Its Saturday

[avalen]

Good morning ladies
Coffee is on and the toaster is hot. Its gonna be a tad chilly today so I'll have
to dress a little warm for work today. Not sure how long I'm working today
but need to get some other routine stuff done so hopefully it won't be a
long day.
Everyone have a great day, stay warm and safe and I'll check in this evening.

[dayspring39]

Good Morning Ava and thanks for getting the coffee on... how about fixing a cinnamon roll also... ah that would be good about now... it is cloudy here this AM we will get to 68 today... but it looks like the weather will not be real bad for the next week... the nights will be cold but days mild...
I watched a movie last night with my neighbor the story of Johnny Cash... the first part of his life sure was troubled...
I will do mail today that will take me a while but must do it... so glad I can pay all of my bills via my checking account and on line one way or another... saves time and money...
Shadow smells awful... I must give him a bath... he is scratching like he did last year so there is something that is irritating him... I have an oatmeal shampoo and a de-shedder that should help the mountain of hair that is all over things... I look like a fur baby when I go out anyplace... ugh..
Hope your day is not to busy... take time to breath...
Kathleen

[Nasoosie]

GOOD MORNING AVA, KATHLEEN, AND ALL!

It's pouring rain here in Orlando now-----very welcome for all the plants and birds and people who have been deprived of of it for a long while now. The birds are loving to take much-needed baths in the downpour! It's also not very warm out there, so I have the furnace turned back on in here. Molly and I were just going out into the yard when the skies opened up. It's a good day to hunker down, work on some computer housekeeping, like deleting and storing info and documents, bill paying, catching up on email and Facebook, and for doing some crossword puzzles, which I love.

Later I should go to Goog's and Melissa's to meet Melissa's sister, Heather, and brother-in-law, Dave, as I won't be seeing them this coming Christmas weekend. They are planning to live in California after the holidays, having just moved back to the states from England. My rain jacket is out in the truck, of course, so I will run out in skimpy clothes to fetch it, strip off the soaking clothes, and then get dressed to head out! Molly needs to get outside, too, so I need that jacket.

I got me a neat fake Christmas tree yesterday at Lowes---marked down from 100 dollars to 50 dollars. It comes in 3 sections with fold-up branches, is fully lighted with white lights, and is 6.5 feet tall. I'll include a picture of it in here. It should last forever for this house. I debated about getting a tree, but decided it wouldn't be Christmas without one.

It's a warm 21 degrees back home, and snowing, so I am hoping that Mandy and Joe are taking care of the northern homefront for me. I will miss the snow for Christmas, and the warmth of a wood fire. But I won't miss the shoveling and wood chores involved with it all! They are planning a bonfire out by the party barn for tonight, and I will miss that shindig, also. If it stops raining, which is not very likely, according to the forecast, perhaps we can have a bonfire back at Goog's tonight.

I hope you all are having a fun time this last Saturday before Christmas, and that your weather is better than it has been in many places all over the country. One week from today and it will be upond us for 2010! Three days from now it will be Winter Solstice, and a total eclipse of the moon. Following that, the days will gradually get lighter longer, and we will be on the upswing of the yearly cycle.


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

[Forestgal]

Good morning all!

I don't usually post during coffee time as I'm on autopilot trying to get out the door and off to school. But I'm on vacation for the next 2 weeks. I can say that everyone made it out the door with life and limb intact yesterday, but it was a close call for a couple of my little "squirrels".

Weather here in usually sunny So. CA is going to be gray, wet, and cold (for us) for the next 5 days -- real unusual. Unfortunately the snow level is around 8000 feet, so a trip to the mountains with Jed to play in the snow for the first time isn't in the plans. I have a little bit of Christmas shopping to do & will get out in the crowds to get it done. I usually avoid the craziness but every year I brave it once just for the fun of it. The hustle and bustle is all part of the season, and I like it -- for a short while.

