An Awesome Giveaway

Jennifer over at Gypsy Mare Studios is having a fantastic giveaway. Please take a minute to check it out.

I won her Halloween giveaway and love the pendant I won and have received many compliments on it. I like it so much I went back and bought one! :)

Blessings
~*~

So far behind...

I am so far behind on so many things. I don't know how it happened, but the productive holiday weekend I had planned did not materialize. Instead, I spent three days in my pajamas and hoodie, curled up on the sofa with the beastie and kitty watching TV and reading. I only got dressed and went out on Sunday because it was our family Thanksgiving meal.

I decorated the house Tuesday night, except I have a plain tree sitting in my living room. The lights for the tree have been stolen by the light fairies, so I've got to get some today so I can decorate tonight. I promise pictures later.

I'm still trying to get caught up in bloglandia too. So many blogs that I love to read, it is starting to be all I do when I get home from work.

Anyway, I'm still here. I've moved from fall to winter and am ready for the snow that is forecast for our area on Saturday (a 90% chance!). I'll be doing my snow dance and snow spell all week. :)

Blessings
~*~

goodness blossoms

Not to jinx anything, but I sure have been feeling good lately. The past few weeks have gone very well. I've made it to work every day (except the one day after the beast came home and was not well). I've been able to keep up with things around the house and yard. I feel...renewed, somehow. I'm not certain what triggered the turn around, but I am enjoying every moment of it. I'm hoping that if I enjoy it, acknowledge it and focus on it, I'll create more of it. (See, Ren, I'm learning!)

The beast is doing pretty well. He did develop an infection at the site of one of his staples, but it is starting to heal and he seems to be doing well as far as his diabetes. That makes me very happy. He was also set free from the satellite dish. (Extreme Happiness ensued!)

I've had so much fun in the kitchen lately. I had forgotten how much I enjoy baking and cooking. This weekend was a kitchen frenzy! I made a delicious Squash Casserole for thanksgiving with my dad and family. I'd had this idea for cupcake that I wanted to try, so I experimented on Sunday.


Candy Kiss Cupcakes

They turned out pretty well, but there are a few little things I'll do different when I make them again. They seemed to be a big hit at work and I liked them very much.

This weekend I also made a chicken alfredo.



It was my first from scratch alfredo and was so easy and delicious. I can't wait to do it again. It just can't be too often since it has so many carbs. :(

Tomorrow is the last day of work this week. I'm hoping for an early release and if that comes through, I'll be sitting in the theater watching "New Moon". Most everyone I've heard from that has seen it loved it and have already seen it more than once. I'm hopeful that I will like it too. I hear they've already set the release date for "Eclipse". That was fast!

My mum's side of the family won't have our thanksgiving until Sunday so I have Thursday, Friday and Saturday all to myself. I'm already planning a few things I want to bake/cook and also want to get the house decorated for Yule. I'm hoping to put up a tree this year, if the finances can afford it.

Wow..it seems my new neighbors are in a band and practice in their garage. They are VERY loud. I can hear them as if I was sitting beside them even with windows closed and the TV pretty loud. Hmmm.. guess I'm an old fuddy duddy...but I really miss the quiet of the old neighbors. It's funny, because they had a band too, and practiced there, but it was never this loud. Sheesh...

Okay, enough with my old lady-ness... I'll leave you with a few photos...


flowers and pumpkin from the farmers market


a basket of blooms for thanksgiving (found on my doorstep when I arrived home today)

I hope you have a lovely holiday (if it is one you celebrate) and a wonderful night.

blessings
~*~

bake, knit, look and listen

Well, it has been a grey few days here and I have to say I'm loving it. Winter gets closer with every raindrop. I think tomorrow the sun is to come out and the temps go back into the high 60's. I prefer cloudy and 30's with snow, but you take what you can get when you live in the south. :)

Tonight I made another batch of apple bread and this one seems to have turned out better than the first batch. I had a co-worker ask me to make them a loaf to take on a trip to see their family. She wants to pay me for it so now I have to figure out how much to ask. Weird. I've never been paid for my food before.

Speaking of food...


the addiction continues.... I need help... or to at least find a recipe that doesn't have as much sugar/carb count. :)

I worked on the black and white scarf last night and made a good amount of progress. I'm hoping to get it finished by Thanksgiving. I have an idea for a scarf that I want to try and am anxious to start it.

This weekend I have Thanksgiving with my dad's side. I'm to make a squash/zucchini casserole. Just as I was typing this I remembered that I forgot to get my supplies when I ran to the grocers to get supplies for the apple bread. Sheesh... guess I'll be going back to the grocers tomorrow.

Now for some color...

Japanese maple at the bedroom window


hmm... where did I leave that rake?

oh... this came in the mail today...

I think I'll check it out while I watch the UNC ballgame.

