THE EASTER BUNNY AND RELAY FOR LIFE!

Good morning! Well, like most people in my neck of the woods, we are wondering if the predictions for sunshine and warmer temperatures for the weekend will come true! I'm looking at gray skies out my loft window right now. Doesn't look very promising. It can change at any minute though. One of the wondrous things about our area - if you're bored with the weather, just wait 5 minutes!!

So, while I decide what to have for breakfast - rolled oats or scrambled eggs with spinach - I thought I would share my latest "project" and wait for the sun!

Many years ago - about 20 - I was living with a girlfriend who was very crafty, in a good way. She painted, sewed, knitted, crocheted, you name it! Seeing her sewing projects inspired me and so I bought a pattern for a bunny doll and proceeded to make a few bunnies to give away or keep. They needed clothes and the pattern included some basics which I adapted and added to. The most fun was making a wedding outfit for one of them! My friend had some left over slipper satin from a dress she had made and some tulle. I bought some lace and ribbon and mini silk flowers to finish the decorations. I was thinking that one day I might have granddaughters that I could give them to. I did, but by then I had packed them away and forgotten about them and then the girls were more into softball, soccer, LaCrosse, swimming and other sports and not so much into dressing up bunnies. So, for many years, except for the occassional Easter showing, they have been in a quilt bag in a large tote in whatever storage area I had at the time. Well, it's time to do something with them!

That brings me to the Relay for Life part of this blog. Like many of you, my life has been touched personally by cancer. My grandmother, mother, ex-mother-in-law and ex-sister-in-law all lost their battle with varous cancers. My partner, Tom, has lost his mother and 3 sisters to cancer and a fourth is currently in remission from a virulent form of blood cancer that could come back at any time! And then there are my neighbor friends who have fought and won or fought and lost in the past few years. Like I said, it has touched many of us in different ways. Because of this, I joined my first Relay for Life team back in 1993 while working at a credit union in Raymond, WA. Since then, I have either walked, helped with fund raisers or both every year and a few times I even walked in 2 of the events. The past 2 years I offered one of my stained glass angels to anyone who donated $25.00 or more. I'm not able to make those this winter, so I'm just asking for any donations. You can go to my page at http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12National?px=2099460&pg=personal&fr_id=39022 and make a donation on-line if you'd like! It's easy!

 Although I'm not doing the angels this year, I am co-captain for my Peninsula Credit Union team and helping with fundraisers. With Easter around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to donate one of the bunnies with a few outfits for an inter-office auction. What do you think? I took these pictures of the one I'm donating in her different outfits.   

Golf, anyone?

 
    

Here comes the bride!



I hope that others like her just as much as I do

So, even though it's not a recent project, I thought you'd like to see some past things I've done and maybe check into my Relay for Life page and see what it's all about if you don't know or even make a donation! It's for a great cause and any amount is welcomed.

Oh, update on my visit with my daughter - I loved it!! We had the best time just visiting, watching a movie - The Descendants with George Clooney - watch it if you haven't! - dinner at the Inn and then the ride to the airport in the morning. She is so beautiful! And she and my handsome son-in-law are such hard-working devoted parents and business owners. I just admire all they have accomplished in their young lives!



So, I decided on old fashioned rolled oats with a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Yummy! The sun peeked out for a minute.  Gone right now. Time to eat my oats and head to ZUMBA! Yes, Annette, I still do ZUMBA! Haven't lost a bunch of weight, buy I have a bunch more energy and get through the whole hour without dying!! I figure that's an accomplishment in itself! HA!!



Hope you have a fun, blessed weekend!

Jackie





PLAYING WITH RECIPES AGAIN!

I don't know about you, but I have never thought that recipes were sacred or written in stone. If I find one that interests me, I'll follow it to a "T" the first time, but then, watch out! Creativity and curiousity kick in and I just have to try a variation. Or, like tonight, the ingredients called for are not available, so I had to improvise. It's all in good fun and I do mean GOOD!!

So tonight's experiment was a spin-off of a favorite recipe for shortbread that I found on Epicurious.com. Fitting name, don't you think?!

Here's the original:

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup superfine granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Optional: 1/2 cup chopped toasted nuts.

