Brrrrr — it was 18 degrees when I headed out this morning.  I think the cold weather is going to stick around a bit.  No snow or sleet — yet.  I think that may come later in the weekend.

I went to a meatless cooking class Wednesday night, and I was a little unsure of going, but I had a great time and learned a few things that I did not know.  We got a handout of all the recipes and all of the dishes are things I will make on my own.  We started with a spicy cauliflower soup topped with zaatar croutons, hummus, sliced red pear and mixed spring greens salad with a dressing made of olive oil-apple cider vinegar- cinnamon-honey, lemon asparagus risotto, and blueberry cobbler.  The food was wonderful!  I make hummus myself but have never been totally happy with it.  I really like the recipe I got on the handout and yesterday afternoon I made a batch for myself.

I took a vacation day yesterday and puttered around with various things.  I cleaned the bunny cage really good, did all my laundry, went to the yarn store to wind some O-wool that I bought in the fall and bought yarn to make two branching out scarves, gassed up the car and put air in a tire that was low, put up the rest of the Christmas decorations, put another warm blanket on the bed, wrapped my gift for our office lunch and gift exchange, cooked a batch of veggie chili, and knitted.  Oh, and read my two chapters for lifegroup. A productive day if I do say so myself.

We had our office lunch and gift exchange today.  The gift I gave was a set of Christmas towels from Pier 1.  Anything from Pier 1 is always a popular gift.  I got a cd set that I think I will really enjoy.  At each place setting was a Santa or snowman ornament — I got a Santa — and a candle from Bath/Body Works.  Mine is the Fireside scent.  We had sandwiches, two types of salad, fresh fruit, and a dessert tray.  And a nice time was had by all.

The fashionista called me this afternoon and I talked to her for a bit.  She said she is going out this evening to do some shopping, so I asked her to look in her area for one of the zhu zhu hamsters.  One of my friends has been trying to find one for his daughter for Christmas.  I doubt she will find one since it seems to be the hot item this year, but you never know.  She might be lucky!

I noticed that my answering machine has a continual buzz when playing the messages.  I guess it is time to buy a new one.  I think that one may be around 8 years old. . .

I have a small Christmas soup  and chili supper to attend tomorrow, so I am baking this evening.  I baked pumpkin bread on Sunday and I will make some egg nog bread tonight along with some spicy mini corn muffins.  And that will be my contribution.

And hopefully I will get much more knitting done this weekend!

I realized it has been awhile since I have posted.  I seriously meant to post over the long weekend, but just never got around to it.  I had time, but just never stayed on the computer long enough.

December 1 — first day of the slide towards Christmas.  I have 4 of 6 scarves finished — or nearly finished.  I need to put fringe on two.  The tree is up from the basement and set up — one of those artificial pre-lit trees — but I have not put any ornaments on it yet. I bought a couple of holiday candles.  I went out on Black Friday to purchase one item — it was too good a bargain to pass up.  The fashionista requested luggage for Christmas, and Penney’s had a 5 piece set that was normally $160 for $38.88.  I did not get up at 4 a.m. when they opened to be there.  I went around 8 a.m. and bought the last black set they had — I would have settled for plum, but thank goodness I did not have to.

I went with family out to my brother’s this year.  Eldest daughter went to Texas to see her dad, and of course the fashionista was in PA.  This is the first time in my adult life that my brother’s family has hosted anything.  And of course he offered at the last minute — not sure what is going on with him.  I was a little peeved at first, but then realized that I could just show up and eat and then leave when I wanted to — it made for a rather nice change this year.  I was not held captive in my own home by family who lingered on and on and on.

I made stuffing (with vegetable broth and no one noticed), green bean casserole, roasted butternut squash, and a relish tray.  I was the only one who ate the butternut squash — which was fine with me.  We had a nice dinner and a nice time of catching up.

