Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Tyme...

These herbs worked nicely together with my turkey carcass to make a yummy pot of soup.  I really have not worked with fresh herbs much... so I'm pretty happy I didn't screw it up.

I'd be happy to post a picture of 'My Red Pot' of soup... however... I can't find the cable to transfer pictures out of my old camera.  Our new (since June) camera seems to be missing... not sure what happened to it as we've looked everywhere.  I'm almost afraid to think that one of the workers who were here to install a water heater may have lifted it... not sure what good it will do him because I've still got all the cables to recharge it and upload pics.  And all my pics of cooking up a couple pumpkins and making puree, or canning apple sauce, butter and jelly... I hope he enjoys them.

Anyhoo... I'm all about not cooking anymore this weekend.  Yesterday (Happy Thanksgiving!) after The Engineer cut up the turkey I threw the carcass into my new Red Pot - added water, carrots, onions and walked away.  It sat and simmered all afternoon.  After cooling it for awhile outside I poked it into the fridge. 

This morning I pulled the meat off and discarded the bones.  Then I tied a bunch of fresh herbs together, threw in some garlic, and cut up half a package of smoked sausage.  By the time the rice was finished cooking I was some kinda hungry - Yummy!  You just can't beat a hot bowl of soup.

I've got pumpkin bread in the oven and with those and the turkey leftovers... I should not have to cook the rest of the weekend.

As much as I'd love to go take a nap... I think I'll end up going and hunting around the attic to dig out the holiday stuff... ok maybe after my nap I'll do that.

And yes I'm still waiting for more pics of that cute little grandson... it's hard living in this digital age.

Thankful for Little Turkeys...

We have a new little one in our family... and with being born the day before Thanksgiving this year I think that makes him a Little Turkey.

He's a big boy at 8 lbs 6 oz and about average height at 19 inches.

I think his Momma must have been eating a lot of spinach because he's got some biceps going don't ya think? 

It's not the best picture but it's all this Granny has got right now and I'm pretty happy with it...

 

Practice makes...

Well it makes ya nuts if you do the same 8-10 rows over and over...

Since I needed something new to totally waste time,  stimulate my mind, give me something to do until I unpack the sewing room - I stopped in a local knitting shop yesterday.

I've seen those cute knitted wash cloths and have read many a blog raving about those cozy knitted socks.  I have about a dozen socks that I love to wear during the winter... just your basic sportswear tan and olive green, hiking type, wool blend, sweat wicking, cushioned socks.  Nothing fancy... or cute - just warm.  So I thought it would be fun to try making a pair of socks and signed up for a January class. 

Since it would be nice to kinda look like I knew what I was doing I purchased a skein of Hemp/Cotton/Modal yarn, some tiny needles and received a free wash cloth pattern.  You see I had decided a washcloth would be a good place to start... and that's all I've been doing... Starting - over and over.

The pattern has you knit 2 rows, then there is a 8 row (knit & purl) pattern repeat... when those are done you repeat the 8 rows again until the item is the size you want and then you knit two rows again... easy right?  Right?  Nah... not so much - especially if you don't really know what you are doing.

I did check out some knitting videos... I found these very helpful to remind the 'girl scout' in me that learned to knit eons ago.  First I had to figure out whether I was a 'Continental' or 'English' knitter - who knew it mattered... seems that I'm 'English' as I hold the working yarn in my right hand.  Then I checked out the Casting On video... followed by the Knit and Purl videos. 

What I need to find is the "apparently I can't count' video, and the 'did I just drop a stitch' video which should be followed up with the 'why did I think that would fix it' video.

I've got the casting on down pat... I've done that 4 times now. 

Last night I got through 7 3/4 rows of the 8 row pattern before I screwed it up...  Then I got completely through the 8 row pattern and into the 2nd row of the repeat when I realized I had messed up something because I had one too many stitches??  Do I need to tell you that the yarn and needles are too tiny to try and take out a row and put anything back on the needles... so you end up having to start all over... again.  And Again!

