It's A New Day

C'mon February!

At the risk of offending my dear grandmother in heaven who frequently warned me against wishing my life away, I'm ready for February 1. In fact, it can't get here soon enough.

It's not just that the political ads and phone calls and mailings will stop although that's part of it. We had four messages on the machine the other evening and we were only gone a few hours. I'd like to think people don't make their decision based on a recorded message they hear over the phone but apparently that's not the case or the politicians wouldn't keep calling. We've already voted but that doesn't stop the calls.

There's another reason though. I'm hoping those stupid screaming commercials that J.C.Penneys is currently airing will disappear when their new pricing policy goes into effect on February 1. Apparently they're taking a page out of Walmart's book and offering discounted prices everyday although you'd never figure that out from the commercials. It's just one person after another screaming from the screen. I rarely use the mute button on my remote but it's gotten a workout the last few days.

I know, I know...any commercial that creates a buzz is considered a successful ad campaign, even if the buzz is all complaints but I have to wonder if they aren't alienating a number of potential customers too. I actually discovered a website set up just for complaints about the ads when I went looking for commentary on this advertising strategy and people were threatening to boycott the store and cut up their credit cards. Sounds like the screaming is motivating people...just not in the way they intended.

Surely this type of commercial won't become the norm. But then people probably thought the same thing when the first recorded phone messages started for political races...and look where that got us. I may have to wish beyond February 1.

A Week of No Cooking

I cooked dinner tonight. Ordinarily that wouldn't be newsworthy but given the fact that I've gone an entire week without cooking, it merits mentioning.

We hadn't planned it that way....quite the opposite; I bought groceries with meals in mind but things changed. Wayne spent a long day caching in Mississippi with a friend so they ate dinner on the road and I did my own thing that night. We ran to Panera one evening for a quick bite with Dr. Dale and Carol and then there was Wayne's birthday dinner with Brad at the Five Sisters Blues Cafe. Our friends Tom and Durlene are wrapping up their time in our corner of the world so we drove down for one last evening with them and, of course, that involved a meal. And once a month the golf club hosts a little gathering for members that includes dinner...that was last night. Two different nights we dined on left-over gumbo; re-heating that certainly doesn't count as cooking but it sure was good. Before you know it a week had passed without a meal being actually prepared in our kitchen. Not that I'm complaining, you understand...we ate pretty good.

It's a new week and a new plan with healthy meals like salmon and a big salad on the agenda. It will be more work but I'm ready for it.

Someone Thinks It's Spring

The Japanese magnolia thinks it's spring but I can't say that I blame it...it feels like spring to me too. We've had 17 days this month where the thermometer has reached 70 degrees or more. That's clearly more like spring than January but I'm not complaining. In fact, I've enjoyed the burst of bright pink in the winter landscape. It was looking for a while like a few flowers were going to pop out and then freeze and then that process repeat itself so we'd miss the beauty of the tree in full bloom. We didn't...it just came early.

One of the blueberry bushes thinks it's spring too. I have two...an early one and a late one and the early one is covered with these delicate white blooms. This will be the second spring for both plants so neither is very big but they're growing. 

There are bits of color in all the azaleas as well and buds in the lilies I planted last year too. The lilies weren't much of a fan of the hot, humid days of summer so the cool nights don't seem to bother them. And I even noticed a thin dusting of yellow pollen on the hood of the car the other day. That's a part of spring I don't welcome! Hopefully, Thursday's downpour washed some of it off the trees.

This looks more like fall than spring but it was the chore of the day. I've gotten used to the fact that leaves trickle off the trees for months here, unlike Kansas where they all got "the message" in fall and fell at essentially the same time. While January gave us all those 70-degree days, it also gave us a couple of below-freezing nights and that's brought down more leaves. I filled the barrel and three big bags just from around the edge of the pool enclosure and the flower beds. Wayne will get the rest with the mower.

And this geranium doesn't seem to care what season it is. I've left it right there at the edge of the patio on the nights it got down to 22 degrees, expecting to find it shriveled and brown the next day but it just keeps plugging along. Looks like there's one plant I won't have to replace when spring is here for real.

I've got to admit I'm loving this unseasonably warm weather. I just hope we don't pay for it with colder than usual temperatures in February and March.

Om

There's a new order to my week these days. I joined a gym.

The gym itself isn't the real reason why I signed on the dotted line; they offer yoga classes. I've been looking for something local and was pleasantly surprised when my friend Charlotte told me that the gym she had just joined had a variety of classes, including yoga. And while membership isn't required to attend the classes, five class fees are the same as a full month's gym fee so it made financial sense to join. Now I have a cute little thingy on my key ring that magically opens the door to fitness 24/7. If only it were that easy.

There's just one drawback to the yoga classes...they're at 8 a.m. To know me is to know I'm not a morning person. I don't exactly jump out of bed at the crack of dawn; I'm much more into double-digit time. And the idea of getting up early to go exercise is just foreign to me. But I'm doing it. I've rolled out of the sack at 6:30 a.m. twice this week to dress, eat breakfast and be at the gym where I've contorted my bodies in ways it hasn't experienced in years. I'm not very good at it but that's OK; I love how my muscles feel when I walk out of class. I don't exactly love how they feel several hours later but that's what Advil is for.

It's kind of...um, different to exercise in a room with very low lights and soft music. Most of my class experience has been step aerobics or jazzercise where the atmosphere is high energy. This is soft and relaxing. I think I like it but I just hope I don't fall back asleep. And for the record, no one chants om...at least not in my classes anyway. 

The classes were the real draw but there's another benefit to joining. I took one look at the radar this morning and knew I was tempting those red and yellow blobs I saw on the screen. I'd been soaked once this week and that was enough; I went to do my walk on the treadmill at the gym. It thundered and lightning-ed and rain poured from the sky but I only felt a few drops as I made the half-dozen steps from the covered sidewalk to my car. Rain and cold won't keep me from getting my miles in now.

I don't think anyone will mistake me for a gym rat but I'm happy to have some options for my fitness routine.

Celebrate

Today was the big guy's birthday. My better half completed another lap around the sun and he celebrated it as one should celebrate their birthday...doing the things they love. He cached this morning, hung out with friends and played on his computer this afternoon, and spent the evening with family.

Our oldest drove over from Biloxi to join us for dinner at the Five Sisters Blues Cafe. It was the birthday boy's choice and it hasn't failed to impress everyone we've ever taken there. We can add Brad's name to that list now too as he gleefully taunted his uncle, aunt and cousin in Missouri about his menu selection. They had all enjoyed it when they visited last fall and were wishing they could join us. And we wished that too. The food isn't fancy but it's good.

Cellphone cameras + dim restaurant lights ≠ a good picture but it's still a treasure for the memory it represents. We're so enjoying having Brad close enough that he can buzz over for dinners like this and it's clear he's enjoying that too. And that fudgy chocolate cake with the generous blobs of whipped cream and chocolate syrup was pretty enjoyable too.

Life is good...and it's nice to have a reason to celebrate that.

Yesterday

I *could* tell you the story of why I'll never have a career as a weather forecaster. The skies were gray when the clock rolled around to walk-time. There was only a 20% chance for rain for the day but we'd already had a couple of small showers. A check of the local radar seemed like a good idea before hitting the streets. There were a couple of spots of color...OK, so they were yellow and red but they weren't very big and they were a ways out. Putting the radar in motion (as the weathermen are so fond of saying) showed they weren't moving very fast and there was a chance they'd go around us. Time to strap on the shoes and go.

The blocks came and went as I worked my way around the neighborhood. Just to be on the safe side, I altered my course so I was never too far from home just in case the weather took a turn for the worse. And, of course, I carried my umbrella.

With the last half mile to go, I passed the house and headed down the cul-de-sac. And I got most of the way to the end before the rain started. No problem, I thought, I'll pop up my umbrella. A few steps more and the rain was coming down harder. I reconsidered my decision to go to the end and made an early U-turn, picking up my pace back to the house.

Then the bottom fell out. It poured. It blew. It rained buckets and then some. My shoes were drenched, my jeans were soaked and even my shirt was wet. My tiny little umbrella kept the rain off my head but that was about all.

Now I know this is the point in the story when you're expecting my knight in shining armor (or in my case, the hubby in the black car) to ride up and save me from the storm. But you'd be wrong. He was on the golf course getting just as wet as I was.

I *could* tell you this story but then you'd think neither of us had enough smart to come in out of the rain. And apparently you'd be right.

Ring, Ring

If you call my house in the next ten days, don't be surprised if it's the answering machine that picks up. We don't usually screen our calls but desperate times call for desperate measures. Florida is now ground zero for presidential politics.

And the calls have started already. Newt wants our vote. Obama wants our help. The politicians gave us the day off today but I have the feeling they'll be making up for it starting on Monday. Not answering the phone won't make them go away but it might save our sanity...that and the mute button on the remote control to the television.

I have the feeling it's going to be a long time until November.

One Picture, Seven Stories

Ali Edwards has some insightful thoughts in her newsletter this week on the number of possible stories that can be told from a single photo. If you're not receiving it, you might want to visit her website and sign up for it. At any rate, I was inspired. Here are seven stories behind the photo above.

1. Gumbo night was awesome! The whole evening was filled with warmth and friendship and laughter...it still makes my heart full just thinking about it. And we decided it was one of the best pots of gumbo ever; now if we just knew what extra touch made it so good so we could repeat it. I meant to take more photos...had the camera conveniently sitting on the desk in the kitchen just for that purpose but between hosting, cooking and just enjoying everyone, I never thought of it again until after everyone had left. The decorations, however, were there at the end and they'll just have to serve as a reminder of what a great evening it was. Maybe I'll do better next year as our circle of local friends all made Tom and Durlene promise to come back next January so they could all have gumbo again.

