WEEKEND RAMBLINGS SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2015

It has been a busy couple weeks for me. I've had to be in the office several times in the past couple weeks for training and I've been picking up some extra hours at Walmart. With the vet bills being so high lately I need some extra income. In addition, Mendards finally opened here in Jamestown!  I'm so excited. I hadn't been over to check it out as the crowds have been insane so Matt took me over Saturday for my first look. The place is HUGE. They built this one to be the Midwest hub and therefore it's the largest one in the Midwest now. Menards being open is another reason for needing extra income. We can finally start some of the renovations on the house that need to be done. We picked up an ice maker installation kit and a new water filter for the fridge. We've had repeated problems with the ice maker not working. Whoever installed it kinked the copper line so Matt's replacing that and the filter was due to be replaced. It's so nice to have some place we can buy the supplies now when we need them instead of having to order them online or drive 100 miles to get them. Next will be new flooring in my office area!

PETS:

Tip and Lacey

Tip has actually been doing well and is stabilizing out from the phenobarbital. He has an occasional wobble of the hind legs but otherwise has been doing well. No seizures thankfully. Because the medication makes him hungry, we have to be careful when leaving the house that nothing is within reach that he can get. He's pulled cast iron skillets off the stove while we've been gone to lick them. The idiot pulled a bag I left on the counter down and tried to eat a grow pod for cilantro I'd bought to replant. Nothing is safe so it's like kid proofing the house again, except it's furkid proofing.

Oreo hanging out with me at my work desk

I nearly lost my beloved Oreo last weekend to a GI infection. I initially thought it might be cardiac failure as she was wheezing a bit. She will be 16 years old next month so as much as I hated the thought of losing her, I can't deny it's not going to occur at some point. She stopped eating last Friday. I tried everything I could think to get her to eat something. I even went to McDonald's and bought some french fries and she turned her head away from them she was so sick. Last Saturday she wouldn't even come out of the bedroom. I'd worked all day last Saturday so didn't realize her condition until I got home that night. She did show more interest Sunday and came out of the bedroom but still wouldn't eat. I honestly didn't think she'd make it but she's resilient and after the vet gave her an anti-nausea shot and some medications along with a special food for intestinal issues on Monday she's make a nice recovery and is begging to eat to make up for those days she didn't.

CRAFTING:

back of desk before sanding

I started sanding the desk this weekend and got the first coat of stain on most of the desk before I ran out of stain. I had so much stain left over from my table and chair project that Matt and I figured a small can would be more than enough. I'll be making a run to Menards today to buy a larger can and plan on finishing the area that I didn't get to last night and then hopefully do a second coat later tonight after doing a light sanding. I had originally bought an antique walnut stain to use because my selections were so limited at Walmart but after seeing a picture on Pinterest of someone's redo of a table using mahogany stain I decided to go mahogany instead. Matt wasn't too sure about the mahogany until he saw the rich color after the first application and he really likes it.  It's such a nice rich, warm color. Pretty much my entire day Sunday was spend sanding the desk down. I used an electric sander for the first time and boy did my arms and wrist feel it that night. Thank goodness for Motrin.

I finally finished the Amish Toothbrush Rug!!!  I was so excited to finish it.  The shape isn't quite perfect, but it was my first one. It ended up being 37" by 33" in size. I need to take a picture of this on the wood flooring so it will pop more as the colors appear faded in this picture. I'm very happy with this rug. I crocheted a scalloped edging in the dark pink to finish it off, which is hard to see in the photo. It would be a great rug for a baby's room or little girl's room. I'd hoped to have enough fabric to do a second one but nearly ran out of some of the colors while doing it.

Crafting, Reading and such....

FOOD PORN:
Matt has been playing with the smoker and made us an awesome BBQ brisket last weekend. We had my son and his girlfriend down with the baby. Jordon had helped Matt on Saturday move a bunch of things around in the shed and storage unit so this was his thank you meal. I can safely say he definitely enjoyed it. He had to cut the brisket in half to fit it in the smoker.

CRAFTING:

I started this rug about a month ago and haven't been able to finish it yet. I like the way it looks and lays. The plan is to get this finished this weekend. I used 4 sheets I picked up from the thrift stores. I really like the way they coordinate together. The dark pink definitely makes the rug pop as you can see from the top picture where I hadn't gotten to the next round of color yet and the second picture where I just added another row of the dark pink. If this finishes as nicely as I hope, it will be going up on my Etsy store. I may have enough fabric left over for a second one. It would be a perfect rug for a glamper or a little girl's room. I'm so excited, I finally have my business cards now.