But I've got too many things to do here to be wasting my time knitting... like touch up paint in the guest rooms so that I can seal those cans for storage... start the prep work for painting the master bedroom... wash off and store those 16 half-pint jars of Cran-Apple Butter that I canned on Monday (yeah they are still sitting on my kitchen table)... peel and process the last 12/15 lbs of apples in my refrigerator... repack into foodsaver bags and label the many pint containers of pumpkin puree, mashed cauliflower, apple pie mix in my freezer... cook or freeze those 10 lbs of chicken parts I purchased yesterday...

Not to mention the idea that my Grandson will be born in Hawaii sometime in the next couple weeks... is his quilt finished??? NO... is my sewing room unpacked... NOOOOO!

It's not like I didn't have enough to keep me busy... I don't need to be fussing with this knitting stuff...

Hey... what happened to October?

I hadn't really meant to stay away so long...

At first I was busy pondering - you see I wanted to have a special post for my 100th post... but I haven't come up with anything special - so you just get "Hey... What Happened to October?"

Then it got real hectic around here...

Here's a quick review of what's been keeping me occupied the last month.

We had company the first 2 weekends in October -- which meant I had to get all the painting finished up in the guest rooms and get furniture moved and beds put together.  Oh and doors... seems it is kinda nice to have doors on the bedrooms and the bathroom... so The Engineer had to finish cleaning up the hardware and I finished (sorta) painting the doors so they could be re-hung.  Since I still have painting to do upstairs we just hid the painting stuff in a closet... shhh don't tell. 

The first set of visitors were The Engineers sister, her son and his wife.  They only stayed one night with us but it was good to see them.

In the middle of the week I took some time off to visit with some quilty friends who were 'shopping' the Lancaster area Quilt Shops.  It was my pleasure to introduce them to a quilt shop they hadn't been to before.  Hopefully it's a shop I can teach some classes at later in the winter or spring.  I do so miss quilting!

My daughter from MA came in by train on Thursday to visit for a long weekend and my brother and his family from VA came in on Saturday.  My sister Darlin and her husband drove over from NJ to join us Sunday morning.  It was so much fun to have a house full of family. 

The weekend included some shopping at The Green Dragon on Friday - a combination of farmers market, antique shops, and just about anything else that probably fell off a truck someplace... LOL.  On Saturday my brother took us to some wineries that were having a Wine & Cheese pairing event - we only hit 3 of the places but had a fun time and we look forward to checking out the other places in the future.  Before sitting down to a late lunch on Sunday several of us ran up the road to hunt around at an outdoor Antique place.  Oooo so much cool stuff!

My brother and sister left late Sunday afternoon and on Monday I took my daughter back home to MA.  I decided to drive her back so that I could: 1) make a quick trip up to Maine to visit with friends.   2) get a real hair cut!  3) visit some friends in MA.  4) pick up some things we had stored at my sons house - like the snow blower.  5) spend a little time yakking with my son.  6) work 2 wonderful days at the quilt shop during their Shop Hop.

I had a wonderful, relaxing, refreshing week!  Which was good because I've been working my butt off since I came home. 

This fall I've been canning, blackberry jams, jelly, & syrups; apple sauce, apple butter, and apples for pie.  My neighbor has early producing fruit trees and she's been very generous.  I returned home from my trip to find that my apple tree was ripe - so we've been picking apples.  Ever see a 50 year old climbing around in an overgrown apple tree??  Tree climbing was sure easier when I was younger... and lighter... and braver!  A ladder makes most of this easier - but the tree is so overgrown it's hard to get the ladder set up.  Don't worry - I really do try to stay off the branches.  This lovely tree is older than I am so I'm careful with her.  She's got a long overdue pruning scheduled for later this winter... she's gonna be so pretty next spring and we expect less apples but bigger apples.  Oh and did I tell you that they are yummy?  Well they are!

We went and bought a small freezer - so I've also been freezing cauliflower and pumpkin.  I'll be posting about my canning adventures later... when I have some time to think.

All I can say is this Domestic Diva stuff is a lot of work!