2. After 42.5 years of marriage, Wayne and I are pretty good at finishing each other's sentences. At our age that's not a bad thing either because sometimes we forget what we were going to say. It's nice to have a partner who knows where you were headed in your thoughts when you get lost along the way. As Wayne was headed out to pick up fresh bread for dinner last night, I said Do you know what else I want? His reply was Fresh flowers. Now I don't buy fresh flowers very often, even when we're entertaining, but his husband antenna was receiving my message before I could even voice it. And when he couldn't find anything that fit my suggestion to buy whatever was fresh and matched the house, he wisely chose Mardi Gras...a great choice to go with the gumbo.

3. Learning never is wasted. When we moved into this house 21 years ago, I enrolled in a flower arranging class in what was then called the Leisure Learning program at our local junior college, non-credit classes designed to enrich your lifestyle. Once a week I carted artificial flowers, Spanish moss and assorted baskets and vases into class and at the end of it, I would go home with a lovely arrangement for some corner of my new home. It was fun and I learned there some of the same principles about color, balance and design that apply to scrapbook pages. And every now and then I get to put that learning to use and arrange a few flowers. I should do it more often because it always makes me smile.

4. Hoarding Selective saving can be a good thing. Like knowing that you have Mardi Gras beads, masks and other decorations when that suddenly becomes the theme of the night two hours before guests start to arrive. And, more importantly, that I know where they're stored and can put my hands on them without having to move seventeen kajillion things out of a closet to get to them. They live in a big plastic storage box along with a few seasonal decorations and some odd craft stuff. I've parted company with most of that stuff in past clean-up campaigns so in some ways it's surprising the Mardi Gras stuff has survived but since I use it so infrequently, it doesn't look old and tired so it's been spared the purge. Despite what those high-powered professional organizers might say, you never know when you might need it.

5. I know the exact occasion for which those Mardi Gras decorations were purchased. Heck, I could even find a scrapbook layout that contained photos of them in their original glory. We hosted a going-away party for our friends Michael and Charlotte as they were preparing to move to Cincinnati in February 1998. Gumbo wasn't on the menu but it definitely was Mardi Gras time and we put beads around every guest's neck as they arrived. Michael and Charlotte lived in Cincinnati for a few years and then moved to Houston for a few more. Now they're back here...and they were at our house for dinner last night. I doubt they remember the decorations...I should ask.

6. Mardi Gras is one of the reasons we moved to Florida. OK...not Mardi Gras per se but the idea that life in another corner of the country would be different from what we had always known growing up in Kansas and that would be a good thing. I was thinking of that earlier in the week as I read a thread of messages on a scrapbooking message board where a woman was lamenting leaving behind everything she knew for her husband's new job in another part of the country. I never lamented...we embraced the idea of a new state, new customs and new adventures. Maybe the fact that Tom and Durlene are here has something to do with it too since they were certain when we bid them goodbye that last morning that we'd never stay. It's been almost 35 years and we're still here. If I were giving that woman on the message board advice, I'd say Go for it!

7. I had no idea when we designed this house how this corner of the kitchen cabinets would be such a great gathering place. Our kitchen is open to the family room and breakfast room, so this end of the cabinets makes the perfect home for hors d'oeuvres and a couple of bottles of wine. People naturally surround it, drifting in to sample food and out to resume conversations. And even when we don't have guests, I notice Wayne leaning on it as he talks to me while I cook or finish up the dishes. It holds cookies at Christmas, dark chocolate Hershey's kisses year-round and my camera except when I move it to the desk so I'll remember to use it. Maybe next time that brilliant idea pops in my mind I'll decide to leave it right where it normally is. Then I might have seven pictures and one story.

Good Thing It's On Wheels

The lemon tree (which seems to be making a nice comeback from a case of scale) gets a change of scenery during the winter months. Not only does it move from inside the screened enclosure in the back to the driveway but it comes in and out of the garage some nights. Like me, it doesn't like cold weather so when the temps drop down in the mid to low 30's, in it comes. And when the sun warms things up in the morning, back out it goes.

It was down to freezing last night so the lemon spent the night in the garage but it warmed up nicely today. As darkness approached, I went online to see what low was predicted for tonight. My go-to source for weather information is Weather Underground because I can see the conditions right here in Pace. We're far enough inland that the temperatures can vary several degrees from those forecast for Pensacola so I like seeing the forecast for my own backyard. 

Weather Underground showed a low of 55 degrees but I was skeptical...the current temperature was shown as 57 degrees and we had twelve hours of darkness ahead. Was it really only going to drop two degrees? So I looked at the weather data on my AT&T home page. It's for the next town over but since it's not that far, it should work. The 37 degrees shown there seemed reasonable, given last night's temps and the current conditions, and I promptly pulled the tree inside. It was a marginal forecast...the tree probably would have been fine out there at that temperature but I don't want to lose it now.

What puzzled me though is how can two weather forecasts for the same time and area vary by twenty degrees? Sometimes I think weather forecasting is done by throwing darts at a board or using a Ouiga board.

When I watched the news on television tonight, the weatherman there predicted a low of 55. Two out of three now...the tree went back outside.

Gumbolisiousness

Ahhhhhh! It feels good to sit down after a day spent on my feet. You see, we're having friends over on Friday night and today was gumbo-making day. It's become an annual tradition after the holidays and everyone seems to look forward to it.

The morning was devoted to prep work with a divide-and-conquer philosophy. I washed and cleaned; Wayne started chopping. Onions, celery, green peppers, garlic, andouille sausage...all kinds of good ingredients. Then Wayne started sauteing and I took over the chopping. At one point we were both wielding knives at opposite ends of the cutting board. I told Wayne I should use the timer feature on the camera to get a photo of our four hands at work together but I got distracted and didn't get it done.

I did get a picture of the roux-maker when he was almost at the end of the process. It's a lot of stirring to get the flour and oil to the color of milk chocolate without letting it burn but that's what gives gumbo it's rich flavor. That and the seafood stock we made yesterday. And the turkey stock that's been in the freezer since Thanksgiving just waiting for today. And all those vegetables we chopped. And the shrimp Wayne peeled and I de-veined. And the containers of crab claws and lump crab meat that went in too. Don't forget the spices too. Man, the house smelled good by late afternoon.

There will be something new in the gumbo this year. Well, not in it...unless you want it there. Wayne bought oysters this year, a first for our gumbo because someone (namely me!) doesn't like them. We ladled out a small amount of the soup sans solid ingredients and cooked the oysters separately. That way those who want oysters can add them and the rest of us don't have to eat around them.

Here's the gumbo all set to go in the refrigerator where the flavors can all mingle and get well-acquainted with one another before they're reheated on Friday. Soup (and especially gumbo) always seems to taste better if it has a chance to rest. And besides, we'll be able to enjoy our guests with the lion's share of the work out of the way.

Now just to wait for Friday so we can eat it up. It's going to be delicious.

A Change in Plans

I hadn't planned to spend my afternoon working in the yard. But when Mother Nature gives you a 70-degree day in January and a generous neighbor gives you a fistful of plants that need to go in the ground...well, you have to change your plans.

It all started this morning. I was rolling the trash barrel back from the curb when my neighbors hollered at me. Want some cast iron plants? These are the same neighbors who generously fixed me up with a wheelbarrow full of iris last spring...they're much more dedicated to digging up and dividing plants than I am, although now that I've typed that, I can think of many plants in my yard that would ever need such care.

Hesitating for a moment, I finally responded that I didn't even know what a cast iron plantwas and they quickly began to point out these lush, long-leafed plants growing in their landscape. They're indestructable, they assured me...stick them in the ground and they practically take care of themselves. My kind of plant. And when I protested that I wasn't sure I'd have time to plant them today, they said that wouldn't be a problem. You can't kill them, they claimed.

So this is what they fixed me up with. When I said I'd go get a bucket, they responded with No, bring a wheelbarrow and they heaped it full. While I'm not discounting their generosity, I think they were also motivated by the fact that they didn't have to replant them.

About half of them found a home in the ground this afternoon. At the neighbor's suggestion, I'm planting them around a live oak tree in the flower bed where the birdbath lives. They're fairly shallow-rooted so planting them isn't hard; I just had to move some lava rock first in order to get down to the dirt. And we'll hope they're right about them being indestructible because the other half are still in the wheelbarrow. Fortunately, Mother Nature is giving them a nice overnight soaking.

Planting anything in January is a rare treat but it felt pretty good to have a little dirt under my fingernails. That's the beauty of plans when you're retired...they're always subject to change.

Rockin' and Rollin'

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper
Patterned paper: Luxe, Mustard Moon and Scenic Route
Letter stickers: Arctic Frog and Creative Imagination
Punch: McGill Photo corners: Pioneer Photo Albums
Font: Futura, Linotype

Yippee...another envelope of old pictures down on a layout. I promise not to make you look at every page I make but there were a couple of things about this one I thought worthy of sharing.

I was happy to have an enlargement to work with on this layout...those are rather rare in this collection of photos and that allowed me an opportunity to play. Several weeks ago I saw Jennifer McGuire demonstrate a way to create a cool pattern using strips of patterned paper that I was itching to try. She called it a chevron pattern but I always thought if it had the break in the "V" it was a herringbone. No matter what you label it, it's a popular pattern in scrapbooking right now. Basically you cut a series of strips, glue them on two squares of cardstock at a 45 degree angle with one square slanting left and the other slanting right, cut those squares into strips and then alternate the strips to form the pattern. It sounds a little complicated but it really isn't. You can see Jennifer's video demonstration here.

There are two important things Jennifer doesn't tell you: (1) Strips of the same patterned paper need to be exactly the same size. If they're a little bigger or a little smaller, it throws the pattern off when you try to match them up to create the zigzag design. (2) You might want to avoid a striped pattern and you definitely don't want to use one with lines that run at a 45 degree angle. In the latter case, those lines run horizontal and vertical after you go through all the cutting and gluing so they'll never match up.

This is the voice of experience speaking here...that's why you see that pile of little pieces of paper there on the left. The green angled stripe clearly didn't work and had to be deleted and I had to replace some of the regular striped pieces too. Live and learn.

And see that white tool there on the right...next to the brayer? It's a cheap little scrapper intended for scrubbing pots and pans. It's the ideal little tool to get under the edge of a piece of paper that needs to be removed after it's been glued down.

