HighFiber

Monday, December 16, 2024

Too Soon To Watch for Santa?

Our security detail is on duty, but if Santa showed up, Dusty would greet him happily. We are safe from casual intruders, and the UPS person doesn't have to ring the doorbell. Meanwhile, Sandy was off somewhere recharging his batteries.

It has been a busy week, as usual. We finished the greeting cards last week, and this week, I wrote our holiday letter. I had to make this map, showing our big trip during the summer. The green line was our route eastward, showing where we went camping in Utah, where Peter's family and Alex joined us. Peter's family followed the same route to Wyoming and South Dakota, and we camped together along the way. We parted company in South Dakota. They headed back, doing some camping on their return trip, while we continued on to Wisconsin to visit Karen and her family. Finally, we drove to Indiana to visit Tim with his family. We hightailed it home, covering the distance in only five days. It took less time to make the map.

I'm waiting for buttons for my Oregon Autumn Cardigan, which may turn out to be an Oregon Winter Cardigan, as winter is quickly approaching. However, I got a start on a doll sweater, which was supposed to be for Max, a Little Kidz doll going to honorary granddaughter Elsie for Christmas. Pauly generously offered to part with his pajama pants, a jacket, a sweater, his sleep mask and some sneakers, and I can take my time making new ones for him. that takes some of the pressure off. I can bring this sweater to Elsie when I go to the Yarn Crawl in March.

I bake almost every week. This week I made Pulla. We're eating one now, and one is in the freezer for Christmas enjoyment.

Here's the recipe. I use a bread machine for the mixing and kneading and then bake it in the oven.

What do you suppose is in this box? Or maybe I should ask "who" is in the box.

My muses told me I needed a new character for the stories. I'm not sure yet where this will take the stories, but they always come to me in their time.

She says her name is Olivia. She arrived when the other Kidz were out (it had just snowed). We hadn't been expecting her until later in the day. She had some pretend tea and got acquainted with Mandy and Veronika.

She wanted some pretend toast with something called "Marmite" on it with her pretend tea. She is going to be interesting.

Fancywork yarn shop was having a trunk show with an indie dyer, A Skeiner Darkly. The owner of the company was there, Ann Woods. We had a nice chat and I saw some of her lovely yarns. I couldn't spend any more money this month, but I found out she will be at the yarn crawl in March, so I plan to pick up a skein or two from her then. She also has an Etsy shop. Before I left the shop, the shop owner drew my attention to a sheep in the window wearing a doll sweater. It's sort of redundant, I think, to put a sweater on a sheep, but he sure looks cute!

On Sunday, my back had been bothering me, and the choir didn't have to sing, so I watched the service on YouTube. Our (fairly) new priest included the children in the service and had them come up to the front for the sermon.

For some cuteness, here is Soren, eating some soup (I think) while his two eagles listen to the discussion over by the fireplace.

There's still lots to do to get ready for the holidays. Are you ready yet?

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah or Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still need to finish off the raw edges on the inside of the Oregon Cardigan and sew on the buttons (when they come) and then block it. Working on the doll sweater at my leisure.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.

What's on my sewing machine: Still its dust cover.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: This week's story from #TheDollsStorybook is
Dreaming of Christmas. The Kidz go caroling at a home with a boy and a girl in a wheelchair. It's about where happy dreams come from when there are dolls living with you.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Now listening to These High Green Hills by Jan Karon. Still reading In the Shelter of Each Other by Milree Latimer. Didn't get much reading done again during the week.

What's in my wine glass: Empty, but will be having a nice Riesling on Tuesday, when we have another Madroña Pop-up meeting (party).

What's my tip of the week: If you get an email from some company or financial institution where you actually do business and you aren't sure whether it's really from them, look at the "full header." How you find that depends on your email provider. Sometimes there's a place to click on "show full header." If not, you might have to research it. In the full header, you will see the email address it came from. I like to report, if I have a phishing, spoofing, spam or scam contact at the company that is being impersonated.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Monday, December 9, 2024

The Last Moment

I'm not quite as far behind as I was the year I wrote The Week Before Christmas, which appears in Our Favorite Verses, last year's new book. At least we won't have a houseful of people this year for the holidays. Still....

It was another crazy week, but I managed to get some knitting done. The Oregon Autumn Cardigan is off the needles.

I still have to put on the buttons (which I've ordered), block and finish off the inside, but the knitting is finished. I found it easier to use three long circular needles for the front/neck band. I put half of the stitches on one needle and half on a second needle, using the third needle to knit with.

