Mississippi in the Rear-View Mirror

Last night we finally got to see the Holiday Inn's film of our robbery. We had to watch the
film, starting from Easter Sunday, which was kind of cool since we always park in the same
spot, Hubby and I were the main characters in our own little video and KFC's bucket of chicken held the co-starring role.

Finally, it was April 18th, after almost an hour of watching softly falling rain, broken only
by flashes of lightning that reflected off the black of our truck, when suddenly, we all froze
as we watched a small pinkish-cream colored car pull right in from the main road and pulled in
to park right beside our truck. It was so quiet I could hear a heartbeat, but just wasn't sure
if it was mine.

Then as if one, we all spotted him. An average, but somewhat skinny black man appeared, his
head just over the tonto cover. He was wearing a white baseball hat, but looked up at us all
like he was watching us, through the same camera lens. I felt a bit queasy as I could see him
working on something on his side of our truck. Even though we were all prepared, everyone in
the office jumped as the tonto cover on our truck popped open with such ease. You could almost
feel his adrenaline as he leaped over the back tailgate and feverishly began grabbing our
tools.

Just as quickly he was out of our truck and he disappeared out of view, behind the truck. Again
his head popped up over the back end of the truck into plain view. He starts pushing with all
his weight to get the tonto cover back down into place. The very same corner he had pryed up,
he left a gift for the local police of, one perfect set of fingerprints and a jewel of a full
palm print.

Then just as quick as he had arrived, he was back into his car and pulling out onto the
sparsely trafficed main road. It was over, you could hear everyone sigh in relief........
before that sigh had escaped though, it was interupted by a groan of disapointment, or was it
gasp of almost triumph....

There was my dear Hubby coming right out the hotel door, right in front of the truck. Carrying
his bag of ice for the cooler, Like time-work it was exactly 6 AM.....

Less then 2 minutes after the thief had left....... Kind of creepy, huh?

As of today there have been 5 more trucks robbed at this Holiday Inn. Their manager, Denise had to actually learn how to use the rewind button. Now lets see if she can learn to record for the police. I didn't recognize the guy, but on Saturday one of the locals that we had hired stopped by the store and when I told him they had finger prints and everything was on camera, we haven't seen him since. Hubby still has his paycheck in the truck. Not enough though, to help cover any
tools.

I may be very happy to see Mississippi in our rear-view mirror.............

Mom's Diagonal Knit Dishcloth

Mom's Diagonal Knit Dishcloth

You have probably seen versions of this old pattern a thousand times. Whether it's a dishcloth or a baby blanket, it's probably one of your first knitting patterns. I love these dishcloths knitted in variegated yarns. This variegated matches the hot blue, hot green and yellow from Lily's Peaches & Cream.

This is the pattern my mom always used:

1 small Skien of 4 ply Cotton Yarn

Size 9 knitting needles

Cast On 4 Stitches

Row 1: knit acrossRow 2: K2, YO, K across to end
Repeat Row 2 until you have 53 stitches on your needles.

Now you can start decreasing :

K1, K2tog, YO, K2tog, K across to end.

Repeat this row until you have 4 stitches left on your needle.

Bind off. Weave in your tails.

I have never had to block this pattern.

When Things Go So Very Wrong

Normally I don't like to write about bad things, I always try and just move past them. But this time its so different, Night before last we were robbed. We lost thousands of dollars of tools, from our truck. We were parked at our Holiday Inn, right under 4 lights, right beside a main road here in Greenville, Mississippi, with cameras pointed right on our truck.

Three police cars were here within 2 minutes of our call. They took some great fingerprints off the truck, (whoever did it didn't wear gloves). This should be an open and shut case, right? Well it appears that the investment company that owns this Holiday Inn Express and the Econ0Lodge next door, put in a great camera system, over 2 years ago, but then failed to teach anyone to actually rewind it, to see anything it has ever recorded.

Now 2 days later, we are being told that there may be one woman that does know how, but she hasn't answered any of the emails, nor her cell phone.

