Sewing, sewing, sewing

The sewing machine has been humming...

A party dress has been made for 1st DGD's American Girl doll, McKenna.

And what party dress is complete without pretty party shoes too!

And everyone needs to relax in their jeans once in awhile.

And even jeans outfits need a change of pace...so here's a t shirt.

And a pair of sneaks to go with.

It's cold here now, but summer will come again and then you need a sun dress.

2nd DGD has a Bitty Baby American Girl doll and she has lots of clothes already but no party dress and so Gramma had to fix that!

And Bitty Baby also needed some warm clothes for this winter.

Amoungst all this sewing has been a little knitting.  This pair of mittens might get done for 2nd DDIL.

But there isn't a prayer that these for 2nd DS will be done by Christmas Eve.  He's had to wait for gifts before and this probably won't be the last time either...poor guy!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

The first pan in the oven today is the holupture. And what is that you say?? Why it is a family tradition in DH's family. One that I've learned to appreciate and love also. It is supposed to be cooked in a old fashioned Red Wing crock for hours and hours on low heat but I'm trying to bring the dish into our fast paced world. And so a 9X13 pan on slightly higher heat for a shorter time. I really hope it turns out.

The recipe comes from the same Gramma that knit these slippers. She was a strong force in our family and we miss her and all the other grammas in our lives, especially on days like this.

Ok. Now for the recipe.

You start out with a nice sized head of cabbage. Core it and then wilt the leaves in a big pot of hot water. Cut off the heavy stem that runs down the back of the cabbage leaf so they are easier to roll.

Mix together 1 cup uncooked rice, 1/2 cup finely diced ham or bacon, 3 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Put a spoonful of this in each cabbage leaf and fold over the edges on all sides to form a roll that the rice can't escape from.

Place cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the cabbage rolls on top. Add another layer of cabbage leaves and top everything with 2 large jars of sauerkraut. Add enough water to cover the rolls and bake for several hours at 325 degrees.

The first holiday that a newcomer to the family was at, was the test to see how well they would fit in... They were given the holupture test. First to see if they would taste it at all and then to see if they would like it. I think I passed the test all those many years ago. I both tasted and liked the holupture! And now I'm cooking it for my family.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A busy weekend, a little baking and a lot of fun!

This just past weekend was our little town's "Days" weekend.

There was a community cooked & served BBQ (tender roast beef, baked potatoes, marinated carrots, baked beans, roasted onions, and watermelon, yummy); canoe races; games for kids (the kind that you rent...this year they had a water slide); paper plate drop at the airport (the local businesses put candy or silver dollars etc on paper plates and they are dropped from an airplane for the kids to run around and pick up); the band, Boomtown, (a very fun-for-everyone band) for the Friday night street dance and a DJ for the Saturday night street dance; and also on Saturday after the BBQ was the singing group from Fargo, Great Plains Harmony - amazing singers and performers.

This is just a small sampling of what went on...the young gals that organize this are amazing. And probably the most amazing part is that most everything is free. They fund raise like crazy during the year.

Also on Saturday was the 3rd annual McBake Off Dessert Contest. I entered the 1st year, was lazy last year and decided to enter again this year. Well, I had a new cheesecake recipe and so that was it. I had to make it. And here it is....

There were 19 desserts in all. That's a lot of tasting for the judges! I didn't win but I did get perfect scores for appearance. :)

It was a very fun weekend. A lot of people came home to visit. Our town was hopping!

I'm sure the organizing committee is taking a break and heaving a sigh of relief and then shortly they will be planning for next year.

Good job ladies!

Wishing you a very

Happy 4th of July! :D

Visiting cemetaries

Today was the day to visit cemetaries and put flowers out for Memorial Day. I go to 4 cemetaries but only took pictures at a couple of them.

My maternal grandparents and numerous other relatives are buried here. This picture doesn't show the whole thing but it is a small rural church and cemetary. Very quiet and on a seldom traveled gravel road.

This is the church. There are so few members that they can't sustain the church any longer so it is empty and unused. But here is where my mother attended church and was confirmed.

This is the cemetary at the town where I grew up. My parents are buried here with a few relatives both maternal and paternal.

