Thankful and Blessed!

Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.
I love the holiday's. Especially this time of year, the family get together's, the fall leaves, the goodies and the time off.
I was trying to decide if I should go for a walk or blog...oh I guess I will blog first.
This year, well, my table is set.

Ryan is my "Jacob" he is helping me in the kitchen while "Esau" is watching football.

Tom's duty is always carving the turkey. I cook both, real and veggie turkey. This year, Shelly and I preferred the veggie one.

We are ready to eat. This years menu consisted of the usual, turkey, mashed potatoes, cream peas (the family favorite), stuffing, fresh baked yams, cranberry sauce, etc.

This is my favorite, a Cranberry jello ring.

Here is my attempt at a Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake. Not sure yet how it taste, we are still full from dinner.

And yet another favorite, a pumpkin roll. Yes, this is delicious...filled with cream cheese.

Okay, I had better hit the streets, I still have to weigh on Monday.

Sweet Gifts

Found this cute little set of bowls at Wal Mart today. It has a sugar cookie mix and comes with its own cookie cutter. What a great idea to give someone.See, its a set of three little bowls.Here is another idea. Rocky Road candy mix with a little spatula.
Sugar Cookie mix with a cutter.
Here is something Teena got for my birthday. I have had my eye on a set of red bowls at Costco, only problem is they are around $60.00 for three. Too much for me to spend. So, Teena found some similar and got them for me.
I bought this little Votive lamp a while back at TJ Max. I got it because of the Red Cardinal on the side. Everytime I see it, it reminds me of my trip last year to New York. You could look out Cecelia's dining room window and see a couple Cardinal's perched on a branch that was covered with snow...just breath taking.


  ************SSI**************
Thought I would share a story with you before I explain this picture. A while back, oh 3 or more years ago, Nancy, Dr. Tran's wife, who has a heavy Asian accent, came into the office one day and asked me to guess where she had been. She was wearing some sweatpants. I replied, I have no idea....where have you been, she replied, SSI...I said what in the world were you doing at the Social Security Office, she looked at me and said...NO...SSI...I said, yea I know, why were you there? After all, she was only 30 some years old, what would she be doing at the SSI office.Finally, after the conversation not getting anywhere, she said NO...and started pretending she was on a tredmill....LOL...oh, I said you were doing exercise. YES, she replied....geez, why didn't she just say exercise.Here is a pic of my walk this morning, yes I am doing my SSI. I thought this area was pretty, it's about as Fall looking as we are going to get here.

Another Year

Well, I made it through another year, yes, yesterday was my birthday. I found myself doing things I don't normally do. For instance, Ann, my BFF (best friends forever, but we like to refer to it as big fat friends, but in this case it will be best friends.. okay), invited me to a music concert. It was not a rock concert, or country...it was fantastic. We saw The Laurel Ensemble. As their webpage explains, they are captivating, versatile,and passionate. Six very talented women, each perfecting their own instrument. Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano.
Now, I don't normally find myself attending something like this, but I will be venturing out more. In fact, I plan on taking Tom to a Celtic concert in San Francisco in December.
If you haven't attended something like this, just try it. It was awesome to sit and watch these ladies with such passion playing an instrument. My favorite was the violinist, but they were all great.

I had a very pleasant birthday too. Each one of my kids called me, which is always a joy to talk to them. Tom and I went to Olive Garden, and yes, I managed to stay on track with weight watchers. Afterwards, we headed to the theater and saw Changeling, wow...excellent non fiction flic.
I don't mind getting older, the alternative is not good.

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

Ryan has requested a Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake for Thanksgiving dessert. I have been searching the internet for a recipe that is similar to The Cheesecake Factory. So, if anyone has it, or similar, please leave the directions on my blog.
I found one that looks yummy but not sure how it will taste.

For Cecelia

Previously, I made a purse out of dish towels. Cecelia had asked me how I did that. So, I thought it would be easier to just blog the directions.
Find any two dish towels or any two pieces of material. Make sure your material is
20 x 28, this is a standard towel measurement.

Fold each towel and lightly press. Press vertically and horizontally. Match up all pressed lines. Pin in place.

