fall project

I've been enjoying Pinterest.com, which inspired me to try to make a wreath. I had enough stuff to make 2, and some extra decorations, so I made 2 wreaths, and a fall display.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We've had a wonderful Christmas so far, and its just 24 minutes into Christmas day. :)

Dad and I finally, successfully made Mississippi Mud today - we've been trying for about 15 years. Grandma Jean sent me her recipe, and we've been trying to adjust it for the elevation difference, and we've never been able to do it until today. WOOHOO! now it feels more like Christmas. :) Its funny how there are some things that just mean Christmas, and this year Mississippi Mud is one of those things.

Of course we've also been making all of our usual treats as well. We made pumpkin pie for mom, and super chex mix, cinnamon steamers, candy pretzel treats, and 2 very large pans of cinnamon rolls. Plus all the stuff we'll make tomorrow too, and the stuff we've been making for the last week or two. I haven't really eaten much of it, a bite here or there, but mostly I've just been having so much fun making stuff and cooking. Its a great creative outlet.

We opened our presents tonight after our usual Christmas Eve breakfast dinner of sausage (both link and patty), hashbrowns and eggs, and cinnamon roll. We used to always make a cinnamon roll wreath or candy cane shape, but it leaked all the good stuff out. It looked fabulous, but dried out quickly. So, a few years ago I made an adjustment and just started making cinnamon rolls instead of a fancy log. They don't look as pretty, but they're tasty. Especially this year. I finally managed to make the Disneyland cinnamon roll recipe to perfection. :) They're so good. This is a recipe I've been trying to get good at for years. There used to be these really really (I mean really) good cinnamon rolls at the Wallowa County State Fair, if you worked in the food booth, or were there in the morning. I've been trying to teach myself to make them ever since then (another 20 year project), and finally a friend passed me a link to the Disneyland cinnamon roll recipe, and its just like what we used to get at the fair. Very exciting, and very tasty. And its not something I would have ever thought of to try, so I would never have perfected it. There is vanilla pudding in the dough. Total genius. Oh, and today for the first time I also managed to get a mixer to knead bread the way I would. It was the coolest thing. Perfect Mississippi Mud, perfect cinnamon rolls, and lots of fun to boot.

After dinner we passed out the presents, well the ones that were small enough to pass, the big ones we just kind of laid out or stood up. Justin built some AMAZING stuff this year, and I'm so so excited. He built a pantry cupboard for mom and dad that holds our big buckets, cans, jars, etc. Its huge and so cool! then he also built a copper pot rack for dad, and he built the spice shelf that I designed for them too. He was a Christmas rockstar this year, and I'm so grateful. I've been having some depression issues, and having a hard time, and he has done SO much to step in and do much more than I could have even thought of in a good year, let alone this year. I'm so grateful!

Anyway, he built that stuff for mom and dad, and then he built me the coolest sewing table for my new machine (I wonder how long I will have it before its not my "new machine" anymore?). Its fabulous! He got a local cabinet maker to make a custom piece of corian counter, and then he build these adjustable legs, and a special drawer, and its as sturdy as can be, and beautiful! PLUS mom and dad bought me this extender table for my machine, so that I can sew much much easier. Bernina machines used to come with a custom extender table, but they don't anymore, and I've been having a really hard time sewing and quilting without it. But now I have a super duper table, and a super super extender for my machine. Plus I bought myself a new iron during black friday after Thanksgiving, so I'm a happy to sew girl now! I've got the full meal deal.

Everyone also got some other cool things. Dad of course gets to go to Africa, that was his big present. Dad bought mom a laptop, also super cool. Then they each got a couple little things. I bought Justin a really nice table saw (which he got early, and used to make all the beautiful projects he did), and I got him Despicable Me, and Shrek the Final Chapter (or whatever its called). Anyway, it was lovely, and fun, and OH, mom bought the dogs each a cookie monster doll, and we got the cat some catnip. They were all SO SO funny, and we all laughed and laughed. The 2 dogs and 1 cat were all so excited with their presents, it was really cute and funny. We also took lots of pictures which will be fun to scrapbook soon, and I'll post a bunch too.

Well, I just wanted to write this and share it while it was still fresh in my mind, and to share the joy of our day and the season. Love to everyone! Merry Christmas! :)

I Believe in You Lyrics

This song is a favorite of mine.

"I don't believe in superstars,
Organic food and foreign cars.
I don't believe the price of gold;
The certainty of growing old.
That right is right and left is wrong,
That north and south can't get along.
That east is east and west is west.
And being first is always best.

But I believe in love.
I believe in babies.
I believe in Mom and Dad.
And I believe in you.

Well, I don't believe that heaven waits,
For only those who congregate.
I like to think of God as love:
He's down below, He's up above.
He's watching people everywhere.
He knows who does and doesn't care.
And I'm an ordinary man,
Sometimes I wonder who I am.

But I believe in love.
I believe in music.
I believe in magic.
And I believe in you.

I know with all my certainty,
What's going on with you and me,
Is a good thing.
It's true, I believe in you.

I don't believe virginity,
Is as common as it used to be.
In working days and sleeping nights,
That black is black and white is white.
That Superman and Robin Hood,
Are still alive in Hollywood.
That gasoline's in short supply,
The rising cost of getting by.

