Good Times

 We had a nice Thanksgiving Day.  Everyone fit in our house, we all enjoyed good food and a good family time.

Jonny is so important that he gets phone calls on Thanksgiving, at the dinner table.

 On Monday it was the annual Sisters in Seattle shopping trip.  We shop on our own and then always meets up at Pottery Barn.  That way we can sit on one of their sofas until everyone arrives.  Most of us have owning a Pottery Barn sofa on our bucket list so until that day arrives this is a good time to enjoy a PB sofa.  They are the best.  Of course, surrounded by all of their beautiful Christmas decor is nice too.  Another bonus is that Pottery Barn stores have really nice bathrooms. It's my shopping tip.

We had a fun day yesterday and now today I need to get my Christmas decorating game on!

Bye, for Now

Yes, I wore my petticoat on Saturday.  I had a great show and loved seeing so many of you!

Thank you for coming out to Van Vino.

Hubby and I have Thanksgiving dinner here at The Stone House.

There will be 21 of us.

My house is a BiG mess and I have a lot of cooking to do before Thursday.

I'll be on a blog break for a bit, but I wanted to wish each of you a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.  Aren't we blessed? 

'Tis the Season

'Tis the Season Craft and Vendor Market is tomorrow.

The market is November 19, Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Van Vino Hall.  Van Vino Hall is located at 9029 Markworth Road, Blaine, Washington.  If you're coming from Lynden or Bellingham on Guide Meridian, turn west on to Badger Road, in about 2 miles you'll turn right on Markworth Road, it's half way up the big hill, on the left side.

I am having a booth at the show with a lot of vintage Christmas items and wreaths.

 I will have a sample of the train cases I restore.  They can be ordered.

 I've had fun getting everything set up and ready.

I've had fun crafting, sewing, using the glue gun.

I've had a lot of fun and now,

I am hoping all y'all show up and have fun too.

 There are some great booths set up for Saturday.  CW Happy Creations - Liberty Moccs - Arbonne -

Olive Mae Designs - Rustic Ruffle - Doterra - Dirty Lace Designs - Vintage Christmas Decor - Rays Rags and many others.  Jodi and Meik have some clever canvases.  There are some darling baby items too, for those of you with grand babies.

Right next to my space Narlene will have Dutch pastries.  Her almond tarts will bring a tear to your eye, they are so delicious and buttery.

Today, I am finishing up a few items and trying to decide if I should wear my Christmas petticoat tomorrow or jeans like everyone else.  What do you think?

See you there!

Friday Random

Good Morning!  If we didn't agree about the election  results, I still love ya!

Here comes some random and non election blogging.  Yay!

I know there is a calendar on my iphone but I still like a paper calendar that fits in my purse and that I can check while I am talking on my phone.  Last year I waited until the new year to find one and had to pay close to twenty dollars.  This year I found a comparable calendar at Dollar Tree.  Yes, one dollar.  Dollar Tree for the win.

 I also recently purchased a keeper.  It's an alphabetical book to keep your passwords written down.  As I careen toward 60 I realize I can't keep all of this information floating around in my brain.  I plan to use it for airline, cruise, rental car company reward plans too.  I think this will be a big improvement over the piece of cardboard I have everything scribbled on presently.  Yes, cardboard.

 I did some Thanksgiving prep yesterday.  I cleaned the fridge, inside and out.  I kind of like no having pictures, invitations, announcements tacked up on the fridge.  What do you have?  Cluttered or clear fridge?  Let's vote and agree to disagree.

 A little Thanksgiving vignette is set up in the dining room.  I'm not a fan of the light switches but I do like electric lights.

 Still crafting...  Wouldn't  she be cute in a teen girl's bedroom or the boudoir or a bathroom?

 I have been inundated with my library requests all showing up at the same time.

Curling up with a good book in November is the best.  I have a lot to get done here and I just want to keep reading about Dixie.  The struggle is real.

 I am still ordering household goods online from Walmart.  It's free shipping at $50.  I have an ongoing cart for Starbucks coffee, toiletries, laundry soap etc.  Pioneer Woman has her Christmas line out for the season at Walmart.  These Christmas napkins jumped into my cart.  The green plate is from Tag.  I also have the red plates from Tag.  These combinations will be pretty for buffets this Christmas.

I've been asked why I don't just go to Walmart.  Uhmmm, I live on the Canadian border so it's very crowded at my Walmart.  I am going to Costco tonight.  They have an early Black Friday sale and there are two things we need, plus we buy our meat at Costco.  Are you doing any Black Friday shopping?  I think Costco on November 11 will be as close as I get.

