Hexagonal Lap Loom...say what?

This past weekend I went to the garage sale to end all garage sales. This man bought a house and all of the contents in it only to find it had been owned by a hoarder. Not just your every day hoarder though a craft hoarder!! One who bought tons and tons of things and never even opened them. This sale was the 5th sale he had put on and there was still TONS of stuff! He will be doing sales every Saturday in August at the old Wendy's on Broadway. I highly recommend a trip!

I purchased a Love and Money Lap Loom from 1985. This box had actually been opened but it was the complete kit and looked like a new adventure. Plus for $10 who could pass it up? I'm a very visual learner so I struggled a bit when I first started until I found a YouTube video of a VHS tape from the 1980's that showed how to do it. After I laughed my way through the video a first time I re-watched it and I was off! I have decided to make a garden afghan as my first project. After all it only takes 102 coaster sized hexagons to make!



Here is one of the border pieces during the "tie off" phase.

You simply weave the yarn through the pegs in a certain pattern and then use a plastic yarn needle to tie off each smaller hexagon.

This is the back of the piece after it was finished on the loom. I am going with a blue edge, pink flowers and white centers on the flowers. I wanted something in fun colors for my first try.

Here are five completed "coasters". Not too shabby for a first attempt! Each of these will get sewn together with the pink and white "coasters" to form the afghan.

This is what the center piece to the flowers will look like. I will post a pink petal piece later on. I didn't have any of those done yet when I took these pictures.














I find this to all be very relaxing. I don't have to think about it the way I did crochet and you see finished results rather quick. It takes me about 30 minutes to do one coaster. So about 51 hours later I should have a completed afghan! I will post some pictures along the way. I hope to have it done by Christmas but we will see if that actually happens.

Kick Ass Pork Chops with pictures!!

I finally remembered to take pictures while fixing dinner tonight. I think Ben thought I had lost my mind as I took pictures of raw meat. So without further ado here we go!

Well I can't figure out how to turn the pictures so you are just going to get them this way!!

Start out with the number of pork chops you need to feed your family. Since the boys are still out of town we just needed the two!

I like to let them sit out while I get other things around so they aren't quite so cold when they go in the oven.

Next up mix a shredded cheese of your choice with Italian seasoned bread crumbs. In the other breading pan I have some extra virgin olive oil. You are going to coat your pork chops in the oil and then in the breading.

This is what they look like once they are coated. I put them on a foil lined pan and put in a 400 degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes depending on how thick your pork chops are.

 Once they are out and no longer pink in the center serve them with your favorite side and here you go!! These are super moist with a great crunch in the breading.

Lately I have not been able to get enough garlic. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I eat it on my raw walnuts and pecans, I put it on my toast and every type of meat we have. I was very excited to find this Garlic and Sea Salt grinder at the Cook's Nook in McPherson. It is perfect to add that great garlic flavor to everything!!

Bored by food? Didn't know that could happen!!

Here I am 23 days into eating better and I am down 15 pounds. While it hasn't been easy to give up some of the foods that I love I have resisted the temptation for the most part and it is getting easier. However, I don't like a lot of foods so my menus are very limited.

My typical day starts out with a whole grain English muffin with natural peanut butter on it. I loved them when I started eating them but I am becoming bored. Now I eat it quickly in the morning just to be done with breakfast. I was bringing a natural peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread for lunch but decided I should branch out and find something much better than that. In my quest I learned that chicken you have cooked at home does not reheat and taste very good. Then one day a few weeks ago I was at Dillon's grocery shopping for my great aunt and uncle when I happened upon Perdue Lightly Breaded Chicken Strips. These have been the answer to what I was needing. They have great flavor and are the protein I need. So I have stocked up and I am set for the next few weeks of lunches.

Dinner is easy as there are lots of things you can do to chicken and pork chops. We have even gone out to eat a few times and I have done great staying within my macros. Snack time though is another story. I either eat string cheese or raw nuts. I need some variety! I am on the hunt for some snacks that will work with how we are eating but won't go overboard on carbs or sugars.

While I am talking about macros I wanted everyone to know if you are trying to watch what you eat www.myfitnesspal.com is a FANTASTIC resource. You can easily track what you eat on their website. They have most chain restaurant food already in their data base and if you are cooking things at home you can add your own recipes and it will figure everything for you. Plus I have the app on my phone and can scan barcodes to enter food. They have a few apps like mapmyrun or mapmywalk that will feed your exercise right into myfitnesspal and account for what you have done for the day. Without this app I know I wouldn't have made it this far.

My current struggle is Jolly Ranchers. I LOVE Jolly Ranchers. They have fed my sweet tooth more than once in the past week but I need to stop with them. They certainly don't fall under "clean eating". What is the one thing you just can't resist?