Merry Christmas to all…

and to all a good night!

The 2012 tree:

The 2012  mantle:

Chickie after all the gifts were opened:

My dinner:

My feet are killing me after being on them all day. I got wonderful gifts from Emily. I will tell you about it in another post.

Merry Christmas!

I have someone for you to meet…

Meet my new best friend:

She’s trying to convince me to go away for a few days- she’s an evil bitch she is.

Presents!

We had our yearly stitching group Christmas party last week. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse first, then back to Jeanne’s house for dessert. I forgot my camera – for shame!- but dinner was excellent (steak tips & mashed potatoes for me- YUM!) and Jeanne really outdid herself- gingerbread cake,  and 4 kinds of cookies- a peppermint topped shortbread, nutmeg logs, cranberry orange cookies & these thin crispy lacy sugar cookies, and Joanne brought the most colorful fruit salad I have EVER seen! Everything was delicious- thank you both for such a wonderful evening!

Deborah, from Cranberry Samplings, was my  secret Santa. She gave me a beautiful needle book:

Inside:

Outside:

I love me a pretty paisley and this one is gorgeous!

She also got me a bag of assorted trims from Victoria Motto Sampler:

which is totally sweet because I won one of Nancy’s drawings over the weekend for a chart of Christmas ornaments! I know what I’ll be stitching on next year, and I have all the trims for finish- finishing them!

Thank you Deborah!

I found several photos on my camera- enough for a few more posts so hopefully, I’ll get off my keister and do something about it!

Off to do dishes- it’s late for me!

It’s Been a While….

Since you’ve seen Beacon House. I worked on it last week, but only in the snow bank so any progress seemed invisible. But this week we went in a different direction:

After some errands this morning, I grabbed some crackers & cheese for lunch. Chickie loves her cheese!

You say Repurpose, I say Recycle…

Not your typical ribbon wreath:

But I like it!

Food, Glorious food...

SOOOO good:

Short Rib Lasagna- the most non-turkey thing I could think of.
I made the full recipe, so look for that link- my version was a half-size.
This blogging thing could become a habit....

Fee-Nee!

As our fearless Spinster Stitcher  her very self would say.

Behold “Joy Sampler” by Lizzie Kate:

I just have to attached the charms and it’s “finished” finished.

And today, thank the sweet baby Jesus, is the last day of NaBloPoMo. I’m sure you’re all sick & tired of me by now. I only missed one night where I totally forgot to write, so in my new version of normal, I think that’s pretty good.

Here’s a funny video I was telling the ladies about at stitching last night (I hope this works!): Cat-Friend vs. Dog-Friend

TTFN

Home Stretch…

Here’re my last turkey sandwiches:

Turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce with a light schmear of mayo.

And here’s Chickie hoping I drop those sandwiches:

O.M.G.

She stitched!!!

A tiny bit more on Lizzie Kate’s “Joy Sampler”:

Down to the bottom. There  are some snowflakes and a bottom border and the snowman’s nose, the charms and she’s done.

And I realized between yesterday & today, the ornament per month thing (and stitching in general) is a good source of blog post fodder. Progress photo & a description, and another NaBloPoMo post is ovah!

Struggling….

to reach the end of NaBloPoMo. Let’s see if I can embed some Pinterest pins (I apologize in advance for any offensive language):

 

and the finale:

“The Best Pregnancy Photo Ever”

PS:

No I couldn’t embed- Blogger’s “preview” wasn’t available, so I had to cut & paste.

Christmas Decorating…

someday I want to make one of these:

The directions are from this website. It seems pretty easy, and if I was really smart, I’d buy the bulbs after Christmas on sale.
These are cute too:

Link here.
And a bulb wreath too:

Some Progress….

of the non-stitchy variety. The tree is up, with its lights. The wreath is on the front door, and I put up my icicle lights, and they all work! I still have to ornamental-ize the tree, but I can do that in the evenings after work.

Is anyone out there sick of turkey yet? I can’t say that I am. I gave Brandon quite a bit, and Em took a meals’s worth. I’ve been eating mini turkey sandwiches made on dinner rolls for lunch, and then at dinner, having a bowl of stuffing, potatoes, gravy & veggies. I think I need to start eating more turkey!

Best Laid Plans…

Spike TV decided to air a complete Star Wars marathon beginning at 9:00 am. I’m not  huge fan, I did see the first Star Wars way back when, and never saw any of the 3 prequels. I caught the end of prequel #1, and about 1/3 of #2, before I couldn’t keep track of rebels, clones, Siths, Jedis, who was a good guy and who was bad. So I switched to Science TV, which is airing a Fringe marathon starting with season 1. I know who’s good and bad on Fringe.