While looking at the Jamestown Garage Sale page a couple weeks ago I noticed a hardwood desk listed for $25 that I was interested in as a possible sewing table. A couple days later they listed it for free so I had Matt go with me to pick it up. It's not in bad shape but old and it had some deep gouges on the top so I'm working on sanding it down now and I plan on staining it an antique walnut. The picture below is after the first sanding but you can see how deep some of the scratches and gouges go. Matt suggested I use an electric sander so I need to pick up some sandpaper for it this weekend and hopefully get this project done.

READING:

The Refuge by Sue Henry
This is a series of mysteries I've been reading by this author. This particular series is about an elderly widow who buys a motor home and goes on adventures with her dachshund, Stretch, which always seem to end up with a murder. The Refuge is actually the third book in the series and I've also read the two before this one. I really enjoy these. This book takes place in Hawaii and she had to leave her beloved dog behind to help someone from her town in Alaska where she resides when not adventuring.

Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich
I've read several of her books and this one had been on my want list for a while when I spotted it at Tractor Supply for $6 in the clearance section when picking up some cat food. It's a nice light read with some interesting ideas. Some I can't use like having chickens or rabbits right now. Some I can incorporate like learning to play another instrument or buying oil lamps and using them instead of electricity. Jenna went from corporate cube as a graphics designer to now running a farm. She has an interesting story.

The Plain Choice by Sherry Gore
Sherry Gore is an Amish Mennonite woman who writes Amish stories/romances. I've followed her for several years and my heart broke for her as her daughter grew sicker and died about six months ago. How she managed to finish writing this autobiography during that time is nothing but amazing. Sherry's story is unique, she didn't grow up Amish and she didn't live by the Amish. She grew up in California. Life wasn't easy for her. Her parents divorced, she ended up homeless, and then ended up married to an abusive husband. Her path to becoming Amish is very interesting to say the least.

His Baby Bond by Lee Tobin Mcclain
This was actually a Kindle freebee and was actually quite good. It centers around a rich brother who makes a sudden decision to come back and raise his brother's baby daughter after his brother and his wife die in an accident. The first problem he faces is that his sister-in-law's sister has been caring for the baby and has no desire to give the baby up. The second problem is that in their will the parents leave custody to both of them.

Hinduism Made Easy: Hindu Religion, Philosophy and Concepts by Shalu Sharma
My reading on Buddhism and watching a lot of Bollywood movies recently made me interested in Hinduism and what the difference between Buddhism and Hinduism was so I decided to do some reading on it also. Interestingly enough, they both developed from the same sacred books but then took different paths based on what they thought were the important books after that. The big different is that Buddhism consider themselves God's in training (of sorts) but Hindu's believe that there's a Supreme Being. It's pretty interesting if you like learning about different religions.

Weekend Ramblings August 1, 2015

I decided to take an afternoon and enjoy spending it with Matt today so I took him to the Frontier Village for a buffalo burger at the General Store. I don't know why I'd forgotten about them serving buffalo burgers but it came back to me today when I was thinking we should go up to the Village before it closes for the season and see what they had. They make them fresh.  A basket with a buffalo burger and fries is $6, so an affordable meal. They have ice cream and shakes/malts as well for something cool. While we were waiting for our food, a friend that Matt used to work with came in with his family so they were able to chat and catch up. His friend and his family had picked up some fried chicken at Hugo's and had come for a picnic after church.

Poker table in Saloon

There are several buildings that have been moved to Frontier Village. There's a Saloon. They really should serve something in it like shots of root beer or sarsaparilla. They move this poker table outside when they have their monthly shootouts and have actors playing gamblers that end up in a shootout.

Bar in Saloon

Besides the different buildings, they have several stores in old style homes that have been moved there.  Mary's Place is one of the homes and it sells things like quilts, aprons, and baby items.  I picked up an present for my son for Christmas.  This is the second item I've picked up for him this week.  I'm trying to be done with shopping by Thanksgiving this year.

This is inside the Jail.  It's amazing how small jails use to be.  A desk, chair, the table the lamp is one, which probably wouldn't have been there, and the metal jail cell.

Louis L'Amore building

For those that don't know, Louis L'Amore used to live in Jamestown, North Dakota.  In fact we have a street named after him as well as a school. This is a building that is dedicated to him.  They have his entire collection of books along with interviews with him playing on a small TV. It's an interesting place to visit. There's a wraparound porch that goes along the side where the Law Office and Doll House are located.

While we were walking back to the Doll House, I noticed one of the albino buffalo close by. You can tell the difference between an albino and a white buffalo by the color of their nose and hoofs.  An albino has a pink nose and pink hooves while a white buffalo has black hooves and nose. A white buffalo may later in life change colors and the fur become brown.

The middle doll looks similar to one my Grandmother had.

The dollhouse was closed the last time I was there so I'd never been in it.  It has three walls filled with dolls of different eras and vintages.  My Grandmother had a doll with a similar china head on it; although, hers had black hair.  I loved to be allowed to sit and hold it on the bed when I was little.  It was filled with sawdust.  My mom has it now and hopefully I will inherit it one day as it has special memories for me of time spent with my grandmother.

