Ironing Things Out

(nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, as the Three Stooges used to say)  First thing, I took my Black Bean shawl to knit on last night and kept having an extra stitch on the knit side but the correct number of stitches on the purl side.  I was frustrated so KW grabbed my pattern and said, "I'll read, you knit."  Immediately the problem was found.  Where it said "slip, slip, slip, knit" (sssk) I was only doing "slip, slip, knit" (ssk).  It took all of my self-control not to wham my forehead on the table.  I still find myself forgetting the last yarn over on the knit side once in a while but I'll get the hang of this, don't you worry.  One thing ironed out.

Next, the Weight Watchers cookbooks Durwood and I ordered came yesterday.  I want to make everything in the one with recipes for one or two people.  Every. Thing.  Except for the yummy-looking desserts that "cost" 11 or 12 points per serving.  I'm not willing to spend that quantity on something so fleeting.  I'll cook up a quick cherry crisp in the microwave instead, that only costs 4 points--plus FRUIT.  Aanyway, a couple of the most appealing main dishes ask you to cook the meat in a grill pan.  We don't have a grill pan.  Then I remembered that a couple weeks earlier Goodwill had a whole aisle of brand new cast iron cookware, so I hotfooted it over there to see if there was any left.  Voila!  There were a few skillets, a couple of griddles, and three grill pans, one of which now resides in our kitchen, and it was $17.99.  Yes, a brand new cast iron pan for less than twenty bucks.  I just googled some reviews and the brand isn't well-reviewed but I figure for a grill pan that we'll use every once in a while, this might just do the trick, and if it's crap I didn't spend a lot since I used my $5 Good Points credit so it was really $12.99.  Second thing ironed out.  Get it?  "Ironed" out.  (I crack myself up.)

A knitting friend stopped over early this morning for some rhubarb and a sprig of bay leaves.  I trimmed some herbs for her too and noticed this.  It's one of the Health Kick, extra lycopene, tomatoes getting red so I turned it for Durwood to keep an eye on.  Woohoo!  While trimming herbs for KW I thought I should trim all of the stems so they bush out instead of being so leggy.  I kept the trimmings separate and made an herb bouquet for my friend KS.  We're meeting for lunch and knitting today.  Speaking of that, I need to drive off in about 15 minutes so I'd better type faster--or think less.

July 30--Skip Brown, Ches Bay Canoe Racing.  Life along the water was ever moving, ever changing.  Anita couldn't imagine living where there were no sailboats, no fishing boats, no freighters out on the horizon.  She tried to take photos of the gulls that wheeled and squawked after the fishermen but all she got were blurry specks in a too blue sky.  The storms were epic.  The sky would fill with clouds blown into piles by the wind.  Waves would rise as if by magic to fling themselves against the rocky cove below her house.  Her sister lived in a small suburban house with nothing but a birdbath view and not enough sky to make a good-size quilt.

And that, kids, is that.  For today anyway.  I've got my WW food packed and bags of baby carrots, grapes, and blueberries for snacks.  I'm not going to pretend that I won't slip a time or two but I'm doing what I can to stay the course.  Since it should be a lifelong course, it's about time I knuckled down and got busy eating better, eating more of the foods that I really love and that make me feel good.  End of rant.  I'm off.
--Barbara