Meme Monday

My good friend, Karen, started a Meme Monday on her blog(The Huffmanicas). She wanted to know everyone's favorite orange item. It didn't take me long to think of two things that were orange that I really like. I did however, try to think of cooler things but to no avail! So here it goes...




First, I love pumpkins! I like the way they look. (I think they are very cute!) And I like the way they taste. I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, pumpkin muffins, etc... The list could go on for a very long time!




And second I picked my scissors! I know, I am weird. But they are really great to have when trying to be crafty. And I even went out and got pinking shears. I am so excited to use them!

Are there any orange things you love?

Rainy Weekend

I hope your weekend was drier than ours!

Foodie Fridays

My friend Fran started a Foodie Friday on her blog, so I thought I would play along. And of course I have to be difficult because the first recipe I am posting isn't really a food. But oh well, it is a great glaze so I hope you will give it a try.

We have tried it on a lot of things but marinating chicken and steak in this teriyaki glaze seems to work the best. We usually have some left over marinade so we reduce it and put it on top of the meat.

Teriyaki Glaze

1 C. pineapple juice
1/4 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. honey
1/4 C. soy sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp. ginger

Yep, that is all there is too it. I put it all in a bowl, whisk it together and pour it over the meat to marinate. Yummy!

A Bummer

I went back to Joann Fabrics today to find more buttons. They had more orange but not the ones I bought before. They had some orange ones there that looked like their color had been washed out of them. Bummer!

Note to self: "If you really like something, buy a few more than you think you would need." I guess I will just keep checking back.

Here is the newest pumpkin. I really like the green ribbon. It gives it a little something extra!

Who Knew?

In case you thought my path had veered, have no fear, I am still walking down the crafting road. I have gotten most of my project ideas from other blogs. There are a lot of very talented ladies out there! And I for one am grateful they are willing to share their projects/patterns and directions for those of us who are less talented.

I came across this Button Wreath Ornament by clicking around on a craft blog. It looked my speed... simple! I didn’t have any buttons at home, so I just saved the link in my favorites thinking that I would try it out someday. I was walking around Joanne Fabrics the other day and came across a bunch of buttons on clearance. My mind immediately went to the button wreath and I bought a few different colors for less than a $1.00. I love sales!

Anyway, I knew Aaron was going to be a little later at work tonight so I decided to give the button wreath a try. I started out making it for my sister for Christmas (don’t tell her!) because she loves the color orange. But I may keep it for myself. :o)

As I was finishing up the wreath, I noticed how much it looked like a pumpkin. All it needed was some green ribbon. Who knew!? I started out making a Christmas ornament but I think I like the idea of pumpkins better. It's my way of adding a twist to the project!

A New Do

Those of you, who know me, know that I have looked the same for a long time. If I had to venture a guess, I would say I have had the same haircut for about 10 years. Well last week, I temporarily lost my mind and cut 3 inches of my hair off as well as asked for the beautician to give me bangs! I told you...lost my mind.

I am still not sure if I like it yet. Those around me seem to react positively but then again people can always tell little white lies! I think it is just a shock to me right now. I think when it grows out a half inch or so I will feel more comfortable.

I guess only time will tell!

"I wanna see a wreck!"

This past weekend, Aaron and I traveled down to New Hampshire Motorspeedway for the NASCAR race. I have been to two races before (Watkins Glen & Lowe's Motorspeedway) but it was Aaron's first race. I was really excited to go but I think I was more excited for Aaron to go. We really like watching it on tv but when you go you can smell the burt tires, hear the loud roar of the cars flying by... It is just better seeing it all in person!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head to the speedway. We parked and headed right over to the Army 'tent'. It wasn't really a tent per say, but they did have a lot of stuff set up to help in their recruiting efforts. That night we watched a bit of the Craftsmen Truck Series. I had never seen the trucks race before but we deicded to stay since the weather for Sunday wasn't looking so good. We figured we might as well see some kind of racing while we were there just in case.

Rain. That is the first thing we saw when we got up and what we continued to see up until race time. I don't know how it happened but when it was time to drop the checkered flag the track was dry and the race began on time.

