Let Them Eat Cake! aka. Things You Can Do When You Have More Leftovers Than Money

Part of my Living Cheap program is trying to use everything in the fridge/ pantry without having to throw stuff away because it has gotten bad... I realized the other day I have overripe kiwi fruits in fruit bowl and wondered what to do with them (as I don't eat them as is because I am slightly allergic).

I googled "kiwi cake" (I know kiwi is a bird! *grin* In here the fruit just happens to be called just kiwi - as is the bird, slightly confusing sometimes) and found a recipe for this kiwi cake.

Perfect recipe actually as I thought I didn't have any margarine for baking.

I was wrong, so I ended using it, replaced brown sugar with 2/3 regular sugar and 1/3 molasses (altogether 2/3 of sugar in the recipe) then added some ages old frozen slices of apple in the kiwi fruit jam and processed it to somewhat coarse mix and I also added pinch of ginger into it.
This recipe produces dense, but yummy cake, which goes down a bit too well.... *ahem*

I think that next time I'll mix baking soda to flour, mix the sugar with eggs, maybe just process the fruit with blender.... some cinnamon and cardamom would go well with this too, I think.

Try it, your hips will regret it! *grin* And now I'm going to get some tea and cake as Tiny's napping....

Crazy Days 12-15

I had my last two starts at 20th due having been sick, falling asleep with Tiny and so forth, but I have now officially started those fifteen! And have also stitched old projects (few stitches on "For This Child...", but progress nevertheless)!

Day 12

Yet another LHN, this time "Plums". That brown is odd, it looks very variegated on skein, but when stitched (one stitch at a time as I always do with other than regular floss) it doesn't.

Day 13

I found my DMC box (and one box of hand-dyeds *ahem*) which meant starting with Dragon Dreams' designs. First one is their 2013 Holiday Treat - I just lack most of the charted colours so it'll be just sitting in its bag for a while.

Day 14

"Coffee Is Magic", and yet again I have only a few of charted colours. Same actually applies to all my DD projects for now.

Day 15

I am planning to stitch "Evening Dragon" with reds, I just haven't had time to check the combination during those few daylight hours we have at the moment.
Started with knight.

Crazy Days 9- 11 + Design Changes

I realized the other night that I don't have a clue where my DMC box is and therefore kitting LHN's Sheeps would have been kind of difficult... so I changed to LHN's Fruits & Berries as they came with floss packs.
And then I realized I don't have the kind of fabric I'd like to have for "St.Basil's Cathedral".... so, that is one more LHN.

Let's see do I have to replace Dragon Dreams' designs too... maybe it will be Crazy LHN January for me. *grin*.

Day 9

After finding suitable (as "big enough") piece of fabric I started my LHN marathon with "Blueberries".

Day 10

Admittedly I had a helping paw when I was stitching this....

Day 11

Not much progress on "Cherries" thanks to learning new things about my nut allergy (it's worse than I thought) and being comatozed by allergy medication.

Tiny's on grocery run with granny so I'll go and try to find my DMC box before they return... and figure out why I can't seem to figure out what is the 15th project. (Oh wait...)

Operational plan, part 1

In order to make coming months easier for me I have set a goal:

1. in September I can buy some stash as in September I pay the last part of my biggest amortization off.
2. In October I can get some more stash as then I also pay last part of other debt.
3. November and December I can do what I want with the money (I need clothes by then, luckily I have hoarded used clothes in bigger sizes for Tiny so he should be ok - and I know where Salvation Army's outlet store is *grin*. And AS I start studying (I have decided that I will be accepted *grin*) I need to buy a new laptop for school so I need some money for that (I plan to get some from Santa in addition to that).)

and

4. in January 2015 I start saving money to pay up one last debt that is screwing things... It should only take a year at its worst.

And I already know what I want...

I have drooled after PINN's "Ganesha - The Hindu God of Wisdom" since I first saw it few years back. I saw it stitched on fiery orangey and red hand-dyed fabric and I just knew I had to get it.
They have several Ganeshas and some day I may justify buying this Ganesha too.
It's frigg*** expensive, but.... PRETTY!

(Admittedly I have two auto ships (cheap ones, sans floss and fabric) and I have a deal with Jenna I am paying each month. More about NEW stash when I have started all my crazies.)

