quiet at last

What a day... was up early Christmas morning getting the stuffing ready for the bird..23 lb bird, we haven't had one that big for years and years...since the boys lived at home... so it takes 7.5 hours to cook... i always check the cooking time on the bag the bird comes in... they said a stuffed bird took 4.5 hours...at 325 degrees...i always figured 20 minutes a pound... sure glad i went with my own time... cuz it was cooked perfectly..and a beautiful moist bird.. 9 of us for supper, crowded but fun...We had a nice day... Matt came home from his brothers to open gifts around 8:30, I made "granny's scones", real old family recipe.. we had a good laugh... I had bought one of those video games for Mom ..an Nintendo DS...hand held game with the Brain Age games...and my sister in law also bought her one...and Matt bought me one... so we had 3 of them... I had charged Mom's so she could use it right away...and in the end, my DIL bought the 3rd one...we will all be really smart now...first time i tried it, my brain age was 80.. now it is 41..

We had 3 dogs in the house last night..Matt's Kayda, Joe's Jesse, and Glenys' Ben... all little dogs thank goodness... at least we could throw them outside while we ate supper...

I dropped a Brussels sprout on the floor yesterday... and her highness 'Kayda' grabbed it...and as you can see tried to eat it... all over the rug... luck for us, the rug is really old don't ya love the ear.. one up and one down..

This is another one of Larry's winter projects... He cut out the sleigh and horses on his scroll saw, and then made the oval background... we have a freind who does decorative painting, so she painted the background, and the sleigh (by hand- very trying job, next time Larry will spray paint it) doesn't it look great..anyway Clara gave it to my Mom for Christmas..she was very proud of it... I think it would make a great house number sign..he has 3 more to finish and paint.. but Clara is away for 2 weeks..

We really enjoyed all the company, but we are really enjoying the quiet...guess we are becoming hermits in our old age... weather has warmed up a bit... hope it lasts...Mom just called, Matt took her home..the roads were good until they got to Langley, at least 12 inches of snow... and we only have 6 inches here...and the temperature has gone up...only -10 now...but there is a wind... better get back to my knitting... have a great quiet day...

Christmas Eve

Morning... does one ever quit worry about their kids... Matt was planning on driving up from Coquitlam this morning...i of course was a little worried, and Joe and Kelly were here yesterday to visit Grandma... and Joe was worried too, so he called Matt at work, and insisted that he come up last night... poor Matt was a little grumpy with our call, and wasn't sure that he would come up last night, I called him at home around 6 Pm, and he was getting ready to come... he was dealing with an irate customer when we called during the day, and then us insisting that he drive up last night made him grumpier... but he was fine and knew that he should come up last night... and of course i watched the clock all night, he did phoned at 11 and was in Merritt, he is staying with his brother as Grandma is in his bedroom..
It amazes me that Joe and Matt are better friends now than they were when they were growing up... both boys are adopted, and there is 4 years between them, and that was the main problem..but now that they are adults they get along much better...I am sure glad he came up last night as the snow is falling at the coast... the snowiest Christmas in 50 years... in 64 was the last heavy snow fall, and that was the year we moved from Manitoba, my brother and I and my little dog caught the train and arrived in New Westminster Dec 24, 1964 ... I can remember getting off the train in New Westminster with my Manitoba winter coat on, and taking it off as i was so hot... i was used to -20 and it was maybe 5 degrees ....
Had another busy day yesterday, make more butter tarts for DIL, mincemeat tarts for Larry, got the bread/cornbread/biscuits ready for the stuffing... i am making a cornbread stuffing, taught to me by an old friend who was from Texas, and it was the stuffing that she used, and Larry liked..i used to make it years ago, but i got tired of it, as it took so long to make... bread, cornbread, and biscuits...tons of onions, celery, green onions and basil/oregano/thyme/rosemary and a little touch of sage (gives us heart burn) .. Mom wants to take home some homemade bread so will have to make a batch today... then wash the floors, and finish tiding up for tomorrow...
It is snowing here, so will have a nice white Christmas..sure glad Matt came home last night..
better go and get organized for Christmas...
A very Merry Christmas to everyone...
Hugs Sheila

