QB's Marguerita Pizza

I've played with this recipe a few times now. I think I've finally got it just where I want it. It's perfect!


1 Boboli (thin crust)
1-2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
Fresh mozzarella (I tear or cut into chunks)
Fresh basil
Italian seasoning
Balsamic Glaze
Olive Oil

Spread a olive oil over crust - generously with sprinkle Italian seasoning. Layer sliced tomatoes and mozzarella as desired. Chop fresh basil (I like a lot) and sprinkle over tomatoes and mozzarella. Drizzle with Balsamic Glaze. Bake about 10 min at 450 degrees. Yummm!

Visit with Cari

Mom and I went to see Cari last weekend. It was a beautiful drive up. Everything is budding and blooming. All the different shades of green were amazing! Of course Mom and I talked non-stop the entire way. We have to play catch-up whenever we finally do get together. It was lunch time by the time we arrived so O'Charlies was our first stop. By the time we got out of there and back to Cari's dorm it was about time to head to the percussion concert. It's fascinating watching such incredibly talented young people make music together with such simple instruments. We loved it!After the show I had to make time to stop and shoot some of these gorgeous cherry tree blossoms!! These are some of the pretties trees ever!

After dinner we decided to go see "Date Night." Mom never gets to go to a movie unless it's a kid movie. My vote is usually always something that will make me laugh. This one didn't disappoint us. Of course Mom and I fed off of each other. Her high pitched giggle makes me laugh and she says my laugh is contagious, so ... one or the other was laughing most of the time. I'll have to drag Bob to it before it's out of the theaters.

It's really hard to wrap my head around the fact that Cari will be home for the summer in about 2-1/2 weeks! I can't believe this year is gone. She'll start her third year in August! How did that happen?

Sunburst Shawl!

I LOVE how this thing came out!! I really enjoyed working with the yarn as well (info in this post). The pattern is a personal pattern from one of the ladies at KnitWits, a local yarn shop. Finished it Friday night, washed and blocked it Saturday - wore it on the deck yesterday. It got chilly late afternoon. :)

From Knitting

From Knitting

OK, off to run some errands, do a little cleaning and more knitting later. :)

Peanut's new mode of transportation

Peanut used to be able to walk with me for miles - not so much anymore. In the past couple of years he's really slowed down. As he approaches fourteen years old this summer, he still enjoys his walks but tires pretty quickly, usually about a 1/2 mile. He may be a small dog, but after carrying 10 lbs for a while he still gets heavy. While a 1/2 mile walk may be sufficient for Peanut it sure doesn't do much for me or Bob ... so, Bob brought this home for Peanut last week:

We weren't sure how he would react to this new idea. We set off this morning to try it out. We planned to walk a couple of miles. As always, he got excited when he saw his leash. Neither one of us realized how hot it was this morning. Walking down Nimmo doesn't provide much shade either - next time we'll walk through the neighborhood instead. Peanut started slowing down before 1/2 mile so Bob picked him up and put him in the stroller ... and Peanut sat right down.

... and he stayed there. I figured after he adjusted to the idea he would make the call to get in and out as often as he wanted to. I didn't think it would happen so quickly. When he was ready to walk again, he just stood up and was ready to jump out. He did that on and off throughout the 2 miles. Pretty cool huh? He caught on pretty fast, I'd say.

I guess we're set now. No more excuses for not walking further. :)

BTW, HAPPY EASTER!!

