The J-less Alphabet and Other Things

I'm still cross-stitching my winter evenings away. This little sampler was a big surprise; there's no letter "J" on the pattern. That sent me scrambling for answers. My friend, LP, informed me that there was no "J" street in Washington DC. "Back in the day", she said, "the letters "I" and "J" were so similar in form that Charles L'Enfant, the designer, refused to use the "J" for a street name to avoid confusion." This was news to me, further digging yielded the information that many samplers, dated well into the nineteenth century, were missing the "J", as this letter is a fairly young one, coming into usage only sometime after 1820. Live and learn! My plan for this little mini is to combine it with a school house quilt block or two (or three) and create a small pillow with it. 

We cleaned out the attic yesterday and found this gem of a board game! It appears to be brand new; the instruction sheet is dated 1987. I'm guessing that our children received this game as a gift from their grandmother; my MIL was wild about ALF! This is a true blast from the past. I couldn't discard it!

Our dinner selections have been upped a notch a few evenings a month. Our son and daughter in law gave us a free meal box coupon to "Every Plate" a while back. I've continued to subscribe, we average three meals a week every other week and it's really not a bad deal at all. Everything comes in the box, meat, fresh veggies, seasonings and a step-by-step recipe card. The meals are portioned perfectly so there's no leftovers or waste of any unique ingredients. This meal, above, is Herby Parmesan Crusted Chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted zucchini. Every single selection that we've tried has been wonderful and we've sampled quite a few of their offerings. For us, it has gotten us out of the rut of the "same old thing" for dinners and challenged me with a few new and exciting ideas for food prep. I'm receiving no compensation from Every Plate, this is just a tried-and-true testimonial. If you're looking for something new and different you might want to give it a try. 

Remember that applique inspiration that hit me when I visited the National Quilt Museum recently? Well this old UFO is out of the box, blocks are completed and it's ready for quilting. I'm loving its folk-arty-ness and its simplicity. 

We were in the grips of an ice storm earlier today. Hopefully the worst has passed; as I type, the ice has dropped out of the trees now and the temperature has risen slightly above freezing. All the while I had my fingers crossed for the power to remain on~ it did!

Life is Good!