Back to the subject at hand...I had to laugh when I saw the pile of little papers I'd accumulated cleaning up my herringbone design; I'm not usually that messy. The herringbone turned out kind of cool and I'd definitely do it again. And when is the last time you can say you used products from Luxe, Mustard Moon and Arctic Frog? Sadly, those companies have been out of business for years but some of their designs were timeless.

Daddy was a welder at one of the local refineries for most of his working life and I'm pretty sure he belonged to the oil workers' union all that time. He held numerous positions in it and went as a delegate to some national conventions. When he retired, they sent him a nice letter thanking him for his service and giving him a lifetime membership in the local chapter. He obviously was proud of that to have kept it all those years, and I wanted to incorporate it in the design without adhering the actual letter to the page. The easy answer was to scan it and include a reduced copy with the pictures and then tuck the original letter into a pocket.

I took a regular business-sized envelope, sealed the flap and then cut off one end to hold the letter, making it easier to get it in and out of the pocket which is really just a section of the background patterned paper that isn't glued to the cardstock base. By sliding a circle punch partway into the envelope I could cut a half-circle opening in the front to make it easier to retrieve the letter from the envelope. And a tab on the back lets readers know it's there and gives them something sturdy to use to pull it out of the pocket. It's an easy way to deal with memorabilia or even extensive journaling you might not want just everyone to read.

Two layouts in one week...it's been a while since I've managed that. I'm rocking right along.

I'm Slow But I Get There Eventually

Our Saturday had a different look to it today. We headed south to meet up with our friends Tom and Durlene at the Cactus Flower restaurant in Navarre. The Pensacola location is one of our favorites but the food is just as good at the Navarre one and it's roughly halfway between our house and their condo for the month. We somehow managed to stop talking and laughing long enough to consume some wonderful Mexican food before piling in the car for a drive along Navarre Beach.

It was a beautiful to day to enjoy blue skies, turquoise water and sugar white sand, even if us locals thought it a bit cool. It's hard to believe half their time in our corner of the world is gone already.

A lunch date meant we skipped the Saturday morning run to Walmart. Just as well...I wasn't prepared anyway. We're having everyone over for gumbo at the end of the week and I need to check the recipe and get a list together. It should be easy now that the pantry is bare newly-organized.

I've never been a devoted grocery-list-maker, relying more on memory than a written slip of paper. It worked fine most of the time...I'd do a quick scan of the fridge and the pantry, mentally note what we were out of or would soon need, and shop accordingly. The problem was I missed things or I ran out of them early in the week and forgot about it by shopping day.

Enter the iPhone and its multitude of apps. I was carrying with me anyway...why not put it to use? So I found a grocery app that looked appealing, paid all of $.99 for it and made semi-shopping lists. I say semi because it was more a "don't forget" list than a "this is everything you need" list. When I ran out of something during the week, I'd grab the phone and add it to the list.

I've probably had this app for a year or more and we get along fine. It's not complicated and working with it is pretty intuitive. In other words, I didn't have to spend a lot of time figuring out all its bells and whistles. Well...maybe the more accurate statement is that I didn't spend any time figuring those things out. You get no instructions; you just sort of discover how it all works on your own.

Imagine my surprise when I accidentally discovered last week that I could have more than one shopping list going at the same time. Ohhh...one for Walmart and one for Publix; I'm liking that. And then I figured out how I could rearrange the order in which the categories appeared on the screen so it matched the route I take through the store. Holy technology, Batman...grocery shopping may never be the same again!

The list now holds everything from the gumbo recipe that we need to buy as well as those things I've been adding through the week as we ran out of them, all in the order we'll travel through the store. And there's another list for the things we'll look for at Publix. Is everything that needs to go in the buggy on there? No, but it never is. I am, however, feeling very organized and pulled together...and it only took a year to figure it out. Go, me.

Spine-Tingling, Chill-Inducing, Makes-Me-Shudder Stuff

So it's Friday the 13th...or it still is as I'm writing this. It's an especially creepy one as I learned in reading the fresh-to-my-door USA Today. There are three of them this year evenly spaced 13 weeks apart. Fitting seeing as how the world is ending in December. That's become a running joke in our house...the perfect excuse to postpone anything unpleasant since we supposedly won't be around after 12-12-12 to suffer the consequences.The date is no joking matter to some people, however; they suffer from paraskedivekatriaphobia or fear of Friday the 13th. Try saying that three times real fast...or maybe even just one time.

When I flipped open our local paper this morning, I saw a sight more frightening than any chainsaw-massacre movie inspired by the date. It was these:

Shoes with toes in them! Shudder. Makes me want to take after them with an axe or let out a blood-curdling scream.

They're call Skele-Toes and they're being promoted as a shoe that allows your feet to fee and move the way feet were intended to. According to Fila, they can be worn on gravel, grass, water, mud, trees, mountains, rock, pavement and dirt...or as they say, "for just about everywhere."

Maybe for some people but not for me. First of all, I don't do barefoot. Ever, if I can help it.  No slippers and no padding around in stocking feet either; my feet are happy to live in shoes, thank-you-very-much. And my toes are even more particular...they don't want anyone messing with them and they don't want anything between them. I cringe at the idea of flip-flops so you can see why a pair of shoes with compartments for your toes would creep me out. I bought a pair of socks like that once, thinking they would keep my feet toasty-warm in the winter. My heels never got to feel the socks because they were off as soon as I got my toes in the first one. Hopefully someone at Goodwill had a better experience with them than I did.

Nope, there will be no Skele-Toes in my closet. And I'm going to try very hard to forget I ever saw them as they're nightmare material for sure. Good thing Friday the 13th is almost over.

Back in the Saddle

Four months. In truth, it's probably a few weeks more. That's how long it's been since I've scrapbooked and that might set some sort of all-time record. I didn't really mean for it to be that long but it happened. Repairs took longer than anticipated when I packed things away; holidays demand their own agenda. Suddenly too many weeks had gone by without the feel of pretty paper in my hands but I'm happy to say the drought is broken.

I'm working on my brother John's share of the old family photos, not that it's what is inspiring me the most but because I need to get them done. Looking at the box of sorted pictures still waiting to be dealt with, that's not going to be anytime soon. But I also went back through the completed pages to refresh my recollection of what themes/styles had been done made me appreciate that plenty had been scrapbooked too.

They're a challenge though. These are, for the most part, snapshots taken years ago, many of them with an old Brownie or the next great thing in photographic history, the Polaroid. The pictures themselves are small and the subjects in them smaller still. Stronger photos would give me more design options but those will have to wait for different pictures. These require a more simple approach.

I'm also committed to getting plenty of pictures on a page when I have enough to fit a common theme or storyline. And not add a lot of bulk to the pages. That's hard for a girl who likes texture and depth on the pages but there's going to be multiple albums as it is so I'm trying to control those urges. And I like for photos to have some physical connection to one another or maybe some decorative element on the page. That's more difficult when they're all different sizes and shapes. A challenge is good for the old brain.

Here's the layout I just wrapped up:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye
Camera embellishment: Bo Bunny Press
Ribbon: Offray
Rick rack: Wrights
Letter stickers: Chatterbox
Pen: Staedtler
Font: Zurich, Bitstream

The large photo of Mother and Daddy was taken at a Wichita nightspot in the late 40s or early 50s. I know that because it was in a paper frame and folder from the club that I cut apart and used on the page. I figured if the photo had done so well in it for sixty years or more, they could continue to live together in the future. And since I don't know a lot about it beyond that, I paired it with some other dance/party pictures I don't know much about either. It always makes me sad that I don't know more of the details but those stories are lost for good now.

I'm using clear corners on most of the pictures so there will be an option to remove the photos in the future, should John or his boys want to do something different with them in the future. There is, however, one small bit of adhesive tape in the middle of each photo to keep them from popping off the page. That's why I was able to overlap the photo of Mother in the lower left; it doesn't have the clear corners on the top, only the bottom with some tape holding it to the patterned paper underneath.

After a four-month hiatus, this is a good reminder of what scrapbooking is all about. It's not award-winning photography or cutting-edge techniques, although both are fun extras when you have them. It's about pictures and stories that mean something to you and your family. I won't be waiting so long to do this again.

Pantry Purge

You know how things rock along just fine until one day they just have to change? That day was today and the thing was my pantry.

There is a system to the pantry...like baking supplies on one shelf, pasta and rice on another...and it has worked pretty well over the years. The system wasn't broke but it was beyond time for some tweaking, and that's been a quite little nag in the corner of my brain for a while now. Scrounging around in the corner of one shelf for what I needed while fixing dinner last night brought it all to a head. I vowed then and there to fix it TODAY!

And I did. Shelf by shelf everything came off for evaluation and reorganization. I threw out a lot...and I do mean a lot. Old barbecue sauce. Graham cracker crumbs. Jell-O. I checked expiration dates and if it didn't have one and I couldn't remember buying it, out it went. I should have done it a couple of weeks ago because then I would have known I had a bottle of liquid shrimp boil. I had checked on New Year's Eve and when I didn't find it, we bought more. Now I have a better idea of what's there and a few things got moved around to make finding them a little easier too.

Now it's all tidy and neat and even a little bare. Wayne says the "after" picture isn't very meaningful if you didn't see the "before" one but I wasn't thinking about photos when I got started. I was motivated to get it done. Next up, the freezer...that that will have to wait until closer to trash day. I don't know what it is about the New Year that makes me want to purge but I'm going with that urge while I've got it.

It's The Little Things

While I'm happy to get late-breaking news from online resources, I'm still a huge fan of the printed page. There's something about unfolding those oversized pages and being drawn into a story whose headline caught my eye.

For me, it's the local paper in the morning and the USA Today in the evening. Yes, I know...the USA Today is printed earlier in the day; it just never reaches my door until mid-afternoon. Or should I say my mailbox.

