Got Ice, Anyone?

Yes, it was rather nippy here this morning.....38 degrees by my thermometer. And we were the warmest county around because we're surrounded by water. Everyone else was under a hard freeze warning.

It's not very often that can we look out the window in the morning and see frost on the neighbor's yards! It may look very pretty now but I am a little concerned for our tropical palms and plants. I hope this isn't another year of the brown yard!

When Joel got into his car he had to wait while the defroster thawed the icy coating from his windshield before he could drive to work. Does anyone have an extra ice scraper???

Chilly mama,

Deb

Dancing and Dinosaur

Julie and Jarrad broke out in dance as they were giggling about things they used to do during their childhood. Yes, this is what we do at family get togethers!

Jackson was obviously elated with a Christmas present, wouldn't you say?

Nate was tickled to have Dad sit on the floor with him and teach him how to use his Sit N' Spin.

Sydney thought Josh's new toy dinosaur was pretty funny.

And Josh learned how to "feed" his new pet, the trick performing dinosaur.

This guys burps, growls, eats, purrs when you pet him and does a few other things we won't go into here. We're still having a good time.....

Debbie

Boiling

This is not exactly your typical Christmas picture, but, it's an accurate one for our 2010 holiday. On the evening of the 23rd of December I turned on the water in the kitchen and the water pressure had been reduced to a trickle. Hmmmm......the neighbor came over to see if we had any water because she sure didn't have much pressure either. Well, it turns out a 50" water main had broken on Belcher Road north of East Bay....which means about 350,000 people were affected by the break according to the news.

By the morning of the 24th, the news was reporting that we were under a boil water notice under told otherwise. So, the picture above is how we managed to wash all our dishes until the morning of Dec. 26th. One pot for washing and one pot for rinsing. At least the water pressure came back up so we could take showers and wash clothes. Boy, was I ever glad when they lifted the boil water notice! We are so used to all our modern conveniences that you forget how much more labor it takes to go about your daily life when one of our utilities has a glitch.

Thanks to all our camping experiences for helping us take it all in stride. So, this year it was plastic plates and cups for meals. Hey, I might do that next year, too! Sure did eliminate a lot of dishwashing. We still had a wonderful time with our family. Hope you did, too.

Back to running water,
Debbie

Remember Brandy Alexander?

Not a person named Brandy Alexander; an alcoholic drink is what I was referring to. I remember drinking them during the late 70's and thought they must be a very sophisticated drink because it took several types of alcohol mixed together then poured into a tall stemmed glass. And they were easy to consume for a non-drinker like myself.

After I spent the entire weekend preparing for Christmas, I decided to take a break after dinner Sunday night. My guys are out Christmas shopping and I thought I'd treat myself to a special drink. Ta-da! It's an espresso martini! Yum....in our family we call these an adult milkshake. Call it what you want, it works for me. Oh, yeah, and I'm also using my favorite napkin which says, "I'll have a cafe mocha vodka valium latte to go please". Yup, that about says it all for me.

Espresso Martini

1-1/2 oz. chilled espresso

1-1/2 oz. Stolichnaya vanilla vodka

1-1/2 oz. Godiva chocolate liqueur

1 oz. Kahlua

1-1/2 oz. half & half

Pour all ingredients over ice and shake. Pour into a chilled martini glass and enjoy.

Now this is the way to start my Christmas/birthday week!

Debbie

A Quilt for Jo

This beaming gal is Jo, a very dear lady. I've made a quilt for Jo before and she told me how pleased she was with it when it was finished. That quilt is recorded here in the blog October 3,2009 and was made for Jo's niece.

Recently, Jo brought her deceased father's ties to me and asked if I could create a quilt to give to her mother in remembrance of her dad. I wanted to keep the ties intact as much as possible and came up with the idea for laying them horizontally like graphic bars of silk color. That was the jumping off point for designing this quilt. The mottled grey batik fabric was requested by Jo and as I sketched the quilt out on paper, solid ideas took form and most of them ended up in the final quilt.

Jo was wonderful to work with as she gave me free rein to do whatever came into my head. The ties were taken completely apart, the interfacing was removed and then the tedious task of lining them all up began. It took an entire day just to lay them out symmetrically and pin them onto the batik fabric. After I was pleased with the color layout I needed to come up with an interesting way to stitch them onto the batik to hold them in place permanently. So, each tie was stitched with soft grey thread using a different machine embroidery stitch to create continuity but lend visual interest to the finished quilt. Nine hours later that task was completed. Whew!

Now it was time to quilt the layers together. Jo's mom had written a long list of names and descriptives that told about the life of her husband and I used all those names in free hand quilting to stitch the final layers of the quilt together. Before I could do the quilting, though, I had to construct the back of the quilt.

