Ups and Downs of Normal Life

 Everybody has ups and downs and I am no exception.  This week has already seen some ups and downs from cooking to sewing.  In the cooking category the up portions were getting a bit more organized, crockpot cooking, making hummus, and stocking the freezer.  The down parts were having to do dishes (no dishwasher except for me) more often, alternating what to cook in my 2 crockpots, eating the hummus too quickly, and running out of room in the freezer.  I adjust though and carried on.  I only have the freezer which is part of my old refrigerator so I can only fit so many containers in it.  Guess that means I will be having more soups and such this coming week because I like to cook on Sundays.  New additions to the freezer have been

Ground Sirloin and mushroom marinara

black bean soup
15 bean soup
navy bean soup

(Do you get the idea I'm in a soup mood?)

My hummus didn't stick around long enough for me to freeze it.  I finally broke down and bought some tahini but only after I did some research on would it be cheaper to make it or to buy it and also found out that it can be frozen.  The cost to make it vs. buy it was about the same so I decided why make more work for myself so I bought the pre-made tahini.  Wouldn't you know that the first hummus I tried to make on my own didn't even use tahini?  It turned out great though.  If you need some ideas on different types of hummus to make here are a few that I found.

  

 You might have to download the pictures so you can enlarge them to read on how to make the hummus.  Off to the store to get the ingredients for the Italian hummus which turned out great!

While I was at the store, I decided to pick up some small containers of spices and knowing that some of the recipes only called for 1/4 teaspoon of certain spices I finally discovered jello shot containers with lids.  They were the perfect size to put my spices in.  The problem came when I tried to get off the top of the lids of the .5 oz size containers so that I could put the spice in its new home.  After spilling a lot of my allspice, I managed to figure it out and now have smaller, easier to use and see, containers.

Flushed with victory, I decided to try and do some sewing also.  This cat pattern (Pins and Paws from MSQC) is going to be a mini wall hanging for a friend for Christmas.

THEN I decided to push my luck and work on a small fabric box.  The instructions seemed easy enough.  I started and finished it last night.  I did have a small scare during the last step but I missed my finger so wasn't injured.

The fabric box started out around 8" and ended up around 3".  I have it in my office today and it is holding my paperclips.  The first pre-cut fabric (I was being lazy) my hands found was denim so I thought I'd use that.  It worked out great but by the time I was done hand sewing on buttons and the flaps down on the inside, my fingers were TIRED!  Tonight I will make one with lighter fabric and see how it goes.

This is a small size (3") but it is just the right size to hold my stork scissors as well as my larger clips.  I will experiment with different size squares and see how they turn out.

That's my report today.  I have to get back to work.  I do have a cute picture to share with you.  My friend Simon has an adorable puppy dog.  His name is Maximilian or Max.  This picture is taken at the vets office where he received a clean bill of health.  He now weighs 55.8 kg or 123 pounds.  Doesn't he look happy?

I hope that picture made you smile.  I know that I smile whenever I look at it.  Have a great day everybody!