Chat – Page 23 – Thimbleanna

Friday Finds

28 Comments / August 26, 2011 February 1, 2021 / Chat

Ok. Show of hands. How many of you have had these Biscoff cookies and love them? I first had them years ago on a Delta flight (do they still serve them in this day and age of skimpy airplane service?) Then one year, someone gave MyDadLovesMeBestSister a huuuge basket of them for Christmas. And now, luckily, they’re starting to show up in our local grocery stores. (If you’re in the states, there’s a retail store finder that will help you find out if they’re in a store near you.)

But I’m not here to show you Biscoff cookies. Courtesy of my awesome invisible friend Linda Noblog, I’ve discovered Biscoff spread. Aka Biscoff Peanut Butter. But without the peanuts. Or nasty hazelnuts. (Oh, Nutella … I love me some chocolate, but did you have to put those bitter hazelnuts in there???) Have you tried Biscoff spread? It tastes all brown sugar-y and cinnamon-y just like Biscoff cookies!

When Linda e-mailed me about it, I was in such a hurry to try it that I ordered it off of the Biscoff website. (It occurred to me later that it’s probably in my local store right next to the Biscoff cookies.) I’ve tried it on apples, bananas, and bagels — all of which were wonderful. And even better there are lots of recipes on the internet for using this spread. Like the Devil’s Food Cake with Whipped Biscoff Ganache that started this whole conversation with Linda Noblog (she’s an amazing baker!) Or how ’bout ? Or a Biscoff Banana Milkshake? (Ooooh, I even found a recipe to make Biscoff cookies from scratch, although, it’s hard to imagine that they’d be as good as the real thing.)

If food doesn’t grab you, how ’bout a new toy? Have you seen these new dry erase markers from Crayola? Be still my little worker bee heart. Now I can have some color at my desk at work. They come in regular and bright. Of course, I chose the bright version, ’cause, well … they’re just brighter.

They come with a cute little felt pouch, so I put a clip on it and I hang it near my white board. I was going to add a new flower on my board each day, but most days I forget. I draw baby stuff on my little twin-expecting friend‘s board when she’s not looking too. It’s a nice diversion when I need a minute to get up and stretch. Anyway, they’re really cool and they look like crayons, but erase just like dry erase markers. I think they’d be great for kids too.

And my last little Friday Finds are for you Ghastlie lovers out there. Go check out this gorgeous sewing machine cover, this amazing quilt with a fun creepy twist (Help Me! Help Me! LOL), and this very cool quilt (perfect to showcase the large print). It’s so fun to see all the Ghastlie inspiration out there!

Ok, I’m off to run errands. Have a great weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Weekend ChitChat

23 Comments / August 7, 2011 August 7, 2011 / Chat, Cupcakes

Did you all have a wonderful weekend? We got rain! Woohoo! It’s been so dry here — I finally mowed for the first time in 5 weeks. Fortunately the rain held off during the two hour drive to visit TheFirstChild. He bought some furniture when he was here for BigDaddy’s birthday and we delivered it yesterday — strapped to the top of the car.

Today, I decided to try a new cupcake recipe. When MyDadLovesMeBestSister called, I told her about the new recipe and she said something like “Why would you try a new recipe when you have that recipe that everyone loves?” I love the Magnolia Cupcake Recipe, but sometimes the cake part seems too dense and dry. I found this new recipe via Pinterest (it’s an addiction!) and it was billed as the perfect cupcake recipe.

It was pretty darn good, and I liked the texture, but it was lacking that rich perfect vanilla flavor in the Magnolia recipe. So, I think it’s back to the Magnolia recipe next time.

There was also a little internet surfing this weekend. I don’t know how it happened, but I stumbled upon this video:

Just another reason to make me really want an iPad. I’ve always loved children’s books and it’s amazing to me how they’re changing for new generations of children. I hope nothing will ever replace a child sitting on his parent’s lap while being read a story. But those animated, interactive illustrations. Wow! I think it’s pretty exciting!

While I was hopping around on the internet, I also read that William Joyce has a new series of books coming out, starting next month. The series is called the Guardians of Childhood. In an interview, William Joyce said “We have a mythology for superman and batman, but we don’t have a mythology for the guys we actually believed in.” In these new books, he’ll create a “mythology” for The Man in the Moon, the Sandman, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Mother Goose and Santa Claus. I love that he calls them “The Guardians of Childhood” — it does feel like they kept our childhood safe, doesn’t it?

