Poor neglected blog

I have been sewing! But these lovelies are what has distracted me from remembering to blog my creative projects this summer!

Grand kids over for summer play.

Vacation time!

Baby cuddles.  She has finally gotten used to Nana. :)

Summer is winding down so I should remember my little blog again!  Hee, hee.  

Quilty pics to come.  

Apple Cider

We have several apple trees and usually end up giving most of them away.  There are only so many apples two people can eat!    This year we bought an apple press and decided to make cider.  We had the grand kids over, the weather was perfect and boy was it fun!

First up - picking....  

....and carrying them back to Papa in the garage.

Even their dog, Rusty, got in on it....though he was more about fetching and eating!  :)

Back in the garage grinding and pressing.  We ended up with 8 gallons.  Hubs and I pressed another 4 gallons on a different day.

Sent several gallons home with the kids.   Reduced a half gallon down to 1/2 cup and made apple cider caramels with it - soooooo good!  And the rest went in the freezer. 

Oh and a week ago a mama black bear and two cubs came and ate all the apples that had fallen on the ground!  Got to actually watch them do it...such a treat.

Come Rain or Shine

Isn't that the cutest little wall hanging?  I just LOVE it.   During one of my blog reading days I came across Mia's darling wool felted items.  I pinned one on Pinterest and then thought....I want one I can hang on an actual wall and not a cyber one.  So I splurged and bought one.  This design was one of my favorites.  Birds and rain....so appropriate for here, don't ya think?   

This is the back.  

Check out more of Mia's items at her Etsy shop and maybe splurge for yourself!   

Fried Foods

I think I have some hidden Southern roots in my lineage cuz I *love* fried food!    Last week I tasted the above treat and have been craving them ever since.     I wonder how much time I have to spend on the treadmill to work those babies off?     :)

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Hubby brought home this gelato last night and.....oh boy, is it good!    He got it at Central Market.  Not sure what other flavors were there but I will definitely be checking it out.   You should too!!!

By the way, I saw a "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday" post at Kingston Girls blog.  Not sure if she originated it or not but I thought it'd be fun.  

Extra Love

Yesterday we went to Starbucks for lattes. When we are out doing errands and notice our sons car (he works at Starbucks) we like to go in for drinks so we can bug him. :) I ordered my normal drink (short latte) and hubby his (tall vanilla) but this time hubby yells out "I want mine made with EXTRA LOVE"! Our son was on the bar....hubby got the appropriate eye roll and smile from him......and the sweet girl taking our order even wrote our custom order on the cup......and that made me smile! Oh the little things in life.

Convenient

Convenient: suited to personal comfort or to easy performance

I have two new conveniences in my life that fit that definition to a “t”.

First is my new Melitta individual coffee filter:

I love coffee. Normally you would find me drinking International House Orange Cappuccino coffee….like 3 cups a day! It all started nearly 30 years ago when hubby and I were engaged and we enjoyed our first cup after painting his first apartment. Anyhoo….this new Melitta filter allows me to make myself the perfect single cup of coffee. No wasted coffee from making a full pot….no guilt drinking of leftover coffee from said full pot. No upset tummy from French pressed coffee. And its fast…one needs fast with that first cup in the morning! Suited to my personal comfort? Check! Easy performance? Check!

Second is bread baking the “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” way! Yes, homemade yeast bread that is convenient. My son always brags that he gets homemade bread every day that Faith makes. Now I know her secret! ;) Tink learned the secret from a neighbor. She was pumping out fresh bread all the time too. She made some for us Yaya’s on our vacation…Melis went home and bought the book and is making fresh bread all the time too! I had to get in on the action. So I bought the book from Amazon and made my first batch the other day. The dough takes about 5 minutes…including measuring and mixing. There is no kneading. You let it rise a few hours and then goes into the frig. I used my Kitchen Aid to mix but you can just mix in the container you're gonna store the dough in and then you'd have no clean up! Score. I'm doing that next time.

Dough keeps for 14 days in the frig and when you want a loaf, you take off a hunk, let it rest for 40 minutes, and then bake it.





Voila! You’re done and can pig out like we did…eating the whole loaf at one meal.
Suited to my personal comfort? Check! Easy performance? Check!

I love convenience!

Rest

This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.

-Captain J.A. Hadfield

This was my theme for today. To rest. It’s not that I’ve been particularly busy. I know what busy looks like and I don’t think I can consider my week to be like that. Ya know how some times you need to come home from vacation and rest? Well, it’s more like that! I did lots of fun things and I visited with friends more than usual. So I took a day to just be quietly with myself. It was a books, magazine, tv and knitting kind of day!

And soon I will cap it off with a good nights sleep! Here's to rest...be sure to get yours!

Spring is around the corner!

We have crocuses that come up randomly in our front yard. Cute little harbingers of spring! I am known for my black thumb when it comes to bulbs....dunno why......I just can't seem to keep any alive. Years ago we heard about someone who planted crocuses in their yard cuz you can mow over them when they are done blooming. Around here there is no need to mow yet. Sounded like a great idea and perhaps one that wouldn't require any bulb care...which maybe would mean they'd live. And they did. February is when we start looking for them. Beautiful.


Miss Bonnie loves nothing more than hanging outside with her "pack". She's enjoying her sticks while I'm laying in the grass trying to get good shots of that crocus. :)

Still a Winter Wonderland

It started snowing again yesterday at 2:30pm and did so through the night. We woke to 6 inches of new snow! And its been snowing off and on again all day.....probably an additional 2 inches. Definitely doesn't look like the Pacific Northwest out there. For those of you who live with winter, you'll have to forgive me for my joy and continual posts on snow. I just can't get enough of it.

Dennis and I went outside today to make snow people.....it's perfect snowman making snow.

Here are our creations:


This shot shows you the lazy dude on the lounge chair:


We also decided to make a fort. Hoping it's still here on Christmas so Liam can play in it.

And of course, Miss Bonnie loved her time outside.

Loving it still.

My Friend - Mr. Caffeine

When one wakes up in a bad mood....and one's hormones are wrecking havoc with ones mind & body......and it is all topped off with added-December stress......then it's nice to have a friend like Mr. Caffeine. He doesn't ask anything of me. He just listens, warms my inner being and gives me just the right amount of 'umphf" to be a polite human being to those I had to come in contact with today. Thank you, Mr. Caffeine...I'll see you tomorrow.