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!

I have a vineyard...

Um... well... actually I have a Vine in my Yard... which I guess one could stretch the concept of that into a Vineyard...

one could...

maybe...

if they felt stretchy...

 

 

 

 

Anyway, so there is this grape vine growing on an arbor attached to the shed.  According to my neighbor Mrs. B they are concord grapes and are suppose to be very, very good!

We were quite excited earlier this summer as there were all these wonderful little green grape clusters starting to grow.  I had visions of grape jam and jelly.

But look what happened during the summer...

 

Some of the grapes in all the clusters went and shriveled up?  This was not at all fair!

I've been keeping an eye on them and it looks like what ever happened didn't happen to all the grapes.

I decided to harvest what I could the other day - not an easy task because the vines are very over grown with a lot of dead vines.  I was showered with debris as I was moving vines around and snipping clusters out.

As I was cutting out clusters I thought - 'gee it smells just like grape jelly here'.  Well - Duh? I guess I just expected they wouldn't smell that good until they had been cooked up.  It really was yummy smelling.

 

Pretty aren't they?

I cooked them down and strained them through a jelly bag... I knew I wouldn't have enough to get 4 cups of juice out of these so I added some apple juice as they were cooking.

The juice is suppose to sit in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours so that you re-strain and remove any tartrate crystals that form.  I had to go and look up what a tartrate crystal was and why I needed to be concerned about it.  

 So what do you suppose I could make out of this lovely fluid?

Grape Jelly?  Grape Candy?

Do you know what the difference is between Jelly and Candy? 

I'd say about 10 minutes...

Yep - cook it a little too long and you get candy...

 

No this isn't slow motion photography... it was that thick.

 

 

 

To salvage it I dissolved the 'candy' in apple juice and re-cooked it back to the jelly stage... and canned it again.

From this years harvest I have a couple small jars of Grape Jelly Grape/Apple Jelly Grapple Jelly.  But next year... I'm going to have lots of grapes and make lots of just plain ole Grape Jelly and Jam.

The More Things Change...

There has been a little bit more than 365 days of change since I began this blog on September 10, 2007.  So in no particular order... here is a look at some of those changes.

Then: I was living in Massachusetts... Now: I live in Pennsylvania.

 

Then: I was living in a wood frame house that was about 75 years old... Now: I am living in a Stone House that is 152 years old.

 

 

Then: After living with us for several months while attending a graduate program my daughter and granddaughter had left to go live in San Diego... Now: After visiting with us for a couple months they have left to go to Hawaii to live.

Then: Our son-in-law was a sailor in the Navy... Now: he is an officer in the Navy.

 

 

 

Then: I had a shed full of vintage sewing machines that needed to be packed up... Now: My basement is full of those boxes.

Then: I was working at a quilt shop but had only a little time to sew... Now:  I live very close to several Lancaster Co. quilt shops but still don't have any time to sew.

Then:  I was living the last few days in the house we'd had for 16 years... Now:  I'm at the beginning of what should be many, many years here at the Stone House.

Then:  I was living in a house full of boxes that we had packed preparing to move... Now: I am living in a house full of boxes that are waiting to be unpacked.

Then:  I spent my free time with a paint brush in my hand... Now:  I spend my free time with a paint brush in my hand.

Then: I was painting over colors I liked with colors I didn't like... Now: I'm painting over colors I don't like with colors I like.

Then: I painted myself out of a shower in the old house... Now: I've also painted myself out of a shower as we've fixed and primed and painted the walls surrounding the tub here.

Then: I had people in and out of my house getting it fixed up to put it on the market so I could move out of it... Now: I have people in and out of my house getting it fixed up so that I can live in it.

I have enjoyed Pondering out loud here... I had hoped it would help me keep my sanity... but that was silly of me to even consider that a possibility.

I got Sauced Last Night...

Yep, Apple Sauced!

Last Saturday evening my neighbor Mrs. B came across the driveway asking me if I could help her out.  She had a bucket full of Jonathan Apples that the wind and rain we'd had earlier that day had knocked off her trees and she already had '2 bins full and can't use no more'.  So in the interest of being a good neighbor - I took them!

Things here at the Stone House are not all fun and games painting and fixing these days... I've managed to fit in some other things - like canning.

Yes, canning!  I had done a bit of that years and years ago when we lived here in PA and my husband was a college student.  There are a couple stories from that era I'll have to tell y'all another time.

A couple weeks ago I found my canning pots (yes I seem to own 2 - although I think one was something I got in a box of stuff at an auction a couple years ago) and dug out some other supplies I still had.  Bought a new Ball Blue Book of Preserving, a variety of jars, a Food Mill, a thermometer and a few other little gadgets.  You know it's all about the gadgets... right?

Anyway last night I had 12 pounds of Apples to contend with... these are the second batch ready to be washed and cut up into quarters.  Into the pot they went with a bit of water to soften up.

Since I had loaned my food mill to my sister Darlin' for her canning adventures I was going to go and purchase another one... but then I saw a 'Sauce Master Food Strainer' for about the same amount of money... so I got it.  Didn't think to stop and take pictures of using it... boy does it work quick. 

 

In no time at all I had smooth sauce in one container and seeds and skins in the other... this is the waste from 12 pounds of apples - that's all that I threw away.

