National Train Day

Saturday the kids and I headed to 30th Street station for the 2010 National Train Day, on the El of course.  Amtrak scheduled a full day of exhibits, demonstrations, tours, and just fun for families looking at yesterday, today, and tomorrow of train travel.

MM and LB love riding the train, whether the El into Center City, New Jersey Transit into NYC, or Amtrak to Washington DC.   Seeing how people dressed for travel in days gone by was an eye opener for my kids who love their jeans and t-shirts.





After a quick lunch, we headed into the Amtrak information area seeing representatives of the Amtrak K-9 unit, the new ecological initiatives, and regional attractions.  The kids found the activity center and added to our collection of coloring pages, collectors cards, and anything neat which they could get for free.

Throughout the terminal were costumed interpreters from the mid to late 1800s.  MM was fascinated by the dresses.  She decided that wearing 3 to 4 layers of clothes including hoops, gloves, and hats, was more then she wanted to do every day.  As we were heading home after several hours, we met a strolling musician with his concertina.  Though he seemed to be heading off for a break, he was very willing to play a short piece.  I'm not sure which child was more fascinated by the instrument and its music.


This was a nice start to an otherwise quiet family focused Mother's Day weekend.  With everyone contributing to the purchase, last month we finished our holiday gifting with a Wii.  This is the first video gaming system to be of any interest to me.  To date everyone has played at least one game which required getting their backside off the couch.  Typically Mother's Day gifts are hand made items, flowers, and cards but this year DH found Wii Fit Plus, which I really wanted.  Of course who was the first person on the balance board - you know it - DH.  He was testing the equipment and software, I know.  I did get a round of Free Step accomplished with more steps in the same amount of time.   Let the fun continue....

Road Rage

Two weeks down and I haven't run screaming from the building.  I may  however have a massive mid-drive hissy fit one of these days.  I thought the bouncing around on the city streets in my neighborhood was bad, but the streets in Center City are exponentially worse.

Cobblestones are supposed to be bone rattling and jarring, but it's nothing compared to several other streets on my daily travels.  Between the sinking manholes, poorly patched potholes, and uneven roadways; it would not be good for me to run into any member of the streets department.

I drive Pine Street daily.  Earlier this year was yet another round of road carving, this time for Fios.  Then turning down Third Street a series of bad potholes patches, rebuilding portions of road way from explosions, or all around uneven intersections is worse.  Emergencies will always happen, but for other subterranean projects, there should be a requirement that all other players with presents underground be notified.  All projects within a 2 to 5 year timetable should be scheduled so the roadway could be opened up and then fully resurfaced for the benefit of those who live or work on the street.

Since I can't change the roads, the mission to find the smoothest roads in Philly continues.  I'm not optimistic in finding an ideal route in the near future.

Projects continue

I am working more on potential gifts with stash yarn from mom.  This collection of purples will be a wonderful stripe scarf but doesn't have a designated recipient yet.  I love the texture of the Nobo with the smoothness of the cottons.


This happy face greeted me at my desk.  Many thanks to Mrs. B for the one acknowledgement of my return.  Gotta love all that support.

Monday was my first day back at work since Feb 1st.  I'm on light durty and reduced hours for the next several weeks.  The back injury is still going through it's changes with therapy and pain management, but it was pleasant to be out of the house for more then doctor's appointments or therapy for a change.   Of course therapy and appointments also continue, so by the time the kids are in bed I'm wiped out.    Tomorrow continues the fun for week 2.

Treats for me

For years I've looked through cooking store, restaurant suppliers, and even thrift shops for a 12 cup muffin pan similar to those I inherited from my Nana.  She gave me two Worthmore aluminum 6 cup muffin pans which are perfection.  The pans are pressed aluminum so there is no seam between the cup and the pan top.

Since finding my ideal wasn't happening, I worked with what was available to keep the muffins and cupcakes rolling out the kitchen.  Cleaning the crude out of the ridge is just a pain, but I never thought I would find my idea pan again.



