Diaper Jeep

One of my former co-workers from the Tidewater is in town to visit her family, and they decided to throw her a baby shower. My contribution was a diaper Jeep.

I am pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I'm not crazy about the proportions of the Jeep in the only tutorial I could find on-line.

Community Art Quilt Blocks

A few months ago, I was volunteered by the Tidewater management to create quilt blocks for the Havre de Grace library's Community Art Quilt, which was being created to celebrate the one year anniversary of the new library building. Local businesses and individuals would create the blocks with the theme "Why I Love Havre de Grace." I made two blocks for the Tidewater's entries.

Both blocks were supposed to be representations of views from the deck of the restaurant; one looking to the left at the railroad bridge and the other looking to the right, down the Susquehanna River at the "sailboat races." Although neither of them won I think they both turned out well, and I'm excited to see how they're incorporated on the finished quilt.

Melissa and Ron's Wedding

Melissa, a co-worker at the Tidewater, and Ron, her boyfriend/fiancee/baby daddy of many years, got married in a small, but lovely wedding. I was very sad, because I couldn't enjoy the rest of the celebration with them, but very glad to be there for the ceremony.

Cherry Blossom Festival 2015

Well, I had a pretty fun day in Washington, D.C. with some girlfriends today. A month or so ago, Mel talked up the idea of going to see the cherry blossoms with a group of co-workers. She asked me to get some info, and from there, I earned the title "Cherry Blossom Watcher." I looked up transportation options, info on the Holocaust Museum, as well as trying to find the optimal time for us to go. Because of the more severe winter we had, it was hard to arrange, but eventually, we did it!

We took the MARC's Penn Line from Aberdeen to Washington D.C.'s Union Station, and then traveled by MetroRail to the Smithsonian Station, which exited at the National Mall. It was my first time travelling by train, and it was surprisingly easy. I was scared at first, but luckily, all of my preparation paid off.
We walked around the National Mall, then the Tidal Basin for cherry blossom pictures. Finally, we visited the Holocaust Museum. That was especially cool, because before you enter the exhibit, you get an identification card for a real person from the Holocaust. Each page corresponds to a different time frame/floor of the Holocaust/museum, and in the end you learn if they lived or died. It really personalizes the experience.
Here are some attempts at selfies from the trip:

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

All of us in the Lincoln Memorial

Cherry Blossoms at Tidal Basin

Jefferson Memorial

I tried to get more of the building in with the Jefferson Memorial, but Chy jumped in, so...

Work? What's That?

I spent too much time tonight at work arranging flowers. This Sunday, the town is having a "Wedding Walk," and we're setting up the banquet room for show and tell. Mel brought in a couple of bouquets of flowers from the grocery store, and we started arranging.

These were my creations. My favorite is the yellow one, but the purple/orange is growing on me.

Tartar Sauce

The restaurant is closing down for two weeks after tonight, and we had run out of our lemon-caper mayonnaise, which we normally serve with crab cakes. I found a recipe for what appeared to be a quick and easy Tartar Sauce, that we could whip together with available ingredients, just in case customers wanted something other that cocktail sauce.

Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups mayonnaise or 1 1/4 cups Miracle Whip
• 1 medium dill pickle (or 1/4 cup dill relish)
• 2 sprigs parsley
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon dried onion flakes (or fresh)
• 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Mix all together in the food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds until finely chopped, but not smooth.
2. Best if refrigerated for an hour before use.
3. Note: Can be made without the food processor, using dill relish or finely minced pickle.
4. Lasts quite a while in the refrigerator.

The flavor was good, but I didn't get to try out the "aged" version, so that may have been better. The quantity was good, too, we won't have to throw out a whole bunch at the end of the night.

TWG X-mas Cookie Exchange

All of my work making cookies from the past week came together tonight at the Tidewater for our cookie exchange.

We had twelve participants, and there were so many delicious cookies to sample, that I think I went into sugar shock for a short period of time! Each participant went home with a fabulous bag of goodies.

Now, it's time to move on the phase two of this project - which is kind of a surprise. I threw the idea out to Mel about taking pictures of the cookies and getting their recipes, then putting together a photo book for each of the participants as a Christmas (or soon thereafter) gift. She's all for it, so we're going to get together and work on that next.

