I FInished It!

Mission Accomplished!!!  Yesterday I finally finished the shawl I have been working on and off on since March.

I also wrapped a few gifts yesterday.  I am actually ahead of schedule this year.  Usually it's the week of Christmas at the very earliest.  LOL!

I even put them under the tree at the castle.  There will hopefully be 8 gifts in all under that tree by the time I am finished

Yesterday I also decorated the tree at the lock shop, and plugged in the lights.

I started another crochet project.  This one should be quick and easy.  I'm already over half way finished.  It too will be a gift.  Check back in a day or two if you want to see the finished product.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'm going to turn Land Girls back on and work more on that project i started yesterday.....in between customers.

Just Some Random Things

I really MUST get busy on that shawl. I still haven't sat down and worked on it any more.  Also I have another hopefully quick crochet project I would like to make for my nephew.  I will get busy on  the shawl as soon as I am finished here, but I wanted to share a few random things with you first.

Last night we went to home depot to get a few things for the business.  I noticed they had the "purse hooks" or maybe coat hooks, down on the middle of the door instead of at the top where they have always been.

It's rather nice.  My MIL told me that when they lived in St. Louis you didn't dare put your purse on the hook because people would come along and snag your purse by reaching over the door.  Since she told me that I have never used the hook, I have always set my purse on the toilet paper holder or just held it.

We put up our tree last night.  Yes it's at the Castle, and Yes our real presents will soon be going under there.

And one last thing.....it was time to get this out and fresh water run through it.  It's nice to have a hot cuppa and nice that it only brews 1 cup at a time and shuts off all by it's self.

I don't use the cups for it, I usually just brew hot water for tea or hot cocoa.  Those cups cost too much and of the few I have tried, they just don't taste very good to me.  Right now I"m sipping on a cup of homemade hot cocoa that isn't very good either, but that's my fault, I'm the one who mixed it up.  LOL!

Have a great day everyone!  Thanks for stopping by!

HHM 11/28/16

Happy Monday Morning!!!!!!!  Thanksgiving is over and it's time to start thinking about Christmas.  Not to mention it's crunch time for homemade gifts.

As I look outside my window:::
When I got up it was a bit cloudy this morning and the ground was wet from a combination of rain and humidity.  It's almost December and we are to be in the low 60's today.  Crazy weather!  I'm glad it hasn't been wintry cold yet though.  Cold weather and I do not get along anymore.
 
Right now I am::: 
Sitting here staring at a pile of paperwork I need to take care of.  I don't want to though I'd rather get lost on the internet or work on my crochet.

Thinking and pondering:::
Lunch!  I'm hungry!  I'm waiting on hubby to get back from a job he went on this morning.  Also what to fix for Thanksgiving.  We will have a late Thanksgiving supper.  Out oldest son's finance is going to he family's house for lunch, and then she has to work, so super will be about 7:30 that evening.  At least it gives me all day to cook, right?
 
Currently Reading:::
I've been trying to listen to the Bible again, since I never seem to have time or forget to read.  I have been listening to the Psalms.  Also I have been reading A Perilous Proposal by Michael Phillips.  

On my tv:::
We got a trial Netflix subscription and I found Land Girls and have been watching it.  I hope I can finish it before we cancel.

On my to do list:::
This week is going to be crazy! Today I need to go pay the phone bill.  I cooked a whole chicken last night and need to debone it tonight. hubby will be making clam chowder tonight, tuesday night chicken noodle soup, wednesday night bible study at church and when we get home we will be making tomato soup.  Thursday evening is the town christmas parade and we will be selling all 3 soups outside during the parade.  I made fortune cookies last night for friday night's magic the gathering game, yarn club and a magic the gathering tournament saturday evening........work every day practically all day......yah it's gonna be a crazy week. :-)


What I am crocheting:::
On the last ball of yarn for the shawl I've been working on.  When I run out of yarn I'm calling it done.  I plan to have it done this week.  I will be working on it later today I hope.  I still have that pair of tunisian stitch gloves I started for hubby in the crochet bag.  That will probably be a many month project.  And the scrap tote I started on Thanksgiving eve.  


From the camera:::

Homemade fortune cookies.  made a total of 21 for this coming up Friday night.

