A Challenge

I have done a challenge for myself and now I have learned quite a bit of myself. First I do admire those Beadweavers. I will not be a beadweaver. Yes that was my challenge for myself. This was my first and I guess my last try at beadweaving. By reading this it is a good laugh. I decided I would try to do a bracelet. It seemed easy at first until I started working into it farther. Let me tell you it was no piece of cake for me. I am using old vintage seed beads and decided to mix with the modern stretch cord. Maybe the new seed beads are no problems but I had ones that the sizes were not the same so some of the beads broke. Then I ended up needing to get a different needle. All my needles were to big for the smaller seed beads. In the process I broke 2 needles, poked myself a few to many times. Ouch! Did get off my pattern a few times, well you know what that means, yes tear it apart. I was getting very frustrated. Can you believe I was more than 3/4 of the way done when there was another bead to small for my needle. Darn I'm getting more frustrated. My needle was the smallest it could be but I could not get the cord through that little hole. Here I am stuck again. I certainly did not want to break another bead because I would have to tear it apart just to put another bead back into its place. I finally decided to put that down for awhile. It was a whole week I was deciding on what to do. I did not want to tear this bracelet all apart. I only had about 15 more beads to put on before I was finished. I finally tried again. I searched until I found a needle that would work. Finally I was going to get somewhere. I can't believe how many needles I tried using. I know these seed beads are vintage and I should use thread but the directions asks for a stretch cord. I am not an expert either just trying to learn on my own. Well I finally did it. It took more time and patience, but I was persistant. I just want to say that I admire the beadweavers! My next challenge for myself will be a little while before I decided to do something again.


Here is the finished product finally!

Ragbrai

What is RAGBRAI? RAGBRAI®, The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Heading into its 36th year, RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. If you would like to know more about it click here

Ragbrai came through our town last night. Expected 30,000 people to come through on the ride. They did have a concert from the Nadas and Styx in which I missed. The city is surrounded by cyclist everywhere and from all over the US. Each city prepares its own agenda from food, shows, concerts, beer gardens and even hosting the teams in your own yard.

Here are a couple of pictures my son took while I was driving the car. This first one a group entering west Ames, Iowa. If you could see they are all formed down into the next hill.

If you can see this one someone dressed up advertising their business.

My son, Grandma and I did end up riding through two of the towns today. So we had a taste of what it is like. Very exciting and fun! It is fun to see the people welcome you into the town.

New Earrings

I have found things in my mom's jewelry that she use to bead and so I decided to start to use what she never used. These are propeller beads. Don't they look like fun!

Recipe for Scotcheroos

INGREDIENTS
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup butterscotch chips

DIRECTIONS
Place corn syrup and sugar into 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars when cool.

I doubled the recipe to make them thick and big. Enjoy they are delicious. Just wish the calories were removed.