I've been a subscriber since shortly after they started printing it in 1982. I recognize that it's not the most complex analysis of wordly issues and I'm OK with that. I like the variety of information and the easy-to-read format. And when I'm intrigued and what to know more, there are plenty of places to go to delve deeper into stories. Besides, compared to our local paper (affectionately known to residents of the area as The Mullet Wrapper, implying it's only fit for wrapping fish), the USA Today is a shining example of literary supremacy.

Even when I first subscribed it didn't arrive at my door until mid-afternoon. We were living in Pensacola then and there was both a morning and an evening edition of the paper. Since it was also owned by Gannett, they had to find press time between the two local papers. Even though USA Todayis a national paper, it's printed by the local Gannett facility and that meant my paper didn't arrive until mid-afternoon. I don't remember that changing after the evening edition of the local paper disappeared but it must have.

Good thing I was used to that afternoon hour because when we moved out here, there was no delivery. We were considered too rural so the paper came by mail. It wasn't too bad most of the time; Monday's paper was usually in Monday's mail so my routine went on pretty much as usual. That is until they consolidated printing to save money and moved it all to Mobile. Now not only were the presses printing the papers for Mobile, Pensacola, the USA Today subscribers for both cities and who knows what else, but my paper had to be trucked from Mobile to the main Post Office in Pensacola, sorted and trucked to the substation in Pace, and sorted again by my local carrier. There was just no way my paper could arrive on time...and it didn't. The crossword puzzle was fine a day late but many of the stories weren't.

So you can imagine my surprise when I got up this morning to find today's USA Today on my kitchen counter. I knew Wayne didn't go buy it; there had to be only one explanation...they delivered it. Oh, happy day! No more missing papers or stale stories; my daily fix in newsprint and ink would arrive as it should. In the grand scheme of things it's not a big thing but I'm so delighted I could run out and give the carrier a hug. Except, of course, that she comes before I get up.

It may arrive in the morning, but the paper gets to lounge on the counter untouched until after dinner. For almost thirty years it's been my evening paper and I don't see that changing...I'm just happy it's my daily paper again.

Dive-y But Delicious

Our friends Tom and Durlene enjoyed their January in Florida last year so much that they've returned again this year, and we couldn't be happier about it. We wasted no time driving down to the condo they're renting in Destin and spent the better part of the day with them yesterday. We caught up on the events of the last year, remembered stories from our long history together and laughed...a lot. It was delightful.

As dinnertime rolled around, Tom suggested we drive thirty minutes or so on down the road and eat in Grayton Beach, a tiny little beach community with it's own funky style. Tom and Durlene had dined at a beach bar/grill there last year and found the food to be very good so we were game. We loaded up in the car and off we went.

From the get-go Durlene began warning us that our destination wasn't exactly classy but that didn't scare us off. Sometimes the best food can be found in the most unassuming surroundings, but I will admit to a raised eyebrow or two when she began to describe the decor as looking like the inside of a brothel. Wayne wanted to know how she knew what that was but I came to her rescue by offering that she'd probably seen the movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. And when we arrived, I knew just what she meant.

First of all, all the interior lights are red. Strings of red Christmas lights around the ceiling, red bulbs filling the several unmatched chandeliers hanging at odd places here and there, and red lamps in the can lights in the ceiling which appeared at random intervals. And there are candles on the tables...mostly red candles. All that red light certainly conjures up images of ladies of the night but it probably has a lot to do with why they named it The Red Bar.

It takes a while for the eyes to adjust so you can see the rest of the decor and when they do, well...it's eclectic to say the least. Posters from old concerts cover the ceiling, odd art hangs from the wall and there's just more stuff than you can take in. Perhaps the most puzzling was an arrangement of mismatched couches and chairs in one corner of the room. They were odd for a restaurant, but then this wasn't your average restaurant. We couldn't figure out of they were there to accommodate people waiting for tables or to seat an audience for the band. Yes, there was a band...in this case and kind of jazzy trio that were pretty nice to listen to although a little loud for the size of the room. Maybe this photo will do a better job of illustrating the scene than my words:

It's one I found on the Internet as it was too dark inside to capture a picture with my phone. And while this is the combo that played last night, the seats were unoccupied while we were there and it wasn't warm enough for shorts either.

So how could we read a menu in this dim light? The easy answer is there isn't one. The waiter rattled off the five or six items they serve along with two nightly dinner specials...then we must have looked confused and he went and got one of the three big chalkboards they have leaning against a side wall. Of course, we still had to remember the specials because they weren't on the boards. Durlene and I settled on crab cakes while the guys ordered blacked grouper with grilled grit cakes and sauteed spinach.

The place might look like a dive but the food was outstanding! We all raved about our meals, tasted what we didn't order from our spouses' plates, and practically licked the platters clean. That explains a lot too. While the bar was open when we arrived, it was still ten minutes until the restaurant started seating so we wandered around outside. You didn't have to wonder when opening time arrived...people started descending on the restaurant from all directions all at once. I don't know where they'd been but they knew it was time to eat, and in a matter of minutes, most of the tables and booths were full. I can see why. All the way home Wayne and I talked about our next trip down to The Red Bar...because we will be back. 

In years to come, we'll be sitting around with Tom and Durlene and saying Remember that dive you took us to where the food was so good? And we'll all laugh again.

The Budding Baker

Kayla is into cupcakes...but then they're a very trendy thing to be into right now. They're cute, they're little and you can indulge your sweet tooth without too much guilt. When her dad took her shopping for her birthday last month, she purchased some cake decorating supplies as she so enjoyed what she had learned about it in her Health and Wellness class.

So when it came time to shop for Christmas presents for her, I thought she might enjoy some more baking supplies. I bought her a tin for mini cupcakes, some pretty liners in bright colors and patterns and a cupcake cookbook. I knew it was a hit when she sat right down and read through all the recipes, picking the Pink Lemonade ones as her first made-from-scratch cupcake adventure.

Tonight my phone buzzed and I looked over to find this photo:

It's the Pink Lemonade Cupcakes in the works. The texts flowed back and forth, reporting first that the batter was yummy and then that they looked great baking. It wasn't long before the next picture arrived.

Looks like a success story to me. The recipe included directions for Pink Lemonade icing too. And the best part?

Well, sampling your work. The report was they were really good. She must have enjoyed the experience as she's already picked out the next kind to try. I wonder if my budding baker will always coordinate her attire to match her recipe.

Cookies? No, Thanks.

No, this isn't a post about passing up the last of the Christmas cookies. Most of them went home with the kids and those that didn't have finally disappeared. We've reached that post-holiday point when we've had it with sweets and rich food; bring on the vegetables.

I'm talking about computer cookies...you know, those invisible goodies websites deposit on your computer to exchange data. Some of them have legitimate purposes but more and more of them are there for someone to make money by tracking where you go on the Internet and selling that information to advertisers. There's nothing new about that but a newspaper article I read a few days ago really opened my eyes to the extent of it and the fact that I could do something about it.

The gist of the article was about free anti-tracking software you could download to protect your privacy and as an example of it's efficiency, the story recounted the experiences of an Oklahoma man researching a physics topic online. One wouldn't expect websites pertaining to physics to be a gold mine for advertisers but his newly-installed anti-tracking software blocked 4,076 cookies in just over two hours. He marveled that there were that many entities on the Internet poking their noses into his business and I have to agree. Now I don't go anywhere all that exciting online but I have to think if he got that many blocks on sites pertaining to physics, there have to be that many coming to my computer from scrapbooking and food websites.

So I researched how to delete all the cookies currently on my computer and then hot-footed it off to Microsoft to find a free anti-tracking program that works with my browser. Do I know exactly how it works? No, but I feel much better seeing that little blue circle with a slash in it right next to the URL. And for extra insurance, I bumped up the security settings on my browser to require permission for any type of cookies the software doesn't block. Fortunately, it remembers once to deny access to a particular source so you only have to deal with each one once but there have been times I blocked ten or more cookies on a single website. I'm feeling very powerful.

I'm not usually an alarmist who sees danger around every corner but I feel better having taken some small measure of control over my online privacy and security. I like cookies...but only the ones that come out of the oven.

 

How Long Until Spring?

It was 77 degrees here yesterday. I worked in the yard, enjoyed wearing short sleeves, and worked up a little sweat on a long walk in the neighborhood...I loved it! But then who doesn't love 77 degrees in January.

Today it was 57; tomorrow it's not supposed to make 47. We're talking highs here...I don't even want to think about the lows. I freely admit that I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather but then that was why I was so thrilled to move to Florida all those years ago. How long is it to Spring?

Apparently the Japanese magnolia thinks it's now. I was surprised to see the pink blooms peeking out this afternoon. They'll be brown tomorrow...along with the azalea blossoms that have popped far too early. I made the rounds in the garden this afternoon as I was draining the faucets connected to the well, saying a goodbye of sorts to the rest of the foliage that will be a casualty of tonight's cold temperatures. Although we've had some heavy frosts, this will be our first freeze so I suppose we're lucky it's held off this long.

Me? I'm heading to Australia...well, virtually anyway. One of the many things I love about my new computer is that it came with some awesome landscape photos for the background behind my icons and Microsoft has more available for free download. Today I downloaded Australia because...well, it's summer there. Scenes with snow are pretty and would certainly be seasonal but if I can't be warm, at least I can look at warm.

So if you're looking for me when it's cold outside, I'll be in Australia...or Mexico...or the Galapagos Islands until Spring. And how just how long is that anyway?

One Word 2012

Surely it isn't just me who feels like the years go by faster and faster. I only just gotten used to writing 2011 and here it is 2012. Maybe that's only proof that there's not much need to write the date when you're retired. But ready or not, 2012 is here and I'm ready to embrace it, if for no reason other than by holding it maybe I can keep it from evaporating at such a rapid clip. A new year. New possibilities. A new word.

This is my sixth year of choosing a word to hold in my consciousness as a guide throughout the year. It's a process that works well for me...much better than traditional resolutions. And while I initially have one or two areas of life in mind when I choose my word, I'm always surprised at how many parts of my life are affected by that single word. It's a kinder, gentler approach and, for me, a more successful one.

