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The end of February brought me grand baby number 7. I'm so in love with her.

I have a friend who is planning to move across the country at the end of next month. She has a lot of canned goods she’s not planning on taking with her. I saw a photo the other day the free pantry at one of the churches in Kirkland showing it could use some donations. I also went through some of my shelved food stuffs I wasn’t using, packed them up and picked up some goods from my friend. I then made my first donation at the pantry. Here’s hoping I did it right. I’ll probably make a stop once a week until my friend’s back stock is diminished. The outside of the pantry at Holy Spirit. What I found when I first opened it. And a few non food items on the bottom. After I added the items I brought. I hope some of these items will fill needy bellies. A lot of these foods need a can opener. Not that I can afford it, but if I could find a deal on bulk inexpensive manual can openers, like at least 100 but no more than $20 for them, I might order some to donate along with the canned goods.

One to rule the tree ... And one to tear it down ... Who will win??? Tune in next time! Same cat time, same cat channel!

I just returned from the Galentines Day bake off competition where I entered the Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Blueberries that had the lumpy batter. Long story short, I didn’t win my category, even though I had a 50/50 chance as there were only two entries. Read the captions on the photos for details, including what the head judge told me as to why I didn’t win. As a reminder, here’s the practice cheesecake I made last week. This is the entry cheesecake immediately after decorating it. I tried a different method of piping the lemon curd which worked even less well, so I won’t do that method again. However, I think increasing the size of the heart definitely helped to define its shape better than the smaller one. Because the piping was so terrible, I decided to dress up the sides by adding miniature candy hearts to the sides. I think it definitely looks pretty… FullSizeRender.MOV Here’s how I displayed the cheesecake at the competition. We had to display our cakes by 12:30 PM with the winners scheduled to be announced at 3:00 PM. I used the lid of the inexpensive Dollar Tree cake carrier to hold ice so the cheesecake could sit out without being refrigerated. My only competition in the cake category. Obviously a carrot cake by someone much better at decorating than I am. This carrot cake won my category. It definitely looks luscious! What the head judge told me “off the record” after the competition ended was that the flavor and texture of the cheesecake itself was spot on. There was no evidence of the lumpy batter (yay!). If I had left it at that, I would have edged out the carrot cake to win. However, while the judges appreciated the color and look of the candy hearts on the sides of the cheesecake, they said the candies did not soften at all and that the crunch detracted from the smoothness of the rest of the bite. For that choice, they awarded it to the carrot cake. I had fun preparing, entertaining, and attending this event, though. I appreciate everyone’s input on the flavor choice and decoratingg ideas. I think I’ll definitely enter again if it’s held again next year!

Al Gore promised me beachfront property and endless summers. He said my kids would not remember snow. Next time I see him, I'm going to punch him in the throat! My kids, btw, were remembering snow pretty well removing ten inches of the heavy, wet variety from my 220' driveway. Seriously, though, I love the seasons. My yard is beautiful and my F150 is earning it's keep. Spring will be here soon enough. Then everyone will complain about bugs (except me...I solved my bug problem decades ago -- don't tell Al).

I celebrated my birthday on the 28th of last month and what a GREAT day it was! My co-workers/employees surprised me with a cake (even if the one who made it did spell my name wrong), balloons and gifts, then that evening my son took us to see Josh Turner in concert! This is one birthday that will be difficult to top! She's beautiful!!

Hey there everything is going as good as it can right now for me

I’m so sick of winter. The cold and snow. Where was it at Christmas?

Now that is funny and sad at the same time. LOL Congrats. She is beautiful.

Wē have a lot of bdays this month too. Plus, sometime this month we are expecting our 4th grandbaby. Exciting times

Yay March. I was very sick last March, with a hospital stay early April, so I missed spring. Very much looking forward to that this year!

The Joanns closing really hurts. I shopped there quite a bit, and bought my embroidery machine from a Viking dealer inside one of those stores. I went to my local one yesterday and 1. I've never seen so many cars in the parking lot, 2. People were bellied up to the cutting bar with bolt after bolt of fabrics, yelling at the employees that they only wanted a half yard even though there were signs everywhere saying they had a 1 yard minimum and 3. 20% off is not a real sale, when you could regularly use a 40% off coupon previously. I don't know where these people came from, but I felt so bad for the employees having to deal with them. I walked out without buying anything, I just felt like saying goodbye to an old friend. Not sure where I'll get my fabric from in the future, but I'm sure something will pop up in its place. I really don't like the idea of buying fabric online. I have enough of a stash to last me through at least one apocalypse, so I should be good for a while

It was great, wasn't it?!

Ya I sort of feel they will just move stuff to other stores. A lot of these closeout deals I see is they bring in stuff they never carried and the stuff you want is already gone somehow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Checking in for the month after a long night last night. While my team didn't win the big game, I not losing sleep over it (I can't sleep as it is, so it didn't add to my sleeplessness). Though one bright spot last night though was how well Tubi presented the football game. I have an issue with my TV that is a simple soldering fix, but until I learn how to do that, I tried out Tubi's coverage of the Super Bowl. This morning I read the had the shortest delay among all streamers including NFL's own service. I didn't suffer any dropouts the entire game, and was quite happy with that. I already liked Tubi, but they were outstanding yesterday. Now its time to prepare for a snowstorm that at least has decided it knows what its doing (unlike the last one) it just needs to get the snowfall total honed in a bit. I hope its not 5-8" but as long as I have food and shelter and power doesn't go out, I'm happy. Hope everyone has a great month. I just hope this storm doesn't linger too long so I can maybe get out on my birthday on Friday.

