When I look out the window near our computers I see today is going to be cold and gray but not foggy!!
I am going to make the first batch of "Rita's Chex Mix" today...I have all the ingredients... just need to measure them equally into two pans .. stir and start baking... timers set to 15 minutes for stirring!
Finished...the mix has been ladled into plastic containers to finish cooling.. then tops go on and wait to be handed out to "lucky" recipients!! Both daughters are excited!
As I looked out our windows when I came downstairs I noticed how foggy it was... barely could see across the circle!
Just looked again from my computer... it's still super foggy...
Yesterday was a make it day... getting ready for the show December 5th -8th. I decided the newest bear needed a quilt so I made him one from scraps - a 16 block. It was fun...though I really don't enjoy the bias tape edging.
My younger daughter didn't have to work yesterday and so we went out to lunch at Olive Garden... It was cold out so the soup, salad and breadsticks hit the spot! We had a great chance to talk and a very helpful server!!
Today is a good day to start things ( but after a box of mohair from an etsy sale got packed, labelled and put out for the mailman!) So after finding my bottle of dry sherry I made a batch of "sherried walnuts" It's an easy peasy recipe just having to boil sugar and sherry to 240 degrees and dump in the nuts and stir!! Bob tasted and ok'd them!!
fog is lighter!! But still not bright enough to take pictures for my online show site.
The pile of things for our senior adoptees grows.... as does the things for our family.
Tomorrow is Chex Mix day...
Started my Christmas shopping today with a trip to Wal-Mart. My daughter has requested the annual "Rita's Chex Mix"! So boxes of Chex cereal, Cheerioes, mixed nuts, pretzels made it into my cart. I already have the rest including the 9 sticks of butter! Though I am missing Wheat Chex... not a box to be had in Wal-Mart.
I also picked up a big bag of "Crafter's Choice" polyester fiberfill for my bears ( it was on the highest up shelf and I had to ask an employee with a ladder to get one down!) ... and found a KC Chief's lap rug for our senior adoptee... it was on his want list!
I will schedule an afternoon for making the Chex mix... I will put everything into two huge baking pans and into the oven ... then stir everything every 15 minutes for several hours! So... time to pull out the pans from my pantry and the plastic storage containers...
Watched another episode of Ken Burns' "American Revolution" on PBS. Amazing ! I am also amazed and horrified about all that I did not know... We have watched all of his historical documentaries and I am so grateful for what he has done!!
Tomorrow will be a busy one... another round of an errand run to Price Chopper for wheat Chex, the purple Ripple box to get rid of our glass for recycling, Habitat for Humanity to donate Bob's stuff and maybe the library!
As I sit at my computer I am listening to my neighbor using his driving lawn mower to mulch all the leaves into huge piles. I was wondering what he will do with all of them when Bob reminded me that he and his family own a popular trash service including pick up for yard waste..
Bob and I have been "trolling" online stores for the things our seniors want or need. We have got to do better with printing out receipts and tracking info!! This year's searches are turning out to be enjoyable ones.
Our daughter called to tell us she had made her grandmother's Glorified Gingerbread... it's something the whole family loves/loved....great way to use up some milk that has soured though vinegar can be used.
We haven't done much today but I did clear the pots of dead plants. Going to miss them until new ones next spring. Bob cleared the driveway of all the acorns and leaves. Driving over all the acorns was a very crunchy trip. He also did come cleaning out back.. getting rid of sticks and leaves. The garden waste trash bin will be full!
I also worked on things for the December online show!!
Dinner is sending its aromas all over the house... Italian sausage, tortellini, spinach, mushroom soup!! Wal-Mart's bulk Italian sausage is tasty and so much easier without the casings!!
It was good! There is enough for leftovers!
I thought I would go early to our Aldi store... hoping for an empty parking lot. No such luck... loads of shoppers ad even the self-checkouts were all taken. But happily I found everything on my list.. even a smallish turkey.
We ( all the family) will be going to Ophelia's for the Thanksgiving buffet. We've never done this before. It maybe the last time too... who knows.
The smallish turkey is for Bob and me after Thanksgiving.
Believe it or not but the thermometer registers 72 degrees currently!It actually went up to 78 at 3 pm!!
Bob and I are officially Phoenix Family Holiday elves again this year. We have been assigned two senior citizens - one male, one female - with wants and needs for this Christmas.
We've done this for quite a few years and enjoy shopping with a list for someone else!! There are other elves and organizations that adopt whole families! I went on one of the shopping trips armed with lists of wants and needs for a family... The list included ages, sizes, likes and dislikes and so on. You would not have believed with face on the check out clerk when we arrived with several shopping carts full of stuff!!
Definitely a Christmas happy mood maker event !!
My living room couch is empty!! All the faux fur went home with a young couple who drove 40 minutes to my house. All of it was bagged up and they loaded it into their car..... Hooray!
Now just to sell some more of the mohair on etsy...To help with that I am having a sale next week. Would love to give my retired friend more $$$.
Hard to believe but it is 67 degrees right now ...sunny and no wind!
Believe it or not... I've started working on new bears etc for the December show.
Another one of those circular trips.. first to drop off toys for the Marine's Toys for Tots box at our fitness center.. then to Bob's doctor's office to drop off paperwork and then to Target to pick up my pills and stuff Bob wanted!
