Season Finale

Well, our Christmas season is winding down and I have to say it has been one of my most memorable ones. Namely, because our children have gotten along with us and themselves pretty much the best they ever have. So much more enjoyable for all of us concerned. I felt crappy much of Christmas eve and Christmas day having come down with a rotten, sneezing cold. Today I feel so much better, although my head is still full of it.

Wanted to share my most awesome(or at least I think so) last minute gift for Anna(I was her secret Santa). I decided this was the perfect gift for Anna after visiting the Pioneer Woman's website and seeing her children's version of the Nativity. With only 1 evening to do the entire manager scene, I powered it out in ~ 4 hrs. Whew! I went to bed feeling good about the whole project only to wake the next morning to realize I had made all the wise men's faces the same color. Then, on the way back home I realized I had left the tails off the sheep and the lone ox in the scene perhaps, looks a little "cow-like" just like P-dubs kids set. lol

Oh well.. without further ado...the Nativity.

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Twas the night before....

Tradition.

My little holiday village is set up every year by none other than Trevor.

For years now, it has been his job to place the houses, people, trees, snow and candy canes. Bittersweet this year, as he is getting older and now it has become somewhat of a chore.

But, ahh were the days when he excitedly pulled out each piece, remarking which house he liked the best, looking at the people and houses that Aaron and Laurie helped me paint. He actually painted the grist mill(I helped him clean the lines up, but he did the majority). When he was four, he would push the dining room bench up to the buffet and rearrange the people and cars with his little mind in imagination land. Yes, maybe next year I will find those pictures of him playing. So sweet and such fond memories.

I guess next year I will have to see if he will continue the tradition, or will I have to assume the duty.

My family is complete, everybody's here now with Laurie and Aaron home. The house is full of lively conversation and cheer! Merry Christmas to all.

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♪♪♪Fa la la la la... la la.. la la! ♪♪♪

Well here it is, December 17 and I am running out of time.

I have most of my shopping done, with the exception of a few gifts.

Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me think of something to make or much less buy for said persons.

On a happier note, I am listening to Christmas cd's, which are filling me with holiday cheer.

Time for an eggnog, me thinks.

Cheers!

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Baby, it's cold outside

Well, that is if you consider 46 degrees cold. I happen to think it's considered on the cool side, which is why I am in my flannel pj's and hoodie. Quite toasty am I.

Last week when it rained, we saw lightning and heard thunder. Wive's tales say when it lightnings in December, you will see snow(or I think it does). So I'm waiting for this to happen. This month, say Christmas eve, that would be dang near perfect timing if you ask me.

Wilmington has only seen snow on Christmas eve one time in the last twenty years. 1989. Aaron was 2, Laurie 6. It was the most magical Christmas ever. Big snow flakes that drifted down, falling for hours. A foot or more I do believe fell that day. The kids went outside laughing, falling down, making snowballs and in general, were just amazed at all the snow. Since then, we've had a few small snow events but nothing like 1989.

So, I think a repeat of 1989 is in order. I'd sure like to see some cute little snowflakes gently falling from the sky, sticking to the ground and causing everything to come to a standstill.

Quiet and snow kinda go together, don't they?

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Still consumed

I know, you're probably sick of hearing about Pioneer Woman but I have one more little stat to throw out there, or maybe a couple.

First, the Drummond family owns ~119,000 acres in Oklahoma where they have 4000 head of cattle and like 2000 wild horses. Can you imagine how large an area this would be? Gives new meaning to the phrase "as far as you can see".

Next, they also own a 6000 acre southern Oklahoma farm where they grow grass and hay for their cattle. Let's see, I have 3 acres they have 6000...mmm.

Lastly, her site gets 13 million page views a month and has a place in the "Top 100 most powerful and influential blogs" with a ranking of 22. (Dooce is ranked 21).

Ok, now have you been over to the site and checked out those recipes along with the ranch?

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Help!

OMG, I can't get off Pioneer Womans's website. Today, I decided to look at some of her recipes and boy do they sound good. Not only does she have Marlboro Man, kids, cattle and a cool blog, but she can also cook too. Dang!