We had a blast! It helped a lot once we got ear pluggs that is for sure! We also had a great time because we got to not only watch the race but we also got to tour the pits, tour the garage area and meet the Army car driver, Aric Almirola, in the Army hospitality tent.

Here are some pics from our NASCAR adventure:

The speedway.

Almirola and I.

Pre-race car inspection in the garage area.

Gordon's car in the garage area. We almost got hit a couple of times by crew members pushing cars.

I spotted Joe Gibbs in the #11 Fed Ex hospitality tent. He owns a bunch of teams through his Joe Gibbs racing team.

Babe and I watching the race from turn #4.

Let's go racing!

Round and round they go!

Greg Biffle won the race. Here is his victory burn out!

Even though the race started out really slow (There were no cautions for a long time and I kept telling Aaron that I wanted to see a wreck!) the race was great. There were some wrecks towards the end to help make it interesting. But don't worry, no one was hurt. Also between the rain drops over the two days, we met some really great people. We seem to be able to make friends where ever we go!

I took a lot of pictures that weekend but I won't torture you further. All in all, the weekend deserves two thumbs up!

Rockin' Gratitude

I recently finished another scarf for my niece. She likes purple and wanted a softer one than I had made her the last time. (Although, I will tell you that she picked out the yarn and I warned her it was scratchy. But I think the florescent obnoxious colors were more appealing to a 6 year old than comfort.) I sent the newest scarf out to her last week. Here are two of the pictures I received from my sister over e-mail.

She makes me feel like a pro. If she only knew... If I can get this kind of reaction from the purl stitch, imagine how happy she will be when I master the tassels!

Knitting Novice

I made some great friends when we were stationed at Fort Drum. I know without them the deployment would have been unbearable. The year our husbands were away we did a lot of crazy things. But one of my favorite things we did was have knitting nights. Sounds fun right!? I know what you are thinking. Don't make fun! We had a really great time. Fran was very patient in teaching us how to knit. There were many nights where we would sit and watch a movie knitting all the while. Well, except for Karen, she is a speedy crocheter. :o) Since I have learned how to knit, I have made at least 10 scarves.

Here in lies my problem: I relied so heavily on the girls knitting knowledge it is hard to knit on my own. I have started knitting a few more scarfs but all I can do is the purl stitch. And while that is great, I need to branch out. I don't want to keep making the same thing over and over. Short of asking Fran to fly up here and teach me something new, I wasn't sure where to turn. So, I went to my trusted friend, The Curtis Memorial Library, and got out a book. I checked out Teaching Yourself Visually Knitting. It isn't as easy as you would think. Knitting speak is weird. Knit 1, purl 2, knit 2; huh?! I will say the pictures are of some help.

But I have realized that not all things are easily learned by reading. So I have searched the web and found multiple videos on youtube.com that could prove very helpful. We will see how that goes...

Do any of you knit? Are there any sites or videos you would recommend? I will let you know how my 'learn by watching videos' goes. Who knows, maybe someday I will graduate from scarves to hats!

Worldless Wednesday

The Blue Angels

Sorry I have been MIA lately. I didn't have a chance until now to post about my fun weekend! Well, I didn't really have a fun weekend but I did have a very fun Friday afternoon. This past weekend Naval Air Station Brunswick held the Great State of Maine Air Show 2008. The air show included many acts (click here to view all). The two I was most interested in seeing were the US Army Golden Knights parachute team and The Blue Angels.

I missed the Golden Knights but I did get to see The Blue Angels. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. If they ever come near your home, I would recommend you go see them perform. I am not even interested in plane at all and I loved it!

Below are pictures I took of their show. The pics do not even do them justice. All I kept saying out loud the whole performance was that they must be crazy! Anyone who would willing fly 18 inches apart from 3 other Boeing F/A-18 Hornets (with perfect precision) must be a little crazy and very brave.


Friday was a great day! Saturday and Sunday, well, not so much. Because I work for the Navy I was 'asked' to help out with one of the concession stands. And I can say after two very long days, if I ever see another french fry again it will be too soon!