Blend butter, sugar, vanilla and salt with a fork until combined well. Sift flout into mixture and blend with fork until mixture forms a soft dough.

Transfer the dough to an ungreased large baking sheet and pat into a 9 by 4 1/2 inch rectangle. Crimp edges decoratively and prick dough all over with fork tines. Score dough crosswise with the back of a butter knife into 8 sections. Sprinkle with chopped toasted nuts, if desired, and press gently into dough with your fingertips.

Bake in middle of oven at 375 degrees until edges are golden, about 15 mins. Cool on baking sheet on a rack 10 minutes, then cut into slices with a sharp knife. Transfer slices to a rack using a spatula and cool completely.

Now, I have made this exact recipe a few times and always had rave reviews. For our annual bake sale at work, I made a couple batches, one like the original and one with a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon added. Both were well-liked.

Well, tonight I thought I'd make a little treat for the weekend. You see my oldest daughter, Carman, will be visiting me and she may be bringing her sister along and I wanted to have a sweet snack for them. I'm terribly excited to see Carman, she lives in Pennsylvania so I don't get to see her often. I'm also happy to see Kellie and look forward to spending time with them. But, I digress.

So, I went to make the shortbread. The reason I like this recipe is that it's quick, easy, and uses ingredients you usually have around the house. I stress "usually"! I put the butter out to soften on my way to a Relay for Life Team Captain meeting. It was just about right when I got home. Into the bowl it goes. Then I reach for my canister of sugar only to find that I barely have a tablespoon of sugar, let alone 1/4 cup! And, actually, I needed 1/2 cup since I was making a double batch. Did I let that stop me? Oh, no! I had a bag of brown sugar and thought "why not"? So, sifting it into the bowl, I proceeded with the recipe. But then, while getting the salt down from the cupboard, I thought, "how about a little nutmeg to spice it up a bit"? So, I tossed in a 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg to the mix. Patting it all out on the cookie sheet to about a 12 x 8 rectangle, pricking and scoring, I decided to toss on some sliced almonds. Oh, I scored it to make 24 cookies.

Well, it took about 20 minutes to bake. A couple corner pieces broke while tranferring them to the cooling rack, so that gave me an excuse to try one out. As if I needed one - right?! Got to make sure I don't serve disgusting tasting food to my children!! Anyway, it tasted great! Success!!  And here's what they looked like on the plate:

Don't they look scrumptous?! I promise to be very strong and not have another one until Saturday. Pray for me!!!! And let me know about your experiments!!

Until next time!

Jackie

DOLLS, BUGGY AND OTHER PRECIOUS GIFTS

 

My "oyster"!



I have received many precious gifts through my lifetime from relatives and friends. Some of the smallest have included a plaster of paris rendition of an oyster shell made by my oldest daughter in pre-school that I still have and a ceramic heart on a string necklace made by my youngest daughter while in either Sunday school or kindergarten which hangs on my bed-side lamp. Both are equally precious to me!  I have several other items either painted or drawn or crafted by them and they are all dear to my heart.  



My Valentine necklace!

   

And then there are the gifts from my mother – a quilt she made, paintings she did in her 60’s while taking a Bob Ross class, a Japanese style enamel jewelry box with hand painted and inlaid mother of pearl decoration that I received for Christmas in 1957, some family heirlooms and many other items. All are special to me and some come with a specific memory.



My 50th birthday gift!



Tom has given me many gifts through the years that have tugged at my heartstrings because I know he has given much thought to each one and didn’t just grab something off a shelf because it was my birthday and he’d forgotten to pick out a   gift. He usually does his purchasing in bulk and then doles the items out to me over the different occasions such as Christmas, Valentines, birthday, etc. Doesn’t make them any less special, but sometimes a little predictable! Like when I get a necklace for Christmas, the matching earrings or bracelet will probably be coming later on!! He’s so cute!

And then there are the God-given gifts of life, circumstance, talents, children, family, heart-mate. No value can ever be placed on these because they are priceless and I am blessed many times over by His grace and love when it comes to these gifts.