I'm loving this song...are you going to see the movie? I'm going to try to wait a few weeks, I don't like crowded theaters. So if you do see it, please don't tell me about it. :)

blessings
~*~

experimenting

I was checking email and cuddling with the beastie when I happened to glance out the front window. The color outside was such a pretty pink/orange mix that I grabbed my camera and ran out to try to capture it.



The picture is a little darker than the light actually was, but it is pretty close to what I saw.

In an effort to do more of my favorite things, I did a little experimenting at dinner tonight. I needed to find something to have with the chili that I made over the weekend. I can't stand eating the same leftovers after the third or fourth meal. So, I try to do some different things with them. What can you do to make chili different?

I had some potatoes and homegrown bell peppers in a bowl on the counter and I'd been contemplating what I could do with them. What to do, what to do...

So, I tossed some butter in a skillet...



...chopped up some bell peppers, a little onion and a couple of small potatoes.



I tossed the onion and pepper into the pan first.



I added the potatoes a few minutes later. Then I sprinkled on a little freshly ground black pepper, sea salt and nice dusting of garlic powder.



I gave them a stir and cooked them until the potatoes where just a little soft and browned.



I heated up a bit of this weekends chili, topped it with a little shredded cheese and...

voila



It was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Simple, quick and a decent dinner.

I've been finding some very cool recipes online and am looking forward to trying some of them.

The apple and pumpkin breads that I took to work today were warmly received. I hope my co-workers won't mind being my guinea pigs when it comes to my baking. :)

A brief beastie update: Late yesterday afternoon, the amazing Dr. F (our favorite vet) called to check up on the beastie. I described his symptoms and his all night pee-fests. She prescribed a pain med which I immediately went to pick up. He snuck into bed with me last night and slept through the night. He didn't try to jump down at all and I was able to pick him up and lower him without too much trouble. He's still real wobbly on his legs and I can see some pain in his eyes. I think the pain medicine kind of drugs him a bit because he was very dizzy looking a few hours after he had it tonight. I guess we'll see how he does tonight. I'm to call Dr. F in the morning with another update. She is so fabulous!

Well, I'm off to do some more blog hopping. I need to work on the black and white scarf, but it is impossible to knit with this big satellite dish dog head in my lap. :)

blessings
~*~

over the weekend

It's been a sort of lazy weekend around here. We've been letting the beastie rest. I slept the first night on the floor beside him, hoping that would help him feel better, to have me close. That was a miserable night! Saturday he continued to rest and recuperate and I piddled around the house and made pumpkin bread and homemade chili. Saturday night was pretty rough. The beastie didn't want to sleep and had to go out to pee every couple hours. I tried to keep him on his dog bed and moved it into the bedroom beside my bed, but he just couldn't get settled. He kept falling down the stairs whenever we went out for him to pee. His legs are just not steady or strong anymore.

Sunday, I mostly surfed the internet, tried to keep up online with the Steelers game (since it wasn't on TV here) and watched the Tarheels basketball game. The beast wouldn't eat breakfast and was very lethargic. I was trying to get some roasted chicken for him, but couldn't get out of the house and couldn't get anyone to bring me one from the store. I was finally able to get him to eat late that afternoon. Last night was another round of no sleeping and constant wandering around the house/needing to pee. We must have gone out every 45minutes to an hour from 9am until about 6:30 this morning. I decided to stay home with him today because I'm worried about the constant need to pee (but apparently that is only at night) and because I was exhausted. I was able to get him to lay back down and so I could get a little sleep this morning. Now he's conked out on the sofa beside me, snoring.

This morning I made apple bread. I used the same recipe that I use for my pumpkin and banana bread, it's my grandmother's recipe. I was a little worried after I mixed it all up because the batter was more like a dough. But I went ahead and baked it anyway.



It looks okay, but tastes better. The crust is a bit crunchy which I'm not fond of on sweet breads.

I've been in a cooking/baking mood for a while now. I love to cook/bake but I get bored with the leftovers after the third or fourth meal. Something that I want to do is try new recipes. I want to experiment a bit with my cooking and start eating outside of my normal range of foods. I also want to do more baking. I'm so inspired by most everything here, here and here.

So, as part of my ever improving outlook on life, I'm going to start doing some of my favorite things. (That is what this blog is about, isn't it?) I hope to post recipes and pictures of some of my fun.

Tomorrow is back to work, lack of sleep or no, and back to the regular day to day stuff. I'm trying to come up with how to spend my Thanksgiving. I only have to spend the Sunday after with family, but that gives me Thursday, Friday and Saturday all to myself. I wonder how much fun I can have in those three days. :)

blessings
~*~

quick post

The beast came home last night. Yay! He's doing pretty good. He's not allowed up on the bed yet which means I slept on the floor last night... or tried to. :)

He has on an e-collar to keep him from picking at his incision.

Thanks for all your kind words, thoughts, wishes and prayers. It really means a lot to us.

Hopefully regular posting will resume...soon. :)
blessings
~*~