Goodbye January

Well here we are with the first month of January into its last hours. It’s hard to believe that one month of the year has gone already. January has been a bit of a crazy month. Both long and short at the same time. We said goodbye to 2023 and got ready to start a fresh new year. Lots of snow and ice for us. I read 4 books and listened to 2 audio books. I will have a rundown on those for you in an upcoming post. I finished several knitting pieces and the heart cross stitch. I had a lot of winter snuggly time at home and that is fine with me.

Last week we again had the taste of rural living. Remember I told you the week before, that we had the downed tree and we had to cut it off of the driveway before we could get out. Last week we lost power for over two hours. It went out around 6:00 AM Thursday morning. When we lose power we also lose our water, because we have a pump, and our phones because we have to have power for the internet. So there we were.

We always like to report our outages to the power company and not just hope that someone in our area will do it. To do this we have to go to the top of our driveway and get a cell signal to call the utility board. We then get a recording and we report the outage. The driveway was very dark because the outside light on the driveway was out as well. And I forgot to mention it was sooooo foggy. Oh and we have to back up the driveway because we always pull down the driveway when coming in.

My husband and I both went to the top of the driveway so that one of us could get out and open the gate. It was not easy backing up the driveway with no lights except the back up lights. The fog made it even worse. I had left the house without my glasses. That added to the difficulty, because I wound up behind the wheel doing the driving. We finally made it to the top, we have a very long driveway, and got the outage reported. It had already been reported by a neighbor. But you never know.

***This is what it looked like at 6:00 AM***

The power was out for over two hours and I was a little late getting into work. We never found out what the issue was. It was a widespread issue on our road. Several houses were affected. We do have a small generator that we can use if the power is out for hours or days.

Over the weekend I felt like I was running a bakery. Secretly this has always been a dream so it was actually a lot of fun. It started with my nephew requesting sourdough bread. I make this from a starter that I have had for probably fifteen years or more. It stays in the refrigerator until I feed it. He also requested some peanut butter pies to take to his coworkers. He just moved and started a new job a couple of weeks ago. It was also my brother in law’s birthday and I wanted to bake something for him as well. If you want to read more about the sour dough bread and how I make it, visit this post I did a few years ago. It is definitely a process.Making Sour Dough Bread

I made six loaves of the bread, 20 small peanut butter pies, and about 2 dozen cake pops. The cake pops were just something I decided to do at the last minute. I had never made them before. They were okay but I definitely need to work on those. So I did a lot of baking on Saturday morning and delivered bread, and pies and cake balls all over town in the afternoon. I finished the evening with a visit to my little mother in law at the assisted living village.

The peanut butter pies were a big hit.

I also spent some time over the weekend cleaning my silver bracelets. I am ashamed to say that I haven’t worn them in forever because they looked so bad. I bought some cleaner and got to work on them. I feel like they are new again.

This is not my cat. Well she sort of is I guess. She lives at work. She is feral and we haven’t been able to catch her. We are trying to get one of our team members to agree to take her home. We named her Anthe. Isn’t she beautiful? We feed her and take care of her the best we can. She has been with us for several months. I hate to trap her but that may be the only way we can get her to someone’s home where they might be able to tame her.

How is your week going?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

We Had A Snow Day or Three

Hi friends and happy Wednesday Let me clarify that title by saying we didn’t actually get much snow at our house we just got the dreaded ice. The city I work in actually got about seven inches of snow and that is a lot for us. Everything pretty much shuts down when we get a snow of this magnitude. Don’t laugh. We are southerners and just not used to that kind of snow.

We had been hearing all weekend that we were going to get a major winter storm in our area. At first it was supposed to be Tuesday but then it changed to Monday. I went in to work as usual Monday morning. It had only snowed a very small amount by the time I woke up on Monday. But I was keeping the amount of snow we were supposed to have in the back of my mind. By the time I got to work it was snowing like crazy and very cold. Within an hour it had covered the roads and driveway. I was at work with one other coworker. Her dad called and told her the roads were getting bad. We locked everything up and left.

I had driven our old Toyota four wheel drive to work so I made it home easily with only a few scary moments. The funny thing was when I got on my road the snow stopped and it was only rain. The only problem with that was that everything froze solid Monday night because the temps were so low. So needless to say me nor my husband left the house on Tuesday. The snow continued to fall in nearby areas and they accumulated about 7 inches.