When I was in high school, once or twice a summer a few friends and I would ride our bikes out to this cemetary and just enjoy the park-like atmosphere and the quiet. And having done that I am now not "creeped out" by cemetaries. They are peaceful, quiet and restful places to me.

I haven't taken a walk around for awhile but sometime I will. I enjoy reading the old stones with their various inscriptions and wonder why we don't still put sayings and Bible verses on the stones. Although if the trend towards cremation continues there won't be stones and cemetaries in the same way as now.

There is only one thing that kind of still blows my mind about this cemetary and that the picture above is the Lutheran side of the cemetary and...

this is the Catholic side. I never have been able to understand why they couldn't just mingle with each other! I wonder if other cemetaries are the same?

A sign of spring. :)

I don't know what kind of seed catalogs everyone else gets but Gurney's has been coming to my family's house since I was a little kid. It's the one sure sign of spring. :D














That combined with the upper 40 degree temperatures yesterday (heat wave, I tell ya!)...makes me believe that spring really will come. I even opened a window yesterday and let in the wonderful fresh air.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A little knitting, a little weather and a big wish...

I'm advancing right along on the sock. I love all the stripeyness! :) Almost ready to start the toe.




















The weather is very...umm...wintery. The temperature is -6. The wind is 28 mph. And that adds up to a wind chill of -33. Brrr. And they are forecasting 2-4" of snow. So with that wind and the snow we'll have a blizzard. I sure hope no one is planning on traveling anywhere....
























I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! The best part of having a blog is meeting new people from far and near and making wonderful friends of them. I hope the new year is a healthy and satisfying year.

Happy....

Turkey Day to everyone!















I would have taken the picture when everything was done but it's just going to be too busy then.

I'm wishing everyone a fun day, safe travels and happy new memories. We live in an amazing country and are so blessed. Most of us have more than we know what to do with. But...

Please remember to support your local food pantry and your local mission. Even with everything we have there are some that are hungry and homeless....

Where'd that time go??

I just realized that it's my blogoversary today! I've been doing this for 2 years now. Wow. Time flies....

We had 42 little hobgoblins on Halloween. They were so sweet. They all said "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you". We had the usual princesses, space people and witches but we had a couple that had homemade outfits. One was an Indian maiden and the other was Moses with the Ten Commandments. What original ideas!

Today was the day I was hoping to cut down the flower beds for the winter. It is the perfect day for it but I'm stuck taking DH's pickup in for repairs and waiting a couple hours for that to get done...hopefully there will be another day in the 50s soon!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Here's wishing you a wonderful day!

Disclaimer on the flower picture. It's from last year. There isn't anything green here yet. But most of the snow is gone!! :)

Ramblin' ramblin' ramblin'

Many have written very comtemplative new year's posts on their blogs. But I've never gotten into the making resolutions, fresh start deal of new years. It's just another day in my life. No better. No worse. No more special. In my opinion, if you want a fresh start you can do it any day of the year. Doesn't have to be new years day. So whatever works for you is good but this is what works for me.

I've done a few things in the new year though.


I finished a pair of socks that I started about a year ago. Isn't that sad? But they are finally done. That's the main thing.

I've been working on the pile of papers that just seem to keep growing on my desk at work. It's going to be a long month I'm afraid. The computer is telling me to send out 1099s and I don't even have the forms yet. Uff!

I donated blood yesterday. I got my 2 gallon pin! That's a fair amount of blood if I do say so myself! :) The story about what got me started donating blood is this....Years ago my dad had surgery for colon cancer and started bleeding during the surgery. If I remember correctly they gave him 3 units of blood that day. If someone hadn't donated and that blood wasn't available he probably wouldn't have made it through the surgery. So I'm paying it back and maybe by this time I'm paying it forward too! Oh, and he came through that surgery fine and never needed chemo or anything. He passed away years and years later from old age.


And to end my post I'm giving you a look at our backyard again. Plenty of snow and today it's cold and windy. High temp of -12 with a wind chill advisory that it could be as low as -40 wind chill.

I'm going now to find my CuddleDuds.

Now Christmas is done

2nd DS & DDIL left for WI this morning. So that means Christmas is really over. :(

I'm always a bit teary eyed to see them go. It's a bit of a trip to see them. It takes them 9 hours to drive but it takes us 11 so we can't just jaunt over and visit. (I say the difference in the amount of time is the big age difference between our bladders.) We had a wonderful time while they were here though and that is the important thing. I'll concentrate on that.

I've got a huge bunch of UFOs that I have to work on. 3 pair of socks. 2 for me, 1 for DH. I didn't get 1st DDIL's scarf finished for Christmas so that should be done asap. As a easy gift, I also wrapped up 3 balls of yarn and a pattern for DH. I'm going to make him a scarf also. We do have a lot of winter left though so I do have time. But if I procrastinate too much it won't be good. Oh yeah, I've got a shawl for myself started that is waiting patiently to be finished and I also have a baby afghan that is only 1/2 done. Uff.

As of right now, though, there are end of the year bookwork that has to dealt with so that's my agenda for the next few days.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve!

Merry Christmas!

Have a little fun!

Enjoy the day.

Make a little music.

And have a Merry Christmas!

Progress being made.

As you can see I've got the tree decorated. And it's been that way for a couple weeks already! The rest of the house is decorated too and also all that we are going to do outside is done.

So on my to-do list the decorating can be checked off.

Most of the shopping is done.

DH & I dug out the tripod and took pictures of ourselves on Friday evening. It was a bit of a struggle. I couldn't get the smiling part right! But we finally got one or two that works so now I've ordered Christmas cards and should get them one day this week.

No wrapping done.

No baking done.

No housecleaning done.

A little knitting is being done. I've got one Fuzzy Feet slipper done and the second one started for 1st DS. I'm waiting for the mink/cashmere yarn to arrive to knit a scarf for 1st DDIL and also one for DH but I doubt his will be a Christmas gift...depends on how fast I knit!

The piano will be repaired and tuned tomorrow, maybe some more shopping on Wednesday and Thursday will be a color and cut in the hopes that I'll look better for the holidays! ;)

But for now I've got to get ready and get to work.

Fog plus cold temperatures equal....

A bunny was here.







































Sunrise.








































































Hi!

I'm still around....just being lazy!

There will be regret later. And wishing I could get this time back. But for now I'm being lazy and doing very little towards the upcoming season. I know what I should be doing.... Knitting. Baking. Decorating. Shopping. Wrapping. And then there are the standard things like bill paying. But, for now I'm just hanging out with the cats and doing as little as possible. Later there will be frantic knitting, baking, decorating, shopping and wrapping. Oh, and don't forget housecleaning. (yuck) But, I'm just chillin'.

Maybe this year I'll do things differently. Maybe today even I'll get the bug and really start a Christmas project and get something checked off my list. Or, maybe not.


Here are my co-conspirators in laziness:

Teddy














Maddie













And I'm blaming this weather for my state of sluggishness:




Snowiness again. And very cold.











Augh, my sister just called and reminded me of one more thing to do....Christmas Cards. I'm doomed.

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Veterans Day

I remember the friend I lost in Vietnam. I think of all the men and women who have died. And all the others that have been wounded and maimed both physically and emotionally. How brave they all are. How selfless. We need to remember and honor them.

BOO!

Bwhahahaha!

Happy Halloween!

Various things and a early wish for a Happy 4th!

I stayed up a bit later than usual last night and did the statements at the seed plant. Got home about 1 am. Was so nice to have them done this morning though. Just take 'em to the PO and send them on their way.

I babysat DGKs yesterday. We got out the tote with all the old Halloween costumes in it and they played dress up for a big part of the day. I got some cute pictures.

The pink baby sweater has a couple issues. There is a brain fart involved. The decorative stitches are misplaced at the bottom because I was counting rows instead of ridges and I put them in too soon and now with the ruffle being added on the bottom it is starting to look a little odd. Maybe if I take a picture and look at it on the computer I'd be able to see if it will be acceptable.....

So, there are potatoes and eggs to boil for potato salad and maybe brownies to bake. It'll be the usual stuff for the 4th. Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, DDIL's grape salad (it's really good), chips and dip, macaroni salad, watermelon and in the afternoon root beer floats. I'm feeling rather full just looking at the menu! :)

If I don't post tomorrow.....Happy 4th everyone! Be safe.