...11.7...Dinner and a Christmas Tree...

...we were planning on decorating the Christmas Tree(s) before Our Airman gets here tomorrow...

...but first...I cooked up some delicious fresh beets...

...I always cook the greens as well...I never did this before I moved to North Dakota...and everyone eats the greens there...I guess we just always threw them away...

...I use always this recipe from that same old Betty Crocker Cookbook...

...just sauteeing the greens...

...the beets turned out perfectly...slightly sweet and tart...

...but the greens cooked down so much that I was sure there wasn't enough for anyone but me...haha...

...so I cooked some spinach as well...and added the beet greens to that...

...and we had a bowl of great northern beans and cornbread, greens, beets, Foreman grilled sweet potato...and tea...of course...

...after dinner we got out the Christmas trees...the Man and I finally bought 'fake' Christmas trees...after Our Airman was no longer here to 'enjoy' the process of choosing a real one...

...got out the ornaments...

...and set up the big tree in the corner...

...and the small one on the table in front of the window...the Man calls this tree my "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree"...and now I want to watch that show...haha...

...this is definitely the earliest that we've ever put up our Christmas tree...but it's fine because it's not real...

...when's the earliest you've ever put up your tree?...

~Have a lovely weekend!

...11.6...Friday Favorites...

...I mean...seriously...how could I NOT post about this little angel...

...we went over to the Church playground...there are actually two...one newer one...and one older one with more traditional playground equipment...you've seen my grand-nephew on the merry-go-round there...and some photos of the newer playground as well...

...and there's this older version of a baby swing...and Our Girl LOVES to swing...

...I love the way the whoosh of the swing makes her hair fly...and that she puckers up for kisses on each swing forward...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your weekend!

...10.5...What I ate in a day...as a Vegan...

...for Breakfast...I had saved a half of a raw potato (because the bag of Idaho potatoes I had bought was all rather large sized potatoes and 2 of them was too much for the two of us) from last night's supper...in a jar of water in the fridge...so I diced that up...

...and browned it in my Foreman Grill...of course...

...and I had that with a cup of coffee with cashew creamer...and a half of an everything bagel with some homemade vegan cream cheese...

...for lunch I made two sandwiches...this one is cucumber over homemade vegan cream cheese...sprinkled with dill...

...and the last two small gifted homegrown tomatoes...and vegan mayo...with tea of course...

...dinner (sorry for the horrible photo)...it gets dark so early now...haha...was baked tofu, roasted potato and Foreman grilled broccoli and Brussels sprouts...'dessert' was my banana, black walnuts and flaxseed for the day...(I always eat that for potassium and omega 3 & 6)

...I also had a few snacks...but they were pretty healthy...

...a handful of pecans and a Medjool date...if y'all haven't tried this...you definitely should...it's like eating a candy bar...

...and I also had an apple...

...what did you eat yesterday?...

~Have a lovely day!

...11.4...W.I.P. Wednesday...Repairing a Chipped Plate...

...I found this pretty leaf plate in the trash...because it's got a couple of large chips...and I can understand why no one would want it on their table anymore...

...this chip at the tip is pretty noticeable...

...and this one on the side...

...but I didn't see antyhing else wrong with the plate and you know me...I'd hate to 'waste' a pretty thing...and I thought maybe...just maybe I could make it useful again...so I mixed up some paint...this is just acrylic outdoor craft paint...don't-ya-just-luv my fancy-schmancy painter's palette...aka a white styrafoam take-out container...haha...I wasn't sure exactly what colours would give me a perfect match...

...but I mixed them up and painted the affected chipped areas...I think it's a pretty good match...

...and then for the 'glaze'...I gave it a generous coating of superglue...and just let that dry...I think it turned out pretty well...

...I'm not entirely sure about superglue and food safety...but this plate will probably only be used for cookies and such...so I'll make sure they don't touch the retouched areas...

...and I have another pretty plate for my Thanksgiving table...I think it will look pretty next to my Turkey platter...

...what have you fixed lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...11.3...Election Day...

...well...the moving van did not come...so we had to move everything back inside...arghhhhh!

...the Airman's wife is trying to find out what went wrong and reschedule...Our Airman is still in his SERE training and can't be reached... ...

...we got up super early again...the polls opened at 6:30...and it was right across the street...it was a little bit chilly...and the poll workers said it had been steady since they opened...

...we waited about 25 minutes...not too bad at all...and for some reason the "I voted" stickers were very different this year...

~Have a lovely Election Day...

...11.2...Over the Weekend...

...so Saturday was Halloween...and I wanted to get everything done before our little Trick-or-Treater arrived...

...so we had breakfast...I wanted waffles...and I made one big delicious fluffy waffle...

...but the Man said he'd prefer a pancake...so I made that too...

...then...of course I did the weekly vegan shop...

...of note...I love it when they have these bags of 'overripe' bananas...the whole bag was 89¢...

...when I got home this bag was on the back porch...

...and inside was a bunch of homegrown peppers...amazing to receive those on Halloween...it's been a mild fall so far...

...but wait...there was also a jar of dehydrated peppers...how handy was that...

...also of note...another vegan butter...just thinking ahead to Thanksgiving...and I want to have plenty on hand...

....Our grocery store usually has this bin of books around Christmas-time...usually they are discounted...and I got this funny 'cookbook'...I think I'll stick it in one of the kiddos Christmas stockings...

...these spices came in the mail from Amazon...can't wait to try them...and hoping they are not too hot...

...we lugged all of the tools upstairs and spread them out in the living room...and we bought a new Craftsman red toolbox...because the Man wants to make a toolbox for Our Airman to take to Japan...and it needed to be ready for when the moving van comes today...I'll post more about it later...

...then it was time to don our holiday clothes...

...sweet Jack-O-Lantern...haha...

...and then this little 'chick' flew in...for some tricks and treats...

...she had a great Halloween...her second actually...and they only get more fun...

...she's such a sweetie...

...and then...not technically over the weekend...I know...we got up super early to move all of the kiddos belongings out onto the carport...because the moving van is coming today...to pack up all their things for Japan...hopefully it will be there waiting on them when the arrive...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!