Chicken has had to go out about 8 times. It’s no wonder I get nothing done- or at least I can use that excuse. I did get to Joann’s for some stuff with my 25% off my total order. 6 more days of this nonsense, and I’ll be done…..

Turkey Hangover….

or 3 glasses of wine is 1-1/2 too many!

“My Fair Lady” is on right now on TCM. I didn’t realize that all these familiar songs came from this movie. The last time I watched any of this, I had to have been a teenager or younger. I love the set of the Professor’s home- so richly detailed. According to IMDb, Audrey Hepburn’s singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, except for “Just You Wait (Henry Higgins)”.

I was busy today- some work to finish – but I think tomorrow I’ll start on the Christmas decorations. I’m not a big shopper, so I’d just as soon stay away from the malls. Bob’s son stopped by on his way home from work this afternoon. I loaded him down with leftovers. He’s such a good guy- it was good to see him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emily came over this afternoon after doing the outlaws. We served ourselves a feast:

Here’s how my turkey looked (after carving the breast off one half):

And dessert:

These are the chocolate cupcakes- I made an equal amount of vanilla frosted the same. The be-sprinkled ones have a filling of dulce de leche. All the others are unfilled.

It was very good, but over very fast. I feel like I’ve been on my feet all day, but really only since noon when the turkey needed more basting, and the sides needed to be put together.

But it’s all done & cleaned up, and I’m off to the couch finally with (another!!) glass of wine & a cupcake or 2.

Happy Thanksgiving all! Thank you for all your kind thoughts and support, and wonderful comments. You all keep me inspired every day. Thanks!

All I have to say...

is that Tina Turner's "Rolling on the River" : "we don't do nothing easy!" takes care of yesterday's problem!

10:55 am: and "Sympathy for the Devil" & "Gimme Shelter". If you don't know by who, I'm done with you!

I forgot...

what songs I had loaded into my Spotify account. It's been months since I've used it. Since before Bob died. And some songs still can't be listened to.
I need to make a play list of just good old '80's hard rock songs.

For the Engineers out there…

I came across a story about a company in China planning on building a 220 story building, which would be the tallest in the world, in 90 days. That would be at the rate of 5 floors per day. They’re using pre-fab modular units, and not counting the time it takes to construct those, just the actual time on site.

I know how much time and coordination it takes just to build a three story building, and what kind of mistakes happen that have to be corrected along the way. If they meet their deadline, there’s not enough money in the world that would get me to go into that building!

Planning….

My menu:

Roasted, brined turkey & gravy

Crockpot stuffing

mashed potatoes

sauteed green beans

roasted cauliflower

carrots and parsnips: either mashed or roasted

dinner rolls

cranberry sauce

chocolate & vanilla frosted cupcakes

As Promised…

Here’s the update photo of “Joy Sampler” from Lizzie Kate:

Also for your entertainment- sunset on Friday night:

That is all, folks.

A Really Big Fish story…

From Yahoo News- A Real, Live Moby Dick!
The pony came down with a very swollen ankle this week. Alice & I think it’s mostly due to lack of turn-out this week, because of all the rain we’ve had. At the old barn, Axe would have been able to walk between her stall, which was about 12’ x 12’, and the pen outside, which was about 24’ x 15’. Axe’s stall now is maybe 10’x9’, and no 24/7 pen. All the walking was good for keeping her aging joints mobile, and keeping excess fluids from building up in her lower legs. Emily thought she was a bit gimpy, but we’ve been liniment-ing, and hand-walking, and she looks much better as of today. She may have twisted her ankle early in the week, and the extra inside time caused the fluid to build up. I also turned her out in the big field this afternoon so she could walk around more. And I pulled out some stitching! I’m more than 3/4 done on the Lizzie Kate Joy Sampler- I’ll take a photo tomorrow and post. If I was a real woman, I could finish it watching football tomorrow. Here’s my last update photo.
I bought all my Thanksgiving fixings yesterday and today, and my .49 cents/pound Marval frozen turkey is de-frosting in my refrigerator. I think I’m going back to the store tomorrow to get another turkey for Christmas.

Some Interesting Research….

I get an email once a month or so from The Scarlet Quince, ever since I started buying charts from them several years ago. I usually keep them saved in my in-box because often they have some good stitching tips and/or information that make them worth saving. Today’s post was a review/comparison of four different needles, by manufacturer- it was very thorough and well done. I highly recommend you read!

Towards  the bottom of this page is a link to sign up for the newsletter.

