Here Comes Santa Claus

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but, Santa did arrive in our town this weekend.


I don't know why he has to come so early, but he does. I guess it is because Thanksgiving is a little earlier in the month than usual - even though it is still the fourth week of November.


Well, if you remember, I came down with laryngitis on Tuesday, and was hoping for a miracle cure before Friday, in order to be able to sing in the community chorus. I did not receive a miracle, but thank you for the prayers. Hubby and I went downtown anyway, to support my fellow choristers. The weather was pleasant, so it made for a nice evening.


I have a few pictures, but I warn you, they aren't very good. I know the problem was my camera, and not the photographer. It was dark, and I couldn't see the settings, and, well, they are just bad. But, I'm hoping it will give you a little flavor of what the evening was like. And, I guess I won't have to worry about anyone stealing my pictures. lol

The horse drawn wagon. I would have tried for
a better picture, but the horses turned the corner
and were heading straight for me. I decided it would
be better if I got out of the way.

Hubby and I missed the actual arrival of the Jolly Guy,
but he's usually on top of the building to the left, and
he rides down the big ladders on the fire truck.
I guess it's too early for the reindeer.

Oh, but speaking of reindeer, we do have a "petting area" for an authentic reindeer. I correct my previous statement: I guess it's too early for flying reindeer. I would've tried to get a picture, but I'm pretty sure it would have just looked like a big dark blob.

Our Choral Union.
I would have been standing in
that empty space right under the clock.

My voice is slowly getting back to normal. It should be good to go for our December 2 concert.

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What do you treasure?

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Today I am linking up with Theme Thursday, and the topic is "treasure". There are a lot of things I treasure, but most of them are not things! (I'm also trying to see how many "t" words I can use! teehee)


My first treasure comes from Colossians 2:2 & 3 - My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know they mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

My second treasure is freedom. I'm not talking about the freedom  from responsibility to do whatever I want, whenever I want, at the expense of other's freedoms, such as is being proclaimed by the Occupy Wall Street bunch.   I am talking about the God-given freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The freedom to pursue my dreams, and risk failure, or success. And the freedom of not having to pay for the failure of others, or others having to pay for my failures. 

My third treasure is my family, and may I say, especially my granddaughter! I love all of my family (most of the time), but there is something so sweet and special about grandchildren that is hard to explain. I love that twinkle in her eye when she is about to tease her Pappy or her Daddy, usually by withholding kisses. I love to hear the joy in her voice when she says "Grammy!" as she runs to me when we see each other after a long absense. I hope she never outgrows that, because I never will.  I could go on and on, but I'll wrap it up by saying that our kids call her "The Holy Grandchild". That pretty much sums it up!

My fourth treasure (at least right now) would be my voice. Now, don't jump to the conclusion that I have a great voice, because I don't. But, right now, I have no voice at all. It has flown the coop. Bye bye. Gone. It left Tuesday, and  I have not heard a peep from it since then. I wouldn't be freaking out about it, except for the fact that my community choral union has a concert on Friday, yep, tomorrow night. The way things look, or rather, sound, I will not be participating in that concert. Our next concert is December 2, so, hopefully, things will be  back to normal by then. In the meantime, I've been drinking lots of herbal teas with honey, and sometimes a little whiskey, hoping for results.  If you happen to know of any miracle cures, please feel free to share!

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What do you treasure? Link up and join the fun!

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The Hostess with the Mostest

Warning! Warning!

bobgreiner.tripod.com

This blog is about food.


Last month I was at a loss for inspiration. This month, I have a few blogs in my head, but have been too busy to get them out! I can't decide if I should back track and get further behind, or start with what's most current then go backwards. 


November is my birthday month! heehee. I only say that because it drives Hubby crazy. He barely recognizes one day, so I love to declare November as MY month, just to watch him roll his eyes. 


However, I will wait and tell you about my birthday, and instead show you my Hostessness. Yeah, I just made up that word. I like typing ssss!


I am part of a bunko group, and last night was my turn to host. The hostess has to buy prizes, and prepare a lovely meal. In truth, my hostess abilities pale in comparison to most of the other bunko "babes" (as we like to call ourselves), but this is how it went last night.


Jennee helped me out by making her specialty, sweet potato burritoes. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, they are yummy. I don't have actual amounts, because it's all "to taste", but here is the gist of it: Mashed sweet potatoes, with cumin, salt, garlic powder; grilled onions, black beans, (drained and rinsed), cheddar cheese, and pepper jack cheese. Layer it in the burrito, then brown in the skillet. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

 We also have a very easy, yet delicious salad. I use spinach and Romaine lettuce, add craisins (dried cranberries), and sunflower seeds, serve with poppy seed dressing. It doesn't get any easier than that. Sometimes we add grilled chicken to it, and presto-chango, it becomes a meal!