I’m not really sure how I feel about someone else defining “my” childhood characters though. I’ve always thought that the beauty of these characters is that we all have our own visions for them, and based on what I’ve read about The Man in the Moon, “my” characters won’t really line up with the ones that William Joyce is creating. So, I might just be enjoying his beautiful illustrations.

Ok. Enough ChitChat for now. Have a good week!
XOXO,
Anna

Aurifil Blog Hop Redux

160 Comments / July 6, 2011 July 6, 2011 / Chat

Welcome to Part 2 of the Aurifil Blog Hop. Remember in February when 9 bloggers each made a quilt block while learning all about Aurifil thread?

Well, now it’s time to set all the blocks into a little quilt and Pat wants your help. All week long (July 5th – July 9th) she’ll be presenting you with options and asking you to leave a comment indicating which settings/color options you prefer. Leave Pat a comment, and in return, you’ll have a chance to win one of Pat’s 40 wt. Aurifil Thread Kits — a super nice prize!

Aaannnnddddd, if you leave a comment here, I’ll have a drawing for an Aurifil Sampler Pack.

Plus, a little kit of Divine Twine and some bitty scissors, just like I gave away last week.

So. You know what you have to do. Have fun!

XOXO,
Anna

Happy 4th of July!

19 Comments / July 4, 2011 July 4, 2011 / Chat

I hope all of you in the US had a Happy and Safe 4th of July today! Ours was short and sweet — it whizzed by, but we had a great time at our traditional cookout with family and friends.

We were lucky enough to have TheFirstChild and SweetiePie for just 24 short hours — it all went by too quickly. SweetiePie and I made a few patriotic goodies (fun ideas from Pinterest!) I love the 4th of July — it’s always so fun to be outside, relaxing, having fun and eating good food.

Do you remember when Pat Sloan hosted the Aurifil Blog Hop? Now it’s time to set all the blocks that we made into a little quilt. There will be more giveaways, just like last time. Stop by Pat’s tomorrow as she kicks off the fun!

Now…off to bed to be lulled to sleep by the sound of fireworks!

XOXO,

Anna

Winner, Winner…

37 Comments / June 27, 2011 June 27, 2011 / Around the House, Chat

Well, all the fun guessing over my stove knob colors has come to an end. You guys are SOOO funny. I decided to add some Divine Twine with a little pair of scissors to the Ruby charm pack. (The Ruby charm packs should be here in about 2 weeks.)

So….what color did we get?

RED!!!

I swear…I have no idea how it happened. I think I wanted black and TheManoftheHouse somehow talked me into red. I was really surprised when that stove arrived with red knobs — I thought for sure we’d ordered black, but I checked the invoice and sure enough, Bigger than Dallas, it said r.e.d. Black would certainly have been a better match for our kitchen — there’s going to be a lot of brown (the thoughts of which make me want to throw up), but Red it is! I’m thinking I’ll probably love them and they’ll take my mind off of the sea of brown. I hope so anyway.

And the winner? I took all the red guesses and copied them into a word file (did you know if you do that it will automatically number them for you?) and made TheManoftheHouse Random Number Generator yell out a number.

“What for?”

“Just Do It.”

“Fourteen!”

Miriam Yellow Roses, Come on Down! (And send me your address!)

And theeennn, because I was just as surprised as you are, I decided to give all you black guessing girls a shot, since you said such nice things.

“Do it Again.”

“Twenty-two!”

Melissa Life’s Been Good to Me Sew Far (haha) you win for the black team. Send me YOUR address too.

Thanks everyone for playing! Now, do you wanna see our new thermostat?

Hey — I heard you say “not really”. I’m going to show you anyway, ’cause it’s really sexy.

I have no idea why we have a new thermostat. It’s a man thing. We got a new furnace last fall and last week they showed up and put this new thermostat in. Something about needing to train the technicians on this new technology. There were several people here to learn the ropes (I hope that’s not a bad thing). All I know is I think it’s pretty cool. See that 4th icon up there? Weather? (Sorry for the poor light pictures.) It has wireless internet and it goes out and gets the current temp, forecast and lots of other stuff like the radar map.

Which I’m going to LOVE. Whenever I go to mow the lawn, if it’s cloudy I always have to wait while the computer comes up to check the radar map and see if there are any storms around us. Now I just have to hit the weather button — no waiting!

Now I’ll go sit in the corner while you all find pity on the poor person who gets all excited over a dumb ol’ thermostat. ;-D Have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Anna