Pin towels and stitch vertical line through both towels. Stitch horizontal line through both. This will form pockets.


Trim the excess fabric from towel you used for the outside. I stitched the sides together before I put the handles on but the pattern directs you to stitch the sides after you attach handles. (Here is a pic of the actual pattern.) Click on picture to enlarge and get a better idea of how it is done.
Almost finished.

At one end of bag body, insert handle in fold, pin and sew close to edge. Back stitch
at each end.

Turn the bag right side out and wha-laa. This took a little less than an hour to complete. Now, how easy is that?

Here is a pic of the actual pattern. If you would like to embellish the purse with a flower here is the pattern. Or, you could use a pretty brooch. (I am thinking of making use of the material you trim off from one of the towels.) I might give it a try.

Just a little twist now. I found this cute night lite today, since I collect, and have a love for teapots, I thought this would fit into my decor.

Sew Much Fun!

There is so many things that I have wanted to blog about but I find no time. So, today I am going to post a few pics of the things that have been keeping me busy. Since I have that new Bernina, I find myself getting crafty again.
This is what I worked on this afternoon. You can make this cute purse out of two tea towels.
I found a whole stack of them at Costco for around $12.00. You don't have to use towels, you could use any material, as long as you have the right measurements.

It took about an hour to put this together. The hardest part is attaching the material to the handles. I have been wanting to make some of these but couldn't find wooden handles. Well, Dore' and I finally hit the jackpot at Joann's. Believe me, if you attempt to make one, don't use round handles, these were hard enough.

Isn't it cute. It holds a lot too.

I happened to look over at Tom, while I am sitting here blogging, to see what he was doing, doesn't he look relaxed???? He is watching football.


TIME FOR A FACE LIFT!
This little piece of inspiration is what started the minor face lift in my house. I found this adorable dresser on Craigs List a while back and wanted it, not needed it, for one of the bedrooms. The woman whom I purchased it from had her home decorated in Shabby Chic style, it was so cozy. So, I came home and did some minor decorating.First thing I did was redo the mantle. Added a lace runner, put some cute dishes and cups I had, added a few candles and pictures.Found some Shabby Chic panels at Target, added those to my front window. Now, you can't see what I am doing in the living room.
This is what my curtains looked like before I got crafty.

Added a border from the left over material I used to cover my kitchen chairs.

Let It Rain

Here in Cali, at least where I live, we don't get any snow, just rain. But it was a welcome site this year, we had a long summer. I think most of us are ready to usher in Fall. It finally rained last week.
Lawren came to visit us. She saw the water in the gutters and wanted to walk it them. Kathleen found her some rain boots and I found an adorable raincoat for her. She is all set for some more raindrops.

She loved walking in her new boots back and forth in the gutter.

I think she really likes her raincoat.

Here is Seans version of hair. I would not want to comb that.

Keirans version of hair...like father, like son.

FYI

Just wanted to let anyone know, who might be interested in making Pumpkin Butter. I discovered a few short cuts. Actually, Tom and I made 8 more pints this morning before I left for work....but-I-was-late-getting-here.
Don't skin the pumpkin, clean it out, cut into big chunks and boil with skin. Drain, let cool and then peel..so much easier.
Don't use a sieve, I mashed mine prior to putting it in my Vita Mixer. Saved a lot of time and elbow work.
Hope you have as much fun as we did making this yummy spread.

Pumpkin Butter

Today, I thought I would get a little domestic, so I decided to cook one of the pumpkins I had purchased a while back. I bought five. Will tackle one at a time.I planned on canning or freezing it so I could have fresh pumpkin to use for my pies this season. Well, I decided to tackle Pumpkin Butter. It was easy except for skinning the pumpkin. I think I will search the internet for an easier way other than using a knife, since a potato peeler won't work.
After cooking the pumpkin down, which only took about 15 minutes, I used my old sieve that I used when I was a real domestic woman.

I found a recipe that called for pure maple syrup. So far, so good.

I ended up with only 5 pints of butter. Well, I do have 4 more pumpkins to cook.

Field pumpkins aren't the best for pies, if you can find sugar pie pumpkins, they have a better flavor. These will do for now.