Project 365 Day 59

OK, so I said I would pick up with Project 365 next week, but I couldn't pass up this great cloud formation. Deer Valley Road at 19th Ave in Phoenix, December 26, 2008.

Project 365 Day 58 The Perfect Desk

OK, not exactly perfect but dang near close. We had to go over to Whole Foods today, and there is a Container Store next door to it. I have been wanting to go in there and look at some things since the first time I saw it but never had time until today.


That place is so neat! They have all kinds of containers and shelving and racks and stuff. You could organize anything with stuff from there. I want to get some square plastic containers so I can organize my pantry. Right now everything is in empty coffee cans that I have covered with white paper. I want the square plastic ones so they will fit in there better.

Anyway, while we were in the Container Store, we saw this desk:


It is 34" wide, and the space I have to put it in is 36" wide. A perfect fit! See how it has that section that pulls out? I would have plenty of space for sewing , and when the day is done, I can set the sewing machine up on the next level, and push that lower one back in, out of the way. It even has a drawer for my scissors and pins and stuff. I am in love with this desk!

The only problem is that it only comes in dark chocolate wood color at that store. I went online and found it in oak, same price, at a different place.

The other solution I thought of was to go to Home Depot and get a piece of counter top and a small base cabinet. I could attach the counter top to the side of the dresser on one side, and set the other side on top of the base cabinet. I saw some really cool basket type drawers at the container store that would work well with that sort of set-up.

But, now, I think I will just go for the desk. That way, if I traded campers I could move it with me. What to do? What to do?

Project 365 Day 57

The breakfast counter at Fast Eddie's Diner in Glendale, Arizona. Yeah, I love those places. The breakfast was good, too. $3.99 for 2 eggs over easy, 2 stips of bacon, hashbrowns, and toast (if you eat bread). mmmmmm......

Project 365 Day 56 Pie

My favorite pie in the whole world is Lemon Meringue. My mother used to make these pies for our family reunions, at Christmas, and maybe at Easter, too. If she ever asked me what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday, I am sure I asked for a Lemon Meringue pie instead.

I have not had a Lemon Meringue pie since I started eating gluten free in April of 2007. But, the week before Thanksgiving, I found some gluten free frozen pie crusts at Whole Foods in Scottsdale. When I saw them, my head just about exploded with joy, and I knew I would be making a lemon pie soon.

This morning, I made my pie, using my mother's recipe. I think it is actually from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook from the 1940's or 50's. Mama had that cookbook forever, so used that it came apart from the binding. She kept it in a drawer in the kitchen, wrapped in rubber bands to keep it together. Several years ago, she wrote down a bunch of her most used recipes, and I made copies for all my siblings and one for myself.



Here is the recipe:


1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3 eggs, separated
juice and grated rind of 2 lemons
1 baked pie shell

Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a boiler. Add water, stirring constantly. Beat egg yolks, add a little of the hot cornstarch mixture to the eggs. Beat well, and return the egg mixture to the boiler, stirring well. Cook for 2 minutes longer or until very thick. Add lemon juice and rind, beat well to combine. Pour into baked pie shell. Cover with meringue. Bake at 325 degrees until meringue is browned.


Meringue:

3 egg whites
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat egg whites until frothy. Add sugar slowly, continue beating until stiff. Add vanilla.



Refrigerate at least one hour, if you can wait that long, before cutting the pie. Enjoy, repeat until the pie is gone. MMMMMMMMM.....

Project 365 Day 55 Sunrise In Phoenix

I am almost never up before the sun comes up, but FabGrandpa wanted to get the oil changed in the truck today. He wanted to be first in line so we had to be there before 7:00 a.m.!! While he was getting the truck stuff done, I bought groceries. We had everything done and back home before 8:30. Can you say NAP?

Project 365 Day 54 Another Preview

Another preview of the new project I am working on.

Project 365 Day 53 Bottoms Up

Ha Ha Ha! Lynda will understand this one...

Project 365 Day 52 Tree Lot Cuties

Me and Lynda waiting for the next customer to come along.

Project 365 Day 51 Cloudy Day

It was a cloudy, rainy day in Phoenix.

Project 365 Day 50 Preview ??

I am starting a new project soon. This is part of it. More later.

Project 365 Day 49 Sewing Machine

Right in the middle of this project, my sewing machine started skipping stitches. It is not picking up the bobbin thread every time. I have changed the needle, disassembled the bobbin shuttle to clean it out and oil it, tightened the upped thread tension, loosened the upper thread tension, and every damn thing else I can think of to do, but the machine is still skipping stitches. Does anyone have any ideas here?

Project 365 Day 48

This is what I have always thought Arizona would look like. I could almost see the stagecoach and the band of Indians riding off in the distance.

Project 365 Day 47 Aprons Again

I'm still at it making aprons for Christmas. I LOVE how this one turned out.

Project 365 Day 46 Boots

We drove over to the Superstition Mountains today. We stopped at the museum there and there was a cowboy dude there who had these kick ass boots on display.

Project 365 Day 45 Bias Tape

Bias tape comes in lots of colors. I have this crap coming out my ears this week.

Project 365 Day 44 Cactus

I love cactus. This one is a nice shade of purple red. It was in the landscaping at the gas station.

Project 365 Day 43

Locked Out! Closed for the season! Dang it.

Project 365 Day 42

Good times, fun, and friends--isn't that what it's all about?

Project 365 Day 41 Arizona Sycamore

We drove up to Montezuma Castle today. There were these gorgeous Arizona Sycamore trees there, in full fall display of color. The trees have the most interesting bark I have ever seen. They were huge, looking like they were three hundred years old. I know, no amount of words can describe them to someone who has never seen them, so enjoy the picture instead.

Project 365 Day 40 Out And About Town

We finally did feel better today, so we drove up to visit our friends Lynda and Charlie but they were not at home. And since I got that letter from the passport agency telling me that my birth certificate and passport photo was not to their liking, I decided to look for a place to get my passport photo take again. Well, for the first time, since I took the first one. And yeah, they accepted the one I took of FabGrandpa and printed myself, because they sent him his passport card, so I guess they just decided that no one could look as good as the person in my photo and rejected it as too good to be true, hahahah!


Did you know that the portrait studio at Wal-Mart does passport photos? I should have known, you can get everything else you need there. So, for $10.82, here it is:



They even put it in a little card case. After I got the pictures, I thought, well, what a coincidence, I am wearing that same orange shirt that I wear everywhere I go, so when I cross the border, I will probably be wearing the same shirt. See here, and here.


We went to Circuit City to see what was on sale because they are going out of business. But, the TV's were not marked down much, and were still higher on a so called clearance sale than they were at Best Buy. We have been looking at the flat screen HDTV's for over a year, but have just not found one in the price range we wanted to pay that we could both agree on, until today. No, the money for it did not come out of our spending money budget, because we have budgeted money for a new TV. We got a Insignia HDTV 22":