CarmelKnits, etc.

Oh Thanksgiving! Honestly it is one of my favorite dinners to cook. I make these cabernet cranberries a couple days ahead of time. The day before I make this chocolate pie and this pecan pie The recipe calls for bourbon. I put in two tbls of Makers Mark and it was amazing! I make sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing in the bird, dinner rolls, and of course a monster turkey. My gravy game is off the hook. I set my sweet potatoes on fire. ON FIRE Calmly calling to the guests in the living room 'fire in the kitchen, we have a fire in the kitchen' D grabbed the dish from the oven, flames leaping high and put them out on the grill where I believe there are still some hot spots... see the remaining hot spots... this was about an hour after the fire. Why do I love cooking Thanksgiving dinner? I love the leftovers of Thanksgiving dinner. When I don't torch my sweet potatoes I eat them for breakfast the whole rest of the weekend. Oh well... int...

I'm a few days behind. Mom arrived Sunday for the week so I definitely missed Sunday. Yesterday we just ran around and chilled out. She's getting adjusted to the time change and being at my house. Phoebe is falling in love with her while shooting me dirty looks like i've kept my mom hidden from her for her entire life. Which actually makes me really happy. She had a hard time bonding with D and I. She's come a long way in healing to be able to bond with my mom, a complete stranger so quickly. But back to my challenge! Today is easy. Three Favorite Bands. 1. O|A|R - Of a Revolution from Rockville Maryland D and I first saw them at DisneyWorld at House of Blues in 2016. He really liked them and I was kind of meh. It was fun but it wasn't doing it for me. Then in September 2016 we road tripped down to Portland to see them again at the Crystal Ballroom. Again, it was fun, but I was meh on it. July 2017 they opened for Train and we went to the Gorge to wa...

Now that I have to list them of course I can't think of any. I do have them though. In spades. So let's do this fast like ripping off a band-aid. 1. People who can't merge on to the freeway. Please. Use the whole on ramp, get up to speed and merge. Don't slow up as soon as the solid white line ends and try to find an opening. They give you the whole on ramp for a reason. Please use it. Please. 2. Knots in the middle of my skeins of yarn. I had one so bad once I just gave up and threw it out. 3. Christmas decorations that get put out/up/on display before Thanksgiving. I about lost my mind on Halloween when half the Halloween aisle was being transformed to the 'Christmas' aisle. Life moves fast enough without your help retailers. Bonus: 4. Vanity plates that I can't figure out. If it's so complicated that no one can figure out WTF you're bragging about, you're just wasting your money. To the car with the vanity plate ...

Date night before Friday night hockey. Happy Friday!

  Since we're going with the 'typical' evening at home I'm going give you my typical 'weeknight' at home. I get to work at a ridiculous hour. 5:30 a.m. The main reason is traffic. I have a 40 minute drive and leaving later than 6:00 is just asking for a 90 minute drive. Especially during the winter/rainy months.  Phoebe post breakfast nap. She fixed the couch all by herself So I leave my house at 4:45 a.m. That means I get up at 3:20 a.m. The bonus? I'm on the road home by 2:00 p.m. and rolling thru my front door about 3:00 p.m. So my evening starts at 3:00 p.m. Let Phoebe out. Putter a bit. Go thru the 'i don't wanna workout' argument Put in my 21 day fix DVD or hop on the treadmill or stream my yoga from Amazon. 4:00-4:20 Phoebe is ready to be fed. Like really ready and will let you know, repeatedly until you feed her. That's about when I start making our dinner as well. I try to eat by 5:00 - 5:30 and sta...

If I am going to be completely honest. No matter how embarrassing this could potentially be. I am 100% fascinated by The Kardashians. How did they become famous? Was it when Kim dated Nick Lachey? Is it the Jenner-Kardashian Marriage? Followed by the Bruce to Caitlyn transformation? Was it Khloe married to Lamar? Is it Kendall and Kylie the Supermodel younger sisters? Is it the up and down roller coaster of brother Rob?  Did things really take off when Kim broke the internet with that champagne ad ? How is their show already into 14 seasons. I get so excited when I go to Les Schwab for a tire rotation or new tires and the TV in the waiting room is showing a marathon. 'No no D, I'm perfectly fine waiting. It's a little backed up but I'll be fine. I have knitting, popcorn and there is a great show on the TV.' Yup. I will hunker down at Les Schwab for hours if they let me, just fixated. I love a good marathon of Keeping up with The Kardashians ...