I want her cookbook *hint-hint*.

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Pioneer Woman

Pioneer Woman, aka P-dub. Her site is located at www.thepioneerwoman.com

I have now successfully finished reading the entire saga called, " Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" and it was not only entertaining but fun to read. A modern day tale of "love at first site" so to speak. She's a lucky person to be able to live out the dream of ranching, to raise her children at home, ride horses, work cattle, and learn life skills that so many us will never experience. Yes indeed, lucky!

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Hook, Line and Sinker

Recently, on a favorite blog of mine I read about a woman who is currently on a book tour to promote her cookbook. Last week the entire post was all about this woman, P-dub. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and decided to visit P-dub's site and learn what all the hubbub was supposedly about. Well, hours later, 2am in the morning and not wanting to stop searching P-dub's site, I found out why so many people are following her blog. Her fascinating account of life on a modern ranch will suck you in, and suck you in hard. It's a love story, it's her children, her husband who she lovingly calls "Marlboro Man" and the wonderful photo's of their working cattle ranch. I had no idea, or should I say I never gave it much thought, of how there are still working ranches in the Midwest. Her children are so fortunate! Makes you want to head west, not tomorrow, but like yesterday.

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Recycling...

Today I finally got around to making the girls at work a "fall" goodie bag. The plastic bags I used to hold the candy actually came from the journal books I made back at the end of summer. The book covers were made from a thicker plastic and I just couldn't throw them away, so right then I decided I would hang onto them and use them for a future project. Recycling at it's finest.

I originally thought about doing something for Halloween but I knew I'd have to find the candy on sale, so I just waited until after Halloween and bought the candy at 1/2 price. Each little bag cost around .35 cents to make. Not bad.

They turned out really cute with the fall ribbon, tags and matching foil wrapped candy.

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Fall Foliage.....not

I have to face the stark reality that we are just not going to see any real beautiful leaf changing this year. Here it is the 1st of November, the leaves have started to fall but very few have even turned. No pretty yellows, oranges or reds. Just a few sad yellow brown ones. I'm holding out that the dogwoods may put on a little show, but my maple appears to be a no go.

We'll see, I'm not giving up hope yet!

On another note though, our pecan harvest is in full swing...we have picked up the last of them and now waiting for them to dry out some before freezing. I had our 2007 harvest shelled and have started the arduous job of sorting them. However, after seeing what they cost at Walmart for a pound, I have to say I am wealthy in the pecan department.

Take a look. Just think fudge, cheese balls, pecan pies.....hmmmmmmmm.......

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Sunday Snipet's

Graduation 2010.

Hadn't really thought about it, until the other day when I realized that Laurie, Aaron and Trevor will all be graduating in 2010. I suppose the order will be Aaron in May, Trev in June and Laurie in August. Now, how cool is that?

Of course, this brings back another year's momentus occasion. 1997. That year I dropped Trev off for his 1st day in kindergarten, Aaron off for his 1st day of middle school and Laurie off for her 1st day of high school. I was the only parent that I knew of with children starting in 3 different grades, in 3 different schools on the first day of school. That was pretty cool too.

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The Boys at work.....

Roof rafters almost done

Monty putting the first piece of plywood on the roof

Hammering down plywood

Trev at dusk...he looks like a warrior with spear on his back...was really a 2x4 leaning between the rafters. I just love how this picture turned out, his silhouette against the cloudy sky at dusk. If you click on the pic, the enlarged picture even shows his eyelashes!

Our new screened-in porch and den are coming right along. The boys worked late into the evening to start putting plywood up on the roof. It looks big when you stand to the side and look down through the space. And I guess it is, since the dimensions are 12x40 ft, with each room being 12x20. I'm going to love walking out the back door into a covered space!!

Now, I've been thinking on how to arrange the windows and how to purpose each room. I want to add storage to the den area and have tentatively been thinking of a wall cabinet system that would maybe have an desk area(for laptop use) between to pantry style cabinets that would function as a closet/storage area. Can you envision it? We are also going to put a door from the den to the porch area.