Prayer List:::
My Uncle T.  seems to be better.  At least he hasn't mentioned being sick still.  Thank you for praying for him.   Business to pick up more.  To make it through this busy week!


I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for HHM.  Go visit her and the rest of those who have joined in.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting.

It Helps Keep Us Warm

We have a small space heater that we put in our sons room.  It sits in the doorway and oscillates to share the heat between rooms. We have been running it all night this past week. We also have a kerosene heater that we light right before we retire for the night. We do extinguish it before going to sleep.

I love the glow and the shadows it makes. It lights up the room enough to see pretty good too.  Of course there are always at least one candle and some incense burning too.

Thankfully it has been pretty mild.  Only a few days so far have been below freezing at night.  The thermometer I had been using got knocked off when we were putting plastic up over the windows. I found a different one and it seems to work pretty accurately.  It says the room has been between 56 and 62 degrees since putting the plastic up.  The other one....well it says a constant 42 degrees....maybe it had been wrong all along.  Who knows.  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by and reading.  

Busy End of the Week

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, but Whew!  I'm glad it's is over!  Now Christmas is even closer and there is SO much to do and SO much going on......I think I need a long vacation after all this holiday stuff is over!

I cooked for my family and a close family friend.  We had a late supper because oldest son's finance had to work that afternoon.  We had ham, turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, potato salad, corn, green bean casserole, rolls and butter.  FDIL brought a cheesecake for dessert.  Lovely evening!  I wouldn't change anything, well except maybe FDIL not having to work.

The past month we have been working extra hard at cleaning out the old house.  We had someone who wanted to buy it.  We sold it cheap because it's not worth much, it's in such bad shape.  We finished up thanksgiving night after everyone had left.  We got it all......we think.  Now to clean out the van.  *sigh*  We signed over the house yesterday.  It's a relief for sure.

Thanksgiving eve I started a stress relief project......

I don't know why, but I'm weird this way.  I couldn't just tie scraps together and make a project, until I found and followed this link on pinterest.  It's like it "gave me permission" to do something like this.  I started out with no clue what I was going to make from it, but after 9 increase rows I decided to make a market bag for myself.  I'm tired of all the plastic grocery bags.  We get a lot, and don't use near as many as we used to. 

I also need to get that shawl done.  Christmas is even closer!  like 3 weeks away now until Christmas Eve and the little get together with my mom and sister.  I have maybe 4-5 rows left and it's done.

What are you working on?

Recipe Review ~~ Chicken Bacon Ranch Lasagna

So I found this recipe on pinterest......had 8 1/2 lasagna noodles (I don't know where the other half went) and everything else I needed to make it so I decided to give it a go.  It is from Chef in Training and it's her Chicken Bacon Lasagna recipe.

This was very easy to make.  I did have already cooked bacon and chicken though.  I expected the sauce to be a little thicker.  It did thicken up a bit more during baking.  I used a convection oven and baked mine for 30 minutes.

It smelled amazing and tasted pretty good.   We had more than enough for one meal.  We had some for lunch the next day and it was still pretty good.

It is good enough to fix again, but I probably won't because it was pretty expensive for the ingredients, even at my wholesale cost.  Also the leftovers were pretty greasy.  Probably from the cheese and butter. That isn't that big of a deal.....unless you're using paper plates, which I did.  LOL!  Hubby and I thought it needed tweaked a bit but couldn't place what needed to be added/changed to please our tastebuds.

I'd give it a 4 out of 5 rating.

Warmer but Rainy and Winterizing

Winterizing.....it was necessary.  Over the weekend we were below freezing for a couple nights.  That made it quite cool upstairs.  This year we decided to put plastic over the windows.  One window we decided not to seal completely so we can look out and so Fuzzy can get some sunshine.  Kitty cat's need and like sunshine.  Please ignore the pac-man ghost....it was part of last year's Christmas Parade entry and we use it to help keep out the streetlight light at night.

 Plastic open.....

We bought a small space heater to help take the chill of the night air.  We will use it the most, but we also have a portable kerosene heater for those really cold nights to help fight the cold. 

This morning was a bit warmer and it was rainy off and on.  What more do you need on a cool, rainy morning than a cuppa coffee?  I had a long double shot dark chocolate mocha latte, with a bit of cream.  Oh.My.Word! I think it's my new favorite drink.  