This picture I got off of our work security cameras. This was after the snow stopped and added several inches.

I did not take this picture. Someone posted it on FB. It is downtown Knoxville, South Gay Street, at the Tennessee Theatre. What a mess the snow made Monday afternoon. I think it’s still kind of beautiful.

I would like to say that while I have been home bound, I have been keeping busy cleaning out closets and drawers and much needed inside things. But I haven’t. I binge watched Grey’s Anatomy and read, and worked a million crossword puzzles, worked on my heart cross stitch and finished it, and finished the rose colored scarf I had been working on. Oh and I have cooked a million meals. Well that might be a bit of an exaggeration. it has only been three days. HA!!! But it seems like it.

Sunday before the snow came I made a big chocolate cake. I had been wanting cake for a long time and I decided to make one. So we were able to eat that during our snowbound days.

Over the weekend we moved my nephew Tyler to Cookeville TN which is about two hours from us. He has taken a job there and rented a house. He rented a U-Haul and me and hubs, his parents, his brother and my sister went along to help with the move. I have been trying not to think of him living two hours away because it hurts my heart. I know that is not that far and he will come home often but it’s still not the same. I made him his favorite Butterfinger cake and put it in his new refrigerator for him.

On Friday morning we woke up to really strong winds. Luckily I had taken an extra day off. A good thing because we had a tree down across the driveway! We were also expecting some heavy rain so before the rain started Mark and I went out and cut the tree off of the driveway. Ahhh rural living.

With the bad rain and bad weather, and the day spent moving my nephew we didn’t get a lot of the tree cut up and moved. We just cut it up enough to get it off of the driveway. The cleanup will come later.

***This is how we found Gus and Kitty Kitty when we got home Saturday evening. I think they were waiting for us to walk in the door.***

Last year I bought two heated kitty houses for my outside kitties. We always bring them into the garage at night but even with the garage door down, when the temps drop down to 2 degrees F, as it was last night, it is still very cold. Last year they hated the kitty house and would not go in it. I left it in the garage for a while and then wound up throwing it away during the summer.

Last night I got the other kitty house out. I put it together and took the plastic flaps off of the two entrances. That is what they seemed to dislike about the other one. I also placed it next to their main bed where they love to snuggle together. Mama cat, Allie, was the first to venture in. Then Izzy and finally Sadie went in. They can all three fit inside. They love it!!! I am so glad and relieved. They refuse to come into our house because of Kitty Kitty and Gus plus they are still a bit feral. This will keep them warm on the really cold nights. It makes my kitty mama heart happy.

I finally ventured out this afternoon to take a walk around the house. I seriously needed some fresh air and vitamin D.

So a lot has been going on. A busy week and then a lot of down time at home. Much needed I think. I am hoping to get back to civilization tomorrow.

How has your week been? Any snow where you are?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Lights, Camera, Action!! A New Year A New Word

Hello and Happy Wednesday. We are well into the new year. I have been thinking a lot about my word of the year. When I pick a word I visit it several times throughout the year to see if I am actually living up to my word. I didn’t know if I even wanted to do that this year. We know things will happen as they are going to happen. But I still think focusing on something that can be positive, can’t be a bad thing. So, I decided that my word of the year will be “action”. Why this word? I have a lot of things in my life that I need to take action on. I have things that need to be dealt with and I feel that action is what I need to get me going. Action can actually lead to a lot of things. Action can stand for a lot of things. That is my hope for the new year. I will keep you posted on how it is going.

Last week I had the chance to visit one of my favorite thrift stores. I wasn’t really looking for anything particular. I did find a couple of flower vases, pots whatever you want to call them. I thought I would put my orchid pots down in them. They were only a couple of dollars each. I also saw a large platter with spring flowers on it. I kept picking the platter up and putting it back down. This is always a sign that I should buy it. I didn’t get the platter. Now I regret that I didn’t and I haven’t had a chance to get back and see if it is still there.

Speaking of orchids. I mentioned in a previous post that I always thought my orchid Zsa Zsa might be two orchids in one large pot. I received Zsa Zsa when my sister Pat died, which has been almost two years ago. Zsa Zsa the orchid came from a flower shop and was given to me to keep after the funeral. My friends from work had sent her and requested that I be the one to keep her. As if anyone could tear her out of my hands.

She was beautiful and in full bloom at the time. As a matter of fact she has bloomed constantly on one stem or another since I got her. She is the prettiest shade of pink. She was one of my first orchids.

