Get Stuffed

 

You know it's gotten weird around here when you've got bread drying out in pans on your bed. I love stuffing and Daughter's gluten free version doesn't do it for me so I wanted to make my own yesterday. I had to really improvise using the ingredients I had on hand and the few kitchen appliances I have working. 

Using an electric skillet and my small crock pot I managed a fairly decent version from scratch. It was pretty good with the left over cranberry sauce and the rest of the vegetable sides we had brought home. 

If that wasn't weird enough this is what we did in the kitchen. If you are wondering if that's the same wall we just ripped out twice.....it is.  At least it's just the bottom fourth of it. We went to install the heavy back splash and realized we didn't have studs to attach it to on the bottom so we had to add some to keep the heavy thing from pulling out of the wall. The big plate has a wobble in it and it needed taming where it will meet the tile. We're hoping the third time is the charm. We're getting pretty sick of this dry wall thing.

They've been putting up lights all over town for weeks now and last night was supposed to be the big lighting ceremony but it was so cold and windy we skipped it this year. We were afraid to even go to the mailbox it was that bad out there. I was disappointed not to go but it's not like they are turning the lights off any time soon. We've got plenty of time to see them. 

A Turkey of a Thanksgiving

 

I am sad to say that we didn't all stay well for Thanksgiving so Son and the Big Grands didn't make it for dinner at Daughter's. I had a lot of tears over it but we need to protect Daughter at all costs in the last few weeks before her due date. I did get to Zoom with the Baby Grand in Michigan yesterday morning. He's already a real pro in front of the camera. I see network news in his future. 

We took the long trek up to Daughter's and got there in time to see the Macy's Santa come to town. This is a non-negotiable for me. I haven't missed a year since I can remember. 

My two Sons and my SIL are the real cooks in the family but we managed without them even though it wasn't as much fun. 

SIL was busy out back smoking a bourbon brined turkey. It smelled so amazing that we opened the windows so we could enjoy it. 

The meal was a simple and fast gluten free affair.  We wanted to be back on the road and home before dark. The Mister and I don't see well enough to like driving at night anymore especially on our heavily wooded rural roads down here at the beach.

 SIL is an excellent baker. He made pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake.  I brought mine home with me and ate it while listening to Alice's Restaurant.

When we left Daughter and SIL were having words about putting up their tree that night. She's been out buying ornaments and wanted to see her tree up in her new house. He was worn out from doing all the cooking and cleaning and wanted to watch football. 

Speaking of putting up trees, the Big Grands put theirs up. I hope they are thinking about what Santa's going to put under that tree. I could use that information.

Give Thanks.......

 

.........that your kitchen doesn't look like this today.

And your dining room doesn't look like this. 

You just gotta laugh. 

If we all stay healthy we'll be having dinner at Daughter's.

If not, I'll figure out something. I always do. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Wednesday WIPs

 

I haven't touched the little advent sweater since I cast it on but I did add two more blocks to the Audun box. I haven't touched it in ages and it took me forever to figure it all out again. 

It was an easy day in the kitchen. We had to wait for paint to dry.

While we were waiting we went off to the hardware store to pick up a few of these. I wish we had known about them before we started tiling. They would have been a game changer. They are the Schluter tile trimming system and they would have made life so much easier and made my tile look so much better. We were tiling like it was 1989 and neglected to educate ourselves on the new fangled way things are done today. Old dog, new tricks I suppose. Hopefully they will help us tile neatly around that stainless steel back splash.

Since it was pretty much a day off (and cold as the dickens) we took advantage and finished up the Christmas cards. The Mister cranked and I glued. 

He had such a good time he didn't want to stop and even offered to help me with the shower invitations. We got a pile done before dinner and he promised to help me with the rest of them another day. We'll see. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

This week I've been working on finishing up the top branches on the toy tree but after that I'm not sure where I'm going. There are supposed to be balloons that spell out BABY up there but I'm not a fan so it's going to take some thinking. 

I stitched a little bee hive on the bookmark. I literally fell over the stand on Sunday so I thought it might be telling me something so I picked it up and spent a few minutes with it. 

A few minutes is all I have right now because look at this. We've ripped out the wall over the stove once again. We actually made the hole bigger. Notice that my cabinets are no longer on the wall. The patchwork/Frankenstein approach looked awful when we went to paint it so out it all came-again.

I suggested we take out the cabinets way back when we started but The Mister didn't see it my way then. He does now. This wasn't an easy fix either though. The studs behind the stove are a warped twisted mess and we still had to piece in lots of wood to make things level. 1989 was when this house was built. By the looks of things behind that wall you'd think it was 1889. 

Another Finish

 

We did more of this yesterday. I should be able to paint that mess today.

I had gotten up early to finish Dog Star. I had to kitchener the underarms so I needed quiet. I'm pretty terrible at it but I got it done.  Now it's in the FO pile. 

Then I decided to go ahead and cast on the first of the itty bitty advent sweaters. I am not using the new Arne and Carlos yarn for it. It's too nice for an ornament. I'm using leftover Palette and I'll use that lovely Norwegian yarn for something better later on.

A Walk in the Woods

 

We spent the morning doing this.

We spent the afternoon doing this. 

We even cleared the path through the woods. It was nice to have the woods back since all the muggy and the buggy went away. 

We could follow the creek again and walk across the logs. I should say crawl. Pup went across one and The Mister had to crawl over to get her because the logs are now so rotten and slippery. It was pretty funny.

We took inventory of all our many wood piles. They look pretty bleak. All that wood and we couldn't give any of it away. No one wants wood anymore. 

All that wood made me want to start a fire with it. So I did. It was a good way to end a very busy day.