Can I make a Cabbage Roll?

My first attempt at making Cabbage Rolls.

I only got 6 full leaves off of the head of cabbage but I think I learned some good things to do next time to get more. So I made the extra meat into "meat"balls and cooked them in with it. Other than that I think it was a complete success. I will do a few things different next time but I'm not too worried because this is how the pan looked at the end of the night.

How I made them

Parboil the head of cabbage for 6 minutes in salty water. (Next time I will do 4 or 5 minutes, take it out and get off the first few and then put it back in for a few more minutes. This made the leaves very easy to work with and a great consistency when they were done but I couldn't get enough leaves off easily with just doing the whole head for 6 minutes.)

Meat mixture

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 c. rice( I did the same as I do for stuffed peppers, I used Premium Minute Rice and did not precook it.Yes that's may lazy streak showing through. I actually do like the texture in the end better though doing it this way.)

3 T. of a can of tomato soup

3 T. of a can of diced tomatoes

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. brown sugar

1 package of Lipton Onion soup mix

     Mix together and split between 8 cabbage leaves. (I only came up with 6 good pieces so like I said I made the rest into "meat"balls) Roll the cabbage leaves around the meat creating a seam across the top

Sauce

Mix together the remainder of the tomato soup and the diced tomatoes. Put this in the pan first and then lay the cabbage rolls in it. (Next time I think I will use a can of tomato sauce too so that we will have more of the sauce.)

Will you bring me some chips,please?

Mr. Perfect(ly Stubborn) wouldn't listen to my advice Saturday night so Sunday morning he couldn't even stand up straight because his back was hurting. He made it to church Sunday Morning but couldn't hold out through Sunday night. I was a little worried about him so I kept my phone in the pew with me rather than leaving it in my purse (something I don't normally do). As a result these were the texts I saw during the service.
   
     *Will you bring me some chips,please

     *Have I told you lately how much I love you

     *Need milk

     *Lee and Tiffany are coming on

     *High low

I would look at the screen thinking something was going to be wrong but no, not once. Just his craziness. Next time he will be suffering in silence.

What's the latest, greatest thing my kids are involved with?

CAP

Civil Air Patrol

This is the opportunity that it brought them today.

At this point the way they found their way to this organization is a little bit of a sore spot for me because I ended up feeling used but I'm not sorry because it is awesome for them. It is sponsored by the Air Force and is held at our local airport, which is barely an airport. They are learning so much and I am so proud of them. Getting to see them march in the Veteran's Day Parade today was a wonderful experience. 

Hats Anyone?

Everyone loved the Hat that I made to go with the Daisy blanket  but I had never attempted to make an adult hat so I had something new to learn. I found a few patterns online and some guidelines to go by for sizes but I couldn't find anything that was exactly what I wanted it to be. So, I worked with it until it was what I wanted. I'm actually starting to like making my own patterns up. They aren't amazing or awe inspiring but they are what I want them to be and work better for the way I like to crochet. Once I got the basics of what I wanted down I started trying to give people what they wanted.

A light colored one with a big red flower.
I must say it looked absolutely fabulous on
it's owner.

And a Celtics hat. I really had a blast figuring this one out.

I can't wait to do more in the future. I absolutely love this Hat thing!!

What can you learn from Mono?

A little over a month ago, on my birthday no less, I was diagnosed with Mono. This has got to be one of the worst things I have ever had but there are a few good things that came from it.
     1. The world will not end if I wear pajama pants to the store.
I am a staunch protester of going out in public in your pajama's or any other ill-advised outfits but I did it. Guess what? The world did not end. Actually no one even noticed. It will not be a habit though.
     2. You can NOT dry socks in the microwave.
My poor husband has been awesome through this whole thing but laundry wasn't really a priority for me during those first few weeks. So while trying to find a way to quickly dry his socks we all learned that putting them in the microwave will only catch them on fire. This is knowledge that will serve us well in the future.
     3. My children do know how to clean house.
After all these years of pretending that they couldn't do anything more than their bottom line chores, when the going got tough, they actually pitched in and did quite a bit of cleaning. This knowledge will serve me but not them well in the future.
     4.  As much as I think I would love to not have anything to do, it's just not true.
The first few weeks I didn't do much more than sleep and didn't really have a choice. The next few weeks were rough. I have watched every show and movie that I can stomach. As much as I love crocheting, there is a point where enough is enough. I found myself thinking "Is there not some errand that just can't wait?" and "I really just want to sweep the floors!". I'm feeling a lot better now but still have to be careful to not over do it and some days I just want to get up and clean my house from top to bottom. Most of the time my life is so busy that I don't have time to breathe. Through this I have learned that I wouldn't want it any other way.

The solution for my Crazy Hair?

A: Headbands

 I made myself a cute little matching set of the fingerless gloves and a hat to wear when I walk in the mornings as it gets colder. One big problem, My crazy curly hair keeps a hat from staying on my head. So I started to buy me one of those fancy headbands that are made just for this (keeping your ears warm when your crazy enough to exercise in the cold). While I was looking at them I realized that I could make something like that if I wanted. As usual I started looking for patterns online and couldn't find exactly what I wanted so this one I created completely from scratch. It was immediately  taken by my beautiful daughter so I had to make her one. 

Then I made a few more for gifts for Senior night for the girls on her volleyball team.

Complete with fingerless gloves.

 I found this pattern as a pamphlet at the craft store. The original pattern that I followed in the photo to the left uses sock yarn. I love these gloves, everyone loves these gloves but making them with the sock yarn took about 6 hours for each pair so I decided to try to write a pattern of my own that would use larger weights of yarn and not take as much time. It took me a few tries to get it right but I did.

And these are the result.

I love them, everyone loves them.

It only takes me 3-4 hours to make a pair now. I really love that!!

And of course there has to be a Blue and Gold pair!!!!