Change of Decor

      Thanksgiving is over and now time turns to Winter and Christmas.  Thanksgiving was good.  Dan came over and took most of the leftovers home with him.  I didn't actually give him a choice, I just packed it up and gave it to him.  LOL.

     When I talked to him yesterday, he mentioned that the Butterscotch Steamer could be given to him again.  Yes, I gave him the leftovers of that also.  He used it in his coffee yesterday and I think he is hooked on it now.  Besides the 4 cups of milk, there isn't a lot of other ingredients.  Did I share that with you before?  If not here it is....

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Butterscotch Steamer

4 cups milk

2 TBSP salted Butter

1/4 cup brown sugar - firmly packed

Cinnamon for garish

Heat milk in a pot over medium low heat.  Once the milk is hot, remove from heat.

Stir in butter and brown sugar until butter is milted and brown sugar dissolves.  Add to cup and sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.  Serve hot.

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     It was a nice break after eating a HUGE ham steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, green beans with onions and bacon, and dinner rolls.  After serving the Steamers, I heated up the apple pie, topped it with ice cream, and put in a movie.  We watched Golda.  That was a little bit different from what I was expecting but it was good.  Not one that I would buy (I rented it from Vudu) to keep in my library, but I was happy to watch it with Dan and here his input on different actions.

     The next day, after finishing up the dishes, it was time to take down Thanksgiving decor and put up Winter/Christmas decor.   Today (Saturday, 11.25.23) I finished putting up my switch over.  It seems appropriate since it is one month until Christmas.  :)  Are you ready for pictures?  Here they are!

     I decided to add in my mittens since I couldn't find anything else I was working on that fit.  As you can see from the ironing board, the eagle and dragon were too big for that space.  I think it fits.  :)

     That's about it for this time.  All my friends that came out to hang up on the walls, as well as myself,  wish you a safe and delightful day!

PS:  I also have my little picture that Ann sent me on my desk but my desk is too crowded.  You can see the tree in the frame in a previous post.

Look what I got!!!!!

      This week has already been a bit challenging for me but my spirits were lifted up by Ann today.  I received a box in the mail and it had a bunch of crafting stuff in it.  Look at this little Christmas tree picture she made me!  Thanks Ann!  

I have it sitting on my computer table so I get to look at it a lot.  Isn't it cute?  I also received a lot of other things.  Here are some pictures of SOME of the stuff.

Some Georgia Bonesteel templates

I have two of these little banners.  I might do something for the SCA with them.  Not sure yet.

I might try to figure out how to make this for a bag for me to use with my SCA outfits.

I have a lot of circles that I need to make sometime.  I might use these for it.  :)

     Oops.  I forgot to take a picture of the bookmark she sent me.  She has been making bookmarks and now I have one.  It will come in handy as I look through some of the magazines she included.  Maybe I'll remember for the next post.  LOL.

     I also received my November block from my block Exchange partner.  I like it.  What do you think?  

I wonder how they will all look together.  :) 

That is it for this little update.  I hope everybody has a great day and a safe Thanksgiving.

Tis the Season to be Crazy - Part 2

 Remember that list that I did?  I'm making progress on it.  Of course I am also getting sidetracked when I look for things but eventually it will get all caught up.

I got my December calendar marked up with dates and events that I know.

I'm part way through my gaming posts to catch up so I'm happy with that progress.

The Penguin wall hanging is just waiting for me to match DMC Floss.  That is scheduled for tomorrow.

I'm stitching down the December block.  The group notice for signing up for the December exchange just got posted so I'm in good shape for that.

I think I will send out an ornament that I already have done to Norma.  I just have to finish making it.  I have to put on the back and a loop on it then it can go in the mail.

My blackwork is coming along.  I caught up and am starting to work on the border again.  No hurry on that since we're not finished with all the squares yet.

My shredding is pretty much done for this week.  My bag for it to go in is about 3/4 full.

I think I did a pretty good job of catching up.  I do need to pick out some fabric for Fat Cat Pattern Southern Gentleman.  I'm not sure  I have enough background fabric for the whole thing.  The size of the blocks is 15"so it does take a bit of fabric.  Maybe I can find 2 or 3 fabrics that I can mix throughout the wall hanging so it won't take as much of one fabric.  When I figure it out, I'll let you know.

