KateOhKatie blogs

(From this day forth, I *will* put up a new blog post every day.  Even if it’s just “Day 29, fine, whatever.” (can you believe I’m quoting air freshener commercials?  Someone give me an adventure, PLEASE!))

You ever get caught up in the moment, and then you do something you later regret?  Only not really, because it actually was a good idea?  It just takes a while to get used to it?  And then you’re OK with what you did?  And then your world becomes sunshine and kittens again?  Me too.

Which explains what happened in Baldwin City a week and a half ago.

My “skating queen” skirt, which has been in my ‘time out for bad knitting’ pile for about three months now, went from this:

(one full skein/6 inches in)

to this:

(One sad, washed-out Katie, holding one nostepinne full of yarn-which-was-until-recently-a-skirt).

at the hand of this evil person:

(One Stefanie, who’s really the least evil person you’ll ever meet).

I couldn’t bear to frog it myself…so Stef, (a non-knitter, even!) did it for me.  Thank you Stef.  You’re a true friend.

You see, Skating Queen was originally relegated to the TOFBK pile because of a user error which resulted in the need to tink a whole row.  Yeah, I know.  Not that bad.  You’re right.  But it still pissed me off enough to make me set it aside until I could emotionally handle the tinking.

Then Skating Queen was relegated to the TOFBK bag because I couldn’t bear to see it sitting on my coffee table, leering at me, any more.  While in the TOFBK bag, a few stitches dropped themselves of the needles’ ends, because in my haste/hate I’d neglected to put point protectors on.

Then Skating Queen made its journey from Kirksville to Baldwin City on my weekend trip, at which point I pulled it out to finally tink that damned row.  At which point I noticed the not-quite-accidentally dropped stitches, and decided to be a big girl and just frog the damned thing, because I really wasn’t happy with the waistband anyway, and why would I knit something that I knew within the first inch and a half that I wasn’t happy with?

So Stefanie ribbet ribbeted and that ball of yarn sat in my active knitting bag, still leering at me, until yesterday.  When, in a fit of colorwork-induced passion and fury, I decided to STEP AWAY! from the charity projects I’ve got going, and work on something for *me* for a change!  Because I deserve it!  Exclamation!  Right?

So I started Skating Queen all over again, this time with a nice garter-stitch waistband and no ugly drawstring holes (because I recently realized I hate drawstrings–they make my bellybutton look funny).  And by 10 minutes ago, this had happened:

Yes, that’s about 2 1/2″ of progress, aka almost halfway where I was before.  And I like it better this time.  So much better.

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed that I can actually stick with it this time, OK?  And maybe in some crazy world, I’ll actually have a FO to show off, OK?  And then we’ll all play with kittens in the sunshine OK?

Not even 3 months

These were new at the end of last school year (2 weeks’ use, then 3 months’ rest, then 8 weeks’ use:  *10 WEEKS USE*)

Brown paint on left leg, both knees ripped out.

Blue handprint on left hip:

More brown paint:

Threadbare:

What finally did them in:

I am hard on jeans.  These were used for 10 weeks.

Hidden hazard of teaching preschool?

No, not Snapplesauce.  Though I would be intrigued by that product–would it be like a smoothie, with trivia under the lid?  Perhaps.  I shall now write the appropriate letter…

Applesauce cookies are a big thing in my family…Grandma used to make them when Mom was a kid, and a few years back I “rediscovered” the recipe.  They’ve been really popular ever since then, and since the only fat in them comes from 1/2 cup shortening, they’re really not all that unhealthy.  It’s a Depression recipe, from a time when butter was expensive, so they found other ways to make recipes work.

So before I share this recipe with you guys, you have to promise promise promise on your yarn stash/nearest cat/Dyson vacuum/whatever that you will try these cookies.  And that you will *not* share this recipe with anyone else.  Because once the secret’s out, man, it’s not going back in.

Promise?  OK let’s go.

Warm up your oven to 375* F and roll up your sleeves, then get ready for slightly-delayed gratification!  In no time flat you’ll be in heaven.  Cookie heaven.  Where there are milk waterfalls, elastic waistbands, and no scales.  My kinda heaven.

Assemble:

Applesauce, milk, salt, baking soda, baking powder, shortening, cream cheese, an egg, clove, cinnamon, powdered sugar, flour, and plain sugar.  You know it’s gonna be good!

Make sure your cream cheese is softening (de-chilling?) on the counter; you’ll need it in a little bit.

Dump half a cup of shortening into a large mixing bowl:

And then a cup of sugar (sinkful of dirty dishes optional):

And then, if you’re a bum like me and didn’t quite have enough sugar to make a full cup, toss in some brown sugar to round it out:

It’ll be OK, I promise.

