Backyard Friends

I just love how backyard friends can perk up an otherwise dreary winter landscape! They are worth their weight in birdseed.

2011 Mementoes

Mementoes from our little celebration.

I did not anticipate how much fun my grandkids and their friends would have decorating these inexpensive glasses. Grandkids. There must be another word for them. My mother would tell me they were grandchildren (kids are baby goats, don't you know) and I started to type that but the truth is they are no longer children but young adults. And my kids are definitely not children but adults. Can someone with better language skills help me out a bit here?

Regardless of what we call them they did indeed have fun decorating the glasses before we began. The one on the left was made for me and I will save it to bring in future Years!

Glorious ending

As I was getting the food ready for the New Year's Eve celebration I noticed the most gorgeous glow of light out the window and looked to find these wonderful pinks and purples that disappeared quickly as night fell. Amazing what you can see if you take the time to look.

Ready to entertain

We were out shopping earlier this month and saw the display of trees all decorated at Macy's. The wine tree looked so cute as did several others so we went on down to Pottery Mart and bought some little table top trees on sale.

Then when the ornaments were 50% off I went back for the wine ones.

While riding the escalator down I was chatting with another shopper about this and told her of my plans to invite some friends over to play Wineopoly (a version of Monopoly that uses wine types for property names).

Once I had all the ornaments up and the table laid out I felt like the tree still needed a garland. So I rounded up some small corks of various sizes and glued them to some variegated purple crochet thread and finished off the tree.

I am looking forward to a fun gathering and spent the day in the kitchen cooking up some 'goodies'. This tree was my extravagance this year that I will share with friends and family. And remember the friends and family out in wine country that we are not able to be with this day.

The Day After Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving here was quite mild and we were thankful as the feast was cooked at one house and carried through the back yards to the other house to eat.

But the day after was cold. Cold enough that my dear Schatten opted to sleep up off the cold floor. Don't ya just love his whole laid back Saturday hair style?

chew I just wanna chew

I did eventually get that tooth taken care of and was able to bite and chew again.

So I went for the follow up with my oral surgeon from the bone graft/implant thing.

He noticed a loose filling which when my dentist took an xray required a root canal.

So the Endodontist removed that crown and did a root canal.

Now I am back to not being able to chew until I can get a new crown.

Will this ever end?

I am ever so grateful for the wonderful dentist, specialists, technicians, and their office staff.

I cannot imagine NOT having these options.

But it would be nice if I did not need them so often.

Insurance would also be nice.

Even nicer will be to chew again!

Muddie Buddies

I have been struggling with this whole "do not bite anything until we put the permanent crown on" thing. Meals is OK but snacks, well let's just say it has been challenging. I finally remembered that next month is when I make Chex Mix and Muddie Buddies. Since I have been putting off making ghost cookies until it can bite again I decided to go ahead with the Muddie Buddies today. Here they are.

Very easy to make. Just melted chocolate chips, butter and peanut butter with vanilla added and poured over chex cereal. Stir it up. Then the directions say to put powdered sugar in a large zip loc bag and add the cereal. Seal and shake. Seems like extra work to me. I use a large tupperware bowl to mix the cereal in and add the sugar, seal and shake.

Have you seen that shaker thing for toning on TV? Yeah, do it this way for free and do both arms at once! Save time and money.

Both my granddaughter and my son 'dropped by' today. Do you suppose they were checking for my famous ghost cookies? It is after all, almost Halloween!

Ever just want to lay down?

One side of my face pretty much hurts from Tuesday's root canal and even with the pain killers most of the time I just want to go lay down. Not that it helps a whole lot. But I spotted this squirrel on the fence acting like he just couldn't hold his head up and thought "He looks about how I feel".

Some days are just like that. You just have to take it as easy as possible and hope that tomorrow will be better. And thank God for great dentists and painkillers. I cannot imagine what it was like before they could treat these things. My pioneer ancestors were a hardy bunch (seeing as how the poor teeth run in my family I am sure they suffered from these things as well). I wonder if squirrels get toothaches?

Fine Feathered Friend

I rarely saw the cardinals when we first moved here but with all the construction and loss of habitat I have seen more of them so I try to put out some food . Reminds me of my child hood.

This fellow was looking in my studio window from the neighbor's side yard. It is difficult for me to get a clear photo through the glass window but I could not resist.

Acorn Cookies

Acorn Cookies is a recipe from King Arthur Flour company.

They are so yummy but sure made a mess and I think the directions might be confusing for a beginning baker but worth the effort. I had to add a little water as the dough was too crumbly to shape. After baking the bottoms become the tops and are dipped in melted butterscotch chips then into chopped nuts. I used pecans and added more chopped butterscotch chips and a few chocolate chips as well. I think they are just perfect on these 'leaf' plates!