Saturday, December 31, 2011

Meatloaf

Before anyone gets too excited, I need to say that the meatloaf I made was for the dog.

I've been trying to simplify this dog food making business, and today the idea of mixing it all together and baking it came to mind. I thought I could just drain off the grease and evenly slice off the portions! The loaves are in the oven as I write. I think maybe I'm on to something big here.

The rest of the day has been catching up with things. The past week has been a bit crazy, and things like laundry piling up and groceries running low have occurred. It feels good to take care of the daily routine sometimes. Tonight will be any early New Year's Eve supper with friends, and then probably early bed, which sounds like a nice New Year's Eve Celebration to me.

Actually though, when I think on it a bit more, there will be friends of the kids over, so maybe not an early bed after all.

Happy New Year!

New Beginnings


Yesterday we were privileged to help Grandma Gloria begin a more carefree life in her new assisted living home. It's a beautiful facility, and her new place feels warm and cozy. Her cats, Pumpkin and Cleo, were able to join her and hopefully they will like living there, too. We feel better knowing that she will have the help she needs and the opportunity to meet new friends and find more fun things to do.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Porch Pie

We had porch pie for dessert today. Lots of pie from Christmas had been stashed in the porch to stay cool, and had been forgotten about until tonight ... we had french silk, apple, pumpkin, and strawberry rhubarb to choose from. Yummy surprise!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Coffee House


We went to hear Jake play guitar and sing tonight at Dunns Brothers. They have an open mic night for the high school kids every so often, and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I might be a bit prejudiced being Mom and all, but I think he is quite talented. He has stage presence and a lot of courage. Tonight he did three songs by Jack Johnson.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Busy Times


Well, the Holiday cards are now addressed and stamped and ready for the mail. I think this is the first year ever that they weren't ready to be sent before Christmas. Somebody told me, though, that they enjoy getting those last few late cards because they actually get read and savored! Sounds good to me!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas


We had a nice Christmas Eve. Family came over for the day, and we were able to eat and relax, open presents, and go to church in the evening. Bruce sang in the choir. Dinner was beef stroganoff with special mashed potatoes, string beans with bacon, cherry pie jello, and lefse. Dessert was apple and pumpkin pie. It's fun watching the kids get excited about opening their presents, even though they are really big kids. And, it's fun to watch them enjoying each other's company.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Apricot Syrup






Because Bruce (and his mom) are crazy about apricot syrup, he decided to make some to give away at Christmas. We've been looking around in the stores for some to buy and we even checked to see if they still sold it at Perkins, but no such luck. The recipe was pretty easy with only three ingredients. Bruce was the chef, I documented his efforts.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Nice Little Gift in the Mail


Thought I would post a picture of the nice gift we received in the mail from our good friends, Renee and Bill. Yummy pears and other tasty treats, thank you so much! We love you!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Hats



I've been knifty knitting like crazy, trying to finish up my hats. I decided to give them to the people I work with, and tried to match the yarn to their individual personalities. Tonight I bagged them up, complete with marshmallow Santa and ribbon. I think they turned out quite cute. Now the real question is, will they wear them?

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Wedding


Courtney and Lucas were married today.

Courtney is our niece and I just love her. She is calm and practical and intelligent. She was also very pretty in her wedding dress.

This was actually the first wedding that any of my kids have attended, which seems kind of strange now that I think of it since they are pretty much adults. But since it was Courtney's wedding, I think it will be one they remember well.

After we got home, Katie needed to drive back to Duluth. Wouldn't you know it, her car wouldn't start ... the guys had to push it to along side the house and then Bruce ended up driving her back. I told her that it really was best that it happened here. Better than getting stranded on some road, hours away, all by herself, and in the middle of winter.

And even though the whole thing could be looked at as a big deal, I prefer to think that an angel was watching over her tonight.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Malfunction


We seem to be having some malfunctioning going on in the house lately. Yesterday morning the house was cold when I got up, and upon further investigation, I found that the furnace and thermostat weren't working. I did think of batteries, and looked for some AAA's, but they were nowhere to be found. (I'm sure I just bought a bunch of batteries fairly recently, too. Where do batteries go.) I called Bruce, who was on it right away and by the time I got home from work, the house was warm and cozy.

So last night when I left for the orchestra concert at the high school, the lights on the tree were working just fine. They were off when I got home, but I thought someone had just turned them off. Today when I thought let's light up the tree, wouldn't you know the lights weren't working? I haven't figured out why just yet, but I have to say that Christmas trees are kind of sad when they have no lights.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Knitting Hats


My most recent relaxing activity is knitting hats with my knifty knitter looms. You wrap the yarn around the pegs and pull the stitches over with a pick and, voila, a hat develops! It goes fast and you could easily make a hat in a short evening's time. I'm planning on giving my hats away as Christmas presents this year. It will be a gift of love, so people better wear them ... just kidding, but they will be a gift of love.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Homemade Dog Food





I've been experimenting with making homemade dog food for Jessie.

Last week, after a little looking around on the Internet, I decided to give it a try. At least for one meal a day, breakfast is still dry kibble from the store. I call it her cereal. Anyway, I steamed some brown rice, cooked some carrots, and browned some hamburger. Bruce said that any man would be proud to eat such a dinner, let alone a dog. He's so polite sometimes. And it did actually look and smell good.

Today I made more using some chicken I had in the freezer that needed to be used up. I also decided to add some scrambled eggs to boost the protein as there just didn't seem to be that much chicken after it cooked down. Brown rice and frozen green beans rounded out the meal. And, my rice cooker and steamer worked out well this time as I cooked both the rice and beans at the same time. Jessie seemed appreciative of my efforts.

Today's endeavor made eight meals, which I put in zip lock bags to be stored in the freezer. I was pretty proud of myself.

Since she seems to be such an itchy, twitchy dog, I've always wondered if Jessie has some food allergies. I guess time will tell if the homemade food helps.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Decorating For Christmas



I woke up rested and content this morning, so it seemed like a good day to work on Christmas.

Last weekend we decided to take all of the lights off of our tree as there was a huge area in the middle where none of the lights were working. Those Christmas trees with pre-lit lights look really pretty a season or two, but when the lights stop working, look out. We spent a couple hours trying to get them off, wrestling with hundreds of little plastic clamps holding them on. I began to wonder how they were attached in the first place as it didn't seem possible that a machine could have done it, but I guess I'll let that thought go for now. We decided to just buy some strings of bulbs at Target and wrap them around. We bought bigger, old fashioned bulbs for a new look and they look really pretty!

The tree is decorated now, as is the mantle over the fireplace. I'm off to wrap a few presents, but addressing the Holiday cards will have to wait for another day.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Welcome


Well, the holidays are coming up soon and I'm already starting to think about putting out a new jigsaw puzzle to work on. I'll probably wait until Christmas is actually over as we need the space on the coffee table, but jigsaw puzzles are great. Good for the brain and relaxing at the same time. Our cat, Minnie, loves to be in the middle of everything happening so here she is, checking things out.