All this talk about gifts is leading to my latest ones which came from a dear neighbor last weekend. Jenny and her husband, Dale, have recently returned home after trying out an assisted living facility in Pt. Townsend. It just didn’t fit them and they felt they would be more comfortable in their own home for now. So some friends moved them back. Now you have to understand Jenny is in her late 80’s and Dale is 96! So all this moving around has taken its toll on them, but it has also helped Jenny to come to the realization that she needs to start cleaning out her closets and get rid of a lot of stuff! She has taken me through some of her saved clothes, knickknacks, and other collectibles before. She met her first husband while in the service and they were stationed in the Guam and the Philippines, I believe. She still has the handmade silk suit she wore for her wedding! It’s still beautiful! And tiny!! One day she had me go up into her loft to check out some things she had kept from her childhood – can you imagine?! Well, sitting up there was this gorgeous wicker doll buggy and in it was her 1920’s baby doll!! She asked me if I would like to have them. My heart skipped a beat (what woman’s inner child wouldn’t?!), but I immediately asked her if her daughter wouldn’t like to have it. “No,” she said, “she has so much stuff already, she doesn’t have any use for these.” We discussed that possibility some more, but in the end she told me I could have them later on when she was ready to part with them. Well, last weekend she was ready! I offered to pay for them, but she said she would rather give them to someone who would appreciate them and take care of them than sell them to a stranger. And, if these weren’t enough, she had an old doll bed with another, smaller doll that I could have if I wanted! Well, Tom and I packed the dolls, doll bed and buggy up and carried them home where they are now sitting in a corner of our great room.

That night I got on my Mac and did some research to see what I could find out about the buggy and the dolls. The buggy is in very good shape wicker-wise, but the hood lining is pretty worn and the matching buggy insert is soiled. It still has the original maker’s label on the underside – Lloyd’s Looms – so I was able to find a nearly identical one that sold on E-bay recently for nearly $400.00! It’s a mid 1920’s model! Can you believe it!!?

                               

 

Both of the dolls are what they call "composition" with a painted enamel glaze. They have molded head and shoulders, arms and legs. The smaller of the dolls has a maker’s mark and model name embossed on its upper back. It’s a 1920’s Effanbee Dainty Baby doll with its original onesie and matching dress! It has a lot of peeling and its little toes are worn through to the composition, but she’s still beautiful. I couldn’t find any markings on the bigger doll and it is in rougher condition with lots of cracking and peeling. It has jointed arms and legs and it has what they call “sleep eyes” and an open mouth with 2 top teeth. They both have speaker boxes in their bodies so they probably cried “Momma” when rocked front to back. The larger doll is dressed in what Jenny thinks is some of her baby clothes – a gown and matching robe. They appear to be made from flour sack muslin and the gown has hand tatting on the neck and hem. Curiously, none of the clothes have button holes or ties to close them up in back. They were fastened with tiny little brass safety pins.

I washed, air-dried and ironed the clothes, vacuumed the buggy (it’s the paper wound wicker type, so no washing!) and put the redressed dolls in the buggy with the crocheted baby afghan that Jenny included. Don’t they look sweet?!

So, okay, I know – I’m 60-something!! What am I doing with baby dolls and a buggy!!?? Well, I’ll have you know, I have been wanting one of these buggies for nearly 40 years! I’ve seen a few that were in nearly as nice condition as this one, but way out of my price range for something that wasn’t a necessity. So I just thought I would keep looking through the window knowing I could never attain one of those cute reminders of days gone by. And then, as I got older, I thought, well I really don’t have the space for one or the need, so I was satisfied with what little treasures we could find at estate sales or yard sales. Like the little 50’s Kiddie Kar walker/stroller we found a few years ago.

Our bears love their Kiddie Kar!!

And who wouldn't want these adorable dolls!? I have contacted a doll repair person about repairing the Effanbee doll, but haven’t heard back from them yet. If any of you know of a reputable place I could take her, please let me know. Also, I’m wondering about the buggy hood lining. Should I just leave it the way it is for “value” or go ahead and find some similar material and replace it and the soiled bed liner? Any ideas or suggestions?!

Well, while you’re thinking of that, I’m going to go make a mattress and bedding for the doll bed. I’ll show you how it turns out later!

Thanks for visiting!

Jackie



WHERE HAVE I BEEN??!!