And dessert was peach cobbler. I saw this idea from another blog (sorry, I don't remember which one, but it's a great idea!) Single servings baked into little half-pint jars. So cute. I left plenty of room at the top to allow for a scoop of ice cream.

 The recipe I used comes from The Barefoot Contessa,(Peach and Raspberry Crisp) but I make it without the raspberries. This recipe makes the perfect topping. Crunchy and delicious. I like a little peach with my crisp.


Here is my version:


2 to 2 1/2 quart jars of canned peaches
1 orange, zested
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 cups plus 2-3 TBSP. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup oatmeal (I like to use old-fashioned oatmeal)
1 stick cold butter
1/2 cup hardened coconut oil


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Drain peaches and place in large bowl. Add orange zest, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 2 TBSP flour. Toss well. Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes. If there is a lot of liquid, and 1 more TBSP flour (I usually do). Divide peaches into jars, or pour into a buttered baking dish. 


Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, and cold, diced butter and coconut oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is pea-sized and the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly on top of the peaches. (This makes a lot, pile it on thick! If using individual jars, leave about 1 1/2 inch head space, to allow for the ice cream.) For 9x13, bake for 1 hour, until top is browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. For the jars, I think I baked them about 30 minutes. Serve immediately. Store leftovers in the fridge.


I forgot to get pictures of my prizes, but I found some really cute decorative bird houses at JoAnn Fabrics (on sale! whoo hoo!). Too bad I didn't have any of those cute birdhouses made out of gourds!


Everything turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. 

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Have you lost your groud?

I am going to attempt to participate in Theme Thursday.


Today's theme is "gourd". That threw me for a loopy loop. The first thing that came to my mind was the well known expression, "Have you lost your gourd?" or "Are you out of your gourd?". You've heard of that, right?  


I like gourds. They are pretty and decorative. Can you eat them? I don't know. That's one thing I haven't tried to eat. (Shocking, I know.) And, for that reason, I have not tried to grow them in my garden. Maybe I'll consider them for next year. Actually, if you want to know the answer to that question, go visit Mrsurpole's Place.


Here is a very cute gourd. I'm sorry. I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet. I've been singing Christmas songs since September (I'm in a community choral union, and we're getting ready for our Christmas concert.) So, in some ways it seems like Christmas should be here already. Anyway, I also have a Santa collection, so this little fella appealed to me.

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So cool. Some people are so talented!

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But, my favorite use of a gourd would be this:

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Well, now I guess you know the answer to my question. I have eaten certain gourds after all! 

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Project 52 Week - Whatever

I don't know what week we're on, but I do know that the year is quickly coming to a close. 

It is time to give the list a good lookie-see and hope and pray that I have something to cross off.


Oh yay! I can do the strike through three things.

#2 - Read 10 books. (Technically, I'm two chapters away from finishing book #10, but I promise to finish it today! 
Book #8 - Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines was written by my good friend Carol Wyer. I highly recommend this book. It's a hoot and a half, and I promise that you will love it.

The next one I get to cross of is #28 - Travel somewhere new. Now, don't assume that this means I went anywhere exotic. This has been my "only if I don't go anywhere exotic" option. A month or so ago, Hubby and I traveled up north to a little town with the quaint name of Geneva-On-The-Lake. The purpose was to do a quick painting job for Hubby's brother, before they moved into their new house. It seems everytime we paint for someone, we have about 2 days to do something that should take a week if done correctly. Anyway, after a hard day of painting, we decided to drive to the lake and eat our supper. As we drove, we enjoyed the fall colors on the trees that lined the road. We arrived at the lake just as the sun was starting to set. We congratulated ourselves on our great idea to have a picnic by the lake.  We spotted a couple, sitting on the beach, enjoying the sunset. We grabbed our food, set it on the picnic table, and were immediately attacked by about a million mosquitoes. Those stupid things were everywhere! We flailed our arms all around, trying to eat just one bite in peace. It was not possible. It was a complete and total disaster. We ate a bite. Swatted mosquitoes. Ate another bite. Cursed and swatted. No romantic supper. No romantic sunset. 


I did manage to get a couple of photos in spite of the mosquito attack.

If you look really hard, you can see the lighthouse

Too much zoom makes for a fuzzy photo

The moon was awesome that night

I'm going to go ahead and cross off #33 - Start cooking through the hundreds of recipes I have saved and never made. Technically, I did start cooking. I didn't get very far, but I did indeed, start.


Well, there you have it. That's my quick run-down on my goals. How are you doing on your goals?


Check out Jennee and Karen and see how they are doing.

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Signs! Signs! Everywhere there's signs!

I have been having a spirited debate in my head. (The only place I ever debate!) My one self says "Go ahead and tell the story. It's good for a laugh." My other self says, "You'll look like a fool."


