Saturday, November 29, 2014

...Christmas Tree #1...

...we went to the lot and chose a tree...a pretty frazier fir...and Scout and the Man loaded it up...
...the Man sawed off the excess and trimmed the trunk and put on the base...it's a sticky messy job...
...then Scout shook it out and tried to get any loose bits off before we carried it inside...it still left quite a trail of bits though...
...then we set it up in the corner...and got a bonus photo of Jack...who doesn't like to have his photo taken...
...Scout trimmed the top...
...and replaced a burned out bulb...
...and placed the star...that's been his job since he was a toddler and his Papa had to hold him up to put on the topper...
...and then we got out the bins of decorations...
...and trimmed the tree...

...so we are officially a 2 tree family...stay tuned for tree #2...

...Have you trimmed your Christmas tree yet?

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, November 28, 2014

...celebrating a 99 year life...

...as a family,we certainly have a lot to be thankful for...
...as we headed up through the mountains of North Carolina the day after Thanksgiving...
...through a dusting of Thanksgiving snow...
...to celebrate the life the Man's Mamaw...I've mentioned her here on the blog many times...and I've known her since I was 17 when the Man and I started dating...
...she was a quilter, crocheter, and basket maker non-pareil...
...but she will be most remembered as a beloved mother, sister, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend...

Thursday, November 27, 2014

...Happy Thanksgiving...

...WISHING YOU BLESSED, HAPPY AND PEACEFUL THANKSGIVING!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

...W.I.P. Wednesday...Bathroom Walls...

...not a W.I.P. of the knitting variety...but it's definitely time to do something with those walls...

...here they are getting their first skim coat of spackling...remember we're going with smooth walls...again...

...we're looking at paint samples...thinking about a nice warm caramel colour...what do you think?

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

...The King is Coming...a Pre-School Bulletin Board idea...

...with Advent fast approaching...I thought I'd share a lesson/bulletin board idea that I used with the Preschool Sunday School class last year...
...this is the bulletin board after Epiphany...but the way it works is...

...I drew really simple shapes on construction paper and let the kids cut them out...

Advent Week one:

Have a little lesson about Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem - cut out Joseph and Mary figures a donkey and a stable and an empty manger...and the words THE KING IS COMING...and put those on the board...I let the kids position the figures and hold them up and I just put a couple of staples in each one...you may need to move them around a bit as the weeks go on and you have more things on your board...

Week 2:

Cut out a Star (we put lots of glitter on ours), an Angel and some shepherds and sheep and put those on the board - read the lesson from the Bible about the Angels and the Star appearing to the shepherds...we also put a goat and a cow in our stable this week too...

Week 3:

Cut out the Three Wise Men and a camel and use sticky-tacky to mount the Wise Men on the wall down the hallway (or just around the other side of the room) from the scene...read the story about the Wise Men in the Bible - we'll move them to the Bulletin Board on Epiphany Sunday...

Week 4:

Cut out Baby Jesus and put him in the manger cut out the word HERE and change the word COMING to HERE - read the story of the birth of Jesus in the Bible - move the Wise Men closer to the manger but don't put them on the board yet...

Epiphany Sunday: Move the Wise Men onto the scene...

Wasn't that fun!

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, November 24, 2014

...Dragon Fruit...

...It's time to play International Foods Roulette again...
...we went to the International Foods store again over the weekend...and got some things that we needed...
...including this Dragon Fruit...also called a Pitaya...
...so we cut it in two...
...it looks and smells vaguely like a kiwi fruit...and it's full of little black seeds...
...so we scooped out the fruit with a spoon...
...it came out pretty cleanly...
...we diced it up...
...it really feels like a kiwi fruit...
...then we put the diced cubes back in the little cups...
...and put them on some pretty glass plates...

...so what did it taste like?...

...not really much of anything...it was very mildly sweet...not really sweet enough...and it definitely had a kiwi fruit texture...

