Designing in Life

Happy Thanksgiving to All

I'll be on my way in about an hour to points south to visit my sisters, and have Thanksgiving dinner with them.  Nick will be at home and dining with our dear friends, Martha and Roger.  I'll be stopping in Jersey City on my way home to visit Beth, Jim, Chloe and Phoebe.

I just want to say that there are some things that I really am thankful for.  I'm thankful for all the very sweet and wonderful friends I have.  I'm thankful for having a close and caring family.  And I'm thankful that I live in such a beautiful place.

Here (in pictures) was the end of a beautiful day yesterday.  The sunsets where I live never cease to inspire awe.

Be thankful for what you have, and live each and every day to its fullest.  Happy Thanksgiving.

A Printable Calendar for You

This is just one of the  owl pictures from Shivana's  My Owl Barn.  She's offering a printble 2011 calendar with 30 owl-themed pictures (by different artisits) to choose from for the top of each month.  I had a hard time choosing because they're all so darn cute.

I guess it's not too soon to start thinking about 2011.  Whoa, time sure is flying by.  I'm sure trying to make the most of it!

Sunday at Our House

It was a busy day at our house today.  I made

rolls...

and applesauce that I'll take with me to South Jersey for Thanksgiving.

Nick wanted to put up scaffolding, so that it will be in place tomorrow when he and the roofer start on the front roof.

It's not that easy to do by yourself, so he got me to help him.

Notice the foot...

And he got me up there again to help finish.

I know I've posted this recipe before, but if you're looking for a dinner roll for Thanksgiving, these have always been tried and true.

Poor Farm Rolls

1 package yeast
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
4-5 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water.  Beat eggs and add melted butter, salt and sugar.  Add yeast mixture and 1 cup of water.  Add flour.  Let rise until doubled.  Make rolls and place on cookie sheets.  Cover and let rise for 1/2 hour or until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

Getting into the Spirit of the Season

I put a dent in my holiday shopping today.  As if I haven't said this every year, but here goes...I'd like to finish it early and enjoy the holiday atmosphere without the stress of what I need to do next.

Nick came home from Lowes today with a "look what you bought for my birthday, Honey" purchase.  His birthday is the 20th of December, so I've always felt it is important to separate the gifts and make sure they're not all rolled into one.  However, if I was to purchase the item below, I think it might encompase every birthday, Christmas, Anniversary and whatever other reason there is for a gift from now until forever.

Powered by two 3,600-hp Wärtsilä engines, the 377 foot long yacht,Pelorus, has a submarine capable of detecting sea mines, and a anti-missile detection system. It also sports a Heli pad with (of course) it’s own chopper.

Accommodations: Owner plus 20 guests and 5 staff. Crew: 41 (including 3 chefs, 8 engineers, 2 full-time laundrymen and a trained nurse.  All this for only:  $140,000,000

I guess all we need now are those 20 guests and we're good to go!

Let the Shopping Begin

I spoke with Beth today, and she's going to send me some gift suggestions for the girls – but I've had a few ideas of my own.

This is from Neiman Marcus’ Christmas Book. An edible gingerbread house, (made by confectioners from Dylan’s Candy Bar) is made from “cookies, lollipops, gummies, mints, gumdrops and a candy-encrusted roof.” That's not all.  A lollipop tree is waiting on the inside.  Yup, Chloe and Phoebe would love this.  My pocketbook however, at $15,000, does not.

Guess I'll just wait for the list.

For Your Thanksgiving Table

I love to look at what's new, well actually they're usually pretty old and vintage, at the Graphic's Fairy's site.  Today I found this:

I decided this would make a fun place card for a Thanksgiving table.  So, this is what I did.

I opened it up in Photo Shop,made it smaller, and added names.  Even if you're not a Photo Shop user, you can still download the image and write the name of your choice on the corn.

Guess I'd better get started on making some of these, since I'll have to get them into the mail!

 

A Beautiful Weekend

As the Mid-west has become blanketed with snow, we here in the Northeast are experiencing some beautiful weather.  It has been in the high 50's, which means I have spent most of the weekend outside.

I was too busy to take many pictures, I'm sorry to say, but will happily tell you what we did.

We tackled the pile of wood by the house and got it all split.  We use a small electric splitter, which is perfect for cutting the size wood that we need.  I did have a small mouse jump out of one of the logs and start climbing up my pants.  Luckily it was not a spider, so I wasn't terrified!  In fact, I think mice are pretty cute, outside, not in the house!

Nick brought the scaffodling to the south of the house and proceeded to construct it, so that it will be ready for the contractor tomorrow.  I was able to help him, but not as much as I would have liked.  Limping around made me more like the turtle than the hare.

The lawn got mowed, even though it was still pretty wet.  And I can say that my garden is about as "put to bed" for the winter as it will be.  I took down all the tomato cages, bean poles and stakes.  Pulled out the dead plants and piled them up for the compost.  I found many grape tomatoes that were still edible buried beneath the straw.  Four stray pumpkins appeared that I'll bring in in hopes that they will finish turning orange.  And then I dug up these.

These are celeriac, also known as celery root.  It is related to carrots, parsnips, anise and parsley.  The tops (which I have cut off) do resemble celery.  Pare the outter layer and chop, add to soup or stew as you would celery.  This is the first year I have grown it, and will add to my list next year.  The flavor is a bit richer than celery, and the dishes that I've used it in have been enhanced by its use.  I guess by looking at these, it's no wonder that they call it the "the vegetable world's ugly duckling."

I know this may very well be the last of weekends like this one.  And I'm so very happy that I was able to take advantage of the glorious weather.  The sunsets have been gorgeous also.  I caught last night's sunset a bit late, but the color was wonderful.

Birthday Party Extravaganza

Last weekend I was in Jersey City to help celebrate Chloe and Phoebe's birthdays.  The party was held on Saturday at Alstead Farms, in Chester, NJ.  All I can say is that every kid there had a blast.  It was wonderful watching all of them run from the massive hay bale mountain, to the tractor wagon train, the pony rides and feeding all the animals.  As chilly a day as it was, no one seemed to mind.  Hot chocolate and hot cider helped warm little and older hands alike.  So here is the day in pictures.

Chloe and friends on the tractor wagon train.

Phoebe calling for the goats.  Chloe having a serious conversation about them.

They know there are carrots somewhere.

The haybale mountain.

Phoebe on the right with Bella and John.

One happy cow girl.

Cake!!!!!

Even Nona had a great time.

FROSTY!!

I was going to post a few pictures of the finished roof on the back dormer, but it looks like they must be on the other camera.

We woke up to 20 degrees yesterday morning.  A bit on the brrrrrrr side for this time of year.  It was not without its rewards, however.

As you can see, the heavy frost looked just like a layer of snow.

The bank of clouds you see at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains is actually over Lake Champlain.  We see this often this time of year because the lake is probably a pretty toasty 50 degrees.  The 20 degree air above it creates this cloud coverage.  Pretty spectacular.  And so nice that I can find something beautiful to comment on when the leaves are almost gone, there is no garden to tend to and the weather requires more than one layer of clothing!

What's Your Color Personality??

Here's a quiz from Real Simple magazine just in case you want to know what your color choices say about you. 

I have a "Fire" personality and can't quite for the life of me figure out how that came from the answers I gave.  A closet full of pastel clothing doesn't sound like a ball of fire to me.  But hey, these quizes are always fun to do anyway and maybe I do have a fiery personality and just don't know it!