Quick and Easy Dishcloths

Who doesn't do dishes?
I sure hope no one raised their hand - gross!
Just kidding.
Doing dishes is part of having a home and making food. Even if you have a dishwasher, there are still some dishes that need to be washed by hand, or you just need a dishcloth to wipe up spills and crumbs on the counter and table.
Now you can use an old rag for this task, or you can use something more fun and cute.
And that is where the quick and easy dishcloths come in.
I have been making these for years. I have a really hard time sitting still to watch TV. Sometimes it is hard for me to relax and not do anything else, so often times I will knit while I'm watching TV or a movie with M. This little dishcloths are so simple that I can do them without even looking. They knit up very quickly too. Two dishcloths can be made from one ball of cotton yarn (three if it's plain colored yarn and not variegated)
They make great housewarming presents, or bridal shower or wedding presents. I build up a stash of them, especially during the winter, and then when something comes up, I just grab a pair in a color that fits with the recipient and wrap them with a ribbon and go. Nice and easy, just the way I like it.

What you Need
1 Ball Sugar and Cream Yarn
1 Pair of size 7 knitting needles

Pattern
CO 4 stitches
Row 1 - Knit across
Row 2 - Knit 2, YO, Knit to end of row
Repeat Row 2 until you have 43 stitches
Next row - Knit 1, K2Tog, YO, K2T, knit to end of row
Repeat until you have seven stitches remaining
Knit 1, K2Tog, slip sitch, K2Tog, pass slipped stich over, knit to end
You should end with five stitches.
Bind off 2 and 3 stitches together.


YO = yarn over
K2Tog = Knit 2 together


If you have any questions, please let me know.
*If you are not a knitter, I am working on getting some items set up on an etsy shop. If you are interested, let me know in the comments section and we can work something out.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

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Valentines day Cards

I love love love to make Valentines day cards :)  Everyone, even if they don't have a sweetheart, deserve a happy note on Valentines day.  Plus, who doesn't love to get something in the mail that isn't a bill.  Now that my Madison friend has taught me a bit about card making, I decided to put some of those skills to use to make this year's edition of a Valentines day card.
I got my inspiration for this card from Pinterest.

Happy day after Valentines day!  (I couldn't share this early because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for any of my friends who might be reading the blog)

And now, I'm off on my honeymoon :)  - so no posts for the next week or so (or for a little while anyway).  Everyone stay warm!

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Twitter?

I never got into Twitter personally, but I thought I would give it a try for the blog to share my ideas in another social media avenue.
Fee free to follow me

@PeanutAdventure

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Roasted Red Potatoes

I know I haven't posted any recipes for awhile.  January was a pretty hectic month in our household with M working nearly non-stop (nights and all weekends included).  I was busy taking care of other things, so didn't have much time for blogging, plus I didn't feel like cooking just for one.
But in any event, that is behind us and I have a couple of recipes to share with you coming up, starting with this easy way to fancy up some potatoes.

Ingredients
3 medium round red potatoes
2 Tablespoons Oil
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 clove garlic, minced

Take 3 medium size potatoes (about 1 lb), wash them and chop them up into bit sized pieces.  Place potatoes in a greased 9x9 pan.
In a small bowl, mix oil, onion powder, and garlic.

Drizzle the oil mixture over the potatoes and stir to coat.

Roast in the oven at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.  Stir, and then bake another 10 minutes until the potatoes are tender.  

Enjoy!

*Tip - if you are in a  hurry, you can roast the potatoes at 425 for 25-30 minutes, stirring two or three times to ensure even cooking.

Recipe adapted from : Better Home and Gardens cookbook


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January Update

So... I set some lofty goals at the beginning of the year (I still don't really want to call them resolutions... resolutions too often get broken.  So... I set goals.  I just happened to set them on Jan. 1st)
How am I doing?
Let's take a look.

1. Be active everyday - at least do something! I'm good about being active during the week and hitting the gym - the weekends, not so much. I'd like to change that.
Take a look - I did pretty good with staying active!  I only missed two days.  This goal has been harder than I thought it would be.  I knew the weekends would be a bit of a challenge, but it's also hard to get up and do something when its been SO cold outside (like below zero cold several nights recently and last week)

2. Run 400 miles. I'm worried this might be too much of a stretch for me, considering I don't go much more than 3 miles ever (three times a week), but I can give it a try! I ran about 250 in 2012, so maybe I can be a little more consistent and up my mileage in 2013.
I ran 36.61/400 miles.  Making slow but sure progress
I figured if I run about 35 miles a month, I will hit this goal.  To be exact, I need to run 33.3 miles every month.  Hopefully in the summer I'll be able to run a bit more.  And hopefully a week off next month for my honeymoon will not set me back too far (and will give my sore hip a chance to heal!)

3. Run my first 5K since high school cross country.
Nope

4. Finish my prayer shawl for St. Mary's Hospital
Nope, didn't get a chance to work on this one this month.

5. Knit 5 Chemo caps
Got 1 done!  1/5 completed

6. Finish one of my other UFO knitting projects
Didn't happen this month

7. Take two masters classes - I am very unmotivated about working towards my master's but I know I should be taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement at Connections Academy
I registered for a class to start in March

8. Visit one new city or state
This will probably happen in the summer

9. Be a better wife (I know, it's vague), but somedays I don't feel like I do that well in this area. Maybe I'm still getting the hang of it since I've only been married 2 1/2 months.
This was something I worked hard at this month since M was working so much and I was trying to make things easier for him.  Somedays I did better than others.  No huge successes or failures in this area

10. Be kinder to myself. M keeps telling me that I'm too hard on myself and need to relax some and be nicer to myself and everything will be ok. We both know that being kind to yourself can be tough, but I want to try to make some improvements in this area.
Still working on this one.  Given the chaos that has been my job, it's hard to stay positive.  Matt is helping me and I did have a small success this week when I was able to let something go instead of beating myself up about it (my computer is trying to die on me and I'm not taking it well)

On a side note, I've hit over 1000 page views since I started my blog - wow!  Thanks everyone for reading :)

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