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...

Hives and a Camera

Well, I got the camera that I wanted, but I can't use the darn thing yet! My computer lost its mind and now the cd/dvd drive doesn't work. The minute you shut the thing, weather there's something in it or not, the thing pops right back open, and if you make it stay closed, the computer thinks the door is open or there's nothing in it. Anyway, I can't install the drivers that came on the disk with the camera, so I called the company and they're going to email them to me, apparently there isn't anywhere to just download them; but they won't do that till like Monday (next business day.) So, I hope to be able to put more pictures on here by next week sometime.

Last night, my sister-n-law came over to visit; she ended up staying the night. Anyway, she started messing with the hot packs that I'm making to go into my gift baskets for Christmas this year. They're filled with rice and some wild sage that we got on a camping trip. I heated one of them up for her. She was just rubbing and loving on the thing, talking about "Oh my gosh this thing smells so good--you have to make sure that I get one of these for Christmas, and it feels so good, its great for my sore neck...." When she woke up this morning she had this rash on her neck and down the front of her chest-- turns out she's either allergic to the cat that slept with her or the sage that I put in the hot pack LOL-- and she still wants one of the darn things for Christmas because it smells "sooo " good. Now how many in-laws do you know of that would come over, get the hives from something in your house, and still leave happy?

Dead Appliance Cupboard

How many of us have them? I was making room in cupboards for the jellies that I'm making and found the Dead Appliance Cupboard. You know the one that has the gadgets and other electrical things that were used maybe once or twice then went to the graveyard of stuff that you really should just donate or put in the yard sale--but you never do, and you can't bring yourself to send them to the shed, because they're perfectly good and they'ld get ruined out there... mine had one of those sandwhich makers that I got one year for soemthing, a bread machine, an extra pot that I saved from a coffee maker that went out--cause you never know when you might need one, electric coffee bean grinder, and one of those hand mixers, like for mixing in a glass or something. Just thought it would be fun to see if I'm the only one on the planet that has one of these cupboards .
__________________

So Much For Last Nights Update...

Darn computers! No matter how good they get, they still have more problems than I care to deal with at times. There's been some strange thing going on with our ISP. First the service went out entirely for two days, then when it was supposed to be fixed (yesterday), it starts turning itself off and on--at will. So, needless to say, I never got back on last night to update my "Todo List". So, I will do it now, as well as talk about the things I have to get done today.

Yesterday's Todo List:-- I got the dogs fed, supper made, the kitchen cleaned, and some of the laundry done. I never got to the canning part-- Oh, I did get the living room changed around, so now I have somewhere for all my crafts that are going on.

My day got thrown all out of wack, when my hubby came home early. Its like the world has to stop and revolve around him once he comes home--grrrr. We're all supposed to stop what we're doing and watch him--watching TV! There's an invention that we could do without--at least when my husband is home.

Our son, 5, was determined that he wanted us to put the tree up NOW, and after much grumbling and protesting from my husband, well we got it done. Its not that big of a deal, just a little thing that we've had for the last couple of years. But my hubby thinks its a piece of crap and of course wants to buy a bigger and better one, so he didn't want to even pull it out of the shed. He did nothing except put on the lights, Jr. and I did the rest, all the while he watched TV and grumbled... after he put the lights on and set the tree in its place, he made the comment, "it looks gay" to which I said "Daddy, its nice that you think our tree looks so HAPPY and CAREFREE, but you don't need to phrase it quite like that in front of our son."

I hope to get a camera today, so I can post a picture of our HAPPY tree for all to see-- and yes the week before Thanksgiving. Who made the rule that you have to wait until after Turkey-day to put the tree up-- certainly not a 5 year old. From the time the last candy cane was hung on the tree until he went to bed, all our son did was stare at it in amazement. He was so happy he was bouncing. Kids don't care about "bigger and better" and shouldn't be taught that, that's what's important. I guess that's why we're lucky to have a two parent household-- one to show him all the things the world thinks he should have and one to show him what he really needs. You know, after reading that last sentence, I'm not sure which "child" that was referring too: My husband or my son.

RECIPE: Soda Pop Jelly

I guess I might as well throw my recipes up here as I use them. I've never tried this one before, but I got it from a link on one of my favorite sites: http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/index.php? It's a great group for just about anything country-- I've learned tons since I've been visiting there. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Soda Pop Jelly
1 12oz can/bottle of pop
3c. sugar
1 pkg. liquid pectin

Combine all ingredients except pectin. Heat to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add pectin. Stir constantly to bring to a boil and boil hard for 30 seconds. Ladle into clean hot jars and process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Now I know that there will be someone to say something about this, but its not my intent to do the boiling water bath. I like to wax. I always have and I haven't killed anyone yet.

My todo list for 11-16-06

Well, let me get started with what I will write about for today.
Things I need to get done today:
Well this list never seems to get any shorter, especially with the holidays on the way.
Right now, according to my "ideal day", I should be doing my son's homeschooling stuff, but with all the projects going on for Christmas, we don't have the space or time to get it done. Once again, his educational needs will have to be met by the hands on stuff that we do and his LeapPad book--nifty little thing.

I will post all of the things that need to get done today, and at the end of the day, I'll see what I actually got done...

1. Laundry--the never ending pile
2. Clean the kitchen and get something going for supper
3. Feed the dogs--twice for the boys and three times for our expectant mother
4. Clean out the dog kennels--they're in my bedroom, so I have to vacuum all of the "shedding dog" smell out of them.
5. Vacuuming-- even with a new "smart" vacuum, it still never seems to get done
6. Re-arrange the living room-- I have to set up a "craft" area for all of the yarn/sewing type projects that I have going on right now: two afghans, a shawl, 3 hat and scarf sets, pair of slippers, arm chair caddy for remotes and such, and a quilt (made with my new sewing machine that I am barely learning to use.)
7. Wash and sterilize jars for canning up the cool-aid and soda pop jelly to be given out for Christmas gifts
8. Make one batch of the soda pop jelly before all of the pop gets drank.

Well that's all I'll try to accomplish today, at the end of the day I'll post on it and see how I did--but first I need to go take a shower and get dressed ;-)

Let's get it started...

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I'm new at this, so as with everything, I'll learn as I go. I'll not start by "pre" apologizing for things, my take on that is: If you don't like what you see, don't look at it. I don't intend to have things on here that are offensive, but someone, somewhere, if in the right frame of mind, can always find something to complain about-- so there, if you don't like it, don't read it, don't do it, don't watch it...just go somewhere else and have fun there.

What and how will I talk about the things that I intend to talk about?
I'm not really sure--I figure subjects and their format will come to me; be it something I want to complain about, or something I want to know about, or something I want to share with the world-- because that's what I'm doing here...sharing with the world, I'll just approach it as I do everything: one step at a time-- although sometimes those steps are taken at about Mach 5 and head on.

About Your Comments
Go ahead, knock yourself out. I do have the thing tuned on, that allows me to "moderate" the comments, but only because I don't want foul language or "junk mail" type comments; so post what you like, all input is welcome, be it good or bad.

Learning As I Go
This is my first blog, so I may end up sprucing it up a bit as time goes by and I learn all of the things that I can do with it-- for example, I wish I could figure out how to make this "post" a permanent thing at the top of the page...I'll have to work on that, unless anyone here knows how, by all means; tell me. Now on to the day...