Instant Pot Chicken

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a bit since I posted but the holidays and a new position at work have made things a little crazy ;) 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or as a friend likes to say, HAPPY LIGHTS!!

So, I asked for an instant pot for Christmas and lo and behold, I actually got one! :D I was given a 6 quart size which seems to be pretty perfect for the three of us. It's the Instant Pot Lux60 V3:

Yesterday, we tried it out with basic brown rice, and it was perfect! (The rinse and let it soak for 15 minutes thing is really, really important - who knew?? lol ) 

And today, because we tend to "go big or go home", we made a whole chicken. It is awesome! We made a chicken that was slightly over 6 pounds and it just fit in the cook pot. 

Here's the recipe we used:

Turn the instant pot to saute, and put a little oil in the pan.

Smear whatever rub you want on it all over the chicken ( we used a lemon pepper seasoning from Auntie Arwen's Spices called Lemon Sunshine Pepper blend. ) 

Sear the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side, and then take it back out and put in your trivet rack. 

Pour one can of chicken broth in the pot, and put the chicken back on top of the trivet. Put the cover on and make sure the valve is on seal. 

We used the meat/stew setting at 40 minutes - 6 minutes per pound, with a natural release of 10 minutes. 

It came out *amazing*.  It was falling off the bones - literally!! I'm thrilled we can make a whole chicken from start to finish in about an hour :D 

Braided Infinity Scarf

So I'm not great at pictures, and I have never written a crochet pattern before, but I loved this braided infinity scarf when I saw a photo of it, and just had to make it! I wasn't able to find a real pattern for it, so I made one up that seems to work pretty well. 

You will be making 5 strips to braid together. Each strip is really easy, just lots of counting. I did 303 chains, and then double crochet in the fourth chain from the hook and in each chain for the length of the strip. You can make this as long as you need to. At the end of the row, finish it off (a simple knot is fine.) 

Join one end of the strands with a chain stitch so that they are anchored to make it easier to braid. 

Here is a picture of how the braid is done. It takes a little bit to get used to, mostly because the strips keep getting tangled, hahahah. 

Then, join both ends of the scarf to make the large loop. This can be done by sewing it or crocheting with a chain. This will wrap around your head twice. 

Here is my first one!

I used Bernat Pop, Blue Blaze and a size K hook. I particularly like this style of hook: 

3 PCS Crochet Hooks Set w/ Ergonomic Soft Grip Handles - New Size K Hook a.k.a 6.5mm 7mm 8mm (L) - Longer Shaft Than Others To Allow More Yarn Loops - EXCLUSIVE ONLY - Perfect For Arthritic Hands because they are more comfortable for my hands. 

This one will be going to a friend at work who loves mermaid colors :) Best part is that it only takes one skein of yarn, and can be done in a day!


EDIT:
I made another from a size 6 bulky yarn, and shortened the pattern a bit so the finished project was almost exactly like the first picture. I did 253 chains, double crochet in the 4th from the hook and each chain down to the end for a total of 250 double crochets. It took 3 skeins of claret thick and quick wool-ease yarn:

5D Diamond Painting

So, recently my best friend showed me this cool craft called 5D diamond painting. It's really easy, but makes a pretty gift at the end, so I am giving quite a few for Christmas gifts this year.

You can find the kits on Amazon for under 20.00 and on eBay for even cheaper if you are willing to wait for them to come in from China. My experience with the shipments from China have been mixed. I ordered one kit that was lost, several I'm waiting on thru eBay that were ordered in October, and the one I ordered the most recently has already come in, which is nice since it's also the largest.

This is something Curly has decided she likes as well, so she is working on a snowman for Nana for one of her gifts.

What is this thing? Well, it's like a paint by number, but with little beads that are flat on the back and stick to the design. Curly is working on this one:

which has a small amount of the design done as the "painting' and the rest is a preprinted picture. It comes with everything you need, including -thankfully- more than enough beads to finish it.
I recently did this one:

and this is what it looks like finished:

Kind of like a cross stitch but so much easier!!

This one was a full drill design, meaning that the entire 16x20 design is beaded. Don't let that deter you though if you want to try it! It goes fast, much easier and quicker than you'd think :) 

Kits come with the beads, chart, and the "pen" and glue to put it together, but you will need to find a way to frame it when you're done. 

(Post contains affiliate links. I receive a small amount if you decide to purchase something from amazon using these links. And Curly would love you forever ;) ) 

52 Week Savings Challenge

OK, so it's December and like many of you, I am worrying about the holidays and the extra costs of winter in general, but January starts on a Monday and since 2018 is coming up fast, I am trying to think about our financial goals in the new year. 

For the past two years, I have tried to do the 52 week savings challenge and it has not worked. Still, I think it's a great idea to try because any savings is a good thing - it's easier to not put something on a credit card if you have money in savings to cover it instead.

Not sure what the original challenge is? The first week, put a dollar in to a savings account, jar, whatever. Second week, 2.00 and so on until you finish the year with the last week being 52.00. Yes, that means if you follow the challenge to the letter, you're putting the most amount of money into savings during December and that's hard. The goal is to have 1378.00 in savings at the end of the year. Feel free to skip around on the weeks, or start at the end and work backwards so that December isn't the highest savings months if you want. The point of the challenge really is to just start saving, not necessarily the need to do it in order. :D 

Imagine how much easier next winter would seem with that sitting in an account somewhere!

Here's a great graphic to print out if you want to join me in the challenge.

You can print it out and hang it up if you want. Mine is going over my desk so I think about it each week. I'll try to update weekly once we start as well. 

Please feel free to leave a comment if you want, and let me know if you are joining me! 

December Already??

Oh my goodness, how did it get to be December already?? I mean, yes, of course I know how, but wow the year went fast!

Today was a productive day in regards to Christmas/Solstice prep. I've been working on presents for a bit, but today I took a break from making them, and hit "the Mall." I hate the mall, but thankfully it was pretty quiet for a Friday morning in the month of December.

I was there because I wanted to go to The Children's Place. See, Curly has been asking what we can do for presents for her class. We don't normally do anything for the whole class- last year they did a round robin book exchange so all the kids received a book. I don't know what the teacher has planned this year, but Curly has been rather insistent for a 6 year old, so off I went.

Yesterday, I received an email from The Children's Place that they had kids hats and gloves for $1.00 each. Great, I thought, kids are always losing theirs, that could be a good gift. Then today I also got a 25% off your total order coupon. Well, that's it. The kids are getting hats and gloves this year, lol.

Of course, I could have just not done anything but I know that families are struggling. We have a lot of folks who have come here from other countries with extremely limited funds and yes, even some that are homeless, so I hope that this helps to relieve at least a little worry about cold heads and hands.

We also went to the tree lighting in the park, and came home with this year's tree. Ooops. I don't even have a place to put it yet! HA! It's in the back of the car until a spot is made for it ( we know where it's going, just have to move some furniture around. ) Tree pictures tomorrow, maybe. ;)

How are your holiday plans going? Have you started shopping? Are you one of those lucky folks who are done?