I feel a bit better, another truck was robbed at near the same time, from this same Holiday Inn, that can't afford security guards...... This man lost over $5,000 in tools and was from Ohio.. It's sad when people steal, its sad to see we live in a world of pirates.... A horrible pox on the thieves of the world......

Fudge Supreme Cake Balls

These little mouthfuls are so delicious. I found the basic recipe at Allrecipes, but it didn't have clear instructions.

1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix ( prepared as directed on the package)

1 Can Duncan Hines Creamy Homestyle Dark Chocolate Fudge Frosting

1 1/2 packages Plymouth Pantry Make Your Own Almond Bark Chocolate Flavored Coating ( I found this at Walmarts

Candy Sprinkle (optional)

Bake your cake according to package directions. Let cake cool. I was in a hurry so I put mine in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Crumble your cake directly from the cake pan to a large bowl. I used a fork and just shredded it, into the bowl.
Add your frosting and mix well. You don't need a mixer, just use the same fork and it will blend easily.

Some people say to chill at this point but I didn't need to. I used my small cookie scoop and popped a scoop into my palms and rolled into a firm ball. One batch filled 1 and 1/2 cookie sheets. Put the cookie sheet with your cake balls into the freezer. I put one batch in for 30 minutes and the next batch in for 45 minutes. It didn't make much difference.

Melt your Coating in the microwave on defrost for 2 minutes, then stir and return for another 2 minutes on defrost. Stir again until all chucks are melted. I used a 2 Cup measuring cup with 6 Squares in it. It took 3 batches to cover all the balls.

I used a fork to duck my cake balls, tapping it on my measuring cup to catch the drips. Put these on wax paper by flipping your fork, and using it to seal the top.

The Cake Balls set up very quickly, I think they are much better the next day. I notice a few crumbs getting into the coating, but the red looked very pretty. For the holidays I would probably drizzle some melted white chocolate over the tops.

Alphabet Dishcloths

Rhonda White is a very generous lady, She has offered the entire alphabet and numbers on dishcloths for free. I am making all my grandchildren their names... I have the first three letters of 3 done.........

You can get her patterns here

Football Facecloth - Dishcloth from BunnyStamping

Football Facecloth - Dishcloth from BunnyStamping

I made this for one of my grandsons that plays football for his high school team in Kansas. I used Lilys Sugar'n Cream in Warm Brown. I need to make several more of these for other grandsons. Except River, who is a die-hard soccer player. I can't find a soccer ball pattern so I guess I will need to design my own.

Get this cute pattern here

Red Velvet Cake Balls

Little Bites of heaven. I found the recipe at allrecipes, with no instructions. The comments helped me get these together. I am going to try these with Wiltons White chocolate next time. Just to see the different flavor.

1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Red Velvet Cake Mix ( prepared as directed on the package)

1 Can Duncan Hines Creamy Homestyle Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/2 packages Plymouth Pantry Make Your Own Almond Bark Vanilla Flavored Coating

Candy Sprinkle (optional)

Bake your cake according to package directions. Let cake cool. I was in a hurry so I put mine in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Crumble your cake directly from the cake pan to a large bowl. I used a fork and just shredded it, into the bowl.
Add your frosting and mix well. You don't need a mixer, just use the same fork and it will blend easily.
Some people say to chill at this point but I didn't need to. I used my small cookie scoop and popped a scoop into my palms and rolled into a firm ball. One batch filled 1 and 1/2 cookie sheets. Put the cookie sheet with your cake balls into the freezer. I put one batch in for 30 minutes and the next batch in for 45 minutes. It didn't make much difference.

Melt your Coating in the microwave on defrost for 2 minutes, then stir and return for another 2 minutes on defrost. Stir again until all chucks are melted. I used a 2 Cup measuring cup with 6 Squares in it. It took 3 batches to cover all the balls.
I used a fork to duck my cake balls, tapping it on my measuring cup to catch the drips. Put these on wax paper by flipping your fork, and using it to seal the top. Sprinkle quickly if you want sprinkles.
The Cake Balls set up very quickly, I think they are much better the next day. I notice a few crumbs getting into the coating, but the red looked very pretty. For the holidays I would probably drizzle some melted chocolate over the tops.