Day 67 - Memories of Prime Rib

I do love me some prime rib. I don’t eat it all that much anymore and haven’t even mentioned it on the blog for years. In looking back, I did write about it (and take a picture of it) almost exactly seven years ago. It was May 27, 2013, and of course we were on a cruise ship. It was the night our daughter got engaged. (You can read about the night's dinner here.)

But now I’m talking about tonight’s dinner. While we didn’t have prime rib, we did have prime rib. See it here?

Looks like a potato chip, doesn’t it? Well, it is. A prime rib and horseradish chip. And they are amazing!

Thank you, WinCo, for making these chips at the low price of $1.58 a bag. All the flavor at a teeny tiny fraction of the cost of real prime rib.

I don’t like potato chips but I think I do now!

Day 66 - A Harry Potter Sewing Saturday

I remember the day very clearly. It was our umpteenth state of the 43 we hit that summer. The summer of the Idaho to Maine and back tent camping road trip. It was July 21, 2007 and we were in Mitchell, South Dakota to see the Corn Palace. But we had to take care of something at the store first.

At 19 years old, kiddo had been a Harry Potter fan half her life already. Road trip or no road trip, she was going to get her hands on the series’ final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on its release date. We found it at the grocery store and headed back to the hotel with it, where Little Missy read all afternoon and stayed up the entire night reading the whole book.

Now that's she's married to a Harry Potter fan, the interested definitely hasn't waned. When we all went on a Caribbean cruise we stayed extra days in Florida not so they could go to Disney World but so they could go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. (I didn't even know such a thing existed.)

So when she asked for another face mask to wear at work - a Harry Potter one - I wasn't surprised.
She picked out the specific fabric.
And asked I make something for her husband, too.
And something for their dog, Baloo.
And don't forget something for their cat, Petri.

On this Saturday, Harry Potter sewing was my task of the day.
Mask? Check. (Finished it earlier this week.)
Bandana for her hubby when he's mowing lawn? Check.
Scarf for Baloo? Check.
Pillow for Petri? Check.

Now if she can just explain to me what the heck all the words on the fabric mean. I don't even know how to pronounce them!

Day 65 - Foster Kitten Friday

I am so excited for the return of Foster Friday. With the shelter being closed because of the pandemic I was certain I wouldn't get the chance to do any fostering this year. While having multiple cruises cancelled made me sad, having my foster season cancelled broke my heart.

But no more. We've got kitties!

Since they are baby babies - all weighing under a pound each - I got to pick their names. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. Sound familiar? Like Simon and Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair! It's taken them a couple days to settle in but they are doing great. As trying to corral four of them is a little hard, right now they're spending most of their time in their pop up pen. (It's like a playpen but for animals. It's this one here on Amazon.)

At first they just snuggled up in their little bed but then they started wanting to escape.

Potential prison escapees.

Alert the warden. We have Sage over the wall.

They took to the litter box well and are liking their gruel. Gruel is how we transition them from formula to real cat food. It's a canned cat food/jar baby food/kitten formula mixture put into a bottle. It's messy but it fills their bellies and helps them grow big and strong.

Thyme went after it so much he twisted off the lid
and dumped it all over me.

Parsley thinks it's pretty darn yummy.

I attempted to try and get them all into the same picture. It didn't work so well. 

Rosemary says hello.

What, one kitty is missing? Oh yeah, he stepped on my phone with my camera open as I was trying to get them lined up on the couch.

Who just took 18 pictures? Someone with a gray belly!

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!

As hard as I tried to put them in order (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme) I had to give up. Herding cats is like, well, herding cats.

Left to right: Sage, Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme.

 A very Happy Foster Friday!

Day 64 - Being Aware

It was six months ago that we circumnavigated the globe by air, sea, and land.

It was an amazing trip with so many new experiences packed into those 31 days. (You can read about our adventures here. When you get to the bottom of the page click on “Newer Post” to get to the next day.)

But now our world has gotten so much smaller. It looks like it’ll be oh-so-tiny for us for a while so when we do get out (like with today's dr. appointment for Ed) I try very hard to be aware of my surroundings. Of new things. Of old things I’ve never seen before. 

If not for the awareness I would have missed these beautiful red hot pokers standing tall and proud just down the street from us. I'm sure they’ve been there in years past but I wasn’t aware enough to notice.

You can ignore the dirt spots on my car window.

Day 63 - Frankenstein Mask Making

Today I felt like Frankenstein working in his lab. (Except I was working with fabric and creating new face masks and not a monster.)

As my daughter is back to work full time she’s finding wearing a mask eight hours a day bothersome for her ears. While I planned on making some ear savers for her, I decided on a new design instead. Why? Well, Ed needed a back up mask, too. Since he’s the one-handed man, I needed to do something similar to what I made him last time. But the ear parts on the last mask were bothering him. And then I had one mask I had made myself with old elastic that wasn’t fitting right. Then I had an inquiry about a mask for one-handed folks so I figured I might as well roll all of those things into one.

Sooo...
Skip the ear savers I made.
Make a pleated mask like this one I made.
But add a nose wire like this one I made.
With fabric measurements like I used on this one.
Not with the ear loops I made here.
Do one with the Harry Potter fabric my daughter requested and one with the fabric my hubby requested and several more fabrics for someone else.

With lots of elastic.
And a camera rolling for one of them so I can possibly use it for a Tutorial Tuesday. 

While working around the schedule of four little bottle baby kitties who need their foster mama.

Just call me the mad scientist.

How to Make a Clear Vinyl Bag - Tutorial Tuesday

If you're looking for a decorative bag to hold all those items you need to take with you when you leave the house nowadays - mask, hand sanitizer, wipes, and spray - today's Tutorial Tuesday project is for you.

For this project you will need:

• 2  pieces of fabric 
• 2 pieces of clear vinyl, each measuring . There are several different gauges of vinyl. 12 gauge is a good choice.
• Piece of Velcro. 
• Painter's tape or Teflon sewing machine foot
• glue stick
• Clover Wonder Clips
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Matching thread
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting ruler
• Cutting mat

Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.

The pattern is now available in my Etsy shop as a digital download with the written directions, and step-by-step photos. Click to get your copy today!

Looking for more travel ideas? Check out some of my other projects!

You can find the step-by-step how to directions for making this homemade clear vinyl bag sewing project right here:

Looking for mask patterns? I've got ya covered right here!

Day 61 - Almost Like Christmas

I would cruise 365 days a year if I could. But there are two things holding me back:

1. Our daughter. She lives in the next town over and one of my favorite things in the world is hanging out with her.
2. Foster Cats. After we had to put our kitty down several years back I started taking in foster kitties. Whenever we’re home, I get baby kittens who aren't yet old enough to adopt and help them get big and strong and ready for adoption. 

As we all know there is now a third reason I’m not always cruising. The dang pandemic has shut down the cruise lines. It’s also shut down hanging with my daughter and shut down the local feline shelter I work with.

But today one of those things changed. Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus and yes Deb, kitties still need temporary mamas. While the Simply Cats shelter is closed to the public, they did have something for me. Well, somethings - as in more than one.

Here's a peek at just one of the little bottle babies I'm transitioning from formula to gruel. Messy, messy. But oh so cute.

All is right with the world when you have this
little one staring up at you on a rainy Monday.

Want to help contribute to the work I do with foster kittens? I have an Amazon wish list right here. These are the things I use again and again, year after year. With daily laundry and frequent cleaning, items have to be replaced often. I’d love anything you’d be willing to send my way!