...we're glad we gave it a try...but I don't think anyone liked it well enough to have it again...

...have you ever tasted a dragon fruit?

~Have a lovely day!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

...Improvised Lunch...

...I found myself alone for lunch ...

...that's just bound to happen more and more now that Scout's so grown up and doing his own things...and the Man is so busy too...
...so...I perused the fridge to see what was available...

...the frozen individual sized chick peas are almost always in the freezer...and then there was some orange juice...not much - less than a cup...and some leftover broccoli slaw...and some leftover rice...
...so I tossed the chickpeas and slaw in a pan with some orange juice and a few herbs...fennel (the boys don't like fennel - I bet my Mom does though)...and some coriander...and sort of did a stir fry with the orange juice instead of oil...
...and you know what?...it turned out so good...
...it was delicious...and I'm posting it here to remind me to make it again...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

...everything rolls...

...I saw this recipe over at Lexi's Clean Kitchen for 'Everything Bagel' Cauliflower Rolls...

...and y'all know how I love me some everything bagels...

...the recipe looked pretty easy to veganize...needing only an egg substitute...
...so I got some cauliflower and gave them a try...
...and riced it up in the food processor...
...added some Ener-G egg replacer and flax seed goo eggs...
...then coconut flour...
...almond flour...see how I make my own here...
...and some corn meal...
...mixed it all up...and shaped the dough into rolls...and sprinkled with 'everything'...
...and baked them...
...they smelled delicious...
...and they looked perfect...but alas...they were not as delicious as I thought...and we didn't even finish them...such a shame...

...mainly I think it was a texture issue...

...what have you tried lately that just didn't work out like you planned?...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

...sneak peak...

...just a quick peak at the claw foot tub that will be going in the Master Bath...where lots of work is now going on...since we've had to move inside because it's so cold out...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

...another Marinade over at The Vegan Version...and a Vegan Coleslaw Recipe...

...it's a two-post kinda day...
...we did another Vegan Pork Medallion Marinade over at The Vegan Version...
...it was really...really good...better than the too salty MARINADE SÈCHE...
...and we had it with Broccoli Slaw...

~Have a lovely day!

...Broccoli Slaw...

...I have been loving this Broccoli Slaw that we can get already shredded up at the grocery store...I try to use up my stalks when I have them too...but this is so much easier...
...the boys prefer Coleslaw made with cabbage...but this was nice too...very mild...so I was thinking that if you have people who don't like the peppery bite of cabbage this might be a nice alternative...

Vegan Broccoli Coleslaw

2 cups prepared Broccoli Slaw
2 Tbs Vegenaise
1 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Tbs sugar
salt and pepper to taste

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, November 17, 2014

...Baby's Hat...

...I went to my neighbor's baby shower over the weekend...it was an Open House Baby Shower and it was just drop in and leave when you please...which was so nice...

...I took the baby blanket that I'd made for her...and I also finished a sweet little One Hour Baby Hat...
...I'm thinking that it doesn't even take me an hour to make one of these...I've made so many...
...it's just about the last of the old Red Heart Baby Fingering Variegated Yarn...

...and I'm loving the pattern that this one made...it's almost striped...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!



...oh...guess what...I just found out that another neighbor across the street is expecting her first babe in March...and this time it's a boy...

...I think I may do the big stripes in boy colours...that one was so easy...

Saturday, November 15, 2014

...a dusting...

...we've had our first dusting of snow for the season...
...just coating rooftops and car hoods...
...and sticking lightly to the ever browning grass blades and fallen leaves...
...it's cold now...but the week started off so nicely...after the Veteran's Parade Tuesday...I painted some more rails on the deck...as if the rails weren't tedious enough...these have a privacy wall behind them...

...eight down...and 20 to go...I'm still hopeful for a few more sunny warm days that I can get this job finished before deep winter sets in...but if it has to wait til spring...then it just will...

~Have a lovely weekend!