Sunday, January 30, 2011

Hanging With The Chickens

These crazy chickens found their way home with me this past week.  Double click on the photo and get a good look at them....they are made out of seeds....plus a gem stone for the eye!  They were a popular "art form" "back in the day".

First I planned on hanging them in my husband's office as a joke.....but I worried one of his patients might see them hanging where his diplomas usually hang....not very "professional"...but he would have thought it was funny.

Instead I hung them in Friendie's closet.
We have a closet off the kitchen that use to have the washer and dryer in it....but when there were 10 people living here I decided to have the laundry moved to the basement....so for now, there are toys in the closet.....and some chickens hanging out on the wall.

I also found some sweet needlepoint pictures when I was thrifting...they are also hanging in Friendie's closet.


There isn't much space, but it has lots of light and doors that close when he is done playing.
It is his kitchen.....

 he cooks up some mighty fine bacon and eggs...
 and the coffee is always on!!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Nesting

I know....I have been a bad blogger lately.
I guess I have been "nesting".
I have been cleaning out and reorganizing.....which basically means I have been making huge messes all over my house.

I decided to put these Russian Nesting Dolls on the mantel for a fun little change.

I picked them up at an auction a while back.  Friendie calls them the "happies".
I decided I could use some "happies" to cheer up the room during these long, cold winter days.

I found a link for some muslin nesting dolls.....I thought I would share it so you can make some "happies" of your own.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Now That Is COLD!!!!

It is cold here in Minnesota.
Really cold.
On days like these I like to remind myself that I have made it through even colder days than this.....and I have.

In the winter of '96/'97 the actual air temperature dropped to -44 degrees.
I was a wise North Dakotan and kept my family safe inside our well heated home.  I remember my digital thermometer stopped reading at -40 and I had to listen to the news to find out just how cold it really was.

But....back in the winter of '83.....we set some records in North Dakota.
It was our first Christmas as a married couple.
We had no children.
Our family was all gathering in Wisconsin.
We weren't going to let a little cold keep us away.
So we jumped into our little Dodge Omni...
and the seats literally cracked....
we had to pour Heet in the gasline to keep it from freezing.....all along the way...
we were YOUNG...
we were FOOLISH...
and the windchill factor was -97 degrees!!!!
Now that, my friends, is COLD!!!!!


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Packing Away Childhood

20 years ago our oldest daughter started receiving some "Barbie" dolls.  They were a popular gift and she acquired many.
10 years ago our youngest daughter also started getting quite the collection of dolls....plus she inherited her sister's suitcase full.
For the past few years we have had the "Barbie House" and too many dolls set up down in the laundry room, but they were mainly just collecting dust.
I mentioned to the girls they should sort though the mountain of dolls and clothes and decide what they would like to keep and the rest will be "adopted out".  Well....Oldest Daughter didn't hesitate to tell me she didn't want anything except some little Quints she had when she was younger.
I dreaded to think what Youngest Daughter would deem worthy of preserving because she tends to have a hard time parting with sentimental things.  I invisioned all 4 suitcases overflowing with every little doll shoe and article she ever played with.
She surprised me.
I think she surprised herself.

I was pleased she wanted to keep the tiny little dolls that I special ordered crocheted clothing for one Christmas....

But it was a sad moment for me as I watched her easily close the latch on only one suitcase of dolls.
Part of her childhood....packed away.....where did the time go?

Now to take care of the rest of the dolls before she changes her mind!!!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Not Exactly What I Had Hoped

Well....I didn't get the apron sewed together, but I can report on the bread and soup.
I baked the bread in a covered cast iron dutch oven.....I knew it would make it "crusty", but I thought it was too crusty....I think I will stick to using my clay cooker for my Artisan bread.  If anyone has a tried and true dutch oven bread recipe, I wouldn't mind trying it out.

The soup was simple, but ended up being a wise meal choice.  My daughter's vehicle got stuck in our driveway.  She needs new tires and just couldn't get any traction.  Where are the men when you need them?  She and I worked on getting her out for an hour.....none of the male population that reside at my house had arrived home yet, so she called her very helpful Uncle....who came with another truck driver friend....those professionals had her out of the driveway and on to her job in just a few minutes.....Uncle said, "Why didn't you call me right away?".....good question!!!  Next time we will!!!!
Needless to say, after an hour out in the cold and snow....a bowl of simple soup tasted especially good.
Well....not to Friendie....he doesn't like carrots.

He was glad there was still a bowl of left over pasta.....
and I was glad I got to eat his bowl of soup!  :)

Friday, January 14, 2011

Back In Blogger

I finally took the time to purchase some more photo storage for my blog (because I ran out).  It only cost $5.....just in case any of you might run into the same issues.
We are getting more snow....I am sure we are setting some records here in Minnesota this winter.
Today, while Friendie took his nap, I cut out an apron pattern, mixed up some bread and put a pot of soup on the stove to simmer....if any of the above mentioned turn out worth sharing, I will post some photos tomorrow and share some recipes....but for now....I just wanted you to know that I am back!  :)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Help me out...I ran out of storage???

I was uploading photos tonight and got a message that I have run out of storage space for my photos. 
I can purchase more storage space.
Has anyone out there also encountered that problem?