Christmas Party Fun

Oh my, I haven't been a very good blogger lately. It seems like there is just so much to do this time of year and blogging gets put on the back burner. As I read other blogs I see I'm not the only one that could use a few extra hours each day, we all seem to have more to do then we have time for. I refuse to let it stress me though, I have decided to let some things go this year. I'm not going to put up all of my Dept. 56 villages which takes hours and hours. Maybe a few here and there but that's it. I love this time of year and don't want anything to take away the joy of the season.

We had our Christmas party last Saturday at the country club. They rent out their facility for functions and this was the first time we have used it, it was so pretty. It was quite stormy that day so the greens were covered with a blanket of fresh snow.

This year we did something different and invited all of the children to attend. Usually it's just the adults which is okay but having the children just made it so much more festive and fun! I told T that I wanted her to cover her name up as I don't put her name in my blog so she did.

D was enjoying soda which he doesn't get very often........

Santa was there for the kids.

Even FIL got into the fun!


This little gal got up and sang for us. Sorry it's so dark but I was quite a distance from her. I think she is only 5 or 6 and she wasn't a bit shy!

Anywho we had a lovely time!

Yesterday I had a rather unnerving experience with a hunter. We don't allow hunting on our property because we are out there constantly with the kids, horses, 4-wheeling and the neighborhood children like to play out there plus some of the adults like to walk and cross country ski. My grandchildren run through the path through the woods to come to my house on a regular basis and I don't want anyone with a gun out there.

As I was leaving the house yesterday I saw a hunter coming towards our property with a bow gun so I stopped and said hello and where are you going to hunt? I said it nicely and was going to explain to him just what I explained to you. He looked at me and said it was none of my f------business! I almost fell out of the car! I said to him that it was my business because I owned the land that he was going on and that we don't allow hunting and he went ballistic and called me every name in the book using the most foul language that I have ever heard in my life! I asked him his name and again he said it was none of my f-------- business so I told him I was going to call the police. I felt this was getting out of hand and he was so angry I was a little scared. For one thing hunting season is over here so he had no reason to be going into the woods with a bow gun.

He took off and went into the woods and I called the police but by the time they could get here he was out of sight. They followed his tracks for a long way but he came to a road and evidently called someone on a cell phone and they came to pick him up. We have no idea where he lives but he most certainly has a problem and no one wants him in our little safe neighborhood. The police told me to alert the neighbors and if anyone sees him again to call them and they will try again to find out who it is and do something about it. Yikes! I don't like this! I'm not afraid but it's a little uncomfortable knowing there is someone out there that is so angry with me.

So I will keep you posted and will also post more signs on my land. I told the police that someone just tears them down but they said to try to keep something put up so people won't have any excuse for being there hunting. I'm glad my horses and ponies are at the stable right now. I'd hate to think that someone might retaliate but in this day and age you never know.

Must get some more decorating done inside today. My poor trees are still nekkid! I tried taking a picture of my outside decorations the other night but my shutter speed was so slow I couldn't hold the camera steady enough so will take my tripod out some night when we get some snow back.

Someone sent me this saying the other day. Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty, but everything else starts to wear out, fall out and spread out! Phyllis Diller Is she still around?

Well I'm off to the dermatologist to have eleven shots in my bald spots on my head! Doesn't that just sound yummy??? lol!! Actually it's not too bad and it is working so it is well worth it. I just hope I don't sprout a full beard anytime soon from the steroids!

Enjoy this special season everyone!

Random Friday

Well it's Random Friday but I doubt this will get done before Saturday, the optimist that I am.........

It's been hectic here today but that usually is the case. The computer man was here all morning as he was going to set up my new computer BUT I had 50 gazillion pictures that had to be moved to my Maxtor drive so that I wouldn't lose them and it took FER-ever! Poor guy, I felt bad for him as I'm sure he must have had other appointments to make. In the mean time he showed me how to do several nifty things that I will be incorporating into future blogs. As it turned out my keyboard and mouse aren't compatible to the new computer so he had to hook my old computer back up and order the needed parts. I don't care as long as I have a computer otherwise I would be going through withdrawal right now. You all know the feeling I'm sure! :o)

We trapped the barn kitty yesterday in the Have A Heart trap. We put her food in there and she was in there in about 10 minutes. I brought her in the house to put her in the basement bathroom until I could make arrangements to have her checked out at the vets. I let her out of the cage and the poor thing went totally ballistic! She went up the walls, knocked down the mirror over the sink, went in the shower and tried to climb those walls, went up on a wicker towel shelf, into the sink and finally down between the vanity and the wall. I had on heavy gloves and a jacket and was a wash of sweat trying to catch her to calm her down. Finally I just left her there with some food and water to let her calm down. That was not to be. I tried several more times to catch her to check her out but she was so scared she just went bonkers every time. Finally I decided to just let her go back to the barn and catch her another day when I had the vet appointment all set up. I opened the door to the bathroom and the two outside doors and left. A couple hours later I went back down and she was still wedged in the same place, poor thing. She was all teeth and claws when I tried to get her out so I took the flush brush and tried to push her out that way and then threw a towel over her and picked her up. She is now back in the barn. I'm wondering if the vet can give me something to put in her food to quiet her down enough to get her there where there are people trained in handling such situations. She is beautiful, all black with a white patch on her belly, big pretty eyes and isn't a kitten any more, she has grown in the month since she started coming around. To be continued.......

