Monday, November 30, 2009

A Handmade Birthday Gift

Today was spent in the sewing room working on a monogrammed pillow for one of Elizabeth's friends.Unfortunately I waited until the last minute; the Birthday is Wednesday and today was my only full day at home.
When possible I like giving handmade gifts so I put my "to do" list to the side and focused only on the pillow.
I think the Birthday girl will be pleased with her gift.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Black Friday

I do not like crowds! However, I have one exception...and that is Black Friday. To me it doesn't feel like Christmas until you are in the middle of Christmas shoppers; every year I like to go out into the crowds and window shop. Normally the only place I actually buy anything on Black Friday is the fabric store but this year I stopped by CVS for a minute and found some unexpected bargains; all of this for a whopping 27-cents!!!!
Just how did I get all this for 27-cents? The lotion and candy each had a promotion for ECB's equal to their value and the tooth brush, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion came out to 99-cents each after more promotional ECB's plus I had a holiday coupon for an additional 4-dollars in ECB's. So, I paid $23.74 out of pocket and received $23.47 in ECB's to be used anytime from now until December 27th.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

Our meal is now finished and all that is left to do are the dirty dishes; but these will have to wait until after I take a much needed nap.
I hope everyone had good food and good company like we did; Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Preparations pt. 2

Well, today I managed to sleep in before beginning day two of my cooking marathon. My ham was put in the roaster first thing so it could cook slowly until it began pulling away from the bone.
All the rich broth will be saved for pinto beans; oh yum, ham broth makes the very best pinto beans!
While the ham was cooking I made some Watergate Salad. My mom always made this when I was growing up; it's so good!
I also made some banana bread but one stuck in the pan.
Each year I make pecan pie;
And Elizabeth saved me some time by helping to break up the pecans for me.
This years pumpkin pie has been made from one of my garden pumpkins and I used a new recipe too.
Just in case the new pie doesn't taste right I made a second pumpkin pie from canned pumpkin using my regular recipe.
The last of today's pies is apple. I used all my large pie plates for the other pies so the apple had to be divided between two small pie plates. Tomorrow morning I will start the bread and other foods that do not work well making ahead; I am so looking forward to eating all this wonderful food tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Thanksgiving Preparations

My day began very early this morning with my turkey going into the roaster. I like to cook it slow until the meat falls off the bones.
As soon as it cools enough to handle all the meat is removed from the bones.
The turkey will be served on this platter along with ham on Thanksgiving day.
After I finished the meat I began washing celery and removing the leaves. This year the celery stalks were on sale for 39-cents each.
I added all the leaves, along with onions, to my stock pot of bones. This boiled for a few hours and produced a very rich stock.
Here is just some of the stock.
While the stock simmered I began chopping celery;
And carrots;
Which were mixed together in a large pan.
All the celery and carrots were then canned with broth for my own homemade "soup starter".
I am now exhausted but very pleased with all that has been accomplished so far.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Pizza Stone

I tried using a pizza stone for the first time yesterday.
The outer edge was crispy but the underside was soft and not brown in any way.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

My LUCKY Charms Day

CVS has Lucky Charms cereal on sale this week for $1.99 per box so I bought 2-boxes for Elizabeth; she loves to eat "Fun Cereal".When I got home my game box was a winning box; it contained a $10 gift card!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

More Puff Ball Cuties

It's the wrong season for newly hatched chicks but we had two hens so determined to hatch eggs that we finally gave in and let them each have 8 eggs a piece. On Thursday the eggs began hatching; out of 16 eggs we ended up with 9 new chicks.
Three eggs didn't hatch and I think a raccoon may have feasted on some of them as I had noticed something had been in the pen recently.

Friday, November 13, 2009

A Three Dollar Skirt

A couple of weeks ago I found a very pretty ladies corduroy skirt at the Goodwill for 3-dollars; as I looked at the skirt I was wishing it would fit Elizabeth.
Then an idea struck me...I should re-make the skirt to fit Elizabeth!So, I ripped out the seams and chose 3 of the 4 tiers for the new skirt.
After cutting down the top tier I added new elastic and then gathered the remaining two tiers.
I love how long and full the skirt turned out.
I like how the skirt turned out so much I am anxious to find and re-make another one.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Halloween Bargain

Along with the traditional candy bargains I normally buy after Halloween, this year I found some clothing bargains. For my nephew I found this cute t-shirt for 39-cents. (Eva, look for it in your Christmas package.)
For Elizabeth I found a cute orange pumpkin t-shirt for 49-cents...
And a black pumpkin t-shirt for 49-cents...
And a pair of polka dot pants for 59-cents; both t-shirts match these pants perfectly.
I love it when I find new items at the store for "garage sale" prices!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Home Grown Popcorn

My late planting of popcorn has produced more than I expected.
Many of the cobs are small but I have come across a few that are pretty long.
So far I have only picked from a few stalks; hopefully I will have time to pick the rest tomorrow.

Monday, November 9, 2009

22 Cock A Doodle Doos

Bright and early this morning we began a butchering Marathon. Our goal was to butcher 22 large roosters; the job took us 10 hours!
We then had to find suitable storage; thankfully Pat uses an old refrigerator at the warehouse for drinks and snacks but never uses the freezer. All 22 roosters just fit!
It feels good to have this job finished. The next batch of roosters shouldn't need butchering until spring.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Iced Tea

My Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker has been slowly dying. I have had it for several years and wasn't sure what I was going to do when it finally died. When I was growing up my mom would make "sun tea" so I decided to give it a try. The only jar large enough for making tea was a gallon size jar that I normally use for sugar. After a quick washing I filled it with water and some tea bags.
It didn't take any time for the tea to make in the bright sunshine.
I wish I had thought of making sun tea sooner; I love how I now have one less kitchen gadget to deal with.
The flavor of sun tea is amazing.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

A Long and Fun Filled Day

The craft show was a lot of fun; here is Elizabeth all dressed and ready to help run the booth.
We had a nice time visiting with people and I sold enough to consider doing a craft show again. The day was a nice success.

Friday, November 6, 2009

All Set Up

Tonight Elizabeth helped me set up the booth.The dolls are dressed and the clothes have been sorted.
Tomorrow's the big day.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Oh Yes, Now I See

Little hangers and little dresses will soon be here.This will be my first time selling doll clothes at a craft show; I'm both excited and nervous!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Oh How Sweet

Little hangers go hand in hand with little dresses.
Hummm...I wonder what all those dresses mean?

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