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!

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!

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....

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:

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!

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

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.

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!

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)

More Stitching and She Cooks…

Here’s where i stand on Beacon House:

I mostly filled in some water at Thursday stitching group. I had worked on it a little last weekend finishing up the deer ad the variegated snow.

This evening I’ve been invited to supper at my good friends Dianne & Jen’s house. I made a Flat Apple Pie for the grown-ups, and some Vanilla/Vanilla cupcakes for the kids.

I used this no-mess-frosting tip from Our Best Bites. It worked beautifully! Although I wish my frosting recipe made just a scooch more – I divided the white 4 ways to add the color and piping that 3rd cupcake involved me jamming my thumb all the way into the tip to squeeze enough out to cover the cake top. The 4 cupcakes on the bottom you can see are a bit wonky.

But I’m sure they’ll taste fine.

TTFN

Begin again…

Well, I’ll jump right into it:

I had kind of lost my blogging mojo by the end of June, and then at the beginning July my boyfriend of 14 years passed away unexpectedly. Well, as unexpectedly as anyone with COPD for 3-4+ years can. And that kind of took the wind right out of my sails. A week after his memorial was my birthday, then a week after that was his birthday.  So it’s been a tough month.  I’m already starting to have more good days (those without crying my eyes out) than not-so-good ones, so I’m doing OK.

I don’t mean to relay all this for  sympathy, but as an an FYI for you. Whenever one of  the blogs I read just disappears without explanation, it bothers me. I assume it bothers you too. I wonder if they’re coming back, what’s happened in their life (if anything) and I keep checking back less and less frequently, until I relegate them to the “Low Activity” bookmark folder. I check that occasionally, and sometimes the blogger starts posting again.  So I can’t and won’t promise that I’ll post any more regularly for any time soon. I just don’t have the proper mind set right now. God knows a crabby depressed Xeyedmary isn’t a whole heck of a lot of fun to read.  Even on a good day.

My kitchen table is piled with various things that I have no ambition to deal with at the moment, and since it’s the best spot to take photos of my stitching, I haven’t been able to do that either. I have stitched a bit, filled in more snow and water on Beacon House, and worked a bit more on that Xmas sampler I can’t remember the name of- “Joy Sampler” by Lizzie Kate maybe?

I may clean the table off and be more diligent in taking progress photos, and just post those with little commentary. I think I can handle that.

Any whose: I just uploaded some photos I took  last month:

Here’s what I grilled for myself for my birthday dinner:

 

An angus burger with caramelized onions and American cheese on a bed of baby spinach with mayo & ketchup. Bob had promised me we’d go to our favorite diner in Mattapoisett for their SCL  burger for my birthday- which is pretty much what I recreated, but without the fries.

Emily gave me a couple of cupcakes- refugees from an event she baked for. And that’s an icy cold glass of Bud, for a toast to my honey.

Here’s my wittle bitty baby:

She’s been glued to my side- so sweet.

TTFN

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope your day is blessed with sunshine as we remember those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

This is the first Memorial Day weekend in 3 or 4 years  that I’ve had “off” off, because of my barn owner’s show horse having colic surgery. KoKo is recuperating well, with no problems (quick knock on wood). Next weekend she can be turned out into a small pen; she’s been out of her stall only for brief periods to  hand graze 3 or 4 times a day for the past month. She’ll have a month of “pen” rest, then another month of pasture rest, which will bring her to the beginning of August before she can go back to work.

Here’s my progress on Beacon House. This is 2 weeks worth of stitching and it really doesn’t look like much, but I’ve dipped into the water:

I’ve been procrastinating on doing all the snowflakes scattered in the sky areas. There are 3 different size Smyrna Crosses to do and I’m dreading them!

I made a Peanut Butter sheet cake for snack at stitching last week:

I thought it was excellent. Jeanne had the idea of Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Sheet Cake with the Peanut Butter sheet cakes’s frosting.  A must-try for sure!

Have a nice quiet holiday tomorrow!

Happy Mother’s Day!

A day late and a dollar short- it’s how I roll.

Here’s what my favorite daughter sent me- I received it at work on last Wednesday morning:

And here’s what was inside:

5 individually wrapped cookies- all different, and 5 individually wrapped brownies- all different. Soooo yummy and decadent. And perfect because I needed something sweet that day! I managed to make everything last until last night. I invited Em over for chicken dinner Sunday night and we had a very nice time.

No stitching pictures this week- I filled in more snow in Beacon House, but it isn’t a huge change from the previous week . I did some quilting this week for a gift for my Mum, and then I mailed it off today but forgot to take a picture. Doh!

Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipes…..

Sorry about the lack of post-age. I’ve been helping out at the barn a LOT due to the barn owner’s rotator cuff surgery at the beginning of November. She’s started P.T., but it’ll be  while before she’s ready to toss 20+ bales of hay down from the loft.

The other lady helping out is there a lot, too, so I feel compelled to stay as long as she’s there, plus she’s riding one of the retired horses, and asks  several times a week if I’ll ride with her. So instead of my usual in-and-out in 90 minutes or less on any given evening, I’m there 2-1/2 hours or more, plus cleaning stalls for about 2 hours three mornings a week. By the time the weekend comes around, I just want to sack out on the couch. Blech. Plus my computer has been slow- I think I have to start taking old stuff off…

Anyway, I came across the soup thru this link from Edgar’s blog. I think it’s the best soup I’ve ever made- it was really hard to stop at one bowl! My recipe below is a tiny bit tweaked from the original, mainly by substituting turkey for beef.

