The Calm Before the REAL Storm...

Okay, its time to get back to it. There's now exactly 25 days left to get ready for Christmas. It seems like we just barely got through the insanity of Thanksgiving and its time to hit the ground running again. While most people think of that as 25 days left to shop, I see 25 days to get all my crafts and baking done. I'm currently up to 10 yarn/sewing projects, some 50 dozen cookies, 30 Christmas cards, 60 pints of jelly, Lord only knows how many pans of English Toffee, and a partridge in a pear tree...

We had our Thanksgiving this past Saturday, and I feel like I barely managed to scrape through that one. Thank God for friends. My best friend came over a little early to help me get everything set up-- if she hadn't, I'm not sure I would have gotten a shower before everyone started showing up.

I was getting up every two hours, the night before, to baste the turkey, you'd think I would have taken a shower during that, but no-- sometimes I just make things harder on myself.

As it turned out, I think everyone had a good time. I didn't feel like I had enough time to visit with everyone that showed up-- I'm always worried about being a good hostess. My friend, Gina, spent just as much time as I did, making sure that everyone had everything they needed-- once again, I say a great big THANK YOU to her

The big hit of the day with the kids, was our pool table. At least they weren't planted in front of the TV playing video games.

This picture is a bit blurry-- still learning how to use that miniature pain-in-the neck (camera,) that I bought; but it shows that even Grandpa got in on a game of pool with the kids.

And even though I'm sure he would have much rather been doin' stuff with the big kids, Gina's son spent most of the time playing basket ball with Jr.:

And, while I took many other pictures, these three are the only ones that came out worth a darn, so the last one to add, is a picture of my friend Gina and her son Lucais (pronounced Lucas):

...and still its blurry.

So now I'm off to finish some housework and head back to the crafts and baking for the next big one:

Turkey Day Insanity Begins

Obviously, I didn't make it in yesterday to update my blog-- except to drop a couple of recipes off. I expect I'll be doing that a lot through the rest of this week. Today, I have to make a couple of batches of English Toffee, Black cherry Kool-aid Jelly, 2 dozen sour-dough dinner rolls, and a pasta salad to take to my mother-n-law's house tomorrow. Luckily, I get a bit of a reprieve for our Thanksgiving meal this year; we get my husband's son and his son's half-brother on Friday (I have to drive the 180 miles one way to go get them), so we're not doing our Turkey day until Saturday. After this post, I'll put up the recipe for the English Toffee, and if I haven't already, I'll put up the recipe for the Kool-aid Jelly too.

Now that I have figured out how to post pictures and little movies to my blog, after Saturday, I'll probably be blowing up my blog cause I love to take pictures. After the holidays, when we get a new computer, I'll be able to movies with sound too!!

RECIPE: Super Fast Yeast Rolls

Dissolve 1 pkg. of yeast (I use 1 c. sour dough starter), in 1c. warm water (abut 110 degrees). Beat 1 egg and 3Tbs. sugar together in a cup. Add liquids to 2 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt and 2 Tbs. lard (shortening). Knead dough about five minutes. Shape into rolls & place in a greased muffin pan. Let rise once and bake at 400 for about 10-12 minutes. If you prefer a smoother roll, let the dough rise once in a covered bowl, punch down and knead again, then shape the rolls and put them in the greased tin.

RECIPE: Pumpkin Pie

Makes one 9" pie

3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. pumpkin (can be canned-- I use the real thing)

* If you want to use the real thing, cut the top off your pumpkin, gut it,
put the top back on, put it in the oven on 350 until the top caves in,
then, when its cool, scrape the pumpkin meat out for use-- freeze or can
the leftovers if you have any

1 1/2 c. evaporated milk (1, 12oz can)
1 pinch ground cloves or allspice (optional)

Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon & cloves or allspice in medium bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar/spice mixture. Pour into pie shel. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 and bake for about 40-50 minutes--(till knife comes out clean when poked into the center.)

Tryin' Out the Camera

Okay. The camera I bought was this cheezy little Philips keychain digital camera--$15 at Wal-mart. I figured with my computer kind of messed up right now that at least if it wouldn't work, then I didn't lose that much money. I still haven't received the email from Philips, but after much searching on the internet, I found them. Anyhoo, the thing is working now, so I'm going to try to post a picture into this and a little piece of video. If it works, please excuse the quality, because as with everything: I'm learning as I go...