Friday Round Up: Random Edition

It's time for a Friday Round Up!  It's been a busy week here.  I was away for two weekends in a row, so I had quite a backlog of chores to catch up on.  Of course, it didn't help that my dryer broke down . . . just as I was starting my assault on Mt. Laundry!  I was stuck with a load of wet towels from "up north" (meaning . . . really old, kind of threadbare, and prone to mildew).  I started my week waiting for a new timer for the dryer. . . and displaying my "up north" towel collection on my back fence.

 

Luckily, the repair was completed by Wednesday, and I was back in business.  (Of course, the laundry had multiplied right before my eyes in the meantime!)

To distract me from the ever-growing laundry pile, I decided to make some ice cream.  Chocolate!  Gosh, there are a lot of calories. . . and fat. . . in ice cream!

 

Making it yourself, it seems like there are even MORE calories . . . because you SEE the ingredients go into the bowl. . .

 

and you know what's in there. 

 

Remember Puck?  Brian's parrot?  Well. . .

 

he's sort of. . . worming his way into my heart.  We still aren't the best of friends, but we like each other a whole lot more now.  He's very, very happy living in my office.  He loves music -- and I always have music playing.  He sings and whistles to the music, and even does a little "dancing" now and then.  He has a lot more social interaction now that he's closer to the center of our home, and he's responding well.  Maybe this will work out better than I thought. . .

 

My herb garden is really flourishing!  Although I snip fresh herbs to use in cooking all the time, it's now Herb Harvest Time.  I picked these first thing this morning . . .

 

and will spend some time this evening freezing some. . . and drying others. . . for use during the winter.  Last week, Kim put together a fabulous post about preserving herbs.  Check it out! 

I also have begun my pepper harvest.  Besides the bell peppers, I'm growing jalapeno and cayenne peppers this year.

 

Actually, it looks like I'm going to have a bumper crop of the jalapenos and cayenne -- so I'm going to string them and dry them for use later.  I'm also planning to try to pickle some of the jalapenos!

With all these herbs around, I've been getting a lot of use out of this nifty little herb chopper.

 

Works like a charm!

 

As for what's blooming this week in my garden. . . we have PeeGee Hydrangea. . .

 

. . . grass "plumes". . .

 

. . . and brown-eyed Susan.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

==========

Just a little follow-up note.  Remember this project?

 

The lovely little cardigan with the totally messed up pattern?  Well, I just wanted to let you all know that the designer was very receptive to my notes and suggestions.  For the time being, she has pulled the pattern from distribution/sale and is working out the bugs.  The Ravelry page for this design now carries this note from the designer:

July 18, 2010: Guinevere is temporarily unavailable. I am working on making it a little clearer and to address some errata that has come to my attention. I hope it will be back up for sale in 2 weeks.

I'm so pleased that she is handling things this way.  I just wanted to pass it along. . .