Brrrrrrrr.........and Happy Birthday

We've traveled to the upper Midwest for two family birthdays and to spend Christmas with the kids.  

When you're accustomed to having just the two of you around the house, and then there's a whole passel of folks around making all kinds of noise, it can set the nerves a jangling!  Today was the party for the stepdaughter's 50th birthday.  Nobody here but family, but that was nine adults, one pre-teen, and two preschoolers.  You'd think that it was the little ones who would make the noise, but you'd be wrong.  It was the pre-teen that was the loudest.  

Everybody braved the cold and the modicum of snow to celebrate. 

The son in law braved the cold to blow off the driveway, all bundled up like the Michelin man. 

While it was very pretty outside this morning, the sun came out this afternoon and the snow sparkled with sunlight diamonds.  

There was fabulous barbecued ribs, smoked brisket and pulled pork from Woody's along with fixin's, and the son in law actually made a birthday cake from scratch. 

This has always been a card playing family, so after we all stuffed our faces, we broke out the cards for a game of Screw Your Neighbor.  I know, sounds off somehow, but its a fun card game for a bunch of people and it doesn't require any card playing savvy.  Even the 5 year old helped out. 

Don't know if I'll be back before Christmas or not, but let me wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May you, my friends, be blessed beyond measure. 

Y'all take care. 

I'm Jealous

I know I'm not supposed to be jealous and all, but how can a girl help it?   Two -- not just one, but two -- of the bloggers I follow have published books and they are both for sale right now, so here's a shameless plug for both of them.  I so admire the dedication and effort it took to make these books into reality. 


Leigh Tate from 5 Acres & A Dream has her first book out following the path she and her husband have taken in their goal to be self sustaining. 

And then, Suzanne McMinn from Chickens In The Road has written a book about her journey as a farmer.  

While I haven't read either of these books YET,  I've  been following their blogs for a long time.  I think its safe to say you should hie yourselves on over to visit them and to check out their wonderful accomplishments. 

Way to go, Girls!!! 

Y'all take care. 

Stitches and Stuff

Exciting stuff going on around here for sure.   Yeah.  Right.   The most excitement we've had is finding raccoon poop on the garden house porch.  Isn't that wonderful?    At first I wasn't sure what it was, so I did take pictures.  I'll spare you that treat, though.   We knew we had one visiting because they keep stealing the suet cakes from the feeder.  Somehow I've got to remedy that, or just break down and get another feeder that completely encloses the suet.  

I've finally finished hubby's quilt that I've been working on sporadically all summer.  Didn't get it done before his birthday, but only a few days after. 

He's happy with it, but I can't say that I'm happy with it.  Oh, the blocks came out good and the blue plaid flannel backing is nice, but that's about it.  I used invisible thread for the first time and I have decided its not for me.  Now, I hate that I used it on this one, but I'm not about to pick out all that quilting!   I machine stitched the binding and I'm not happy with how it turned out.  

I don't know if its the combination of the flannel and the machine stitching, or what, but the edges are a bit wavy and I hate that.  I'm even considering cutting off that outer border and rebinding it like I usually do.  Its plenty big to do that.   We'll see. 

My friend Dana rooted a couple of cuttings of salvia for me last year and brought them to me this spring.  I put the two of them out and they took off like crazy!!   Here's what the two plants look like right now. 

I have no idea what kind it is.  He got his cuttings from someone else, so he doesn't know either.  It's a true "passalong" plant.    I love this blood red color.  

We've had a couple of nights with below freezing temperatures and its still looking pretty good.  I put it in that location in hopes that the house would block some of the winds from it, and the trees nearby would help keep frost from settling on it.  So far, so good.   It blooms all winter for my friend. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We all have things to be grateful for, and its good to remember that. 

Y'all take care.