I spent most of Friday doing some deep cleaning — I washed windows and doors and woodwork and moved furniture and cleaned furniture.  I was wiped out by the end of the day, but it was nice to get it done.

I spent some time over the weekend reading.  I finished reading the Twilight series.  I went to the library and got new books.  I am currently reading The Sign by Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar and The Sanctuary.  I am not very far into yet, but it is keeping my attention.  I have the third book in Kate Jacob’s knitting series — Knit the Season.  I read the two most recent Agatha Raisin books — A Spoonful of Poison and There Goes the Bride.  I have the tenth book in the A.D. Chronicles by the Thoenes, Tenth Stone, to read.  Other books on the nightstand include Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock, Dune Road by Jane Green and The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman.

Sunday afternoon I baked some pumpkin bread and made lentil-vegetable soup, which I am eating for lunch this week.

I hope to get some things accomplished at home this evening — tomorrow my week gets pretty busy.  A cooking class Wednesday evening, two hour practice Thursday evening, Christmas party Saturday evening, haircut Sunday afternoon to help with a fundraiser for Africa, and I am helping some friends cater an event Sunday evening. Sheesh.  Tis the season!

It was lovely weather here over the weekend.  Saturday I took my mother to visit the eldest daughter.  It was a warm Indian summer day, not windy at all.  There are not too many days that are not windy in KS.  Eldest daughter lives in a college town, but there was a big football game at the stadium that afternoon, so everywhere else was not crowded.  We ate lunch on the outside patio of eldest daughter’s favorite restaurant.  I had roasted vegetable tacos with rice and black beans on the side.  It was yummy.  My mother loved the house eldest daughter is renting and her Great Dane, Gabby.  We played with the dog and visited.  Eldest daughter had taken in 2 female kittens that she couldn’t really afford to keep, so we took them to the shelter for her and made a donation to the shelter.  Much easier to do that now.  There is a new grocery store in her town that carries my favorite coffee, so we went there and I bought some coffee for myself and some groceries for her.  All the things that moms do, you know.

The pug was not happy about being left in the kitchen all day on the weekend.  And she barked — scolded me about it when I got home.  So I puttered around and did laundry, etc. Saturday evening.

Sunday afternoon was lovely again, but a bit cloudier and with some wind.  I bought some groceries and finished my housework after church.  Then I took the pug to the park for a nice long walk and then stopped at the library to pick up a couple of books.

Sunday evening I roasted some acorn and butternut squash.  Made a lima bean artichoke heart salad.  Finished a baby sweater that I have been working on.  Finished another bright facecloth for my Sudan project.  Mended an afghan for a friend.  Started on some Christmas knitting.

The fashionista called yesterday.  She had been having some problems with her car, but she got that all worked out and she was in a much better mood.  She called to tell me that she was going to do some Christmas shopping and go into Philadelphia with a friend who would take her to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and some other sights.  I am glad she is getting around some — there is a lot that I would love to see in that area.  I may have to try to visit her there one of these days.

Reading the news about the shootings at Fort Hood yesterday got me to thinking about my Thanksgiving at Fort Hood 11 years ago.  Eldest daughter’s hubby was in the Army and my first grandchild was about 2 months old.  The fashionista was 11 at the time and we went to spend Thanksgiving with eldest daughter and to see the new baby.

I remember thinking that the base was like a city — it was so large!  The kids lived in a small second story apartment just outside of the base and it was very warm there in November.  Naturally, since a mom was cooking Thanksgiving dinner, my son in law invited quite a few of his single soldier friends, which didn’t bother me in the least.

It must have been 85 degrees Thanksgiving Day and I spent most of it sweating in a tiny kitchen cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  24 lb. turkey, two kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, a relish tray, and pies — pumpkin and our family cheese pie, which is eldest daughter’s favorite.

I made turkey enchiladas with rice and black beans and turkey pot pie with some of the leftovers — although with all those soldiers there were not many leftovers.

