Happy Friday everyone. I have a few favorites to share with you on this chilly day.
First of all I wanted a new Christmas tree topper this year. I wanted something a bit unusual. I looked on Amazon for a cat tree topper and found this one. I love it!!! It came with two scarves. One for Christmas and one for Halloween. It looks just like my Sadie.
I love it. I will also use it for Halloween.
This Breyers Extra Creamy Chocolate is the yummiest ice cream ever!!!! My sister told me about it. You have to try it. It is so smooth and creamy.
I added a new orchid to the orchid family. Isn’t she beautiful? I named her May Bell. I brought her home and repotted her. She blends in nicely with the orchid family. My husband argues that I have no more room for orchids. But I always find a place.
May Bell
We had our work Christmas party on Monday night. I won this small Christmas pillow. Doesn’t it look festive?
A coworker made this Santa out of pumpkins that we had left over from Halloween. I think this is a great way to keep pumpkins around a little longer. She spray painted them white and put them in some plastic flower pots. She added a Santa hat and a few other things. I think they turned out great!!!
I had to add a mini stocking for Gus this year. I couldn’t find one with a G so I bought a plain one and embroidered the G onto it.
His is a little different but that is ok. He is the only boy in our group of girls.
But I saved the best for last. The absolute best Friday Favorite and favorite of the last few months is my sister Sandy. We went to the doctor today to get the results from her latest CT scan and there is no cancer. She is still in remission. We were so happy. What a wonderful Christmas blessing.
Happy Tuesday !!!! Less than two weeks from today Christmas will be over!!! How can that even be true? November flew by and now December is doing the same thing. I have been doing a little shopping here and there. I will be honest I am not one of those people who can plan two months in advance and get all of their Christmas shopping done a month before Christmas. It seems like at this time of year I like to enjoy the festivities as they come along. If that means shopping for gifts at the last minute that is just the way it will have to be.
The weather here has been cold but I am loving it. That’s the way it should be here this time of the year. We have also had some much needed rain.
I baked bread last week and even though the temps were cold it rose very nicely. This is sour dough bread and I probably have mentioned it a few hundred times, but I have had this same bread starter for about fifteen plus years. It has to be fed every 3-5 days. I have gone more than a week between feedings and it is always fine. Several years ago I did a post about baking sourdough bread including the recipe, but as I said you must have the starter. You can actually make the starter as well if you are not lucky enough to have someone pass it along to you. Making Sourdough Bread
I can always tell when it is going to rise well.
And it did.
And I had to have a piece as soon as it came out of the oven. That is when it tastes the best.
I don’t think I have ever had a “traditional” tree skirt around my Christmas tree. I always like to use things I have around the house. Maybe a blanket or piece of fabric. This year I dug out this fluffy throw and put it around the bottom of the tree. The kitties immediately thought it was just for them. And who am I kidding. If they love to snuggle on it how can I stop them.
First Gus dominated the new tree skirt AKA something new and fluffy to snuggle on.
Then Kitty Kitty, but only when Gus was not around.
And then both of them gave in and snuggled at the same time.
Friday night we celebrated my nephew Tyler. It was his 22nd birthday. We had so much fun. He grilled hamburgers for us and we brought all the side dishes and I made him a butterfinger cake, his favorite. Where does the time go. The first picture was his first birthday and now he is all grown up.
I made my husband a pecan pie. I told you in a previous post that I burned the last one I made. It was really bad. I had the setting on the oven way too high, by mistake, and it burned. I tried it again over the weekend and tried my pie crust shield. I bought this at an estate sale earlier in the year. I had never even heard of one. You place it over the top of your pie while it is baking and it keeps the edges from burning. It worked great!!! I think I paid $1.00 for it.
Going into the oven.
And look at those edges. No burnt edges.
After I spent time knitting the Christmas ornaments. If you missed that post you can check it out here. I saw a picture with these adorable little toboggans. I decided to make some of those for a winter garland. I love the way they turned out. Another great way to use left over yarn. For these I used the size 5 double pointed needles.
I hung them from my mantelpiece. This is not the best picture. I also moved them to a table on the other side of the room. I eventually went back to the mantel I like having them between our Christmas stockings.
You can get a little better look at them here.
