Miscellaneous Photos

Snow day today! There's something so special about the first snow day of the winter...and about watching my daughters (not me, thankfully) digging the cars out of the snow.


I got pretty productive a couple of weekends ago and made a batch of blueberry jam and a batch of triple-berry jam. Talk about a sweet-smelling kitchen that day!



I wanted to share a few photos from Thanksgiving with you which I couldn't do before since our computer was hospitalized.

Here's Mom, making and tasting the gravy. It doesn't matter how much of a "grown up" I am, I still need Mom doing her thing close by.








Here's Bob and I, celebrating our 31st Thanksgiving together. Sheesh...that long??






"Ok everyone, group photo!" It's amazing how we all fit into our ridiculously small cozy dining room, isn't it? Our son and his family came later for dessert and we all managed to squeeze in.




And lastly for now, here are the three girls, four if you count the dog, hanging out with each other on this greatly appreciated snow day. Hope you're having a good day wherever you are. :)

Raise your hand if... your brother celebrated his 60th birthday surrounded by family, friends and love this past weekend!

In this photo is the birthday boy, my brother Kenn, who just turned SIXTY! I know, I know...he doesNOT look it, damn him. There's my mom (she'll be 89 in March), me flapping my lips, and my younger sister Karen. This photo helps me remember who I was long before I was a wife or mother...these are my roots. And I'm pretty sure that if I look real closely, I can see my father's loving smile shining down on all four of us. :)


And this photo helps me remember who I am now...Nona to Mackenzie Marie!





I love this one of my mom and my brother, her firstborn.

It was one of those times that you look around at everyone there and realize that the room is filled with love, and life is good.

Allelulia!

Hi there. Just checking in to say hi and that the computer arrived home safely, although it did not arrive home unscathed. The viruses managed to wipe out, among other things, all of my "favorites" that I have been saving over the years! Damn viruses. They did not get my photos or Word documents, though, which I'm very grateful for. I've installed Norton Security 2010 and hopefully, it will do its job!

I hope everyone has a nice Friday tomorrow...peaceful and uneventful, just the way we like them.

Oh by the way, was I supposed to have started shopping yet? Just wonderin'! :)

Hi there. Our poor computer came down with a virus, more like 159 viruses, and has been trying to recuperate at the computer clinic since last week! As much as I like not having it occupying my time, I do miss visiting with you all, so I snagged the laptop of daughter #2 and here I am!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was peaceful, relaxing and spent with those you love. Ours was...family, no hurrying, good food, music, and much love. It was just what it was supposed to be, not to mention the desserts!

I have a wonderful potpourri simmering on the stove right now and thought I'd share the "recipe". Take the peel of one to two oranges (I'm using the peel of 3 or 4 clementines), three to four cinnamon sticks, and about 12 whole cloves and put them in a small saucepan. Add about two to two and a half cups of water and simmer gently. The smell is heavenly...but DON'T forget to turn it off when you go out!

Ok, I'm off to read my latest Country Sampler magazine and dream. :) Hope to be back online soon with photos of the alpaca farm my husband brought me to this past weekend as a surprise!

TaDa...Pumpkin Trifle...courtesy of a recipe from my good friend ConE (pronounced Kon EE).









She wrote/illustrated this adorable little trifle cookbook which everyone at school is buying! :)

ConE's always bringing in delicious concoctions to share, so we finally convinced her to put some recipes together in one place. Voila...a trifle cookbook with a recipe for each month of the year! She also did a caricature of herself which can be found throughout the entire book. She's doing labels for my jam jars, too, which I can't wait to see. :)

Speaking of my jam jars, I'm hoping to spend time this weekend making two batches of jam--blueberry and triple berry. I personally love homemade jam, so some will be for here, some will be for gifts, and some will be for sale to the teachers at school. I did that last year at this time; I'm working on making it a Thanksgiving Weekend tradition.

How about you? Do you have any traditions for after Thanksgiving?

OkeeDokee. Time to get moving again. Happy Day tomorrow. :)