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged. Started a couple weeks ago, then my web browser quit working (don't you hate when that happens?) and I decided I wasn't meant to do this. It seems to be cooperating today, so I'll hurry and catch you up. LOL!!

As many of you know, my oldest grandson, Derric, is in AF Tech School in Lackland, TX learning to serve in the Security Forces. I wanted to send him something fun to share with his buddies and had come across a recipe for Cake-in-a-jar that I thought would be just the ticket. Tom helped me pick out the cake mix and frosting and dug out the large mouth canning jars from our stash. The recipe made 1 quart and 2 11/2 pit jars of cake. We had to try one ourselves, of course, to be sure it tasted okay (yeah, right!) which it did. I also made some homemade granola to send along with the cake. I wrapped the jars with bubblewrap and put the 2 cakes, a can of frosting, a baggie of granola, some plastic forks and knife all in a Priority Mail box and shipped it off to Texas. Derric called the night he received the box and let me know it arrived in one piece and the cake was moist and delicious and a fun surprise! Yea!! He thought we had sent him some canned tuna or smoked salmon at first - ha! I think the can of frosting was the clue that it was not fish in the jars!!

I sent a baggie of the granola to my cousin Bob and his partner, John, as well. Bob had made some scumptdillicious pomegranite jelly and sent us a jar for Christmas. (I admit, I saw the post on FB and shamelessly begged for a jar!!) They sent a cute little jelly bowl and spoon along with it. So sweet!! John let me know that they LOVED the granola! Another yea!!

For the cake in a jar, you use any boxed mix, fill the jar about 1/2 way, bake on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 30 mins. While the cake is baking, boil your canning lids and rings. Take the cakes out one at a time, placing a lid and ring on each. Tighten the ring. They should pop letting you know they have sealed in about 5 mins or less. As the cake cools, it will shrink away from the sides, but we found that we still needed to use a knife to slide around the inside to completely loosen it before shaking it out of the jar onto a plate. I found this recipe on a FB page for Air Force families - AF WINGMOMS. It was copied from a blog, but I have found several variations on the web.

The granola is a variation of a famous granola made in a restaurant in NY, NY. Saw it on Good Morning America a few months back and thought it would be a nice Christmas gift. Didn't get the ingredients in time for Christmas - sorry friends! Then, I couldn't find all the ingredients called for, so I improvised!! There is raw pistachios, rolled organic oats, sweetened coconut shavings, pumpkin seeds, and some sliced almonds all coated with some light olive oil, brown sugar, and sugar-free maple syrup. I had some pomegranite infused dried cranberries that I added after the rest was roasted in my oven for about an hour at 300 degrees on a parchment lined raised-side cookie sheet - stirred frequently. It is yummy!!! I've never tried making granola before. It's not a cheap thing to make in small batches!! But it is definitely a winner for a little snacking, sprinkling on your oatmeal or in your yogurt, or even putting some in a bowl and adding some milk. MMMMM good!! I haven't been able to find any shelled pistachios locally, so we had to go to a Winco in Lacey - about 45 minutes from home - to buy them. Then, while shopping at a near-by Costco, we found a big bag of them! Now I have enough for about 4 batches stored in my freezer. Everything else I can get at our local grocery stores. No excuses - got to make some more for the rest of the grandkids!!

Which brings me to another project I finished this month - a keepsake box for my grandson, AJ, who turned 15 this month. I've been working on it for about 2 years. Started out with the top -  a stained glass rendition of the Denver Broncos logo. He was born in Denver and is a fan of the Broncos even though his family moved near Philadelphia about 10 years ago. I had made glass boxes for his 3 sisters, but wanted to do something a bit more masculine for him. I found a pre-made wooden box at JoAnn's a year ago and had painted it Bronco blue inside and out. I then sprayed it with a glossy finish.  But I couldn't figure out how to make the hinge work with a transition from metal to wood. Then, about 2 months ago on my way home from church, it dawned on me! I had some brass hinges in stock from a project I was working on years ago. I just needed to take the pins out, turn them inside out and nail them to the edge of the box and then feed some heavy gage wire through the hinge and into the brass tubing attached to the back edge of the glass top. And, voila!! It wasn't as easy as it sounds - the brads are really small and I hit my fingers as much as the brads! Ouch!!  I then used a trick my friend Mimi from Blue Roof Cabin, uses for transferring designs using pencil lead to put his initials on the front of the box. I used a gold paint pen to fill them in and then sprayed the gloss finish over that for a little extra protection. I forgot to take a picture of it before I mailed it, sorry! But AJ liked it and recognized the Bronco theme right away, so I guess it turned out alright! I'll ask AJ to take a picture of it and put it on FB so I can copy it for my next blog.