 Happy Veteran's Day to all who have served.  As Sam's buddy, Zeke shared this morning, it's the day they all get half price appetizers for giving up 4+ years of their lives. Sad but true! 

Have a fantastic weekend!

Weather, Christmas and some Random

Not going to lie, I am a little  tired of the rain. I filmed a video of the torrential downpour that we had on Saturday.  I wanted to share it so that readers living outside of my area could see that I wasn't exaggerating about the rain.  Suffice it to say, it's wet here.  

Here's is a question, can someone do so little walking that their Fitbit goes backwards?  I've been doing some data research on that question.  I am walking on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.  That is all.  That is it.  It's like I know I should walk but I just cannot make myself do it.  It's wet out there and I have zero motivation.  If there is a break in the rain, I quickly find something else to do or make some excuse.  

Such as read a good book and drink coffee, it needs to be done!

Hubby and I went to a birthday party Friday evening and I got a gift.  No, it wasn't my birthday.  Holly gave me a new mug with my favorite saying, it is what it is.

Coffee in a pretty mug with a Christmas book. Yes please!

Christmas is coming...

 I am not decorating for Christmas quite yet but I did put out my new pillow and there's a bottle of Christmas ale in the ice bucket.  

I am a vendor at 'Tis the Season craft show at Van Vino on November 19th.  I am busy crafting and prepping.

  

On November 21, I will begin decorating in full force.  Thanksgiving is at our house so I'll wait to decorate the kitchen and living room.  I wait because of space issues.  I do not care if guests are offended by Christmas at Thanksgiving.  Uhmmm, do you want to host?  The dinner table will be very autumn and Thanksgivingish.   I'm thinking about some Christmas decorating changes this year.  Less is more kind of thing.  Yeah. that won't happen.

Hubby and I are making some gifts this year.  Remember last time and all of the angst?  Yep, I need that kind of pressure.  We have some good ideas and I am almost finished with my part.

We are going to Trailer Trash Christmas in Anacortes with Huaka'i Annie in December.  I'll be decorating our '57 Aloha for Christmas, you can only imagine how excited I am about THAT!

Our church's Christmas services and cantata are on the calendar. 

Sisters Seattle shopping trip is on the calendar.

Sirius radio has their Christmas station, Holly playing as of last week.

I can't control the weather but if I was in charge the temperatures would be getting lower.  The rain would turn to snow in a week or so and then I'd really be getting my Christmas game on.

And I might even go for a walk in the snow!

Nah.  Just not feeling it.

Pumpkin Carving Party 2016

We had our annual pumpkin carving party on Saturday evening. It's always in Vern and Shelly's party barn and some of the food is traditional too.  This year the mamas were tired so we made some of appetizers and then made pizza.  We brought our Pizza Que. I'll write about the evening, but first a recipe.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts 

 1 lb. of bacon (thin)

2 cans of whole water chestnuts, drained

1 cup of ketchup

2 heaping T. of brown sugar

BBQ sauce, I usually just add a couple of glugs 

Fresh ground pepper, I like a lot

Cut the bacon strips in half, lay them on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Let cool on paper towels.

Wrap the cooled bacon around the chestnut and secure with a tooth pick.

I put them in a baking dish that I have sprayed with Pam.

Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.  At this point the sauce goes on the bacon wrapped chestnuts.  Because I don't like to get the tooth picks all sticky and messy with the sauce I use my turkey baster to add the sauce.

They can be assembled to this point and then refrigerated until the party. 

I bake them at 400 degrees, check after 20 minutes.  I like to cook until the sauce gets caramelized and the bacon is well done.

I don't have a photo of them ready to eat because I'm not that fast.  Once you put them out to share they go quickly.  Especially if Sam is at your party.

I baked a pumpkin roll.  Honestly, it was probably one of my prettier ones so I am sharing a photo.  Sometimes they stick to the pan or crack and need repairs but this time she was pretty.

I whipped up a Death by Chocolate pumpkin patch too.

HGTV was sharing a Hallo-Wine pumpkin last week.  I didn't feel like carving so I used a plastic pumpkin instead of a real one.  A mix of black letters from my scrap booking stash and I was good to go.  Now I can use it for years instead of throwing on the compost pile.  I added a flat ice pack and a bag of Chardonnay. 

 Here's a little secret about our Pumpkin Carving Party... some years we never actually get around to carving pumpkins.  I know, right?

It happens.  This year was one of those years.  Everyone was busy making pizza and chatting.

It's all good.  We're okay with it.

Another Pumpkin Carving Party is in the books.

Have a fun Halloween today, be safe!