For 2011 I chose the word Now and it was a great motivator. It spurred me to action in times it would have been easy to delay. Did I accomplish everything I had hoped under the guidance of Now? No, but I made progress at being a better version of me and that's all I can ask. And looking back at the list of words that preceded Now (Choose Joy, Listen, Rejoice, and Complete), I think I can say the same about them.

And now it's time to pick a new word. It's an odd process to explain because somehow there is only one "right" word and I instantly know it when it reveals itself to me. Words were sort of rolling around in my brain the other day as I was taking down the Christmas decorations, and when I finished, I went to look up some quotes on one that kept bubbling to the top. As so often happens in www-land, the quotes lead me in another direction...and ultimately to my word for 2012: Lean Forward. Yes, I realize that's technically two words but it's still one principle...one guiding philosophy for the year.

It comes from the writing of Mary Anne Radmacher; this poem specifically:

There's something about her inspirational writings that resonates with me. I have one of her poems (Live With Intention) framed and hanging by my scrapbook desk and it still speaks to me every time I read it. And when I saw the quote above, I knew it would be my choice for 2012.

I suppose I could have chosen Lean, Forward or even Purpose to truly have one word but it wouldn't evoke the same mental imagery that Lean Forward does. Ready. Eager. Going at life, and the problems and challenges that come with it, head-on. Lean Forward means thinking bigger, listening closer, and appreciating what life has to offer. That's what I want as my guiding star for 2012, especially if the world is really going to end as the year comes to a close. : )

Last year I took Ali Edward'  One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes and while I think it was a great way to delve into my word a little deeper, I think Nowwould have stayed in the forefront of my mind even without the class. This year I've ordered a book written by Mary Anne Radmacher bearing the title of the poem above...a handbook of sorts to keep my focus on leaning forward. And an added bonus is that many of the chapter headings are lines from the Live With Intention poem mentioned above.

Where will Lean Forward take me? I don't know but I'm excited to find out.

My Apologies, Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
Leaves cleaner than my lemon tree.

A tree from scale's grasp I will wrest
And rid it of black sooty mess.

Toothbrush in hand I've scrubbed all day
As "bug drugs" only made some go away.

Washed high, washed, low, washed here, washed there
Every leaf, every branch, every twig, everywhere.

The chore took patience more than brains
And now I'm ready to spray again.

I hope it works, we'll have to see
If it will cure my lemon tree.

We Need Another Holiday

You wouldn't think with Thanksgiving and Christmas barely out of sight in the rearview mirror and New Year's Eve/Day just around the corner that I'd be advocating for another holiday...but I am.

You see, yesterday was Good Riddance Day in New York City and I'm convinced this is an idea the entire country should embrace. What is Good Riddance Day, you ask? It's a day set aside to say a fond (or not so fond) farewell to the past year's worries, fears and unpleasant memories. Much like New Yorkers ring in the New Year with the ball drop in Times Square, they ring out the old one on good Riddance Day by writing those less-than-wonderful recollections on pieces of paper they symbolically put through a giant shredder. And there's a sledgehammer available too so you can annihilate the object of your dis-affection, although I'm fairly certain you don't get a free pass to do that to any living thing just because it's a holiday. You could, however, follow the lead of one woman who smashed a motorcycle helmet that reminded her of an ex-boyfriend. People freed themselves of military deployment papers, photos of lovers who did them wrong and even the puke bucket needed during cancer treatment, just to name a few.

Just think how therapeutic this would be. Instead of repressing your feelings about what you didn't like in 2011, you can literally tell it "good riddance" and be done with it. I've heard of therapist suggesting patients write down past injustices on a piece of paper and then burn them as a figurative way to get past them; we might all be better off to do this yearly.

We have a day to say hello to the New Year and all the possibilities it holds; I think we need one to say goodbye to the woes of the old one.

Fabric Flowers

So did you notice the little hair accessory Kayla was wearing in the Christmas pictures? I'll wait while you scroll down to take a look. Whistling and twiddling my thumbs. Oh...you're back. Yes, I know, it's kind of hard to see; I meant to go back and get another photo that really showed it better but time got away from me.

Here's the backstory. I was wandering around some craft booths with my sister-in-law Carol when we attended the Pumpkin Festival in Morton, Illinois, last fall when I saw some fabric flowers that slipped on headbands. Kayla and I had looked at something similar when we were in New York but she wanted interchangeable flowers and that's what these in the craft booth were. The more I looked at them, the more convinced I was I could make them so I bought a set to both give her and use as a reference. Here's how they turned out:

These are both the ones I bought and the ones I made but they turned out cute, didn't they. And they were really easy...no sewing required. I used lots of fabric glue though. They're basically a strip of fabric with a knot at one end, although I think you could also start them by rolling one end several times to form the starting point. Then it's just twist and glue from there. The trick is to figure out what the pattern/color combination is going to look like when the flower is finished. It's a trial and error process for me but I just bought fat quarters from the quilting section of the fabric store so it wasn't as if I invested a lot of money.

I switched from fabric glue to hot glue to adhere a felt circle to the back of the flower and then a felt oval on top of that. The oval was only glued on the ends, leaving a tunnel for the headband to slide through.

They were fun to make and didn't take long. Good thing...Kayla said she'd be going through her closet when she got home and "placing an order" for more colors to match her outfits. I see more fabric flowers in my future and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Ten Pounds Lighter

I feel ten pounds lighter. No, I didn't find some magic diet solution to account for this sudden feathery feeling; in fact, after all the cookies, second helpings and desserts I've consumed lately, I might need to look for that magic solution. It's not that I am ten pounds lighter...I just feel that way.

The reason, you ask? We put away all the Christmas stuff today.

It's amazing how it takes two days to get it all out and arranged just so yet it can go back in all those boxes in a matter of a few hours. The regular Monday house cleaning got done in the process too and it only took about three hours longer than usual.

Even though we were a bit later than usual in getting all the Christmas paraphernalia out, I was ready it to go. Don't get me wrong, I love my Christmas decorations. There are so many memories associated with them...who they came from or where we were visiting when we bought them. Putting them out is like a trip down memory lane. But once Christmas is over, they aren't decorations any longer...they're clutter. And I'm ready for them to go back in the closet.

So that's just what we did today...packing boxes, moving furniture back in place and sweeping up the last remnants of artificial needles and glitter. And when it was clean and clutter-free, I felt ten pounds lighter. Now if only real weight loss could be accomplished so quickly and easily.

Ho Ho Ha Ha

It was a wonderful Christmas...but then how can it not be when you're surrounded by the people you love. We are blessed indeed. And sprinkled in among all those warm feelings were plenty of laughs too.

Gone are the days of Kayla wanting to get up at o'dark-thirty to open presents. She's a teen and perfectly happy to sleep in...a girl after my own heart. So it was nearly nine before we started unwrapping gifts.

One of the things Kayla had asked for was a pair of shoes from Urban Outfitters. Her much-loved pair had holes in the bottom and she freely admitted that while they weren't the best quality, she loved the style so much she wanted another pair just like them. When I went to order them online, they were buy one, get the second at half price, and I reasoned that if they weren't going to last all that long, I'd just get two pairs at the discounted price. And as shoes go, they were pretty inexpensive.

Wayne convinced me to separate the pairs and put the two right shoes together in one package and the two lefts in another. Needless to say, Miss K was quite happy when she opened up the first pair; Just what I wanted! she declared, never noticing that it was two of the same shoe. Try them on her grandpa urged, so she took out one shoe and slipped it on her foot, flexing and twisting in as if she were a model in a shoe ad. She still wasn't seeing the problem so Grandpa said he wanted to see them both on.

By now her mom and dad knew something was up but Kayla was clueless. Out came the second shoe and she started to put it on her foot. Wait a minute! she said. Off came the first one and she lined them up on her lap. She kept switching them around as if that was going to make them right but it wasn't working. Ever the make-the-best-of-it, she resigned herself to the fact that there had been an error that would require some post-holiday adjustment.

One of the best things about playing a joke on Kayla is that she's a little on the gullible side, and even when she opened up the second package of shoes, it took her a second to realize that she had two shoes that were just a like and that they were the mates to the shoes in the first box. From this point on, she was referred to as the girl with two left feet.

But the teasing wasn't done yet. Contrary to her younger days, she saved the biggest present until last. She'd already opened several presents that were housed in repurposed boxes so the information on the outside bore no relationship to the gift inside. She was skeptical when this large box bore the name of a food vending company.

Inside, however, were 60 individual serving packages of her favorite brand of potato chips. She takes her lunch to school every day and the only way she'd been able to find these particular chips was in variety packs. The downside was she didn't like the other varieties packaged in with them. Dad, however, took advantage of his restaurant connections to get a commercial-sized box filled with just the chosen chips, and while it made us all chuckle, it was a definite hit with Kayla.

We giggled to at this winter hat I got for Wayne so he could keep his ears warm while caching or just on his early morning walk with Dr. Dale and Carol. We did, however, have to give him lessons on letting the earflaps flap...like all the cool kids do.

Dinner was devoured, naps were taken and too soon it was time for the kids to head on to the next destination. But not before I snapped this shot of two of my favorite people.

Merry Christmas

Like snowflakes, may your Christmas memories gather and dance...each more beautiful and unique than the next for too soon will they be gone. Wishing you the peace and joy of a wonderful Christmas.

Just One More

I'm convinced there's a reason that the shortest days of the year fall at Christmas time. Oh, I know...they're short only in terms of daylight, at least from a scientific standpoint, but they're short in other ways too. There just don't seem to be enough hours to get as much done as I'd like.

Those two little bags are all the wrapping that I have left to do, thank goodness. Since it isn't one of my favorite chores of the season, I tend to put it off until the last minute and with everyone arriving Saturday afternoon, this is pretty much last minute. I know what goes in each bag but there were reasons why I couldn't put it there today. Tomorrow.

It's just one task left in the get-ready-for-Christmas job jar. And just one day left in which to do them.