While I'm waiting for the buttons to arrive, maybe I can get a small project done. I'm ready to CO an Aran cardigan for a doll for our honorary niece Elsie, who will be getting a Little Kidz Max doll from us. Max is on his way to Elsie's aunt, who will wrap him up. I'll send his clothes along when they're ready. Max is just like Pauly, only blond, so I'll use Pauly as a model.

Meanwhile, the doll I ordered for "The Doll's Storybook" was shipped and should arrive here this week.

It has been very cold. The pups have been snuggling together for warmth.

We did manage to get out to the dog park on Thursday, so the dogs could have some socializing and chase the ball.

We had several errands to do. First of all, we went to our dentists' office. Our health insurance company had given us each a debit card to use for products/services in three categories: dentistry, over-the-counter medications and accessories and "incentive," which was basically to pay us for getting our physicals done. That last category we could spend on anything other than alcohol, tobacco, firearms and gambling, but we could only spend it in certain stores, like Walmart and Kroger. The dentistry and over-the-counter parts had to be spent by December 31st. We hadn't realized how much was on the card, so hadn't spent much, which we learned early in the week. A shopping trip to Walmart took care of most of our over-the-counter purchases and got us stocked up on toiletries, vitamins and first-aid items. The trip on Thursday to the dentists' office gave us a credit there. On the way home, before we went to the dog park, we stopped at a printer to see about getting our holiday cards printed. They thought we could do it all online, but the online services didn't provide the kind of printing we wanted, so I made another trip to the printer on Saturday with my file. The young man who helped us was new, and he sort of messed up the order. The cards were supposed to be 5 X 7, but they ended up 5 1/2 X 8 1/2. I picked them up on Sunday. It was fairly inexpensive, so I said they were OK. I wanted envelopes, too, but now the size I had planned on wasn't going to be big enough. The manager found some that would fit the new size, and gave them to me at no charge because of the mistake. (You may recognize Pauly on the front of the card. The photo is from last year's book.)

We picked up some Asiago cheese to make some special bread for the holidays, Asiago Sourdough Bread. My sourdough starter is ready.

For now, I'm using it to make sandwich bread. Here's the loaf I made a few days ago. It's gone now.

I made the bread in the regular oven, but I decided to try the new microwave/convection oven for some apple crisp. I used the round rack that sits on the turntable, and a glass baking pan. It worked great, and I could see the juices bubbling in the pan as it turned. It makes a great dessert with a little milk poured over the top and a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

My latest book, More Classic Tales Retold, officially came out on December 5th, although BookBaby has had it since they sent me my copies. When people buy my books from BookBaby, much more of the price of the book goes to St. Jude. Here's an example, taken from my accounting page, where I was able to find two posts for the same book at the same price, one from "Print On Demand," which is a vendor like Amazon or B&N, and one from the BookBaby Bookshop. You can see the "Print On Demand" only paid $1.68, while the BookBaby Bookshop paid $8.00.

The kids aren't coming this year. The other grandparents get them. We alternate. This allows the cousins to see each other every two years, which is nice. However, Charlie's brother will be coming. That will be nice.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still need to finish up the Oregon Cardigan. Just starting an Aran sweater for Max, a doll for our honorary granddaughter, Elsie. Max is on his way to Elsie's aunt Alexa. I'll use Pauly as a model. Max is just like Pauly, only blond.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.

What's on my sewing machine: Still its dust cover.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: This week's story from #TheDollsStorybook is Staying Well. Originally written early in the pandemic, the dolls demonstrate how children can keep from catching contagious diseases. They learn about viruses and get to see what they look like if you use an electron microscope.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Dean Koontz's new book, The Forest of Lost Souls. Now listening to Rubinrot by Kerstin Gier. Still reading In the Shelter of Each Other by Milree Latimer. Didn't get much reading done again during the week.

What's in my wine glass: Maison du Bertrand Vin Rouge Boudeaux 2019. I'll let you know.

What's my tip of the week: Start designing Christmas cards in September.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut.

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Monday, December 2, 2024

It Was the Best of Times...It Was the Worst of Times

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had the best of times!

Peter, Alexa and the boys drove down from Beaverton on the Sunday before Thanksgiving bringing our granddog, Louis, along. The boys went to the playground a few times and played with the dogs in the backyard. We "babysat" while Peter and Alexa took care of some legal business locally.

My boys were on the lookout for family members whenever they were out of the house. Sandy especially likes to watch the driveway.

Meanwhile, Dusty keeps an eye on the front sidewalk.

The three dogs had a lot of fun playing together. In this photo, I think they look as if they're planning something.

I made the traditional Lanttulaatikko (rutabaga casserole).

