...Decorating Snacks...

...well, that's done...

...and...we needed some snacks for the all-day-long event that is our tree/house decorating day...

...so I made a cheeze ball that I first saw over at Patricia's blog Knitsburgh and the recipe is from My Vegan Cookbook (which was a new vegan site for me - Thanks Patty!) - but I made the Original Cheeze Ball instead of the smokey one...

...are you a 'mise en place' cook - or do you throw everthing in as you come to it...it's been my experience with Julia's recipes from The Vegan Version - that it's best to read the entire recipe and get everything together up front...and it's fun...I love the little bowls...and having everything ready to go...

...and Man-Oh-Man! I wish I could tell you how good this cheeze ball is...I can't wait to try the smokey one now...

...so very, very good...try it!...

...then, I tried to recreate a snack that my friend Lucy from NC used to make - it was a packet of Ranch dressing mix with some oil - drizzled over oyster crackers and baked - now I've not had it in many years - but here's what I did:

Vegan Dry Ranch Mix:
2 T dry soymilk powder
1 t parsley
1/4 t dill weed
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t salt
1/8 t garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

Then I mixed that with about 1/4 cup of oil.

...drizzle that over the crackers...

...stir them up...

...bake at 250⁰ for about 1/2 hour - stirring a couple of times...

...these were really good and 'handy' - adjust the garlic to your own taste as the Man thought they were too garlicky...HA!

Make Your Own Family Christmas Card - An Early Start

I started our Family Christmas Card a little early this year - so that if it is a total flop - I can do something else...

...I used to make these pen and ink doodles in my notebooks all the time when I was in high school - I love the way the ink smells and the way it stains your hand as you're working on it...

...I've done some pen and ink drawings since then - but they're always with black ink - mostly I draw with pencil (and some charcoal) - I know you're still waiting on the pen & ink of your house Lee and I'm still working on it (maybe by Christmas - you've only been married a year - right?)...

...when I was in high school I always used blue ink...

...so when I got to thinking about this year's Christmas card this idea popped into my head - it's a manger scene that I saw on a bulletin cover sometime in my past - only done in blue ink...

...I love the feeling of 'shift' when I start working on a drawing - it's a definite change in perception (I'm a very left brain person - very lingual - so when I switch to a right brain visual function I can really feel it)...

...very peaceful and unhindered by the day to day - it's really hard to explain...

...I'm pretty happy with the way it's turning out - Scout absolutely loves it...

...I definitely should have used some thicker paper - this was just regular card stock and I should have used a nice thick watercolour paper...

Our family picture will go in the white space and I'll just have 100 or so printed as regular 4x6 pictures - so this will be a very frugal Christmas Card if I wait until one of the big Photo printing companies does a 9¢ or 10¢ per print sale and I'll have all my cards printed for less than $10.00 - I make the 4x6 envelopes out of scrap office paper so those are free as well

...this blogging community...

...is so very nice...

...I won a little giveaway over at Little Things Are Big..It's a box stuffed with Kiss My Face goodness...to say that I love Kiss My Face would be an understatement indeed...
...and I so love the idea of the Peace Soap...

...Peace be with you...

...A perfect tree...

...that's what we went looking for...

...and we found ours...

...'course it's different for everyone...the perfect tree is...some like long needles...some short...some blue...and then there's the height to consider...

...ours was a tiny bit too tall...so we had to trim it up a bit...

...and put the star on first instead of last...

...but now it's perfect...

...what about you...what's the perfect tree for you?...

Welcome Winter...in Haiku...

Harsh, white, biting wind,
blowing snow across the road,
Dakota winter

...Nature has been etching our windows again...beautifully...

...today's high - kinda chilly...

...we've got our tree and we'll be decorating tonight - now, we're just cozying up inside to the wonderful smell of fresh Balsam...Jack's booties have been repaired and we all bundled up for a nice long walk - he was so happy prancing around with his warm trotters...there's a nice big pot of potato soup on the stove and cornbread in the oven - after yesterday's feast, we're taking things a bit lighter today...

...hoping you all are warm and happy with friends and family and that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving...

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one...Mother Teresa

...Our LYO gathered at one of the local churches to pack Thanksgiving boxes for needy families in the area...

...first they sorted all the food...

...then they made up some boxes...

...and filled them assembly-line style...

...once each box had one of everything...they went back through putting more items in sort of randomly...

...then we packed four boxes in our trunk and went out into the world to deliver them...

Wishing you all a Blessed and Thankful Thanksgiving with your families!

...a Stitch in Time...

....hoping it really will save nine...or more...

...one of the attached cushions on our sofa got torn...no one seems to know how...

..but of course it must be fixed...so I got out my little set of curved upholstery needles and stitched it back up...

...there's a pretty good explanation of the 'blind stitch' here: The Woodworks.


...I don't think you'll be able to see it at all...

...these sofas are almost 7 years old...and I'm definitely not ready to replace them yet...

...all better...what little things are you fixing up around your house?...

...Mom's Hot Chocolate...the BEST!!!

...when we were little...after a day of playing in the snow with our cousins...we'd come in red-cheeked and frozen-handed...and pull off our wet things and sit on the floor warming our feet against the baseboard heaters...while Mom would make us hot chocolate...not out of a packet...but on the stovetop...

...you'll need soymilk, cocoa powder (Equal Exchange is the best - but I'm sure my Mom used Hershey's), and sugar - turbinado is best, and some vanilla...

...pour one cup of soymilk into the pot for each mug...

...add 2 tablespoons of sugar for each mug...

...2 tablespoons of cocoa for each mug...

...a dash of salt...

...1/4 teaspoon of vanilla...

...stir that all up over medium heat...

...until steaming...it gets so nice and frothy...

...pour it into a mug...

...and serve it to your favorite snow-worker...

Mom's Hot Chocolate

1 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt

...A Busy Scout Weekend...

...Scout had a very busy weekend...and I imagine all of the other scouts did as well...

...the Popcorn order came in a couple of days early...

...but that really didn't make that much difference as we knew the wreath order was coming in on Friday for weekend deliver anyway...

...we took the wreaths to the Church and sorted and labeled them there...of course we were one short - so that took several phone calls to find the other scout with one too many...but we succeeded...

...and delivered the ones that didn't belong to parishoners...

...and for all this work Scout has raised over $500 for the big Grand Canyon trip next year...YAY!

...in other news it's very cold here - I have a bad cold...and laryngitis...

...a little bit of line art...

...this was an existing drawing of the Church - probably done about 25 years ago...

...as there is no steeple - the new construction is on the back of the Church and not visible from here...

...but the Secretary wanted and updated drawing for the 25th Anniversary celebration covers - so I just sketched in a steeple and rounded out the tops of the clouds...

...I'm pretty sure I got the proportions and scale about right - I took a picture from about the same angle as the original drawing's perspective...as it's way too cold to stand outside and draw...and got out my old pen and inks (they've not seen the light of day since we moved here...)...I do love pen and ink drawing...don't you?...

LWR Quilt #4

...Well...I finally got around to doing another LWR quilt - I matched up some scraps and laid it out...

...it's pretty much a mirror image from the middle...

...the only thing I should have done differently was the bottom left square should have been top left and vice-versa for the mirrored effect to be quite right...

...oh well...