Sunday, December 29, 2019

That's A Wrap!

Another Christmas is just a wonderful memory.

My husband and son-in-law got drones for Christmas.
I think they both love them. It has a camera on it so it is fun to see things from another prospective. 

It does get pretty high.

Then my daughter and son-in-law hosted the larger family party..

I believe there were 25 of us. Such a fun gathering.

We did the plastic wrap ball game. There was lots of laughs and we will do this again next year. 

I got an amaryllis as a gift and it is just starting to bloom. Much needed in the winter gloom. The sun shone for a few hours this morning I got myself up and out and took a 3 mile walk up one hill and then another. I was beat when I got back but so happy I did get the walk in.
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We are in for some pretty bad weather for the next two days.
Lots of ice, I would rather have a foot of snow than ice.
I hope your Christmas was a good one and you had time to relax.
I will have more on the new year in my next post ,I do not do New Year's resolutions but will show you what I plan on doing.
Happy New Year!  

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Christmas Cookies

T'was the night before Christmas. We read it every Christmas eve even when my daughter was in college. Now she reads it to her daughter one of my favorite traditions. 


I baked today. I take a lot to work to share as gifts. and I enjoy every minute of it.

 My first try at biscotti it came out pretty good.

I think I finally found my grandmother's molasses cookies recipe in a very old cookbook from Maine. She lived in Downeast Maine and I have such wonderful memories of those cookies. Super soft and yummy.
My house is decorated, this little wonky tree is my newest addition
Funky but wonderful!

My mantel is so happy and fun with layers of lights.

Our stockings are hung by the chimney

With care.

While I love a glass of wine or baileys now and then I am not a big
drinker and very glad of it, it is expensive!

Here is a toast to a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!
We have passed the winter solstice so each day gets a bit long always something to look forward too!


Sunday, December 15, 2019

A Weekend With Sweet B!

We spent a overnight with Sweet B and pets.

First up the library to build a gingerbread house.

Lots of candy to work with, this was not the final result and sadly I do not have a picture of it but she was very creative!

I dug out my candy making supplies and made her chocolate tree pops for each of her classmates for Christmas. This would be the assembly line of her and pep putting the little bags on them and tying little bows lol. We love our time with her and came home thankful for family.

I finished my freebie I hooked from Kellie. I left out the little angel kitty as it was so small and getting lost. I needed to keep it small....

For this.I wanted it for the door of this little hanging cupboard.

My tree is decorated in mostly vintage ornaments.

I love how soft and pretty they are with age.

This is a small table top feather tree. It is a newer feather tree but older ornaments.

My most precious ones are on this tree.

This is a small piece of my mantle I put the little lamps on it this year and I am so pleased with it as this room tends to be very dark,

Another bit of my paper house village.

And my vintage Santa's. The Santa in the chimney is the last present my mother gave me. Today is 10 years since she passed away. While cleaning out her things I found it with my name on it.
I miss her everyday and have so much to tell her. She would love our Sweet B but sadly she never got to meet her.
***
A busy week ahead, I have cookies to bake and hopefully a few friends will stop by. Take time to enjoy the season. A cup of tea in a room lit with only Christmas lights, time to count our blessings. 
Enjoy

Sunday, December 8, 2019

A Day Off...

I took some time to repair a few things on a rug I hooked for my daughter 7 years ago. She had a new puppy last year and it has been sitting in my closet waiting for me all this time.


This is not a good picture but you do see the pattern in the wool.
It does not have any color variations but is a straight light cream color. I am in complete love with this wool and I want more. I was on a self induced spending freeze this year for wool so this is the first I have bought all year and boy oh boy is it good. It would be wonderful dyed.


I have been decorating off and on since Thanksgiving I am declaring it done!. this is a tiny part of my little paper house village.

This is over my kitchen sink so I get to see them all the time.
my little gnomes. 

Sweet little faces.

