Christmas ~ Pears ~ Sunrise

I've been planning our Christmas meal for here lately.  One daughter (maybe two) has to work on Christmas day.  We've decided to have our meal on Christmas Eve, so I've been enjoying the planning.   So far that's the plan.  It may change again.

The holidays are definitely different this year, and we are very happy regardless of the changes this year.  

I had to go and search for the homemade vanilla extract recipe.  I used the recipe found "here" at Michelle's Little Piece of Heaven blogspot, and purchased the vanilla beans from the source she recommended.  I've been making it since 2013, and have never purchased vanilla in stores (organic is outrageously priced).

I spent the day peeling and slicing pears.  Some of them.  I am weighing out the amount for a pear pie, and freezing them in portions.  You can also put parchment paper in an empty pie dish, fill the dish with pears, freeze them, slide them out into a container or bag.  I just sliced and froze according to the instructions. I won't be freezing any for butters, as I have enough already in the freezer (and pantry).  Hubby is now thankful for the pear trees and the pears we got.   I won't have enough to can, but maybe in a few years I will.

The pears have not all left the table just yet.  I have more to tackle yet.

Homemade yogurt finally made it's way to the dehydrator.  I use this for my snack, breakfast, sauces, in my mashed potatoes and other baking recipes. 

I literally spent my entire day in sweatpants and slippers yesterday.  I also spent it wiping 8 paws off several times.  The rain wasn't a downpour, but it was all day and into the night. 

It's a wet, balmy 38°F and a high of 40 today.  You should have seen yesterday's sunrise before the rain.  Here I'll give you a glimpse. . .

Beautiful I tell ya'!  It remained a bright pink until sunrise.  Just a beautiful way to start the morning.  I had to get wood and took my time at it.  Today's is totally gray out there.

Today, I'm downing mullein tincture and rubbing homemade vapo-rub (with added eucalyptus oil in it) all over my chest and neck.  No worries, I spent the previous day downing a homemade sore throat tea I put together, and it worked.  I am starving this morning, so I'm off to exercise (don't worry, not over-doing it), and then to the kitchen.  I'm thinking pancakes and sausage or bacon.  Or saving the bacon for another dinner I have in mind.  There I go rambling again.

The dogs are upstairs driving Youngest mad.  I (gulp) let them go up and help her get out of bed on time, ha ha!  "Grad" daughter barreled out the door early afternoon to sleep at another friend's house (again), with an "I'm 18 and I can do what I want" attitude.  I'm on dog duty bright and early.  Motherhood can sometimes suck be difficult.

I'm hoping we get a glimpse of sunlight today.  I'm gonna need it.

Craft Bazaar Prep ~ Sweet Potatoes ~ Pears

I had 5 mugs to start with, and finished them all.  The top left has a black mug, and the Christmas cozy has a red mug.  I love the blue and purple one.  They all have two buttons on the straps.

In hopes to find another mug, I started a fall colored cozy/coaster set to add to the inventory.  I had enough of the yarn to make the same one I made myself.

I spent an entire afternoon, about a week ago, emptying my boxes and totes and taking count of my inventory.  I now have a list and inventory sheet produced from my hard work, and found a few items that need ends sewn in.  There are many more items I could make, so I hope to get some done in the next few weeks.  I have one daughter eye-spying another slouchy hat in my pile, so I'm off to see if I have more yarn of that color. 

Oh, and now my youngest daughter wants a double wrap infinity scarf for Christmas.  Of course I won't wait until then, so she can use it now.  I just won't start on it until the craft show has started.   She wants Harry Potter colors.

I chopped up some of our garden sweet potatoes and made a crock pot of sweet potato/cauliflower and garden kale soup.  I used a recipe I found online and added my greens to it.  Gotta have those greens!

Tried a new recipe, Gingersnap Pear Pie , and we topped it with homemade whiskey butterscotch sauce.  Hubby said it's now is favorite of all pies.  It bubbled over like crazy, but oh my it was good.  Hubby said it was so good, he wants me to make two for him to take to work.  I told him he was crazy.  He'd be lucky to get another from me this week, ha ha!  Recipe is from a Country Woman magazine, but also online with Taste of Home:  here  (hence wanting a homemade crunchy gingersnap recipe).

A jar of homemade vanilla extract was strained.  I use this in many recipes.

The weather is turning on us again.  More rain.  Can you believe it?  It's in the 30's at night and 40's days, but yesterday we had a full day of sunshine.  Hubby suggested a motorcycle ride, but stayed in, ha ha!  Just a bit too cold for me.  I made a crock pot of salsa chicken (boneless organic chicken, garden tomatoes, garlic, cayenne, broth etc) and we topped mashed pinto beans with it - delicious!  We can use it on breakfast/lunch/dinner burritos too.  I had some cream leftover from making the whiskey sauce, so I thawed some corn and made pan of creamed corn (Mmmmm!). 

My free loader hens gave me one dinky egg yesterday.  They were out and about, but geeze.  The kids are the only reason I haven't put three of them in the stew pot.  I'll have that talk with them again (to the hens) and see if I start getting those eggs again.  They have gotten some treats too, but to no avail, they free load the organic feed.  They love the pear peelings.

Rain is to start at 1pm and continue the entire day until 11pm tonight.  I will be in my kitchen for more of the time, and hope to gravitate to some crochet work.  I had a sore throat yesterday, so I don't want to over do anything this week.  I'll be posting the tea I made soon.  I took a long soak in the tub with Epson salts, and tea tree/eucalyptus oils.  I'm feeling pretty good today.

Oh, and it's a bit disconcerting when one of your children has to go to work where it was recently robbed.  No gun, but this past few weeks there have been several gun point robberies.  

Good news (maybe).  Our "Vet Tech" daughter bought a new car.  Our "Grad" Daughter is getting her old one.  The only problem is finding affordable insurance for her now.  Crossing my fingers (and saying a prayer) it all works out for all of us.