Some of the dolls were a little creepy. This one we both thought the face looked like Chucky.

This one Matt thought the head looked like an alien.  It did have a weird shape to it.

This doll we both liked as she looked like a prairie girl might have.  We both loved seeing the Brer Rabbit book next to her.  We both loved that book and the movie growing up.

READING:
I finally finished The Buddha from Brooklyn by Martha Sherrill.  Martha's is a writer and this was her experience of meeting a woman who became known as Jetsumma Ahkon Lhamo.  She was believed to be the reincarnation of a female Tibetan saint. I've tried to figure out how best to describe this book and the best I could come up with was it's a biography but a biography not only about Jetsumma but also the people and the events at the Poolesville Center she founded, which was the largest Tibetan Buddhist center in America at that time. The writer spent about two years researching and getting to know Jetsumma and the people at the Poolesville Center.

The book was not what I expected.  I guess I expected something like reading a biography on Mother Theresa and the wonderful things she did.  This story starts out with a similar expectation but the tone changes about half way through. There were points I was so discouraged with it I nearly stopped.  I brought back some bad memories of my own regarding religion.  It also brought up issues that caused me to really think.  The author went through similar thoughts herself.  Questions arise such as was she really was a reincarnated llama? Was this a cult?  Were her teachings really a new Westernized version of Buddhism or was it New Age ideas with similarities to Buddhism? I believe this did develop into a cult although it didn't start that way. That the Dhalea Llama never visited Jetsumma or her Poolesville Center and would not receive her when she visited India on several occasions makes me feel that he did not recognize her on many levels.

Weekend Ramblings July 26, 2015

It's hard to believe I haven't blogged since January!  It doesn't seem that long ago. We had a new assistant manager in my area at Walmart and he was scheduling me a minimum of 20 hours a week on top of my 40 hours with my other job, so there never seemed enough time to do anything. I have changed my availability and locked myself into a set schedule now so I work two 4-hour shifts during week and every other Saturday. It's significantly helped to destress. They just moved the assistant managers around so we'll see how this new one is.

I finally went in to get established with a doctor here and my blood pressure was extremely high (no surprise). The doctor was pretty insistent I needed to get it brought down and destress so I've been on a mission to de-stress as much as possible. I found an app called Calm I downloaded from Play Store.  They also have a webpage you can check out. There's a free 7-day mindful meditation series they offer to try it out. I liked it enough I paid to get the pro subscription and I'm working on the 21-day series now. I find I go to sleep faster and sleep better when I do the meditation before bed especially on nights I work late.

TRAVELS:

We just got back from another trip to northern Minnesota. I really enjoyed the trip this year. We stayed with a high school buddy of Matt's. Two of his buddy's sisters came up from "the cities" (aka Minneapolis /St. Paul area) so it was a lot of fun with so many people. We played couples Trivia Pursuit Saturday night and Matt and I won! My book geekishness (as Matt calls it) paid off. 

Tent Setup and furkid feeding station.  We used the small cooler to elevate Tip's food dish.  I use a milk crate at home and didn't think to bring it.

We took our tent that we bought last year when we went (and didn't use). Of course I glamped it up with nice sheets and fuzzy blankets, a rug on the floor, and folding tables that I can use when we eventually get our camper. We used the battery operated candles and solar lanterns I purchased last year and never used. They really gave the tent a nice ambiance. They weren't super bright, but it was enough.

Oreo hanging out in the shade.

I did several things that made the trip more enjoyable and less stressful.

• I insisted on the tent so we had some space for ourselves and the dogs. I was extremely glad of this our last night, which I'll explain later. 

• I brought snacks for us. The couple we stayed with are low-carbers. Matt is definitely adamant he wants nothing to do with low-carbing so I made my Crispix Mix and a batch of orange cookies with orange frosting that he likes to take with. Surprisingly we came home with leftovers of both. 

• We also took two coolers, one for food and the other for drinks. I brought a case of water and bottles of Mt. Dew along with some alcoholic drinks. In this way I didn't have to hope they had anything I liked to drink. 

• As I tend to be up several hours before everybody else I took some easy breakfast items with. I premixed my Tazo Chai Tea Concentrate and milk in pint mason jars with plastic lids. I also took a container of cottage cheese and some pineapple tidbits to mix together. 

• I sliced up some cheese we had in the fridge here at home and a whole beef stick and put them in plastic containers to eat for snack like lunches with Pretzel Thins. Unfortunately everybody decided the cheese and beef stick looked great our first afternoon there and devoured them so we had nothing left to snack on Sunday for lunch. That's an easy enough fix and I'll bring more food next year.

Tip loved to lay in the water by this sandy area.  The wind was blowing so much there were white caps most of the weekend.