winter wonder land

Well almost... we have had the days from hell the last couple of days... We went to Kamloops on Thursday to see Larry's surgeon, (leg is finally all healed).. and we lost heat in the "Jimmy"..put almost a whole gallon of antifreeze in it, at $17 a gallon... we were going to go shopping for a few things, but decided that Kamloops was just too cold with a north wind... so we came home. Larry went down to Langley on Friday to pick up Mom... Jimmy had been okay, we did have heat coming home, but it quit again on their way home for the coast... heat on the floor only, but none blowing up...another gallon of antifreeze, probably the heat switch and the water pump.., and then he said it wasn't running well yesterday... only on 5 cylinders...And i need to get into town to do the finally Christmas grocery shopping... The yesterday morning the water froze up here in the mobile..we do have heat tapes on it, so he just had to plug it in, and we had water in a matter of minutes...it was -30 yesterday morning, so it was tough doing chores, and the alpacas and the llama were all shivering... so i got '1st born' to pick up some grain in town...and they sure enjoyed it...warms them right up... so now we had water, lots of heat, grain for the critters, and a warm mash for the chickens...and the POWER goes out... at 5:05, and the outside temperature was -25... we do have wood heat but we need a fan to bring it into the house, and with no power, no fan... so Larry got the generator going, brought an extension cord into the house, and we plugged in two heaters and a table lamp, but even with that the house temperature was 18.5 in here when the power went back on at 8:20... it amazes me that during the summer 18.5 is a comfortable temperature, but in the winter, it is damn cold... Mom was sitting here with her warm fuzzy housecoat, and a fuzzy blanket, and i had my housecoat on, and my nose was really cold..and the temperature was still dropping, but we have heat and power today, and we are very comfortable..
Had a busy day baking yesterday, 5 loaves of bread, a batch of shortbread, butter tarts, and two batch of lemon butter (that we use on shortbread tarts), the tangy and the sweet go so good together... my favorite Christmas cookie.. Made a old family recipe this morning,"fudge cake".. and it is so good... marg/brown sugar/flour/egg/and cocoa...no leavening and only cook it for 20 minutes ..using it as a gift for a friend who loves chocolate..will have to make another batch of butter tarts as DIL loves my tarts... i do make my own pastry, but i love the pre made ones for these tarts... will also make some green tomato mincemeat tarts for Mom and Larry... not my favorite at all...
I just have one more gift to get for DIL, she is getting a gift certificate to Ikea, but i like her to have something more to open under the tree...and a few more gifts to wrap and we are all done..take care and have a great day...

my day today

Morning... i have decided that today will be my day... i have been busy all week getting this place mucked out before Christmas...(actually my Mom is coming for Christmas)...and she has always said that i am a sloppy house keeper... actually it is not a priority in my life... how can you keep a house clean when 4 dogs come in every day, the parrot throws seeds all over the house, and the hubby spills coffee everywhere and walks thru the house with boots on...it is clean just junkie... i took some pictures of the tree in daylight hours... and there is junk everywhere in the pictures... so you won't see that one...

this is my new pre lite self shaping tree by Noma... from Canadian Tire... nice looking tree... Larry has been making Christmas decorations, and i like a little dove that he made... so he made me a 100 of the little darlings, and i hung them on the tree.. it was a little bare so i found some little red bows that i bought at Walmart(know as 'the store' in our house, as our friend works there and that is what she calls it) after Christmas last year for 25 cents for 12 bows..

here is a closer look at the doves.. i tied red or green ribbons on them to hang them from the tree... Larry is pleased that it is all that is on the tree.. it is very plain, but i am very pleased with the look of it..He had made lots of other decorations, and friends and family took some for their tree, but he had tons left over so our friend Clara took a box full to her office, and sold some for him, she made him $160 , he has always thought that they weren't good enough to sell, but i think he was pleased with the cash...there is a craft sale beginning of December here, and Clara figures that we should set up a table and sell them, she does decorative painting and is very good at it, so she figures we should share a table...of course he would never go to something like that, so of course that leaves it to the dear wife...I was thinking of getting a small tree to show them off...but we have a whole year to think about it...

This is one of my favorite decorations that he does..he uses a scroll saw, and uses popular wood that is very white...he cut it up himself when we owned the sawmill, this pattern is of a stain glass window that he found in a pattern book... it is so fine, it is about 4 inches high and 2 inches wide..and about 1/8 inch thick... and took him about 6 hours to cut out... he just did a sleigh and two horses that is really nice too... i want one of them for a address sign..I am so glad he has a hobby, otherwise he would be driving me nuts...