By the time we arrived home the car was toasty warm and I had loads of "steps" and there was a message on Facebook about the pile of faux fur on my living room couch ." More pictures please" which I did and posted. Fingers crossed she wants all that faux fur!! New message.. she'll be here between 10.30 and 11 am.tomorrow. Fingers still crossed.
Saturday someone "wanted"the orange faux fur... said she'd be here Sunday but no show. So the fingers stay crossed until $$ is in my hand.
Daughter called to remind us to look outside... KC can see the aurora borealis .. a bit
It's definitely cold this morning... at 9 am it is 29 degrees. Sadly my computer doesn't let me be ignorant of temps outside!!
Boxes of bears waiting on the steps for our mailman to pick them up. They are all paid for via "Click and ship" and he will log them in!! He has a hand held scanner which reads the labels.
On her way home my teacher daughter told me all about her districts program on medical issues ..... she had to do tourniquets , wound packing and so forth. Some other teachers were reluctant even though the models used were rubber! Anyway... she did it well.
Tomorrow and Wednesday her students will be working on kindness. It will be interesting to see the differences between the two grades. My daughter has been stressing politeness ( thank you, please etc) to their classmates, the workers in the lunchroom, the janitors... Pert of what triggered this is an online contest about kindness.. no rewards but just what the kids think is kindness
The weatherpeople... all of them it seems... had predicted really cold below freezing temps this morning. Didn't happen. Yes, it was cold.. colder than it had been days before... but not below freezing!
If the temps drop mightily tonight... it will be time to turn on the gas fireplace and enjoy the "flames". I am making chicken pot pie soup to go with the "fire". First time trying a recipe I had downloaded.
Spent the afternoon boxing up sold bears... ready for the mailman to put them into his van!! Still a few left so keeping my finger crossed that they will be sold too.
The soup was good.. next time I will break up the dried rosemary.It was like having small sticks in the soup...
The online show is having problems with its web host...When I try to access my promoter's page I get a security notification. Means buyers can't access the show either. The show's promoter is working with the web host... oh well...
later... seems to be fixed
we went to the local craft show.. It is being held in the Blue Springs senior center. Most of the booth holders were OLD. We bought some great looking jam - Gooseberry and Frog - some small pecan tarts and a nice scrapbook Christmas card for a friend in Florida.
As we left it started drizzling ... also found a desperate message on etsy from someone who needed to get one of my fabric items up to Houlton, Maine by the 13th. I answered her.. she decided to take a chance and paid.. and we boxed it up and it is waiting for the mailman... So my retired bear making friend gets some more money.
Bob decided to replace the flapper valve's on the two upstairs bathrooms...no more listening to the water running every so often.. Tigger, the orange cat, had been sleeping all morning but was unhappy when he couldn't join Bob in a bathroom!! Unhappy means yowling and scratching on the door.
Our daughter dropped by with some gorgeous white sharp cheddar cheese from Costco... yum... that she had bought today.
Christmas lists became a topic of conversation...
It looks like today will be warm... 70 ! But there is a possibility of snow and cold on Sunday.
My online show starts tomorrow so I will be sitting at the computer and hopefully boxing up sales.
Our local senior center - Vesper Hall - is hosting a craft show Saturday. It's their first so Bob and I will give it a look see.
Our craft/quilt group met last night. It was held in the common room of one member who lives in a senior living facility. A man joined us.. a friend relative of the hostess. He said the facility is dead quiet after dinner and he was delighted to find us. Guess he's a little lonely.
If one is thinking about moving into this type of a facility... that would be something to consider. Bob says we don't do much in the evening either but we do have each other....
Bob and I headed off to our voting site this morning... There was only one item on the ballot and the voting site was almost voter free. We did see a few people leaving and a few more came in while we were there. Most were unbusy oldees like us!
When I logged onto the computer I found I had sold another piece of fabric from my retired bear maker friend's stash. So did the USPS click and ship... put the box outside for the mailman and emailed the buyer that it was on the way... still lots more.... Bob suggested and pushed...nagged..for me to have a sale on etsy. I gave in... it's set up for a week later this month.
If I do sell during the sale... it means less money for my friend, but fabric leaves mt house!!
Watched the news this evening. We are keeping our fingers crossed ( later .. it looks good!!)
it's been gray enough and dull enough that changing the clocks hasn't made much of a difference.
Bob did all of the changing... though I did nag a little about changing the bedroom clock. I kind of want to know what time it is when doing the pee trip routine!!
I headed out to the grocery store "early" thinking it would be empty because of the time change... but no it wasn't.
Later I had two more tasks... a batch of tunafish for sandwiches and a pumpkin pie . The cats were delighted with their "tuna juice" ... the water in the can of tuna.
Did a little of this and a little of that
I think the week plus " trunk or treats" all over Blue Springs made the numbers going house to house last night much smaller. I read on Facebook that some houses didn't get any!
We did get some... the best was the group of teenagers all dressed in great costumes and very polite!
So what do we do with the leftover candy!! Some people are doing another trick or treat tonight. Some talk about making smallish bags of candy and donating it to food banks or to the little book libraries that have switched over to food. Just so we don't eat it all!!
The weather people are posting a freeze for tonight...
Don't forget to change your clocks tonight if "applicable".