The only bad note for the trip was that Tip had another massive seizure early Monday morning (about 3:30 am). It was the second major one in about two months so I took him to the vet the next day and she put him on phenobarbital. Tip had a history of minor seizures when he was younger but we haven't seen any signs of him having one in years so these were totally a surprise, especially the intensity. I honestly thought he'd died he went so still after this last one. It was truly frightening. 

Hopefully the medication will help. We're dealing with a lot of side effects now from the medication, the worse being the loss of control of his hind legs. Unfortunately, the seizures are probably not a good sign and he may not make it to see another trip to Minnesota with us. He definitely enjoyed hanging out in the lake this year. He obviously remembered our trip last year because as soon as he got out of the vehicle when we arrived he headed down the path to the lake and flung himself into the shallow water.

One thing I was really glad I brought with was the rug I'd purchased just before leaving.  It was a cheap $20 rug from Walmart, the kind kids would use in a dorm. Between the rug and the dog beds, Tip was cushioned while he was seizing.  I can't imagine how much worse his body would have felt afterwards if he'd been seizing against the hard ground.

Lacey (left) and Tip (right) hanging out as Matt comes up from the lake.

We stopped in Virginia, MN, on our way home at an Italian Bakery and picked up some tasty snacks for the trip home.  Unfortunately they didn't have the canolli were were hoping for.  We'll definitely be stopping there next year.

READING: 

I won't list everything I've read and probably couldn't remember everything if I wanted to so here's a brief list of books I've finished lately. 

Understanding the Life and Teachings of Thich Nhat Hangh by Dr. Ruth Carr

There Are No Fat Women in Paris by Amy Freedman

The Amish Bride of Ice Mountain by Kelly Long

Making Space - Creating a Home Meditation Practice by Thich Nhat Hanh

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS JANUARY 25, 2015

We had a bit of nasty weather yesterday.  I was at work so didn't get to see it happening, but the customers kept me updated on it as they came through my line.  It started out raining, then turned to snow, then a misty rain, and back to snow from what I was told.  Of course once it started getting cold out the rain froze so we have ice under the snow.  There were several accidents due to the ice on the roads.  Matt saw a vehicle in front of him spin totally around and go through the median right on the overpass yesterday.  I can't imagine a scarier spot to lose control of a vehicle. When I got off at 8 last night the snow was quite pretty.  It was the huge snowflake type of snowfall.  I wished I had a fire pit outside and a chair to curl up in with a quilt to sit and enjoy it.  Roasting some marshmallows would be good too.  We didn't get much more accumulation last night but there's a nice fresh layer of snow on the ground.  The pups were dancing and rolling around in it this morning. Lacey makes me laugh watching her joy of playing in it.

 

The furkids went in for grooming Thursday.  This is the only time I can remember I have been this upset over their grooming.  I didn't notice it when I picked them up how bad a job they did on them.  Tip had some old scabs in his fur on his hip area from the skin allergy issue, which should have been easy to wash out and might have possibly needed a brush or comb to work out, but instead they hacked his fur off.  Thankfully she didn't shave the area. I request their nails be done with a dremel so they'd be smooth and they were obviously done with clippers.  Lacey's poor tail and fur on her hip area they chopped off.  She has a very furry tail and they clipped it way back at the top of the tail making it looks weird. This is also the first time they've ever come home acting stressed from being groomed and all three developed diarrhea from the stress.  Looks like I'll be searching for a new groomer. 

 

I bought a Bountiful Basket and several add-ons yesterday.  I'm excited with this one and hopefully we'll use it up before anything goes bad.  I bought the basic basket, herb basket, 20# of baking potatoes and 5 loaves of sourdough bread.  I LOVE their sourdough bread.  This week I decided to volunteer for the first time and enjoyed it.  Jordon needed to be dropped off at work by 7:45, which is right next to the Bountiful Basket pickup, so I figured I'd drop him off a bit early and be there to volunteer at 7:30.  I helped unload the semi truck and then acted as a runner, getting the add-ons and baskets for the people working the tables.  It made for a long day though.  The herb basket came with 5 vanilla beans so we'll be adding those to the mead.  If I recall right, I saw 5 vanilla pods at Walmart for over $10 and I paid less than that for the entire herb basket so the vanilla pods themselves were worth the purchase.

 

My bargain find of the week was getting a year of Amazon Prime for $72.  Someone posted on one of the budget/frugal blogs I follow on Facebook yesterday that it was on sale yesterday only.  They upped the cost from $75 last year to $99 this year so this was a big savings.  My Prime Membership ends next month so this was something I knew would be coming up to renew. Of course they didn't want to give me the price since I'm already a subscriber.  I remembered something I read on another blog about a year or so ago and "gifted" myself a subscription to get around them not wanting to let me have it for that price.  I ended my membership at the end of my contract next month and I'll activate my "gift" the next day.  Savings of $25!