The reason I call her Zsa Zsa is because when my sister was in the hospital and getting ready to start chemo treatments. I would go in and comb her hair for her. I told her I was making her as beautiful as Zsa Zsa Gabor. So I started calling her Zsa Zsa and she started calling me Eva, Zsa Zsa’s sister. There actually was another famous Gabor sister, Magda. When I explained to my husband that I now have to have another orchid so that I could name it Magda, he didn’t quite get it. He thinks I have too many orchids now. Anyway I still have texts from my sister where we referred to each other as Zsa Zsa and Eva. They are precious to me and so is Zsa Zsa.

The orchid Zsa Zsa has thrived. Mr sister did not. She passed away a short time after her stay in the hospital. It has now been almost two years. I never repotted Zsa Zsa because she has always had such amazing growth. But I started to notice some changes and I thought I had better repot her. I was scared. I procrastinated. I ordered new clear pots. I finally did it!!!! Sure enough there were two orchids in that pot. There was a lot of root rot and I am not sure if they will both survive. I repotted them in separate pots and had to trim a lot of the stems back. Of course I named the second one Eva and if I lose them it will break my heart.

This is after they have been separated and repotted. I am praying they will survive. Sorry for the bad lighting. It was night and I don’t have a lot of extra light in this room.

I had a lot of trimming to do on these roots. But there is still good green in some of the roots. I have a large utility sink in my laundry room and that is where I always water the orchids and trim away any dead roots.

Sunday I decided to make chocolate chip cookies. I had a bag of chocolate chips that needed to be used. I am trying to shop my pantry before buying things. I told my husband we could probably live out of our pantry for a couple of months without going to the grocery store. I think it would be fun to try.

They were delicious!!!

***I took most of the cookies to work for my coworkers.***

We have had some really cold weather and lots of rain. Some of the local schools were closed on Monday because of flash flooding. I was able to make it safely to work and back home.

***This is a field beside a small creek. This is after the water had gone down several inches***.

I have been knitting the most wonderful scarf. I say this because the yarn is so soft and squishy. I love the way the different pink colors fade and blend together. I am almost finished. I think I may be a little sad to see it finished. It has been so much fun to knit. But I also can’t wait to wear it.

I have also been working again on the heart cross stitch. I am getting really close to finishing. I still have to decide how to frame it. Any suggestions?

***If I had this one to do over I think I might have made several different colors of hearts. Oh well. Maybe next time.***

So that is what I have been up to. How about you?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Friday Favorites And A French Butter Press

Happy Friday everyone. I will get to the French Butter Press in Just a moment. It was one of my favorite Christmas presents. But let me show you a few other favorites for this week.

You have probably heard me talk about my Kitty Gus and that he is a very large boy. Probably about 17 pounds. He and Kitty Kitty share a litter box. At one time they each had their own box but they completely stopped using one of them so I took it up. Their box is pretty much the standard size with a domed top. We noticed that Gus was having issues turning around and getting in and out. We bought him this jumbo litter box. It is for both of them. And they love it!!! It is a few extra inches on the sides and the length and the opening is bigger. It was $49.99 from Amazon and totally worth it for their comfort. Especially Gus since he is such a big boy.

Last week a coworker’s mom sent us some leftover treats from Christmas. We love it when she bakes a lot around the holidays. She always sends us the yummiest treats. We call her Martha Stewart. She always packages everything so nicely.

My orchid Zsa Zsa has now become two orchids. Well she really was two all along. She was a gift when my sister passed away almost two years ago. I always suspected that Zsa Zsa might be two orchids but I didn’t find out for sure until I repotted her last night. The repotting was not pleasant and I will tell you more about that in a future post. But now that she is two I have decided to name her after another Gabor sister. I named her Ava.

***This was Zsa Zsa before I repotted her. One reason I hadn’t repotted her since I had her was because she had bloomed continuously***. Some of ***the base leaves seemed to be crowded together and in distress***.

This isn’t the best picture but you can see they are now in two smaller pots. I will tell you there was a lot of root rot at the bottom. I am not sure if they will survive but I feel like this is the only chance they had. ( I still haven’t gotten all of my Christmas decorations put away yet)

I looked out the window this morning and I saw the most beautiful sunrise. I have probably taken pictures of the sunrise in this same spot a million times but it always makes me catch my breath when I see these beautiful colors.

