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