Janet’s house

Well, after a bit of a rough start, I finally made it to California last Friday.   We woke up to icy streets and didn’t want to replay our Thanksgiving “mishap”, so I changed my flight to early afternoon when it would be warmer and the streets clear.   Got to the airport and guess what?  That flight had been cancelled.   Oh well, I finally made it albeit a bit later than planned.  It was all made better by being on this plane.  Go Ducks!

I’ll share pictures of Janet’s decorating and then in a couple of days, I’ll show you what we gave each other.  

Here’s Janet, aka Myrt, aka Lucy, aka Lucylieb!

She has a wonderful knack for putting things together, so I’ll just let you all enjoy the eye candy.

This picture makes me want to get a piano.  So much fun to decorate.

Wow, I didn’t realize I’d taken so many pictures.   I’ll finish the home tour tomorrow.   

On another note….permits were finally issued and we broke ground today.  Yippee!

Hugs, Anne

A little decorating

Thought I’d show you a bit of the decorating I’ve done.  

My friend, Janet, made the little framed gingerbread guy and gave him to me last summer.  I couldn’t wait to put him out.   He’s wool on a cotton background.  So cute.  Thanks Myrt.  (She’s got multiple names, including Lucy and Lucylieb!)  Don’t ask.

Can you tell what Mr. CnW likes?  This is his part of the tree.

And his seasonal remote control holder…

And of course, Jack likes to help out.

I did this cross stitch a zillion years ago but I still like it.  I’m thinking of reviving that hobby.  Thankfully, I never got rid of all my cross stitch patterns.

One thing I’m getting kind of tired of is my mantle.   I always have so much trouble decorating it to where I love it.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever loved what I’ve done, so I’m gonna put my thinking cap on for next Christmas in the new house.   It’s such a focal point and one I never feel I get right.    It’s been this way for a couple of years.

Oh well…. one of these days maybe I’ll like it.  

So, I’m off to California this weekend for my annual Christmas party with my bestest friends of over 30 years.   We’ll be at Janet’s (Myrt, Lucy, Lucylieb…yes that’s all one person) house and she does the most wonderful decorating.   I’ll be sure to take my camera!

See you next week.    

A bit of framing

I have a nasty cold and the weather outside is truly frightful.  A mixture of freezing rain and snow.   Perfect day to stay inside and get something done.  

I’ve had some stitchery projects that have needed framing but I’m not the best “framer” in the world, so I kept putting it off.   Today was the day to tackle it. 

This summer my friend, Patty, took a road trip to the midwest with her hubby and she got to go to Primitive Gatherings.  She knows how much I love everything in that store, so she called me while she was there. I got online and was looking on their website as she described things to me.  Great way to shop, no?

Among other things, she picked up this frame for me. 

I didn’t have anything specific in mind for it, but when she brought it to me, I was showing her a couple of projects I had been working on and guess what?   They both would work!

I’ve now got a start on decorating for next fall.

And this one will be going up right away.

Both patterns are from Primitive Stitches.   Her patterns are A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.  (I will not be held responsible for any damage to your checkbook!)

Anyway, while I was rummaging around in my messy sewing room, I found an unframed project that must be at least 4 years old.   Got it framed this afternoon and put out with my decorations.

Isn’t it cute?   I love the little snowman face buttons.   Don’t remember the name of the pattern.  My apologies to the designer. 

Then, I had some more framing to do but I can’t share these quite yet.  Maybe in a couple of weeks.  (wink wink to my Calif girlfriends).

I just noticed in the picture that 2 of those frames are brown.  They’re all supposed to be black.  Oh cripes!

Stay warm and healthy out there. 

Hugs, Anne

A “different” Thanksgiving

Our trip to Seattle was delayed one day because of some heavy snow throughout the northwest. Sure is pretty tho.

After checking the road conditions on 4 different routes that we could take, we picked the one that looked the safest. So, we started out around 10am on Wednesday and drove through some picturesque towns like this one.

The roads conditions were packed snow and ice and we were doing just fine until……… a car travelling next to us in the same direction lost control and hit us.

Now, it doesn’t look that bad, does it? Well, the impact must have done something to the axel because we had no steering control. Called a tow truck and were towed to the nearest Honda dealership. Well, guess what? They don’t do body work at that dealership and were going to refer us to the local yocal’s body shop. Our tow truck driver took Mr. CnW aside and told him we might want to think about taking it someplace else if we wanted to see our car anytime soon.

He then offered to tow us back to Bend. At that point, after dealing with what seemed like hours on the phone with our insurance company, AAA, etc, we just said “YES”! We realized that if the car were to be repaired 3 hours from our home, we’d still have to go get it and then drive back home when it got fixed. With this unpredictable weather, we opted to take the car home.

Everyone we were going to Seattle to visit was pretty upset that we weren’t going to be there for Thanksgiving, and so were we, but it was a decision that just seemed best for us at the time.

So, about 3pm, we started the journey in the tow truck back to Bend. But first, we had to stop so “Don” could get some paperwork at his house and feed the horses!!!

We had 2 other stops along the way so that Don could “buy some chapstick”, and “buy a calculator” to figure out how much we were going to owe him. (guess he didn’t do too well in arithmetic). Along the way, he told us about every accident that he’s responded to in his 65 years on every inch of the highway. Very reassuring, let me tell you!

So, after dropping the car at the body shop and getting a rental car in Bend, it was now about 9pm. We had no food in the house since we weren’t going to be home, so we had to stop at the grocery store. Turkey was out of the question, and neither one of us really cared too much about what we were going to have, so we decided on spaghetti and meatballs and crab bisque soup.

We were very lonesome for our family.

And pouted about it.

But we talked about how thankful we were that no one was hurt and we were safe and sound. Now that deserves a toast!

Cheers!

Hope your Thanksgiving was a bit less “different”.

Hugs, Anne

Tortellini Soup

Disclaimer: I am not trying to be Pioneer Woman! I’ve decided it must take her all day to fix dinner for her family what with staging all the photos. Good grief!

Anyway, here goes…

(I’ll give you the recipe at the end).

Chop up some carrots, onions and zucchini.

Throw them all in a stock pot with some garlic and olive oil.

Cook until tender and then add stewed tomatoes, broth, Italian flat leaf parsley, fresh basil, and baby spinach.

Now let it simmer awhile.

About an hour before you are ready to eat, add frozen tortellini.

And, on a day like this…

Nothing tastes better.

Recipe:

2 T olive oil

4 small cloves garlic

3 cups quartered mushrooms ( I didn’t add them because I don’t like them!)

2 cups chopped onions

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped zucchini

4 cans (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes

4 cups chicken or veggie broth

4 T chopped fresh basil

4 T chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley

8 cups fresh baby spinach leaves, washed and drained

1 package frozen Tortellini

In large stock pot, cook onions, carrots, zucchini and garlic in olive oil until just tender.

Add remaining ingredients (except tortellini) and stir to combine. Cover and let simmer a few hours.

About 1 hour before you are ready to eat, add tortellini to soup mixture.

Sprinkle with some fresh parmesan cheese, serve with salad and bread and you’ve got a yummy winter meal.

Hope you’ll try it. It’s a meal everyone seems to enjoy.

PS… Don’t tell your family, but it’s an old Weight Watcher recipe!

Hugs, Anne