The fashionista spent most of the week we were there playing with the baby.  She got to feed, change, and bathe the baby.  We spent some time cross-stitching ornaments. I bought the kids lots of groceries and babysat while they went and played cards with friends.  Took them to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  Took them to the exchange on the base and helped them get started on their Christmas shopping.

It was an expensive trip, but one that was well worth it.

This morning I was reminiscing about the years we lived in the Twin Cities metro area, and some of our traditions that developed during those years there.  Particularly in the fall.  Every fall I would take the girls out to an apple orchard called Minnesota Harvest.  We would spend an entire Sunday afternoon there.

We would go into the main building and check to see what kinds of apples were being picked, and we would sample a few kinds to decide which ones we wanted to pick.  There were long tables set up with bins of apples to sample and paring knives for cutting the fruit.  Live polka music created a timeless atmosphere.  After we decided on the apples we wanted to pick, we would get our baskets and wait in line for the wagons to drive us out to the orchard.  We would get off at the trees we chose to pick from, and fill our baskets.  The fashionista was pretty little at the time, and she usually ate more than she picked.  When our baskets were full, we heaved them onto the next wagon that came by and went back to the main area.

There was a petting zoo that the little fashionista loved.  The girls would carefully choose their fall pumpkins.  We would have apple pie or apple strudel topped with cinnamon ice cream and listen to more polka music.  We always went home with lots of apples, apple bread, apple pie, caramel dipping sauce, pumpkins, and apple cider.

One year eldest daughter took a helicopter ride while we were there, and the girls rode the spinning apple ride.

And then the drive back home, full, tired, reliving the fun in our heads, and looking at the bright fall colors of the trees.  Ah, those were some good times.

And then we chopped and peeled apples and they both helped me make homemade applesauce, one of their favorites.

Fall in Minnesota was one of my favorite times.

This is a sweet potato week for me.  I am on a kick for sweet potatoes.  Dinner last night was a peeled diced sweet potato drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper, wrapped in foil and baked for an hour.  I had some green beans and a dollop of cottage cheese with it. 

Recipes I have in mind for sweet potato week are:  Kale, white bean and sweet potato soup; sweet potato and black bean quesadillas; sauteed sweet potatoes and spinach; and I am toying with the idea of making a sweet potato hummus.

Last night I bound off the edges on another organic cotton baby sweater.  Today will be weaving in all those pesky ends, choosing a button and sewing it on, and crocheting a button loop.  Then it will be finito and off to the recipient.  I am quite ready for that to happen.

Eldest Daughter was down to visit a couple of Saturdays ago.  We had a nice visit.  We shopped for Halloween goodies to mail to the Little Buddy and his stepsisters.  I found a darling long sleeve red tee at Target that read Here Comes Trouble and had three cute monsters on it.  Naturally, I had to buy it for him.

I think he liked all his Halloween goodies.

And the Little Buddy sure loves Pez — what kid doesn’t?

And last but not least, the Little Buddy decided to be a pirate for Halloween again this year.  He loves to say AAAAARGH.

And now begins the downward slide to Christmas.  Eh.  My to do list is already fairly long.  I hope I manage to get it all done.  We shall see!

I actually dressed up for Halloween this year.  The pug and I dressed up and went over to the children’s festival at the church and walked around passing out candy.  Lola did very well, although she really didn’t care for wearing her costume.  She let the kids pet her and we only had one incident.  There was a small boy, perhaps age 3, dressed in a dog suit.  I was trying to let him get a candy bar out of the bucket, and I couldn’t figure out why she kept trying to jump on him and knock him down.  The reason — he had a real milkbone hung around his neck!  Ha ha!  His dad broke off a piece of it and gave it to her.

So here we are at the house of a friend of mine.  NINJA and TURTLE.  We stopped there on our way home.  She had made a beverage called Pumpkin Smash and I wanted to try it — pumpkin liqueur, chocolate liqueur, hazelnut liqueur, and vanilla vodka.  It was pretty yummy!