I was also lucky enough to win a relaxation raffle basket from the Library. Inside is a gift cert for 1/2 hour massage and lots of lavender products. Very exciting! Since I caught my husband's cold and had to take Friday off and lay low for the weekend it was a nice call to get.

I did make some Pumpkin scones this morning they came out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.
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My sweet B and her skiing buddies were chosen to be in the flyer and the magazine for the mountain they ski at. Very exciting!
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Her parents took her to the police station to drop of some homemade cookies they made. I am so proud of her parents they both work very hard to make sure she understands the joy of giving and respect.
***
Now for the winner of the giveaway!
Saundra it is you! email me your address I will get it in the mail in the AM.
***
We are in for crappy weather (rain) you know the ground is frozen so we will be slipping an skidding all over the place. ICK
Have a great week! 



Sunday, December 1, 2019

A House Tour And A Giveaway!

This is the Lucknow Castle also known as Castle in the Clouds.
Yes I have been here several times and shown you lots of pictures. 
But this was for Christmas.

Each room was decorated by theme not that impressed to tell the truth. Until I got to the maid's room and all that wool! (sorry upside down)

There were ornaments and roping made from wool..

Wreaths and ..

Trees made from wool so sweet..

And this tree oh this tree be still my heart. As you can see it is a candle holder and the center is threaded so you can move the individual pieces as you want. It was old, it had that old wood just yummy.  I have never seen one but oh I would like one, but I am sure it will be out of my reach.(this one was not for sale)

They even had music. The way he was dressed he looked like an elf. but his music was lovely.

This is what I always come for the view. We hung around for sunset.



The original owner Thomas Plante went bankrupt and lost this place. I always think how sad I am for him. To never have had it you don't miss it but to have it and have to leave would be soul crushing. It is such a peaceful lovely place still. (I believe he lost it in the stock market crash)
My daughter called me and said have you heard about the best gingerbread cookies in the world? It is located around the lake from us about an hour's drive not far from the castle. So husband and I went for lunch and stopped at the Yum Yum shop to taste the best gingerbread cookies in the world! As you can see husband and I dove in. It was warm from the oven and few to take home. They ship them anywhere you want. I am no expert but they were pretty good and they had lots of other bakery items too. It smelled just like Christmas when we walked in. I love visiting bakeries.


I decided to purchase Doreen Frost's (Vermont Harvest Folk Art) news letter for the month of December. It is lovely and the pattern can be used anyway you want to. There are stories and recipes, Plus it is nice to get mail.

I have had a LLBean gift cert hanging around so I decided to purchase some really nice sheep wool lined leather slippers.
They were 25% off plus they emailed me a 10.00 gift cert. I have never purchase really nice slippers. What a difference like walking on a cloud and toasty warm. These will come in handy we have been very cold and there is a storm that will last about 38 hours on the way. The crazy thing is the large totals of snow will be in the south! very very different for us. We are 4-8 inches and the south could get up to 16  inches I say good for them!!!

I hit the library on the way out Sat. I picked up this show that was on PBS that we had never watched. It was really good as everyone had said it was, And he is pretty handsome. 
If you are not using your library you are truly missing out. We get free passes to parks and museums and DVDs I also got a couple of Christmas magazines to thumb through.

About one or two Sunday's a month I cook us a big breakfast. 
I thought I would pass on how I cook my bacon. I use a broiler pan I have sprayed and lay out the bacon and into a 375 oven for about 10 minutes but keep an eye on it. All fat drips down below and you have nice and crisp bacon. Now I know it is not healthy but once in awhile is OK. And I feel I am doing a good thing by cooking out of the grease. 

If you are still reading along I am giving this pattern that was a freebie with purchase last year at Cushings. I did the one I got but I got this in a swap and in order to get things moving out instead of in I am giving it away. Just leave a comment no need to share or anything I will pull a name next Sunday, Dec 8th 
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Have a wonderful week and happy December.