Off to work.......Not a lot to do today as of yet, so I think I will try and work on that shawl.  The sooner I get it finished the sooner I can move on to something else.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Homemaker Monday

It's been a while since I've done a Happy Homemaker Monday post.  Looking back it was July of this year the last time I Joined in.  I was excited that we had electricity upstairs and had gotten an air conditioner.  Well....read my other post for today, that AC didn't work out well.  LOL

As I look outside my window:::
It was a bit cloudy and cold this morning!  I had to wait until I went outside to see anything.  We put plastic over the windows last night to help keep the cold out and our room a little warmer.
 
Right now I am::: 
freezing!  Haven't turned the heat on at the lockshop and won't until it is absolutely necessary.  It's about 56* outside and according to a thermometer inside it's about 68*.

Thinking and pondering:::
Lunch!  I'm hungry!  I'm waiting on hubby to get back from a job he went on this morning.  Also what to fix for Thanksgiving.  We will have a late Thanksgiving supper.  Out oldest son's finance is going to he family's house for lunch, and then she has to work, so super will be about 7:30 that evening.  At least it gives me all day to cook, right?
 
On my bedside table:::
my jammies, wet wipes and a bottle of homemade spray made with apple cider vinegar, witch hazel and essential oils (tea tree and peppermint this time).

On my tv:::
No TV, but I did watch Rolling Earthship and a few other YouTube vlogs this morning.

Playing on the radio:::
nothing right now.  Earlier I was playing songs from the 80's 


On my to do list:::
everything is done for now.  Tonight we go shopping for thanksgiving and other things we need for the business.


What I am crocheting:::
Trying to finish up the shawl I've been working on.  I also started a pair of tunisian stitch gloves for hubby.  


My simple pleasure:::
quiet.....quiet.....quiet 


Looking around the house:::
i did a little sweeping and cleaning last night when we put plastic over the windows.  Still would like to do a bit more cleaning and rearranging for the winter.  must.stay.warm!


From the camera:::

Prayer List:::
My Uncle T.  He has been pretty sick, but can't afford to not work.   Business to pick up more.

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for HHM.  Go visit her and the rest of those who have joined in.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting.

So Pretty....and Smelly

So this WAS an electric warmer....but the electric part was faulty when we got it.  The company said "Keep it" and replaced it with another one.  I cut off the cord and decided to use a tea light candle under it.  This worked good until I added oil to it [that was cold] after it was already heated up and smelling good.  I cracked the dish.  😧  Now the oil drips slowly onto the candle below.  It seems to work ok for now.  Eventually though I bet I will have to toss it or find a new dish.  Today I had lilac warming and I added some vanilla-grapefruit. 

It has cooled off and therefore has gotten cooler upstairs.  I know I haven't kept you up to date on that, but thankfully it wasn't a long super hot summer.  I think maybe overall we weren't able to cope with the heat for a week total.  Other than that 2 fans and 2 windows open kept us cool.  We had a portable AC for about a week, but it was putting off more heat than it was cool air.  We ditched it after a few days.

Even Fuzzy thinks it's too cold.  This has been her normal sleeping place the past couple nights it has been down near or below freezing.  

Sorry if it's hard to see but it's not easy to take a video in the dark.  LOL!  

We have done a little winterizing though.  I will share that soon.

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Almost Finished

The tunisian crochet shawl I have been working on all year long.....I'm almost finished.  I have 1 more ball of yarn left after the one sitting there.    When this picture was taken I had 15 rows left.  I have hooked a few since taking the picture.  I have been averaging just short of 5 rows per ball of yarn.  I have a few more of increase 4, then it drops back to increase 2 to finish it off.  It's going to be close, if I have enough. If not I will just finish it off where I'm out of yarn and call it done.  No one will know unless I tell them, right?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this yarn!  I decided to try the ICE brand yarn, and actually got this on sale in January I think.  This color is no longer available though.  Can't wait to gift it for Christmas!  The person should be super excited!

Other than the few rows I have accomplished on this the past few weeks (of my absence of posting) there has been a lot going on.  Seems like this time of year is busy anyway, but add to it selling a house and trying to get it cleaned out.  We almost have what we want out of it.