Green Xmas Cookies

For the Tidewater cookie exchange, I actually signed up to make these cookies - my favorite Christmas cookies.

Wreath Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup margarine or butter
• 1 package (10 oz. about 40) regular marshmallows OR 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 teaspoon green food coloring
• 6 cups Kellogg's Corn Flakes® cereal OR 6 cups Kellogg's Frosted Flakes® cereal
• Red cinnamon candies
• Prepared vanilla frosting

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in food coloring.
2. Add KELLOGG'S CORN FLAKES cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Portion warm cereal mixture evenly by using a 1/4 cup dry measure coated with cooking spray. Using sprayed fingers, quickly shape into individual wreaths. Dot with cinnamon candies, using prepared frosting to hold candies in place. Store in single layer in airtight container.

Now, my recipe is slightly different (it's an old family recipe), but this seems to be the official one - straight off of the Kellogg's web site.

Gingerbread Pinwheels

The Pillsbury e-newsletter had a few recipes that sounded good, so I made these, too - Gingerbread Pinwheels.

Gingerbread Pinwheels

Ingredients

• 1 roll (30 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated gingerbread cookies
• 1 roll (30 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated sugar cookies
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions

1. Cut each roll of dough in half. Wrap and refrigerate one half of each dough for another use.
2. Place 17x12-inch sheet of waxed paper on cookie sheet. Cut remaining gingerbread cookie dough in half lengthwise. Arrange halves, side by side, on cookie sheet. Top with second sheet of waxed paper. Roll dough to form 14x9-inch rectangle. Freeze 5 minutes.
3. Repeat on work surface with sheets of waxed paper and remaining sugar cookie dough. Freeze 5 minutes. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. Lifting dough with waxed paper, turn sugar cookie rectangle over onto gingerbread rectangle. Gently pat doughs together. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
4. Remove waxed paper from top of dough. Using remaining waxed paper, and starting with 1 long side, roll up stacked dough, without rolling paper into roll. Wrap roll of dough securely with waxed paper. Freeze about 45 minutes or until very firm.
5. Heat oven to 350°F. Unwrap dough; cut into 4 equal rolls. Work with 1 roll at a time; keep remaining 3 rolls in freezer until ready to slice. Cut each roll into 13 or 14 (1/4-inch) slices. On ungreased cookie sheets, place slices 2 inches apart, reshaping into rounds as necessary. Sprinkle each cookie with sugar.
6. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Somehow, Tom got a hold of a couple of these cookies and ate them. He said they were delicious. I'll reserve judgment until Monday.

Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookies

Another cookie I decided to make for the Tidewater's cookie exchange is Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookies, which I learned about from an e-newsletter from Pillsbury.

Peppermint Crunch Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated sugar cookies
• 1 1/2 cups white vanilla baking chips or semisweet chocolate chips
• 8 round hard peppermint candies, crushed (1/4 cup)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in 1/4 cup all-purpose flour until well blended. Shape dough into 36 (1-inch) balls. Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 5 minutes.
2. In small microwavable bowl, microwave vanilla chips and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil uncovered on Medium (50%) 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once halfway through microwaving, until melted. Stir until smooth.
3. Dip half of each cookie into melted chips mixture, allowing excess to drip off; place on waxed or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Sprinkle each with about 1/2 teaspoon crushed candy. Let stand until set.

Neither me nor Tom have tried them out, yet, but the cookie exchange on Monday will be the big day. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Wild Turkey Ball Brownies

We're having a cookie exchange at the Tidewater, and one of the cookies that I decided to make was something that a co-worker posted on my wall on Facebook. It's Wild Turkey Ball Brownies from the Tipsy Bartender.

Wild Turkey Ball Brownies

• 10 ounces Nilla Wafers, crushed
• 1 cup pecans, ground
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 6 ounces chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup Wild Turkey
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

I'm waiting until the actual cookie swap to try them out, but what do you think, next time try it with Fireball Whiskey?

