Hi Ho, Hi Ho . . .

First thing this morning, I sprang out of bed, pulled out my cleaning supplies, and got down to the fun stuff--house cleaning. Of course, I whistled while I worked, and the birds in the trees sang along with me.

Yep, that's a lie. If you know me at all by now, you know that me springing out of bed in the morning? Not gonna happen. And if it DID? I'd hurt stuff. Still, it sounds better than, "I dragged my sleepy [bleep] out of bed and, with eye lids still at half mast, rather grumpily got out the cleaning stuff, trying not to mistake the Scrubbing Bubbles for my coffee."

But you get the general idea--I cleaned house this morning before doing anything else but microwaving a cup of coffee and taping my eyelids open with Scotch tape. Why? Because today was my doctor appointment and I figured he'd tell me I could go back to work.

He did. Tomorrow. And I knew I'd feel much better about going back to work, knowing my house was clean. Do you do that? Have stuff you like to get done so you are deluded into thinking you're actually in control?

After I got home from the doctor's appointment around mid-afternoon, I thought about what else I'd like to get done today before returning to work tomorrow, and since this is "wool month" around here, I figured I'd get a start by pre-washing flannel. No, you're right--that doesn't make much sense, so I'll explain.

Gran and I are going to teach a class this fall based on the Wool Crazy book by Joann Mullaly. I've been playing with the idea of using flannel as the background/base for the project rather than wool as an option for our students, particularly since I'd seen the Woolies flannel line. I hadn't prewashed the flannel yet, so that's what I decided to work on. Once it was all washed, the strings trimmed off, and the flannel pressed, I stacked up what I had and took a photo--

So that's done.

I also had a visit today from that really nice guy in the brown shirt and shorts who drives a brown delivery truck. And guess what? It turned out to be a rather exciting Mary Engelbreit delivery! Woo-hoo! Boy was I surprised! Which really seems funny because it hasn't been that long since I ordered it.

Lovely ME tins--I think these will end up either in the Sweat Shop to hold trims and such or they'll make their way into the office (gotta think up a better name for this room) to hold arty stuff.

But isn't this cool? This is the main reason I placed the order--I wanted some ME papers for decoupage and creative play, and all that stuff came packed in this box that looks like a giant crayon box!

It's such a coincidence because when I was driving home from the doctor's office, I was thinking about going back to work tomorrow, and that led me to remember the days when I'd get excited--just about this same time of year--about going back to school. Then I started thinking that maybe I should go buy some new paper, pencils, and crayons for going back to work--you know, just to build the excitement. I think the "crayon box" of ME stuff is just as good if not better.

On a slightly different subject, I said awhile back that I'd pass on a few "diet" tips and ideas when I thought of them, and although it's not quite a tip, I wanted to share this dessert idea with you--Hubby and I are hooked on this stuff! I don't know why, exactly, but maybe because it tastes like summer.

Our favorite ice cream for this is the Wild Mountain Blackberry in the photo, but vanilla or frozen yogurt would work well too. Besides ice cream, you'll need "chunky blueberry sauce" (recipe HERE), and toasted oats and nuts.

To make the toasted oats and nuts, I spray a nonstick pan with a little canola oil spray and add maybe about a half teaspoon of butter or margarine, and then heat the pan over medium heat. I add about 1/3 c. of regular oats (not quick oats) and about half that amount of sliced almonds (I think any nut will probably do just as well and my measurements aren't all that exact). I toast the oats and almonds over medium heat and stir them until they become fragrant and slightly brown.

To assemble the dessert, we use about 1/2 cup of ice cream and roll it into a ball. We then roll each ball in 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of the toasted oats and nuts, and spoon about 1-1/2 tablespoons of warm blueberry sauce over the top.

Yummy blue (purple?) heaven! And best of all? For some reason, even though it's a fairly small portion (with somewhere around 200 calories a serving depending on the ice cream), it always seems to satisfy us.