 

GARDENING:  The lettuce is ready to harvest!  I'm so excited!  Maybe tonight we'll harvest it and enjoy some.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's about 5.5" tall, the middle is almost 6".

 

 

CRAFTING:  I've worked a little bit on the baby afghan this week.  It's coming along.  I want it to be at least 36" and it's about 22.5" right now.  The pattern is easy once you have it down and you can mindlessly work on it for the most part until you get to the corners and have to work the miter.  I've been watching a lot of Miss Marple this week and working on this.

 

10-Stitch baby afghan







ORGANIZATING PROJECT:  I worked through the bookcase I started on.  I ended up taking 5 fabric shopping bags full of books to Salvation Army.  Most of the books were cookbooks and diet books.  I've got about 4 bags of magazines I need to either take to Salvation Army or find someplace to donate them also. Oreo is making sure I'm not getting rid of the dog treat cookbooks.  I think I listed about 30 books on PaperBackSwap and had 10 of them immediately grabbed up.  I'll start on another bookcase this week.  I really wish they could be swapped for Kindle books but that feature has not been available for electronic books yet.  There are probably a lot I could still weed out of this bookcase but this was a good start.

READING:  I finally finished Quaker Café by Brenda Bevan Remmes.  This was a book that took me a little bit to get into but by halfway through it had caught me.  There are a lot of turns in this book and some thought provoking subjects. I also finished If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name by Heather Lende.  I got it at a discount price from what it is listed for now but it's a great read about her life in Alaska and the people that live around her. I will probably pick up more of her other books.  She writes for NPR and several other publications/organizations.  I'm fascinated by Alaska and would love to visit there and have been reading books like this when I can find them.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS JANUARY10-11, 2015

It was a pretty relaxing weekend.  Saturday I decided to go thrift store shopping.  I can't remember when I last went so I was overdue.  I scored five Patterson novels for Matt for $3.25 total.  I picked up a couple books for myself.  Salvation Army had all their books marked down to 25c a piece.  It looked like they'd gotten rid of most of their books as most of the shelves were only partly full or totally empty so it was really surprising when I found four of the Patterson books there..  Not sure what's up with them cleaning out their books.  Salvation Army is typically our best place to find used books in town.  It appears to be mostly text books now on the shelves, which just seems odd.  I also found a pair of flannel pj pants with Westie dogs on them for $1.99 and a hooded sweater for $2.  I tried to check out a couple junk/chic junk shops but neither of them were open. I went to our heath food store and finally found some carob powder and even better it was marked down 75% so it cost less than $2 for the container! 

Saturday night we went to Matt's company's Christmas party. They had a comedian hypnotist named Fred Winters for entertainment.  The show was hilarious.  The man hypnotized 12 people.  He had them do all sorts of things like having the men think they were pregnant and that they'd gone into labor to having one guy turn his shirt inside out every time he said pizza.  I would have hated to be one of the people and have to work with everybody at the company.  I have huge respect for those brave enough (or drunk enough) to be hypnotized in front of all your coworkers. They had a silent auction and I won a filleting set.  It's a really nice wood one with 2 knives and shears and then a universal fishing tool.  I had hoped Matt would win either the 60" TV or the ice auger grand prizes but no luck this time.

Tip had to go back into the vet this week.  He fell coming into the house from the mudroom really hard and then started chewing on himself the same like he was a piranha.  As I didn't want it to get to the point he was bleeding again I took him in.  She thinks he's having some type of skin allergy.  Now we just have to figure out to what.  He's on an allergy medication to help with the itching and doing another round of the antibiotic.  The bad boy did some counter surfing and pulled a bag of King's Hawaiian Rolls off and ate them earlier in the week.  As he was the only one with diarrhea I'm assuming he some how managed to not share his bounty with either of the other two.  A loaf of bread disappeared off the counter last night and we found minute plastic bag fragments on the floor, which is Lacey's MO.  Fortunately nobody has gotten diarrhea. The carob I found will be used for carob treats for the pups.  Tip really misses his Boxer Brownies (carob brownies) from Three Dog Bakery. I think they have the recipe in their book.

MEAD:
Sunday we racked our mead and added blackberries and blackberry puree to the 5 gallon bottle. The 3 gallon one we decided to put some cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans in (which I need to order). We started this batch of mead I think in September, so it's been sitting for almost 4 months.  Hopefully by summer we'll have some tasty beverage options.  Excuse the messy table.

3 gallon carboy before racking it

6 gallon bucket after adding blackberry puree and blackberries to it

GARDENING:
The lettuce is getting huge.  I'm going to have to raise the light this week.  It seems they double in size overnight.  They leaves are a nice thick leaf, not thin and wimpy.  The dill is up about 3 inches.  The basil I just took the dome off.  I can't wait for it to really start growing so I can harvest some.  Margherita pizza!  The parsley sprouted this week so everything is growing!  The parsley is also the only one with a dome still on it. I put more nutrient in as you need to add more every two weeks.