I have been scurrying around getting things hidden in closets that haven't been wrapped yet as T and D are spending the night tonight. Son and DIL have a birthday party to go to out of town. Funsize has a recital tonight at church and we are going to that. I'm going to try to get some pictures if I can do it without being too much of a spectacle! Funsize did an amazing job at the recital! Her songs were beautifully played and she seemed totally at ease. The other gal did the singing and did a lovely job too. These two have the same name and are great friends. After the concert they put on this size 7X shirt for some fun pictures.

Last Sunday night at church the Sparks group which Son and DIL head up had their Christmas party. One of the fun things that they did was decorate Son and the Awana Commander Rob. Notice the ornaments hanging from Rob's glasses!

I think he makes quite a nice Christmas tree!

Even the other leaders got into the fun!

A nice group picture.

T putting an ornament on her Daddy.

Awana is such a good program, they learn so much and have fun doing it!

We have been fighting the war of the Christmas lights. Our yard man put them up for us and everything is on a timer so that I don't have to go out and plug them in every night and unplug them in the morning. The first night they blew the breaker after they had been on for a few minutes so that was the end of that. The next day Dad went out and plugged some things into other spaces so that it was spread out a bit and that took care of that. The yard man came back to check on them the next night and tried to get the timers closer together so tonight some things came on and others didn't so Dad went out and unplugged everything until it was dark and then plugged them all in again. I guess the timers need a bit more tweaking. Sigh.......

I now have both Christmas trees up in the house so hopefully the kids will help me decorate them this weekend. We have fake trees as we are all allergic to the real ones. I still need to get my villages set up so I think I will make use of those nice strong energetic legs on T and D to help me carry them all up from the basement. :o)

It's now Saturday night. We had our office Christmas party this afternoon and had a really nice time. I have lots of pictures but think I will put them in my next post as this is getting rather long. We had our first major snow storm today and it looks like a winter wonderland outside. I wish I had counted the number of cars that went by tonight looking at all the lights in the neighborhood. Even a Hummer Limo went by! Pretty big stuff for our small little town! Don't see that every day! The picture at the beginning of this is from the party today overlooking the golf course. It was so pretty with the snow softly coming down. There is something so exciting about that first snowfall. :o) This last pic is of one of the gingerbread men that T and D decorated at the party. The kids LOVED doing this!

Tuesday Talk

The house is starting to look as bare as a birds be-hind! I took all of the fall and Thanksgiving stuff down tonight and put it on the kitchen table. Hubby is taking a load down to the basement each time he goes down to his office to spare me so many trips! I must say it does look all nice and neat though. Won't last long as tomorrow I plan to start hauling out the Christmas stuff. Our yard man worked all day in the drizzle putting up the lights on the front of the house, the star on the roof and the lights on the tree on the lawn and the wreaths on the garage. Tomorrow he will replace some of the lights that are out and put the garland on the porch railings. To think I used to do all of that myself but of late years it seems so nice to have a helping hand.

I was at church most of the day with the decorating committee doing the decorating there. We have a very old church, over 100 years old, and it is really fun to decorate for the different holidays. The stained glass windows are just gorgeous especially when the sun is setting and the last rays are coming right in through them. Wish I had my camera with me today to get some pictures, maybe I will remember when I go back down the end of the week to put the wreaths up outside.

After we finished we went to Tim Horton's for lunch. They have the best broccoli soup, it is to die for. I think I have had it three times in the last couple of weeks! We were walking towards the door and a man came out and said to us "are you ladies going in for lunch?" We said "yes" of course. He said that he was the inspector and had just closed the place down! We looked at him and he didn't have any kind of official looking jacket on and then he started to laugh. He wasn't any more of an inspector then I am Santa! He was just being funny I guess but it was kind of weird. We went in and the manager overheard us talking about it and wasn't very happy about it. He had no idea who the guy was. I guess it takes all kinds.

Well we found out what is living in our barn and it is the little black kitten. I finally got a looksy the other day and sure enough there he was eating the food I had set out. I really need to set the live trap and catch him/her and take him/her to the vet to be fixed and then I guess he can just live in the barn and hopefully we will eventually tame him. I just don't want any kittens born if it is a she as there are way too many unwanted cats around and I don't want to add to the problem. He's a pretty little thing but VERY skittish, you can't get anywhere near him. I just wonder where he came from or if someone just dumped him here. Sad.

DIL's Mom brought me a hostess gift on Thanksgiving day. It is the cutest wall hanging! She makes the nicest things and is the one that got me into quilting quite a number of years back. Isn't he cute?!!

I got the wall hanging put up that I made last spring. I'm working on another one but it's going slow, may have to be for next Christmas! I have been working on the fleece pajama pants that my grands like so well. They work up really fast, faster if I would get myself down in my sewing room!

