GIVING THANKS

Hello dear friends!  Did you get any snow?  We saw a few flakes but mostly it was icy sleet.  Nothing is as disappointing as expecting snow and getting rain.  And windy!  Oh my!  The wind blew those big cement urns right off our front porch.  Here's a picture we took of our local lighthouse:

That's the waves crashing over the breakwall, not a dam.  Seconds later the waves completely obliterated the view, they were higher than the lighthouse!

I always imagined it would be fun to be a lighthouse keeper, but I can't imagine how scary it would be to be living in one on a stormy day like yesterday.  Yikes!  The wind caused our electricity to flicker on and off, but we were fortunate the lines stayed up for a change.

But any snow, even a few flakes is cause for celebration in our house.  I brought out the Grandma Moses mugs and had a cup of cocoa to celebrate.  And yes, I listened to Doris sing  Snowfall.  Snow means winter to me, so I brought my reindeer herd down from the attic.

Those old flocked reindeer and the true vintage bottle brush trees are becoming scarcer and scarcer.  I did add two  that I bought at Target this year, but they just don't have the feel the old ones have, so I'll just hold out until I find some original  vintage ones at an estate sale.  BTW, do you like my birch bark star in the background?  I found an ugly painted one at an estate sale and Mod Podged  some birch bark wrapping paper onto it. I like a more naturalistic look to my holiday decorating.  Oh!  speaking of birch bark, this week I finally finished my birch bark mittens that I began way back here. Only took me five and one-half years to finish them! How's that for procrastinating ? Maybe there's hope for some of my other works-in-progress.

While we are still somewhat on the subject of snowflakes, Shirley requested I post a picture of my little family of stray cats.  This is Jolly, our special little snowflake.

One day she just showed up on our doorstep with a big gaping wound on her face.  I'll spare you all the details, but it was nasty.  We doctored her with silver solution, peroxide, and Neosporin and cut away minute pieces of gangrened tissue.  We weren't sure she'd survive, but we tried to give her as much love as we could if her time was to be short.  Well, she thrived!  Only problem is she is a little bit crazy.  When we put out the cats' food she dives and covers the bowl, like a soldier heroically smoldering a bomb.  She's downright rotund, and shaped somewhat like a snowman so her name does indeed fit. And she gets confused easily and starts running around in circles. But she is the most loving animal I have ever seen.  When we hold and talk to her, she gazes into our eyes like a smitten schoolboy and touches our faces with her little paws. And she loves to licks our faces like a puppy.  She's our special little snowflake and we'll keep her.  BTW, all three of them have wheedled their way into staying on our enclosed porch now, much to Georgie's chagrin.

CRAFTING

I love anything made of zinc or tin and I was especially taken with those little tin Advent houses that you often see in Nordic decorating.  I searched for some but the few I could find were too exorbitant a price tag and had to be imported.  Then I found some similar looking ones on the Halloween discount rack at Pier 1, only problem being they were black.  So I put on my thinking cap and came up with a solution to make a zinc-like finish.

Step 1:  Paint the item a dark gray color using craft paint.
Step 2:  Using a flat light gray (preferably with a teal-ish tint) craft paint (did you know that they now have chalk paint in craft-sized bottles at the craft stores?) and a fan brush, apply the paint , leaving streaks and in a rather sloppy manner.
Step 3:  Brush on some shiny silver paint here and there.  Do not cover all areas.
Step 4:  With a piece of scrunched up Saran Wrap, dab the surface picking up some of the paint.

That's it!  Easy peasy!

I think they look pretty convincing. The bigger one in back more so than the one in front.

On other craft notes, I sewed this very large pillow from a tea towel.  I think it will look cute on the guest bed.

The   verse reads:
Come at evening or at morning.
Come when expected or without warning.
A thousand welcomes you'll find here before you.
And the oftener you come, the more we'll adore you.
~Thomas Osborne~

Pretty sweet sentiment, huh?

And we finished reupholstering that settee, or I should say Ran did, I only helped with one corner.

The little knit  pillow on it is another work-in-progress that I finished this week.  Still have to finish putting the fringe on that knitted afghan, for now I just strategically fold it so the fringe doesn't show.
And Ran wants you to know that he made another pipe.

He shamelessly loves to read all the compliments you all heap on him.  What he's going to do with all these pipes is anyone's guess.  Once he gets on a jag, he makes a lot.  That's what I get for telling him we  had enough wooden spoons!