And now for the French Butter Press. I had never heard of one. My nephew and his wife gave it to me for Christmas. I opened the gift and just thought it was a cute urn of some type with a lid. My niece said “do you know what it is?” I didn’t. She told me and explained how it works. You may have one and use it all the time. It is new to me and quite wonderful.

The top comes off and you pack butter into the top, the lid. It will hold an entire stick of butter. The bottom of the press is filled about 1/3 full of water. Then you put the top back and it forms an airtight seal. The butter stays soft without becoming rancid. I love real butter. None of that margarine stuff for me. So this keeps the butter nice and spreadable.

Here are some great tips when using the French Butter Press taken from the Facebook page of James Sloss Pottery.

How much water and how often do I need to change The water should at least cover the little hole in the cone. Water should be as close to or touching the butter as possible.
The water should be changed at least once a week.Do you pack the butter into the crock right out of the refrigerator, or do you wait until the butter reaches room temperature? Also, is there a problem with water getting into the butter, thus onto the bread, etc.?    Let the butter warm up a little before packing it in to the lid, but not so long that it is completely soft. Sometime, if I do not have the time to wait, I’ll pack it in right out of the refrigerator. Water and butter (oil) will not mix so there is no problem with water getting into the butter.Put a small amount of salt in the water to stop mold
A long time ago a customer bought two butter dishes, one as a present for his sister and one for his himself. He wrote, asking me about mold in his butter dish. He then asked his sister if she had the same problem. She did not, but she was using a different brand of butter. He switched to her brand and the problem went away. I have talked with a woman from the Alsace region in France. She told me her family always added salt to the water in their butter dishes. It came to me that the salt in the butter keeps the mold away.  I ran an experiment with two butter dishes using unsalted butter.   I put salt in the water of one and not in the other. There was no mold in the butter dish with salted water! There was mold in the other dish! I now always put salt in the water, even with salted butter.  So low salt and unsalted butter is causing this problem.   A process of evaporation takes place through the pottery (helping to keep the inside slightly cooler). This happens more with some glazes then others, and if adding too much salt it may precipitate to the outside leaving a floury powder.Also, French butter dish user Julie sent this in: I find that if you aren’t careful to keep bread particles out of the butter (kids!), you get mold.
HTH–JulieThe butter in my French butter dish started falling into the base, is there something wrong? When the temperature approaches 90′ F the butter will become to soft to stay in the lid. If you do not have air conditioning you will need to put the butter dish in the refrigerator or add ice to the water in the base.
Butter mixtures like “Land of Lakes spreadable” have margarine blended into the butter.   This makes the butter to oily to stay in the lid. Only pure butter will work in a French Butter Dish. (butter bell)What is the difference between Porcelain and Stoneware?:Stoneware is a little stronger then porcelain but that is only relevant if the pottery is used for cooking. Porcelain is a finer clay body with less impurities then stoneware. The porcelain clay body I use is white when fired and therefore the glazes can be more vibrant and colorful. I use two stoneware clays, a buff white and a high iron red. I use the high iron red for the stony gray (I also sometimes us it for copper red and the odd one of a kind piece. The iron bleeds through the glaze to its surface for the stony effect. I use the same glaze over the buff white stoneware for the stony white butter dishes. To sum it up: the stoneware clay is for earthy colors, the porcelain for brighter and shinier colors.What is the difference between a French Butter Dish and a butter crock or bell
There are numerous manufactured versions of the French Butter Dish that use copyrighted names like the “Butter Bell”. The difference is that manufactured versions can not create a cone shaped lid like our hand made butter dishes therefore they must be smaller or the butter will fall out.
Is the French butter dish dishwasher safe ?
Yes, it is dishwasher safeCan I use margarine (or other spreads) in a French Butter Dish ?
French Butter Dish works best when real butter is used. Margarine does not have a spreadability problem and is then butter s will not stay in the lid very easily. Do not store other processed spreads for any length of time. Processed spreads like cream cheese need refrigeration to stay fresh for extended periods of time. You can use a French Butter Dish for special spreads if you do not plan to store it for long. For example use a French Butter Dish a serving piece at an evening dinner party for a special dip or spread that you create. It also works for Coconut oil.What is the size of your butter dishes
They are about 4 1/2″ round by 4″ high. Since they are handmade they are not exactly the same size.

So those are some of my favorites for the week. What have you been enjoying this week?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!