The back of the quilt was made by using her dad's dress shirts; pockets, buttons and plackets included. In the close-up below you can see the buttons and plackets from some of the shirts. As simple as this quilt appears, it was one of the most technically challenging quilts I have ever made.

As I showed the completed quilt to Jo, we shared a few tears together and I expressed to her that this was one of the most rewarding quilts I have worked on. Jo, thanks for trusting me with the precious momentos of your dad's life. I pray this will bring some measure of peace and comfort to your mom each time she looks at it and remembers her dear husband.

Grateful to be a part of this memory,

Debbie

Christmas Kitchen

So, I've been a little busy lately and finally got our tree decorated a couple of days ago. This morning I decided to get a jump start on the day and got up early, put on Christmas music, lit the balsam candle and fired up the cappuccino machine. When I put my Christmas mug down, it looked so pretty I had to grab the camera and click off a few shots to remember the season before it's gone.

My sweet and very thoughtful friend, Bonnie, knew how busy I was taking care of Joel's mom this year and she baked these yummy cookies for us. (I LOVE the coconut- cherry- chocolate chip ones, Bonnie....would you share the recipe?) Well I'm heading out the door to do something fun today instead of work.....I'm having lunch with Teresa to celebrate Christmas early and then I'll try and do some final Christmas shopping. Hope you are taking a few precious moments to soak up the sights, sounds and scents of this cherished holiday season.

Eight days until Christmas,

Debbie

Decking and Boardwalks

The back of the property: Ok, so while we were at the river we put the finishing touches on the new decking behind the Tin Can Cabin. The cabin had an existing 8' x 22' raised deck attached to the backside and we recently covered it with an insulated roof to give us a place to sit and be protected from rain and the sun. This new ground level area was designed to get us up off the sandy/silt soil and provide comfortable seating around the fire pit. We connected the upper deck and the lower area with a boardwalk so we are high and dry when it rains.

The is the "connecting" end by the stairs. This landing also serves as the forward end of our parking space for the cars. Next on the agenda: landscaping........my favorite!

Boardwalk Mama,

Debbie

Guess where we were?

Yes, after being gone for more than a month, we went back to the river for a brief weekend of R&R. We woke up to a chilly 38 degree morning on Saturday and when I opened the blinds in the kitchen which have a view of the river, this is what I saw.

The warm water clashing with the cold incoming north wind created this most beautiful effect on the river. I hurried to throw on some warm clothes, grabbed my camera and dashed down to the dock to capture some shots before the fog evaporated. Apparently I disturbed this Great Heron because he squawked at me as he lifted up and over to the other side of the river where he took up his perch on a branch and glared at me.

Several other times for two years I've tried in vain to capture the fog on the river, but each time it evaporated before I could get off any good shots. Fortunately this time I woke up early enough to snap a few interesting pics.

Ahhh, it's just so peaceful on the docks all alone except for a few birds searching for breakfast and the ever-present squirrels chattering up in the oak trees.

This was most definitely a cappuccino moment. After this shot I scurried back to our Tin Can Cabin to heat up the espresso machine and thaw out my fingers. Hope you enjoy these snapshot glimpses into our little haven away from home.

The Early Bird,

Debbie

Happy 21st Birthday, Jeremy!

We decided to do something different for Jeremy's birthday this year. So, I woke him up early, sang a goofy birthday song to him and asked him to get dressed so he could "see something" outside. Of course there were a few groans and questions, but he let me lead him out the front door and down the driveway. Hope he wasn't expecting a new car!!!

And this is what he saw when he removed the scarf from his eyes......a flock of crows. Imagine that? They flew in on this cold front during this windy day just to wish him a happy birthday!

Ok, I can finally officially say to him, "I got'cha!" He 's a tough one to fool....

We both got a good giggle from this one.

Then it was time to make him his favorite breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes and yummy crispy bacon. Coffee, anyone?

Just call me....

One satisfied mama,

Deb

It's Hard to get Much Better Than This

The day after Thanksgiving, Julie and Sydney came to our house for a few hours. We three girls had the house all to ourselves and decided it was a nice quiet time to teach Sydney how to knit. Julie baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies and Sydney patiently watched as I showed her the basics of knitting. I love the look of absolute concentration on her sweet face.
Well, she got the hang of it pretty fast and when we realized she was going to do more knitting on her own, we scooted to a nearby knitting shop to buy her a pair of her own knitting needles. There's no stopping her now. She left that day talking about the Barbie and American Girl doll clothes she was going to be making.

Hmmmmm.....now I know where to send all that leftover yarn I've been saving in my stash! Julie called the next day to report that Sydney was up at night with the light on in her bedroom knitting. Giggle.....don't you just love it? I know I do.