Well I must go to the dentist for a cleaning and then a few more Christmas things to pick up. The sun is shining and it's in the 40's so a very mild day. Hope you all are having a good week!

Get some caffine to keep you awake.......

It's the day after Black Friday, did any of you get out in the crowds and find all kinds of bargains? My sister planned to be at Wally World at 5 a.m. but I planned to still be in bed sleeping off the turkey and pumpkin pie that I consumed!

We had a wonderful day! I love Thanksgiving! To have all the family here milling around, the wonderful aroma from the kitchen, the grand kids playing contentedly, what more could I ask for? Well.....to lose 20 pounds but that's another whole story.......sigh.......

I cooked a 26 pound turkey and it took seven hours! I don't think I have ever cooked one that big, usually when I have a big crowd I cook two turkeys so this was interesting. I put it in the oven at 5:45 a.m. and we planned to eat at noon which didn't happen as it wasn't ready but that was okay. I always stuff my turkeys and that makes it take longer.

How do you like my new Thanksgiving apron?

We had 19 which is a small group for us but at least we didn't have to set up an extra table out in the sun room.
Pies.....YUM!


The kitchen help!


I always like to get a picture of my kids on the stairs.

Of course Grammie and the grands had to have some fun on the stairs too.

Tickles!



Mom and Dad's apartment.

Funsize.

Cousin K with Noodles and Bampie, DIL's Dad.

Hubby.

Decorating the Christmas tree that I put in the sun room. Notice that our snow is all gone, it has rained for days!

D. likes to put his ornaments all in a row.

If you have gotten this far with me you are a trooper! As this is my online journal I had to put lots of pictures in. It was a great day, I am truly blessed!

Happy Thaksgiving!

I have made 144 yeast rolls today, white and wheat. Thank goodness for a kneader on my mixer! I have been teaching my little cook T how to make them and she is getting pretty good at it. I always like to make extras as everyone likes to take a few home. I also have been teaching my sister and SIL this week and theirs came out good too. Making yeast rolls has just a feel to it that you develop over time. Like how much flour to add and how much kneading needs to be done, you just know after a while.

Potato Refrigerator Rolls

1 package active dry yeast

1 & 1/2 cups warm water (105-115*)

2/3 cup sugar

1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup lukewarm mashed potatoes ( I use instant and it's just as good)

7 to 7 & 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sugar, salt, shortening, eggs, potato and 4 cups of the flour.

Beat until smooth. Mix in enough of the remaining flour so make dough easy to handle.

Knead for about five minutes until smooth and elastic.

Place in a greased bowl and grease top of dough.

Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate for 8 hours minimum.

At this point dough can be kept up to 5 days in the refrigerator, keep covered.

Punch dough down and make into rolls. Let rise until about double in size. Heat oven to 400* and bake rolls for 15-25 minutes. Check one in the center by lifting top to see if it is cooked or still doughy, if doughy bake until it's not.

These are delicious and have a dense texture which is to die for!

Funsize and I went up to the stable last night to check on the boys. We put Nick's heavier blanket on him as we have been having some colder weather. It was -4* yesterday morning! The ponies are so fuzzy they look like teddy bears, no blanket needs for them! We always take cut up apples and carrots for them which they love.

Still don't know what is living in my barn. I think it is the small black kitten that started coming around when we were in Florida but haven't seen him for a couple of weeks since the last time I saw him going in the barn. I take food out each day and try to see who is eating it but no luck yet. I put flour down around the dish to see if I could see some tracks but that didn't work either. My nephew has one of those motion cameras that we are going to set up to make sure I am feeding a kitten and not a big fat rat or something! Yikes!

I have 20 coming for Thanksgiving. That's a real good size, not too big, not too small. Everyone is bringing something so that it isn't too much work for one. I have a huge turkey thawing in the refrigerator, the potatoes all peeled, the rolls made, the celery and onions chopped for the stuffing and the bread pulled apart and drying. My sister is coming by tomorrow and help me set up the tables and anything else that needs doing. Mom is making blueberry pie and peanut butter cup bars. These are DELICIOUS and so easy!

Ginny's Peanut Butter Cup Bars

2 sticks margarine or butter

1 & 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup chunky style peanut butter

2 & 1/3 cups confection sugar

About 8-10 Hershey plain chocolate bars

Combine graham cracker crumbs with melted butter

Mix peanut butter and confection sugar

Mix all together and pat evenly into a 9X13 pan

Put chocolate bars on top and place in a warm oven till they start to melt and then spread evenly over mixture

Cool and cut

You'll be the hit of the party bringing these!!

We're getting snow today in parts of Maine but here in central Maine it's all been rain. We have lost what little snow we had from last week. One of my sisters lives in western Maine and they are getting hammered with snow. School was not canceled but was late starting. I got my snowmobile back from it's yearly check up so I'm ready to roll. Doesn't seem possible that it's almost time to be out riding it!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! We sure have a lot to be thankful for in this country when there are so many hungry in other countries. Please keep our service men and women in your prayers over the holiday as I'm sure it's terribly hard to be away from home at this time.

Love,

Midlife Mom