No gold medal for me but I'll settle for honorable mention!

With Valentine's Day occurring tomorrow, and our being invited to our friends' (for what appears to be an annual event) I thought I just might whip me up a sweetheart of a purse.

Well, I had good intentions anyway.

I was once again perusing the Freebies for Crafters site (I've been living there these days) and I saw this cute little wristlet. Actually the basis for this wristlet is identical to the little zippered wallets I make but they just make it a little bigger and add a strap.

This is where I don't get my gold medal because I didn't refer back to the exact measurements, and you can see for yourself that the zipper should be sitting higher.

Poor Betty Boop looks a bit too boxy!!!

Needless to say, she'll be spending Valentine's Day at home.

Alone.

Her back view.

This has been such a hellish week in The Big City with all the snow that's just lying everywhere, and I had no desire to spend hours in traffic just to get to JoAnn's, so this was the only fabric in my stash that was even remotely Valentine's Dayish.

I'll hang on to her for awhile but I just don't see her hitting the town with me anytime soon.

I was feeling a little disappointed and then I spotted these scraps left over from my Belle Bag.

See the zipper in the bottom of the picture? A couple of years ago I ripped it out of a Salvation Army purse that I'd bought for its hardware and it's been dying to be used ever since.

It was a perfect match so I tore the rest of the old lining off and put it to new use.

So here is my finished little wallet. I'm so glad I saved that zipper!

The back is ever so cheerful!

See how well the zipper matches the interior?

I'm loving my 'matchy matchy' bag and wallet!!!

And let's not forget my orange flower Scrabble pendant from Home Studio.

And even if I don't deserve a gold medal, I'd love an honorable mention award!!

To wine or not to whine!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hans and I were invited out for Valentine's Day.

Dinner was held at a friend's house and I think there were seven couples in attendance. The men were in charge and in addition to preparing the meal, they served the ladies, cleared dishes, and cleaned up.

It was just too much fun, all the guests were so nice, and believe it or not, the whole idea was a man's!

I kid you not.

I had my camera with me but I just never got around to taking pictures and since I don't like to post photos of people without their permission you wouldn't see them here anyway. But I did bring home a chocolate covered strawberry, so I took a picture of it next to the card that Hans got for me.

I have to tell you, those strawberries were fabulous.

Here's the recipe:

Strawberries.

Dark chocolate, chocolate chips.

Giant Eagle frosting in a can.

That's it!

Melt the chocolate chips, I don't have a double boiler so I put my chips in a Pyrex dish, in a pan of simmering water on the stove, and heat until melted.

Using a toothpick, dip your strawberries in the chocolate and place on little fluted paper cups.

Pipe a stripe of frosting onto the cooled and hardened chocolate. You can create a baker's piping tool out of waxed paper, formed into a cone with the pointy end cut off. Put your frosting inside and squeeze it out the other end.

Simple.

They must be simple as they were made by a very busy couple who have FIVE children aged 10 and under.

Believe it or not there was another couple there who have five kids.

And in addtion to being sane, they were loads of fun.

We had pork, beef, sauteed mushrooms. broccoli and cauliflower, red skin potatoes, apples; baked and stuffed with raisins and cornbread, salad, bread (ala Hans), champagne, wine, coffee, and dessert.

Hans was very helpful and poured gravy all over my pork, beef, and potatoes (I love gravy) and after I took a bite and proclaimed it to be absolutely fabulous, we found out it wasn't gravy. It was juice from the stuffed apples.

I think I've hit on a whole new taste treat.

Anyway, throughout the evening, we ladies never had to leave our seats and Hans said that out in the kitchen the men were very busy and while one man really took over and had everything running very efficiently, the other men would report on what was going on in the dining room. One husband skidded back into the kitchen in a panic when our innocent topic of circumcision was overheard and none of the men would venture back among us until a tamer subject was being discussed.

When we got home Hans was very eager to hear my take on his participation during the evening.

"Did you notice me coffeeing everyone?" He eagerly asked.

I had to smile because I know that before Hans met me he had never heard nor concerned himself with the term coffeeing. As a waitress I've lamented many a time to him about how I have to keep after the younger servers to 'coffee' their tables.

"I coffeed quite a bit you know." He added.

I told him that I did indeed notice and that he did a wonderful job.

"And I wined too!" He beamed at me. "Did you notice me wining?"

And I had to bite my lip because I've never heard the term 'wining' when it comes to pouring wine, but I couldn't bring myself to burst his bubble.

"I did notice!" I exclaimed. "And you were the biggest winer there tonight!"

I was rewarded by a very happy, Hans smile!

He's so stinking cute and I'm going to miss the heck out of him.

He left for Europe today and he's going to be gone for two long weeks.

Now it's my turn to be a big whiner!