Then break out your trusty pink KitchenAid hand mixer, and combine the shortening and sugar:

When you’re done it’ll look sort of like streusel topping…but it’ll be OK, I promise (my new mantra):

Mmmm.

Crack an egg into your bowl (I advise omitting the shell, though):

And mix again:

Set aside.  You won’t need it for a while.

Then pull out that one badass kitchen tool, the one that fairly screams, I’m an expert!”

Bummmmm, bummmmmmm, bummmmmmmm…..BA-DUMMMMMMM!

I love my sifter.

This part really is necessary, guys, unless you want aplesauce-flavored rocks.  $5 at Target, get yours today.  Once you have it you’ll find multiple uses.  It’s OK, I promise ().

then, put it in a small bowl:

(I’m really glad I included this photo, just for anyone who doesn’t know what a sifter in a small bowl might look like.  How considerate I am).

Meaure out two cups of flour:

And dump them into the sifter’s top:

Then measure out 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon:

And 1/4 teaspoon clove:

Then wallow in the smell.  It’s OK, I won’t tell anybody.

When you’re done wallowing, dump in 1/2 teaspoon of soda:

As well as 1/2 t of salt and 1 t of powder:

Then stir it up a bit within the sifter:

And sift!  This is my favorite part!

Sift it alllll into that small mixing bowl, so then you’ll have a nice dark picture like this:

If you want to play “army men in a volcano” for a little while it’s OK, I won’t tell anybody.

When you’re done playing “army men in a volcano” (please rinse your army men before playing with them in your food!), measure out 1 cup of applesauce:

Now here comes the fun part.  Remember that bowl of sugar and shortening and egg you set aside so long ago?  Haul it back to the forefront!

Now what you’re gonna do, in alternating steps is *gradually* add your flour/spices mixture and your applesauce in with the sugar/shortening.  It’s super-important to start, and end with the flour/spices mixture.  I usually do 1/3 of the flour, 1/2 of the applesauce, 1/3 of the flour, 1/2 of the applesauce, 1/3 of the flour.  See?  Gradually.

So ya start with the flour:

And stir it in with your favorite spatula.  (It’s here that I like to play a game called “too wet!  too dry!” wherein, *for fun*, I freak myself out about the dough’s texture at any point in the mixing process.  Even though I’ve learned, eleventy-billion times, that it comes out OK in the end.  Try it, you might like it).

(”Oh no!  Too dry!”  see how much fun that is?  Hold on, I’ve gotta get the door…two nice men in white coats are here)

1/2 the applesauce:

And stir.

etc etc. until all the flour and applesauce are mixed in.

When you’re done, it’ll have a rather smooshy texture–not runny, but not like regular cookie dough, either.  That’s OK.  These babies spread out during cooking but ultimately result in a *fantastic* cake-like cookie.

Mmm.  Grab a finger- or spoon-ful.  It’ll take you home again.

Time to grease a couple cookie sheets!

These things spread during cooking, so you won’t want to put more than a tablespoon or a tablespoon and a half or so in each dollup.  Pop ‘em in your preheated oven for about 13 or 14 minutes, or until the cookies’ edges are just beginning to turn brown, and the tops are no longer shiny.

Cooked versus uncooked:

Now here’s a weird phenomenon.  The dough for these cookies is to-die-for (and go to cookie heaven for!  Oh what a way to go!).  But the baked product?  Not so much.

UNLESS.

Unless!  you make the frosting I’m about to prescribe.  Cover each cookie in a thickly-applied layer of the stuff, then pack your bags for nirvana.

This is where the milk, cream cheese, and powdered sugar come in.

Break out your 8 oz of softened cream cheese:

Add a splash of milk and a good amount of powdered sugar:

Then break out your mixer again, and go to town.  I usually add about 4 or 5 cups of powdered sugar by the time it’s all said and done.  You don’t want your frosting to be too thick, because then it’ll tear up the cookies.  But you don’t want it to be too thin either, because then it’ll drip right off.  Very tough place to be.

This is too thin:

And this is juuuuuust right:

Now find your favorite frosting-spreading knife (mine doesn’t have any of those tiny serrations that most butter knives do):

And go to town! (once your cookies are thoroughly cool, that is)

Success!

om nom nom nom nom.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I warned you.

I’m in Baldwin City, visiting my friends Stef and Mandi and going to their Maple Leaf festival (much more about that to come!) but I just wanted to take a second and tell you that LSAT scores were released last night.

Jeff got a…..

173!

That’s high enough to give him a good chance at U of Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Duke, etc.  Everybody say “yay Jeff!”

