Aw, Sunday mornings?  What can be better?  I know! Sunday morning the day before a holiday.  Yes, that would be better, sadly work resumes tomorrow.  After a Saturday of driving all over the Tampa Bay Area, including St Pete, Largo, Clearwater, Tampa, and Spring Hill, scouting locations for my business, it's nice to know I have today to relax.  Of course that includes doing the laundry.

The walk with the dogs was uneventful.  Rosie, our new dog, is slowly acclimating to the routine.  Learning when Dad wakes up it's time to walk, and eat.  Too Much energy!  So with the walk under our belts, it's back home for doggie treats, and breakfast.  With the pups fed, time to focus on the humans...So this morning started with a blog, HugsandCookiesXOXO to be specific.  She has some amazing food, so I remembered seeing a french toast stick. Yes, that would be perfect, I need to use up some bread...so Cinnamon French Toast Sticks it is.  You can find the inspiration recipe for my version here http://www.hugsandcookiesxoxo.com/2013/08/french-toast-sticks-stuffed-with.html.  Now I only used 2 Tablespoons of sugar in my filling and I used regular granulated sugar as well.  I make a lot of items with cream cheese and know how to get the results I want.  I added about 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries to my mixture, I thawed them in the microwave.  Now they made the filling a bit looser than the original recipe, but it was light and airy and it stayed in the roll without too much fuss.  I did not add any additional sugar thinking the cinnamon sugar coating on the outside of the roll would be sweet enough, and I was right.  I served mine with 2 turkey sausage patties, and I made a type of fritata to go with the sweet treat.  The Fritata started with 1/2 cup of bell pepper, 1/2 cup of onion, chopped and lightly sweated in an oven proof pan. I added a couple handfuls (about 1 cup) of frozen hashbrowns and let that all cook up together for a bit. I scrambled 7 eggs with 1/8 cup of water, salt and pepper to taste and then poured that over the onion and pepper mixture.  I popped that in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.  After the eggs had set a bit, I opened the oven added a few slices of tomato to the top and some mixed low fat Italian cheese (about 1/2 cup) to the top and then baked another 10 minutes until cooked and the cheese was melted.  Wouldn't you know I forgot to take the "beauty" shot but oh well you get what you get...

 Breakfast was delicious.  The Hubs was very satisfied, although he had regular sausage.  I can't serve him the french toast sticks being sweet and then just sausage, he will always want eggs, and I just didn't feel fried eggs this morning.  So now that he's fed he's off to the tire place to put tires on Kelsie's car and get the suspension checked.  What a good Dad.  And for Kristy my gluten free daughter who is laden with anthropology homework I made a cinnamon toast using her UDI's glutten free french baguette.  She used the strawberry cream cheese filling as a dipping sauce for her treat.  Kristy is also my foodie, as we discussed the flavors of the french toast sticks, we felt those would make a wonderful dessert, however to serve for dessert I would dip half the stick in a lovely dark chocolate ganache, and Voila! dessert is served.  Easy-peasy

Thus ends the food related part of the blog.....

Now onto the knitting and crafting.  So I was feeling especially seasonal this morning.  The weather here today is AMAZING.  It's warm with a light breeze, but the temperature has that seasonal feeling that summer is ending.  Now in Tampa, that is a very subtle temperature change.  So I pulled out the fall linens for the table..

I still need a centerpiece.  Hubs made me put back the hurricane lamp I wanted yesterday (kill joy), but oh well, I'm sure I can find something else I just need some time to think....

I'm also working on an Afghan, the Moderne Log Cabin by Mason-Dixon Knitting.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/moderne-log-cabin-blanket.  My color selections are tan, brown, light green and a deep purple.  I'm currently on block 3, and I think this is going to be huge.  It's easy, straight garter stitch all the way. Which right now is all I can handle, based on the fact that I'm entering the busy season at work.  I'm just happy to be knitting.  I am inspired for crafting and decorating this year, so it's gonna be a great year.  Now back to the blanket.  I'm using Caron Simply Soft Eco.  GASP, I know, I know it's acrylic and polyester, however in my household with the dogs and my family I have to have something easily washable and not having to worry about the use of expensive wool.  I keep that for myself ...shhhh...did I say that out loud?
My colors are Perfect Plum, Wheat, Sprig, and Soft Taupe.
I'm having some fun with this.  It's a lot of knitting and getting larger and larger.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.  For the cross stitch side of life, I'm working on my old Blackbird piece, and I've made some headway, but not much.  I'll post more info on this piece in the next post as I'm being pressured to get finished with the blog to hit Office Depot....So with that being said TTFN for this week, and I will see you soon.  Enjoy your Sunday....