Updates

What a week! Please--I'm begging the forces that guide the universe---Let's not do this again any time soon! 

Arby is doing so much better on the change of medication. She's eating again and the acid burns (from acid reflux) in her mouth have shrunk. She's not fighting us as hard to give her the half pill twice a day. That, My Friends, is a good thing! A very good thing!

 

 We had snow. It's melting off and will most likely be gone by Monday. Because of the cold weather,, I used a recipe from Pioneer Woman. I made chicken and noodles--complete with homemade noodles. It's a good thing I learned how to make them--Mr. Big Box Store quit carrying my brand of noodles that were made from unenriched, unbleached flour. I guess they really don't want people to eat well at all. 

I also received a spring bulb catalog this week so I'm dreaming of spring flowers already.  I'm wondering how many of my tulips, daffodils, and miniature irises survived and will bloom. I'm so ready to dig in the dirt and plant some blooming, colorful plants again. 
  
Have I told you that I like simplicity? I'm not into complicated bits and pieces at all. A blogger friend is hosting her very first giveaway. LisbonSky has some fabulous jewelry in her Etsy store. And I'm telling you about it because it's SIMPLE. Visit her Etsy store, choose your favorite piece and tell her why it's your favorite piece on her blog. None of this do this--do that--do this--one more time--and don't forget to do that--type of giveaway. Simple works for me!

Speaking of giveaways, Terri Stone of TLSClayDesign is only 37 sales away from hitting 1000th sale!  THIRTY SEVEN! Wooooooooohoooooooooo Go Terri! *does the happy-happy-joy-joy dance for Terri!* Remember, the person who makes that 1000th sale gets this set made from Terri's beads! 

 Terri's also planning more for her special celebration! Stay tuned to this blog for more! 

I'm still participating in the Online Bead Soup/Bead Party. The touring date has been changed to February 10th, I believe.  I'm finishing up the piece I'm making from the delicious beads sent to me by my beading partner, Elizabeth! I've had a lot of fun playing with the beads she sent me. Stay tuned for the tour! It's going to be fabulous to see all the neat designs made!

Here's hoping you all stay warm, toasty, and dry!
Have a great weekend! 

 

Nestling Down

 

 If you want to get me in the mood to bake or cook, you first have to get me to slip into my nestling down mood. What's nestling down? You ladies may remember that urge to do some serious nesting when you were pregnant. You know what I'm talking about--the urge that had you washing the baby's nursery and the clothes twice a week because you found something that screamed "UNSANITARY FOR THE BABY!" at you. The kind that had you cooking up a twenty casseroles each weekend for when the baby came so your husband/Significant Other didn't starve to death--even though you KNEW he was going to hit the fast food drive-thru's. 

You men might remember  either being the most popular man or the most cursed man at work when your Wife/Significant Other was nesting due to pregnancy. It was because she loaded you down with all kinds of goodies at least twice a week to take to work because the sight of them made her gain 60-gazillion pounds! You also might recall coming home and finding her forgetting she already made dinner and she was cooking up something new. Or she was in the middle of disinfecting the kitchen because it wasn't sanitary enough for baby things? 

Well nestling down is similar to those feelings but this occurs when your children are all grown up and have moved out of the house...and you get that odd but familiar feeling to cook homemade comfort cold-weather food and bake upteen dozens of cookies. Just in case the power goes out. Just in case you have to feed lots of stranded travelers. Just in case...you feel like eating homemade goodies and cookies during a winter storm! 

So my nestling down included trying out another cookie recipe. I found the original recipe over at the Joy of Baking website and made some modifications to it that turned out to be really good! These cookies have a crunchy outer shell with a soft and moist center.

Here you go! Wheat Pecan Shortbread Cookies
1 Cup Butter
1/2 cup Demerara sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar
 1 Egg
1 Cup Toasted Pecan pieces 
2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 tsp Vanilla extract
pinch of kosher salt

Beat sugars and butter until creamy. Add the egg--again minus the shell! Beat until creamy. Add the toasted pecans and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Add the flour and the salt. Mix well. Mixture will be chunky and crumbly, but should stick together when compressed into a ball. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in waxed paper. Chill for at least 30 minutes to an hour until the dough is firm.

Preheat your oven at 350 Degrees. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from refrigerator and unroll from waxed paper. Form dough into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet.  Flatten each ball slightly. Bake at 350 Degrees for 10-15 minutes. Rule of thumb: the smaller the cookie, the less time they need to bake. These cookies do not spread. 
 

Only An Inch and A Half?

 

We woke up yesterday morning to an incredible sight. It was as if Christmas fairies sprinkled fairy dust all over the trees. It was beautiful. It was extremely cold. Even though our weather forecaster predicted temperatures in the upper 30s, I doubt it got above 25 degrees all day. D and I looked at each other and headed to the grocery store. We had a storm brewing. We gotta stock up on the essentials: cat foods, bird seed, and possible hot chocolate for him.

 (It's essential for you to understand that while I can't drink that prepackaged, highly processed pure unadulterated crap---have you seen those ingredients? Do you understand what they are? Sorry--I got sidetracked a bit--it's finals week. While I'm on this very necessary health journey, my husband is his own person and has free will. He doesn't have my health issues. If he wants to drink prepackaged, highly processed, pure unadulterated crap--that's his decision. I rest my case. :D)  

 Most of the town was brushed with this magical look. It was incredible.

While our weather forecast stated we would get cold and snow,  it also insisted that we wouldn't get more than an inch to an inch and a half of snow. *blinks then laughs* You can tell in the snapshot above that most of our previous snow had melted. 

Now I know--KNOW--that weather isn't exactly predictable, despite the long way we've supposedly come (baby!). I know there's controversy over climate change and let's not travel over to Climate-gate.  We can say we did--but please--let's NOT go there! I also know that some people--and we aren't mentioning names--believe that what the weatherman predicts SHOULD happen. But I'm not one of them.  This morning the weather forecast kept insisting we would only get less than an inch of new snow accumulation. I wonder where they got those figures from and if they meant the amount on top of the old snow that was mostly melted? 
  
Nonetheless, you look at the following pictures and tell me if this is considered to be ONLY an inch to an  inch and a half!

 D's shoveling snow at 7 in the morning...

 

 An hour later, he's helping someone get unstuck on the road.

 

About an hour later, he's helping someone else get their vehicle moving forward instead of sideways or spinning in the road.

 

 Neighbors are helping push a truck in the right direction. 

That's not bad photography--it's blowing snow!

 

 This is my husband shoveling snow again in the afternoon. 

 Now tell me---does that look like a mere inch to an inch and a half of snow?!?!?!?!