A Lentastic Blogstravaganza

Well, as promised, here I am! Irrespective of whether or not I actually have anything blog-worthy to report, I am determined to record the next 40+ days as a kind of Lenten discipline. Sounds like it's going to be a fun seven weeks, right?

So, here's what's been going down here in OysterGirl's neck of the ocean: babysitting, knitting, and music-making. Hmmm, sounds familiar. I am now fully back into the swing of my weekly babysitting jobs, which have been going great. At this point, I am mostly sitting for families that I know, which is really nice.

On the music front, I have been working on some new songs, and hope to do some recording at some point in the next couple of months. More on that as it happens. In the meantime, I have two more library programs coming up on March 6 and April 19--mark your calendars!

Before I get into what's been happening with OysterGirl knits, a brief hiatus to share some fun photos from last weekend. It was Michael's birthday, and we celebrated at the Strike'n'Spare bowling alley (no, not the one in Green Brook, New Jersey . . . there's apparently more than one! What a shock!) Karen and I didn't exactly bowl, but we did partake in . . .


. . . skee ball! Karen is very good at it.

I am very bad. (Shhh . . . don't tell the Jersey Shore or they might revoke my Garden State cred.) Of course, the best part of skee ball is really . . .

. . . the tickets, of course!


Ooooooh. Aaaaaaah. I wish I had pictures of what we redeemed ours for: two really stylish friendship bracelets (I'm pretty sure that makes us BFF), and five plastic army men for Michael.

The bowling alley is way out in West Nashville, and to get there you have to pass by this car dealer with a big pink elephant out front. We had to retrace our path in reverse to get back to the Hall, but we certainly weren't going to pass it by a second time:


And now, the knitting knews. In spite of the horrendous weather last night, a bunch of friends came over for the 3rd installment of "Knit Together," the knitting/fellowship group I am hosting at Casa de Lynn on alternate Tuesdays. Try and guess how many people were present by the remaining peanut butter rice krispie treats:


Speaking of which--I feel like every time I bring PBRKT to a gathering, I always end up explaining how simple they are to make in the microwave. But even as I'm explaning, I simultaneously fret that people aren't going to remember. So, for posterity, here is the recipe.

Microwave Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

1/4 c. peanut butter (or substitute 1/4 c. margarine for regular RKT)
10 oz. mini marshmallows
6 c. rice krispies
cooking spray

Scoop peanut butter from jar with a microwave-safe rubber spatula. Place spatula in large, microwave-safe mixing bowl, and nuke on high power for 1 minute. Add marshmallows and stir with spatula until completely covered with melted peanut butter and mixed evenly. Return bowl to microwave, and cook 1 minute on high. While mixture is cooking, spray a 9X13 pan and a piece of waxed paper with cooking spray. Using spatula, stir cereal in to melted peanut butter and marshmallows until mixed evenly. Press into prepared pan, using sprayed wax paper to spread out evenly. Cut when cool.

It is not an exaggeration to say that if you have all the ingredients, these can be made in under 10 minutes from start to finish. And they are SOOOO good.

During last night's knitting session, I finally finished up a Valentine's Day-themed scarf that I have been trying to finish since Friday last week. I got it up on the store last night while the storms raged outside. Here it is, hanging off my nifty new coat-rack:



Tomorrow (Thursday the 7th), some of my items will be featured in Etsy's "housewares" showcase. This will be the first real advertising I've done, but it wasn't very expensive to buy a slot in the showcase for one day, and I figured it would be worth it to see what kind of response I got (if any). The only hitch is that I am going to the Hahns' new house in Indiana this weekend, so if anyone *does* place any orders as a result of the increased exposure, I won't be able to do anything about them until I get back on Monday. However, I'm hoping that Murphy's law will apply and the fact that I am not home to fill them immediately will ensure that I *will* get some orders . . . weird, I know, but that's how my mind works.

Here's one of the things that will be featured--my most recent tea cozy. I really love this yarn, and as you can see, it matches a bunch of my table linens.


Well, I guess that's it for today. I'm assuming that I'll be able to post from the road, in which case--see you in Indiana!