Cardmaking day, continue working on scrap quilt and getting ready for advent.

I left early this morning to head a couple of towns over to go card making.  I have been snowed in and couldn't wait to see people again and create. It snowed again overnight but the forecast  was for possible ground blizzards(where there is no falling snow but the winds are so high it causes a ground blizzard from the recent snows). It was a big possibility for our area but the wind wasn't even blowing when I left .  Plus, I went only about 20 minutes away. 

Card making was so much fun. My friend Sherri does such a great job teaching us and having all our supplies ready. 

In the middle of making cards my husband called to say it's a blizzard and you are not coming home, the highway was stopped.  I started cards at 10am and was only halfway through. It should be okay by the time I finished, right? 

By 12:30pm I looked at the county road updates and the highway was still closed. It was strange, only 20 minutes away no breeze and the sun is shining.  The alerts all over Colorado and Wyoming where coming in... road closure, road closure, road closures... car pile-up, fatalities.... I went to my son's home.  It was great to see them but I am sure they wanted their day back. 

I finally took a chance and left at 4pm. There were only a few of us on the road and the roads were clear.  But the time I got to my exit it was clear there had been some issues earlier.  The highway was closed at my exit and beyond.  The alternate highway (the back road and highway) was closed too. The department of transportation sighting too many fatalities for the amount of highway people working.
I made it home only getting stuck in drift in our driveway! It was still windy here but I am glad to be home.  The weather this week is to be warmer and no snow! Yay. 

Today we celebrated St Andrew.  Patron saint of fishermen, Scotland, Russia and Romania.  "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." This is the first place I have lived that was not near an ocean.  A couple of my sons were born in Hawaii, one in Virginia Beach, I was raised on the coast of  North Carolina, before that, my younger sister was born in California.  My dad was a meditative fisherman, he would cast a line, light his pipe and wait.  I had hoped for a lovely fish and shrimp dinner to celebrate, but due to getting home so late, I had kippered herring and cheesy cauliflower.  oy. I had also planned to back and mount this Santa Fisherman I did a while back. ohwell, project for another day. 

But I did get the sashing done on the Ultimate Beginner Quilt I  did all out scraps.  Tomorrow I hope to put the border on it. 

Tomorrow begins Advent and I am so exited.  It is a season of Joyful and Hopeful waiting for Christmas. I remember the nuns teaching us it was a time to clean our house and get ready for a wonderful guest... Jesus. It is a time of kindness and sharing HOPE. 

December 1st begin lighting the Advent Wreath and start a Jesse Tree with my religious education class 4th -6th graders. I will post what I am doing with the Jesse Tree - it will be my first year doing this. 

Celebrations along the way:
4th  Feast of St Barbara
6th St Nicholas Day
7th Feast of St Ambrose
8th Immaculate Conception
9th  Juan Diego
10th  Our Lady of Loretto
11th  Our Lady Queen of Angels
12th Out Lady of Guadalupe
13th St Lucy
14th St John of the Cross
21st  St Thomas
CHRISTMAS!
then we begin Christmas Time with the 12 days of Christmas to Epiphany. 

So, we hope you will join us in this very happy time of  Preparing and Celebrating.

peace

Light lunch before Thanksgiving Day

We did get more snow overnight. Today was cold and icy. 

It was nice to see all the green in the house with snow in the background. 

Someone enjoyed time by the fire in my Dad's old chair. 

I ate light today … the day before Thanksgiving. I made hummus.  It was the usual recipe of  drained garbanzo beans, tahini, garlic (lots), a bit of olive oil, lots of lemon juice, salt , pepper, and hot sauce. 

Here's the cool part... this my last garden cucumber and one of the few lasting tomatoes!

oh, and I chopped up one of our homegrown onions too!  Topped with fresh cracked pepper. 

Lunch! Delish!

The rest of the day was clean , clean , clean while Dude shoveled a bit more and then off to the store he went. I make all the sides while he makes the ham and chicken. 

Now it is time to relax.

peace

Snow day , sewing and card making

We got a bit of snow and we both love it. We prepped yesterday making sure we had our firewood in and dried, 5 gallon jugs filled with water in case the power goes out (you can't flush a toilet without power), ready made foods available, candles, hand sanitizer/baby wipes, toilet paper (I have a fear of running out) and made sure the animals all had fresh bedding, food and water with warmers... oh, and Dude made sure there was plenty of coffee (note for me... tea is getting low, smile)  Power stayed on and all was well. The highway did close. More snow is due Friday and Saturday, we are prepared. We got 8-10 inches of snow but the drifts were one to two feet in areas. 

