Learn Something New -- Days 8, 9, 10 and 11

I got a bit behind on my Learn Something New Every Day class with Shimelle. Here are my layout for those days.

8. I'm sure you have all curled up on the sofa for an afternoon nap, and then the phone rings.

9. I am grateful for many things in my life, and one of these days I will make a gratitude journal. In the meantime, here are some things that are important to me now.

10. My mother knew how to do just about anything, and what she didn't know her sisters did. I was taught by the best.

11. No explanation is needed for today.

Learn Something New -- Day 7

How do people find a balance in their life? I often wonder about this because I try to do too much of the things I enjoy and (probably) not enough of the things I should be doing. For instance: I have two areas of creativity in my life that I could do every minute of every day--digital scrapbooking and knitting socks.

I sometimes get up in the morning and start either knitting or am on the computer right after I eat breakfast and clear away the dishes. Sometimes I start before I get a shower (ewwww.) It seems time gets away from me and the dust keeps building up. I resent that I have to waste time dusting when I could be playing.

Anyway, here is my layout for Day 7 trying to come to grips with my addiction.

Learn Something New -- Day 6

It seems we have been talking for so long about building our retirement home but it still hasn't happened. We've had the land in South Carolina since 2008 but one thing after another happened that prevented us from building. Then the housing market collapsed and the economy tanked.

This will happen for us, we've just have to learn patience while waiting. Maybe next year.

Learn Something New -- Day 5

I've never been a very good cook, but in the last year I have been able to make meals that are tasty and mostly appetizing looking. A little bit at a time, I am adding to my recipe collection and we're eating better. It is a learning process I am going through that will probably never end.

The photo in the layout is not my own, it is by Jose Picayo from Epicurious's Roast Turkey breast with potatoes and green beans. It is a place holder for a photo of my own meal that I haven't cooked or photographed yet.

Finished Socks!

It seemed to take forever but I finally finished the socks for my husband. The cuff is probably not as long as it should be, but I didn't think I had enough yarn to do another pattern section. My husband is thrilled and I am happy to get these socks off my needles and start another pair for me!

The pattern is from Wendy Johnson's Toe-up Socks in a Box and is called: "i heart toe-up socks."

Learn Something New -- Day 4

I love going to our local farmer's market because there is so much to see and so many goodies to buy. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, there is also an animal auction and a flea market -- I am particularly fond of flea markets. Anyway, even though there was no animal auction today, they did have a pen filled with goats. I stepped in close to the pen to photograph the goats with a bag filled with pretzels hanging down from my arm. While I was trying to get a good photo, the goat was trying to eat through the bag to get to the pretzels. Since feeding the animals is discouraged, I quickly pulled the bag away and snapped this photo. The goat definitely had a look of disappointment all over his face.

Big Picture Idea Festival -- Prize!!!

Big Picture had a free class that ran from August 15 to August 26 of this year. Each day a different instructor came up with a word for which we had to create a page about our own experience with that word.

I'd never won a prize before and almost fell off my chair when I read the email notifying me I had won. My layout for the word Nest won a prize package from Jenni Bowlin Studio. It was a wonderful prize package full of really neat papers, acrylic stamps, and embellishments. I adore every bit of the prize package and can't wait to experiment with them.

Here's a photo of the prize package:

And here's the layout of Nest:

Learn Something New -- Day 3

I walk. I walk a lot. Every Day. I frequently have to buy new walking shoes. Recently, I decided to calculate just how often I buy new walking shoes. My shoes should last me for about 500 miles (that's what an article on the internet said.) I figure I walk about 40 miles per week times that by 12.5 and it comes out to 500 miles. Well, perhaps my walking shoes should last that long but most times, depending on the weather, I have to buy them more often. Rain, snow, and icy roads take a real toll on walking shoes. So I figured I buy new walking shoes about every 6 months. I sure hope Easy Spirit Shoes don't go out of business!

Learn Something New -- Day 2

I was in the mood for baking and found a really easy recipe for Peach Cobbler. I also had on hand quite a bit of peaches. The only thing I did not have was regular milk. I have lactose intolerance so I drink soy milk. I found a couple of comments on Google that soy milk could be used in place of regular milk so I gave it a try. The Peach Cobbler sure smelled good while baking and we could barely wait to try it when it came out of the oven. When it cooled enough to eat, we dug in and it tasted just as good as it smelled.

So...you can use soy milk in place of regular for Peach Cobbler--at least in the recipe I have. And, that's what I learned today.

Learn Something New -- Day 1

I'm doing another Shimelle class. Love her classes and I actually finished the last one--Explore. Hopefully, I'll finish this one because I didn't last year! I am making a 5x7 album and have completed the first page but not the cover yet. I am using Ali Edwards's Travel/Memory templates and changed the title and numbers. I hope that was OK, if not the digital police will probably come and get me. I am not crediting the template as my own, but as Ali's.

Here's my first page: