Playing with my new toys......

I know that you all know what my mailbox looks like by now. Sorry, but it just happens to have been the most photogenic object around my house since I bought my new camera. I am trying to decide if I like my camera or if it's going back to Target or Craigslist or ebay!

random.....

All the girls (daughters and granddaughters, the boys were hunting) went out Friday night for a girls night out! Robin decided that I should take my camera so we could get some blog worthy pics of all the fun. It was all of 12 degrees out when we left and my crazy car has to tell me "Baby it's cold outside"....as if I couldn't tell that when my buttocks hit those frigid leather seats???? Hey at least they are heated!!

(did I mention the boys were hunting? Crazy? yes!)

But this ended up being the only picture that we got that night...could have been the cold temps but I believe it was all the laughter and tears that got in the way. I mean who is thinking about getting a picture when you are trying to keep from peeing your pants?

My girls are crazy! If you ever see us all together you would think we had been drinking for hours. Trust me we don't even have to think about caffeine to get us going, let alone booze!

You should be at my house for a meal! The men have given up on trying to teach us some proper etiquette! There has been more than one mouthful of sweet tea spit across my table after a wonderful meal!! Not kidding! Memories!!

As if we aren't good enough at finding something funny in every situation our offspring will come up with something on their own. Poor kids, we have ruined them!!!!



just because

Newest playtoy!!!

My Christmas gift from Leslie, an MP3. Thank You Leslie!!

My life has been changed for ever. I am such a music junkie and this gives me my fix whenever I need it! I have a lot of habits, most of them bad. No I don't drink, even though most would think it when my girls are around, don't smoke, don't do drugs (even though I do have a new pot addiction)....hehehe.......cookware that is!!

I have spent hours downloading music to my MP3, from LimeWire and all sorts from my laptop from my seriously crazy amount of CD's.....OMG I am such a junkie! Hey this MP3 helped me get a lot of housework done yesterday too!

Did I tell you that I am addicted to food? Well I am! There I have come clean! You now know all my bad habits.

Remember my new stove that my dearest honey bought me back in the summer? Well this is my first try at cookies............I have NEVER been able to make edible cookies. They always looked like lacy, black, frisbees! Have you ever seen a lacy black frisbee??

' come on around to my house'...... Oops sorry there....this MP3 is getting to me....Katy Mitchell was singing loud and clear in my ears as I am typing. From the Nights In Rodanthe CD!!!

Good stuff!!! Better with cookies!!

anywhoooooo....

these chocolate chip cookies were just perfect....no I am not kidding....I do have to toot my horn here.....they were blue ribbon worthy. I have never tasted a chocolate chip cookie that good in my whole long life! Seriously they are so good that I am scared to even try to make another batch because they will never be that good again. If they are as good I will so be getting a job as a spokesperson for Samsung!!

now on to my pot addiction........

My new Townecraft Cookware......has changed my life forever too.

I have changed my thoughts and habits completely with this method. I have not burned anything since the sweet potato incident the first night. I am learning. I am learning. I am learning. It is so different. I was telling Leslie the other day I was trying to add antioxidants to my diet because of my sarcoidosis and telling her that the way that the food was prepared had a lot to do with how many antioxidants remained in the food. I told her that this new cookware was supposed to help hold on to the antioxidants in the food. ............now do you know what she said to that........brat....."Oh, I see, you can better absorb antioxidants from burnt food."

Brat!!

Remember Peter's pizza that was the best pizza ever? Danny has been begging me to try pizza in the electric skillet that came with my set. So last night I did.

I used my newest homemade crust recipe and Ragu pizza sauce. The pan was sprayed generously with Pam. The dough was patted gently into a cold pan. I browned some of my homemade italian sausage, put it on the sauce and topped it generously with a lot of mozzarella.

Cover the pan turn it to 350 degrees and cook for 10-12 minutes. Don't peek! That is my hardest part.....I am a pot watcher. I set the timer for 10 minutes. when the dinger went off I had to check it. It need just a little more time so I waited for 2 minutes. I let it get just a tad too brown on the bottom....Peter said 11 minutes and he was right. The cookbook said 10-12. Of course that's what I get for thinking that I knew what I was doing!!!

finished in the pan.....

Yummy...double triple yummy!! See the black flecks of crust on the plate?.....they weren't really black just a little too dark but not burnt..............super duper easy pizza!!!!! Good thing I can make pizza at home because we will never be able to eat out again due to the cost of these pans!!

So that's what I have been doing.........playing with all the crazy settings on my camera.....baking cookies...... playing with the girls.......playing with my MP3.........playing with my pot addiction and lots and lots of eating!!!!!!

So since I have now bored you to pieces I have a new blog that I have found this morning. Lisa is the most talented woman in the world! I know you think I have been exagerating a lot today but this has all been the truth and this is no exception.....just go on over and check her out.....make sure you have cookies and a cup of coffee cause you may get hungry!! I am warning you!!!!


(the chocolate chip cookie recipe was from my pink Better Homes and Garden cookbook, if you would like this recipe I will be happy to post it. Oh yeah, that's right, you guys have always been able to make "perfect" cookies all along!!)

Things that are filling my heart this Christmas!

Gods love

flavored coffee creamers

twinkling clear Christmas lights

Christmas cards, I love going to the mailbox right now

our outdoor wood furnace that keeps my home toasty warm

Danny for keeping the wood stove full of wood for me to stay toasty warm

our wood pile

Christmas baking

Christmas music

rechargeable batteries for my camera ;-)

my blogger friends

the wonderfully friendly clerk that now works at Barnes and Noble

friends

grandchildren

the feeling in my heart that I donated some new books for the Montgomery Co Christmas House, a very small sacrifice but it sure does feel good inside, maybe some less fortunate children will be happy on Christmas morning

really good fencing to keep my goats in their fields so there is no chasing goats when it's cold outside, unless someone leaves the barn door open...... Danny

my nativity set

my newest grandchild due in June

the Outback Steakhouse gift card that came in our Christmas card from our local building supply/feed store that we frequent, don't see those gifts from the big box stores

Christmas decorations

apple cider with mulling spices

indoor games with my family

my shopping is almost finished and is wrapped and under the tree

my extended family

oreo balls and chocolate chip cookies

candy canes

my beautiful daughters

my husbands job

Hallmark Christmas movies, esp Christmas in Canaan! Great movie, great Christmas message

warm coats and gloves

eggnog

my son-in-laws who provide so well for their families

my daughters hearts being so full of Christmas giving

what makes you happy right now?

Go out and get all the men in your life some Levi's for Christmas!

Click to enlarge this and read it!

Think about it!

Go out and buy some Levi's. OK!!!

This came from my friend Terri who found it over at Dalyn's!

The jokes on me!

OK, Now I have had a big ole slap in the face of the reality that "I can't do anything".....well I guess I should say "I can't do everything"!!!!! My wonderful UPS man brought me my new cookware this afternoon and I couldn't wait to fire them up!



Wellllllllll............FIRE THEM UP I DID!!!! I burnt the crap out of one of the pans!! LOL!!!!!!!! FYI, Waterless cooking is not the route to take for sweet potatoes. Remember that!! The book says to put cool water in the pot and bring it to a boil to loosen the burnt food off of the pan and then let the pan cool and clean as usual. (so I guess other people burn food in these too?)
It didn't say how long to boil the water. I have boiled the pot almost dry twice, about an hour and I still have burnt particles in it!!!!!!! At least Danny understood. I guess there is a learning curve that comes with this cookware. I wasn't supposed to know how to cook waterless until I had the right cookware, right?????


I had my follow-up appointment with my pulmonologist today about my sarcoidosis and I got a great report. I had to have pulmonary function tests and they were much better than in July!! Woowooooo!!!!! He did start me on a systemic treatment for the rash in my scalp. Remember that's how we found out that I had sarcoidosis in the first place? This area has been there for over a year now and hasn't gotten any better and actually has worsened in the past few days. The treatment is the same drug that is used to treat Malaria!!! Please pray for me that I can tolerate it. I am so sensitive to so many medications. He expects it to take as much as 6 months to really see an improvement in the rash.


We had at least a half inch of ice this morning so school was closed today. I did not want to go to the Dr by myself.....not that I was afraid of him, I just wanted to have a fun day of eating out and shopping!!!..........so I called Morgan and she was more than happy to agree to go with me!! She was so happy until her belly was full and then for some reason her feet started hurting?? I wouldn't tell her but mine were too. We did a lot of shopping, well looking at stuff and had a lot of fun. It was a GOOD DAY!!!!!!! Thank you Morgan!! We'll do it again sometime!!

Update!! December 10, 2009 @ 5:34 AM ~ The said pan is now free from debris and shines like a crystal. I had nightmares about this pan last night. I let it soak overnight with Cameo cleaner, a cleaner for stainless steel. I was afraid to even look at the pan this morning but when I did I was really pleased!! Why I have had to soak my other pots or pans for a lot longer than that to remove burnt food from them. Just kidding!! I usually don't burn my food! Or it's burned so badly that the pot has to be thrown away, such as Danny's popcorn pot!!!!!

I can do anything!

I just watched the movie Julie and Julia and I am so pumped that I feel that I can do anything that I set my head to do!!!! I loved every minute of this movie. I laughed and I cried and I feel so good now. Isn't that what a feel good movie is supposed to do? Make you feel good?? It makes me feel that blogging isn't stupid. I always knew it wasn't but I really fell better about it now.

I am not inspired enough to get someones cookbook and cook thru the entire thing in 365 days, albeit it a good idea. Nor am I inclined to publish a cookbook. However I do have some other tricks up my sleeve. Something that I have contemplated for several years now. I think this just may have been the push that I needed to get to seriously thinking about getting this project underway!! It is something that I have contemplated for several years now. Funny how this was really weighing heavily on my mind last evening and it made it hard to fall asleep last night. I have had several sleepless nights from thinking about this project in the past.

That's all I can say about this for now. Intrigued? Curious? Nosy? Oh yeah you guys know me all to well now don't ya? Hey I just might fool you one day! Hind sight is 20/20 and I think about all the years of my life that I have wasted, well not exactly wasted, but not doing exactly what I have aspired to do!

If you haven't seen this movie and you are a woman, or you like food, you should really go here and watch the trailer or better yet just rent the movie or go out and buy the darned thing on DVD! I don't think you will be upset with yourself!

This is why I married him!!

Here is the RED tree! I am sorry to say that I wanted to cry everytime I looked at it. Look how bad it looked from outside the window.
See how bad it was having the RED tree and the normal lights in the rest of the house. Poor contrast I'm a telling ya!! Made my white dining room suite look yellow. This wasn't the camera playing tricks either.

You can click to enlarge any of the pictures but when you enlarge this one you can really see what it looked like from the road. Ugh!!

just had to throw this one in ;-)

I gathered all of this from the farm on Friday and hung it only to have it covered with almost 6" of snow yesterday. I like the effect!! It is made with hemlock branches, apple tree branches and running cedar!!

I had planned to dismantle my tree and put clear lights on it but I have been procrastinating doing it all weekend. Talked myself completely into forgeting about it and then while we were out tonight I saw so many beautifully decorated homes and some not so beautifully decorated homes and I decided that I did not want to be in the later category. I told my dearest honey that I had no choice but to redo it. He looked over at me and said "All you have to do is string the clear lights around the tree over the top of the ornaments and leave the red ones on there.".............OMG He is brilliant!!! Why hadn't I already thought of that? I guess it was my obsession with my tree making sure that every ornament is just so and every light is just so and every bow is just so and the color scheme is just so.....just so!!

SO...... we did just that tonight!! We laughed and said that we could have both the red and clear lights both burning together and it would go with my red and white candy cane theme of the tree....hahaha............so after putting the clear lights on I did plug up both sets and let me tell you I almost peed in my pants!!!!!!!!!!!! It is beautiful and it does look just like a candy cane. It is so subtle yet breathtaking!! I have to brag on it because as you know you can never capture the true beauty of the lights on film. I didn't get any outdoor pictures tonight....almost got frostbite out there last night.....but you can get an idea of how happy I am with the tree anyway!! Can't ya??

I am not saying that I don't like the red lights. I love them on other peoples trees and I wanted them so badly because it is my favorite color but it just wasn't working out here for me.

I have all sorts of ornaments that seem to look OK together. I always tuck poinsettas in the tree and I have red n white striped ribbon for the bows.

I also have a lot of various birds on my tree. Love the look!!

So anyway, I now know the real reason that I married him 33 years ago.....it's his brains!!! Oh yeah and the fact that he spoils me......he bought me the entire set of Townecraft Cookware Friday night!!!! Danny is now Peter's bestest friend forever!! The set could be here as early as Wednesday!! You better call my UPS guy and warn him......cause you know that sometimes I feel like hugging him when he brings me something really cool!!!!!

Saturday in SW Virginia....

"Ugh!! Ugh!! *#**@()**@### I hate this stuff!! My legs are too short!"

"I should be in the Caribbean on a farm."

My girlfriend can't even come out cause she's smaller than me!

Carolers singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!"

Whatever!

"Yeah right there. That's my best side.!"

"Now listen up. You are to do as I say"

" Onward march! Hut two, three, four...."

"She thinks she is some kinda goddess......

my nose is cold."

drip.....

What? Bamboo does not like snow....? Go figure!

Winter Wonderland!

(I think I like my camera!)