Celebrating Birthdays!

   We celebrated Jeff and my cousin Ed's birthdays today with dinner.  I did a pork loin with gravy and baked potatoes and fried carrots that came out nearly perfect...if I say so myself.  I poked the pork full of holes then rolled it in 'A.1 Dry Rub' and put it on the Rondo for about an hour.  Jeff bought one of the high-end gravy mixes and a loaf of garlic bread.  For dessert I did a 'Shirley Temple' cake(made a box cake mix, poured cherry Jell-O made with 7-UP and maraschino cherry juice over it and frosted it with Cool Whip).  Because Jeff's sister was suppose to join us and since she was recently diagnosed as being type II diabetic everything was sugar-free. I was a little hesitant to use the sugar-free versions of the mixes, 7-UP and Cool Whip but the cake was delicious and no one could tell it was sugar free!  I sent Ed home with a enough of the cake so he could have a late night snack and still have some left for tomorrow.  Jeff and I both had a second piece while watching TV and while there is a nice hunk left, I doubt it will be there by morning. Sherry missed a good dinner and a fantastic dessert.
   Jeff had to make a fast trip to Lowe's this morning for a tank lever when the one in our toilet broke making it un-flushable!  When he went outside he discovered a huge rip in the plastic covering the 1st woodshed that wasn't there yesterday when I filled the wood bags.  That plastic is about 4 or 5 years old so it was getting pretty brittle.  We don't know what hit it but the entire side of the roof is now ripped open.  Maybe a squirrel landed on it?  Since Jeff's had that plumbing job to do this morning we're going to wait until tomorrow to try and cover the roof with a sheet of plastic.  The shed is about 3/4 empty but that still leaves a fair amount of wood in it and there is a nor'easter heading in our direction for Tuesday. 
   Oh, and that nor'easter is suppose to give us 10-14"of snow.  Nice, huh?  And I have to have my taxes done Tuesday morning.

(Here's the wood we brought in today, 3/23/17, to be ready for tomorrow's snowfall.  That's 3 bags and 2 boxfuls.  Hope it's enough! And some of Fanny's toys...a rubber camera, star, soup bone and what's left of a pull toy...you'd think we had a little kid.  Or do we?  One who barks??. And we couldn't find anyway to fasten a piece of plastic over the hole so we're just going to have to take our chances.)

Here's the Japanese Knot Project Bag by Jean Barresi that I found on Ravelry. Instead of using a US7 and an acrylic, I used Lily's Sugar'n Cream Tie Dye Stripes (100% cotton) and a US8.  I made the base wider, the sides higher and the straps longer.  I'm not sure how well I attached the straps but I like it.  Now I have to decide if I'm going to keep it or use it in a swap.