Cookie Central

Brenda's Christmas Cookie Kitchen is open for business. Some might say it's about time since Christmas is just days away and years ago I would have agreed. I used to put up the tree the first weekend in December and bake cookies on the second. And I baked twenty kinds or more then too...but Wayne and I took cookies to our respective places of work, filled tins for the boys to give to their friends and shared with a long list of others. We still share, but friends now either bake themselves or are watching their diets and Wayne and I don't have jobs to go to.

Now I make far fewer and bake them later because the main cookie eaters won't be here until Christmas Eve. And they count on there being plenty of cookies to take home with them too. I think I can accommodate them. : )

It's a good think I built a kitchen with gobs of counter space because I manage to use every bit of it. My sprawl is, however, sort of organized. The island is a great place to get the dough on the cookie sheets because I can work from all sides. And the counter area in the background is the mixing center. All the ingredients "live" there on the left and the mixer is on a pop-up stand there next to the stove.

There's a spot for the wire racks for the cookies to cool and another location to stack them until they're ready for containers. Shown above are White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip, Chocolate Chip and Gingersnaps. The Chocolate Snowflakes were in the oven at the time. The kitchen definitely smelled good.

And here's my handy helper. He's good about pitching in and doing all sorts of things but at the time this photo was taken he was making his own cookies. The local paper ran a cookie contest and printed a story about the winner on Wednesday. Wayne was intrigued by her Church Window cookies and wanted to make them; go for it, I said, and he did.

Here they are as he's slicing them so you can see how they get the name Church Windows. They were easy to make and he pronounced them tasty. We have to have at least one experiment every year. Here's the recipe in case you're in the mood to experiment:

Church Windows

1 package semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup margarine
1 package multi-colored marshmallows
Shredded coconut
Chopped nuts (optional)

Melt chocolate chips with margarine in pan. Set aside to cool. Add package of colored marshmallows. Put mixture on waxed paper and shape into logs. Sprinkle with coconut and/or nuts. Freeze the logs then cut into slices.

Kaboom!

When I walked into Wayne's computer room this afternoon, I found him chuckling out loud as he looked at the screen in front of him. What's so funny? I asked. I'm going to blast some port-a potties was the reply. Tell me that doesn't conjure up some weird images in your mind; it did in mine. Had those pesky birds abandoned the pigs and focused their anger on a Johnny-on-the-Spot? Was he going all terrorist on me and planned to bomb Port-a-Johns?

The truth is he was reading an email from the Kansas Underground Salt Museum, a cavernous salt mine we toured with Wayne's folks several years ago. It's a pretty cool place. There are vast areas devoted to the storage of everything from documents to seeds (to protect against disease wiping out crops we depend on for food) but there are also areas focusing on the history and mechanics of salt mining. And there's a big Events Center too where they host dinner theaters and other special events. Since Wayne purchased the tickets online, he receives periodic emails from them.

And the latest one was for a fundraiser...for bathrooms. It's not as those there are no restrooms down there; there are some but they're located near the elevator everyone rides the 650' down to the mine. Unfortunately, that's a long ways from the Events Center and they rely on port-a-potties. You can imagine the logistics and cost of adding restrooms to an already-excavated salt mine so they're seeking donations.

So why is this all worth a chuckle? Because they've cleverly captioned their fundraising campaign as "Blast the Port-a-Pots," complete with a couple of sticks of dynamite superimposed on a picture of a Port-a-John. Obviously, they won't be exploding the real things, especially underground, but I'll bet the donations would roll in quicker if the donor's name was entered in a drawing and the winner had the honor of setting off the charge to blow up one of those blue boxes above ground. Cleaned, of course. Maybe I'll suggest that.

Pretty Petals

I spent the afternoon making flowers. Pink ones, purple ones...even black and white ones. You're curious now, I know. But I can't show you; they're part of a Christmas present for a certain someone who reads the blog so revealing them will have to wait another week.

I can, however, show you some pretty flowers in the yard.

December might not seem like a time when beautiful flowers start to bloom in the yard but if your yard contains camellias, it is. Actually, the ones in the front are just about done flowering and the ground under them is covered in pink. They always arrive in time for Thanksgiving, a pretty pink explosion out the dining room windows as I'm setting the table for a holiday meal.

But the ones in the back are a little later. There's probably a dozen or more of the double blooms like in the photo above with big fat buds on the end of almost every branch. They're big flowers too...about 4" across so I can see them from inside the house even though they're out almost to the golf course. Sometimes I cut a few to bring inside but mostly I like looking out there and seeing the flush of pink and creamy white. We'll be enjoying them for several weeks.

We've had a few frosty nights but some nice warm-ups too. The hibiscus had it's nose nipped but there are still flowers, and the pepper plants are hanging in there too, even though I quit covering them on those cold nights. The geranium has plenty of blooms too and the lavender seems thrilled with the cooler weather. I'll protect it this winter but let Mother Nature take the geranium when she's ready.

The grass doesn't have much green in it and the leaves continue to fall but I love being able to look outside and see a splash of color in the form of pretty petals.

Undecided

For the past five years or so our front door has looked like this:

Double wreaths on the French doors, a lighted garland overhead and lots of birds, berries and other natural elements. But the string of lights in the garland gave me fits last year. Actually, it's two strings, and when one quit working, I replaced it only to have part of the other go out. So I knew I had to replace lights before putting it up this year.

Logic said I should just buy two new strings to be sure they matched, and if I was doing that, I might as well go with the LED lights. They're cooler and require less energy and seem more dependable too. Ordinarily, I'd have bought the Warm White lights as they would seem to be most like what I had before but looking at the sample in the store, they just seemed too yellow. I went with the Cool White instead.

It's definitely different. The light is much softer and bluer, a fact I took into consideration reasoning it would look nice against the bluish gray of the house. In fairness, however, there were three knee-high trees with lights in the top photo that aren't on the porch this year. I look at it one time and love the softness of the light, then I look at it again and wish it were brighter so the pretty wreaths would show better. Clearly I'm undecided.

But apparently someone else finds it mucho attractive. When I went out on the porch this evening to take the second photo, a little bird flew out from overhead...a chickadee, if I'm not mistaken, although he wouldn't land so I could be sure. We've had small birds perch on the ledge at the top of the columns on the back porch and spend the night there but never on the front porch. Apparently, the soft blue lights from the garland made it look like the perfect place to curl up for the night. He wasn't at all interested in flying away from the porch, even temporarily, and just circled and circled, chirping all the time. I think he was saying it looks great out here now go back inside so I can go back to sleep...so I did.

The little bird may know his mind but I'm still undecided.

Let's Go, Grizzlies!

We're serious Coca Cola fans here in Arnall-land. While we've switched to the Diet version from the regular Coke we both grew up drinking, we've never been tempted to switch to Pepsi. In fact, we order tea or water when Pepsi is the only choice at a restaurant.

So it's nice that Coca Cola offers some rewards for that loyalty. We've been logging the little numbers on the inside of bottle caps and cardboard cartons for years now, ever since they first started the program. And during that time, we've redeemed them for a variety of things ranging all the way from golf balls to a nice little LCD television. Sweet...all for drinking something we were going to anyway.

Last fall I came across some information online about free team T-shirts through the Coke Rewards program. After you entered a stated number of the regular Rewards numbers, you could enter a special code (in this case, a word like "football") and be eligible for the T-shirt. We were skeptical...after all, the Internet isn't always a reliable source, but we tried it and it worked. So Wayne picked a KU T-shirt (what else!) and they promised to ship in in 6-8 weeks, all for free.

A week or two later, two more "special words" related to football made their way around the Internet so we did it again. A fella can always use two KU T-shirts, right? But apparently not three. When we went through the process the third time, the KU shirts were sold out. In fact, at this point in the program there weren't a lot of choices but Wayne found one he was happy with:

His theory was it would be a real conversation starter...and I think he's right. Not many fans of the Montana Grizzlies in the South. We both did attend Butler County Junior College in El Dorado, Kansas, home of the Grizzlies, so we do have that connection and we loved the parts of Montana we saw while visiting there. I'm not sure when we'll have an opportunity to pull for the team but he's all set whenever it arises. Gimme a "G"...gimme a "R"....

The Christmas Letter

Our Christmas letter looks a little different this year. Gone are the Dear XXXX salutations and the neat paragraphs outlining the year's events in our family that followed and in their place are a bunch of boxes. Nothing like making the recipients work to get their news...I made a crossword puzzle.

It was one of the ideas put forth by Lain Ehmann in her Fit To Be Scrapped Christmas Letters class at Big Picture Classes. And as soon as I saw it, I was reminded of a Christmas letter in crossword puzzle format I had received several years ago from my cute and creative friends, Beth and Susan Opel. I loved the idea, not just because I'm a crossword puzzle fan but because the interactive nature of it made me, the reader, feel so much more connected to my friends behind it.

Now I have to say, I could have written a delightful letter much faster than creating a crossword puzzle but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun for me and hopefully for those who receive it. And I wouldn't have learned all I learned in the process. I had more than one stop and start anew when things didn't work the way I thought they would but I do love a good challenge.

I started with this online puzzle-making site, although I looked at a number of others as well...just Googled crossword puzzle maker and you'll have plenty of choices. The one I used created a free online puzzle which was perfect for my purposes as I wanted mine to look just like a puzzle you'd find in the newspaper. I did about half of the clues/answers this way and let it format them in puzzle form. I wrote the puzzle format on some graph paper and then fit in the rest of the clues/answers to make it look more like a real crossword and to hopefully make it easier to come up with the answers. After some trial and error with several different programs, I ended up creating the puzzle as a Word table.

Pretty cool, huh? I hope our family and friends enjoy this fun twist on our holiday letter and that it gives them an excuse to sit for a few minutes during this busy season to work out the answers. In addition to family news, there are plenty of clues with Christmas references which not only lend to the holiday feel but also makes it easier to come up with the answers.

If you're like me and willing to work just about any crossword puzzle that comes your way, you can give this one a try. The puzzle is a zipped PDF file and the clues are a Word file. And I've added a link on the left for the answers for those who get stumped or just like to make sure they got them right.