Low Tide

Sunday afternoon, Aaron and I headed up to Popham Beach. We had been there before but had never made it there during low tide. There are a few islands about a half mile off shore that you can walk out to when the tide is low. We had a great time walking around! It was really neat to get to walk all the places where water is usually so high you can't even swim.

Below are some pictures from the day:

Sorry...I couldn't resist!

All this sand is covered when it is high tide.

On the way out to the island.


A closer look at the sand left behind. I thought it was beautiful!

Another view of the beach.

The walkway to and from the beach.

Our picnic spot. I love picnics!

A close-up of a tiny wave.

I am sure we will go back again. There were tons of shells lying around. I heard from a friend you can even find sand dollars out there. Who knew low tide could be so cool?

Moosehead Lake

Friday, Aaron and I headed up to Moosehead Lake. We have been wanting to see some moose since we got here and we were told this was the place to go. The fact that there were a lot of trees, hills and fishing areas was a bonus!

When thinking about this weekend, we thought let's just use the 'fly by the seat of our pants' mentality. We learned quickly that in 'vacationland' (what they call the whole state of Maine) and especially on a holiday weekend this was not the best of ideas.

It took us a long time to find a spot to lay our heads. We rolled into Jackman, ME at around 12:30 in the morning. We woke up the owner but we did manage to find a clean, not scary looking place to lay our heads, The Bishop's Country Inn Motel.

We saw thisplace located in Jackman as well, but for obvious reasons chose to keep looking! If it is not so obvious to you...read the sign.

Now, I should tell you up front that I don't have any pictures of moose, not of ones that have ever been alive anyway. But I am happy to say we saw 10 moose total on our trip! And had it not been for the fact that we didn't have a reservation we might not have seen any at all.

We saw all 10 moose on the way to Jackman which is 26 miles west of our original target, Rockwood, ME. I think we were lucky enough to see them because we were out so late on the road where no one else was driving. The first one we saw was a mom and her baby. I had no idea how massive moose were! The baby was huge! It really was an amazing site. We drove by him when he was walking down the side of the road. Aaron saw the mom, I wasn't quite fast enough. We turned around to get a better look at him but he already jumped over the guard rail. Seeing how slow he was walking I didn't think he had it in him to jump. The next few I saw were pieces and parts. I seemed to always catch them walking into the woods. I would see a big bum and a lot of back legs. There was one that when we stopped beside the road (as he was walking into the woods) that stood and watched us. I think he was interested in the flash on my camera. I keep trying to take a picture so it would flash, but it couldn't focus on anything because it was so dark. (Note to self: I need a bigger flash!)

The whole 26 mile stretch of road was amazing! Who knew we would see that many. I didn't, that is for sure. They didn't seem afraid of us. They just went about their business probably annoyed that I kept trying to take their picture. I am still bound and determined to catch one on film before we leave this state!

Here are a few pictures that we did manage to take:

I am standing in front of the flying moose!

Click the picture to enlarge it and read about the Legend of the Flying Moose.

I saw this bus and forced Aaron to re-enact a scene from Into the Wild. It is a great book too!

I couldn't resist this moose we found on the side of the road!

It was amazing how many leaves were already changing color. It could have been the end of September up there already!

Jackman is 16 miles away from the Canadian border. In 2 1/2 hours we could have been in Quebec. We both were wishing we would have brought our passports. Anyway, I thought this sign warning people in French and English was funny. I guess I thought people could have figured it out in any language. There is a giant moose on a sign. I doubt they would think they were to watch out for squirrels!

Aaron got to go fishing up there too! He had researched the Brassua Dam before we left. I took a book along to read but had more fun watching him. I know this isn't a picture of him actually fishing but I think he looks handsome. :o)

Before we headed home we ate at the Briches Resort on Moosehead Lake in Rockwood, ME. To be honest we didn't love the food but we loved the view!

No photo I took could do the lake justice but I liked this photo.

We had a great time at the lake and the surrounding areas. And I was able to get a lot of pictures (I really liked this one!). I am sure I will be annoying you with them on my photoblog.

Our fun weekend didn't end there but I will spare you anymore right now. I will post soon about our Sunday at the beach. I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!