Easter came a little early

Went to see my wonderful little bundle of joy yesterday and took her first Easter basket to her. Of course Mom and Dad will end up eating most of the goodies in there, but she will enjoy the movie (Alvin & the Chipmunks) and bunny. I couldn't fit the blocks in her basket so gave them to her separately. She loved them! Not too interested in putting the shapes in the holes yet - all she wanted to do was play and chew on them ... oh, and the little bugger has FOUR teeth now!! Two on the bottom and two on the top!! All those teeth made it a bit easier to have her first taste of the Easter Peeps. She is growing by leaps and bounds, learning new things daily and so precious. Heidi made her work for her basket and showing me how she can "crawl." With hardwood floors it's easier for her to slide around on her belly, pulling herself with her hands. She has certainly learned how to maneuver around pretty well that way. Another one of her new tricks to show Gammie was pulling up. I guess walking around the furniture is next. Once she got past playing with the eggs, she discovered the tag on the bunny and the basket. The youngun simply LOVES tags! LOL She will find a tag on anything and play with it. Too funny.

I sat on the opposite side of the table while Heidi was feeding her lunch. We started playing "peek-a-boo" around the beta fish bowl. Look at that face! How can it not make you smile? However, that smile was short lived. I took some lasagna for lunch and when Dennis sat Heidi's plate in front of her, the look on Morgan's face was priceless. Heidi told me she knew what lasagna was and she loves it. Needless to say, that was the last bite she took of her baby food. Heidi had to share it and Morgan tuned up and cried like her little heart was broken when it was all gone. Daddy had to heat up some more for her. Poor baby, she's so neglected! LOL



Until next time ... QB signing off for now.

Oh Je-fa-fa, Oh Je-fa-fa ...

... without me you would su-ka-ka!! We knew it would be a night filled with laughter but WOW! Walking out of there with our faces and stomachs aching along with sore throats and waning voices from screaming and laughing, well ... in one word it was AWESOME!! I had just remarked to Bob on Thursday evening at dinner that I hoped "Guitar Guy" (Brian Haner) would be there, but I really didn't think he would. I thought it was a special appearance for the Christmas special where Achmed sang his Christmas carols. So it was a wonderful surprise when "Guitar Guy" came out on stage to open for Jeff!! Brian, surprisingly, is a comedic act all on his own. He was very good! As he shared some family stories and things they experienced on the road, he had us roaring with laughter. He ended his set by playing the "Star Spangled Banner" with a video of a waving flag on the big screen. It, as always, was very moving. After a 15 minute intermission we were finally rewarded with Jeff!!

Jeff opened with Walter, our favorite funny, cranky, politically incorrect old man. He didn't disappoint. Walter makes fun of everyone. There were lots of new material intertwined with some of the old, classic we all know and love. The audience loved the personalized material about "Norfolk." When an outsider understands the local pronunciation we love it. Walter had lots of material about "Nawfuck." Needless to say, had us rolling in our chairs. Sadly, while they let us take photos of Brian, we were told no photography of any kind during Jeff. Since I was sitting on the end of a row, with a "guard" facing the back a few rows up I couldn't get anything. Had I been in the middle of the row, I'd have gone for it. In this particular situation having a really good seat didn't work in my favor when it came to taking photos. As Walter ended his set with his now famous, "Welcome to Walmart! Git yer shit and git out!" we were already exhausted. And then came ...

... Achmed!!! We've seen him on video so many times. It's so much better to see him in person! How Jeff can make a puppet have so much personality and expression is truly a talent. When "Guitar Guy" joined him on the stage for one of Achmed's new songs, we loved it! When Jeff and Brian get on stage together there's always lots of spontaneous jokes. Jeff even said, "I hear the punchline 2 seconds before the audience does." Those two just crack each other up, muck like Harvey Korman and Tim Conway used to do on the Carol Bernette Show. Us "infidels" eat it up. As the audience roars with laughter, Achmed says, "Silence! I keel you!"

Last but, of course, not least came one of the big favorites - PEANUT!!! Love, love, love Peanut!! He is every bit as politically incorrect as Walter and Achmed and we love every minute of it. Again, there was old material mixed in with some new. Even the stuff we've heard over and over was still funny. There weren't many races Peanut didn't make fun of. He is so bad. And we love him. He discussed ta-tas, tampons & Always with wings, a taste of China (supposedly an offended Chinese fan wrote in and complained), decorating the barbed wire on the Mexican border and more - much more. We were exhausted by the time Peanut went back in his case. And Jeff left the stage ...

