Diabetes Awareness Month

November is Diabetes Awareness Month!
Diabetes Organization
Test your risk here
Fact sheet , in PDF,here

here are a few highlights of what the fact sheet contains

Total Prevalence of Diabetes in the United States, all ages, 2005
Total: 20.8 million people-7.0% of the population- have diabetes
Diagnosed: 14.6 million people
Undiagnosed: 6.2 million people

Diabetes was the 6th leading cause of death listed on U.S. death certificates in 2002.
Diabetes if likely to be underreported as a cause of death. Studies have found that only about 35% to 40% of decedents with diabetes had it listed anywhere on the death certificate and only about 10% to 15% had it listed as the underlying cause of death.

Estimated Diabetes Costs in the United States in 2002
Total (direct and indirect) : $132 billion
Direct medical costs: $ 92 billion
Indirect costs: $40 billion (disability, work loss, premature mortality)

mental exercise

I needed a game to help someone practice percentages and found this one.
Good news: I am no where near as rusty as I thought I would be!
We all need a little mental exercise every one in a while! ;) Right?

B. has Jukado tonight. I had met a lady last time who was going to show me how to increase and decrease in knitting at tonight's class. Wish me luck!

Goal for tonight- to pack up the linabear onrnament and mail it out to ________, my exchange partner.

Snatched from Outi
GOLD

At work or in school: I like set routines and organized ways of doing thingsl rules and directions are a great help to me. I prefer to stay on one topic at a time. I need to know what is expected of me, and I always want to know if I am on the right track. I like subjects that are useful and traditional, such as business, accounting, history and government.
With friends: I prefer people who are careful with their money and who make plans ahead of time. I like my friends to be loyal, dependable and on time. I am serious about love and show it in many practical ways.
With family: I like stability and security and enjoy traditions and frequent celebrations. I like to spend holidays with family members, and I plan ahead for such gatherings.
Take this quiz!
Quizilla

warning : muttering

I find it very frustrating not to be able to access my own blog- until now.

Now if the headache would go away. I might get more done.

congrats

to Ami and Mike.
I hope your wedding day was fantastic!

If I disappear for a bit

you'll know why:
"INTERIOR YORK-INTERIOR CUMBERLAND-COASTAL YORK-COASTAL CUMBERLAND-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...NORTH WINDHAM...GORHAM...BRIDGTON...
BIDDEFORD...SACO...OLD ORCHARD BEACH...PORTLAND...
SOUTH PORTLAND...WESTBROOK
1217 PM EDT SAT OCT 28 2006

...HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON...

LOOK FOR AN AREA OF HEAVY RAIN TO AFFECT SOUTHWEST MAINE THROUGH
300 PM. IN ADDITION...SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL GUST TO NEAR 60 MPH AT
TIMES...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE IMMEDIATE COAST AND DURING PERIODS OF
VERY HEAVY RAIN.

UP TO AN ADDITIONAL INCH OF RAIN COULD BE EXPECTED THROUGH 300 PM.
THE ADDITIONAL RAIN WILL RESULT IN LOCALIZED STREET FLOODING...AS
WELL AS FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS. IN ADDITION...CREEKS AND
STREAMS WILL EXPERIENCE RAPID RISES DURING THE AFTERNOON. IF YOU
ARE NEAR A CREEK OR STREAM...BE ON THE ALERT FOR RISES AND BE
PREPARED IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED OR A FLOOD WARNING IS ISSUED."

quizzin' again

Snatched from prajantr

You Are a Dachshund Puppy

Loyal and playful - with a good hunting instinct. You sometimes go a little crazy and need to chase down a rabbit or two.

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

and just for the heck of it:

Your Animal Personality

Your Power Animal: Eagle Animal You Were in a Past Life: Whale You are active, a challenger, and optimistic. Hard-working, you are always working towards a set goal.