Yup, it doesn't get much better than this,

Grammy Debbie

Linda, this one's for you

Alright, I just had to post a picture of our turkey before it headed to our Thanksgiving table. Julie did an awesome job carving and arranging the platter, don't you think? But, now back to the reason for this post. Miss Linda, wife to Joel's cousin, Steve, has been after me for more than 5 years to give up my stuffing recipe.

She jokingly told me back then that she wanted me to write down the recipe before I went into surgery 5 years ago.........you know.........just in case I didn't make it out of surgery. Ha! It's not that I didn't want to share it, the problem was that each year I just made it up as I went along. Most of my recipes are from other women in my life or they come straight out of the hundred or so cookbooks that are in my collection. I love to share recipes and as much as I love to cook, I had never actually measured and written down this one and only original recipe of my very own.

How flattering that anyone would even want a copy! But then the kids started to ask how I made the stuffing and I realized that I needed to get serious and write something down so they could duplicate the taste they have come to know as our own stuffing. I think most cooks have had a taste for something their relatives consistently made as they were growing up and no matter how hard you tried, the recipe just never came out exactly as we remember it tasting when someone else made it. Well, I don't want my kids to feel that frustration, so this year I seriously measured and fine tuned the recipe so it would be easy to make. There's nothing fancy about it, kids and Linda, but it's what we love. Hope you enjoy it.

Our Family's Best Holiday Stuffing

2 tblsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

4 stalks celery, diced

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

4 cups Pepperidge Farms Cornbread Stuffing

6 cups Pepperidge Farms Country Style Cubed Stuffing

1 cup raisins

2 cups coarse chopped pecans

1 tsp. dried thyme

3 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 stick butter

salt and pepper to taste

Saute' onion and celery in olive oil until onion is opaque. In large bowl place apples, both types of stuffing, raisins, pecans and thyme. Heat chicken broth and butter in microwave until butter is melted. Pour over the stuffing mixture and stir until evenly moist. Season to taste. Pour into 9" X 13" casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

I couldn't resist taking a pic of my newest idea. There is never enough room in the refrigerator when preparing holiday meals. I had made all my casseroles the day before Thanksgiving but how do you find enough room for them in the refrigerator? Duh! It occured to me that I could stack them by using my baking cooling racks in between the dishes which prevented the weight of the ones on top from crushing the ones down below. Hope this tip works as well for you as it did for me.

Still "stuffed",

Debbie

Recipes and lists, Oh, My!

For those of you who think I'm so organized...let these pics be evidence to the contrary. My kitchen looks like something blew up in it and I've only just begun. You can't see the cooler hanging out in front of the oven.....I needed to use it to hold the turkey after it's in the brine bag since it won't fit in my refrigerator with everything else that's in there!

The cooked giblets are cooling in their pot alongside the brine that also has to cool before dunking the bird into it's lusciousness. My recipe books are out and scattered across the counter for reference and before the night is out, I'm sure every surface of the kitchen will be covered with dirty pots, pans and dishes.

And speaking of the bird, my "fresh" 25 lb. turkey had ice crystals on it when I opened it this morning. Good thing I didn't wait until Thanksgiving day to open it up and discover that little detail or we'd be having Chinese for dinner. Trust me, the turkey is soaking in cool water even though the sink looks empty in the photo.

Ok, doesn't the brine look pretty in the blue dutch oven? I had to try this recipe after seeing it on Pioneer Woman's website. I'll let you know if it keeps the turkey moist and tastes as good as this looks. Well, I guess I am going to get back to the turkey, pies and casseroles.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Debbie

Christmas must be near

I thought I'd show you what I've been working on in the sewing room lately. The owner of the Quilt Shop of DeLand asked me to make up this log cabin sample for her to hang in the shop for the holidays. Piecing it was straight forward and Judy provided the traditional fabrics that went into the quilt.

Here is a closeup of some of the free hand machine quilting pine boughs I sewed on the tree. If you'll notice, I took the pics out by our pool......Christmas?Pool?80 degree weather? Hmmmm.......I hope it cools down about 20 degrees before Christmas really arrives.

One of Santa's elves,

Debbie

Susan's Quilt; yup, it's done!

This past Labor Day weekend my friend, Susan Marie and I, went up to the river to stay at the cabin for a few days of girlfriend R&R..........and to quilt. You see, Susan loves fabric and color and all things sewn as much as I do. She had saved her gently worn capri pants that were her favorites and wanted to piece them together to create a tropical colorful quilt so she would never have to give those pants away!

Well, Susan had done a lot of the work ahead of time by tearing them apart and we began the task of cutting the pants legs into squares and rectangles. At the end of Day one we had them all cut out and laid in a pattern we both liked. Then with 2 sewing machines set up, the piecing began.

