Snowy Saturday

I'm sure glad to hear you're feeling better! It is hard not to feel sorry for yourself when you don't feel well and you can't get moving around. I know Kev is struggling some with that right now and I don't blame him. It's tough to be trapped by your body. We were supposed to go to a birthday party for a friend of ours but I don't think Kevin is going to feel up to it so I think we'll just hang out and watch a movie. We have Good Night and Good Luck (I think that's the name) about Edward R Murrow to watch.

We're having our first snow today. It's too warm for it to stick but big old fat flakes have been falling all day and it's quite pretty. I've pretty well played hermit today and haven't even gone outside except to get the paper. I have gotten most of the laundry done though. Yay! Tomorrow I'm going to head over to the soap shop and pick up the soaps you wanted and get a list of her soaps if she has one. I've also got to hit up home depot and take Faye over to be groomed. Oof. She needs it. Stinky dog! Somewhere in there I need to get into the crawlspace and get all the Christmas decorations out.

Did you wind up getting to see Australia? Was it good?

America's Test Kitchen is the show I was talking about. It comes on on Saturday mornings and throughout the week here but since it's a PBS show it may be different for you. We just love it! They have a new one starting in December called Cooks Country that looks neat. Cooks country is on KERA

Sat

12/13/2008

5:30 PM CT

but darn if I can find when America's Test Kitchen comes on for you.

More later! I need to head up to the store and pick up a few essentials.

Thanksgiving eve

Greetings-went to Wal-mart this morning to pick up a few things. It was crowded I guess, but thanks to our new spacious store, it did not feel that way. I rather enjoyed it although many folks seem to feel a WM trip is right up there with root canal work.

Nothing going on really. I am in the middle of organizing recipies and closets and neither one is anywhere near finished, but strangly it does not seem to bother me.

I took Bridget and Toby for a nice long walk yesterday and Nancy took Molly since I am still not as strong as before I got ill and Molly pulls. Toby and Bridget just trot along at whatever speed you care to go. What a difference in dogs walked from a very early age and one left to their own devices for 3 years. I so hate that I did not walk Molly from the get go...shame on me.

I would like to know when and what chanel the show you mentioned that you and Kevin like so much. American cooking---was that it. I do not think that sounds quite right and I could not find it listed.

Hope Kevin got an A from the doctor and that you both have a restfull day tomorrow. If the weather is pretty, maybe you can even get outdoors for awhile. You know I send bushels of love and hugs.

Monday Morning

Well it is not even eight o'clock and I am sitting here recovering from feeling sorry for myself. Shame on me. I have had the crud since Friday afternoon. If it was not the flu (and since I had the flu shot, I do not think it was) it certainly gave a good imitation as all the symptoms of the flu were present. I had planned yesterday to go to the doctor this morning, but woke up around one sweating like crazy, which meant the fever and chills were gone. I went back to sleep until 6:30 and when I got up I realized that I had returned to the "land of the living", so I will skip the doctor since I have not met my deductible for the year and do not want to spend the money out of my pocket. I am weak as a kitten, but will get stronger as the day goes on and I move around some. I have done nothing but lay in the bed or on the couch and only got up to go to the bathroom or feed the dogs, which have been really negelected, poor babies. That is not why I feel sorry for myself. I was supposed to go and help decorate the church this morning for Christmas and then go out to lunch with Kitty, Edwina, Elaine, and Maizie. I will be missing all of that and hate it, but what is, IS. In all seriousness I did have a moment of self pity, but it lasted less than one minute. I am so thrilled to be feeling better. You do not get much done when you are ill and that is a bummer for me.

Glad you got your table upstairs before it was too late to do so for many months. Maybe you will get a weather break with some warmer afternoons and can tung oil with the door opened. We had such a day yesterday because of the cloud cover and high humidity.--no rain though. I want to say more, but I have used up all my energy. I will post later.

Tuesday

Well, I guess we're all prepared for Kev's surgery today. We've grocery shopped, changed the sheets, cleaned the house, re-arranged, purchased crutches and a grabby hand thing (Which delighted him because it has a LCD light on the end. He's so easy.) and done everything else we can think of to do. Including moving the new kitchen table upstairs.