I have been having a wee problem with the flyer on my new Joy(bought at Olds last June), one side of the flyer, would pull really hard, and then not pull at all, but the other side would spin really nice... i have tried to figure out what was wrong, but to no avail... i have been spinning on Ashfords for 25 years, so i do know the brand and can usually figure out what is wrong, but couldn't do it this time, so i finally decide to complain to my dear friend Marg S,(who sold me the wheel), and the blink of an eye, she has me a new flyer... so i think i will try it out today..i only use the Joy for going to guilds and workshop and retreats..as i found the Traveller was getting abused, and Larry had to overhaul it at least once a year...so now if i can get this lovely little Joy working, i will be very pleased... the guild has a project for February, and i use the Joy to spin up the fibre... we are all going to make fingerless gloves, mitts or what ever ya call them...we are all using the same fibre from Aurelia wools ( aren't we lucky that she is our local supplier), different colours of course, but all the same type... corriedale i think it is...i got a lovely blue spruce, and have found the pattern, now just have to get it spun up... only a 100 grams so won't take long... I just finished spinning up some lovely merino and silk my dear friend Isabel gave me... her friend passed away and left Isabel all kinds of fibre, and Isabel is always giving me something interesting to spin..there was 6.5 oz in the bag, and i got 1000 yards from it, so ya know that i spun it very fine..now just need to figure out what i need to knit it out of... I have added another two shawls to my project list this year... one from my dear friend who lives out in the bush near Wells, she has 40 acres on Bowran Lake, her and her dog, 2 cats, live in a cabin, with no power or running water...she has always been a hermit, she did have a hubby and 3 kids, but now she lives on her own...so i though a nice big warm alpaca shawl will keep her warm by the fire..nothing fancy, just practical...

Took Jesse and Dixie to agility yesterday, we almost froze... but Dixie is an outside dog, and she was fine, but poor jesse had to have her coat on... it was -12...and is a bit colder to day -14..but is suppose to get colder this week... Larry is going down to get Mom on Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather of course... she will stay till Boxing Day and go home with Matt..we will have a house full this year, but we will manage... Had the gang over for cards last nite... we have been playing Contract rummy, but we need to get back to Canasta, as we were forgetting how to play...i made up Chicken, the last of our homegrown chickens, a recipe from Martha... it is called 'Potatoes that taste better than the chicken", it is very easy and very tasty... you stuff the chickens with fresh thyme and rosemary and a whole head of garlic, and top with butter and olive oil..and put the spuds in the bottom of the pan... and all the butter/oil / juice from the chickens cook the spuds... i did 12 spuds for 6 of us, and there was no potatoes left...

Well i had better go do something for me... get my Joy out and try the new flyer... oops... have to put the hooks on the flyer... so that means a trip out to the shop for my lovey to put them in for me... my hands aren't strong enough and he would have a fit if they went in crooked.... have to remind myself that it is my day... no laundry or cleaning... talk to ya soon......... sheila

another sad day

Murphy was a lovely old girl... 17 years old, but today was the day for her to head to the big kennel in the sky. We got her as a Rescue dog about 15 years ago... the girl that had her, had several other dogs, and poor Murphy was at the bottom of the pack.. they beat her up and won't let her eat... and when we got her, it took quite a while for her to relax... we never let our dogs fight, so no one picked on her... so over the years she became pack leader, and loved every minute of it... she had one litter of pups and we kept one little male... know as "mackie"... he will miss his mom...she hurt her back about 7 years ago, but managed nicely till this past week... Larry of course would not help me make the decision, so i made it on my own today, and took her in the vet clinic... our regular vet was away, but her locum was a very nice man and very considerate and kind...so it was okay... it is tough when you loose a good old friend..Larry will miss her as she loved to go with him around the home place...

We have had a real influx of mice this past week..I have two pantry cupboards, one for canned stuff and one for baking supplies... and we had mice in both of them... so i cleaned them both out... Larry happened to be around, and he and his trusty broom whacked two of them..there was hardly anything in the cupboards that they could eat.. so they ate the labels off the cans...but the cupboards look good now...

Larry had been making lots of Christmas decorations with his scroll saw... i bought a new fake tree, and plan on putting all wooden decorations on it... daughter in law also just put his decorations on her tree, i will take a picture of it when i get it done... We are going to have a house full this year... youngest son Matt is coming up with my little grand puppy, so Joe and his wife will be here for dinner, and friends and their son will be here... and then the other day, my Mom decided to come too... so Larry will drive down and pick her up the beginning of Christmas week and she will go home with Matt on Boxing day... but it has been years since we have had a big family Christmas... won't be many gifts under the tree this year as everyone wants $$.. Matt wants a digital camera, so i will give him $$ toward it, as the one he wants is worth more that i can afford this year.., Kelly wants gift certificate from Ikea, and Joe wants a video game, so i will give Kelly some $$ as it is quite expensive..and Larry and I are going to get a new bed ...

Our guild had our Christmas party on Wednesday... a pot luck... spinach salad, chilli, chicken wings, and spankpia( little spinach thingies in Philo pastery)..devilled eggs and 3 desserts.. good stuff...

Donna has been having problems with sending out the invites for the Spring Desert Mesa Retreats... the computer keeps bouncing them back... so if you haven't received an invite let me know and i will send you one...got a registration back from Bill and Vivienne today... so Vivienne must be feeling better..and they will be there in April...