longest post - EVER!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! We sure did!! It's been awhile since I posted but I will try to make it short. My kids came in from Colorado on the 19th. It's nice to have them here! The first day Ryder needed to do some shopping so we went into town, since we were in town we met Scott for lunch - I love doing that!! I had them help me make pork and shrimp dumplings - I quadruple the recipe - it's one of my favorites!! It's easy and delicious!! The link takes you to the recipe I use but I close the dumplings - using the egg around the edge. We use a peanut dipping sauce - not sure where I found the recipe.

Peanut Dipping Sauce
1/4 c water
1/4 c peanut butter
2 T soy
1 1/2 T seasoned rice vineage
1 1.2 T chile paste with garlic
1/2 t sugar
 Just mix it together - mmmm Or if you just like the soy sauce dip

1/4 c soy sauce
3 T rice vinegar
chopped green onion (1)

dumpling elves

Scott made 4 kinds of cookies this year - he let us each pick our favorite. My favorite are the star shaped cookies (snowflakes pg 39 we used pecans). All the recipes are from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book. Chocolate crinkles pg 23, Thumbprints pg 77 and Brown Sugar Pecan Rounds pg 89. The kids and I made a recipe for caramel corn that we call "crack corn" None of us are huge fans of caramel corn but this stuff is crazy addictive even the cat likes it - DELICIOUS!!!! The recipe comes from my friend Katie. If you would like the recipe email me. 

We finally got our tree up and decorated by the 22nd or 23rd

look at that floor I still need to work on!!

cat left me a gift

curried pumpkin soup Scott made mmmmmm

Here are some of the things I got for Christmas....

tea from Lupecia I got in my stocking!

hand carved Russian Santa

Scott bought him in Texas at A Taste Of Europe

for the front porch - but may be too nice to set outside

O...M...G

even the pattern is beautiful!!

I didn't get this for Christmas but I tea-dyed it for the Easter piece

and then I started it - yes that makes 12 WIPS!!!

Taylor knitted us scarves!!

metal heart box

my people - don't look at the unfinished walls!!

Ryder bought this for me

Uncle Milton's Fireflies in my room

coolest measuring glass ever

 I made another traditional bread - my family loves it but I don't! They call it potetsa but when you look it up online it it called potica. It's European  bread with a walnut filling. We make it into a shell shape but online it's a loaf. They put butter on it and warm it in the microwave. I will share the recipe - email me if you want it.

cardamom braid left over from Thanksgiving and my potetsa  

inside of the potetsa

I finished Gratitude!! I ordered Joyfulness and it is out for delivery today - then I will be DONE!!! THAT is joyfulness!!

 We went to the city center - Indianapolis is set up in a circle and is called "The Circle City" at the center is this awesome war memorial!! They decorate it from the holidays

standing next to the monument

 We also went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art

ohhh muscles

Taylor has a head cold but the rest of us are well. We are going to bring in the New Year at home. We will have snack foods  (cheese and crackers, dip and chips) . We will play lots of games. I hope you all have a safe and fun New Years celebration. Thanks for stopping by!!

Merry Christmas!!

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!

Hi!

Good morning!
Hope you all had a nice weekend. We didn't do much - ate at a place called "Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza" Scott wanted to try it because the commercials are funny - and they are a local place!

We had half meatball and half caliente - chorizo, jalapeno, red onion, green pepper and cheddar. It was good - better the next day for lunch!! The meatball side was really good!! We also shared a salad - Romaine and it had Gorgonzola dressing, red onion, tomato and bacon - really good!! They make all their dressings "except the lite because we don't know how to make anything with less calories than god intended" says the menu HA!! We will go back!!
The plumber gave me three options for my wash machine - 1. move the pipes into the house so they are not on an outer wall. 2. pull the plaster down so the drain gets air from inside the house and 3. put antifreeze in the drain after I am done using the machine for the day if it's going to be cold. I am hoping to move the pipes inside when we remodel the kitchen - because those pipes need to move too. For now - it's the antifreeze option. It will cut down on the amount of days I do laundry for sure. The dishwasher will be checked on Wednesday. The furnace should be fixed this week. Turns out the headaches are from grinding my teeth when I sleep. I have a mouth guard for that but I didn't need to use it for a few years and since had a crown put on so it doesn't fit. I bought a cheapo one that you mold yourself and it seems to be helping.
I finished a little section on Orchard Valley Quilting Bee from Little House Needleworks

I set it aside so I can do Gratitude sheep. I can see the end of the sheep - and it is so close!!

Here are the Kindness pillows - look overstuffed but they weren't!

What? This isn't my chair? HA!

hummingbird cake and harvest cake from Shapiros - tiny bundt cakes so cute!!

Hope you all have a good week!! Thanks for stopping by!!

OKAY OKAY

I GIVE!!!!      UNCLE!!!