So, exciting!! Stay tuned for more pics and progress as they finish the roof!

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Visitors

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Now, I'm not saying the fountain had anything to do with this, but I do have to wonder if the sound of water brought these guys in for a visit. Yesterday afternoon, we saw 2 new species of birds in our yard. Aaron, of course has seen them before, but we just hadn't caught a glimpse of them until yesterday. I noticed the female Grosbeak, seeing first the bold eye stripes. I knew immediately it wasn't one of the usual birds I see out in the front yard. It had a seed beak like cardinals, but what struck me was the large size of the eyes. After Monty got a good look, and checking our bird guide, we were sure. It pretty much hung out the rest of the afternoon, flying in and out at the sunflower feeders.


American Redstart

Right after seeing the Grosbeak, I began to see a small warbler like bird flitting quickly about in the top of the birch tree. I could tell it was eating insects by the way it was moving about from limb to limb, barely staying still long enough for us to get a good glance. We were patient and pretty soon both of us got a really nice view of it as it sat for a few seconds on a branch. A very pretty bird, the American Redstart showed off the beautiful yellow stripes on his tail along with his soft gray head. At one time, we had two out flying from birch tree to birch tree.



Our Ranch

And lastly, Trev cut the lower limbs off the bottom of the birch trees yesterday and boy does it look nice. You can now see through them, down the middle of the bird garden to the front porch stoop. He then cut the grass, and well, I have to say the Steed ranch looks pretty awesome.

It's beautiful today and I'm loving it!!

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The Fountain

My latest endeavor to add the sound of water to my garden has resulted in this little baby. The big, blue ugly barrel is well, quite blue. However, it does serve the purpose of holding enough water, that I am not filling it up but every 7-8 days. I'm happy with how it turned out, except of course for the "blue". I've thought of several ways I could camouflage it, but I'm still undecided. I also want to raise the actual platform up level with the lip. So, all in all, I'm liking it.

Haven't seen any birds checking it out, but it does provide a nice little trickling sound as the pot bubbles over and the water runs down one of the two holes cut into the platform, which was the top of the original lid to the barrel.

Cost of fountain:

barrel = $4
ceramic planter = $8
pump = $49(which I've had for 3 yrs and used in other water features)

So, somewhat pricey, but still reasonable. And all for the sake of attracting the migratory birds flying by.

Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather!

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Decorating.....First Day of Fall

First day of fall this year was September 21. In preparation for the big day, I actually put out my fall decorations the weekend before. I think everyone appreciates the beautiful colors of fall. I sure miss seeing the fall foliage where the leaves turn from green to yellow to orange. Growing up in W.VA it signified that winter would soon be upon us. The mountain forest was just gorgeous most years and were much talked about as the leaves began to turn. Speculation, mostly about how certain fall indicators would predict the harshness of winter. If you believed in those sort of things....speculation along with what the Old Farmer's Almanac had predicted was what most people went by.

There have been some pretty falls here in Wilmington, mostly because of those who have maple and oak trees planted. Maples can be pretty showy in the fall and depending on the type, can really add that wow factor to a landscape. There's a house over on Hawthorne Ave., off Oleander that has a beautiful large Japanese Maple tree that is to die for. As slow as those trees grow, I would fathom a guess that it was probably planted shortly after that house was built in the 70's maybe? It turns a beautiful yellow orange and it just lights up the their yard. I have a red maple whose leaves do turn the reddish yellow in the fall, but it is still small and just doesn't show off yet. But it will someday!

So, now it's your turn to get out your fall decorations and get in the spirit! It will do wonders for your soul and maybe take you down memory lane as you reminisce about your favorite fall memories!

Happy Fall!!

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Matchy Matchy with Martha

Cute little "wedding" gift thank you notes I made for one the girls at work.