I hated to move that upstairs because I still have to tung oil the topside of the table and it's a rather pungeant product. However it was move it last night or wait until January to get it upstairs. I'm pretty pleased with the tung oil as a finishing product. It gives a nice and rich looking gloss, is pretty easy to apply and seems a durable finish. Downsides are it's more expensive than varnish at $16.00 for enough for the entire table and requires "timing". You apply it fairly liberally and then wait 5-10 minutes and buff the excess off --- but if you wait _too_ many more minutes to do the buff, it tends to get sticky. No big deal to fix that, you just wipe it down with a bit more oil and then buff it but a large project means you're doing it in sections. I still have to tackle the chairs but I'm pleased so far with how the table has come out. It's not the best work I've ever done because it has so many nooks and crannies on the underside, some areas look a bit differently than others. Eh, if someone wants to crawl under the table to look at it, they've earned the right to criticize my work! I've taken pictures as I've gone along and as soon as I finish up, I'll post them.

I've totally fallen in love with those staining pads though--they work perfectly to apply stain or finish oil and work much better than using the old "lint free cloth" option. Fairly cheap at $3 for four of them but always buy one more bag than you think you need.

One nice thing about being housebound for the next month or two is it'll give me lots of time to do projects on my own. I now have the perfect excuse to paint some of the rooms I can do solo without Kev discouraging it because he doesn't want to do it. Sherwin Williams here I come!

Outside of that it's horribly boring. The only exciting thing is I found a really great and really easy breaded baked chicken recipe. I'm not a fan of breading normally but this is really good. I got it from the America's Test Kitchen show. I love that show. Even Kev has gotten hooked on it. Have you ever seen it?

Samantha Who last night was fantastic. That show makes me laugh like a fool.

Wednesday

How exciting to open the blog and find a new post. That is better than a package in the mail. I know because I did get a package in the mail. My friends Kitty and Elaine told me about a small bendable LCD light that sticks onto your machine to give more light in the needle area. They saw it at the Houston quilt show and bought one. They have been raving ever since about the difference it has made in how well they can see the sewing field especially at night. I decided that was definitely something I needed. I found them onsale for $10 cheaper than they paid in Houston and promptly bought myself one. I got it today and will give it a go tomorrow to see if it is as wonderful as the press releases from Kitty and Elaine.

I finished the hall painting and got the pictures cleaned and back up. I think it looks pretty good. I cannot decide if closets or backyard get my attention next. They both need it badly.

Congratulations on getting the kitchen reorganized and on the resulting home baking. The movie together to see Australia sounds great. By now you will know that I sent you and Kevin an email about coming for Christmas. If his surgery will make that a hardship, you know I will understand a postponement. Hopefully he will be recovered enough that you can come as scheduled. I do not really know how such an extensive fix-it job leaves you feeling. It sound pretty painful to me.

We are scheduled for some weather in the 30's this weekend. I guess winter will be on us whether or not we want it. I would love to hold on to fall for a lot longer. It is definitely my favorite time of year.

It's here!

After enjoying a long and gorgeous fall, we've started our winter style weather. It's been rather chilly and rainy all week. Blech! Sunday we cleaned up the last of the fall leaves from the yard and I started another layer in my composter. I really need to get a second one of those. One just isn't enough to do good compost.

The upside to that is I've been doing Martha Stewart inside since I can't go outside. I cleaned out a lot of the kitchen and rearranged to try to make it more usable. I've decided I really need to add an island to my kitchen. I need more counter space. I made a layer cake from scratch last night. I haven't tasted it yet but it turned out looking pretty! I used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I just love that show! If you haven't watched it, give it a try.

I got the new dining room table totally stained but haven't been able to find a time to start the tung oil finish. I hope to get the first coat on tomorrow night. Tonight being Kevin's birthday, I'm guessing I won't get to hide in the garage to do it.

I saw the neatest thing this morning. On my way in, there's this sweeping embankment as the highway turns. The city of Merriam, where it's located, has put up dozens and dozens of large American flags for Veteran's Day. It's very striking as you come around the curve and see all those rows of American Flags. Just very cool!

I saw that Australia is opening at Christmas? Whoohoo if that's so! We can go see it together!