Celebrating

Be sure you go over to Brenda's Living with Rad and read her "Giving Away Fruit" post it is not missable. How is that for good grammer?
Along the same lines. There are many good things we can do for Jesus birthday. I really like the idea of giving Him a gift since he is the birthday child. There are lots of ways to do this.
Samaritans Purse gives shoebox gifts to children. They also have a catalog and you can buy a poor family a dozen chicks, or a pig. You can provide milk for a month to a child and many many other projects. Gospel for Asia also does this. How about a hundred dollars to buy a missionary a bicycle?
Or warm clothing for people who are in the freezing cold. My favorite though in honor of Andrew, Debbie's son and Katie another one of our friends daughters is to buy a wheelchair. Joni and Friends ministry literally goes places where they pick people up off of the GROUND to be in a sitting and upright position for the first time in their lives. That is life changing. When is the last time you spent money that had that kind of power? Changing people's lives. You don't have to give the full amount either you can give your gift and ask that it applied towards the item you want to give.

Think about it. when is the last time you even remembered all the hullabaloo over Christmas gifts? Do you think the recipient of a wheelchair or a pig to help their family of a child that got a coat? Do you think they can ever forget?

Happy Birthday Dear Jesus Happy birthday to you!!

Certifiably Nuts

NOBODY



NOBODY

Decorates a tree,...






And then buys a new one and switches it out. Unless you are Karen Deborah. It's even better than that. This tree looks real, like a Noble Fir. The color and the branches look very natural, it almost feels natural. I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but there is a HUGE difference between my Charlie Brown tree and this one.

This is the new tree. The lights are off so you can see the tree. The other tree picture was with lights on so be fair. Just check out this amazing tree!

I also went to a great deal of trouble to get it. There was only one left in all of Jackson MS. I know because I checked all the stores here and online. There was one tree on display and the sales people had told me I couldn't buy it. I decided to go to the manager. I told him, "I WANT TO BUY this tree. I don't care if you have a box. I don't care if you don't warranty it. I really want to buy this tree!" I also told him that I had checked the Internet and every store in MS. He looked at me and said, "OK you can have it." GOOD MAN! GREAT MAN! Now that is customer service. Yippeeee!!! OMG now I have to pay for this. Well alright then.

It really wasn't a difficult chore to switch them. Piglet helped me to scoot the little tree very gently out of it's spot. I then put the grande, tres magnificat Noble Fir in place, and then just started moving the ornaments. It didn't take long.
Next, what to do with the Charlie Brown tree? Well, I had an idea. In the south everybody comes in the back door. Your front porch can be decorated to the 9's and look fantabolous; but maybe no one will use the front door. It can happen.
I set up the tree near the back door. It makes the back entrance look very inviting and cozy! We are set up like the Griswolds! We have the decoration thing going on here!

OK so now you know, I set up the tree twice; and yes, I am unique.



Onward to the outdoors.

It Was Lovely

Piglet is feeling creative. She is interested in learning to sew. Aromatherapy neck pillows are her idea for gifts. We are filling them with wheat berries, lavender and rosemary. I have plenty in the garden which is on it's way out from the last frost.
Actually the fall colors are happening in a spectacular way and if it's pretty tomorrow I'm going to go outside and try and capture a bit of the beauty for you.
The really amazing thing about these projects of my little woman's, is the timing of it. She was doing this Thanksgiving morning. I worked on Wednesday so everything had to be done on Thanksgiving, all the baking, the whole shooting match. Usually I would have been too uptight to add this to the mix. I don't know what happened, it just was ok. I didn't worry about a mess or anything. I actually really enjoyed helping her and I loved her idea. These will be nice inexpensive gifts. They smell good when you warm them in the microwave and then feel great on your neck or low back wherever you would like a little heat.




Tigger wanted to make a mocha chocolate souffle. She wanted to make it bad enough to pay for the ingredients herself. She bought the biggest container of cornstarch I have ever seen. It will take twenty years to use it all. What could I say though, except OK, lets make this creation. Look how pretty it turned out!






This is the ugliest artificial tree. I'm showing it to you to show you what can be done with one of these. You can imagine the results if you start with a pretty tree. I can tell you for a fact it is not.






Then with some lights and a multitude of ornaments the little beastie is transformed. It's amazing. one of these days I'm going to buy a pretty tree. But until then this one is quite festive.






Fixing up the mantle is my favorite. I like the more natural look not a lot of glitter and foo-foo. The berries the cedar branches and candles really do make a cozy and inviting look. This is what I did today. Piglet and Papa worked on the outside lights. It was quite a busy day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I 'm so thankful to be breathing and not coughing with every breath. I am very grateful to be getting over that rotten bug. It kicked my bo-hiney around the block! We had a little family time tonight and talked about what we are thankful for. It was a warm up for tomorrow.

Tigger especially blessed our hearts. She is thankful to be with us. She is grateful for her relationship with God, and the peace that he has given her regarding her estranged mother, little brother and sister. She is appreciative of her room and clothing; her education. I nearly cried when she said that after being called a "retard" all her life by her mom; she is beginning to accept that she is smart. She is more than smart, in many ways she is brilliant. It is my hope and prayer to raise enough scholarship money for this one to spend 4 years at Bellhaven a Christian art college here. That is a prayer request. $15,000 a year. May not sound like much to some or outrageous to others. My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and I believe I own at least one.

We were all very full. Not just full of food and feasting that comes tomorrow but full of gratefulness for our blessings. We are a family. We love each other. I have a great marriage and love my husband for 21years. Finally after all these years our kids even like each other and us too. God is so good.