I can
~piece a quilt
~take pictures which give me pleasure, if nothing else
~bake bread from scratch
~BS my way through just about any essay topic thrown at me
~spit a stream of water through my two front teeth
~make a kitty purr
~walk quickly
~sing every line of every song of Rocky Horror Picture Show
~make my own light saber
~carry two 3-year-olds at the same time
~shine a pair of shoes
~imitate cat meows
~change a diaper
~knit
~eat sickening amounts of Peanut M&Ms in one sitting
~procrastinate
~recycle like it’s going out of style
~make a bed in under 2 minutes
~peel wallpaper
~read upside down
~recite the first thirty elements of the periodic table
~make something from nothing–both for purposes of good *and* evil
~eat just one chip (you lie, Lays Inc!)
~play “Free Bird” on hard and survive…by the skin of my teeth
~coordinate colors
~”Tetris-ize” grocery bags, car trunks, etc
~perform minor alterations
~conjugate a Spanish verb all forty-eleven ways
~tickle Jeff
~recite “The Sick Rose” (it’s only 8 lines)
~envision something and make it happen

I cannot
~knit while driving
~blow up a balloon
~do pilates (very well)
~remember names
~walk in a straight line
~pee standing up
~pass up a sale at DSW
~touch pumpkin guts
~comprehend the concept of ram (the memory, not the animal)
~watch someone vomit without feeling the strong urge to do so myself
~make that “whpsh!” whipping noise (like…”You’re so whipped!  whpsh!“)
~dance in any recognizable fashion
~be mean to animals
~watch scary movies
~give up my addiction to chapstick
~always win at Trivial Pursuit (even though I tried to memorize the deck)
~do pottery (though granted, I’ve never really tried.  Maybe I can!)
~ever win at video games
~pretend to like someone I really don’t
~tell Martin Sheen and Michael Douglas apart
~eat at Burger King
~ever remember to reply to emails

Last weekend in KC, I was going through my mom’s closet and stumbled upon a *really* cute black shirt…I loved it immediately!  I asked Mom where it came from, and she said, “Oh that was mine in college” (1972).  It looked like it might fit me, so of course I had to try it on…and this is what happened:

omg so cute!  I love how it’s nipped in at the waist (there are ties in the back) then flares out beyond that.  New favorite shirt, tyvm   And I love that it was my mom’s way back in the day, and fits me perfectly now.

On Saturday Jeff and I went to the Red Barn Arts and Crafts Festival, aka Kirksville’s biggest event of the year.  Soooooo much fun!  We only live a few blocks from downtown (where the event is held), and I could literally smell the kettle corn from my front yard.  The whole square was lined with vendors’ booths, selling every sort of art and craft (ironic? lol) imaginable.  Jeff wouldn’t let me spend much money (makes sense, really) so I just got a few items…but oh how I love them!
(also, I left my camera home that day for Jeff’s peace of mind–it makes him nervous when I’m always taking pictures–so these pics were all taken, um, 10 minutes ago).

One of the families at my preschool is a pottery artist, and she dedicated a shelf in her booth to things that the proceeds from would go to the school.  So I bought this:

So cute!  I might keep it in the kitchen, and use it to hold my watch and rings while I’m baking or washing dishes.  Or use it to hold stitch markers by my crafting corner.  We’ll see.

What could be in here?

Only…these!

Aren’t they too cute?  Don’t they look like little spools of thread?  They’re so perfect!  Other exclamations of happiness!

But here’s the piece de resistance of my shopping adventures:

The coolest bracelet ever!  It’s perfect for everyday casual wear, and since it’s got a leather strap it’s sooo comfy.  That stone is called unichite, and is supposed to enhance memory and the ability to think clearly…do I need it, or what?  

Close-up of the stone:

(I love the macro capabilities on my new camera!!!)

I’m so in love with this bracelet!

All together now, in honor of a fantastic Saturday (a Saturday which also consisted of watching Jesus Camp, and eating Pagliai’s).

Late this afternoon Jeff and I went to Thousand Hills State Park and hiked on one of their trails.  I took my camera of course, and got these:

Approaching the park:

Just on the trail, and the sun was already starting to think about setting…it does it so quickly lately!

Wild wheat, ragweed, all that good stuff

I love Missouri in the fall.  I love that this is a five minute drive from my house.

Like the focus on this one:

I was actually going for a slightly soft focus on this one:

About the best macro I can currently manage:

Our trail:

Same shot, about 5 minutes apart:

Saved one of my favorites for last:

I know any idiot can take pictures of a sunset, but I really had fun doing this…it was a great walk

Oh, and I didn’t use anything automatic on any of these…all manual!