The Kraft brown note cards I purchased from Michael's last week were only $2.50. However, there were only 8 blank cards and envelopes and I needed at least 16. So, off I went to Michael's again. Of course, they didn't have any more of the Kraft brown ones. So, while browsing the Martha Stewart section, lo and behold, a bunch of her note card sets had been reduced! The eyelet white cards were marked down to @2.99. They were originally $10.00, of which I would have never paid full price for, but on sale is a different thing. They are darling! Only wish they had had more! Made from top quality paper, they are very nice indeed. I ended up using the "Martha" colors on them and wow..I think they turned out so pretty. I also used small pearls to use as the center of each flower and placed the colored strip behind the flowers to accent them. The paper I used on the brown Kraft came from my stash. This paper has given me a a lot of trouble idea wise. It had large flowers which I couldn't figure out how to cut, so I could utilize most of the paper. In the end I just measured, cut and glued them on cards. Then I analyzed where to best place the scalloped embellishment. I love how they turned out as well. The brown ribbon I used on them was on sale for a $1. It just tied up so nice. I will definitely be buying more of it in different colors. The two sets compliment each other with similar colors. S0, this little matchy, matchy set will be going to it's owner on Monday. I think she'll be really pleased!

On another note, I sure have gotten my money's worth out of the punches I have used on all the note card sets. While all the cards are very similar, the recipients don't know each other, so they'll never know a "like" set exists out there. I am using up my stash of paper that was accumulating in my storage cabinet. Pairing down has been my goal and I am whittling away slowly but surely....and that is a good thing!

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Playing with stamps

I recently got a set of clear rubber stamps and the opportunity to use them came up last weekend. Two of the younger nurses I work with will be having their babies at the end of this month and first of Oct. So, of course I had to make them a set of "Baby Thank-you cards".

I simplified the production this time. I decided to keep the cards very similar which allowed me to mass produce them in a more timely fashion. However, it still took me a couple of hours to complete. But, they turned out sooo cute!!

I loved the orange and yellow ones the best, but all the color combos are sweet. One set for a girl and one for a little boy.

I lucked up and found 2 sets of envelopes marked down at Michael's for $2.50 so I scarfed them both up. That saved me quite a bit of time by not having to make them. They were just the right color and I even found I had matching solid paper already here at the house. Paired with scraps from other projects(and you'll recognize the prints)they were perfect matches.

So, here they are!

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Forgotten Daylily

I completely forgot to post this little beauty when she bloomed. For the last 5 yrs this plant has lived in a landscaping pot. Almost killing it was a monthly occurrence, because most weeks I forgot to water it.

I finally planted it in the ground in the spring. It produced a lot of blooms this year, all perfect and a beautiful shade of orange. Besides lantana, I can't think of a hardier species.

I divided the main plant into 3 smaller plants, so next year, I hope to have three times as many blooms!

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Beans for Emma

I neglected to check on my beans this last week thinking they had just about stopped producing, but as you can see I had underestimated the power of the bean plant. This is the most I've picked at any one time. However, some had grown so large and tough a human would not enjoy them(I personally hate stringy beans!) Emma on the other hand, along with Nina love them stringy or not. To say I'm surprised that dogs like green beans is an understatement. Seems beans are considered a hypoallergenic food source. So, for Emma it becomes a treat of sorts along with her carrots she's allowed to have. Nina, who no allergies that we know of, loves them too.

Girls, your beans await you!

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La and the Chair

This chair was a handy me down from a girl I used to work with at the Med Mall. I've had it for at least 5 yrs with the intention one day of re-upholstering it. When Laurie moved into her apt 2 yrs ago she took it to Raleigh and used it as a desk chair. She has since moved into her very own apt and decided it was time to move away from the pink(as we lovingly called it the "pink chair").




So,last weekend when she was down for a visit we went fabric shopping and she found a very nice embossed white fabric to use. I was quite proud of her as she made a pattern, cut the fabric and sewed a slip cover for the back. The only problem was it was way to tight at the bottom and we just couldn't pull it tight enough to staple at the bottom. So we made a second pattern which she sewed and it fit much better. 2nd time was the charm. Live and learn, we had never worked with a curved back so it was a learning experience for us both.

