I Broke Down* And Cooked Today

I know it’s hard to believe, but I actually cooked something on the stove today.  Earlier this afternoon, I cooked up a package of elbow macaroni.  I had some of that precooked fajita chicken which I diced, and I chopped up a couple of green onions, a stalk of celery, quartered a handful of cherry tomatoes, and opened and drained a can of baby peas.  Mixed it all up with about a tablespoon of Ranch dressing and a couple of serving spoons of mayonnaise.  Made a rather tasty chicken pasta salad, if I say it myself.  The cherry tomatoes give it nice color.  Had a bowl of it just now and it was right tasty.  Well worth the time and effort.

I cooked the whole package of elbow macaroni, and I’ve got two plastic containers of it in the fridge for later.  What with the weather having turned cool, I’ve been doing some serious thinking about adding some elbows and some chopped onions to a can of Wolf Brand Chili.  Dish up a bowl of it, sprinkle some Sargento Mexican Four Cheeses sprinkle cheese on top and give it a zot in the microwave. . . . serious nums!

I have this big stainless steel four-piece pot affair (counting the clear glass lid) that has the big pot with the strainer insert for cooking pasta and a separate little basket for steaming vegetables.  It has the hollow handles that let you lift it right off the burner bare handed.  That’s what I cook pasta in.   Our water here is hard as a rock, and that shiny stainless steel will water spot like mad if you even get it near the sink let alone actually get it wet.  I have to dry each piece the minute I wash it.

Anyway, I carried a pot of tea (Earl Grey, hot), one of my clear pressed glass tea cups, and a bowl of that chicken pasta salad back to my computer. (You can see another one of my famous non-matching teacups in the picture below.)

I’ve been typing on my story, with this in my lap.  I’m moving right along on it, but it is a bit of a juggle doing sleeves two at a time, with two balls of yarn attached.   The trick to the two at a time business is not letting the strands of yarn from the two balls get twisted around each other.   (Like Egon says, “Don’t cross the streams.“)

This is what the armpit looks like.  You can see where I joined the garter-stitch border together and then started knitting in the round on the sleeves.  Below you can see how far I’ve gotten on the sleeves already.   I’m going to try to write this pattern up and put it on my knitting patterns blog.

I need to get busy on this sucker and get it done.  It fooled around and got cold on us here.  (I’ve got long sleeves, long pants and socks on.)  It’s supposed to get down to 32F (0 C) tonight, and our lows for the next 10 days are going to be in the 40’s F (4-8 C) with highs only in the low 60’s F (15-16 C).  Last time I looked at my thermostat in the hall, it said 72 F (22.2 C).  My office is typically the warmest room in the house, and the thermometer on the clock that sits on my computer tower, which usually stays at around 82-84 F (27-28 C) says 72 F (22.2 C).    I generally keep my AC set to come on at 80 F (26.6 C) and my heater set to come on at 68 F (20 C), otherwise my electric/gas bills are higher than giraffe’s ears.  But it doesn’t cost me a penny to go put on a shawl or sweater or put a lap robe over my legs.  I’m definitely putting the waffle blanket on the bed when I change the sheets tomorrow.  Probably time to take my pedestal fans to the store room in the garage.

In the late spring, Walmart will usually put their microfleece blankets on sale.  You can usually get a really good price on the twin size, which is what I make lap robes out of.  If the blanket has a hemmed border, I cut that off.  I fold them in half top edge to bottom edge and with my sewing machine, I run a seam around all four sides, leaving about six inches open so I can turn it inside out.  Then I hand-sew closed the open part and run a second seam about an inch in from the edge on all four sides to make a border.  This makes a really nice lap robe.  I’ve made several — they make great gifts.  I’ve got a “leopard print” one I keep in my knitting nook.  I’ve got a blue twin sized blanket I’ve been meaning to make into one for my office.  I may have to unlimber my sewing machine here soon.

*"broke down and (did something) -- Texan, to do something that you  usually avoid doing or almost never do.  The implication is that the reason you don't do whatever it is you broke down and did is because it goes against your principles or personal moral code.