You won't believe this!

I have a pest service but right now I am being "invaded"....yep....invaded by "voles".  Remember the dead copperhead I found on the street?  (Yes, one of my bloggers identified it as a copperhead NOT a rattlesnake).  Anyway, I thought that was odd as I have never seen one out in the open in the 10 or 11 years I've been here.  I know we have them but they tend to shy away from humans.  Anyway, the city had been mowing the parkways with a big machine and evidently it disturbed not just the copperhead but drove some voles into my yard.  Voles are smaller than rats but bigger than mice and can proliferate like mice and ruin trees and gardens etc. 
So, I've called Terminex and they are coming tomorrow but in the meantime I noticed  the cat hanging out in the laundry room and then peeking under the frig and dish washer.  Sure enough, while I was reading in bed she brought me a present and dropped it on my bed and it wasn't dead!!!  It ran on my bed and jumped off the side (thank you Lord!) and after it she went.  It was evidently under my bookcase  as that's where she hung out for the next 1/2 hour until I finally had to put her outside my room and close the door.  I was worried she would "re-catch"  it and try and "re-gift" me in the night.  To say I did not sleep well knowing there was a critter under my bookcase is a vast understatement.  I am like a zombie today and evidently the mouse is still under the bookcase as Grace is back in there "stalking".  I'm not afraid of mice I just don't like surprises when I am in bed drifting off to sleep.  I have had some bad experiences with mice in the past which I won't go into right now but trust me they are not welcome in my house.  There will be no pictures today and for that you should be very grateful! 

Lazy, hazy days of summer..........

I've been trying to clean house for company coming the end of the month so that's nothing to blog about unless you want "before and afters"?  Actually....at my house they can be pretty dramatic.
I did manage to make a strawberry shortcake yesterday and it was fantastic....I tried a new(to me) recipe from Alicia Paulson  


Shortcake
2 c. flour
2 T. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. cold butter, cubed
1 beaten egg
2/3 c. half-and-half
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine the egg and half-and-half, and add all at once to the dry ingredients, stirring with fork just to moisten. Spread dough in a buttered 8" round cake pan, building up the edges a bit. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Remove from pan and cool slightly. Slice cake horizontally and spread butter on inside layer. Add sweetened strawberries and whipped cream.

 I made homemade whipped cream to go with it along with the fresh sweetened strawberries...........yum!

Happy Trails!  Back I go to cleaning!

YOP Sunday #1

 

Well....here we are....Year of Projects 2014-2015....and look how far we've come with new skills, new friends and new accomplishments to show for our efforts.  This had been a wonderful experience for me and so with out further adeiu......let the show begin! (music fanfare, drum roll...etc.)
 I'm not going to waste time on all my WIP's and some projects that didn't even get off the ground last year...those are still hanging around but for this first edition of YOP2014-2015 I am going to focus on the new and trending...for me anyway. (another drum roll and more music fanfare).

YOP 2014-2015 Official List of Dreams Projects:
Areas of Operation are:
1.  Christmas
2.  Birthdays
3.  Special Occasions
4.  Holidays
5.  Charity
6.  Skills and Techniques
7.  Clothing
8.  Household
9.  Decorations
10.Miscellaneous

Those are my categories and not all of them will have an entry but I like to use them as they help me remember people and things I don't want to forget such as pets, anniversaries, and me!  LOL!
Also, there are specific items I want to make such as; this year there will be (hopefully) more socks and a shawl which I've never done and more toys, as I am really enjoying those and I can't leave out a new blanket as you know how I love me a new blanket!  It's been quite the project just to organize and narrrow down  as I make almost all gifts so that means I need to know what everyone is going to get for Christmas, birthdays, etc. 
I tagged my projects this year in my "favorites" as 201415 so that I can easily see what lies in my future!  As I begin each project they will be moved to my "project" page.  There are 51 projects which means about 1 per week...well....we know that's not going to happen but in my defense I have duplicate patterns of (for example) hedgehog mittens as I haven't decided which pattern I am going to use.
I will also be doing some projects from the following books but since those aren't on Ravelry, I will document those as I go.  Here are the books I will be knitting/crocheting out of (excluding one from last year that I couldn't lay my hands on at the moment):
This book has the pattern that I will be using for my daughter and son-in-laws blanket that I was making for the 5th time from a pattern she chose that I just could not work with the Homespun (yarn from hell).  I am trying this pattern in this book as I have done several blankets from it in the past and loved it.

Only one item from this book and it is the Frida Kahlo amigurumi doll for my daughter who is an art teacher and Frida is one of her favorite artists.

I'm making the blanket on the cover from this book and that is all.

 Let's face it.....there can never be too many socks or blankets in my book! This book has socks for everyone in every size and style.

 Ahhh...there are too many cute things in here to count.........

 I love toy making and hopefully these won't take as long as blankets! LOL!

That's it for the books and mostly they are things already on my project list below just different patterns such washcloths and potholders, etc.  
As for skills and techniques I want to learn:  1) double knitting, 2) stranded colorwork, 3) designing, 4) faster knitting as in continental, and tunisian crochet.
 So, I really did try to narrow things down but you know how that goes...........so many projects....so little time!

projects
 
Happy Trails! I'll be over later to see what the year ahead is going to be like for the rest of you YOP'ers