I find myself oddly (or is it odd?) thinking of you too, my bloggie friends. I have actually become quite attached to some of you that I have frequent exchanges with. It seems funny to me how one can discover so much just from reading. People do share their hearts here out on the world wide web. For all the talk about crazies and "it's not safe" and all that other baloney, really I have found good people. I have laughed, cried, drooled, admired, enjoyed, understood, hoped, and prayed for many of you and with you. I have celebrated milestones and sorrowed for those with losses. My own life has deepened. My hope for our people has been strengthened. I feel when I read these different little bloggie homes like I have had a neighborly visit with the heartbeat of real America. Instead of spin, and hype and media blah blah, we are privileged to hear the true thoughts and hearts of every day people. Every day people making lives for their families, overcoming obstacles, creating beauty and hope. Every day people sharing with each other, building bridges, reaching out, offering encouragement and knowledge. The breaking of bread together even if it is only visual and yet it is satisfying. Something deep in us that longs to relate to a bigger whole is met here. Who would've ever thunk it? But here we are, having our little neighborly get togethers on the Internet. High tech friendships but it works. If it didn't we wouldn't be so addicted to it. Because really none of us are all that excited to hear ourselves talk!
I love hearing about you, your stories, your children, your cooking and your lives.
This Thanksgiving I have added all of you to my list of what I am grateful for. I would love to offer you a nice piece of pie at my table, until that day; be blessed.

Simple Cooking

Tigger had a cooking lesson yesterday. She learned how to prepare a ham the same way that my mother taught me. She learned to trim the skin off and score the meat. I was out of whole cloves which surprised me; I then remembered grinding them up for a recipe and leaving them in the "whole" jar. We glaze our ham with an easy to make glaze. Take about a half of your smallest size mixing bowl about a cup, of dark brown sugar, add about a 1/2 c each of dark brown mustard and ketchup. Mix this with a fork until it's blended well. Baste the ham with it. If you score the ham it's very pretty to put a whole clove in each square. I baste the ham several times while baking and love this glaze. I usually buy a half a butt with the bone in. The bone makes the meat good and it's also great for making other dishes, beans or split pea soup later on. You can make a lot of meals out of a ham. It really isn't worth the price difference of nearly a dollar a pound to get the spiral cut and glaze. You got a knife, you can cut a ham. Another easy glaze that is good is just plain apricot jam right out of the jar.









Next we decided to make scalloped potatoes. You can watch Tigger learn this we got the camera out. Start by filling a sauce pot with milk and put on low heat to scald. Then scrub your russet potatoes clean. I don't see any reason to peel them the skins are good. Having a food processor is great for this because part of making scalloped potatoes is having the slices be the same size. I remember how much work this took my maother and I to do all of this by hand and we peeled the potatoes. My mom peeled with a paring knife and I used the peeler. I felt so grown up when I learned to use a paring knife too. Scalloped potatoes are easy to make, kind of time consuming but still they are simple. Place a layer of sliced potatoe sin the bottom of a deep baking dish. Then sprinkle with flour. Salt and pepper then add apply pats of butter. Repeat this until your dish is slightly more than half full. Pour the scaled milk over everything until almost covered but not. Au gratin potoatoes are made the same way but add grated cheddar cheese. I love sliced onion rings in each layer but my family does not like onions. They are crazy. cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for one hour covered and an additional half hour uncovered. make sure the pototatoes are soft. Sometimes it can take two hours. 400 degrees is the best but 350 will work.

Tigger had a guffaw belly laughing fit when I told her we would fix a dump cake for dessert. "DUMP CAKE!" she hollered. She almost fell out she was crackin up. Get out another oblong baking dish and pour a large can of sliced peaches into it with the syrup. Add a can of cherry pie filling. sprinkle the top with a pakage of butter cake mix and finely chopped walnuts. Either drizzle a melted stick of butter over the top or apply pats of butter, either way. you can use any knd of pie filling blueberry is good too. Bake for about 40 mins until golden brown. Everything fits in the oven together. Tigger wasn't laughing when we finished this, she was drooling.

There you go a feast for a king! With all the meals that can be made from this hunk of pork hiney paying $17. for a piece of meat is actually a good deal. We are going to have a lot to eat from 12 pounds of piggy.

So Indecisive

I have continued reading "Random Winds," I'm afraid I haven't been able to stop. I did not like the stories twist. The fate of the heroine to be so afflicted by tragedy. That same tragedy of real life. It did not help either that she discusses being raised by "God-fearing" parents and yet rejects God to believe the "science" that we come from monkeys.
Yet, I apologize to those who will disagree, her story telling is masterful. I have not been so absorbed in character development and plot since reading "A Portrait of a Lady." Tragedy, war, loss, medicine, places and gardens, the time of world War 2 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. All interwoven and connected, the tale of several generations and the two who loved and must be apart. I'm mesmerized. Even though there is content that I find objectionable. Content though of real life issues that are here in this world and that people experience every day. So I retract my harsh post and say that you should each decide for yourselves. It is a compelling work.

Now, since I have spent half the day in bed with the book I must get up and be about producing something in this real life we live; like food.

Books Edit Delete!

Random Winds, by Belva Plain. Purchased in a brown hardback edition at the library sale after said authors demise. What does a title like "Random Winds" suggest to you?
It should have been my first clue. It probably has a picture of Fabio and some woman on the paperback edition. It's a STINKIN SOAP OPERA! Ruined, yech, blech, yukky, delete delete. Not a good read, nope, nada, not!