Why?

It dawned on me in last November that in order to get a job in the profession I am planning to get a degree of I need squeaky clean background. And by starting clearing it now it will be ok when I, hopefully, graduate. (I need to apply first. *grin*)
There is also that minor thing that I want to offer Tiny things I can not at our current financial status - which would remain the same as now would I return to my old job - and I have very lame dream to actually be able to save up the down payment, get a loan and find our *own* home for Tiny and me at some point.
But all this means that I have to count cents and prioritize heavily now and focus on my goal. (Now, when it is financially easier as toddlers aren't financially demanding... yet.)

/methinks that thyroxine helped me to grow some big balls. And I love it.
Even I can tell you that my bank account at this point is a really, really sad sight. But I think this is also helping me to lose weight, I'm buying less bad foodstuff and stitch and drink tea through the evening opposed to... finding sugar highs. And despite not having weighed myself since.... erm.... long time ago, it seems that my shape has changed slightly which should mean some lost grams.

Late "9 Day Christmas Challenge" Recap

It turns out that this challenge was actually the thing I needed for my mojo. I have been stitching almost every night since I started this challenge on 24th of December, 2013.
It just dawned to me yesterday that it ended a week ago.... well, I am such a perceptive person, aren't I?

But let's see what I did achieve:

1. Stitched "Kisses From Heaven".

2. I did stitch approximately 15% of Lizzie*Kate's Flora McSample "Heart Sampler". I might have got it done before New Year's, but then I burned my hand...
3. Successfully started "Crazy January Challenge".

It may not sound much, but I still think that it's a lot for just night time stitching. *grin*

Days 6, 7 & 8

Day 6

On sixth day I started Little House Needleworks' "Hope" (from the scripture series).

I changed the colour used for the flowers as "Hydrangea" was much too white to my liking and "Blooming Crocus" was closer to the preview.
Also the green has some issues, but I think that when all the other colours are stitched it pops out better. One just imagined that green floss would stand up from cobblestone linen as well as it seemed to when I checked the colours against the fabric...

Day 7

And the next day I continued with LHN's scriptures and started "Comfort".

As you see lighter, muted shades of green and cobblestone have certain incompability issues, but I'm sure it'll look fabulous in the end, with all the pinks.

Day 8

Today I started Erica Michaels' "A Winter Nap" and it is stitched with leftover floss on leftover piece of.... cobblestone linen. (There's a theme here...)

I am not sure about the colour I'll use for the writing, but I won't be following the chart key and use three different colours on it. Being lazy I rather just pick a nice variegated hand-dyed for it.

This will be finished as an ornament or decorative pillow as that linen is only wide enough for that - and anyway I rather finish small designs in some other way than framing.
I have a piece of quite nice poinsettia fabric that might look nice with this...

There's also the mandatory mistake in this: my moon is too fat. But you wouldn't have guessed it if I hadn't mentioned it. *grin*

Crazy January: Days 3, 4 and 5

Day 3

On the third day of Craziness.... I started Lizzie*Kate's "Christmas Sampler".

Day 4

Day four was actually fifth of January as it has been quite restless here at nights few days, but I have still managed to stitch almost daily. ^^

Without further ado: "Snowman Stocking" restart!

And last, but not least....

Day 5!

Tonight I started eduCATing myself.

Crazy January: Days 1 & 2

It has been fun stitching, even in the expense of sleep, again!

Day 1

I started with The Prarie Schooler's "Must Be Santa" and it turns out to be a fun, easy project that is actually quicker to finish than I thought.

I didn't like the idea of black teddy so I changed the colour to brown. I am not too fond of that black gift bag either, but I am not sure would it be too much brown if I changed its colour too. I have to see about that when rest of the window is finished.

Day 2

On the second day I started "The Earth Laughs In Flowers" by The Sweetheart Tree.

There's only few stitches because I was really tired... which turned out to be a migraine symptom. Yay.

As you see I have started with kits, just because I have always forgot to dig through my fabric stash before Tiny goes to bed. Have to remember to dig through as there's one more kit and then I need fabric....

If the dating seems odd it's only because I tend to stitch at night, after midnight, before going to bed. So, even it's only afternoon of 2nd of January I have already stitched two days worth.