Gratitude

Thanksgiving was last week. I have much to be thankful for in my life besides my family today two people come to mind. I would like to share a bit about them with you.

Rita’s Racques is a very small business. There is just two of us, my husband Dennis and me, making racks. We travel to quilt shows across the country introducing our products. Two years ago I met LaRae from Thread Cutterz, (a product that I love) at a quilt show. We hit it off. Her son was kind enough to introduce our racks to Mathew Boudreaux, Mr. Domestic. Mathew purchased one of our racks and mentioned us in his blog. We saw a nice boost in our business because of that mention. I started following Mathew and found him not only to be a great teacher but a genuinely kind and positive person. He has been a cheerleader for our business mentioning us often. Once I found him I signed up for his Youtube channel. He has a huge following and has many great tutorials. I have watched his live FB sessions and also watched as people trolled him with horrible comments. Comments so disgusting he had to end the session. Yet he continues to put a positive spin on life.

I saw Mathew at the Houston show and we had a great visit. Mathew went home and found that someone had hacked his Youtube channel. Using his platform, they sent out hateful political statements. Not only that he lost every video and 50,000 Youtube followers. Youtube has been less than helpful with the hack. He is working to restore his site but this has been a huge loss for him.

I want to help him as best I can. This link: https://misterdomestic.net/2019/11/25/the-death-of-mister-domestic-youtube/ explains what happened to Mr Domestic.

Now it’s your turn to do something kind. You can share this link, subscribe to his site, tweet about it and let Youtube know what an outrage this loss is. The more this is talked about the more power it gives him for Youtube to do something about it. So please help him today.

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My family traveled to North Dakota to be with my daughter’s family for the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s about a nine hour car ride each way. We were lucky enough to miss all of the weather that happened around us.

We got back late in the evening and our driveway had been plowed but the city plows had almost closed our driveway. Luckily my son has four wheel drive so he plowed through. The next day it snowed again. And once again, the city plow added to the height of the pile at the end of the driveway. Dennis has a heart condition so asking him to shovel is a bit too dangerous.

It was a fairly nice day, around 33 degrees F so I pulled on my boots and hat and trudged to the end of the driveway. It had been a very wet snow so the twelve foot wide, three foot high pile of ice chunks was a bit challenging. I was about half done when a car pulled up. A man jumped out with a shovel in hand and just started shoveling with me. To say I was surprised is a misnomer. A stranger just jumped out to help me for no reason, just to be nice. I asked him if he lived close and, no, he was just in the neighborhood helping his daughter dig out when he saw me. I thanked him profusely and then he was on his way. Not only did he make my work lighter but this guy made my week. It is nice to be reminded how generous and kind strangers can be.

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I know I have mentioned them before but if you haven't seen or used a Thread Cutterz you should.

Zipper Pul Flat Mount Ring

I have all three but I like the Flat Mount best as I put it on my Featherweight because the cutter was worn out. I also have one mounted on a pencil holder so I can use it when chain stitching.

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If you are looking for a gift for someone who sews check out the Sewlites that we now sell. I am very impressed with this American made product. The lite work by sticking on any machine and give out a tremendous amount of light. Once you use them you will find so many other uses for them They are real game changers.

(Note: This product is no longer available.)

Receive a 10% discount any any purchase of Lites through December 15th. Use "Lites" in the Promo Code section to receive the discount when purchasing.

Have a great week. I give you my Irish goodbye.

Rita

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Recipe of The Week

Peanut Butter Bars

My mother-in-law made these most every week. It’s a family favorite. I like it because they are quick, use a small amount of ingredients and just plain delicious. These are quick to make and and freeze well. I usually double the recipe and make a pan to eat and one to freeze.

Dough

1/2 c shortening 1/2 tsp soda

1/2 c. sugar 1 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar. 1 c. oatmeal

1/3 c. peanut butter

1/2 chocolate chips

1 egg

Topping

1/2 c. chocolate chips

Frosting

1/2 c. powdered sugar enough milk to make smooth- 1 or 2 T.

1/4 c. peanut butter

Combine the first set of ingredients and press into a 9x12 pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. The dough will still be soft and barely brown at the edges.

Remove the pan from the oven and pour the chocolate chips over the pan. Let sit a minute or two and spread the melted chocolate over the dough.

In a small saucepan heat sugar and peanut butter adding just enough mil to make it smooth as it is heating. Spread mixture over bars and serve.

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