So, since I don't have enough to do, I volunteered to be on the Sunday treat list for my church. We give out treats at each of the services to visitors and those celebrating birthdays or anniversaries. Gives me a chance to bake without having to eat the treats!! This was my first week, so what did I do? I thought about it all week until Friday and then, whoosh, it was out of my head!! ARGHH!! Thankfully, the gal in charge sent me a reminder via FB Saturday morning! I knew what I was going to fix and had most of the ingredients, so all I needed to pick up at the store was some whipping cream. That's right - it was time for scones!!! I decided on making 2 types - dark chocolate chip and blueberry infused craisin. I sprinkled a mixture of cinnamon sugar on top before baking and then, for a special treat, topped them with a light glaze. After letting them sit in the fridge to set the glaze, I put each in a little cellophane bag. Debbie was very impressed and delighted with having them delivered personally to her before the 9 am gathering this morning! Hope everyone who got one enjoyed eating them as much as I enjoyed making them! Here are some of each kind.

Don't they look yummy!!??

So, today, I am spending a little time with this blog and a little time with my guy. He worked out of town last week, which is good in that he WORKED, but sad in that I missed him. The best part of course is that it looks like he may get alot of work this Spring and Summer again this year, so we can start planning for our next road trip in the Fall!! Yea!!

He loves to cook, so he was in the middle of making food for all our lunches and dinners for the next week when I got home from church. I can hardly wait to eat them! There are delicious turkey burgers, grilled chicken breasts, stuffed bell peppers, salad, and some pierogies that I cooked last night and sprinkled with finely grated parmesan cheese. (I had to help with something!) I'm a lucky woman!! A good man who loves to cook and is good at it, to boot!! Think he's a keeper!

Tom enjoys lots of different TV programs. He goes through the listings and programs the ones he likes to record on the DVR so he can watch them later and leave out the commercials. One of his favorites is "Stories of the ER". He was watching one of them today after he was done cooking and suddenly broke out with a true belly-shaking laugh!! He was actually tearing up from laughing, so I HAD to see what was so funny. Evidently, this couple comes into the ER with very little clothing on. In fact, the guy only had a beach towell wrapped around him. After being taken into an exam room, it is discovered that he has a camp stove stuck on his penis!! OMG!!! But that's not even the funniest part - the male nurse trying to figure out 1. how it got there and 2. how to get it off, called for a maintenance man to see if he could cut it off - the stove, that is! Well, that poor guy took one look at what was stuck in the stove and passed out!! Then they called the local firestation and asked for an EMT. The EMT took one look and had to go sit down before HE passed out!! By this time, Tom is in hysterics!! The patient has not only been drinking, but smoking pot, so he's getting a kick out of seeing all of this, but really wants to be free from the stove. Well, the nurse finally calls in a urologist and he determines that a large amount of blood needs to be taken from the appendage before it can be released. I won't go into details, but everything comes out okay!!!  LOL!! Okay, I had to say that!!

Now, we're watching an old Twilight show.  I told you, he likes lots of different programs!

Wow! This is turning into a novelette!! Speaking of novelettes, the weather is still too iffy to finish any outside projects, so I'm doing lots of reading. I'm presently working my way throught the Bible for the 5th time. Always find something different that speaks to me. I am also reading Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina". Wonderfu linsights into the Russian aristocracy of the pre-bolshevic revolution. All I've got to say is, "We've come a long way, Anna!!"

Time to let you go and spend some time with Tom. Have a wonderful week!!

Bye!

Jackie

LET IT SNOW!!!