Download Crossword Puzzle
Download Clues 

Wonder if they'll all be disappointed if I go back to a traditional letter next year.

Two Days. Two Words.

House cleaned,
partly anyway.
Laundry done;
ironing awaits.
Fresh sheets =
good sleep.
Letters written;
cards mailed.
One down,
Lots left.
Groceries bought.
Miles walked.
Meals cooked.
Pool maintained.
Gifts purchased;
free shipping
really rocks.
Ladder up;
boxes down.
Lights bought;
doorway glows.
Wreaths hung.
Mantle's done;
hutch too.
Santas here,
snowmen there.
Mostly mess
every-where
Tree's next.
Not today...
I'm tired.
Howabout you?

Traditions

We ran away from home. Well, actually it was a little weekend escape to Hot-lanta which really wasn't very hot at all temperature-wise. Somehow shopping always seems more appealing in the big city, and for contending with the crowds, parking and everything else that goes with being in a mall this time of year we can reward ourselves with a nice dinner at a restaurant found only in a metropolitan area. Birthday presents were the priority but we did make a sizable dent in Christmas as well. There could have been a stop at a scrapbook store too...just saying.

And here's the birthday girl we stopped in to spend the afternoon with on the way home. Seventeen...I don't know how that happened but there doesn't seem to be a way to stop it so I just shake my head in amazement at how fast the years have flown by. And what a delightful young lady she is. We talked boyfriends, SAT tests and cake decorating over dinner at the restaurant of her choosing which this year was Carrabba's. Why cake decorating? Because she had to demonstrate her prowess with a pastry bag as part of her Health and Wellness class. Where was something fun like that when I was in Home Ec? We made Egg Salad Boats. And she readily admits that very little of the food she's learned to prepare falls under the heading of "healthy."

One of the birthday traditions is for me to ask her a series of questions and it's fun to see how her answers have changed over the years...or not. The favorite color has gone from pink to blue to orange and now seafoam green but she's been almost unwavering since about age 6 in picking steak as her favorite food. And she's far less certain about what she wants to be when she grows up now that she's nearing the time to make that choice. I keep assuring her that's OK. I like gaining this little bit of insight into how the last year has affected who she is and she must like the tradition too because some years she'll remind me that I need to ask her the "birthday questions."

The black Vans she's holding in the photo above were part of her birthday present from us and I had to laugh when I saw them on the list as I think there's a tradition there as well. I can remember us having to hunt down Vans for her dad when he was about the same age. And if I'm not mistaken, he took a black pen to his white Vans for a customized design. Maybe we should have gotten Kayla a white pair too so he could continue that part of the tradition for her.

At any rate, we had a nice little escape and a fun time celebrating Kayla's birthday with her. And this week we'll have to get serious about Christmas...I can't put it off any longer.

Putting It All Back Together

The workmen have left...well, the paid ones anyway. Us unpaid workers have continued to toil away but that's the joys of home ownership, isn't it. It was just a matter of cleaning and moving furniture back in place in a couple of the rooms but finishing up Wayne's computer room has taken the better part of two days.

One conclusion we came to was that we'd never make a living as painters. Wayne would never try as he really doesn't like doing it but he was a good sport and wielded the roller around the walls. I, on the other hand, don't mind painting but my perfectionist tendencies mean no one could afford to hire me if I charged by the hour. And I'd starve to death if paid by the job as I'd take too long to do it. But I'd have happy customers.

My legs are a little weary tonight after crawling on the floor masking off baseboard climbing up and down ladders for two days. I cut in around the ceiling, baseboard and doors as well as rolled on a second coat. It looks so fresh now that it's all done and everything is back in place.

Tomorrow's plan is to put my room back together. Not everyone has a shower full of scrapbook supplies (and a few other things too) but sometimes you just have to get a little creative when you're looking for temporary storage space.

Oops!

I've been spending my late afternoon hours cleaning up bits of ceiling material from all around the house. Mike, who's doing the ceiling repairs, has been great about covering the floor with drop cloths but those little white flakes have a way of escaping. And the very location of the room affected has meant we've had to walk across those drop cloths, tracking it to new locations in the house. I'm just trying to keep it from looking like there are snowflakes on the carpet.

The little handheld Dyson has been useful for small jobs, but when it suddenly quit picking up anything, I handed it off to Wayne to investigate. He took it apart, found the filter was clogged with the fine dust the flakes turn into, and fixed the problem. Hmmm, I thought...there's a filter? A number of handheld vacs have come and gone in this house and none of them had a filter. How did I not know there was a filter in this one?

And then the light bulb went off in my head. I'll bet there's a light bulb in the big Dyson too. Sure enough, and it's supposed to be cleaned every six months. I'm sure I read the manual when I bought the sweeper...I always do, but I had six months before I had to do anything. Heck, in six months I not only forgot I needed to clean it, I forgot the filter even existed. And that vacuum cleaner is seven years old. Oops!

Personally I think the people at Dyson should embrace my poor maintenance of their awesome vacuum and use it in an advertising campaign. That's because that even going seven years without the filter having been cleaned, the sweeper worked like a charm. There was never an instance when I thought it was losing suction...it's an awesome machine.

And tonight it's a very clean machine. After I swept up today's white flakes, I took it all apart and washed everything that was washable. The water that came out was pretty dirty, I'll admit.

I can't recommend you follow my maintenance schedule...I'm sure it's better to clean the filter every six months but I can recommend a Dyson. Even dirty, it's still better than any other vacuum; imagine what it's going to be like now that it's clean.

Progress

This is what my room looks like tonight...furniture in places it isn't normally, everything draped in plastic and lit only by the very unflattering light on the ceiling fan. Actually it's worse than the picture shows because the plastic goes off-frame both left and right. I really needed the wide angle lens so you could better appreciate it.

But I can't get to that lens because it's in here. That's Wayne's computer room with some of the furniture moved out and the rest shoved into a corner. The French doors that normally offer a wide entrance into the room are mostly blocked and you can barely squeeze in...assuming you wanted to, I suppose.

Part of what's blocking it is this very big but very cool ladder sitting in our entryway. I think it's the Swiss army knife of ladders as it can be configured in so many different ways. I'd love for it to still be here when we have to put that chandelier back together again but I don't know if that's going to happen.

The ladder is extended to about 12' in the photo of it but it was up over 14' when it was in this adjoining room. And one side of it was in the entryway and the other in the sunken living room. I have trouble getting a tripod level on two different surfaces; can you imagine how hopeless I'd be trying to adjust that big ladder?

It may seem like a mess but it looks like progress to us.

Some Might Say I've Missed Out

I read an interesting fact the other night, one that still has me shaking my head. The article was about the changes businesses that sell food, either in the form of groceries consumers take home and cook or restaurants that offer prepared meals, are having to make to stay competitive in today's world. We, speaking collectively now, are no longer willing to settle for eating just what was offered or even when it was offered...we want choices. Blame Burger King; they're the ones who said we can have it our way.

And having it our way is what we want, whether it's dressing on the side of the salad instead of already on it or substituting broccoli instead of the french fries that normally come with the meal. Maybe I'm more aware than most since our oldest son has managed restaurants for years and I've heard him extol on the problems it presents for both the server and the kitchen staff to get it right. But I still do it.

Not only do we want what we want, we want it when we want it too. More restaurants are serving what would normally be considered lunch or dinner foods during the breakfast hours and offering breakfast much later into the day or even all day long. 

It was at this point the astonishing fact surfaced. In elaborating on this migration of foods to non-traditional times of day, the author opined that the growing number of cereals containing chocolate was because more than 30% of all the cereal consumed now is eaten at night. Seriously....30%?

Let me assure you that I have never eaten cereal at night. Ever. I'm on board with pancakes at night now and then and I'm perfectly happy with a scrambled egg and toast on occasion but cereal? My taste buds find that revolting although I've certainly sat across the table from more than one family member who chomped on Cheerios after sunset. To each his own, I guess, but I can't get past the visual of all those boxes lined up in the cereal aisle of the grocery store and the idea that one-third of them are going to be eaten at night.

Some might say I've missed out not hearing Tony the Tiger roar after dark but I can assure you this is one growing trend I won't be joining.

Bringing Home The Groceries

The hunters and gathers of ancient civilizations probably didn't spend any more time stocking up their pantry than we did today. Of course, they probably had to go out and do it all over again the next day; I trust we're done for the week.

We started out by making the 45-minute drive to Walnut Hill to visit Steve's Farm. They're famous for their sweet corn which is, of course, gone by now. They do make a second planting so they have a little in the fall but it's gone too. That's OK as that wasn't our objective; this was:

One Saturday in December they fill their barn with dried fruit and nuts brought in from the west coast and offer it for sale. I'm guessing they get a full trailer those over-the-road semis tow but it could be more as there are boxes stacked under and on tables throughout the barn. The fruit is so soft and juicy...so much better than what can find anywhere else around here. And the choices are much wider too.

The sale was actually last Saturday but the weather was so yucky they still had plenty of fruit left over. And they sent out an email blast letting people know they were doing it again. Fortunate for us as we didn't make it there last Saturday. Carol and Dr. Dale were game to go (along with their daughter Jen) so off we headed to the little Mennonite farming community where Steve's is located.

They're smart merchandisers those folks at Steve's as there are bowls of each dried fruit and nut offered for sale so you can taste how good they are before making your selection. My favorite from last year (dark chocolate covered cranberries) was already sold out but we came home with a bag of plain cranberries, some dried nectarines and the Very Berry Trail Mix. Yum!

And since it's Saturday a trip for regular groceries was on the agenda too. Walmart was every bit the zoo we expected and it's only going to get worse as Christmas nears but we put on our patience button and endured. We hit Publix too since that's where we get meat, milk, yogurt and a few other items we don't buy at Walmart. And when the meat we wanted just looked so-so at Publix, we stopped at one more store for it. Before we knew it, it was 3pm.

Who knew grocery shopping could take all day.

