Visa Brouhahas

europeans are insisting on an American Visa program, and cracking down on American tourism: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/us-nationals-to-be-forced-to-apply-to-visas-eu-reciprocity/

https://www.rt.com/news/379274-eu-parliament-us-visa-reciprocity/

As far as I understood it, Americans HAVE ALWAYS HAD TO APPLY FOR VISAS WHEN TRAVELING ABROAD – at least the people I know who travel abroad have gotten Visas. This recent ridiculous and childish temper tantrum thrown by the eu is pure political bullsh*t and we will see how long that lasts … europe NEEDS America tourism; Americans do not need european tourism, though it is welcome from anyone BUT terrorist countries or terrorist supporting countries:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/02/in-possible-response-to-trump-eu-parliament-calls-to-end-visa-free-travel-for-us-citizens.html

Hubs and I are planning a cross-country visit to canada in the Spring – we’ve never been there and it’s just a few hours from our little patch of Eden … so I hope we can get across the border WITH OUR VISAS without undue hassle; if not, this little bantyhen may get a little mouthy with the guard before we change course and tour the upper end of our State: which we also have never been. Either way, we are determined to enjoy ourselves on a long over-due vacation regardless of the pettiness of europeans concerning serious American National Security and American Safety issues. europe may enjoy seeing their streets aflame and having their women and children raped and brutalized, but Americans DO NOT.

And if canada wants to join the petty party to placate their muslim minions, that is their loss … not ours. We have a beautiful State with beautiful scenery worth revisiting, as well as new scenery – and backroad towns – we can acquaint ourselves with, and boost American economy. 

Gauntlet Style Crochet Mittens

I had a rush order come in yesterday morning for mittens for an adult and a toddler to go out asap … so I went online to see what I could find that would work up quickly and keep hands from getting frostbite, and I found these little crochet mitts with slip stich self-ribbing at the wrist @ http://www.knitting-crochet.com/found/mitfou.html

This is what your work will look like once you begin working on the thumb part of the pattern.

Finished work; gauntlet mitten can be put on child before the coat so the mitten cuff can be tucked inside coat cuff … or slipped on little hands quickly and cuff left outside coat cuff if your child is a squirmy one.

Adult Mitten; this mitt looks large, but in actuality it is just slightly bigger than my hand … and I have to buy kids gloves to fit my hands. Seriously. So if you make these mittens, don’t be alarmed if the finished mitt looks larger than you think it should.

These mittens make up very quickly and are very easy to finish. It takes about 1-1/2 hours to finish one mitten for a 2-4 year old toddler; 2 hours and a bit longer for the adult sized mittens. So figure in about 3 - 4 hours to finish a pair; depending on the size you are working on. I have been crocheting for about 35 years and am pretty fast with the hook, so it may take a beginner a bit more time ;-)

The pattern implies that the mittens are to be worked entirely in crochet ribbing, but since these mittens will be going to a family where snow weather is very cold, and very prolonged, I worked my gloves in straight crochet after the slip stich wrist rib for a heavier type of mitt body without being too bulky.

I started thee mitts a little after noon, and just finished the finishing touches on the last pair about 10 minute ago – it’s 2:30 AM here, so I figures it took me 12 hours to make up 5 pair with about 2 hours taken off work to eat and clean up the kitchen. That’s a pretty good turnout :-D

MOD Indian Bullfrog Slippers

I started & finished these little slippers a couple days ago but since then both Hubs & I have been battling bronchitis – not horribly bad, but it does interfere with our days because we get so worn down – so I haven’t felt up to posting anything until now.

I used this color scheme …

Indian Bullfrog- Thailand

They worked up rather quickly, and I think they turned out pretty cute:

MOD Indian Bullfrog Slippers – BOY/Toddler  $10 PR

I feel another wave of dizziness coming on, so I’m going to knock off again. We are fairly certain that we picked up this nasty complication while at a senior gathering a week ago where everyone was either sick and coughing, or had just had their round of shots; due to personal convictions and living fully in our Faith with faith, we haven’t stepped inside a doctor’s office for the past 20 years, and we decided to forgo the scheduled senior shots; so for the time being we are going to try to avoid people who have recently rushed to get their scheduled shots and hopefully this bronchitis will quickly pass and we can get out and about again … and I can get back to designing and posting again real soon.

MOD Spotted Poison Dart Frog Slippers

Every year I chose a “theme” for my original designs, whether it be kitchen towels, sweaters, hats, mitts, booties, or slippers. I did Chameleons last year and my special/original designed Slippers went over big ... I even had repeat orders for them: calls came in before and after the Bazaar season ;-) The year before last I worked my designs around colorful sea slugs and the colorful giant maxima sea clams.

I only make 1 of each design so my customers are assured that they have bought an item no one else has; I never repeat a design. Ever … firstly, is the fact that I get bored easy and doing repeats of the same thing over and over and over would drives me nuts and take the fun out of my designing creativity; and secondly, because that is the trademark of my in-home-Shoppe business … O.R.I.G.I.N.A.L.I.T.Y.

I also made 2 very special pairs of Chameleon Slippers for my 2 year old grandson - and they were really cute on his little feet as he ran through the house :-D

This year I'll be focusing on colorfully patterned exotic frogs and lizards – that is my ‘theme’ for 2017 designs; I may try something designed after exotic flowers too, but we’ll see where things go and how much time I have to dink around before the new Bazaar season begins the end of October 2017.

