Dishrag Tag and Costumes of the Day!

One more post about Dishrag Tag, and I promise that this will be the last about this (until next year, that is!).

But, I received my prizes for the second place team in the mail, and I just had to share them with you!!

This is reversible small project bag--perfect for carrying a dishcloth or sock project!

And here are three lemon drop stitch markers!! They are really, really pretty--prettier than my picture!!

So, on to the news that I know you have all been waiting for--yes, the kitty moved!!!! Yeah--go kitty!!

There is one thing I don't understand though, and that is how I managed to gain this weight overnight, and it seems to be taking so long to lose it!!

So, now I'll move on to yesterday at my work. Now, I know that this is a controversial issue for some, but every year at my work we dress in costume for Halloween. This is used for a good purpose--to bring an office staff that is sometimes divided together. And our patient's love it!! People will call to find out which day we are dressing up and schedule appointments for that day just so they can see what we've done this year.

Then we always have a potluck luncheon--all of us eating together when we usually eat in shifts. It's just a fun day and a great tension reliever in a sometimes stress filled office.

So, without further ado, I will introduce some of our characters for the day:

Here we have Little Bo Peep!!


Our resident cowgirl!

The office jester!

These two are ready for the 50's dance tonight!!

And who is this?? Well, I don't even want to say--but it is me--in the get-up that my daughter decided upon for me!! I don't really know who or what I am, but I sure did get a lot of laughs!!

K--that's all for a while!!

Beth

Oh, To Be a Cat! and DRT Update!

I was getting ready for work on Monday, went into the bathroom, took my shower and returned to my bedroom. What do you think I found in there?

TWO LAZY KITTIES!!

This is Miles, better known as "The Sock Destroyer".



This is Scout, and yes, she is as huge as she looks in this picture!

These two have the life, I tell you! Eat, sleep, being pet and pampered! Miles is only 6 1/2 months old, so he is rather active--running here and there--getting into all kinds of things. Right now, he is trying (no, he really is--hold on, I have to go get him!) climbing the screen in my bedroom window!!

Scout is 8 years old, and she is getting rather lazy. Miles keeps her on her toes though. He loves to chase her around, so at least she is getting some exercise!

I have to tell you this--when I walked in on Monday to finish getting ready for work and saw these two sleeping so peacefully in my bed, it was all I could do not to just crawl in there with them!

I'll be back after work to post Thankful Thursday and hopefully updates on Dishrag Tag. It's official--Deuces Wild box arrived at Emily's yesterday. They have been in front all through this competition, and they are very deserving of the win.

We're hoping our box arrives today for second place!

K--that's all for a while!!

Beth

Just a Little Bit More on Dish Rag Tag

As you can see from the bars on the left, Dishrag Tag is coming to its completion. There are three teams whose progress bars are complete, and one of them is my team! We are the Rag-Taggers, the next to the last team in the progress bars.

All three of these boxes are on their way home--we're just waiting to see whose will arrive first!! I'll be sure and keep you updated. Our box was mailed yesterday afternoon, so it should reach home by Wednesday!

Prizes are involved here--a project bag, stitch markers, a special tape measure. However, when I think about Dishrag Tag, I realize that the greatest prize that I have received from joining this adventure is not the prizes themselves.

The greatest prize was meeting and interacting with a great group of people who encouraged and cheered each other on, people who I would never have met otherwise.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all this encouragement and the positive comments carried over into our everyday lives? That's the way it should be--cheering each other on continually--not grumbling and complaining about things we generally can do nothing about. Maybe our day-to-day life would be a little more pleasant.

K--that's all for a while!

Beth

Belated Labor Day--A Little DRT News

We had our belated Labor Day picnic at work today. But, it wasn't joyful as it was supposed to be. I can't go into any details--just know that there has been some turmoil at my work that created a kind of dismal fog over our celebration. Enough about this!

The person that I was to start training yesterday did arrive home safely from Texas. Her family there is fine, and for that I am thankful. She wasn't able to fly out of Houston because of too much debris on the runways. But, she is home now, at work today, and so we began her training. So far, she seems to like our place of work, and that is a good thing. We are short staffed and need people who are willing to work, willing to be part of a team.

And another item on Dishrag Tag--My team is tied for second place with two other teams, so right things are looking up for our team! Anything could happen though--a cranky mail carrier, weather delays, knots in yarn, blistered thumbs (like my right thumb is now!!).

You would think that with all the dishcloths and hot pads that I have made, that I would have thought to grab one of them before reaching into that microwave and having plastic and brown sugar melted onto my thumb--now wouldn't you? I was just in a hurry and not thinking, and that's all there is to that.

K--that's all for a while!

Beth

A Little More on Dish Rag Tag

All I can say is WOW!! The person I sent the baton (box) to should have received it at her work this morning. That is what the tracking on the USPS told me.

But, did it arrive at her work this morning? Of course not!! She calls the post office and finds out that it was accidentally put into a bin headed for Pittsburgh and she is in New York!! She was so upset!! She had taken all of her knitting goodies to work with her, planning to get this accomplished over her lunch.