... only to come back for an encore with Bubba J. Bubba J is in a league of his own. When the audience was louder with Bubba J's punchlines, Jeff would pause and look at the audience in amazement and a bit of frustration. It got worse with each joke. We got louder and louder. I'm not sure how much of that was part of his act and how much of it was genuine, but either way we ate it up.

After the puppets were put away Jeff and Brian came back on stage with air guns to shoot t-shirts out into the crowd. Jeff was determined to get some all the way in the back balcony and after several attempts (and upgrades to more powerful guns) he made it. Cari and I had an awesome night and would definitely go see him again. In fact, he may be recording his next DVD here in Va. Beach and, if at all possible, we will be there. What a blast!!

QB signing off, for now ...

Whew - it's been a while ...

... hasn't it? Lots of "life" goin' on these days. Cari was home for spring break and Bob threw us some curve balls with a health issue. Suffice to say, Cari didn't have much of a break on her spring break. We're trying to get back to "normal," whatever that means. Sometimes you have to settle for a new normal.

I finally surrendered to my sleep issues and got a prescription for Ambien back in January. Started off with 5mg and increased it to 10mg in February. After a couple of months of getting some decent sleep I'm beginning to feel better than I have in a long time. I actually have some energy these days and it feels good! I think the increased energy level has spurred me on to do some much needed spring cleaning. I worked in my kitchen this past week, cleaning out cabinets, closet, pantry, etc. I'm hoping to get to the drawers next week. It feels so good to be able to open a door and actually see what's in there - and to know what I've got and what I need. My closet will be next - good grief, I won't even go there. I'm not sure it's ever been this bad before. I could take pix of before and after ... but I won't. On to other things ...

Don't feel like I've accomplished much in the way of knitting this past month. I did manage to finish a pair of socks for Cari and have started some others, but haven't completed anything else.

From Knitting

Not sure what's going on lately with my color choices - I used to be quite a bit more conservative. Check out my next pair of socks I'm working on:

From Knitting

I also started my chenille scarf in these gorgeous, bold colors:

From Knitting

I'm using a favorite standby pattern - Misti Alpaca Ribs and Ruffles (without the ruffles).

I can't wait to finish this cape! I simply fell in love with the colors and feel of this Kudo yarn:

From Knitting

From Knitting

Off to, hopefully, visit Mom's this afternoon - and maybe get some new pix of Zach. Then Cari and I are off to the Ted Constant Center tonight to see Jeff Dunham!!! We are SO EXCITED!!!!

til next time ...
QB

Nikon Customer Service

I would've never believed I could have such a disappointing, frustrating experience with Nikon. My father-in-law has been a Nikon person all his life and has never had anything but wonderful things to say about their products. I am sitting here in shock trying to soak this in. Here's my story:

My D200 started flashing the dreaded "Err" message around the holidays. Thank goodness I had a D50 as a backup. Not having time to investigate the problem, I just put it aside and used the D50. Earlier this month I decided it was time to tackle the problem and researched the problem online, tried everything I could find and ended up calling customer service. I talked with a technician who walked me through several possible "fixes" and when nothing worked, he informed me I would have to send it in to the company for repair for the "injury." ??? Injury? Excuse me? Never mind, I won't even go there. I shipped it the same day - to the company - to Nikon. Not some third party company, to Nikon.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks. I finally received an email with a pdf attachment requesting my repair approval to the tune of $224 for a "standard B2 repair." That's it. Needless to say I called customer service the next day for an explanation. I didn't get one. The CSR I spoke to told me exactly what the standard form I received said - "standard B2 repair." I explained to her that I didn't know what that meant and I wasn't going to pay $224 for something when I didn't know what it was. She said she'd have to request that information and email it to me when she got it - and that could take 24-48 hours. That's the best they've got? Seriously?

