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.
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.
I hope everyone had good food and good company like we did; Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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.
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.
The outer edge was crispy but the underside was soft and not brown in any way.
When I got home my game box was a winning box; it contained a $10 gift card!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
The dolls are dressed and the clothes have been sorted.
Tomorrow's the big day.
This will be my first time selling doll clothes at a craft show; I'm both excited and nervous!