So she calls her local post office, and guess what? The box is sitting there!! Off she goes during her lunch time, picks up the box, and gets the entire thing finished and mailed out to the next person by the 5:45 p.m. mail pick-up!! Way to go!!!

We're having a picnic at my work tomorrow--a belated Labor Day celebration. Everybody signs up to bring something. I stopped at the store on my way home to pick up ingredients to make baked beans. I knew I had brown sugar at home.

Get home--start cooking the bacon and the onions. Take the brown sugar out, and it is hard as a rock!! So, into the microwave with this to soften it up a little. Back to the bacon and onions to stir them around a little. Open the cans of beans, dump them into the crock pot. Go to get the brown sugar out of the microwave........OUCH!!! The plastic bag that it was in got so hot that it started to melt, and a piece of it melted onto my thumb!! Oh, it really hurts!!

I'm glad that I hadn't planned on knitting this evening. I don't think I'd be able to with this blister that is running up the entire side of my thumb.

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have some pics of our at work picnic!!

I was supposed to start training someone new today, but the poor girl went to Texas to see her first grandchild, and she is stranded there because of Ike! I'm just thankful that she and her family are fine.

K--that's all for a while!!

Beth

Beef Stew

Yesterday, I said that I would share my favorite beef stew recipe. Since fall is on the way, winter soon to follow, I'll be making this quite a few times. Believe it or not, I've had this recipe since I was in Home Economics class in 9th grade!!

So, here we go:

Ingredients:

About 2 pounds of stew beef cubes
1 small can of tomato soup
2 tablespoons of instant tapioca
1 slice of white bread, torn into somewhat cube shaped pieces (It really doesn't matter about the size--just tear it up!)
potatoes
carrots
onions
celery

Preheat the oven to 250 (yes, that's right--250). Mix together the tomato soup, 1 and 1/2 cans of water, the tapioca and the bread. Cut up the potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. You don't have to peel the potatoes if you don't want to. Me, I prefer not to peel potatoes!! I use however much of the veggies that I like--if you like more taters, use more taters!! If you like more onions or carrots, you can just use more of them. That's the beauty of this recipe--you can use however much of whatever!!

Place the veggies and the meat in a roaster pan. Pour the tomato soup mixture over the meat and veggies. Mix it all together and cover with a lid.

Place the roaster pan into the preheated 250 oven for 5 (five) hours!! DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN, DO NOT STIR--DO NOT DO ANYTHING!!

After 5 hours, take the roaster pan out of the oven, stir once and dinner is ready!! I usually serve this with my grandmother's baking powder biscuits. I particularly love this on a cool fall evening or for some reason, when it's snowing!!

That's it!! It's easy, quick to prepare and only one pan to clean up. I like to make this on a Saturday around noon and then just forget about it until it's time to eat!!

Just a quick note about my son's foot--he is feeling somewhat better today. This is going to take time to heal. He has been staying off his foot for the most part. Up and around for a little bit not too long ago, and it started to throb again. But the swelling is starting to go down and it's not quite as red.

And, oh--I didn't receive the DRT box today--probably tomorrow--so I'll have some pics to share since I now have the UB cable (I still like camera thingy majingy) and batteries!!

TAGGED!!!

YES!!!! I have been tagged in Dish Rag Tag!! This means I should be receiving the box probably by Thursday. This is my plan--receive the box--knit.....knit......knit.......dishcloth finished!! Off to the handy-dandy mailing machine at the post office and ship the box off again--all in the same evening!! I hope it gets here Thursday and not Friday. I have plans for Friday night, but I tell you this much--I would put my plans on hold for DRT!! This team has just been awesome!!

We're supposed to put a little gift in the box to mail to the next person. I wanted to send something that was only from Pennsylvania. Someone at my work suggested lebanon bologna!! I can just imagine how the yarn would smell by the time it reached the next person.

I'm thinking more along the lines of something from Hershey, but then again I'm afraid the chocolate would melt. Hmmmmm.......any ideas????

As for my son---he did come in to visit the doctor today. My diagnosis was correct---he does have cellulities as well as an abscess on his toe. He has to be on antibiotics for 10 days and use a cream also. Hopefully, this will do the trick.

I called around to a couple of different drugstores for prices for the antibiotic. The highest store was $43.99 and the lowest was $17.99. Now, I wonder about this--why is there such a huge difference for the exact same medication?

Well, I'm off to create a few things. I'm getting ready to add some things to my Etsy shop. There's free shipping for the month of September, and I'm thinking of continuing that on to October just because this is my favorite time of year.

A friend of mine has a list on her blog about why she likes this time of year, and I have to agree with every item on her list. She happened to mention the different foods we eat at this time of year as compared to the summer--stews, soups, etc.

Tomorrow, I'll share the best and easiest beef stew recipe I've ever come across.

Oh, and remember the Prayer Journal. If you want to be a participant of this, please drop me an e-mail. That way, when everything is all ready, you can be added on to the list of participants. I'm still thinking of names--any help with that is appreciated also. This is for all of us, so I'd really like your input as to what you would like to see and not see in this journal.

K--that's all for a while!

Beth