This looks interesting…

From Wiki-how-of-the-day:

How to cook a turkey breast in a crock pot.

The directions are slightly out of order, and after the breast is done cooking in crock pot, it calls for broiling in a regular oven to brown the skin.But it looks like it might come out pretty good. Something to keep in mind for when I want turkey but not the torture of cooking a whole bird, or hey- this would be a great way to cook turkey during the hot summer months!

A Literal Teacup Yorkie…

I Breathe, therefore I Pin…

So I have that little “Follow me on Pinterest” button over there>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You can click it if you’d like and see what shenanigans I’ve been up to. I started my Pinterest account around Christmas last year and was amazed at all the holiday-themed ideas, recipes, gifts, decorations, etc. that were popping up. So if you need some inspiration or even just some holiday cheer, now’s a good time to check it out.

Here are some things I found today:

Butter Pecan Cupcakes

Bite Sized Baked Brie

Budget Friendly Christmas Tree Decorating

Pixie Stix Quilt

Mozzarella Sticks

Pink & White Peppermint Swirl Bark

According to Live Writer and Pinterest, I can embed pins in my blog, but it doesn’t seem to be working properly, or, more than likely, I’m not operating properly.

Saved by the bell! I’m cooking a quiche, and I always forget that less is more when it comes to quiche. So I overstuffed the pie shell, and it’s taken an extra 30 minutes to cook and I’m SOOOO hungry! (ham, broccoli, cheese & sautéed onions)

From work today….

On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 11:06 AM:

From me to daughter: “I just want to take an aluminum baseball bat to a co-worker’s face. I think I’m PMS-ing, as well trying to fend off said co-worker’s head cold”

From daughter to me: “yikes...what is he doing?”

From me to daughter: On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 11:09 :

“Nothing much except EXISTING”

From daughter to me: “lol  is everyone I know on the same cycle? what gives?”

Mind you- my only “co-worker” is my boss, a fact of which my daughter is totally aware. Good thing I’ve been working there for 30 years and could resist the urge to give in to violence.

Epic Fail!

So I did forget to post last night. I worked all day, then I had to go to one of those "buy-something" parties at my barn-friend's house. I got home by 9:15, and refused to turn the computer on- not remembering I hadn't made a post when I had my computer on after work. I believe my thought process then was: "you can write about the buy-something party when you get home". So much for that.
This party was from a company called "Trades of Hope". The products are fair trade craft items- jewelry, home decor, scarves, xmas ornaments, etc., from around the world. The workers are for the most part women in 3rd world countries. The Trades of Hope people set them up with a business creating these items from sustainable, local goods and materials, and work with them to ensure a consistent quality, sell-able product. The women get paid first, then T of H people back in the US. It seems like a nice idea.
Of course, I spent way too much on some items I normally wouldn't buy, but it kicked off my Christmas shopping, so that helps.
Plus I got to hang out with my pooper-scooper barn buddy Michelle for the evening, and met some of her friends that she's told me about as she gabs while we did our chores.
I miss my old barn tons, but Axe is fitting in nicely at Alice's. While I am now thoroughly enjoying being able to sleep in on weekends- it's been over a year since I could-I started doing weekends last end of October 2011 after Jodi got back from Worlds, I do miss barn chores.
Today I put that plastic film on some drafty windows. That stuff is NOT for women of a certain age who need readers and refuse to get them. I was convinced I had a faulty package of film because all the sheets seemed to be cut too short and I couldn't find an edge to peel back. Finally i measured a sheet and sure enough, one dimension was half as long as it should have been- telling me that the film WAS folded in half.
It took a bit of rubbing and crunching the edge to finally see the two plys, and then get my fingernail in between to separate them. So that's done. I am now procrastinating big time at picking up my tree limbs from the Hurricane- and thank you Anna & Krista for the info on "Superstorm Sandy"- it was very interesting. It's a terrible shame that the authorities had so much advance warning to the storm and for what ever reasons, didn't have the necessary follow-up in place.
Well, my computer is pestering me for a re-start to finish an security update, so I should comply.
TTFN

Almost Forgot…

to post tonight! We (me and the animals) all survived the Nor’Easter. Which reminds me: did I miss something regarding Hurricane Sandy? Why is it being referred to as “Superstorm Sandy”? My thoughts are with all of you in NY & NJ and elsewhaere affected by the storms.

I still have my yard to clean up, it’s supposed to be nice this weekend so hopefully I can make a dent in it.

Fringe is on- time to go!

When I was a little girl….

all I wanted for Christmas was a pony:

!!!???