Almost a week later I get an email explaining that a "B2" repair is a "standard shutter/mirror replacement." OK. I authorized the repair. Last week I checked the website several times checking on the status - it always said, "SHOP." No problem, that's what I expected. I checked it today and was appalled at the status of my camera. The current status of my camera's repair is "PARTS HOLD." The definition? "Product is waiting for repair parts." ??? Are you kidding me? This is NIKON! It's a standard replacement part! Where are they getting the parts from then? If I had sent it to a third party company for repair I could certainly understand them having to wait for parts ... but wouldn't they order the parts from Nikon? I just don't believe this.

So I started more research about Nikon's customer service. Wow ... I found all kinds of things. In fact I found very little positive about it. Think I'll buy another Nikon in the future?

I don't have enough sangria to feel better ...

February FOs

My finished knitted projects for the month include a baby blanket, prayer shawl, pair of socks, pair of fingerless mitts I pattern tested and some baby wash cloths:



On the needles for March are a pair of socks for Cari - just CO on for them yesterday!

Monkeys!!!

It all started because "someone" mentioned that Pierce (my nephew) was into monkeys these days. That was before Christmas. Don't ask me where the hair brained idea came from. It's not like I don't already have plenty of hobbies to choose from when I actually have time to devote to one of them. But for some reason the light bulb went on and I just HAD to MAKE him a sock monkey. Now keep in mind that I saw them at Target for $12.99 before Christmas. But that simply wasn't good enough! I wanted to MAKE one for him. Nope, I've never made one before. I guess knowing Sara (his mom) would love it all the more knowing I had made it was a big reason why I wanted to do this. Bob just shakes his head at me. He doesn't get it either - but then there's quite a bit about me he doesn't get.

I set off on my mission to find the famous red heel socks. After looking at several stores I decided to just order them online. There are several companies online that sell them and I was delighted to find they come in blue as well as brown. You know me, it had to be a bit different! So I ordered them, they came and they sat ... through December and then through January. I just ran out of time. Eventually, during one of our "snowed in" weekends, with all my other deadline projects and the time came to pull out the socks. I followed the directions and sewed up the first sock. After I figured out that the red heel on that sock was his butt and not his mouth, it all came together pretty quickly! LOL I was quite confused for a bit though. Sewing all the pieces on was the next challenge. I am not a proficient hand sewer. In fact, my first monkey looks a little pathetic if you look too closely. But he is what he is and he needs a home where he will be loved (i.e. dragged around by the arm - hopefully - through all kinds of muck).

I finished him right before one of our sock classes so he HAD to go with me - seeing as he was made from socks ... right? :D Other than looking angry (I still need to fix his eye brows) I was quite proud of my first sock monkey. Sometime during the class there was a discussion on why he was so pissed. I suggested it was because I didn't make him anatomically correct - c'mon! this is me we're talking about - consider the source! As he was passed around Rachel put his tail between his legs and arranged his arms around it and ... well needless to say hilarity ensued! We were all crying we were laughing so hard. Ya know, when I look at any of these monkeys (yeah, I've made some more since then) that's all I see now. And they all look pornographic! And yeah, I did take a pic of it - just couldn't help myself - but I won't post it. I'll leave that to your imagination.

Of course after completing this little guy (albeit well hung little guy) I wanted to make more. The wheels were just a spinning! Off I went looking for more socks. I found these wonderful Valentine socks and they just screamed to be made into Valentine monkeys!! I decided to take Cari and Jocelyn (roommate) one since we were going up there. I love how they came out and so did the girls. I get a little better at seaming and doing the face on each one. Sorry Pierce, I'll make you another one at some point ... cuz hey, you gotta have more than one monkey, right?

I also decided to make baby monkeys from little girl socks. I needed one for Morgan for V-Day and one for an upcoming baby shower. I think they turned out pretty dang cute!