The Animal Personality Test

Scarves

Well I finished the baby blue scarf. I haven't taken any pictures yet. I made it much shorter and wider than your typical scarf for my daughter. I don't want her tripping over it and this way if she wants to she can pull it up over her face.
It is a most beautiful blue and I haven't been able to find another skein of it in any of the stores I have been in since then. So I had no choice really than to make it small.
I have started another one. In a darker blue and I have plenty this time. Out of an effort to help them hold their shape better I bought some smaller needles. It's coming out quite nicely now. My niece, A, will be getting this one. My mother helped me choose out of the many colors I had on hand for a few of the nieces I plan to stitch for.
Now, I have a niece in Florida. I have no idea how cold it gets there. Or if any sort of scarf it used outdoors. But I thought about making one for her as well- she could always use it play dress-up with. I think....

floss mom angst

What does a good floss mom do when she messes up? Sends more!
AL and I had a deal where she sent me money and I spent it on whatever she needed, and deducted it from her total with shipping.
Well. The last part of the deal was to be sent out last week. I remembered yesterday.
So I had overspent in buying the cotton and linens, and was trying to decide what to send out to her (I was going to send extra anyways.) But with this mess up on my behalf I shipped it all to her, on me, with delivery confirmation to boot. (Overnight was just waaaay too much- $14. Otherwise I would have done that too.)
Let's hope it reaches her quickly and that I feel less guilty soon.

From Laura's blog.....

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

*wink, I already knew this, though I may like a sunny day and the smell of snow- those crisp autumn days with the faint smell of woodsmoke and leaves.... make me truly happy.

the sweet stuff

*waving*Hi AnneR! Long time no see!
Sugars
Most of the recipes I use use the granulated, or table sugar.

SBQ suggested by Carol:
"If you were to come across a sampler chart that caught your eye and appealed to you, would you or would you not stitch it if it had a morbid or "creepy" saying on it? If not, why?"
Well it would have had something I liked to it- so I would just change the part I didn't like. I could drop the saying or change it. Especially easy I think with a sampler by repeating a row or something.

A "must make" recipe

(This will be a bit redundant to those at Linabear:)
This is the recipe I have used. Ironically it was in a Better Home and Gardens cook book but this is identical (and saves to much typing!) And even weirder- if you search online you'll get this same recipe over and over.

Hot Fudge Sundae Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 3/4 cups very hot water
Ice cream, if desired


1. Heat oven to 350ºF.
2. Mix flour, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, the baking powder and salt in ungreased square pan, 9x9x2 inches. Mix in milk, oil and vanilla with fork until smooth. Stir in nuts. Spread in pan.
3. Sprinkle brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa over batter. Pour water over batter.
4. Bake about 40 minutes or until top is dry. ^
5. Spoon warm cake into dessert dishes. Top with ice cream. Spoon sauce from pan onto each serving.

^ =My recipe states to let it cool for 10 minutes.Then serve.

here are a few more that may be good:

Double Chocolate Lava Baby Cakes

Mini-Molten Chocolate Cakes

Slowcooker Hot Fudge Sundae Chocolate Cake!

Change of heart

Chris E. will be with us for a bit longer it seems...
With the deal of much more involvement from the kids in caring for him and when the time comes (DH and I think it will be rather soon) he will make that last trip to the vet's. We had even had a friend of my husbands willing to take him as well, but DH and I decided that that wouldn't be fair to Chris E either.
So, I guess we have postponed the inevitable.
But thank you all for your kind words.

This'll make you smile
Brooke's New Designs

emotional to say the least

I have stitched nothing. Haven't even tried all weekend.
We have a new baby in the family (no not me). So I went over to the hospital Friday to see the new little one. She is a doll!
We lost power for a little while Friday night, after getting back from the restaurant.
And then Saturday morning I made a rather important decision: Chris E will be going to the vet's..... for the last time. The kids aren't taking it well- anger and sadness. I have looked my son right in the eye after him pleading with me, and I held firm (on the outside of course, on the inside I am crumbling.)I have never had to take care of this part and have no idea how it works. Hopefully it won't cost much either.
The mini pet we "adopted" Thursday has also passed on this morning. Not a huge surprise. She was a cool praying mantis. What fun to watch too. I sort of like the idea of another. Who knows if the opportunity would come up again though- as we found her in the walkway to our driveway. Maybe we could buy the eggs and raise them ourselves (with a huge supply of fruitflies it seems.)
Busy, busy.
Now DH asked about us getting a lizard.

