Turkey Overload

Well. The fridge is full, and so are all of us. Quite a few of my son's friends were here and are still having fun. I am curled up in my bedroom with my tree and candles glowing and my kitty snoozing. She was sure a lot of help! lol NOT. Tried a new recipe for Paleo stuffing. It was popular. Lots of leftovers, which my family really loves. 

We had a big black kitty named Koga. He was my son's very favorite pet ever... This looks so much like him. 

Oh, ha ha... I just love the look on this sweet face. I have known a lot of "pot-stirrers" who looked just like this!!!

Soooo true. I am truly discombobulated... I really like to do Thanksgiving early like this instead of later..  It is a beautiful holiday... a real treasure for memories and joy.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving week!!

Whimsy and Hugs!

Recap...

Today was just one of "those days! I woke up at 5 o'clock and started preparations for the party. First on my list: the cake. I chopped apples and roasted pecans, and was nearly ready to pop my beautiful old-fashioned cake in the prepared 9 x 13... when - - - It just uh....

So that was a mess. I even threw out the whole apple I was just that disgusted. I saved only my grandmother's old spoon... Next: Made a batch of Hello Dollies and set them in the oven I had preheated for the cake. Asked Alexa to set a 30 minute timer. Didn't have enough color so she graciously added ten more minutes. Still no color. Uh... I had snapped off the oven in a little snit after above incident, so the cookies had just been "chillin'" in an off oven. 

Made a pot of "Fall in Love" Autumn coffee to try a new bag I had bought in multiples and given to several unsuspecting friends. Spit that out. Turns out brown sugar bourbon only sounds good. It tastes like old bacon and bitter bathwater. Made final pot of good old Dunkin' Doughnut Shop coffee.

Time out. My son tells me he hasn't seen the cat all morning. I tried all the buzz words she cannot resist: "Want some Cheese? Cat Chowwwww! Wanna schnaaack?" Silence. I flipped through my mind and decided she had hit the door and slipped out while I was cleaning up the cake. I hadn't seen her since then. Purty sad. But today was thankfully not that sad day. He finally found her in his room where she is not supposed to go with the door shut. She was quiet until he found her and then she began to sing the Blues about all the goodies she had been offered... lol

The rest of the day was smooth and great! We are three long-time friends with a lot of fun stories to revisit. We ate Casey's Supreme pizza (minus green peppers), bread sticks, drank Dunkin' coffee, hot and iced tea, sweet tea, and munched on Hello Dollies!

Tomorrow I start the prep for the turkey bird... bake bread and do anything early I can... Fun! I love to cook.

Have a beautiful weekend.



Whimsy and Hugs!

Thanksgiving, a grateful welcome to the Christmas season...

This past week I have been getting out some all my Christmas things. Such fun to tuck the same traditions into new surroundings. Each year I think I will just get out a few items but in order to do that a person has to pack and store intelligently... Um, well--- that's just not how I roll. So I cannot find the spot with about 15 extension cords. I may have to buy 3 more. Here are a few shots. most without the twinkly lights until said cords are either found or repurchased. Do you know they sell a $3 cord for $7.50 this Christmas? lol

Tomorrow we celebrate my friend's birthday. I think I am making my grandmother's apple cake and a big salad. Another friend is bringing pizza. Saturday is Friendsgiving, a traditional holiday meal for my son's friends. Lots to do for that!

RECIPE FOR APPLE CAKE


Whimsy and Hugs!

Nope

I was surprised to find a pretty good sized refund from WalMart in my email. Unfortunately my too cheap to be true trees were actually too cheap to be true. So... I did order enough lights to do all six trees, so now I will have enough lights for probably two or three years. I am okay with the refund... and the lights... It was gonna be a funny explanation to my son why I bought a flocked tree last year and sold it (because flocking nightmare!!!) and then purchased 6 more this year. He doesn't care and has no issues with anything I do, but... it felt a bit wrong and impulsive--- although I had big dreams for them.

Looks as if my beautiful buttercream tree will come out of her corner in my Studio after all... 

Whimsy and Hugs!

Winter's first grip

I had such a cozy day yesterday. And tonight with a temperature of only 7 degrees, I hear my propane dollars and kilowatt quarters clinking through all the olden cracks in this house. However, we're safe and warm. My son's health has improved so much by working from home. I have a lot of blessings and I know it...

He hung up a couple of thick comforts to keep the cold drafts at bay. Our bathroom is in a part of the house directly through the door from the heated/AC portion. We have a huge room we need to use more. but the furnace down there (four steps down to what was converted from a garage in the 80's) went kaput! It has a small AC unit I never run... I had lived in that room when I moved here for about 8 years, but after Mom fell on Thanksgiving 4 years ago, I moved up here to be able to hear her better... and I liked being in the hub of the home too well to go back down.

I can see in these pictures my vision of rolled towels has run amuck. Shocker. I don't think it looks at all spa-like or elegant... just rather wild and barely contained. Hmmmm.... Pinterest, you clever vixen... lol

I snapped my Callie atop the winter white harvest cupboard this morning. Think she was checking my work, seeing if she approved. She definitely loves this afghan made many years ago for my son. I remember last year when my son saved it from the North House, she homesteaded it for weeks. I washed the piece and stashed it in my steamer trunk through the warmer months, so each crocheted row is such a long lost and welcome buddy to her...

Talk soon.






Whimsy and Hugs!

Baby, it's cold outside!

Whimsy and Hugs!

What's up? Today is blustery and flurried with whirls of snow and promises of wintry mix. We have hung a huge quilt to help insulate our house, and space heaters are picking up the slack at the tune of $6/daily... 

These very same windows here about 63 years later let in just as much cold air (maybe/probably more since my dad kept better tabs on caulking and such)... I am sitting pretty on my wonderful (though kind of stern-looking) grandfather's  lap. Daddy and Gramma look to be having a good day, and Mom's forever taking the picture. (Could nobody have ever grabbed the camera and snapped her photo?)

I decided to stash most of my vibrant-colored Autumn and go with minimal Thanksgiving-only decor. Can I tell you a secret? I just bought six...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.... 48" fir trees...  I know. They look a teensy bit Charlie Brownish in the ad on Walmart, but they were reduced to $12  each. I dunno... I have a vision for them. I hadn't priced twinkly lights though... Ouch!

Somebody pulled my cat's string this morning. Isn't it strange to watch the weather get inside an animal? My dad and grandfather used to laugh about the calves frisking in the frosty air like this. It's a perfect day to be working from home (as is my son) or retired (as am I)... We have Italian steak bite stew and Cowboy chili already made in the fridge. Here I am planning lunch at 8:45 a.m. Don't tell me it's too early because I am not ready for that kind of negativity...

I hired a young man to board up my other house and perchance deter any more uninvited tenants. Looks purty rough up there. Makes my heart sad although I feel good about getting it prepped for winter, ready to withstand some deep thought-time on my part... (But... not today, my friends.)

Happy Veteran's Day...

Today sounds promising for accomplishing something in my Studio. Here's my current status. I had never heard of mug cake. (I know! What rock did I crawl out from under?) Then I saw a craft tutorial for cute gifts centered around said mug cake. So... I ordered a stash of mug cake mixes from good old Wally World dot com.... So. of course, I had to rise to the challenge and test the merchandise. (I couldn't be giving inferior products away, right?) Well, golly-gosh! I cannot think of a "funner" breakfast than warm mug cake and Diet Coke in my studio... So... six days after initial testing, and three mug cakes are missing in action... Just saying that these stupid things are 400 calories!!! and such a little mug for the tally... However, on a blustery day... ya get my drift, don't ya...