I'm glad the judge gave you feedback - good things to mull over, and really the most important part - the cake was delicious.

Ya last couple of times I’ve been there was mid summer. Stupid hot out. Still had a lot of fun. We will gamble some but I enjoy a lot of the other things like shows and just getting out and seeing things. I’ve only been twice and it’s been a good amount of time since the last time I was there.

I saw my shadow, so at least six more months of posting on this thread.

Happy February!! It's been a busy month since my last post here. My luger had.a training camp in Lake Placid for 2 weeks, culminating in the second USA Luge North American Continental Cup race, in which Kendall redeemed herself after missing a bronze in the first part of that race in Salt Lake City by 0.025 seconds. She won bronze in the Lake Placid race, besting the Canadian that beat her in Salt Lake City by a large margin. Next up is Kendall's final training camp of the season for 3 weeks in Salt Lake City, with Youth National Championships (for ages 12 to 17) taking place over the course of 2 days the second weekend of March, Jr. National Championships (ages 14 to 21), taking place on March 14th. Kendall has a very good chance of bringing home a medal in at least Youth Nationals, but will have stiff competition in Jr. Nationals, though barring anything unforeseen, she should still do very well. A few days before she heads to SLC, she will be flying to Wisconsin to spend the weekend with her bestie teammate, and they will fly on to SLC together for camp. I'm heading out to SLC in March to watch both races, and to fly back with Kendall. I'm excited to.be in Utah again, since it's been 3 years, though with all of these recent air travel events, and me already being a nervous flyer, I'm not thrilled about flying anytime soon, nor with sending my child flying on her own. With Kendall being a Team USA athlete, this one accident hits way too close to home, as we have likely seen some of these ice skaters during Empire State Winter Games of years past. Surreal. Anyway, here is a pic of Kendall with her "bronze" wooden medal, lol

Oh my goodness how precious! Congratulations!!

March came roaring in with an $800 plumbing repair for the house. Blah. On the other hand, I leave for Vegas next week for the annual sojourn westward. Looking forward to the week with my "sisters from another mister". I bake the pile of cookies for our pit crew guys this Saturday. May have to have them start forking over moolah for those eggs... LOL

Happy March! Here in Central IL we are in the Spring of Deception, which should be followed by actual spring. I have been on a yarn kick for the past 3 months and it's getting out of control. I don't even know how many works in progress I have started, but I need to start FINISHING some of them soon! I found a local yarn shop that's not too far from the ice rink where the boys have hockey practice and it's been a real hazard for my wallet I'm also waiting patiently to get some more chicks. We are down to 2 hens, and only one is laying eggs. We don't eat a lot of eggs, so I don't need many girls, but I'd like to add 3 or 4 to our flock, but I'm going to be more selective this time as to the breed we get.

Free Sandwich for Vietnam War Veterans on March 29th at Mission BBQ locations You all served with Honor, so please mark your calendars. Stop in any MISSION BBQ on March 29th. Join us or bring your Vietnam Veteran Hero. We hope to see you next week! https://mission-bbq.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=e36286b94d3c219f414e0427e5f73aa5.3892

The last week of February was very eventful. I was able to help my mom donate some books and puzzles to clear up space (which will no doubt make room for more books and puzzles), and also hit a few stores I don't normally visit. Hopefully March will allow me to clean around the apartment a little more and the weather will cooperate so the windows can be open for a few days in a row.

Ooo… I’m removing my overwinter layer of leaf mulch, and look what revealed itself underneath! It’s white because it had been covered by mulch, but I suspect it will turn green as it grows and is exposed to light.

Rabbit Rabbit! Rabbit!!

Can’t believe February is already gone. Seems like it just started last week.

Ignore the circle - it's from a thread about fall. We are solidly in fool's spring. 2nd winter is returning next week with mild rain.

Here on the Eastside of Seattle we can drop into the teens, but we typically average overnight lows in the high 20s and they only last a week or so. The food seems to weather the cold OK, as far as I know.

It's wannabe spring here in California, i'm waiting for second winter (highs in the 50s, lows in the 30s) to return. YES THAT IS COLD.

I'm over this cold weather.

We were thrilled to hit 20* here today...

Most around me are closing. I don't hit Joann's often but I will miss them still for the times I did find stuff I needed there.

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Happy early birthday! I have a dear friend who is also a Valentine's baby. Baking him his fave cookies and shipping them his way later this week.

Do it. Plenty to do that does not involve gambling, and I actually enjoy going in the summer when it's 110 - the heat is dry and there's WAY less people.

Happy February! Finally got the outdoor Christmas decor unfrozen from the ground, just in time for back-to-back ice storms.

Congratulations to Kendall!!

It still looks yummy!

February is here!