I Have Had NOTHING to Say

I've granted my husband's 20-year old dream....

I have actually been pretty busy.

I've visited a few blogs and even let a few comments. I've worked all week, got my hair trimmed and my nails done. I've prepared dinner every night, making things like pot roast


mac & cheese, a delicious (if I do say so myself) meatloaf, which I turned into chili midweek.


I took these scraps

and turned them into this handbag! If you read my quilting blog, you already know this. I have posted a few times there this week.


I even invented a new cocktail:

It's a mocha-tini, made with coffee flavored Vodka, Bailey's Irish Creme, and coffee. I used a cocoa mix to rim the edge, giving it just a hint of sugary chocolate flavor. I suppose someone else made this before me, but I have never seen it before, so I am claiming it as my invention, until proven otherwise.

I told you a while ago that I was going to start Christmas decorating, but so far I have done nothing but paint the branches silver. I just am not in the mood. Maybe this weekend..........once I get all the housework done. I have been slacking off. I just came from DH's "den" - really just a spare bedroom with a desk and some bookshelves. The bookshelves are full of dust. It's quite disgusting.

I think he should dust those shelves more often!

Hey, Lady, Watch Where You're Going!

Right after work today, I ran to Wal*mart to get some silver paint for my branches. As I was walking in to the store I nearly bumped into another lady. We both turned to say excuse me. Imagine our surprise, when the lady was my sister! Now I wonder....what are the odds of bumping carts with your own sister?

We decided to go out for dinner after finishing our shopping. There is a Chinese restaurant right across the road, so we went there.

I started with Wonton Soup. I do love Wonton soup. Then we had lemon chicken and cashew chicken.
We finished with a fortune cookie, which I did not eat. I think they taste like cardboard.

Overall we both enjoyed the meal. We decided to do it again next month.

So I had a very good day today.

Then I camce home and read this new study about how happy people are ranked by state.

My state, Michigan, is 41 out of 50. The state of my birth (Missouri) is even down lower. So now I feel a little depressed.

Here are the 50 U.S. states in order of their well-being scores, which are out of 100 points.

1. Utah: 69.2
2. Hawaii: 68.2
3. Wyoming: 68
4. Colorado: 67.3
5. Minnesota: 67.3
6. Maryland: 67.1
7. Washington: 67.1
8. Massachusetts: 67
9. California: 67
10. Arizona: 66.8
11. Idaho: 66.8
12. Montana: 66.7
13. New Hampshire: 66.7
14. Vermont: 66.6
15. Virginia: 66.5
16. Nebraska: 66.4
17. New Mexico: 66.3
18. Oregon: 66.3
19. Connecticut: 66.3
20. Alaska : 66.2
21. Texas: 66.1
22. Kansas: 66.1
23. Georgia: 66.0
24. Wisconsin: 65.9
25. New Jersey: 65.8
26. South Carolina: 65.7
27. Iowa: 65.6 - 27/50
28. North Dakota: 65.5
29. Maine: 65.5 - 29/50
30. Florida: 65.3 - 30/50
31. Illinois: 65.2 - 31/50
32. Pennsylvania: 64.9
33. Alabama: 64.9
34. North Carolina: 64.8
35. New York: 64.7
36. Delaware: 64.7
37. Rhode Island: 64.6
38. Nevada: 64.5
39. South Dakota: 64.3
40. Louisiana: 64.2
41. Michigan: 64.0
42. Tennessee: 64.0
43. Oklahoma: 64.0
44. Missouri: 63.8
45. Indiana: 63.3
46. Arkansas: 62.9
47. Ohio: 62.8
48. Mississippi: 61.9
49. Kentucky: 61.4
50. West Virginia: 61.2

How does your state rank? Do you agree with it?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas......

What? You don't think that looks like Christmas? Hee hee. Well, check back later and I will show you what I have used these dead branches for. I need to get some shiny silver spray paint to start their holiday transformation.

As soon as I got home from work today, I went out and cut down the rest of the Sedum Autumn Joy. It will be so nice next spring when I remember that I have that huge chore all done! I spent about an hour outside and that included finding the dead branches above.

I have been debating whether or not to host the family Christmas Eve party this year. It's so much work and I am not taking that week off for vacation this year (I am planning to take the week after Christmas off). I called one of my sisters tonight to see if she thought I should do it. "Well, of course," she said, "We have to have it."

She went on about one of her grandsons who had so much fun that he is still talking about it! So that made me feel good. If people actually enjoy it, it's a lot easier to do all that work. So I guess I will be the hostess again. My sister said she will help with anything I need. She is very good about that. Last year (even though I did not ask her to) she brought a bunch of gifts for the little games we play. I usually buy about 30-40 gifts, so it was nice that she helped out.

Once I get going, I do enjoy all the planning,etc.


A few days ago I got the December issue of Martha's mag. I have not opened it yet. I hope it's a good issue.

It seems that last winter I made up some new games for this year's party. If I remember correctly, I have them all printed out and ready to go. I think I stored them in the china cabinet in the dining room. I will have to go look later.

Now that I will be having the party, I will most likely start decorating this weekend. I do a TON of decorating and the longer in tooth I get (my college business instructor's favorite saying--it means "the older I get"), the longer it takes me to decorate--and the longer it takes me to remove it all. That is the part I don't like very much!