*sigh*

 I am in hell - you would think that I wouldn't have frozen pipe issues due to the heat of hell, but no. I always said I'd be in charge of this place but now that I am here I don't want the job.
Remember how we have had to replace almost every single thing that this Martinsville horror (like Amityville) had inside? Well, this week we had to have a furnace guy come out because every time Scott went into the basement aka the music room - he would get dizzy and nauseous. This state has this "home warranty" thing that the seller pays for for your first year. So Scott called them and asked them to come out - they said no it would have to fail before they send someone and Scott told them that by the time it fails we would most likely be dead. That was some motivation. They sent a guy out - yep, we have a fan that is not working correctly so we have an elevated amount of carbon monoxide. Not enough to set off the alarms upstairs but enough to give me a headache for the last week. Some other thing is cracked as well. So he ordered parts and will be back next week - nooo I don't mind the headache for another week - what's a little headache? It's a reminder that the carbon monoxide hasn't killed you - yet. Last night my brand new dishwasher leaked - nope it's not the first time. It has done it the last three times I have run it. The first time I thought a knife was in the door and made it happen, the second time I just thought maybe I didn't close it correctly. Last night I slammed that sucker shut - which I don't think you should have to do to a brand new appliance but maybe I just expect too much. It leaked again - so I got on the Whirlpool site and called the Whirlpool person they say to use - I am waiting for a call back. While I was doing the research online for that repair guy my wash machine dumped half of it's load of water onto the floor - what a neat sound that is. So I shut the thing off and grabbed all my towels and throw them on the floor. The washer is so "smart" that when you shut it off while it still has water in it - it comes back on after 5 minutes and dumps the rest of the water out. Where? Yep, on the floor. I THINK the drain is frozen BUT if it is a sewage back up ... well you can imagine. I took a chance and went into the basement - no water there. I am waiting for the plumber to come tell me WTF!!!!!! I DID have an inspector come look at this dump before I bought it. It cost me $500 and now I get phone calls and emails from someone he is affiliated with  -  trying to "give" me a security system. He didn't notice that the kitchen pipes are all on the outside wall of the kitchen. Thank goodness we noticed -  I have had the kitchen sink dripping for a week now to keep it from freezing - didn't realize that the drain would be an issue. I am ready to buy a new fridge - because my new one (I bought in Colorado so it wasn't a "you're an idiot for not measuring" problem) doesn't fit in the kitchen fridge spot and putting this beast on the market. Of course that means I have a room to paint, a floor to sand and a banister to finish - first. Maybe I am overly emotional about it - maybe it's the headache talking but I think I may be done here. While I'm in this mood - and now that I have met some of the residents here I can imagine them - while wearing their furs - in a Rosemary's Baby devil worshiping scene - maybe in my noxious basement. I would say "Calgon take me away" but we don't have a bathtub that can be used because it's one with moldy tubes and anyway - where would that water go when I pulled the drain? Is it too early to drink?
I would love to welcome my new follower - hope I haven't scared you off with my ranting.
I hope you all are having a 100% better day than I am having.

O...M...G

I am in LOVE!!! I stumbled across this designer  - Renalto Parolin.  I love the Easter Tree and Grande Armonia. I started trying to find out more about this designer but it is all in Italian AAAHHHHH!!! I did find a site that has 271 of the designs and I made a list of at least 10 patterns that I have to have!!! I  also found a site with - what I believe - are a few free patterns again - all in Italian. Usually there is a translator button but I sure couldn't find it. At least the patterns are easier to find than the L'Atelier Perdu patterns I am dying to have!! That was all I had to say - I was so in love with these patterns that I had to share.

Oh wait....

Know what else I am in love with? Fred the White Pelican   He is currently being cared for by Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Colorado always has great pictures and videos of animals they are taking care of. I love the release videos!! I have watched Fred's video several times - what a lovely creature!!
On my last post I forgot to mention that I have two new followers - welcome to my blog!!  Thanks to Barb at Wicked Stitcher for her lovely comments about moi!!
Hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!!

Pictures!!

Hello!!
I have finished the stitching on another sheep

I am sure that the next one is in my mail box but I am making these two into pillows before I move on - two more to go!!! I also took pictures of my craft room - every wall!!

 Don't look at the mess on my table. I decided to see how many WIPS I have - I am ashamed to say I have 11 - ELEVEN!!! Shame on me! So 2014 is a WIPS year!! It may take two years because three of them are Teresa Wentzlers!! One is a Heaven and Earth Design - yikes!! That will be another post another day.

All decorated - except my bat filet crochet needs hung someplace!! I love my room - so nice and big!! I had to iron a few things today - my little shadow kept me company

I finally made the Cranberry Crunch Cake. The nut topping is fabulous - it has butter and brown sugar on it so you know it has to be good!!

It smells heavenly!! I can't wait to taste it!

 It snowed almost all weekend - we started our first fire!! Don't look at those stripey walls - I still have to paint  - the walls will be all brown - not striped!

 Scott worked from home on Friday - so nice that he can do that when the weather is bad. We got at least a foot of snow - but it rained first so it was nice and slick!!

This used to be my Gram's - it makes the most perfect grilled cheese. It has plates you can turn over and the other side makes waffles!!

 We put electric candles in the windows

 We went to the Christmas party for the community we live in. We didn't fit in at all. We were the youngest  - that didn't come with our parents, and neither of us was wearing a fur. When one of the ladies told her companion that my husband was the waiter we decided to leave so  I only got one picture - beautiful place! The house used to belong to Frank Shields - the man who invented Barbasol!

We could see the  Martinsville court house from the diner we stopped at instead. Every Friday night at 7:30 they have three people play Taps. It was really neat with the Christmas lights up and the snow falling!! The diner is called The Mixing Bowl - food wasn't bad and they have a bakery mmmmmm

beautiful cardinal!!

 Scott put up our bird feeder - we had several neat birds stop by - Jays, Cardinals, Tufted Titmouse, White Breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Redheaded Woodpecker and a Downy woodpecker. The only one we had in Colorado was the Jay so I had to look up each bird as they came to visit - very exciting!!

My Gram had been collecting Dansk dishes - the Quiltings series which are now discontinued. My mom split the 12 service set up and gave me 6. They had been in boxes for years. I finally decided to use them - not going to do me any good in a box. How fun to have such pretty dishes - sorry the picture isn't great! I also hung up her hand-quilted Christmas quilt - I love this quilt!!

Well, I guess I better get to stitching!! Thanks for stopping by - hope you are all staying warm and safe!!