Everyone else had smoked turkey, and I had Quorn Meatless Turkey-Style Roast. I made some cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy and roasted some sweet potatoes in the new microwave/convection oven. Alexa fixed some roasted Brussels sprouts and cooked them in the oven with the sweet potatoes. It's getting easy to use, and my cookie sheets fit in nicely. Charlie bought a pumpkin pie, which we finished off after two dinners.

But into every life, a little rain must fall, and not just outside. We ran the dishwasher after Thanksgiving dinner, but on Friday, when we had accumulated enough dishes to run it again, it wouldn't work. The lights didn't even come on to allow us to start it. Peter and I washed and dried the dishes by hand, which was a big job, with dishes from feeding six people.

I'm leaving the dish rack and tray out until the dishwasher is fixed. Washing by hand won't be such a difficult job, now that we're back to two people and the dogs. We will have to get a repair person to come and look at the dishwasher for us. I hope we don't also need an electrician. We sure have had a lot of appliances give up on us lately! Appliances aren't made the way they were back in 1982, when we bought our Maytag washer and dryer, which are still working. Things always seem to go out when we have family visiting! That's the worst! I'm very thankful, though, that we got through Thanksgiving before we learned the dishwasher wasn't working.

During quiet times this past week, I picked up the stitches along the front steek for my Oregon Autumn Cardigan. I'm a little more than half finished with the front and neck band. The stitches go up the right front, up the neck shaping, around the back neck, then back down the left front neck shaping and front. The buttonholes are made by binding off two stitches on the right front seven times, spaced evenly apart. When I continue, I'll cast on two stitches over the spaces. I'll wait until I find out what size buttons will fit through the buttonholes before I order buttons.

On Saturday Alexa and I went to Fancywork Yarn Shop, so I could get some yarn for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL project and to "shop small." Usually it's fingering weight for these projects, but this time it's sport/DK, so I couldn't rely on my own stash. I dropped off some books at the store. The patterns in the back of the books might inspire someone to do some doll knitting. I still have to wind the yarn. The pattern comes out in January.

Since it was "Shop Small Saturday, and the store stocks my books, I decided to look around and see if there was anything else I could use. Alexa was intrigued with the Doodle cards from Pacific Knit Co. and had been telling me about them. The cards have colorwork graphs you can mix and match to make up your own designs. They just happened to have the cards, so I decided to try them out. The same company has digital and printed blank patterns for hats, scarves and cowls, to use the Doodle Cards with. This should be fun during the long winter months, I think.

My Doll Best Friend had another "Chosen," and this time I decided to put my name in, not expecting to have any chance, as these limited-edition dolls have become very popular, and only 250 of them are made. They send out a notice that you can apply for one, then have a drawing for the right to purchase one of the dolls. I was lucky to get Mariah, and then Honor for Daphne a couple of years later. When I didn't hear on Monday, after they had been notifying people, I figured I didn't win, but on Thanksgiving Day I received an email saying I could buy one. People have 24 hours to respond, so perhaps someone didn't respond, or they said they had changed their minds. When that happens, another name is drawn. Lucky me! I don't know how this doll will fit into the stories, but I have learned to trust my instincts when it comes to writing. Stay tuned!

I ordered a boy doll for our honorary granddaughter, who is Alexa's niece. I'll have to make him some clothes.

He will need pajamas, a change of clothes and a coat or jacket. At least he comes with a hat.

My new book will be generally available starting on December 5th. Book Baby has had them for a while now, but in the US, you can order from Barnes and Noble and Amazon and receive a copy in time for Christmas. Booksellers worldwide can order them. Like all of my books, the size is 8 1/2 X 11" with various page counts. This one is 92 pages. The stories, like the blog stories, are illustrated with photos of the dolls in action.

For some cuteness, here's Johan, proudly displaying the scoresheet from his wrestling tournament on Sunday. He won all three matches in his bracket.

Now we'll see how much the dishwasher is going to cost to fix!

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on the Oregon Cardigan.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows.

What's on my sewing machine: Still its dust cover, but soon, clothes for Max.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: This week's story from #TheDollsStorybook is Giving Thanks in Many Ways. Mariah, Charlotte and Jolena want to plan something for the three of them to do over the long Thanksgiving weekend, but they each plan to attend religious services in different places: a mosque, a synagogue and a church. They decide to go to all three...together!

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Dean Koontz's new book, The Forest of Lost Souls. Also reading a physical book, In the Shelter of Each Other by Milree Latimer. Didn't get much reading done during the week.

What's in my wine glass: Madroña Vineyards Riesling. Great with turkey (real or faux).

What's my tip of the week: If I fill my teapot up, some of the hot water goes up into the spout, making the first cup of tea rather weak. To prevent that, I pour the tea first into a small measuring cup with a spout, then pour it back into the pot. Now the first cup of tea will have had sufficient contact with the tea.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut.

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