Against the better judgement of my smarter self, I've decided to swallow pride (glup) and let you wander inside my brain--don't worry, there's plenty of room for all of you!


I have written a few blogs about politics; enough that you have probably gathered that I am a conservative. (And, if not, it's plainly stated in my bio.) Hopefully, I've sounded fairly intelligent, and have been able to make my point. Assuming that is true, (big assumption, I know) the reason for my brilliance, is due to the fact that I have had time to think out my thoughts and write them down, in a nice orderly fashion. 


However, if we were to have an actual discussion, I am quite confident that I would sound like a blubbering idiot, because whenever I open my mouth to speak, every thought flies right out of my head. I'm no good at arguring. I'm no good at debating. Facts, figures, complete sentences, illude me. I will now give you an example of what I'm talking about. Don't judge me too harshly.


Tis the season for political signs. I had been seeing a lot of a particular sign of a guy who was running for judge, and I was wondering if he was a Republican or Democrat. So, I went down to the Republican headquarters to find out. Yes, there was his sign. They asked me if I wanted a sign, I said, "Sure", and I also took the brochure about him, went home, and put the sign on the right side of our driveway. (To help you picture this, our house sits pretty far back from the street, and we have a long, slightly curvy driveway. A house sits on each side of our driveway. Our house is directly behind the house on the left side of the driveway.)


One morning as I drove out of the drivway, I stopped at the end to put a letter in the mailbox. While walking back to the car, I noticed it. I thought, "Really? Are you going to play this stupid game?"  The neighbor had placed her sign for the opposing candidate directly in front of my sign. So, I took the bait, pulled my sign up and moved it closer to the road, and hurriedly made my way to the car. 


Before I could get into the car, she came out of her garage, still in her robe,  yelling, "Hey! Hey!"  We've been neighbors for almost three years, but they don't even acknowledge when we wave to them.)


"What!?" I replied sweetly. OK. I admit it. I didn't use my nicest voice.


And now, it gets kind of ugly and embarrassing, as I record my pitiful debating "skills".


HER: Did you get permission to put up that sign?


ME: (HUH?) No. Do I  need to get permission now?


HER: Well, yes. Who put up that sign? (Yes, I was a bit confused.)


ME: I did. (duh.)


HER: But, did you get permission? (Again, huh? I have no idea what she's talking about.)


ME: No. Do I need permission? (Yes, it was a redundant conversation.)


HER: Everyone knows I support her, and I thought they put his sign here because they know I live here and support her. (Wow, really? Thinking a little too highly...)  Well, do you know him? (Pointing to my sign.)


ME: No. Do I have to know him? Do you know her? (Pointing to her sign.)


HER: Well, yes, of course I know her. (Good for you.) Well, why do you have his sign if you don't know him?


ME: (Prepare to be amazed.) Because I want to. (duh.)


HER: Well, I don't know why you would put up his sign if you don't know him. (again, with the redundant statement.)  Did you  know it took him three times to pass the bar?


ME: Well, I guess he should know it all by now, then.


HER: (Rolls eyes) It took him three times! (Yes, we've established that. So? He passed.)  So, why do you have his sign if you don't know him?


ME: (I had to say it, even though I didn't want to.I consider myself a conservative more than a republican.) He's a Republican. (I was hoping to find out that he's a Constitutionalist, but hadn't had time to check it out.)


HER: Ohhhh, He's a Republican. (Said like it's a dirty word.) I know Republicans. I'm married to a Republican. (Thoughts censored here.) So, why don't you want to vote for her?  (Duh. She's his opponent.)


ME: Well, I've heard she's very liberal. Is she a Constitutionalist? 


HER: She's a judge. She follows the law. I love the Constitution.


ME: There are a lot of people (I may have said Democrats) who claim to know the Constitution, but are doing everything that's unConstitutional.


HER: So, did you get permission to put up that sign?


ME: (Are you dumb or somethin'? Again, with the permission??) Yes, I put up the sign myself.


HER: Well, (reaching down and pulling up her sign) I'm going to put my sign right here. (And she puts it directly in front of my sign.)


Really? Really? So childish. I roll my eyes.


ME: Ok. Fine. I will take my sign and put it on the other side of the driveway. Will that make you happy?


Apparently, it did. She turned around and walked back into her house.


When I related this story to Hubby and Amazing Daughter they were full of "You should have said" suggestions. Yes, I know. I should have said a lot of things, but nothing worthwhile came out of my mouth. I'm still thinking of things I should have said.


This is my prime example of why I stick to writing.

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Now that Halloween is over, and Thanksgiving is on it's way, here's a lovely video. It's about two minutes long. Hope you enjoy it.



Life of flowers from VOROBYOFF PRODUCTION on Vimeo.

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