PS>Did I mention I love Missouri?

I fooled around with a lot of these in Photoshop for a good long while this morning, but at this point I’m just getting frustrated with myself and my crappiness at image editing.

Last night at the rehearsal dinner I was talking with my Uncle Don (the videographer) and he pretty much said “get thee to a photography class”…I couldn’t agree more!  I’ll put one–and a Photoshop class–on my plan for this spring/summer.  Hopefully I can find something in Kirksville

Anyway, after getting home from the rehearsal, Jeff, Dad and I took Maxie and Eliza to the riverside park in Parkville–same place that Jess and I took our senior pictures back in high school.  The girls were surprisingly cooperative!  As usual, these pics are SOOC…I think I’m going to take a break and then give some light editing another shot.  Wish me luck!

But first, Allie at home…

Wish this were more in focus:

Now on to the dog park!  A lot of these images are taken from above, because when I tried getting down onto the ground with the dogs they’d just run over and start trying to kiss my ears/knock me over/get in my lap.

Look at Lizie’s tongue!

When she licks you it’s like being slapped with a wet washcloth…not the best feeling:

Not that Maxie’s is insignificant or anything, though:

Mutual adoration:

These dog handlers really don’t get paid enough:

Two pink tongues!

So much easier to take pictures of a gray dog than a black one:

Finally, back to the car and home again.  They kept fighting over who got to walk in heel position right next to Dad:

Maxie loves riding in the car!

So here’s what I thought:
~It would’ve been awesome to go somewhere the dogs didn’t have to be leashed, but I think maybe I’ll be able to edit the leashes out of some of those images.
~Hard to take good pictures of dogs who never sit or lay down!  I took over 300, and those above are the best.
~How do I crop a photo in Photoshop yet keep the same proportions?  I don’t want them to have some weird dimension, yet I’d like to crop them to get rid of Jeff’s and Dad’s legs at the edge, etc.

Now I’m off to fool around with Photoshop some more…maybe try to figure out the cropping thing, brighten some colors, etc.

My camera arrived with one fully-charged battery, and a spare.

(Photos taken with my old Canon A400)

Yes, I sat by my picture window and looked for the UPS truck.  So sue me.:

How excited am I?  This excited:

Even though I’ve been whining for months about wanting this thing, once it was in my home I became all Christmas morning-y. I wanted to savor the suspense:

So did Othello.

Cutting open the box…

I’ve got it open!  Helper cat is so proud of himself.

I love having a helper cat.

Eepp!

Here it is!  Arrived safe and sound, Mrs BP   Excellent packing job!

The new encompasses the old:

OK so here’s where it gets really lame.  I have honestly, truly, not had any daylight hours available in which to go out to the local park and really try this sucker out.  So all the shots from here on our are just here in the ol’ apartment…hopefully in KC this weekend Jeff and I will have some time to have some fun with it.

First photo I ever took with it (file name DSC_0001!):

Love that messy apartment.  But I told y’all…I am away from home for twelve hours straight almost every day!  Something’s gotta give.

Helper cat quickly grew bored with my new toy:

But Macbeth indulged me in this sweet image:

This shot has a shallow depth-of-field, right?  I have no clue how I did that…I might’ve been on the flower (macro) setting:

A timely warning, as I was actually just about to adjust the diopter control by stabbing my eye with my fingernail.  Now I know better, and so do you!

Portrait setting for the skin tone, and flash because it was about 10pm by this time.  Not sure what I think of the flash…I really don’t like that ‘flasy’ (haha) look in photos:

I focused this myself!  Where’s my cookie?

Yesterday I took just a few of helper cat while re-reading the manual, right before going to bed.

“We are not amused, Mommy.”

“Wait…what?”

And that’s all I’ve got, folks.  So you can see that Tamara (pronounced like camera, only with a T–wonder where I got that name?) really has possiblities.  But unfortuately I haven’t really been able to test them until now.  I may arrive at work a few minutes early and see if I can at least get a few shots of something…anything..outside.

Oh, and my tripod arrived last night!  Now I’m just waiting on the field guide and remote control I ordered from Amazon, and the bag from LL Bean (size medium, storm blue).  From there it’ll be that $800 VR macro lens I’ve had my eye on…

Too tired to PS any of these tonight, but I think I’m gonna want to in the morning

So, SOOC (and not too bad for such low light, if I do say so myself)…

And because we can’t forget her, one of the cat who can’t come into the great room anymore (Eliza tries to eat her)

::sigh:: I loved taking those, but I still have so much further to go before I’m any good.

So yeah…I’ll PS those a bit tomorrow.  What do you think?