But maybe, just maybe, if I had this gnome, I’d get out there and clean up the rest of the ornaments for the year:
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Dial-a-Hunk Gnome |
Imagine finding this little charmer telling jokes while you gathered your goodies, meaning birdhouses, windchimes, frogs, etc. I would be out there in a second. And where has he been all my gardening life anyway? ; )
Now which one would you roll and twist? We’ve been at this place-Sturgis Pretzels, part of a birthday trip to Lancaster when Sean was younger.
So much of this area is known for it’s soft pretzels-and what a great treat they are! A place called Auntie Anne’s pretzels dips the oversized pretzels in butter after they are baked. She has different seasonings from cinnamon and sugar to nut covered.
And here’s a recipe:
Soft Pretzel Recipe
For 3 dozen 6-inch sticks or
For 1 dozen 6-inch Pretzels
1 tbsp Yeast
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp softened butter or softened margarine
1 cup warm (115-+ deg F) water
2 3/4 cups flour
Coarse Salt to sprinkle on Pretzels before baking
5 tsp baking soda mixed in 4 cups water in a non-aluminum saucepan.
1 large slotted spoon to “go fishing”
Greased cookie sheet
Preheat oven to 475 F
Put yeast, sugar, salt, butter/marg, water and ONE CUP of the flour into a medium mixing bowl and pour in the water.
Stir till all smooth, and yeast starts to bubble.
At this point add the rest of the flour, stir till it is mixed in.
When mixture is too stiff to stir with a spoon, begin kneading.
Knead dough till smooth and till it no longer sticks to the bowl and your hands
Allow dough to rise to about double its height.
While dough is rising, grease the cookie sheet. and prepare the baking soda-water mixture and bring to a boil on stove.
When dough is risen enough, punch down, knead for a minute or so, then divide and roll the 6-inch sticks with your hands, to about 1/2 inch in diameter, or 12-15-inch long rolls to make into the pretzel shape.
Allow sticks or pretzels to sit for about 1-2 mins. Place them into boiling water-baking soda mixture one or two at a time.
Let the pretzels boil for 1 minute 10 seconds, then flip them over with the slotted spoon and boil on the other side for 1 minute and 10 seconds.
This boiling step gives them a firm skin and adds some flavour. Not boiling long enough leaves them too soft and allows them to rise too much. Boiling too long makes them tough.
Fish them out of the water, let them drip off and place them on the greased cookie sheet.
When all the pretzels or sticks are done, sprinkle the coarse salt on them.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or till sticks or pretzels are golden brown.
You can double the recipe in proportion.
(I think if you have a bread machine, you can do most of this recipe in one until you of course have to form them!)
ENJOY!!
Check this link out for ‘baked’ pretzels and other yummy ideas!
Think mom is giddy over her pasta?
Wake me up-there’s a fork in my hand! I had Chicken Roma with spinach and of course roma tomatoes in a cheese sauce. It was good today for lunch too!
Taken while I waited for my mom sitting in the van near the Peebles store. There is a new housing development here. Train tracks and a water refining area right there and rolling hills!
15 miles down the road in the parking lot viewing a farm near rt 1. These were taken by my camera phone. So I am not a big city girl, but a country gal!
For more shots of where I live check out this site
We ate at the Olive Garden and both Sean and my mom had Mediterranean Shrimp pasta.
Mom and me toasting the birthday boy with peach ice tea.
The cake I made Sean-devil’s food-with chocolate sprinkles and candy corn (which he really loves) on a leaf plate.
Sean and his ‘Mom-mom’. He’s about to blow out the candles of course. The candle in the middle plays ‘Happy Birthday’. I told Mom she has two interwined orbs over her head here and there’s a big one in the window. ; )
That photo was taken twenty years ago…wow, where did the years go? He was an alert, big fella!
Here’s my Sean as Mickey Mouse-he was three years old. I made or embellished most of his Halloween costumes over the years.
And here is the most recent photo of him taken with his camera phone at Perkins.
He is really a blessing to me because he made me a mom-I always wanted to be someone’s mom. He’s been a great teenager and I look forward to seeing him mature even more in his 20s, maybe date a bit and get through college with flying colors. I like that he enjoys spending time with me and more recently his dad. They watch sporting events together now all the time. This makes me so happy.
