Cross - but not in a bad way

 Yes, I've been continuing with the cross stitch projects and now can mark four done....four more to go.  I not only finished the stitching of the Santa House, but also added the garland and beading to the rest of the houses.  Don't know if the sparkle from the garland shows in the photos though.  It's a Kreinik Micro Ice Chenille.  

On another note, this one falls under a great mystery.  I had ordered a container of a sealant by Jacquard from Amazon and it seemed to take slightly longer than usual to arrive.  It finally appeared and tucked inside was a package of really nice paintbrushes which were labeled as being a 'gift'.  Not sure what precipitated that because I've never known Amazon to be that generous.  Who am I, however, to look a gift horse  paintbrush in the mouth!  If you could see the sorry state of my brushes you'd understand how happy I was.

And....because I haven't shared a recipe here for awhile, how about the one Resident Chef uses for oatmeal?  I don't much care for regular oatmeal so he's come up with this version that he does in the rice cooker (it can be made on the stove top too, but it takes longer).

RESIDENT CHEF'S OATMEAL

1  1/2 c. steel cut oats
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

2 T. maple syrup

1/2 c. raisins, dried cranberries and/or coconut
1/3 c. sunflower seeds

Cook in rice cooker.

NOTES:  You can use regular rolled oats, but we prefer steel cut.  You don't need to use maple syrup if you don't have any - brown sugar will do (if you have a bit of maple flavouring you can throw that in with the brown sugar).  This makes enough to eat over several days, so just refrigerate and warm up as needed.  Good cold too!

Sorry to say, I haven't had a chance to search out any links for you today...will try to do better next time!

Today's quote:  "A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority"