January Photo Album - Let's Get Close

This month I've done a bit of playing with macro shots.  It's fun to see how close you can go... and what something looks like at that vantage point.

It's also something to do while you are waiting for something to cook...

Woven pot holders.

Fresh corn.

The original "Fuzzy Navel"...

... a pomegranate!  

Sliced onion... Day One.

Sliced onion... Day Three.

Isn't growth amazing?

One more slice...

Now THIS is a very tasty close-up.

No more photos... it's time to eat!

Christmas 2014

I was reminded that I hadn't shown my Christmas decorations yet.  I've been so busy with 'winter' cleaning I just didn't get to it.  So... here due to popular demand (LOL) is how I decorated this year.  Or at least, mostly how I decorated.  Didn't get around to taking photos of everything either...

Christmas daytime.

It is a balsam we got at Walmart for $10 (!!!!) around the 8th of December.  It was still very fresh.  I will remember that for next year.

Tree with lights.  All of our lights are blue, then we have blue and silver garland along with silver tinsel.

A 33 or 32 year old ornament.  Made by Sis when she was just a little girl.

A six year old ornament... Little Bird's hand print.  She was 4 months old.

Ornaments from when Himself retired from the Army.

A beautiful church ornament given to us by my Mom.

An old ornament from when we were newly married.

Then we head around the room to Himself's piano.  

  

We have the Snoopy ornaments as a tribute to Himself's sister.  When she was sick, Charles Schulz visited her in the hospital and gave her a lot of original Snoopy gifts.

Also, who doesn't love "A Charlie Brown Christmas"?

The little ceramic Christmas tree in the picture just above was a gift from Himself's First Grade teacher on our second Christmas together.

These cute felt trees were from Mom.  They remind me of the trees that Charlie Brown looked at before he picked out 'his' tree.

A nativity on the music stand.

(I've got to get those ivories glued back on the piano!)

Fireplace decor.  

I've changed up the mantel a bit this year.  Next year there will be a large star hanging in the center.  Didn't get it made in time this year.

My nativity village. 

My little red desk holds a bit of my nativity collection...

... and the cedar chest holds even more!

This glass set is sitting on top of a Bible written in Japanese.

Coming around a little more and there is our entertainment center (hiding the TV).

We keep our cards in this basket.  The treasure chest nativity is a music box and we love the nativity cross sitting next to it.

When the wee Fairy Princess visited right before Christmas, she brought this cute metal stocking.

In our kitchen... Mother and Child.

Country Ham Biscuits and a Vignette

Making baby steps towards my 2015 goal of making a beautiful life...

Yesterday was our pastor's retirement brunch.  He preached his last service that morning and the potluck meal followed.

I decided good ol' country ham biscuits would be perfect.  We had gotten a great deal on country ham at Sam's and Himself makes the BEST baking powder biscuits.  Figuring there would be a big turn-out Himself made a quadruple batch of biscuits on Saturday night.

Sunday morning we were up early to get the ham fixed up.

When I fix country ham, first I give it a light boil to get some moisture back into and to get rid of some of that salt.  Then I transfer it to a cookie sheet with a deep layer of paper towels to pull of the excess water.  From there, the ham is transferred to a frying pan with a bit of bacon grease.  I just brown it so it looks good.  Another transfer to a new paper towel lined cooling rack to pull off the oil.

Baking powder biscuits are known to shape up however they want...

Since a leaning over biscuit makes eating a country ham biscuit difficult, I have a little secret.  

I cut the top and bottom so they are even... and set aside the wedge shaped middles.  Since the middles are my favorite part I'm a happy camper!  Also they are really good used like shortbread with strawberries or peaches on top.

After that it is assembly line time!

I cut the ham to fit using scissors.  It's much faster.  Since this was for a potluck I used toothpicks to keep them together.  Tip:  I used bright blue and green toothpicks so they were easy to see.

To finish, I made a cute "country" vignette for serving.  Time to start making things look nice rather than just plopping down a plate.

The biscuits were a hit; especially with the guys.

A Wonderful Hostess Gift

Don't you love going out to the mail box and finding a wonderful surprise in it?

A while back we overnight hosted a friend of Himself's, her new husband, and his parents (plus their sweet kitten-cat and some fish  LOL) as they moved from Ft. Rucker, AL up to Ft Riley, Kansas.  The box was a thank you gift from the parents.

Their home is in the San Juan Islands of Washington and the gifts they picked out are all local made or grown treats.  

I wish you could smell the soaps.  They are going to spend some time in a couple of drawers before we actually use them.  The "Gardener's Scrub" has comfrey root, bay, clove, and lavender... plus pumice for the 'scrub'.  The "Ginger Root" is just that... GINGER.  

On the right are two bars of fudge.  Both are sooooo good, in fact I am munching on the Dulce de Leche as I write this.

And I assume the English walnuts are from their yard (they didn't say).  I'll come up with a special treat to use those and maybe a craft or two using the shells.

Thank you so much Dan and Linda!

The Recovery Pitcher

Infrequently there will be a crash into one of our windows... usually by some bird who is more interested in fighting with someone than watching where they are flying.  Most bounce off with a shake of their head and a look of "Dang!  That hurt!!".

Occasionally one smacks harder than that...

Two cardinal girls had been battling all morning when we heard the dreaded BANG that means someone hit hard.  Himself headed out to check while I headed to the foyer closet for "the recovery pitcher".

He came back in with one of the girl cardinals looking woozy but not too bad.  

After about 15 minutes of recovery time...

... there was a flutter of wings and some attitudey stomps.  

We had a good laugh at her fusses and raised crest.  Then Himself took the lid off.  Another flurry of wings and she was gone...

... probably looking for that other cardinal that 'made' her hit the window!

Lessons from Spring Cleaning: #3 Clean Shower Done Easy

When we remodeled our hall bathroom, we put glass tiles in the shower/tub.  They are really beautiful when they are sparkling in the light.

Unfortunately, keeping them sparkling is a full time task... especially those on the bench.  They are dulled by soap film almost immediately.  

I had seen on Pinterest many pins about making shower cleaning easy.  I was so ready to give just about anything with 'easy' in it a chance.

The next time I was out on errands I picked up the above gizmo.  You find them in the section with dish sponges.

I filled it half way with Dawn dish soap and the rest of the way with white vinegar.

Here's what you do...

Just before you finish your showering, give the tile a fast scrub. Then rinse and get out.  If you start after you do a good cleaning, it will stay clean for you.  It's that easy.  It takes me about 3 minutes.

Just be really careful because the tub becomes VERY slippery for a little bit.

It has made a huge difference in keeping the glass tiles sparkling as I like them!

There's a New Bird In Town

Aren't they beautiful!?!  

Looked them up on the 'Net and found out they are Cedar Waxwings.  A birding site describes them this way:  Cedar Waxwings are sleek, masked birds with unusual red, waxy deposits at the tips of their secondary feathers. They are cinnamon-colored, with grayish wings and tails and yellow terminal tail-bands. They have distinctive crested heads, black throats, and black masks lined with white. Their bellies have a yellowish tinge, and their undertail coverts are white. Juveniles are mottled gray-brown, and have black masks and yellow tail-bands. The red feather-tips increase in number and size as the birds age.

Apparently they winter down here in the South.  We've never had them visit so we were quite excited to see them.  I defrosted a few berries as a "Welcome" gift, as they are mainly fruit eaters.

I hope they stick around!