Susan started joking that we'd never get finished.........ok, I need to clarify something right here and now......Susan kinda sorta has a cute little habit called "I don't always finish what I start.". Ummmmmm.....that just doesn't compute in my "git 'er done" brain. I reassured her that she would indeed go home with a finished quilt. She expressed some more doubt that the whole thing would be done and she would finish it "some day". Ha! Not on my watch!

Needless to say you can see where this is going. She most certainly did finish the quilt before we left for home and it turned out darned cute, too, wouldn't you agree? I had teased her for days that I was the one who drove us up there and she was not going to be returned home until the quilt was competed. After the look of shock wore off on her face, we giggled about it for the next two days while she "got it done".

We're still friends, so I guess I didn't push her too hard and she is very proud of her quilt, and rightfully so.

Good job, Susan,
Deb

Ah, yes......

Many of you already know that my mother-in-law's husband went to heaven in June. Madalen is doing remarkably well transitioning once again to life without her spouse. She is, however, suffering from moderate dementia. We make certain that her needs are taken care of and check in with her frequently but we also realize her days of living independently are quickly coming to a close. One downside is that since Ken died, she just sits in her living room in her recliner. Her lack of interaction with others has been a big concern for us and we feel she needs the stimulation of conversation, but she simply won't get off that chair.

Most of the time her memory loss simply means we have to search for that document a little harder or recheck her grocery list before leaving her house to be certain we're not buying yet another 5 lb. tin of coffee to add to the others already in the cupboard. She is unable to tell us the mysterious name of the woman who takes her to church every Sunday and is shocked when we discover 10 bags of old, filled kitchen garbage bags in her little shed that desperately need to be hauled to the dumpsters nearby before her building gets condemned.

So imagine my surprise when Joel got off the phone after talking with her last night and he was grinning. Usually when he hangs up the phone after talking to his mom, he has a look of concern on his face. Not last night, nope, grinning from ear to ear. Ok, I'll bite.....what's going on? He said that his mom was having 8 women over on Friday night and they were going to "play something". As he questioned her further, she said she didn't know who was coming or what they were going to play because she couldn't remember. We both giggled because we were tickled that she was actually entertaining a group of ladies again. Don't know who they are or what they're going to do, but she has actually asked ladies to come over to her house! Can't wait to hear how it went.....we'll have to call her Saturday morning.

Taking one day at a time,
Debbie

Can't Let It Go

Ok, I started to blog about this several times today and kept shying away from it, but I can't seem to let it go. A few days ago, I saw an interview on tv with a pastor and his 10 year old son. Their story was very touching and caught my interest. I looked them up on the internet and immediately downloaded their book onto Joel's Kindle so I could begin reading it. This story has had a profound effect on me and it seems that I should share with all of you something that has hit me this hard.

You can discount what you are about to read and I'm fine with that or you can be amazed like I was. The name of the book is "Heaven is For Real" and the author/dad is Todd Burpo. You can read excerpts from the book on their website: http://www.heavenisforreal.net/ and if you are as intrigued as I was you will soon find yourself purchasing the book and reading it all in one sitting. Also, you can view the video @ http://video.foxnews.com/v/4419243/heaven-is-for-real . By the way, if you have a tender heart for the Lord, grab the tissues.

The book is neither long nor lofty which makes the effect it has on it's readers all the more amazing. The father is very forthright in his recalling of the events and the son is so believable. I don't usually go "all in" for hyped scenarios in supposed real events books, but this one has definitely caught my attention. Let me know what you think.

Pondering,
Debbie

The Great White Egret

This morning as I sat down in my cozy chair which looks out over the backyard, I looked up and this is what I saw a mere 10 feet away. Isn't he wonderful? He was standing there on one foot, occasionally taking a drink from the pool. I had never noticed how large the feet of these birds are until today.

I started my reading and would occasionally look up to see if he was still there. Then he decided to show off and preen for me. He kept nuzzling his pure white feathers and craning his neck in impossible configurations as he went about his morning routine. Show off!

He took a few more sips from the pool and effortlessly lifted himself off the ground and up over the roof of our house. Maybe I'll see him again tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did.

Deb

Grandma's cabin

This is the entrance to what we call "Grandma's cabin" up at the river. The owner's mother stays here when she comes to the camp and she's our neighbor's grandma, hence, Grandma's cabin. It sits right on the riverfront and has a pretty little porch, just the right size for sitting a spell and enjoying a cup of coffee.
The raised boardwalk keeps your shoes off the sandy soil and looks pretty, too.

Couldn't you just cozy up with a good book on the screened porch? I know I could. As a matter of fact, I often sneak over there and hang out with my coffee and enjoy the view of the river.

See what I mean? The outside deck is snuggled in under a canopy of oak trees and hugs the bank going down to the dock and the river.

And this is what you see when you look up from the dock down below. Pretty cool place....one of my favorites. Come visit with us......

Debbie