She did a wonderful job on it! I was quite impressed that she didn't give up. Heck, I was ready before she even started to take it somewhere for someone else to do all because of that curved back.

So, the finished chair will now go in her bedroom as a place to sit and get dressed. Amazing how fabric can transform a piece of furniture and breathe new life in it!

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Aaron and the Owl

E.T. the Owl came to visit the bird store where Aaron works. The owner of the owl, an older lady, has had this owl in her possession for 26 yrs., hence the name, E.T.(I believe E.T. came out in 1982?). She travels around with this bird and three others, giving seminars and showing the birds.

First, I can't believe that E.T., the movie is that old....

Second, I couldn't believe the same person has owned this bird since it was a wee thing.

Lastly, Owls are so cool and one of my favorite birds for sure!

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Straw Bale Garden Update

My little bale garden has produced beyond our expectations this year. We have so far avoided the dreaded wilt or fungus on the tomatoes, so I hope I am not jinxing myself by writing this. The tomatoes have become a little leggy but are still flowering and you can see from the pictures, I'm still picking some everyday. I have been sharing them with the girls at work along with eating them everyday in various dishes. One of my favorite way to fix them so far is this recipe:

Prepare a baking dish by drizzling olive oil in the bottom. Slice the tomato into 1/4" slices. Use the small ones because they end up being the perfect size to just pop in your mouth! Place the sliced tomatoes in the baking dish and cover with a slice of the soft mozzarella cheese and drizzle a little more olive oil on top. Bake at 400 x 20 minutes and allow to cool. Grate fresh pepper on top and enjoy!

Another recipe is this one:

Fresh Salsa

Cubed tomatoes x 4
chopped onion x 1
1 can corn rinsed
1 can black beans rinsed
1 bunch cilantro rinsed and chopped

Mix all together and refrigerate x 2 hours, stir and serve. MMMMMMMmmmmmmm!

Well, hope that made you hungry! Time for lunch....of course it will be a tomato and cheese sandwich!

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♪♪♪♪ Mamma Mia ♪♪♪♪

What a great little movie! I know some would not care for all the singing and dancing but I enjoyed every song and every dance! This movie's scenery was absolutely gorgeous - the island, buildings and water were sooo beautiful! I've never been much on traveling but this movie makes me want to see the world. I can only imagine the things I would see if I could just pack up and embark upon such a journey! Of course, I should have never questioned whether I would like it or not, because there are quite a few singing movies that I have loved.

Here's a few: ( Imagine the singing...♪♪♪)

The Sound of Music....♪♪♪♪The hills are alive with music......♪♪♪

Tom Sawyer...74 version

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

The Fiddler on the Roof....♪♪♪Sunrise, Sunset....♪♪♪

Grease ....♪♪♪You're the one that want...♪♪♪♪

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Peter Piper Picked a Peck

Of pickled peppers!

Yep, my banana peppers have been unbelievable this year. We've been picking and eating and getting over run with them! lol

While there are only so many ways to eat them, we've found sprinkling them on top of our pasta salad is the best way when fresh. And trust me you can only eat pasta salad so many times a week. I was getting way more than we could eat, so I knew I needed to try some way to preserve the surplus. With all the time spent nurturing them to fruit I wanted something to show for our efforts!

We've been buying the hot pickled peppers rings from the store to put on our brats. So, last Saturday, I decided the answer to my pepper problem would be to make pickled pepper rings. I chopped the ends off, cut them into slices and placed them in a salt brine to sit overnight. I rinsed them Sunday morning and packed them into sterile jars. The pickling solution was water, vinegar and garlic boiled and poured over the peppers in the jars. I put the lid/rings on and placed them in my canner on the stove. Using the water bath method, I allowed them to boil for 10 minutes, then took them out placing the jars on a towel to cool. Within 30 minutes the tops had popped and sealed.

Wasn't too hard or time consuming and I have to say they look pretty cute in their little jars.

My recipe recommended waiting 3 weeks before eating to allow them to season. So until then they are going to sit on my counter so I can admire my handiwork.

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