Dude worked clearing the porches and walk-ways to the barns. Then he pushed snow with the tractor.

Norman had been out almost two hours with Dude but I made him come in. I was concerned about his feet freezing. He thought otherwise and cried watching Dude outside. Dude loves being out there and was out all day, mostly riding in the warm tractor and then shoveling.

I got working on cleaning the house. We are hosting Thanksgiving.

I moved all the tea, cocoa, instant coffee and cereals over to a station I created.  Dude likes an occasional pop so I moved it there too and out of the way.  The whole thing  hidden in a pocket of the room and out of the way.

Then I had a ton of catching up to do with sewing and crafts. Okay, I could live to be 100 years old and never be caught up!

I got all the squares done on the scrap quilt and hope to get the sashing done tomorrow. There are nine squares. White sashing will go between the squares and the border is a light green.

I did get some cards made. 

Ten cards made from a kit. 

They are 3D.

One of my grandson's birthday is tomorrow. I am glad I froze some cupcakes. They just need to be frosted. He will be 3 and wants pink and purple cupcakes. (He is a fan of Peppa Pig)

I don't think he will mind the wrappers are Halloween. *smile*

Tomorrow we will get the Thanksgiving dinner cooked . Dude will cook a local ham and one of our chickens. We want to be able to just enjoy our time with family on Thursday. 

peace

House plants tables, dinner, and a crochet project.

I made the mistake of leaving my Thanksgiving shopping until this morning. I thought if I went early in the morning I would avoid the crowds... wrong. Everyone else had the same idea. At least, it is done. 

I brought in some old coffee tables from outside for houseplants.  I covered them with plastic tablecloths I bought today. 

I have one that needs refinished that my Dad made over 40 years ago. I saved it for another family member until they could pick it up but no time to refinish it for now. 

So I brought it indoors too and covered with a plastic tablecloth. 

Yep, I left a space for more plants. 

Don't throw away the bags from the tablecloths. I recycled them for small sewing projects and crocheting. (otherwise I am always missing a bit or piece I really, really need)

Dinner tonight was squash , salad and eggs. 

Salad was lettuce, apples, pomegranates and goat cheese. 

Spaghetti squash baked at 425* for 45 minutes. Then tossed with butter, pecans and dates that had been sautéed .

I have to admit that I was surprised my meat-eating husband enjoyed dinner. 

My grandson has a beach trip in the future so I made him a lanyard for his luggage. If I make it again I will need to use a thinner yarn. The pattern (from Crochet Crowd) is not difficult but was a struggle since the yarn was thick and the hook so small. The how-to video was short, so I thought it would be quick but for me... it took a few days... smile. Okay, there were times I wanted to throw it across the room... grin. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and if you are traveling stay safe. 

peace

Drying apples and gift bags

It has been a while since writing here. I have been posting everything over on Facebook.  It was quick and easy but I was constantly online. So, here I am again.

I have an abundance of apples. Since I can't eat them quick enough, I have decide to dry them. This brings a memory of a couple of years ago when my sister was visiting and we were drying apples. Her grandchildren loved them so much they ate them all within a couple of days.
We do use them for snacks but we also use them throughout the winter for baking or adding to hot cereals.

I use an attachment on my mixer to peel the apples. They were all peeled in 10 minutes. Long gone are the days of lining up my sons to wash, peel and core apples by hand. Boy, did they hate apple season, especially when people would leave bags of them on the porch.

Don't they peel lovely?

 I soak them in lemon water so they won't brown as I continue to cut apples. 

They chickens loved the scraps. 

They are ready to go on the trays. 

I powdered them with cinnamon. 

Five trays ready to go in the dehydrator. 

They turned out so good. 

The rest of the day was cleaning, taking care of house plants, making dinner and making gift bags for Thanksgiving. These were from a kit from Paper Pumpkin and they give you so many extra supplies that Sunday I plan on making more gift boxes on the Cricut and use the extra supplies from here. It made 6 bags and we have 12 people coming for Thanksgiving.  I will probably fill them with nuts and dried apples.

 Peace