Recently after some well wasted time on ebay,  I found an auction for exactly what I've been searching for - a Worthmore 12 cup standard size muffin pan.  The same seller had a mini muffin pan also of molded aluminum by

 Looking further through the seller's items I found a set of aluminum measuring spoons and an ice cream spoon.  Nana's kitchen held spoons like these too.

Nana's kitchen held so many wonderful, practical, and high quality tools.  I got so many when they sold the house and moved.  At the time I was still in school and wasn't didn't know what the future held so there were many items I didn't ask for that I wish now I had.  So, I search the auction sites and second hand shops for those illusive pieces that I now want.

This time, I placed my bids and won.  Yesterday the postman left a package at the door.  I was so excited because I just love getting packages.  These are just wonderful and will be much used and enjoyed.

An afternoon well spent....

Since February 1, life has been so different from anything I ever planned.  That slip on ice outside the office resulted in  being out of the office since February 2.  First diagnosed as a back sprain, then a pinched nerve showed up with physical therapy. Continued numbness in my leg led to a MRI, and the results moved me to the orthopedist and then an epidural just before Easter.  Now physical therapy continues as does the numbness in my leg, though it is getting  better ever so slowly.  Seems the epidural is helping but more to come after my next ortho appointment.

Being frustrated with this situation pushed me this weekend to trying to do a more normal weekend's worth of activity.  Tomorrow will show if this was a good idea or not.

MM had a birthday party this afternoon, which DH willingly took her to (he uses the time for computer work), so LB and I focused on cleaning up the last parts of his room.  LB isn't a dirty child, just a cluttered and messy one.  Putting things back in tubs or drawers is not his strong suit.  While he put away the piles of stuff at the end of his bed, I helped sort the every present Lego blocks.  He started this a couple of weeks ago but then building interrupted.

In the end, he decided to sort the bricks by color with a couple of drawers for the more unique pieces.  Once all the blocks were sorted, we worked together to labels the drawers.  After showing him how to use my label maker, he went to town typing out labels and I put them on the correct drawers.



While the sorting and labeling progressed, I had a batch of granola in the oven.  With bags of assorted nuts and dried fruits left from making Passover charoset and being out of granola, I saw this afternoon as the perfect time to make a batch of my own.  King Arthur Flour must have read my mind because a email earlier this week came with a recipe for crunchy granola.

I tweaked it a bit for the nuts and fruit in my pantry; apricots, dates, raisins, walnuts, cashews, almonds, and pumpkin seeds.  The end result is just wonderful and tasty.  It also fills my new storage container perfectly.

Growing up my Nana made granola which was wonderful, and always in a jar on the kitchen counter.  She didn't add the dried fruit as Grandpa wasn't big on this in his cereal.  I loved helping mix the ingredients in her biggest bowl and helping spread them on the baking sheets.  Next time I'll have to get MM and LB to help out, then they might enjoy eating it.

One to grow on...

Even though it's been along time since posting, I have been knitting.  After finishing Bubbie's hearts, I moved into my first non-scarf project - a baby blanket.  The baby receipent for this blanket is a new little boy at church.

Even though he was thoughtful and told his parents he was coming, I'm never too trusting of ultrasound results.  I picked up this waterfall color since it was wonderful for either a boy or girl.  Being for a baby, I love Lion Brand Homespun for it's comfy, cozy hand and it's wash-ability.

This week brought in a preview of the summer, but I hope to have this finished up to be used for some of the cool spring evenings yet to come.

"I thought this was for me not some baby.  At least it won't be living here, I've enough enough trouble with the ones living here already."

Love for Bubbie

This is the latest project on my needles - the last IOU from the holidays.   Thankfully Bubbie is our wonderfully patient Jewish grandma.

Using the Double Seed Stitch Heart chart from Knitting Stitches, by Mary Webb, the four hearts are for each of Bubbie's grands - genetic and chosen.
Since Bubbie doesn't like fluffy, fuzzy, or heavy weight scarf, so I used Lion Brand cotton yarn in purple and lavender.



This was the first time I used a charted  pattern.  I find them so easy to understand, easier than directions.  I am so happy with my end result.