Pasta E Fagioli Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey (or Shady Brook Farms 20.8 oz. package)
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can cannellini beans (or white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 (26 oz.) carton beef broth (or 3 cups)
• 1 jar (25 oz.) spaghetti sauce (I used about ¾ of jar)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley (I used fresh because I had it on hand)
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup uncooked ditalini pasta (or your favorite pasta shape)
• Salt, to taste (about ½ tbsp. kosher salt)

Directions:

1. Brown meat in a large skillet; drain excess fat & discard. Add to crock pot.
2. Drain & rinse both types of beans, and add to crock pot.
3. Add all other ingredients, except pasta, to crock pot and stir to combine.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4-5 hours.
5. My crock pot was too small (YIKES!) so I used a French oven (6-quart, I think), and cooked in the oven at 275 degrees for about 4 hours.
6. During the last 30 minutes of cooking time, add the pasta & stir.

You may want to have an additional can of broth on hand- the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it sits leftover in the refrigerator. When you re-heat the soup, stir in a little additional broth.

Just a Quickie….

Here’s my latest progress on Beacon House:

I finished that window, started the (rein)deer, and started filling in all that snow. And realized that there is a whole middle section of chart-age between this sheet and the right side sheet. I’m starting to implement floss-saving measures now, even though I have the called-for amounts of skeins. I think it uses less floss to stitch large swathes of color (like the snow) at an angle, rather than horizontal line back & forth. You don’t have to carry over to the beginning of the new stitch as far: at an angle, if you end your stitch correctly, you only have to go up or down one stitch to start the next. Try it!

I made these babies for stitching last week:

Joanne Chang’s Carrot Cake Cupcakes, from her “Flour” cookbook. (This was to satisfy a craving for cream cheese frosting- %^P)

We were also introduced to Deborah’s new puppy, Stella. Such a sweet little thing! She didn’t even make a peep! and soooo soft! Nothing like a new puppy and a cupcake to make a night of friends and stitching just about perfect!

Thursday Stitching Update…

Beacon House progress:

My piece of yellow floss ran out with one row to go. I also don’t think the individual snowflakes show up very well as the Smyrna crosses that they are. I used one strand of floss for those because they were just a hot mess with 2 strands.

I obviously didn’t finish this for my barn owner:

But this year I’m planning *SNORT* (we’ll see how that goes!!) to stitch an ornament a month again.

Jane brought these delicious peanut-butter brownie bites:

The peanut butter was low fat, so these were virtually health food! We all had several- yummy!

Off to my couch-TTFN!

Almost there…

I finished this for my barn owner:

Here’s the backing fabric:

I think my obligatory cooking is done. I made this:

- a cheesecake for Tom. It came out perfect!

These:

Almond Poppy Seed Breads from Our Best Bites

and this, from Joanne of Thursday Stitching group:

White Chocolate Popcorn with Craisins. So easy! Pop 3 bags of salted-only microwave popcorn. Pour into a huge bowl. Melt one 12 –oz. bag of white chocolate chips- 2 to 2-1/2 minutes on high at 30 second intervals should do it, stirring each interval. Pour chocolate over popcorn and mix to coat evenly. Add one 5-oz bag of craisins and mix again. Spread out on baking sheets to set for an hour or so if you’re packing it up for gifts or start eating- your done! I melted about a 1/4 cup of semisweet chips (the same microwave method) and drizzled that over the spread out popcorn.

Tomorrow I have to brine my turkey, and make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies because I’m out. Almost all those cookies I made last weekend are gone. I’ve gone thru 5 lbs of sugar, a dozen eggs, and 3 lbs of butter. So far.

Time to wash dishes and have supper and finish another stitchy gift.

Why do I do this to myself???

Every year!! Craft projects right up to the last minute! One down, 5 more to go (that I can think of right now):

Meet LaLa:

The pattern came from Riley Blake Designs, but I realized on my way to work this morning that her pattern is for a two-legged elephant. What 2-year-old wants a two-legged elephant????

So flying by the seat of my pants, I made my own gusset for the belly. While I can now see where my gusset design went awry, it does allow for LaLa (as opposed to Layla) to stand upright on her own. So I suppose I’m somewhat successful.

Five different types of cookies have been baked, a batch of chili on Saturday and a batch of beef stew on Sunday. My feet are killing me! Two batches of baklava, some white chocolate & craisin popcorn, a cheesecake, and possibly almond poppy seed loaves left to do. Plus the craft projects….

At Last!!!

Last day of NaBloPoMo!

last turkey sandwich:

That’s on Portuguese bread, with a light  smear of mayo, some cranberry sauce, some Havarti cheese and a bit of stuffing for the flavor, toasted.

Last bowl of soup:

With carrots, onions, celery and corn and fresh thyme, and egg noodles. (actually I still have a least a bowl left).

I didn’t have the soup with the sandwich- they were separate meals.

I managed to post every day, and one day I even made two posts! Congratulations to all my fellow NaBlo-wers (as Stitch Bitch calls us!)

And thanks to all who visited and put up with some very lame writing, and special thanks to all the encouraging comments!

And I’d like to thank the academy….oh! wrong acceptance speech!

I’m SO done!

Happy Thanksgiving Again!

Here’s my de-luscious bird:

It came out perfect, if I do say so myself.

Dinner for one:

I packed up about half of everything for Bob, who had day-surgery yesterday on his elbow & didn’t feel up to traveling.

Dessert (round one):

Sorry about the smudges- I had to roll the slice upright. But it tasted good!

Happy leftovers!