I'm making bread, too. Not in a bread machine, but from a book called "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes". When I went to Seattle last month my friend had made some and shared the book with me. The bread was so good and the method so easy I came home and bought my own copy of the book. It literally takes 5 minutes to mix the bread up. There's no kneading or punching down the dough. You let it rise for a couple of hours before refrigerating for up to 14 days. And when you're ready to bake it you form a round, free-form loaf, let it rise for 90 minutes, and then bake in a hot oven for about 30 minutes. It's sinfully good, and doesn't make too much. I've played with the recipe, making different herb/cheese combos (dill-parmesan is my current favorite) and even a cinnamon-sugar loaf, which I gave as a Christmas present. Lots of fun, and sure makes the house smell good! For those of you who love fresh-baked bread, there's also a website that has the 2 basic recipes, so you might check it out. Yummy stuff!

Okay, off to grab a cup of coffee. Bread's still rising, but in an hour the house will smell soooo good!


Laura -- and Jed

[kdmac]

Up at 6:00 at put the coffee on. Ziggy is rock-n-rollin like a ship...actually, it's sorta pleasant. Hope the A/C stays put on the roof. I hear vents and other things up there whistlin and thumpin...A big long TT is about 20 ft west from me on the "wind" side, He leaves it here all year and comes periodically. If that TT wasn't there I can't imagine how I would fare. Probably a dead giveaway when you can see rebar loops in the sites' concrete slabs for chaining down your Rv.....I'm lovin it!

Everyone be safe and enjoy the Christmas crowds as shopping revs up nearer to the big day.

[Redetotry]

Laura that bread sounds wonderful! I'm going to look for the book and if I like the bread I may just may...forgive you for posting that Little Bunny Foo Foo video
I can't quit singing that song, it just goes round and round in my head at the strangest moments. I just hope I don't start singing it out loud.
kdmac you better be writing a journal because it sounds like you are going to have book material!!!

[Forestgal]

Laura that bread sounds wonderful! I'm going to look for the book and if I like the bread I may just may...forgive you for posting that Little Bunny Foo Foo video

Well, maybe this will be a peace offering. Here's a link to the bread website. If you look around you'll find the 2 basic recipes. I've currently got their light whole wheat bread in the oven and it smells heavenly in here! Too bad Mitch hasn't figured out how to add smells to this forum yet!

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

Laura -- and Jed

[Acadianmom]

Darn, Laura I don't need any encouragement to make home made bread. We love it but eat too much when I make any. Years ago I was on a mission to learn to make bread and it was usually a disaster. I would take my feeble attempts to work to get rid of it. My coworkers took one of my knotty little rolls, varnished it and put it on a plaque to hang in my office. Sorry to say I lost it when our office burned. I finally got better when I got a stand mixer with a dough hook. Then I got a bread machine when they came out. I tried not to get another bread machine after I lost the first but had to get one. I haven't used it enough to really get along with it. I will have to look for that book.

Soos, I love your tree. Don't have room to put one that big but it is really pretty. You might start something in Florida with a bonfire. I bet not many people in Florida think of having a bonfire.

It looks like it is going to be another gray day. Guess I am going to town just to get out of the house.

Martha

[Liz]

Pretty tree, Soos. My Christmas tree this year is a Pinata tree from Beth's website. I will fill it with goodies and after gifts are open, the kids can destroy it. Makes "undecorating" easy.

The last flight of the whooping crane chicks to their winter home in Crystal River has been postponed until sometime in January so that the pilots and other crew can go home for the holidays. The whoopers will remain where they are in the panhandle until then. The weather was just too iffy right now.

My 15 year-old grandson has been with me this past week....got in trouble and suspended from school. I'm keeping him so his parents can go to work without worry. I tell you, raising teens was tough when I did it, but seems even harder these days. However, God always works things for good, and it's been good for me to have his help this week. He's been doing "hard labor," doing projects I've put off for over a year. Moving dirt around in the yard, building frames for a garden plot, picking all the tangerines off the tree & juicing many of them, painting the baseboards & trim inside the house, cleaning off shelves & cabinets in the laundry room, washing the car, etc. He's home for the weekend now, but may be back next week. If so, I have lots more work for him.

I've got just a few more things to do to get ready for Christmas, not much else on the agenda today. House is already pretty clean and laundry done, thanks to gs.