Not Ireland, but I love this photo from the beach in Naples Ireland.   Specifically the West Counties . Galway, County Clare, Ennistymon. This was way to easy to answer.  I definitely want to venture to Northern Ireland but I know deep in my heart that when I do visit Ireland my life goal will change from a beach hut in Maui to a cottage in Ireland. I don't know what it is that calls to me about the Emerald Isle. Every author that bases stories in Ireland, Maeve Binchy, Nora Roberts, etc. I devour the books and google the places they talk about. D and I have been discussing a trip to Ireland in a couple years and what I really want to do is rent a cottage for two weeks near the cliffs of Mohr and just immerse myself in the village and lifestyle. I don't really enjoy rapid fire travel. I love to just be apart of an area and absorb it. I've been lucky with my family to do a couple bike tours in France and Italy and I have to say, if you want to see a lot of ...

The older I get the harder it is to remember that far back but I have one very distinct memory. I don't know exactly how old I was but I do know it was terrifying. The family was spending the day on Vashon Island at my God Parents family home. We were down exploring the beach along the Puget Sound, wading in the water, looking for crabs and starfish. Image courtesy of Google I don't think I was at it long when a crab found me. I must have screamed bloody murder. I remember being swooped up by my mom.  I remember her running me up the stairs from the beach to the house. It was a really long flight of stairs. Scared moms with bleeding kids run really fast.  I remember there being a lot of blood.  A lot of blood. Who knew a big toe could bleed so much. I don't know how big the crab was that nailed me that day but I do know that they have sharp pincers. image courtesy of  Google Sharp! So much blood. I just remember all the blood coveri...

Well I wish this could be my business. I told my husband about some of the coin food bloggers bring in and his response was 'why the heck aren't you a food blogger?' I missed that bandwagon I think... Anywhoo... Lets switch it to the meaning of my blog name shall we? Which is pretty self-explanatory LOL My name is Carmel and I knit.

Day Two:  This was actually harder than you might think.  However, I had some time to kill waiting for a new windshield so here we go...  1. I was adopted.  2. I am a midnight snacker. A habit I have broken in the past few years. 3. My favorite snack is cereal 4. I drink my coffee black  5. I love to take pictures 6. The first date with my husband I came on way to strong, scared him, we didn't go out again for six months. Second date was the exact same.  7. After two terrifying dates D & I became roommates instead of a couple. We've been married 14 years. 8. I met my husband online before it was cool.  9. I love to get to the airport ridiculously early when I travel.  10. My favorite dinner to cook is Thanksgiving. I love making the meal plan, the grocery list, the prep, all of it.  11. I don't like turkey.  12. I love the TLC show The Little Couple 13. I have never watched the final episode of Friends. Hence it will never end for me...

Hello!  I'm Carmel. 40 something medical coder, amateur photog, surf enthusiast, and a knitter for over 15 years. I also love to cook and plan meals that rarely happen. I have a serious affection for Blood Sausage Pizza that you can get at a local restaurant in Mukilteo and I won't try hagis because there is a part of me that is afraid that when I do I will really really enjoy it. So to get Day 1 of the 30 Day blog challenge started I'm going to answer 50 questions I found on line. Good Luck. I hope you get thru it all. Crap, I hope I get thru them all :) 1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? The town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California 2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? October 22 in a bar at the airport waiting to board a flight home. 3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No, I think it looks like a 14 year old girl 4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Boars Head Beef Bologna...  5. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes! ...

A really long time. Well, looking back I did post in July but honestly it's been a while since I've done anything of substance and why is that? Well, I can tell you. There will be some swear words but if you know me and know me well I never shy from a good swear fest. Life has been a shit show roller coaster. Honestly. Full on, Universal Studios grade, shit show roller coaster, for about two years. It's used up a lot of the stuff that I used to put here. I loved posting here. Loved it. It was the perfect ADHD mind dump. It was fun. Then all of the sudden the thought of having to write a post was so overwhelming it was all I could do to justify NOT doing it. I had and have a lot of those overwhelming moments still. Mostly in the yogurt aisle when it appears that everyone on the planet has learned that Fage 2% plain is really freaking good and there is none left for me... honestly. I think in 2016 I full on left my cart and exited the store asap. Multi...