Our first, and hopefully ONLY, winter storm hit us this week. Woke up to about 5-6" yesterday morning and then today - whoa!! At least 12" and more in some spots!! Thankfully, the wise managers at the credit union where I work decided to call it a snow day and let us stay home warm and safe. Thank you!!! There's still a lot of frozen snow on the road in our neighborhood, so we'll see whether we stay home or go in late tomorrow. Above is my front arbor at about 8 AM. Notice the white stuff coming down in the background? Uh huh, more snow! Took a few more pictures.

My snowball bush - ha!!

Somewhere in there is my waterfall!!



View from my front window - beautiful!!

So, what do you do when it's 30 degrees and snowing outside? Well, Tom had recorded "Return of the Pink Panther" a few weeks ago, so we watched it - such slapstick!! Had some nice mocha and watched the snow fall. Then, I got bored!! So, did a little laundry, cleaned my bathroom, took some more pictures, watched some "Storage Wars" - more slapstick, but go Brandi!! Then, there it was, laying on the chair in front of my sewing table - the pieces to a pillow I have been meaning to make for years - yes, I said YEARS!! Well, today was the day!

First, let me explain that the top to this pillow was done by my mother about 15 years ago. She passed away in 1999 from cancer and left me her quilt material. I don't really do quilting, but I found several blocks for quilts that she had started before she got sick. I've made quilts for my grandchildren using alot of those blocks, so they have something from their great-grandma. Among the blocks was this piece that she must have been practicing hand quilting on. It reminds me of a candlewicking piece. That was popular back in the 70's and 80's, but you don't see it much anymore. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it and what I would use as a back if I made a pillow out of it. I found some material among the boxes she gave me that I thought would work and so, today, I made a pillow!!

If you look close, you can see Mom's stitching. I cut some of the same material for the back on the bias to make the ruffles and hand-stitched it to the outside edge. I have a box of saved, rescued, unused buttons and found one with a floral motif that worked great. The stitching was in a circular pattern, so I followed the stitching for a fairly-round pillow to sit on my chair. I'm so glad I finally got this done!! Thanks, Mom!!

Well, maybe I need to go through those boxes again and see if there's another treasure waiting to be finished.

Bye for now and Happy crafting!!

Jackie

2012 - BRING IT ON!!

Today was "take down the decorations and get organized" day. Usually a sad day, but not this year for some reason. My living room still looks warm and inviting and a little less cluttered! So, it's a good thing!!



post tree removal

It's raining outside, so it looks alot darker than it should for only 2:00 in the afternoon. Oh well, wasn't planning on going anywhere today anyway! Nice day to organize and get ready for the year!
Had a quiet New Year's Eve. Tom and I went to dinner at the Inn Saturday night and then home to watch the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We almost made it to midnight this year - but we decided that it was New Years in Chicago, so that was close enough. LOL!!

We had a pre-Christmas breakfast meeting at work complete with Lite and regular eggnog courtesy of our branch manager. She made some scrumptous food and brought some fruit, too. MMMM good! There was about 1/2 a carton of Lite eggnog left Friday, the 30th, so I brought it home and promised to make some yummy eggnog scones for Tuesday morning. So, after the tree was undecorated and put away and the rest of the inside decorations were packed up, I baked a batch of scones. These are the same scones I made for our bake sale. My experiment that turned out pretty good! 

scones on my favorite baking stone



sprinkled with cinnamon sugar



fresh from the oven



 

cooling on the rack - don't they look yummy?!

Okay, so you would like the recipe? Here you go:

2 1/4 cups of spelt flour

1/4 cup flax meal

1/3 cup sugar

1 tblsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 - 1/14 cups eggnog

cinnamon sugar (optional)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl with a fork. Make a well and add the eggnog. Mix until forms a soft dough. Add some spelt flour if too sticky. Dust a cutting board with flour and divide the dough into 2 balls. Knead 5 times on the board and then form a ball. Pat the ball into a 5-6 inch circle with a slightly higher center. Cut into 6 wedges and place on ungreased baking stone or cookie sheet. Repeat with the 2nd half. If you want, sprinkle each wedge with about 1/4 tsp cinnamon sugar. Bake at 425degrees for 18 minutes. Cool on rack. Enjoy!! Good warm with a little butter or jelly.

Yesterday I made some pumpkin custard using some of the same eggnog. Used my recipe for the experimental pumpkin pie only poured the filling into a 2 qt buttered round baking dish. We tried some with a little whipped cream this afternoon - yummy!!