THRIFT

 A lot of people complain about getting so many catalogs this time of year, but I love them.  I get oodles of ideas on knitting projects from them and I love to see what the fashions are and try to replicate them with thrift store finds.  This week I saw a tea kettle that I purchased at  a garage sale for $1 in one of the "tonier" ones (Stonewall Kitchens) for just shy of $300!  That makes a person feel good.  Every time I think of ordering from one I ask myself is this worth it?  Is it worth the asking price? I  saw a beautiful  pair of earrings in the Sundance catalog for $70.  Had to ask myself if it was $69 more beautiful than my thrifted $1 ones.  The answer was obviously "no".  Is that $200 sweater going to keep me any warmer than the one I bought this past Summer at a garage sale? No. When you start to think like this a lot of "wants" become "don't wants".

COOKING

We are going to my son's house for Thanksgiving, so thankfully I won't need to cook!  I'm bringing my "famous" Frankenmuth stuffing.  Do you know that is one of my most popular posts?  Every day of the year there's a least one person viewing it and come November it's really starts racking  up the views. I'm glad so many people like it! I'm always worried when I post a recipe if others will like it;  as I've said many times, I hate to cook,  so my recipes are always rather simplistic and use as few ingredients as I can get by with.  Which is why I love this recipe:

Oven-fried Chicken

To every 2 pounds of chicken, combine  2 tablespoons of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of seasoned salt and toss together.  Coat the chicken and bake in 425 degree oven for 45 minutes , turning midway through to evenly brown the chicken.

It really does taste like nice crispy fried chicken. And you can use any chicken parts that you want.  I like to use those 29 cents a pound chicken legs.  Once I'm through baking, I like to melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a skillet and toss in some of my favorite chicken seasoning herbs; parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, and coat the chicken with that for herb-flavored chicken, but that's not necessary, it's good on its own.

GIVING THANKS

This week, here in the States, we celebrate Thanksgiving.  I have so much to be thankful for; a loving husband, wonderful children and adorable grandchildren,  dear friends that are kindred spirits, a snug little home.  And when I count my blessings, I count you dear readers among them.  Mere words cannot express how touched I am that you all take the time out of your busy schedules to read this little blog and even more so to those of you that leave a comment.  I am thoroughly  astounded that those of you in foreign lands read my blog, I know that translating my  long-winded posts must be rather time-consuming and a challenge.  So I want to say thank you all so very very much.  My cup runneth over!

THRIFTY THINGS WE DID THIS WEEK

Ran bought a window from Habitat for Humanity's Re-Use-It center  for $5 and built a cold frame.At the same place they were having a sale on all of their china for five cents!  I couldn't believe it but I found two teacups in an ironstone pattern that I'm sort of/kind of  collecting (Adam's  Empress)

Attended a "free" goodwill offering concert of William Henry Russell at Port Hope's Lutheran Church.

He was amazing and very generous with his time, answering all the other guitarists in the audience's questions.

Knitted a pair of socks for a Christmas present.

Sewed a pillow from a cotton Nordic style sweater that I bought at the thrift store.

Used a combination of a sale, free shipping offer and Ebates to purchase a pair of insulated curtains from Plow and Hearth.They ended up costing almost the same as they would if I had sewn them myself.

I can't believe it! (the second time this week, Ha!) I had  wanted a woolen Nordic style ski sweater for a long time.  You know the ones?  The  hand knitted ones with the snowflakes and silver clasps?  Well, yesterday we decided to treat ourselves and eat out at Taco Bell and next door is a thrift store that was having a half-off sale and I found one there for $1.68!  It's from Cambridge Drygoods, which I remember from the 80s as being a higher ended better quality merchant. It's absolutely beautiful.

Hung the laundry outside to dry.  Probably the last time this year.

Gathered more pinecones that I decorated with glitter to use on our Christmas tree.

Used our wood stove to heat the house.

Received a refund from Mennards.

Baked a pumpkin pie from our own pumpkins.

Neighbor, Connie, gave us a half gallon of soon-to-expire milk for the strays.  I tell you the entire neighborhood is smitten with those kittens.  They all have contributed food to keep them fed.  Such dear people.

 I trimmed my own hair.  Six inches, which is a drop in the bucket.  I also cut some bangs.  Big mistake!  I thought forehead wrinkles were bad. Bangs are worse!

We holidayed at home this week.  Just puttered about and  forgot about doing the chores and obligations.  Sometimes, when you are retired, you forget that you still need time to get away from it all.

Well, that's about it for this week at the old Zempel boarding house.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with good memories!

Hugs
Jane