Last night we had our work Christmas party. We usually have it at a restaurant and I don’t have to do a lot to prepare. This year we decided to have it on the property at our new Visitors’ Center. It was a lot of fun but so much work. I didn’t get home until really late. I meant to post this last night but I didn’t make it home in time.
I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season enjoying all the fun with family and friends.
Happy Monday. It seems like November flew by so fast. I know it’s going to be the same way with December. This post is a catch of of the last couple of weeks so a bit of this and that.
Last Monday I woke up with a scratchy throat. Living in East Tennessee is usually reason enough for a scratchy throat with seasonal allergies and sinus issues. I didn’t think too much about it. However it was the same type of sore throat I had last year when I had Covid. I continued feeling bad all day. By bedtime I had a low grade fever. The next morning I took a Covid test and it was positive. The test was out of date so I wasn’t sure whether I should trust it. When I get sick Mark and I go into action getting him away from me as much as possible. Because he has had a kidney transplant, and is immunosuppressed he is much more likely to become sick and it could turn into a stay in the hospital.
He immediately put on a mask and I did too. I drove myself to the urgent care clinic and got a real test and it was positive for Covid as well. I went home and quarantined all week. I have a small den upstairs next to my bedroom and that’s pretty much where I stayed for the next six days or so. I binge watched Grey’s Anatomy, and knitted a ton of stuff. Mark brought food and left it at the top of the stairs. He mostly stayed downstairs. Luckily I had a very mild case and barely had any symptoms. So far Mark is still in the clear.
I knitted several more Christmas ornaments. I have sixteen total. I may do a few more to give to friends and family at Christmas.
Before I got sick on Monday I got my Santa collection out and got them arranged for the season. I also have several larger ones that I put out on the hearth in the living room. I have been collecting these for years.
The week before I got sick we had to make a quick overnight trip to Nashville to Vanderbilt hospital for Mark’s four month checkup. Earlier this year We started going over the night before the appointment. It makes things so much easier. We stay at a hotel about five minutes from the hospital. I take off a little early from work the day before each appointment and we drive over. It takes about four hours each way. We have a nice dinner and get to bed early and get plenty of sleep. It had become such a chore to drive both ways in one day. Mark got a great report and it rained all the way home. I was so glad we had gone over the night before.
We went to dinner as soon as we got settled into the hotel. Isn’t this drink pretty. An Islandtini. It was yummy too.
The view from our hotel balcony
I think Nashville is so beautiful at night.
Vanderbilt hospital had their courtyard decorated for Christmas. It was so festive.
So as you can see a lot going on and then nothing but being home bound for a week. Actually I found that staying at home for a week and doing nothing was quite nice.
Happy Sunday everyone. Come in and share a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate with me. I know we would talk about the weather and what we have been up to all week. I love catching up with you. What have you been up to?
A very mild weather week ahead. My nephew gave me this coffee mug a few years ago. It is one of my favorites.
It is a cloudy and cool morning only about 44 degrees F here. The temps will be fairly mild this week. It has been a busy busy week. Monday we went to Nashville for a quick overnight. Mark had an appointment at Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Back to work on Wednesday and then Thanksgiving on Thursday and then Black Friday shopping with my sister. So a very busy week.
What I am working on: I am still working on the knitted Christmas ornaments. I posted a how-to on a recent blog post. I have also been working on miniature toboggans that I am going to string together, somehow, and make a winter garland out of them. I have been adding a few Christmas decorations here and there. I don’t go crazy with it I like it simple.
What I am reading: I have still been struggling through with the “Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, but in the meantime I pulled off to read Runaway Amish Girl by Emma Gingrich. It was a fast read and very interesting. I will return to Evelyn, I think I am on husband number five.
What I am listening to: Well Christmas music of course. I made a Playlist of all the Christmas music I have on my phone. This way, I don’t have to search the bazillion songs I have in my library to get to the Christmas music. What is your favorite Christmas song?
What I am wearing: I hate to say that I have been wearing jeans or leggings or hoodies almost everywhere I go. I don’t have to dress up a lot. I have a few Christmas outings coming up so I need to put some things together for those. At work I pretty much wear a uniform or a uniform shirt and jacket. I don’t have to, but it is simple and makes getting ready for work extra easy. It’s also warm.
What I am loving: Spending time with family and friends during the holidays. It is such an exciting time. Celebrate was my word for the year and there is always so much of it this time of year.
Southern Patches 