Turtle Shell Photo Prop

Mandy from Tidewater asked me to make a turtle shell for a girl friend who is pregnant, who loves turtles. I whipped out my crochet hook, and made this for her in a matter of days.

She loved it, and I hope her girl friend does, too. I used the same pattern that I used for Brit's turtle shell blanket.

Rachel's Going Away Party

Rachel's leaving us after many years, so we had a going-away party for her.

It was at Mel's house, and most of the people who planned on coming brought food and/or beverage. I was working, so I was only able to pop in for a little bit after work.

I'm sad to see her go, but excited to see her move on to the next stage of her life.

Chelsi and Victor's Wedding

Chelsi and Victor, a couple who met, dated, and got engaged at the Tidewater, got married today.

After work that afternoon, I went to Mel's for the reception. It was in Mel's back yard, with Chy's dad and a friend playing music. It started to rain, so the reception moved inside the house, where we continued to eat, drink and dance the night away. I had a lot of fun dancing with the kids, and enjoyed myself way too much.

Tonya's Bridal Shower

Today, I went to Tonya's Bridal Shower. It was kind of awkward, since there was only one other person I knew there, but it was nice to do something different, and show Tonya my support.
After some refreshments, gifts were opened (I brought a blender), then a couple games were played. The first was "He Said, She Said" where we had to guess who made which statement. I got 7 out of 10 correct, the winner got 8 right. Not bad since I haven't seen Tonya in several years. In the second, and final, game, everyone stood in a circle and passed a prize around. Whenever the words "right" or "left" were mentioned in the prepared story, the gift was passed in that direction. Fun!

Cupcakes

Pretzel Sticks

For me, the absolute best part was the Chocolate Éclair Cake! And what's great was that part of the shower was to bring a favorite recipe for Tonya's recipe box, so I was able to get the recipe. I can't wait to try it out - since it was so yummy!

Tonya's Diaper Cake

Even though Tonya left the Tidewater a few years ago, we still see each other periodically. Well, she's engaged and got pregnant, and her baby shower was today. I didn't request off from work because I usually work at 4, but this time I was scheduled to work at 12! Luckily, Amie was going to the shower, so she picked up my gift and delivered it for me. I love it!

I saw it on Pinterest, and found a tutorial. I thought it was really appropriate, since she's having a boy - my usual diaper cakes are just too girly (see the ones I made for Holly, Hilary, Julie, and Ashley). It was relatively easy to make, and super cute!

Baby Jack's Fedora Prototype

Evan, Brit's fiancee, asked me to crochet their baby-to-be a fedora. This is what I came up with as a prototype.

I found a pattern for a child's sunhat off of the LionBrand website, and modified it to be the correct size (I hope). It is not the desired color, but it'll do until it's approved.

Turtle Photo Prop

Brit's having a boy! She had mentioned a while ago, that if she was going to have a girl, she wanted to do a princess theme, but if it was a boy, Evan wanted a turtle. Cue Wendy and her ever growing crochet skills. I started work on the turtle shell part yesterday, and I finished piecing it together tonight.

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Thank you, Nutmeg, for being my model! And thank you, HodgePodge Crochet, for the great pattern.

Marty's 50th Birthday Party

This evening I attended a surprise birthday party for Marty. Boy, was he surprised! His birthday was over a month ago, so Martina told him that she was catering a party for someone else, and that she forgot something, and had to send him out to get it. He would, of course, be pissed off that she forgot whatever it was, and while he was out getting this item, everyone would arrive.

It worked out well. Marty was surprised, and the food was good. Unfortunately for me, there weren't many people I knew there, so I left early, but that meant I could spend the rest of the evening relaxing.

Casino Run

After work tonight, Nicole and I ran over to Hollywood Casino in Perryville. We had made plans to go last Thursday, but they fell through. We went mainly to play roulette, but when we got there, we learned that the table minimum was $15! And I was only planning on spending $50. So, we found the video roulette machines and played a little, then went on to my favorite slot machine in the world, Invaders from the Planet Moolah. I was so glad to see them! I lost, but Nicole won, and she loved the cows. She thinks that her grandfather will enjoy it, too. Even though I lost, I still enjoyed my time out. I might even run over from time to time to play Invaders