CRAFTING:
I did work on the 10 Stitch baby afghan this week and I'm nearly done with the first skein of yarn.  I already have the next one rolled and ready to go.  I really need to start focusing on this project more.

WINTER ORGANIZING:
I got a start on weeding out one of my bookcases and pulled probably a dozen books out.  I really didn't have a lot of free time to work on it this week but at least started.

I inventoried the freezer a couple weeks ago so I'm trying to use up what's in it.  Using up the 10 clam shells of blackberries that was in it will open up a lot of space.  Matt and Jordon both have been taking frozen meals to work so a lot of space has been taken up with their food.  My menu plan for this week are based around using up items.  Meals includes steak tacos using the flat iron steaks, ham & bean soup to use up the ham bone, sausage and biscuits to use one of the packages of bulk country sausage. I have a ton of vegetables I need to use also.  I may roast the chicken I have and then use the leftovers to make chicken pot pie.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS JANUARY 4, 2015

Happy New Year!  Matt flew back from Michigan and was pretty tired so we didn't do much except have a drink and go to bed after we watched the ball fall.  He slept in his chair until then and I honestly wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay awake long enough but we managed it.  We decided to drink wine this year as neither of us was in the mood for champagne. Champagne for me is for mimosas; otherwise, I'm not a huge fan. We had a lovely Cabernet that we both enjoyed.

I spent most of Matt's time gone working on organizational projects.  There was a large moving box from our move here that I still hadn't gone through.  Matt has frequently complained about my bath items that were stuffed on a bamboo side table in the bathroom.  So my first project after he left was to buy a shelving unit for the bathroom and getting my bath supplies organized.  The bars are a bit too far apart so I think I may get some tempered glass to put on top of each shelf so items don't fall over. I didn't have many options at Walmart to chose from. There's enough room I might get another one and keep the towels and washrags in so they're closer to the tub/shower instead of in the closet across the room.

My AeroGarden is growing beyond expectations so far.  I've had to take the caps off three of the pods because the plants were so large.  I'll take the cap off the last lettuce tomorrow.  Everything is growing except the parsley.

3 types of lettuce



basil, parsley, and dill (left to right)

Today I took down the tree and got the living room cleaned back up and reorganized again.  I bought a roll of burlap that I used to make a runner for the top of the TV stand and also to cover the tops of the speakers next to it.  I like the rustic look of it and I think the roll was less than $5.  I have a wood tray on the ottoman that I plan to cut a piece from what's left to put inside to put inside the tray. 

The store manager informed me yesterday that I won't be on the schedule after January 17th.  How long I'll be off he didn't know.  So much for my part time job. Corporate cut the hours they can schedule and told them they can't give temps any hours and can't convert any temps to permanent. It's totally insane too.  Shelves are nearly half empty and people complain all the time they can't find anybody to help them. Oh well, we'll see what happens. My hope of getting a camper is disappearing. I'm not sure if I'll just sit and wait it out or look for another part time job.  I've got some jute I can crochet another rug from and put up on the Etsy website and see if I can sell them. I also have been wanting to start a quilt so I have time for that too.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS DECEMBER 20, 2014

We've had a lot of foggy days this past week with 4 straight days of freezing fog and then again yesterday.  This was a picture of our tree this morning.  It's absolutely beautiful to behold.  This freeze was slightly different last night in it frozen like shards on the limbs.  It normally looks more like moss growing on the limbs.

The skies have been grey and overcast all week.  I wish we could see a bit of sunshine.  It's just been downright gloomy!

My crazy work schedule for the past three weeks has finally been fixed and I'll be working my requesting 12 to 16 hours per week at my second job instead of the 24 they've been giving me.  I honestly don't know how some of them do it.  There are several that work 24 or more hours on top of their full time jobs.  I was overwhelmed with just three weeks of it.  It felt like I did nothing but work with no breaks.  I have three days in a row off this week!!!!  I may go into shock at all that time off! Granted I'll be busy two of those days cooking for Christmas but I won't be at a cash register or computer.

I finished my Christmas shopping and have everything wrapped and under the tree except for the stockings.  Hopefully everyone will like the gifts I bought. I wrapped everything Friday night after Matt went to work while watching A Christmas Carol (1938 version). It's the only free one on Amazon Prime. I'll have to dig through my DVD's and see which ones I have.  I'd like to watch the one with Patrick Stewart. It's my Christmas tradition to watch as many versions as I can each year. I use to watch A Christmas Carol and Scrooge movies with my Grandma and Uncle Keith. I can remember staying up Christmas Eve after we got back from church watching some version until I fell asleep. I finished all our family and friend holiday cards last Sunday and finished doing the cards to my Mary Jane's Farm friends today so I think I can safely say that I'm done except for cooking.  