It is almost 11 p.m. so it is time for me to get off the computer and rest my eyes.  I hope everybody has a good week!

Update on black work

 As promised, here is my update on my Blackwork.  I decided not to wait until I do part 2 on my updates.  :)

My schedule is to get two more blocks done by Wednesday when two more blocks should be released.  If I get back on track, I'll work more on the border.

Tis the Season to go crazy! - Part 1

 The holiday season is upon us and , like most people, I'm going  a little crazy with the "to do" list.  On top of that, my allergies kicked in and it is soooo hard to do anything when your head is all stuffed up.  This week, however, my head finally cleared and I was able to get back to figuring out what I needed to do. 

THE LIST (and listed not in any particular order):

- Mark December calendar

- Catch up on RPOL (gaming related site for those who don't know it)

- Work on Penguin Wall Hanging 

- Work on December block exchange

- Work on what to send to Norma (winner of drawing that was done on Facebook).

- Do blog posts about:

     - food

    - what working on

    - blackwork (three blocks behind)

- Shredding

- Other

That's quite a list right?  To make it worse, some of those items are more detailed then what it looks like on paper.  I did manage to mark off a couple of those marked off the list.   

Obviously I'm working on the blog posts today.  LOL.  I haven't posted much about the food portion of my blog lately,  Do I have a legit reason for that?  Not really.  Just normal life stuff.  I did make some new recipes and shared the food with Dan.  Have I mentioned how funny it is to be on the phone with him as he is eating the food I gave him?  This last time his comments only consisted of moans, and licking of lips, and scraping of the bowl.  Over the years of knowing him, I finally have figured out one thing.  I need to be blunt and finally just ask "do I make this again or not".  In this case, the answer to that was YES.  It did take a couple of minutes to get the yes because I just got the sounds of him eating it.

What did I make?  I made Crockpot Bourbon Chicken.  I made it using chicken broth instead of bourbon but it is delicious.  Here is the recipe.

Crockpot Bourbon Chicken

Ingredients

- 2 pounds bonesless skinless chicken thighs

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1/3 cup bourbon, whiskey, apple juice, or chicken bro

- 3/4 cup brown sugar

- 3/4 cup soy sauce

- 2 cloves minced garlic

- 2 tablespoons cornstarch

- 3 tablespoons cold water

Directions

1.  Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and place in bottom of crockpot.

2.  In medium bowl add brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic.

3.  Stir well to combine and pour over chicken in crockpot.

4.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 3 hours.

5.  In a small bowl, add cornstarch and water and whisk until well combined.

6.  Whisk cornstarch slurry in the sauce 30 minutes before chicken is done.  This will thicken the sauce.

7.  Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

As stated before, I didn't use the liquor but instead used chicken broth that I made up from bouillon.  I also didn't have chicken thighs but just used chicken breasts.  What surprised me was how much sauce/liquid was in it.  Sooooo, I took that VERY and YUMMY sauce and mixed it into the rice I had made.  It turned out great.  The chicken had nice flavor but the real success is, in my opinion, the true star.  It is sweet (brown sugar after all) but the soy sauce cuts it back to a nice level.  I will make this again but next time I will probably shred the chicken after it is cooked and mix it directly into the sauce as well as mix rice into it.  It will make it sort of like a sweet chicken fried rice.

Also on the cooking front, is my Thanksgiving menu.  I have finalized it now.  Our Thanksgiving meal will be:

Ham steaks

stove top dressing

mashed potatoes and gravy

green beans with onions and bacon

   and for dessert - crustless pumpkin pie

I have until the end of the November to figure out our Christmas menu.  I only get to the grocery store once or twice a month so I have learned to think way ahead for things like holiday menus.  That also gives me time to change things up.  So far our Christmas menu is:

Pork roast

scalloped corn casserole

potatoes of some sort and probably another vegetable

and something for dessert

That is it for Part 1.  I will post Part 2 once a couple of pictures show up in my email.  I hope you all have a great day.  Today is also Veteran's Day so I wish all Vets out there a safe day (some do not handle today well due to memories, etc.) and can enjoy it.  A big shout out to all my military friends - past, present, and any future ones - a big HUG and Thank you for your service.  We might not tell you that enough but for me, you are the best!