Midnight confession...

It is almost midnight.  I am wide awake.  And I am hungry!  I've never been one for late-night snacking, so this is kind of weird.  I want some Cheez-Its!  Not just any Cheez-Its, but the sharp cheddar and parmesan Duoz.  I got addicted to them while in Kentucky.  I don't think I've had any since I've gotten home, but right now I WANT some!  Of course, there are none in the pantry, so that is probably a good thing.  But still...

sigh.

What's the last thing you really had a craving for?

Making it Monday...

I  pulled out some beads and wire with no firm plan in mind...just playing.  Or, rather, I did have an experimental plan in mind...but it didn't really work out.  So plan 'B' is a long loopy necklace that can be worn different lengths and a memory wire bracelet.  

I really just needed to get the creative juices flowing.  Not really excited with the results, but it did get the tools out, and now that the tools are out...

*****
If you haven't yet, be sure to leave a comment to enter the giveaway at the end of the month celebrating my 7th blog anniversary.  The above is not the giveaway prize.  I will be showing the prize here as soon as it is finished.

Another salad dinner winner...

Pasta salad is a favorite of my son's.  I was excited when I came across this recipe from Cooking Classy on Pinterest.  It just looked like a great combination to me.  And when I made it, it received three thumbs up.  Son even went back for seconds...almost unheard of.

I'll definitely be making it again.  I made slight changes from the original recipe...like leaving the grapes whole instead of halving them (which I did so the leftovers wouldn't get soggy) and adding cooked chicken breast to make it a meal in itself.  I also made the dressing with what I had on hand, rather than the original recipe's lower-fat version.  And I never measure anything...I always just put things in till the bowl is full, so the measurements I have below are approximate.

Broccoli, Grape, and Pasta Salad

In a large salad bowl, place:
8 oz bowtie pasta, cooked al dente
brocolli florets, raw (2 heads of broccoli)
red seedless grapes, about two cups
1/4 to 1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced
bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled, about 8 slices
3 cooked chicken breast, thinly sliced

Dressing:
1 c mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar

Whisk together the dressing ingredients.  Pour them over the salad ingredients and toss well.

Add pecans to individual servings if desired.  We love pecans, but I didn't want to put them in the salad itself, because I didn't want them to soak up dressing and make for soggy leftovers.

What I am reading Wednesday...

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

This one has been on my Kindle for awhile; purchased after catching the last half of the movie on the television.  I plan on watching the movie again after I finish the book.

I am really enjoying the writing and story.  It's very spare.  Based on the painting by the same name by Johannes Vermeer.  

Nine...

My little Caitie-bug is growing up so fast.  We spent the day together yesterday.  

She was so proud of the 'curl' in her hair from sleeping in braids.  Bless her heart.  I remember vividly being her age and braiding my damp hair before bed so that I would wake up with waves...about as close as those of us with board-straight hair get to a curl.  That gene passed from me to her mother to her.  I hope she grows to appreciate it as much as I have.

We went shopping and out to lunch.  We had a sleepover and read out loud to each other and played a game.  This morning she made a card for, and wrote to, her great-grandmother.  Then we picked up her sister for a trip to the library and another lunch out.

I returned them home, and then came home and promptly took a nap.  Little girls can wear me out!

Seven random thoughts on the 7th...

1.  Today is my little Catie-bug's 9th birthday.  NINE!  Oh my goodness.  I took her present over earlier.  

They were going to go to the movies this afternoon to see Maleficent and then dinner out.  She asked if she could skip the movie to spend the day with me.  Awwww.  I put her off till tomorrow...I didn't want to throw a monkey wrench into their plans, and I knew she would regret not seeing the movie with everybody else.  And we can spend tomorrow together doing whatever she wants.

2.  I am starving.  My stomach is growling.  The blessing and curse of using the slow cooker is that it smells SO good all day long.  I'm trying a new recipe for beef & broccoli today.  I got a late start on putting it in, so I took the short cut of browning the meat first...love being able to do that all in one pot.

Which reminds me to say that this is not in any way a paid endorsement...I just adore my Ninja slow cooker.  I love its non-stick liner.  I love that in addition to the low and high slow-cooking settings, it has low, medium, and high stove-top settings, and can be set to any oven degree setting needed if you want to use it as an alternative to your oven.  I cooked a meatloaf and baked potatoes in it that way just last week.

I don't think the high stove-top setting is high enough, but that's my only complaint.  It spent the winter with me in Kentucky, and I was so happy to have it there.

3.  I just finished reading another book from my goals list.  

 

I really enjoyed it.  Of course I've been binge watching Life Below Zero lately, so it has put me in the right mood.

4.  We are still enjoying the muffins I baked last week, and they are so yummy...warmed up or just straight out of the fridge.

5.  My sleep patterns are completely turned around.  I am awake till 4am and then sleep till noon.  Kind of cuts down on productivity.

6.  The extent of my creativity lately is tiny...literally.  It started with a drawing I saw of a little knitting gnome (see below)...then I saw a little cork gnome on Pinterest...and I came up with this...

Just a prototype.  I'm still in the experimental phase.  I need to find some wooden toothpicks and beads to make his little knitting needles instead of the straight pins.

7.  This month marks the 7th bloggisversary of Four Miles North of Nowhere.  I'll be announcing a giveaway in a couple of days.  Be sure to watch and enter.

What I am (and am not) reading Wednesday...

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

I haven't done much reading for the past week or two.  Why?  Because this book has been sitting on a chair mocking me.  I just didn't want to pick it up, and so I wouldn't allow myself to read anything else.  Yesterday I read two chapters, and then could not make myself go any further.  

So I have given myself permission to move on.

Tamarack County by William Kent Krueger

Aah...much better.  I read another book by this author last year and really liked it.  This one is very different...a mystery in frozen Minnesota on and around a Native American reservation.  I'm about halfway through it after starting it earlier today.