So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my pumpkin and only good egg. : )
1. FIRST NAME? Dianne
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Mom is Jeanne with two ‘n’s and my middle name is Carol- my father is Carl.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? I’d say watching Terri Irwin talking about her late husband Steve.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It looks good except when it smudges when I move my hand over it-that’s a leftie for you.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Turkey
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think I could handle me. : )
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? This blog is as close as I get to journaling as an adult.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I think I would if I didn’t think I’d badly hurt my neck or something.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Captain Crunch peanut butter crunch (bad) Cheerios yogurt flavored (good)
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Sometimes.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes, but I have to hold the world up for others sometimes too which breaks me down a bit.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolatey anything.. but Breyer’s had a fried ice cream limited edition that was decent!
14. SHOE SIZE? 7.5-8, depends on the shoe!
15. RED OR PINK? Red.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Being overweight.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My grandmom Ruth.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I’m just sharing.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I’m ready for bed, but earlier I had on a apricot color faux cashmere sweater and black bell bottoms with brown boot like shoes.
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Oreo-and it was double stuff too. And I worry about my weight?
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The Tonight Show.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Aquamarine, hands down!
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Gardenia
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom.
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes.
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? I don’t really know Annette, but she seems popular in the stitching blog community.
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Iced tea, strong brew, ice, lemon, sweet and low
28. FAVORITE SPORT? Figure skating.
29. EYE COLOR? Hazel- brown around my irises, green and speckled around the brown.
30. HAT SIZE? 22″ I look good in hats because of my big head!
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No-I think glasses make a fashion statement.
32. FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate!!
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer for my gardens, Winter for my indoor hobbies….but I like autumn the bestest
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Both!
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate mousse or cheesecake.
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I hope to see this on a few blogs.
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Why not steal it from me?
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? I am slow as molasses-I am still reading Ya-yas in Bloom.
41. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Crayola crayon postage stamp as it works the best of all the ones we have.
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Rain on the roof and children laughing.
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles
45. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? Cancun, Mexico
46. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Cross stitching! I can sing soprano too. Surprise!
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? West Chester, PA
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I took it from Annette’s Acre
I just got in from a wild goose chase. Let me explain-I had my mammogram at 11:00 and the tech was so fast she got me out of there by 11:25. (I gave her a pink crystal breast cancer awareness pin as a ‘kind gesture’ and she was really thrilled with it). So I got in the van and decided to go down the pike (rt 1) to about 4 exits to where the driver’s license photo center is. It was a nice ride as I got to see the leaves changing and all the animals like cows, horses and sheep out to pasture. My friend Zoey thought I lived in a more urban area, no way! I talk about Philly a lot but I do not want to live there. So I got to the center, it’s closed on Mondays! Terrific! But I did get a buy one get one free whooper for Sean and me for lunch with the remainder of the Entertainment.com coupons. Looks like we are having a light din din tonight.
Bri finally checked out the Powerball lottery ticket from last night-get this-we had 3 matching numbers-so we won $7!!! Wow-lucky seven. (We didn’t have the powerball). If we had matched 4-$100 and 5-$200,000! Can you believe that? So close, the closest we’ve been since we’ve been playing weekly (about a year now). It’s fun, it benefits senior citizens and it’s definitely not like Atlantic City’s slots.
I didn’t do too much today. I had to rearrange my sidebar and republish the blog like 10 times. I hope you like my countdown ticket. That was hard to find. I had to shrink it down along with a few other badges. I also made some postcards as a group of pals on tribe and me are exchanging them. I can’t wait to see what they come up with and I hope they picked Halloween too. : )
Bri finally got out the Sirius radio his dad got him in a promo from Atlantic City. He’s had it since February. We had $150 worth of gift cards and it only cost us $7 out of pocket for a year. I want Bri to put it in his car, but he wants to use it in the house to get use to it. I wouldn’t mind hearing some of the talk shows, etc. I hear are on there.
On the spur of the moment last night, genius me decided to see how the new oven self-cleaned without opening the manual. I pushed a few buttons and got it to do a light clean. It got somewhat smokey and smelly in here. I finally did get out the manual and it said to take out the racks-ahh-I didn’t. So I cancelled the clean. I have to wipe the racks off a bit, but it really didn’t clean anything-15 minutes wasn’t long enough to do so. And the ovens ‘lock’, so I had to wait for an hour to see what was going on. I forgot to mention I was only trying to clean the little top oven. I think I’ll wait a while until it is really dirty. I don’t tend to make too much of a mess in the oven unless I forget to put a pan under something and it boils over.
I believe my ‘new’ blogger look (to me and Lynn at least) is from the IE7. I will move or delete the bigger items in the sidebar. Thanks for those of you who replied. Do you know what you are using? Lynn said Foxfire. I heard that it was a good.
Collages & Creative Goodness 