Today I made some minty biscuits for the pups to help their bad breath.  The biscuits are cooling in the oven now so they haven't tried them.  Took them outside and when we came back in the wonderful smell of mint filled the kitchen.  Oreo has been whining since they went into the oven so I suspect she knows there are treats in there that she wants.

CRAFTING:

I started a 10-Stitch baby blanket this week for a girl that I use to work with.  Since Matt's flying back to Michigan after Christmas to visit his family and friends, I plan on using the time to do some intense knitting and cleaning.  My friend is having a baby girl so I'm doing it in a solid pink.  Hope it turns out.

READING:

Dark Wolf by Christine Feehan. This is a continuation of a large /vampire/shifter series she has. Both characters have been appearing throughout the series so I was interested to read how they finally came together. Skye, the female character, was a child when she first appeared in the series so it was interesting to see glimpses of her growing up in other books and now to have reached adulthood. I have lost interest in the series as it seemed to be the same thing over and over.  This is book 25 so there are a LOT of books in the series.  I really liked this one and I'm glad I bought it on my Kindle to keep.

RV Boondocking for Beginners by Steve Plant.  Short book that was free on boondocking but has gone up to $2.99.  Great beginner resource.  If you've considered getting an RV and/or boondocking this might be a good starting book.  

Plain & Simple Traditions: Amish & Mennonite Holidays by Sarah Price. This is a new release as of this past week that was $2.99 on Kindle. I had pre-ordered this after she posted pre-order information on her Facebook page last month.  It was interesting to read how they celebrate and there are a ton of recipes. A lot of the recipes I've tried but there are some new ones. The one thing I didn't like was her putting the lyrics to Christmas hymns in. I understand that some people may not have heard of the hymns but I would have preferred more information and examples.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS DECEMBER 14, 2014

Oven baked I-Tail-ian Meatballs from Three Dog Bakery Cookbook

I-Tail-ian meatballs were made and given 3 paws approval from the pups.  I used a 1" cookie scoop to make them. I think they are too large for snacks so I cut them into quarters after I baked them.  The recipe had them cooked in a pan the entire time but I thought it would be better to bake them so I put them in the oven for 20 minutes after browning them in a pan.  I did keep out 3 whole cooked meatballs and frozen them for the pups Christmas meal.  The recipe I believe is intended for those that cook their dogs food daily and if you used these for a meal I would probably use a larger scoop or feed them several depending on the dog's size. I also found these to be extremely moist.  The next time I might use only one egg to bind them and see if that helps.  As you can see they sort of flattened into patties when I flipped them.

My baking today also included 4 mini loaves of banana bread.  I used a new recipe that I found on Not Quite Amish Living.  The pups got a bit of a loaf end and gave it 3 paws up too.  Oreo loves bananas so it's no surprise she likes banana bread and Tip loves bread of any type.  I added pecan chips to it, although not the cup they suggested.  I used a small bag so it was probably approximately 1/4 cup of chopped pecans if that much.  I think I bought the pecans for salads and hadn't used them so it was a good way to use them up.

While I was baking, I cleaned the shelves and drawers of the fridge.  I had some fruit go bad in the fruit drawer and wanted to sanitize the drawer and ended up cleaning the whole thing. It's a good thing to clean it out every couple months anyway so it was due. I'd like to get some drawer and shelf liners to make future cleaning easier. Unfortunately I didn't get the freezer inventoried like I'd hoped. At this point I honestly have no clue what's in there.  With Matt on a soft diet for the past several weeks we haven't been eating out of the freezer.

I was hoping Jordon would help me decorate the tree but he took off after I picked him up from work. Matt was working tonight. This year I chose to put it in the living room.  To protect the carpet from the needles I put a flannel bed sheet under it to catch the needles. I put the tree skirt over the top of the sheet in the front.  I decided to go simple this year on decorating and left 75% of my decorations in the tubs.  The tree looks a lot prettier in life then it does in this picture.  I had to take down and put away all the fall decorations and then reorganize the living a bit to clear that corner. Hopefully Matt doesn't get too upset.  He hates me reorganizing rooms.

While I was working I  watching Cranford on Amazon Prime.  I really like this BBC series and was disappointed to discover it only has 8 episodes total.  I finished season 1 today and unfortunately season 2 isn't free.  There's 3 episodes left of the series so I'll probably break down and pay for season 2. I may check the library to see if they have it before spending the money.  My other recent favorite was Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on Amazon Prime.  I finished up with the series last weekend.  Matt and I referred to as the "flapper mysteries".  I wanted to watch some Miss Marple mysteries but discovered the one I wanted is now no longer free.  Why is it everything I like has gone from free to rent for a fee?  After I finished watching Cranford I decided a Harry Potter marathon was my choice for relaxing so I popped a DVD in.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS DECEMBER 13, 2014

This week has been busy.  This was the first of my three 64 hour weeks and I have survived it although by Thursday I was pretty tired.  This too shall pass as the week of Christmas my hours at my second job drop to 16 and then the next week to 12.  Feast or famine it appears. I'm going to open my schedule up to working in Lawn & Garden to help ensure that I get hours.

