This and That and Kitchen Stuff

Ack!  Not exactly a few days later.  Well, in my defense, I've been busy!  My big Bernina 830 sewing machine was in need of a spa treatment and the best technician lives in Montana.  He does come over to the Spokane area once a week to pick up machines at several designated drop-off points so we had taken Moby Stitch (the great white Bernina!) up earlier and we picked it up last week.  That's a day out of town, but there is a Trader Joe's up there which is, of course, a mandatory stop.  :-)

We've had Daniel over each Sunday night through Monday dinnertime since the beginning of August until this week as Ann had to be back to work at school, prepping for the new year.  He's so easy to have, but still it seemed like the days went differently when he was here as we visited and found things to do.  School started last week on Wednesday so he's back to learning.  Fifth grade this year!  Where does the time go?

Last Monday it finally worked out for Dan to have my birthday party and Ann and family showed up with pizza to share dinner and cake with me. Such a fun, wonderful time we had!  

Since my machine was back, I have ventured into my sewing room and have started a new round of bibs.  I had only two left in my gift pile and they were both for girls.  I've embroidered five new ones and cut out about twenty blanks to work on next.  

But enough on this stuff.  I mentioned in my last post that I'd do a kitchen post, so here goes.  

In May when we were at Costco I stopped to look at a Ninja Foodi Flip Air Fryer they had for sale.  I have friends who love their smaller air fryers but I didn't have a space for one, either on my counter or in my pantry, and I draw the line at storing kitchen items in the garage! The foodie is made to flip up and take up a smaller amount of counter space when not being used.  As I pondered the display, Dan picked one up and put it in the cart. "Happy Mother's Day!" he said.  Okay!

It took a bit of figuring to decide where to put it in my crazily designed kitchen but I finally put it in the corner where my mixer has lived and moved the mixer next to the frig.  It works, and somehow it seems I have even more room in that corner than I did before.  And we love our Foodi!  I've always loved the Mexi-fries at Taco Time and now I can make my own.  Score!  And the Foodi is more than an air fryer, it is a convection oven, a toaster and can broil, too.  It has a much bigger capacity than the usual air fryer and so is great for families.  I made little pizzas last week using ciabatta bread from Costco and they were so good using the air broil feature on low.  And it's perfect for reheating things like pizza or crispy casseroles so they aren't soggy the second time around.  

In its down position, otherwise up against the side wall

Yummy ciabatta bread pizzas!

And in other kitchen news, we are awash with zucchini!  Awash I say!  Last year we could hardly get any to grow and this year Dan brings up four or five (or more!) a day.  I'm working hard to be a good zucchini steward and use it all, so varied recipes have been used.  One winner was a chocolate cupcake recipe found in the August Costco magazine.  Oh my!  As I've told all my friends, it received rave reviews from everyone who ate it (I made it into a cake).  The zucchini chips featured in the article are good, too!

This cake from the Six Sisters is also a winner. And last week I found this recipe for zucchini onion pie.  I did change it a little; I caramelized the onions instead of adding them raw.  We loved it! Of course we've already had multiple dinners using my old stand-by summer squash skillet. Zucchini bread?  Of course!  

And thus ends this summer's zucchini themed post!  ♥

Big Day!

Yes, January 9th is a big day in our family.  Dan's and my anniversary and Daniel's birthday.  We're invited to Ann and Eric's tonight to celebrate our 49th and Daniel's 10th.  Yum, bring on the cake!

Here's a little reminder of the day D was born.  

Such a precious bundle, just like his brothers and cousin.  I cried when I realized they'd named him after Dan.  We had no idea.  

January 9th is a day filled with joy!  ♥

Puttering Along

This week started out with a fun evening on Monday.  It was my belated birthday party!  Dan and Ann finally found a time when all the local family could get together so we celebrated with pizza and cake.  We had such a good time! If I don't make our pizza (and who does for their own birthday party?), we get Papa Murphy's.  Our gang of boys love the 5-meat stuffed pizza so we had one of those and then our usual "chick" pizza with the addition of sausage to keep those boys happy.  Dan bought me a beautiful cake and we ended with it and ice cream.  Mmmm...

At this stage of our lives Dan and I rarely buy one another a birthday present because there's not much we don't already have.  He won my heart by buying me a box of Hostess Orange Cupcakes which are my guilty pleasure.  

Ann got me a bag of goodies from the stationery department--flower post-it notes, and another package of colorful ones,  a beautiful journal and a pack of gorgeous felt-tip pens.  So much fun!!

I love, love, love colorful pens!  I've started on the journal and used two colors so far.  The journal cover says "grand plans", and as I wrote, I don't really have any besides knitting, stitching and spending time with my family.  Enough and more!

Meanwhile, the week was a scorcher!  After moderate weather most of the summer, true August arrived this week.  

Not quite as hot as the day I was born which Mom said was 109°. And in an unairconditioned hospital.  I've disliked hot weather ever since.  ♥

Continuing On!

It's been my birthday today and it's a number I thought wouldn't arrive for at least a hundred years when I was younger.  (Just try to figure that math out!!)  But, when I woke up and was finally coherent (I'm so not a morning person), I was thankful to arrive at this age. And as I told my brother when he called, I certainly didn't think Dad was old when he was this age, so I must not be, either!  

At any rate, we've had a lovely quiet day here at the resort.  The latest Rhys Bowen "Georgie" book was released today and it was delivered by the UPS man this morning. They're always great fun--the series is called Her Royal Spyness.  

I'm still working away on that Christmas quilt and just have to stitch around the words and join the last two sections to have the top finished.  How to quilt it?  That will definitely take some pondering.  

We had Daniel overnight Sunday night and all day yesterday.  It's become a tradition to have him stay over the night before Ann has to start back to work as a teacher.  It's so much fun to have him.  I gave him choices for breakfast and he picked coffee cake. I was astounded to watch him wolf down three pieces in short order.  Makes a Grammy happy!

He loves boxes and often turns them into all kinds of creations.  We had one for him in the garage and he slipped his legs inside to turn it into an instant desk as he played a game on his tablet.

So blessed to have such a wonderful family! And to have had another wonderful year to spend with them all!