So many projects happening

I just finished working on an ATC "3 French Hens" . Got my inspiration from a Pennsylvania Dutch design. Used red and green colors for the Christmas season. This is part of a set of 12 Days of Christmas ATC's being made for Swapbot. I really wonder if it will be completed. It is hard to get people to follow through with a year long project.
I thought Joe was going out to play tennis today but it is too cold. I heard we have rain again this afternoon?
My bookclub book came in yesterday's mail and I read a little of it last night after watching Project Runway. It will be a fun book to read. I was already laughing in the first 17 pages. I am tired of watching reality shows where everyone is tense and fighting with eachother.
I got my next set of Midsomer Murders and have been enjoying one each afternoon before cooking dinner. I read someplace that Johnny Depp and the Queen both like Midsomer Murders. How funny. I am on a quest to aquire all of the 1-14 season series. I have 4 so far. They are pretty expensive, so I will spread them out over time. I love visiting the English country side and little villages. If I can't be there in person this feels like a good alternative. The actors are charming to watch. I tried reading one of the Midsomer books but my goodness they did drag on. Slower then molasses. Sort of like old Sherlock Holmes' movies.
I phoned a couple of people from my book group and they seem to be very excited about the Tea Party. One of the members has never been to a tea party before so this will be a treat for her. The room we are having it in is really beautiful and has a long oval table we can all fit around. I am getting a box of things together that we will need for a tea party. Plates, sugar cubes, napkins, teaspoons. Yada, yada, yada.

A new day

I was pleased and alarmed after listening to Barack Obama's speech last night. I was glad he said what he thought about people helping the country or not and I was alarmed because he said those same things and upset the Republicans and those few idiot Judges. I wish people would get on board and help this President out. A lot of greed by people got the world in the state it's in and I don't think it is right of people to blame Obama for not saving their asses. People need to figure it out for themselves and figure out how they can change their thinking, fix their lives and help others.
Aside from politics the weather is sunny. Soon it will even be sunny on our house. I bought Joe a bunch of vegetable seeds to plant in our garden this summer. I even got a few he can plant in March. I got them for his birthday present, I will see how this goes over...lol.
I really need a new book to read. I have hundreds to choose from but I am still holding out for book club choice. It didn't come in the mail yesterday. What did come in the mail was a great little Valentine, an ATC Valentine. That was fun to get. That is why I like doing these swaps on the computer. I get surprises in the mail. I found great Dove candy to put on the Valentine's I am working on. They are hearts in pink foil. They are a perfect addition.
I gave one of my 29 gifts out yesterday. I had this half of a box of 12 cokes that I had bought and it was the wrong kind???How do I keep doing that? I was thinking all the way to town who I could give it to. I pulled into the Rite Aid parking lot and there was a young girl with a husband and a baby sitting in the car next to me. I asked them if they wanted the coke. They were a little confused but the girl said she would take the sodas. I told her to pass them on to someone else if it was something she didn't like. It is fun to make someone have a unusual experience.

Come and go

Going out today to get groceries. Looks like the rain stopped for a couple of days...I'm dropping off some books at the mobile home park down the road. I am using them as part of my "29 days of gift giving". Everyday I am looking for my book club book "My Family and Other Animals" to arrive in the mail. No luck yet. The company emailed and said they sent it on the 20th of January, I am mostly just excited to get it, it will be here in a couple of days. I have finished my ATC's for my local group and the Valentine cards for my book group. I am pleased with them. I realized that the past two recipe books that I put together from the book group were pretty scattered. This past year is the third year and the best so far because the same person that picked the book also made the recipe page. I looked at the past two recipe books and I can't tell which person picked which books to read. Every year we seem to do it better.

Rainy day

A January day. This year we are having a lot of rain. The cats have cabin fever and are bugging us bigtime. We may need to start keeping them out of the bedroom at night. Ebby jumps on and off of us every 2 minutes wanting food at 6 in the morning.

The last few days I have been working on getting my mom's laptop up and running in the front room. I ordered a tiny Canon printer to hook up to the laptop. Hopefully I can print photos from that computer. I read that the printer doesn't work with the memory card on my camera so I will try to find a way around that little problem, maybe a cord to run photos from the camera onto the laptop??? New things to learn.

The book I'm reading isn't very good so I am thinking of skimming the last part of it and moving on to another one. I have shelves of great books that are waiting for me to read. I used to read a book that I started even if it wasn't good, now I allow myself to put it down and move on. I am waiting for the Book Hag selection "My Family and other Animals" to arrive from Alibris. I have noticed that my book group is reading really good books that are more complex and I am thinking that fluff books are not that interesting right now. That may change as everything does.

I have Valentine cards to make for my friends. One card down and 8 more to go. I had major trouble with the gold doilies I'm using. The die-cut machine that stamped them out mushed them together so tightly that the little holes stuck and they are almost impossible to get seperated without riping. I will be on the lookout for some small candy to use on the cards.

Berries in the freezer

Everyday I think about the berries in the freezer. Joe picked them in August so they need to be used soon. Today I have found 2 recipes that sound great. One is from Food and Wine magazine and is a Blackberry lime-cream pie. This lead to a cooking club out of San Francisco called Cook Here and Now. Sounds like a great club to belong to. If I lived close to the city it would be fun. Anyway, the recipe was created by a woman in the club. Sounds easy enough but I don't have powered gelatin to go with my blackberries. Make a mental note to get some when I go shopping on Wednesday.
If I want to lose weight I sure don't need to make pie.