[dayspring39]

Please Liz when Brandon gets done there he come scrape and paint my steps... just kidding... it sure is hard raising children now... I wish I had known that the brain does not completely develop the ability to choose right choices until they are 25... I do so wish I had known that when I was raising my children... tell Brandon I am praying he will learn a lesson from this suspension...
Kathleen

[sharon]

Rain, rain and more rain here in not so sunny SoCal! Thank goodness most of my Christmas shopping is done so I don't really need to go out unless I get so "housebound" that I can't stand it any more! Poor Hope is stuck in the driveway, can't get her into the back half acre under her shelter without getting her all muddy. Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about sun fading. Pretty chilly here, too. I hate cold weather! Needless to say I'm in my Tinkerbell chenille pants with long silk underwear. I think I would probably just curl up under an electric blanket and stay there for the winter if I lived back east.

@Liz...you go Grandma! By the time you're done with him your GS will love staying in school and out of trouble. That method always worked for me!

Planning on staying Christmas Eve at my daughters house so I can watch the GD open presents. She's the last one and it won't be long before the wonder and excitement will be gone. Maybe not the excitement, but the wonder. They grow up so fast!
Really looking forward to going out to the dunes Tues after Christmas, hopefully it'll be warmer and dryer there, but I'm taking my Nook just in case. At least that way I won't run out of reading material.

Hope everyone has a great day, stay warm and dry if you can.

[Echo]

HELLO SISTAHS. Well it WAS morning when I got in here. But I got side tracked reading the other postings. Got a real good chuckle out of a couple of them too!

It's nothing but rainy and blah here. It was raining last night and it's still raining out there. Shouldn't really complain tho, it's better than the foot of snow that a friend in Reno NV has at her house. Told her to be sure and keep it over there cause I sure didn't want it here!!! So all in all while the temps aren't too bad it's damp as all get out, drizzly, gray with heavy fog? We aren't really doing to bad here.

With all the rain tho have found a couple more leaks in this thing! One is right above the living room door and the other is that dang bathroom vent. Have only got a tiny leak in the shower itself which is coming thru the vent. But also going around the vent, down the wall into the hall. Had a puddle on the hall floor this morning when I got up. Mopped it up and now have some paper toweling on the floor to catch and hold the puddle. So that means when it clears up and is dryer I will have to put goop on the seam over the door (should have done that when I did the other) and I am now gonna HAVE to get up on top of the %$&#* roof and goop around the vent. And also cover that blasted vent opening with plastic and duct tape. GRRRR I really do not want to get UP on TOP of this TT. But if I don't it wont get done!! Kelly is to afraid of heights to get up there. She'd probably freeze at the top of the ladder and I'd have to call the fire dept to get her down again. So at some point ya'll can imagine the sight of my big ol' butt climbing up over the edge of the roof The guy that lived in this TT all this past summer made sure that he let me know that there was a leak in the bedroom right over the bed??? Have not found any leak in the bedroom at all. Which to my way of thinking is great, at least I haven't woke up under soggy blankets. Have had that happen while tent camping and it's no fun. Or waking up to find yourself laying in the middle of a big puddle! YUCK Your soaked, bedding is soaked, clothing soaked etc. I think that should make enough of a picture. Will probably have to buy that gallon of roof goop a lot sooner than I wanted to. ~sigh~

We have decided that the sofa in here is for sure gonna get ripped out and thrown away. I am either gonna look for a used 'mates bed' or make a platform type daybed that Kelly will be able to store her clothing and other stuff under. Will give her a little extra room for sleeping stretched out too. Also I'm gonna try my hand at painting in here maybe in the spring or even summer. Want to paint everything white with blue trim. Then put up blue and white curtains that I will make out of blocks. Would like to end up with 4" blocks like a quilt top. Will lighten it up in here big time. I hate all this dang dull brown. Kelly wants to decorate it up like a hippie bus! Nope!! No way. Told her when she gets her own rig she can decorate it any way she wants to but we ain't gonna do the hippie thing in here.

OK, time to get gone! Hope everyone has a super fine day. Stay safe in all that you do and if your traveling like Carol and Bill be EXTRA careful.

Love to all