But I believe in love.
I believe in old folks.
I believe in children.
I believe in you.

I believe in love.
I believe in babies.
I believe in Mom and Dad.
And I believe in you."

a lovely mess

Look, you can see my toe prints!

We've had some well troubles lately (as in water well), and last night it almost completely crapped out, so Justin wanted to go under the house today to fix it (he had to install a new check valve to stop the water leaking out of the house and back into the well, to prevent the well pump getting burned out). So I went into the store room to turn off the power to the well. I saw a bag of flour had fallen onto the floor/onto a box of laundry soap. I lifted the bag, and out poured the flour. Apparently the paper sack was totally destroyed when it landed on the sharp corner of the laundry soap. 25 pounds of flour. That's a lot of flour in case you were wondering. Took two pails of shoveled flour, and being vacuumed twice to get it all up. I didn't take a picture of the foot prints all over the house in flour (because I couldn't clean it up right away because we were in the middle of a plumbing project, so I ended up tracking it all over the house). Or a picture of the flour flying everywhere when I dumped the pails into the trash. I also didn't take a picture of an hour later when I was watering the goose and the bucket sloshed and filled my shoe with water. It was an interesting hour.

Update-ish

There really isn't a lot to report, but I guess lots of blogs start that way. Looking forward to Thanksgiving this week, and making lots of fun treats. I don't really even want to eat any of them, I'm just looking forward to cooking them and trying new stuff. I'm thinking - blueberry cranberry pie. Sounds very interesting. Also got some good looking granny smith apples to make an apple pie. I think I will try to cook the filling on the stove first, then fill the crust. Dad always complains about regular apple pie, and likes Mrs. Smiths better because the apples get double cooked. So I will try it this week, and see how it goes. Apple pie is always good though. :)

Its been very cold lately, especially for what we've had here the last few years. I wish we had more snow, that would be really nice. At least the ground is getting good and frozen so when Justin wants to go snow machining, they will have a good "base" to go on. :) I actually am looking forward to riding in the little cart thing he built to pull behind the sled. He built it for me because I'm a chicken, and am afraid to ride by myself. :) But I'm okay with that. So for now, we've got the cart, which I've never gotten to ride in, we never had enough snow last year to use it. Come on SNOW!!!

We've started working on little December projects, spent some time at Lowe's yesterday doing some research and looking at things to make and do. I was looking for some discount carpet they'd had there last week, but it was gone, which was very disappointing. It was nice carpet at a good price, so I could afford to do the floor down here which is not looking to good. But alas, it was not to be. Hopefully sometime soon though. We stopped by fred meyer last night to get a couple things, and I was incredibly glad that mom and I had done our holiday meal shopping for the next few weeks before the rush. It was a madhouse in Fred Meyer, totally nuts. Glad I only needed about 5 things. Oh, plus I get to brag, for those who didn't see on facebook - I saved $200 with coupons at the grocery store last week. Totally incredible, I was very proud of myself. Organized my list and my coupons to the order of things in the store so that I remembered to use the coupons and the list, and it was all very efficient.

Justin got his last wisdom tooth out last week. he's been pretty miserable with the pain from them, and so it was good to get the last one out. Its been pretty painful too, and healing slowly, but got him some antibiotics and I think its healing better now. Also got his blood pressure refilled, so maybe his BP will come down now. That would be good.

We're both trying to come up with ways to improve our health. We're thinking about joining a local health club. I'm voting for a machine we could have at the house, because I'm embarrassed to work out in public. But I think the club membership would be good too - more variety and such. We definitely need to do something though. We want to be healthier. I'm working at eating smaller portions and drinking lots more water. I took a class at church a couple years ago, and I wish I remembered more of it, but I don't. What I do remember though is to drink an 8 ounce glass of water before dinner, and eat slower, because then you eat less, but you feel full because the body actually has time to get full, and relay to the brain to stop before we get over-full. So anyway, that's where I'm starting at.

We're also going to take the next steps to starting our family. We have an appointment with an infertility specialist next month in Soldotna. He's supposed to be the best around and comes very highly recommended. We've known since I was about 15 or 16 that I have poly cystic ovarian syndrome, and that it would take extra efforts to have children. Now its time to start those. Hopefully we'll see some results soon. We are really looking forward to expanding our family of 2 to include some little ones. Or tricycle motors as Justin calls them. I call them curtain climbers. :)

We lost our dear great-grandma last week. She was 97 and a half, and a wonderful example of a strong, Christ-like woman. Our neighbor is also very ill, which is very sad too. Its been a very emotional couple of weeks for our family, but we're plugging along, and taking comfort where we can. We know that grandma is so much happier now - she was ready to go home and be with her other family that she's been missing for many years. We miss her of course, but know we'll see her again.

I guess that's everything, except Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone reading this has a wonderful, safe, and happy holiday. :)

cool shot

This is the "Independence', just after launching. Looks so cool with the water so still, and the mountain and all. This was the day before we closed for the season. Such a beautiful picture.

Progression of a sunset

Oops, got the pictures uploaded in the reverse order, but you get the idea. :)