Hunger Games

I've been using my new Instant Pot pressure cooker for a few weeks now. I've had some great success with recipes that will now go into our regular rotation. I've made one or two meals that, while edible, won't be something I'll be repeating. 

Tonight I branched out, away from published recipes, and tried something I threw together on my own. Truly "threw together" since I made it up as I went along using ingredients I had on hand. Apparently, like the Hunger Games inspired sticker says, the odds were "ever in my flavour".

Ground beef sauteed in the pot with a small amount of onion. Add 1 can of mushroom soup whisked until smooth, 4.5 cups of beef broth, 1 can of diced tomatoes, and 16 ounces of fusilli pasta. All dumped into the pot together and then cooked on high pressure for 6 minutes. Quick release. Salt and pepper to taste. A variety of other spices could be added, but the important part, for me, was that I got the ratio of liquids and the timing right. It was perfectly cooked and neither too dry nor too moist. 

Yay! The odds aren't always in my favour, but they were this time.

2017's Bounty of Coin

I walk a lot. While walking I often find coins. A surprising number of coins!

I consider the finding of a coin to be a little wink and a nudge from my Guardian Angels or Spiritual Guides. Perhaps confirmation that I am on the right path? I often get goosebumps when I find a coin, like an angel is smiling down on me. I feel acknowledged and loved. It always makes me smile in return.

In 2017 I found over 40 coins! $5.24 worth. 

Was I walking along, nose to the ground, searching? Not at all! In fact, every time I found a coin I had only glanced momentarily at the ground. Often only because Kona, the dog that I walk, had paused to examine something.

$5.24 may not seem like a lot, but the feeling those winks and nudges give me is priceless.

I've started off 2018 right, finding 3 pennies all at once yesterday. Some people won't bother to stoop and pick up a penny, especially now that they've been discontinued. Me? I never leave a blessing behind.

This Will Take a Year

I have many projects on the go at once. I have so many textile hobbies that even if I do only one project in each area of interest it still adds up to a lot of ongoing projects and to spreading myself pretty thin. At the moment though I actually have 2 knitting projects on the go. One is the cardigan I am knitting for my granddaughter. "Am knitting" -- hmm, sounds so current, so active, doesn't it? Truth is it hasn't been picked up or added to for a while. I really must get back at that!

I have been doing a little knitting each day though. A VERY little. Three rows to be exact. This will be a "Year in Temperatures" scarf. I'll be recording the daily high and low temperatures for my area in what will become a very long scarf.

I have 17 colours chosen, and each colour represents 3 degrees Celsius. The main colour in each 3 row stripe represents the day's high while every 6th stitch in the centre row represents the low recorded for that day. I'll begin and end the scarf with 5 rows of black, and separate the months with 2 rows of black. Because there is a chance I might miss hearing the daily temperature or get a little behind in my knitting I'll be relying on a "past weather" page at TimeandDate.com.