 Have a very Happy, Healthy, Yummy and

Crafty New Year!!!

JACKIE

LEFTOVERS AND OTHER POST HOLIDAY STUFF!!

It's the evening after Christmas and all through the house is the smell of turkey soup! Hope your Christmas was memorable and special and filled with love. I had my Auntie Kay and Uncle Alan here along with a second cousin, Carl. Sometimes we have others join us, but it was a small gathering this year.
This is a picture I took with my camera on timer and mounted on my tripod.

We did alot of the meal prep on Saturday with Tom taking care of the traditional smoked turkey. I fixed a couple types of dressing, one for stuffing and one for baking. I had purchased 2 loaves of french bread a couple weeks ago to make some pumpkin bread pudding for gifting and had a loaf left over. It was pretty dried out so I cubed it up and added chicken broth, onion, fresh oregano and sage from my garden and rosemary from my friend Jennifer. This one went in the turkey once it cooled down and then the turkey went into a cooking bag and into the frig for roasting on Sunday. The second stuffing batch was made from a pre-seasoned bag of cubed bread along with some chopped mushrooms, onion, extra sage, butter, broth from the giblets. This batch I went ahead and baked Saturday. I was already baking scones for gifting and 2 pumpkin pies, so it seemed like the thing to do! Both were a hit with everyone! Yeah!

Oh, I had to improvise with the pies! The recipe called for 2 cans of evaporated milk and 4 beaten eggs. Welllll, I only had 1and 1/4 cans of the milk and 1 whole egg. But, I had some plain Egg Beaters, enough for the recipe, so I was covered there. Now, what to do about the evaporated milk? I checked my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook from 1969 for a substitute. No help. Then, I noticed that I had that carton of eggnog in the frig and it is made with half and half. Sooooo, in it went! The next question was how much pumpkin pie spice equals the amount of individual spices called for in the recipe. I made an educated guess and tossed in 2 1/2 tsps. Mixed it all up, rolled my Pillsbury Ready crust into the two pie plates (yes, I use those and LOVE them!), filled them up and baked them till set. Well, let me tell you! Everyone who tried a piece thought it was delicious!!! I LOVE IT when my improvisations turn out!!! Don't you?!

In the past, after Christmas dinner, we have packaged up some left overs and Tom took them to these two fellows who lived across the lake from us. They're not exactly homeless, but alcohol controls their lives and so they're lifestyle doesn't lead to a nice meal on this Holy day. They would get some of everything along with a whole pie and sometimes pre-dinner snacks. They were always grateful. But, this year they have moved and we're not sure where they are. I've seen one of them walking along the road a couple miles from here, though, so Tom will keep an eye out and if he finds them, we'll get something to them. In the meantime, Tom will have turkey for lunch this week! Lots of turkey!!

Delivered the last of my Christmas goodies today. A bread loaf pan of pumpkin bread pudding and a couple kinds of scones - craisin and eggnog (made with the aforementioned eggnog). No cookies this year. Everyone is watching their weight and we have very few neighbors here to give goodies to. Does make for a more relaxing holiday season!

Got a phone call on Saturday from my oldest grandson, Derric! He graduates from Air Force Boot Camp on the 30th and is looking forward to Tech School. His training group (called a flight) has been doing really well, so they got extra time for calling this weekend. Yeah!! Visited his Mom, my youngest daughter Kellie, later and then Sunday morning I called my oldest daughter, Carman, and her husband Matt to wish them a Merry Christmas. Their kids were watching a movie, so they called us later in the afternoon. Only grans I didn't hear from were Kellie's two youngest who live with their dad. Oh well! Tom's grandsons called and I got to talk with them both. They are all growing up so fast and I'm not getting older at all!!!! How does that happen????!!!!HA!!!

Well, next weekend I'll take the decorations down and maybe work out in the yard a bit if it's not too cold. Will you be making any New Year resolutions? I'll make the same one I make every year - NO, not to lose weight - even though I am trying to do that! I resolve to be the best Christian, person, friend, partner, Mom, Grandma I can be!! That just about covers it!

Wishing you all a Healthy, Happy, Fulfilling and Successful New Year!!!

Till then!

Jackie