o r e v e r getting it done.

  

This picture shows what it is supposed to look like when she is finished with it, and she almost is finished.  She's working on the flower now.  Maybe I'll have a finished project photo for you next week.

 Cheryl has been working on a pillow. 

 This is the pattern.  I think it's adorable and I want to make one, but I can't until I finish lining all of the bags I've crocheted and not lined.  My own rule.

 

Cheryl just finished her second panel and is hoping it matches her first one, but she is taking a break for awhile and trekking off to Paris!

She trekked off with her daughters.  One of them, Annie,  joins us now and again in crochet group.  I think she was making a scarf for her boyfriend here.

Kay...finishes...everything.

This blanket just needs the ends tucked in and it will be finished.

It's probably done now. 

I started this blanket which is the Coastal Ripple blanket from Attic 24 (see side bar for Lucy's blog) I had to start a new project, that didn't require much thinking, because the truth is, we use crochet as an excuse to get together.  It's more of a therapy session than anything else!  So we talk a lot. 

I can't think and talk!  I try to finish a color a week.

 

 This is the blanket I'm working on at home.

 I'm actually a lot further along than this.  I've sewn it all together, tucked in all the loose ends, and am sewing a border.  Thing is....this is all of the yarn I have left.  It was a project to use up yarn stash, and it did.  I think I just used too much.  Not much left for a border.

 And this is part of the therapy I was talking about.  They say laughter is the best medicine right?  Well, Debbie started laughing so hard that tea came out her nose.  I posted this story a few weeks ago, but at the time didn't have the pictures to show you what we were working on.

You see, Kay is very good at coming up with projects for us to work on.  She makes up these very cute little kits that I love, Debbie tolerates, and Cheryl humors Kay by trying very hard!

And this kit was for water balloons. 

Yep, you heard me, crocheted water balloons peeps.

 

 They are made out of a very thick, absorbent yarn that you put in a bucket of water, to soak up the water, and then fling them at each other.   That way you don't have the broken balloon mess all over the yard.  I made these three. 

I think I'm going to turn them into fish...do you see fish?  I do.  Stuff em....give em an eyeball....they're fish.  

 

So, Annie joined us again a couple of weeks ago.  She's a college kid and is done for a few weeks.  She started this afghan.

 Only her skein of yarn turned into a mess.  How does that happen?  And by the way, Debbie used to seriously call them skanks of yarn.  And when I say seriously, I mean she really thought that is what they were called!!!

 So Cheryl put down her house pillow project and helped Annie with her skank of yarn. (teehee)

 Then Pam helped out....Pam joins us now and again.  I should say we let KNITTER Pam join us now and again.  See Annie back there, just sitting, while they work on her yarn ball.

See the man walking in the door wondering what in thee hell are they doing?

So, my bag rule.  Such a dumb rule I made.....I decided I am NOT doing one more project outside of crochet group until those bags get lined.  Well, this is one of them.

 Ta Dah....one down and about four or five to go!

 Last week at crochet, Debbie wanted us to help her make some more water balloons for friend.  I only made one and it turned out so honkin' big I took it out of the picture!  I know what happened....it was when I double crocheted.  I did it the way I usually do it and not the way Kay explained to us.  No matter....I went back to my blanket.

 

And rumor is Kay has kits made up for us for next week for scrubbies....(sigh)

Just kidding Kay!  She says you can whip them up in about 15 minutes.

hmmmmm

we will see.....

So, My Mom was talking about my crochet group in front of me and my sister the other day and she made some comment about one of my little old crochet ladies and my sister started laughing!

 Seriously Mom!!!!

Yeah.....my 82 year old Mom said that about us!

Cindy