I like this frog’s color scheme: and I had the yarn on hand ;-)

Spotted Poison Dart Frog

These slippers only used 2 main colors and a scrap of black for the eyes, so they worked up fairly quickly last night; I started them after Supper and finished them around midnight:

MOD Spotted Poison Dart Frog Slippers – Toddler $10 PR

DUTCH SPLIT PEA SOUP

This is a delicious soup, and my favorite when it comes to a split pea soup recipe ;-) I cook this soup all day long in my crock-pot (instruction at end of post) but I am posting the recipe as originally written in my cookbook.

Simmering this soup a long time is what gives it the rich flavor you will enjoy. The flavor also improves with age; if needed add more broth to it when reheating.

And it can be frozen.

DUTCH SPLIT PEA SOUP – 6 servings

1 pound dried green spit peas

6 cups water

4 cups (approximately) broth (chicken or beef)

¼ pound smoked pork or ham, diced

¼ cup celery, chopped with some leaves

2 leeks (white part only), thinly sliced and washed well

1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)

2-1/2 cups diced potatoes

1-1/2 cups diced carrots (2 large)

½ teaspoon salt, if desired

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Dash hot pepper sauce (Tabasco), or to taste

In a Dutch Oven pan, combine the peas and water. Bring the water to a boil, and cook the peas for 2 minutes. Remove the peas from the heat, cover the pan and let stand for 1 hour.

Add the broth, meat, celery, leeks, and onion. Bring the soup to a boil – reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer the soup for 1-1/2 hours.

Add the potatoes and carrots, and cook the soup for another 15 to 30 minutes (the peas should disintegrate). If the soup gets too thick, thin it with additional broth.

Season the soup with salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce. Serve and enjoy! :-D

*CROCK-POT DIRECTIONS: Put ALL ingredients above into the crock-pot. Set to Low and simmer 6 – 8 hours. Stir occasionally while cooking.:

**IF USING FROZEN BROTH AND VEGGIES, set crock-pot to High and cook for 6 hours. Stir occasionally while cooking.

All of the ingredients - except for the split peas - was frozen so it looks like I overfilled the crock, but once it was plugged in and turned on, the ice melted and the ingredients were easy to push down into the broth.

After I got the soup underway, I was walking through the back livingroom past the sliding glass doors, and happened to catch a glimpse of a spot of light purple near my Patio Apple Trees at the far end of the back yard: CROCUSES! What a nice Shabbat surprise :-D And there were hyacinth leaves poking out of the past Fall’s flowerbed litter mulch too:

Early Crocuses in the back flower bed; it's still too wet to weed, but the that's okay ... the tiny flowers hide the weeds for now. LOL

Hyacinth leaves pushing through in the back flowerbed

Then I walked with anticipation to the front livingroom, looked out the window, and saw that the early crocuses had come up in the front flower bed too – what a sight for winter weary eyes! So I ran and got my boots on and stepped outside to see what else was making an appearance; my eyes are so hungry for color and I can’t wait for winter drabness to be over …

Early Crocuses poking up through the shiny dark purple Ajuga ground cover in the front flowerbed

Contrasting Tulip & Ajuga leaves highlighting brilliantly in the front flowerbed

Primroses showing in the front flowerbed; a little bedraggled around the edges due to the stormy rainfall, but otherwise bravely and boldly heralding Spring on the horizon ;-)

Wild Woodland Hyacinths and Tulips in the front flowerbed

UPDATED! MOD Ranitomeya Toddler Slippers

I finished these little slippers up last night around midnight:

MOD Ranitomeya Slippers – Toddler $10 PR

And they turned out okay ;-)

Getting a picture with orange yarn is always dicey for me – when I use a flash, I get flashback … but when I don’t use a flash I get a dark picture that is unusable. But I liked this color scheme so I chanced the orange ...

Crocheting the mouth line took a considerable amount of time; more than I would have thought necessary, but I am pleased with the final result:

The color yarn I used really is the same shade of the pictured frog face above, but the flashback makes it lighter.

UPDATE! The original eyes I designed for these slippers were closer to the pictures of the frog ... but they bothered me because I didn't think they looked "froggy" enough; so I broke with sticking to 'original' and went with gut feeling - and designed these new eyes for my frog slippers (updated pics below) and I think they look a LOT better, what do you think?

All in all this is a cute pair of toddler slippers and I am happy with the results :-D

CHICKEN –RICE CASSEROLE

I cut this recipe in half for just the 2 of us; but I will post it in its original measurements for families … for large families, bump the measurements up to accommodate your family size ;-)

CHICKEN-RICE CASSEROLE – 6 servings (about 1 cup EA)

¼ cup reduced-calorie margarine

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1-1/2 cups skim milk

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups cut –up COOKED chicken or turkey (about 10 ounces)

1-1/3 cups COOKED white rice or wild rice

1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper

¼ cup slivered almonds (I use a drop of almond extract because my body doesn’t handle nuts very well – and this works for me)

2 Tablespoons chopped pimento

1 can (4 ounces) mushroom pieces, drained

Heat oven to 350-degrees.

Heat margarine in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat; stir in flour, salt & pepper and cook. Stirring constantly, until bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk & broth and heat to boiling – stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Pour mixture into UNGREASED 2-quart casserole or square baking dish, 8 x 8 x 2 inches.

Bake UNCOVERED for 40 to 45 minutes … or until bubbly. Garnish with parsley if desired.