SBQs

SBQ was suggested by Lee

"As we all know, stitching in the winter can really be rough on the
hands. What do you do to treat your hands well in the cold winter
months? Do you have any suggestions for creams or soaps? Or perhaps a
special regimen that you would like to share? "
My hands are bad almost year round from excessive washing and other use & abuse. December to March is usually the worst.
I stick with gentle formulas, like the oatmeal variety as my skin is usually broken open (sorry folks, gross but true.) Another of my favorite things to do is apply aloe to my hands in the evening, usually shortly before bed or when I don't think I will be handling much. The summertime variety- I grab some as they are discounting fo rthe colder months coming. (And it works on sore noses too!)
I only apply lotion or cream to the backs of my hands when I think I may be handling my craftie stuff. And I stick to the lighter formulas then.
*there is a bottle of lotion, cream or other fancy stuff at almost every area of my house :P


SBQ was suggested by Vash:

"Which way do you stitch, i.e. do you stitch /// followed by \\\ on
top, or the other way around \\\ followed by ///? Are you left- or
right-handed and do you think that this affects the way that you stitch?"
I stitch / / / / then \ \ \ \ whenever possible. One at a time sometimes as needed. I was taught that way but I have seen it done the opposite way just recently in some directions somewhere online; if I could remember where!
I am a rightie but I would imagine that a leftie would go the other way. (Just in watching my son in his day to day stuff. He's a leftie)
So um, I do think it could have an impact.

Identity crisis

I am branching out. To window live spaces.
Now- who will I be?
Ideas anyone?

knitting progress, well.....

....I finished the black scarf which I have to say I had done very well on until the very end.
And. I lied to my son.
It's finished.
When he asked I said it wasn't. It's just that I need to fix it and so, in a technical sense it's not finished so it's only a sort-of lie. Ugh.
I was trying to bind it off not under my handy-dandy lamp. So I shouldhave known better to be working on black in poor light and tired to boot.
no pics this time. I need to email for advice to fix it so... maybe after that.

Thank you Jenna!

Sorry folks for the late updating. A nice surprise was in my mailbox Friday- even the envelope it came in was too cute.
Thank you Jenna!

birthday wishes

Happy Birthday Ami!
~~happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear Ami
happy birthday to you!
:)

black scarf

Here is my son's scarf, it has grown a bit. There are a few blurbs in it, mistakes and one knot (it was in the yarn itself, not my doing, weird) I just kept on trucking with it. I think a week or two with an active eight year old will do a number on it too. So no sense in aiming for ultimate perfection.

HD

Here is the first of intended presents.
Details:
Bernat Boa, "Flamingo"
Size 9 needles and took about 2 or 3 days to complete, here and there.
Approx 33" x 5" using no pattern, I was winging it ;)

Now, it's officially fall.

Mmmm, Pumpkin Pie, still cooling (that's why it looks so high, it drops as it cools.)

Window shopping, a bad, bad thing.....*grin*
Run, do not walk, to you nearest shop and get these. Oh my word, so cute.
Did I mention I have a thing for snowmen and gingerbread men? Well the cute, happy fat ones. And those by Pamela Kellogg are just what I need!
~~~~~~~~~~
Managed a bit of knitting today , in the a.m. no less. I was smart and grabbed my knitting stuff on the way out the door to my car appointment. I think I got in at least 5 rows.... It wasn't a long apppointment, just a state inspection.
So now I have confirmation that I need to get a bag just for knitting. Something roomy, and with a flap over the top or something of some kind so when I bend over to get the grocery bags off the car floor my needles don't come spilling out the top.(Clang in the driveway) And while I am at i, a second half for cross stitch on-the-go.
I think I am at the halfway point of the black scarf for my son... *happy*

shakin'

earthquake in Maine? Hm, been a while but.....