Old McDonald's Farm

 Sweet College Girl has a weekend job at a petting zoo at a city park.  She takes care of cats, goats, sheep, ferrets, parrots, ducks, geese and bunnies.

Dear hubby and I visited today to drop off some lunch and she gave us a tour of the place.  The animals aren't open for the public in the winter so her work now involves letting them out of the pens when it is warm, feeding and cleaning cages/pens.  They pay her pretty well for a part-time job and she is getting great experience of working with all types of animals.  She plans to work for a vet when she is done with her college program.   

The ferrets were really cute and inquisitive. 

 Dear hubby names all of the types of ducks and mentioned that they have just about all of the ducks in Iowa out there.

Her favorite animal is still her shelter dog Joanie.

on and off the needles and cute gift

Finally finished the Color Affection Shawl.  It turned out pretty well.  I think it will be a good shawl to bring on planes for a little cover up and emergency pillow.  I almost ran out of yarn so did not make the boarder as large as the pattern called for.  The shawl is pretty big without it so I think it will be fine.

I plied a couple bobbins of homespun last weekend, I love how fluffy and smooshy it turned out.  I still have probably this much again (300 yards) to spin.  It is probably about a DK weight.

 I just started on the Tea Leaves cardigan.  So far, it is a really fun pattern.  I am using the Wowza from Miss Babs.

 I love Pinterest and spend probably too much time surfing and pinning ideas on it.  This is one that I pinned that I think turned out really cute.  Onsie cupcakes.  One of the guys that works on my staff is expecting his first baby.  They know it will be a girl so I am going to bring these cute cupcakes in on Monday.

 I found the cupcake box and cute holders at Michael's.  Roll up onsies with a little sock, a little tape to hold firm and that is about it!

 Dear Son's coach's wife just had a new baby boy.  Baseball parent meeting will be held soon and I hope he will get a kick out of these cupcakes.

What's for dinner, mom?!

My sister-in-law makes the best enchiladas!  Here is her recipe.  I made them last night but modified them a bit to try to make them lower in fat and calories.  She likes to fry her tortillas and that makes them mighty good but for a simple dinner for just me and my family I want to keep the calories low so let me explain how I made a modified Enchilada. 

I always use the leanest beef I can find.  I usually order from the co-op so it is grass fed, hormone free and so forth but we ran out of the ground beef so I just bought 1 pound of 93% lean from Target. (my favorite super store)

I browned it with about 1/2 an onion, you can use more if you like onion.

Mix 1 can of each, tomato sauce and enchilada sauce, season with cumin, I used about 1 teaspoon but it is all about how you like the flavor.  You want to put all of this in a skillet.

Spray a pan with Pam, layer with about 6 corn tortillas, after you dip them in the heated sauce.  Then put the meat mixture on top and top with cheese.  I used low fat cheese.

Cover with another layer of corn tortillas, dipped in the warmed sauce, then pour the leftover sauce over the entire casserole.

Bake for 40 minutes in a 350 oven.  serve with sour cream.  There was just enough left for dear son to eat at lunch on Monday.  Try it, it is easy, not too spicy and not super high in fat.

We are hosting a teen's Super Bowl party.  Dear Son is having several buddies over and sweet college girl is having one friend.  I am making so many goodies!  First the rotel / Velveeta dip.  I used low fat Velveeta and I have two kinds of chips, baked tortilla and the full fat kind for the boys.

I made veggie pizza.  this is crescent rolls (low fat) topped with cream cheese (low fat) mixed with Italian dressing dry mix.  Then top with veggies and cheese (again low fat).  Not super low in calories but I am trying! 

Ok, this picture does not look good but this is pulled chicken sandwich meat.  I cooked in broth in crock pot until the chicken fell apart, then add barbecue sauce and put on buns.  It really does taste good and is super easy to throw together.

This is a total cheat.... frozen meatballs, jarred marinara and in the crockpot for several hours. 

I also bought boneless chicken wings to heat up and a cheesecake, ok really not trying that hard with the cheesecake but it is dear sons favorite so I doubt it will last! 

critter report

I met up with Iowa City buddy at Fae Ridge on Saturday.  Janette had some baby half angora half lop bunnies.  They were so sweet!  I really cannot wait until my schedule permits me to have a couple angora rabbits of my own.  I am traveling for work a lot right now so I need to wait for things to slow down, then hopefully I can talk dear hubby into letting me get a bunny.  I just think they are so darn sweet!

 

Joanie is making herself at home, settling in just fine.  We've discovered she knows a ton of tricks and loves to sleep way under the covers.  She is a really good dog, rarely barks and very well behaved.

Wrigley loves the snow, I think his thick coat helps insulate him from the weather.  He rolls and rolls in it.  He is such a blessing, I just love that dog!

Well, Chance is still up to no good.  Fortunately this yarn was not on the needles, it was sitting out ready to be worked on though, not set up high enough and the found it when he wasn't being watched.  The below zero temps have limited his walks and I know he does this for attention and he gets the attention...... a big negative attention.... Obviously, I love him and think he is cute or I would have never taken his picture before I scolded his little yellow behind!  We are a big dog crazed at our house but I cannot imagine living without a dog, they bring so much joy and unconditional love. 

still on the needles

I have a few projects in progress right now.  I started to cover a wing back chair last weekend.  I followed the tutorial on Miss Mustard seed and used painters drop cloth.  It is turning out OK for a first time.  It is a chair that is in our master bedroom.  I plan to redecorate in that room and make it all neutrals and a lot of textured pillows and such.  More on that in the month to come....

This first pictures is the piping.  I've never made piping before so this was a new and fun sew!

 I don't like the way the blue check is showing through so I may need to line it with another layer or some batting or something.  I haven't had time to get back to it so it sits like this in our bedroom. 

 Toe finished!  I travel next week for work so hope to finish the second sock and the shawl.

I am making great progress on the shawl.  I love the way the colors turned out.

I want so much to get these off the needles so I can start a sweater next week.  I also have a valentines day surprise for my kids.  I will blog about those after valentines day!