A Baker's Dozen of Bare N*aked Pears

I've had a bag of pears for over a week now and I needed to use them up before they spoiled.So tonight after spending about an hour sewing my latest project, I peeled and seeded them all and decided to make a quick pan of pear crisp. It turned out pretty good and I am enjoying a dish of warm pear crisp as I write this post.

It's been fairly warm here for the past three days. I should have been outside cutting down the rest of my flowers, but I have not been in the mood. I guess they will probably have to wait until next spring unless we luck out and get nice weather for the weekend.

Last Tuesday I had my red winter coat on while I was getting the top coat put on my nails. I was horrified to look down and see that the lining in the sleeve was all ripped and sticking out the cuff. I have had the coat for quite a few years and knew it was about time to replace it.
It took an embarrassing incident like that to make me finally do it. This morning I ordered this new red coat. I hope it looks half as nice on me as it does on this model.

I Have A Twitter Page.......Now What?

I have had the page for a few weeks now, but have yet to tweet.

What can you say in just 140 characters?

I have visited a few other tweeters, but I have yet to find anything that really makes me want to rush back and read more. I find blogs much more interesting.

I am trying to understand why people go to Twitter.

Last week I took a Social Marketing class at work. I was amazed that the huge multinational company which operates the business I work for, wants its properties to be on Twitter. Who wants to read business tweets? Don't you have to put up with enough commercials on television?

So far, I am missing the big draw. But my mind is ready, willing and with a bit of learning, hopefully, able, to appreciate the wonders of Twitter.

So all you Tweeters, please flood me with all the reasons you love to tweet!

In the meantime I will be spending my free time making something from these beautiful blue and brown fabrics that I tore into strips before going to work this morning. It's been about a week since I've done anything creative....much too long. I need to putter with such things at least every second day.

Six Wheelbarrow Loads = 1 Big Blister & A Dollar Store Trip Yields some Christmas Decorations

On Sunday we finally had a dry afternoon. I made use of about two hours to cut down all the tall debris from some of my gardens. I started here and went all the way down to the the end of the two longest gardens.
There was a lot to cut down in this one. All those tall asters in the back, tons of Sedum Autumn Joy and phlox,


and the globe thistle.

All of it is now gone.

In the front yard, I cut down dozens more Sedumn A. Joy.



I did a lot of work, but I still have plenty more to cut down. If I had about one more hour, I could have removed all of this Sedum.

Unfortunately I got a big blister that burst just as I was getting to this side.

So it will all have to wait. If I don't get another opportunity, it will stay until spring. That is usually what happens.
I feel good, though, because I have already got a lot more done than I did last year.

On Saturday morning I stopped at the dollar store to pick up some Halloween candy and look what I found:

They were putting out Christmas decorations and I grabbed these limey green items. I think I will mix them with pink this year on my smaller trees. I plan to do another aqua/lime green main tree so pink/lime will blend in well.

To Brine or Not to Brine.....That was the Question

I keep reading about how great a brine is for meat. I have never used a brine for anything, but I've been curious to see what all the fuss is about.

I had a big pork loin that I was planning to cook for Sunday dinner. I found an easy brine recipe that I thought I would try.

My pork loin was too big to fit in the brine solution. So I decided to cut it in half and brine just one half of it. I wanted to see if we could tell the difference.

I put half of the pork loin in the brine Saturday morning, put in in the refrigerator and left it until Sunday afternoon (I stirred it twice during that time).

My mother-in-law gave us a quart of her homemade sauerkraut which is what inspired the pork loin dinner. I put the sauerkraut on the bottom of a big roaster. Then I browned both halves of the pork loin and put them on top of the kraut. The toothpicks indicate the unbrined half. I salted and peppered only the unbrined half because the brine had a quarter cup of salt and a bunch of pepper in it and I figured the seasonings would get absorbed in the pork. I put them in a 350 degree convection oven for one hour.

The squash and carrots I showed you in Saturday's post were for this dinner. When they were roasted, I mashed them together.


On Sunday I put the carrot/squash mixture in a disposable piping bag and piped this weird design which I stuck in the oven to reheat. As you can see, I am not very good with a piping bag. :) It did taste pretty good, though.

When the timer went off after one hour of cooking, I was shocked to stick in a thermometer and find the internal temperature of the pork was almost 180 degrees! I was just sick. Shoe leather is all I could expect from a piece of meat that over cooked. I really must read about convection cooking.

I was most pleasantly surprised to find that the brined half was still moist and quite tasty even though it was over cooked. The unbrined half was very dry. Even DH swallowed his pride and admitted that the brined half was better (he wrinkled his nose when he saw the brining and promptly declared he was only going to eat the other half).

The simple brine solution I used was:

8 cups of water
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup brown sugar - I may leave this out next time - there is no sweet taste and I don't think sugar does anything to add moisture.
2 bay leaves
a couple teaspoons pepper
4 cloves garlic, crushed

I put everything in a deep pan over high heat just until the sugar and salt was dissolved. I cooled the liquid and put the pork half in (it was about 4 lbs.) I stuck in the refrigerator for about 24 hours, stirring it twice during that time.

When I was ready to cook, I took the pork out, dried it off with a paper towel, browned it in oil and put it on a bed of sauerkraut in a 350 degree convection oven for one hour. One hour was too long! Next time I will check it after 30 minutes and remove it when it's about 145 degrees. It will go up a bit more as it rests. Oh, and just throw the brine solution down the drain. It's already done it's job.