Hip Hip Horrah

A few things worth cheering about:

     •I didn't fall asleep on the couch before getting a blog post written. That's been the story the last two nights and I'm not entirely sure why. The cozy blanket I've snuggled up in could have something to do with it though.
     •Warm air has returned, at least for a few days anyway. No need for the heavy coat on the walk today and I was glad not to have to drag plants around tonight and cover them up to keep them from freezing.
     •The ceiling man will be here at 8am Monday...he says. OK, the 8am part might not be worth celebrating but I'm eager to get the repairs behind us. And it might really be happening too as it's the first time he's given a specific date and time rather than a vague "next week." 
     •Pending repairs are the perfect excuse to postpone getting out all the Christmas decorations and not feel guilty about it. The holiday spirit is slow to arrive this year.
     •The Christmas letter is done, however. Maybe since I'll be chained to the house while the repairman is here I'll focus on getting the cards addressed and in the mail. Of course, I'll need to buy some first.
     •All the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone or found a home in the freezer. I see turkey noodle soup and gumbo in our future and our taste for turkey will be revived with a little break. The fridge sure does look empty now though.
     •Having good things happen to good friends is almost as good as when they happen to you. One of mine has just returned relaxed and happy from some much-needed time away and another off visiting her somewhat-infirm parents, delighted to find that they are much better than they have been in several trips.  Makes my heart happy for both of them.
     •We have a couple of little trips on the horizon, one local and one a little farther away. It's always fun to have something to look forward to.

Get Your Christmas Crafty On

I know, I know...the holidays are upon us and there are sooo many things to do. But that doesn't mean you can't find a few minutes for a little crafting fun, especially when the inspiration behind it comes from an online class. The beauty of those classes is you can fit them in whenever it works for your schedule. Get up early, watch while you eat lunch or wrap up your day with a little learning...it's available when you are. Both of these classes are filled with holiday ideas and, best of all, they're FREE!

Even a non-scrapbooker will get plenty out of this first class: Fit-To-Be-Scrapped Holiday Newsletters. Sign up and you'll get a streaming audio message, class handouts and access to a gallery full of projects past participants in the class have posted in this self-paced class you can start anytime. What are you going to learn? How to take your holiday newsletters out of the ordinary and make them clever and memorable. We all have people we only correspond with at Christmas, why not make the letter you tuck into your card something different. I only skimmed the class materials after enrolling and already I have an idea for a fun twist on this year's newletter. You'll need to register at Big Picture Classes then enter the promo code letters2011 to get this class at no cost.

Jessica Sprague has a cute holiday-themed class running next week and she's offering it free as a way to give back to the crafting community. Her ideas are always clever and fun and she's generous with digital papers and elements you can use for her class projects and  again for anything else you wish to make afterwards. I hope I'm dealing with the ceiling man on Monday, December 5, when the class starts but that's OK; I'll download the class materials and do it when I can get to my room and supplies. You'll find all the details to sign up, including the access code that makes it free, here.

The season is busy but there's always time for some fun crafting, especially when it's free.

Crops

Given the title, you're probably expecting me to write about a scrapbooking retreat, but that's not the case. Right now I'd need a crop to get any pages done as all the scrapbook supplies are still packed away. Next week, the ceiling man says...again.

The crops I'm talking about are the growing kind. Just call me Farmer Sue.

The pepper plants didn't produce much during late summer but they really perked up once the hot and humid days were history. The branches of both plants were just loaded with pretty little peppers. I see jalapeno poppers in our future.

This is the second year for the lemon pepper plant. I put it in a pot when Dr. Dale gave it to me a year ago last spring and protected it over last winter. We got a few peppers off it last year but it has been much more productive this year. Dr. Dale swears the peppers have a subtle lemon taste when you eat them but all I got from the one I tasted this evening was HOT!!!! Far hotter than the jalapenos as a matter of fact.

There are a half dozen lemons in the basket too, a couple of which are visible. I gave the tree a severe haircut last spring as it looked rather straggly and that cut down on the amount of fruit. There are some nice sized ones and then there are some weeny ones too.

The lemon tree is in a big pot and we move it out of the pool area in the winter so it can go in the garage when the temperatures dip too low. I was prepared to let the peppers fall victim to the frost when it arrived but there are still so many green peppers on them I'm having second thoughts. And there's a third plant, also courtesy of Dr. Dale, that's just now full of little peppers that will soon turn red if they don't freeze. So they're all covered for now.

We're passing out peppers, sharing the bounty with others but it's been fun to pick such a big basket of my "crops."

Let's Talk Recipes

Call me a bored cook but I'm always on the lookout for new recipes. My AT&T home page has one almost every day, I've "liked" the Crockin' Girls on Facebook in an effort to gather more good crockpot recipes and I'm amazed at how many recipes show up on message boards and blogs I frequent on my lap around the Internet.

Fortunately, I have a spouse who's quite happy to engage in a little culinary experimentation but I know how far to press my luck. Recipes with strange ingredients or things I know he doesn't like never make it to the print stage, and I often mention that I saw a recipe for such-and-such, would he be interested in trying it. And he almost always says yes. In fact, he commented just the other night that contrary to the stereotype of people getting more and more set in their ways as they age, we were getting more adventurous in our eating.

And with all experimentations, there are a few misses. You know...the ones where the printout goes into the trash instead of the recipe box. That would be the pork roast and white bean one I made a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with it; it just tasted like plain ol' pork and beans. If I wanted that, I'd have bought them in a can. Still, we didn't starve.

This one, however, was a hit:

It's a copycat recipe of Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli soup, one of my favorite when I go there. In fact soup, salad and breadsticks is my go-to meal when the restaurant choice is Olive Garden. And we're coming into prime soup-making time; there's just something so comforting about a bowl of hot homemade soup on a cold night.

The recipe, which you can find here, was a pretty good duplication of the soup especially with some of the helpful suggestions found in the comments section. To start with, I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef to make it a bit more healthy. That's pretty much standard in my kitchen these days for soups, spaghetti sauce and chili. And I used spicy V-8 juice instead of the plain...and more of it too. I'd guess twice the amount called for in the recipe; I just eyeballed it until the mixture had a soup-like consistency. Even with the spicy V-8, I thought it was a little bland when I tasted it so I upped the herbs and added 1/2 tsp. cumin and some red pepper flakes. Obviously, you can play around with this to suit your taste buds.

I put mine in the crockpot just because I had other things to do in the afternoon and that worked out fine. The house smelled so yummy when I came back in. And I heeded the warnings that adding the cooked pasta to the soup made it too thick. You could overcome that with extra V-8 or even some stock but I just served the pasta on the side and we each added it to the soup as we ladled it in the bowl.

Wayne agreed this one was definitely a keeper and I feel sure we'll be making more of it in the coming months. What have you made lately that's earned a spot in your family's dinner rotation?

The Newest Member of the Family

The guest list for Thanksgiving grew by one this year, but the newest addition didn't have a seat at the table. In fact, he had to wait on the patio while we ate.

Meet Oliver, Kayla's new puppy, who made his first trip to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. He's part Pekingese/part Maltese, a great choice for a girl who's been wishing for a little dog to snuggle with. There's been a dog in Kayla's house since she was born but they were always big dogs. Oh, she snuggled with them too but it's not like a little dog you can carry around or hold on your lap. So when old age claimed the black lab last spring, she started lobbying for a much smaller replacement. The kids went through a rescue organization and even had to have a home visit before they were approved for the adoption.

He's a sweet little guy who's quite content to curl up on someone's lap and take a nap. Good thing as that's just what Kayla was looking for. Looks like a match made in heaven for both of them.

From Our House To Yours

My Knight in Shining Armor

It was after 3pm before I got out for my walk today. That's my usual walking time most days but I had hoped to be out earlier today as I knew the chance of rain was going up as the day progressed. But there was cooking to do and a house to clean and before I knew it, it was after three.

Ever the optimist I laced up my shoes anyway. After all, I reasoned, we'd already had a few showers and last night's forecast promised a gap between the morning rain and the front expected to arrive in the evening. Surely this gap would last long enough to get my walk in...right? I even checked the radar and it showed the first line of storms was still in Alabama. Just for insurance I grabbed my umbrella as I headed out the door.

Obviously if I got my walk in without any rain, I wouldn't be writing about it. I did get most of it in, however, before I popped open the umbrella. Walking in the light rain wasn't bad for a few blocks; the temperature was warm and the rain smelled good. And then it started raining harder.

I was still three or four blocks from home when I saw a familiar car approaching. My knight in shining armor had come to my rescue. He'd been in the shower when he heard the downpour and he jumped out, threw on some clothes and headed out to find me...driving barefoot no less. And it's no small feat that he succeeded since I have multiple routes I take around the neighborhood.

I've been wet before and likely will be again but I was glad to hop into a dry car for those last few blocks home.

It's Satsuma Season

It's been six weeks or so ago when one of my neighbors hollered at me on my afternoon walk. He's the same neighbor who generously filled my pockets with satsumas a year or so back, introducing me to their sweet goodness. My satsuma tree is so loaded with fruit I'm having to prop up the limbs, he said at he pointed to the tree next to his house. Even from the street I could see the tree sagging from the weight of the not-yet-ripe satsumas. I'll have plenty to share, he promised.

I'll be holding Mac to that promise but before he could deliver, one of Wayne's golfing buddies fixed him up with a sackful of satsumas. In fact, he took Wayne home with him after the round to pick them fresh from the tree. See that stem there on the right? There were three satsumas hanging from it.

We can't grow regular oranges in this part of Florida...the winters are too cold, but the satsumas seem to like it here. And while we're running almost 20" below normal in the rainfall category this year but that doesn't seem to have adversely affected the fruit; they were as sweet and juicy as ever. And everyone seems to have an abundance of fruit. Johnny's tree was loaded too and he was happy to share with all his golfing buddies.

So we're enjoying a little fresh-from-the-tree goodness these days and loving it...thanks to some generous neighbors. Next spring I'm going to make good on that promise to have a tree of my own.