Israel and Back Again

I know it’s been a while since we last posted anything, but with good reason. We had the great opportunity to travel to Israel with both sets of our parents. At first, we were unsure if my father was going to make the trip as he has stage 4 (terminal) metastatic colon cancer, but God was merciful and gave him renewed strength to make the trip. Our first stop…..NEW YORK, NEW YORK! I’ve been to New York more times than I could count, but Lead and his parents had never been, so the first thing to do was take them into the city for a whirlwind tour.

Times Square

Times Square

Katz Diner

We did the typical….Times Square, 911 Memorial, drive by of the Empire State Building, Wall Street, Trump Tower, Central Park, etc. But, we HAD to allow Lead and his parents to experience KATZ! Let’s just say, we were lucky to have found a great table! I think the best part for us was watching Lead’s mom gasp with excitement at every turn.

Neither of them had ever been to New York so it was exciting watching their faces light up with every turn and every building we pointed out. Side note…. My Mother in “Love” is the sweetest, most precious, most childlike innocence, most giving person I know and I’m so blessed to call her my Mother in “Love”. My Father in “Love” is a character who loves to pick and tease, and I love him just as much as he raised the man I married and love.

Ok! So after New York, we jetted off to Tel Aviv, Israel. What a flight. As you can see, Lead wears a very nice, fluffy yet manly beard on his face. We are not Jewish by religion, but he was approached and asked if he would like to pray with them (they thought he was Jewish) because of his beard. He got a great kick out of that!

The moment we stepped off the plane in Israel, we were GO GO GO the rest of the trip. Instead of telling you every single detail, I’ll just leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.

~Yarn

A Fowl Feathered Friend

Hubs and I FINALLY got our Christmas decorations out this past Saturday despite the pouring rain! Not that I’m complaining, because I LOVE rain and storms so I was quite in my element, but I do feel bad for making Hubs get out in the weather. First we visited Michaels and bought a few Christmas trinkets, then we were off to TJ Max for some early Christmas shopping. Next, we headed home to put up our new trinkets and get the Christmas tree out and decorated.

Hubs, in his manly way, tromped through the muddy, slippery back yard….in the pouring rain….. to search for our Christmas tree, all to find out we did not have it. It was gone. GONE??!!? I felt so bad I made him tromp through the mud and rain to get the tree. Then I remembered, Oh yeah. I gave it away because it was too big for me to put together and take apart. Woopsie. Sorry babe! 🙂

Anyhoo…. we have a nice front door wreath made of the netting that is very popular around this time. We typically do not use our front door other than to take the trash out and to accept our Bite Squad food. We ordered pizza the next night, and when Hubs went to open the door, two birds flew right into our house. At first, I thought they were bats….but no, they were birds. Two, cute, fat, little birds who were apparently nesting in my front door wreath.

Needless to say, we spent the next hour and a half trying to get this bird out of our house. We had to lock up our kitties because they were trying to “help” us. I did NOT want to clean up bird guts. Several times we thought he was gone, and we’d sit down and relax, only to hear “flap flap flap” and see him fly into our living room. Ugh. Here we went again with the blankets and broom…. It was quite eventful to say the least.

Hope you all have a great day!

~Yarn

Pattern Obsession

I don’t know about you fellow crochet enthusiasts, but when I find a great pattern I tend to obsess over it and end up making a thousand and one things with said pattern. It’s probably one of my greatest weaknesses, but at least I appreciate well written patterns! I’m also guilty of collecting patterns with the thought “Oooh! I’ll make that for so-and-so” or “Oooh! I have been dying to try these out.” and even “Oooh! I’m sure I can use that later for something!”. Between my collection of yarn (and trust me, it’s huge. I’ll never run out of yarn for a loooong time.) and collection of patterns, I could probably make a pattern a day using a skein of yarn and not run out of either until I was 120.

With that being said, I recently bought a cabled stitch pattern for these adorable cup cozies and I picked up the pattern to actually make one yesterday…..and, I’ve made about thirty already. Someone help me step away from this pattern! I think it’s probably safe to assume I will be using them as stocking stuffers for work peeps, family, and friends. I thought about doing a give away on my Instagram or Facebook page, but we shall see….

Anyway, here’s what they look like! I’ve made so many in different colors, but I’d have to say the blue sparkly is my favorite, although the white sparkly one (not pictured) is quickly topping my favorite chart.

Do you crochet and want the pattern? Check out I Dream of Yarn’s Etsy page for many more designs and patterns for sale: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IDreamOfYarnShop?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Well, that’s it for today. I’m off to make more cozies! 😛

~Yarn

In with the Tinsel

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We had a great time gathered with friends and family as we ate, then gathered around the piano for songs of worship to the Lord, and yes…even a Christmas song or two. It was a great day, and honestly, probably the best Thanksgiving we have ever had and I’m grateful for that. But, now it’s time to move forward and focus on Christmas. Out with the turkey and dressing, and in with the tinsel and lights.

As a small business owner, my mind is reeling with ideas of what to make my family for Christmas, and typically I have a running list (most of them tell me what they want or send me pictures) of what to make or what they want.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 

 

Every year, I have grand ideas of starting their Christmas gift making in January, but every year around August I think “Now, why didn’t I start back in January?!”. That’s my life. Oh well, apparently I work well under pressure. LOL

The Hubs and I will be getting our Christmas out next weekend, even though most of our friends and family couldn’t WAIT until Thanksgiving was over to put up the Christmas décor. I’m typically on “Christmas Décor” strike until at least the week after Thanksgiving, even though I am going to a Christmas party tonight with friends. Hypocrite, I know…. 🙂 Anyway, Hubs and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and pray your Christmas decorating goes well!

~Yarn

Easy Peasy Green Beans

I love green beans and thought I’d share my recipe for the best green beans I’ve ever tasted! Everyone loves my green beans and always asks for the recipe once they’ve tasted them. I’m always asked to bring them for Thanksgiving because they are a huge hit! So, I’m sharing my recipe just in time for Thanksgiving.

Word of warning, I do not measure. I’m Italian, and I cook by smell and taste, so my recipe will not have measurements per se.

Ingredients:

4-6 cans of French Green Beans (or fresh but I’m lazy so I go for canned)

1-2 sticks of butter (depends on your serving size)

Splenda Brown Sugar (I use Splenda because my father is diabetic and he loves these)

Real Bacon Bits (I just buy a small little bag of real bacon bits from Kroger)

Cavender’s Seasoning

Tin Foil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Drain the green beans
3. Dump all cans (I use 6 cans for my family of 9) into a 9×13 casserole dish (or bigger depending on your serving size)
4. Sprinkle the entire top with Cavender’s (again, I do not measure, I just sprinkle the top until every inch is covered with the seasoning)
5. Sprinkle the entire small bag of bacon bits over the top of the green beans evenly
6. Sprinkle the entire dish with the Splenda Brown Sugar, making sure it’s evenly distributed over the green beans
7. Place one stick of butter on one end of the green beans and the second stick on the other end (or just use one if you don’t want a lot of butter)
8. Cover with tin foil and bake until it bubbles
9. Stir and serve

That’s it! I hope you all enjoy my super easy green bean recipe. I’d love to hear from you if you make them! 🙂

~Yarn