I have had this next picture on my phone forever.  I am now able to move to the next level in my knowledge of technology and email photos from my phone to myself.  This is an organic cotton baby sweater that I made a year ago.

And finally — the pug watching Journey to the Center of the Earth — LOL!

 I love reading the Simply Recipes food blog.  I always get great ideas and I make many of the vegetarian recipes I find there.  Recently there was a recipe for pear butter which I found to be intriguing.  So I got all the stuff — except star anise.  I couldn’t find it, so I just sprinkled in some allspice and I think it worked fine.  I spent a recent Sunday afternoon making a batch of pear butter.  I got 11 jars out of about 6 lbs of pears.  It has a lovely flavor and I think I may make another batch to give as gifts. 

I finished a recycled sari silk scarf and decorated the ends with some old looking coin type decorations.  This scarf was to be sold at a benefit for a young woman who is going to Kenya in January to work at a children’s camp.  One of my friends purchased it and says she loves it, so I am happy about that.

I am still knitting dishcloths for Africa trips, finishing a baby sweater as a gift, several pairs of socks.  And I need to get started on a couple of things I want to do for Christmas.  I believe it was at the Purl Bee’s webpage that I found a pattern for vintage looking dish towels knit with organic cotton.  I am thinking that might be a perfect gift for my aunt this Christmas.

The pug and I went to a cookout Saturday evening and I put her in her costume for a bit.  She looks so funny! 

My church does a trunk or treat event every year.  I think the pug and I will go and walk around for a bit and hand out candy.  She will love it.  She can wear her turtle costume and I think I will dress up as a ninja!  Great fun!

I have been working on a top secret project and it is finally finished.  I dropped it off this morning on my way to the office.  I wrote in one of my other posts about my worship team leader’s wife dying.  He is now a widower with a 6 yo daughter.  So I had the idea that she needed a princess dress either for Halloween or just for dress up if she already had a costume by the time I finished it.  Tuesday evening I took the basic dress over and tried it on her.  The body of the dress is a lilac satin and then I made an overskirt of purple tulle.  She has a tiara that is silver and pink, so we agreed that I would trim the neckline and the sleeves with silver, and add a pink ribbon sash.  While I was at the fabric store, I purchased some pink lace ruffle trim to add to the sleeves so that the sash wouldn’t look like an afterthought.  And here is a front and back view of the dress:

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not opposed to breast cancer awareness and/or the raising of money to find a cure.  In November 2000, I was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer stage 3.  The tumor in my breast was 5 cm in size.  I was grateful there was no lymph node involvement.  I am grateful to be alive today.  Three out of ten women with my type of cancer don’t survive past 5 years.  I am very very grateful and truly blessed to be a miracle.

That being said — I don’t want my identity to be taken over by “breast cancer survivor.”  That is just a very small part of who I am. Does being a “survivor” mean I fought harder than someone else?  No.   There are other attributes for which I would prefer to be known.

And in October, pink is everywhere.  The pink ribbons are everywhere.  Manufacturers go all out in October (earlier than that, actually) with big advertising campaigns for “pink” products and all the slogans promise money to breast cancer research.  I AM NOT AGAINST EVEN A SINGLE PENNY for a cure for breast cancer.  BUT — does buying all those pink products guarantee that money does indeed go towards finding a cure?  I think not.  I think we can all agree that the manufacturers of these pink products pocket much more in profits than they donate.  And I believe that most of the ads are misleading — there are caps on the amount donated and money over that cap goes to normal profit, you have to use certain coupons — I am sure there are many tricks used in these advertising campaigns. 

Will buying that pink beribboned item really make a change?  Or is it just playing into our consumer-driven culture? A way of doing something for a cause without really doing anything?

I just had to get that all off my chest — no pun intended.  I intended to write today and put up photos, but my office computer is not cooperating with my camera, so I will load the photos this evening and post again later.