We're still adjusting to Matt's schedule but things are starting to settle.  The one issue I'm not sure about is how we're going to work out is lunch.  By the time he gets up around 11, I'm starting to get hungry and he only wants his coffee (his breakfast) and isn't interested in eating until about 2.  As I typically take Jordon to work about 11:45, having my lunch after I get back makes more sense then starting work again and then taking another break.  It doesn't look like our idea of having a "family" lunch is going to work at this time.

Our weather has been warmer this week.  Temps this weekend are expected to be around 40'F.  Hopefully the snow will melt. The warmer temps are causing fog at night and in the morning.  I have a beautiful view of white covered trees out my window by my work computer from the fog freezing on the trees. Matt took this picture from outside.

Last night when I went to get Jordon from work there was a light mist and frozen ice on my windows.  Jordon went to take the garbage out for me and nearly fell on the deck from the freezing mist so although it can be really pretty, it can be dangerous as well.  This morning when I took him to work there was a thick fog and everything was still slick.  Thankfully the main road was not slippery.

I ran out of the peanut butter treats so I made up a new batch of biscuits for the pups.  This time I made Pumpkin Pie Biscuits from You Bake 'Em Dog Biscuits Cookbook by Janine Adams.  They smell divine! I made three dog shaped cookies and frozen them for Christmas Day for their dessert and the rest were bone shaped for daily treats.  There is a good amount of cinnamon and nutmeg in them so they smell just like a pumpkin pie.  These don't rise so you have to roll them thick to have a good thickness of biscuit.  The pups give them a thumbs up too.  My weekend baking plan is to make I-Tail-ian Meatballs from the Three Dog Bakery Cookbook.  I have the turkey thawing so hopefully these will get made up tomorrow.  I may see if I can get another batch of biscuits done too.

Weekend Ramblings December 7, 2014

I've been super busy.  The hours I'd asked for have not been honored and they're giving me 20-24 hours a week, making my work weeks between 60-64 hours, which is WAY to many hours for me.  Unfortunately I'm not getting anything done because I'm working so much.  Instead of enjoying my Sundays I'm rushing around trying to get everything done.  I hope to get my schedule fixed soon or I may have to give up the idea of the second job.  When I feel overwhelmed like I did this week, I try to remember to breath deep and to remind myself that this is only temporary and it shall pass.

I had a scare with Tip right before Thanksgiving.  Walked in the door after getting home from work and noticed blood all over Tip's flank.  I'd thought to save a few pennies by buying cheap treats and Tip had a reaction which caused a really bad hot spot that he kept chewing.  I tried treating it myself but he won't stop chewing on himself so I took him in to the vet the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Thankfully the antibiotics and steroid taper she put him on has worked.  He's been stumbling a bit so I talked to her about that too and we may start some type of med after he finishes up his steroid taper for arthritis to help him.  There's a definite improvement in his movement since he's been on the steroids.  Oreo needs to go in for hip issues too so I'll be seeing the vet quite a bit.

Since my dog treats have to be carefully watched now, I've started making my own dog biscuits so I can control the ingredients.  This batch is peanut butter flavored.  Simple, but they definitely liked them.  I had bought several cookbooks and dog bone cookie cutters in various sizes with intentions of making their dog treats but never carried through with it.  I made bones in 1.5" and 2' sizes".  I liked the amount of rise I got from this recipe.  The one time I made them before they stayed really flat.



Peanut Butter doggie treats

Thanksgiving day we set a record low at -29 degrees beating the previous record of -14.  Those temps are without wind chill.  I'm a bit worried to say the least about it plunging so low so early in the season.  I might have to go visit my son down in Texas to thaw out! We have also gotten several inches of snow.  The pups were so excited when they went out in it the first time this winter.  It was snowing when I got home from work that night so the pups and I did a late night walk in the snow which is an annual ritual.  I thought I had some time to get them some boots to protect their paws but with temps so low already I'll have to get some ordered.  Thankfully the weather has been warmer and today we had some melt off.  The pups and I actually got out for a walk today it was so nice.



Lacey walking the perimeter



Lacey checking out tracks through the yard

As you can see Lacey is checking out the tracks in the yard.  She's been very skittish since the skunk incident.  She watches the direction the skunk ran every time we're outside.  Who would have thought she would have become such a guard dog!