 

 

Here is the sauce cooking in the pot - the first batch was so thick I had to add back some of the liquid the apple quarters had cooked in - sure glad I saved some back.  Even then it didn't so much as boil as it 'plopped plopped' and splattered sauce about.

I was a little more generous heaping ladles full of apples and liquid into the Strainer with the second batch - gave me something to bring to a boil easier.

I added a bit of sugar to each batch and added cinnamon to the second batch.  What didn't fit into the canning jars went into some plastic freezer jars that we'll use up first - all total I have about 8 pints of each variety.

I have a much better appreciation for people who have a 'canning kitchen' - yep all this boiling water and cooking pots of stuff... sure does make it warm.

By midnight I was done and headed off to bed... here are the two batches this morning all cooled off and ready for labels of some sort.  I need to look for some computer labels... of course then I'd have to unpack my printer and set it up too... maybe I'll just buy a new permanent marker...

 

Hey - did you see what I'm using as my lid-ring holder - yep my former paper towel holder... which I don't use for paper towels because I use my faux paper towels... a re-purposed device - cool huh?

 

Soon I'll show you what started all this re-newed Domestic Divaness on my part...

It's a sweet story with a sad part in the middle... very sad indeed... It's so hard to talk about... (gulp) maybe next time.

Abundant Sunshine...

That was the local forecast this morning...

Abundant Sunshine...

not just 'sunny'... or 'mostly sunny'...

but - Abundant Sunshine...

I don't know why - but that just sounds like the most perfect kind of day don't ya think?

I keep saying it over and over in my head... Abundant Sunshine!

I guess I best get this abundant butt in gear and go enjoy me some...

Abundant Sunshine!

He made me feel so guilty...

I hadn't really intended to hurt him...

I gave them all fair warning...

I told them all to get outta my way...

I even tried to distract them...

He just didn't get the hint...

... and again I'll say I hadn't intended to hurt him...

much less KILL him.

I swiped at him with the end of the paint roller to get him away from where I was working... I guess I had an awkward hold onto it and hit him a little harder then I intended... I just wanted him to go away.

... but did he really have to fall over on his back and kick his little legs up into the air... my goodness - the drama involved.

I felt so guilty... damn bug!

Got Paint?

I sure do...

And this is just the first haul from Friday morning - 16 gallons and 2 quarts - all the paint we need to paint the rooms on the second floor and the kitchen... I went back on Sunday to get the stuff for the first floor - 5 gallons of primer, 7 gallons of wall paint and 2 gallons of trim.  Oh and I had already picked up the bathroom paint - so that was another gallon and a quart, oh and 2 previous gallons of primer... 

Let me see - that adds up to... 33.75 GALLONS of paint...

 

Don't ya just love the names they have for paints?  And with the 'color matching' gizmo they have I can collect paint chips from everywhere and get The Home Depot to make it up in Behr paint.  Here's what I've got picked out...

 

• Chickery Chick (yellow) for the kitchen walls above the white & black tiles and a pretty Happy Blue for trim (can't find the paint chip so I'm calling it Happy Blue)
• Blush Beige (med. pink) for the walls in the guest room #1, Timber Trail (MmmMmmm chocolate!) for the trim
• Big Chill (lt. blue) for the walls in the office/guest room #2, Federal Blue (dark) and Blue Waltz (med.) for the trim & bookcase
• Golden Pond (med. brown) will be the trim in the hall and all the hall side of the doors will be Timber Trail with Golden Marguerites (yep... golden) for the accent
• Fennel (lt. green) will be in the Master Bedroom and Dressing Room with Greenscape  (dark) for the trim
• Swiss Coffee (one of those many shades of white) will be splashed about the walls in the stairway, living room, entry and part of the dining room.  Golden Pond (med. brown) will be the trim throughout - similar to what is already on the trim, just a tiny bit darker.  Although I am pondering using the Timber Trail (chocolate) on the deep window sills in the living room - haven't decided yet.
• Polar Bear is the white for the bathroom above the white and black tiles... I may at some point put some color on the trim in there... but right now I'm happy with clean and fresh white!

And do you remember the blue walls and built in cabinet in the dining room... yeah that awful pastel blue.  In this picture you can also see my then freshly sanded floors...  they have been stained and finished since and they are pretty!  But the blue still stunk... LOL

• Fennel (light green) for the two walls and Basil (med. green) for the cabinet and trim.  The rest of the walls will be the Swiss Coffee as they lead into the stairway and living room.  And yes - I'm sure some will look at the green and feel the same way I did about the pastel blue... but I happen to like the green better and I'm all about making me happy.

I know - it sure sounds like A LOT OF COLOR... but The Engineer has been giving me a hard time for years about painting things 'different shades of white'.  So this will fix him make him happy... and I'm happy about the colors too... they are all earthy and warm.

What's the sense in having all this paint and not having a helper?

My sister Darlin' spent several days here over the weekend.  I had already primed this guest room and she's getting the pink on... and then we moved furniture from one place to the other and we she primed the office/guest room on Tuesday before she left.

 

 

 

As you can see I have lots of things started - but not much completely done. 

The bathroom needs to be finished - it's high on my to do get it done list.

I wasn't able to paint in the shower area because you can't get the paint wet for 24 hours... and that's hard to do with 3 people living here.  Now that The Engineer is out of town for the day and Darlin' is back home I can finish the painting in the shower area and make do without a shower at the end of the day...

I'll just go jump in the pool... aaaah!