Winter Projects

Well, we made it through Christmas.  It was lovely having J home from college for an entire month!  She is back in school for her final semester.

L also celebrated her 19th birthday 2 days after Christmas.

We actually got a bunch of snow this year, followed by really cold weather, so it stuck around.  I think we had a total of around 10 inches from Jan 6th through the present.  The girls and I got a chance to play in the snow together after 2 winters of no snow!

Because there hasn't been much outside stuff to do lately, I have worked on some projects indoors.  I have done a couple of my yearly puzzles:

J got me this Hercule Poirot one for Christmas - 
I have also read 3 Poirot books in the past 11 days.

L brought this one home from The Louvre for me.

This project I did before Christmas - made this picture frame for L out of a cool box that salsa came in:

JP gave me a new Lego set for Christmas, this one came with a lighting set!  So I have built Notre Dame this winter as well.

The fake leather on our cool table/ottoman was peeling and flaking and looking terrible, so I decided to recover it.  Unfortunately all of the fabric stores nearby are closed, so I ordered new fake leather from Amazon.  As you can tell, the true color looks a lot different than the picture on line. 😕  It does look a whole lot better though.

My next project will be on a larger scale, and I think we'll need to call in some professional help.  The hot water valve under JP's sink sprung a leak and ran all night down into L's room.  It messed up her ceiling and 2 of the 4 sides of her window well, as well as the drywall below the window.  The carpet was soaked too.  We moved her into J's bed for a couple of weeks until everything was dried out and cleaned up, but the repairs have not started yet.

In addition to this, I will be picking up some extra work, but most of it can be done remotely - I am covering labs and imaging for a couple of providers at another Family Practice who are out on extended leaves - this should last through the end of February.

I also joined a Gym - can you believe it?  I plan to exercise there twice a week while L is having extended medical visits north of here.

The forecast is calling for more snow tomorrow.  Stay warm and safe, everyone!

Blue Christmas

It seems like a long time since I last posted, and I guess it has been 2 months!  It has been a very stressful time, and I don't feel like I can get into too much detail here, but L withdrew from college for mental health reasons at the end of October and we have been on a journey to get her better since then.  Frustratingly there has been very little forward progress.  On one hand, I'm glad that she is here where I can SEE her, but on the other hand it is heartbreaking to see how miserable she is day in and day out and not be able to do anything about it!

I kind of feel like my entire life has been on an extended pause punctuated by short bursts of panic and small breaks in the clouds every now and again.  At the same time, life is barreling forwards regardless, and Christmas (believe it or not) is in 2 days.  I am going through the motions, but not feeling it this year.

On top of everything, both my practice and JP's have been purchased by another company and so much is still up in the air with that - neither of us really knows what this means for the "bottom line."  Basically it means that both my home life and my work life are pretty stressful at the moment.

Some of the bright spots lately have included:

- carving pumpkins (grown right here on Poplar Ridge) with L.  Hers is Elmo on fire, mine is Elizabeth Bennet (one of my favorite literary characters.)

- hanging out with JP's sister and family for Thanksgiving, including my great-nephew (named Bennet in honor of one of my favorite literary characters) who is a fun little guy.

- making some tiny doll house items from a kit gifted to me by J's roommate/BFF and additional daughter by proxy.

                                        

- being unable to find a cheese advent calendar for J, so making my own.

-seeing the sun rise over the frosted valley on my way to work last week.

This morning I had the chance to meet up with my dear friend for coffee and a catch-up.  That was wonderful!  I do have one batch of Christmas cookies in the fridge before slicing and baking.  L has a long appointment and then is going out with friends this evening.  J is out Christmas shopping.  JP is working.  I should be cleaning, but can't get motivated. 

Let me leave you with a little bit of the Christmas cheer that I've been able to generate:

Fall Gardening

 The girls were home for Fall Break last weekend, and L brought her roommate along home.  It was lovely to have everyone together again, and I got a bit of help in the garden from L's roommate.  I have been slowly closing the garden down for Fall.  Last weekend we brought in the squashes, a good sized (and delicious) watermelon, and enough tomatoes to make a double batch of enchilada sauce for dinner.

In addition, it was JP's birthday, so we had 5 Flavor Pound Cake to celebrate.

I had a LOT of wash to do when the girls were home, and I managed to get most of the loads hung outside on the clothesline to dry.  I kept finding clothespins on the ground, and realized that my clothespin bag has degraded enough to have holes in the bottom.  I had enough of that fabric to remake the bag.

J has started to bring home some of the things that she is not currently needing, in order to decrease the load coming home in May when she graduates.  She brought home 3 boxes of pottery, some of which are things that she doesn't like, including a teapot that doesn't pour.  JP offered her the option of shooting it with a shotgun, and she jumped at the chance.  You can see the teapot hanging on a stake behind her.

This weekend, JP and I finished harvesting from the garden and pulled out all the plants.  He took two tractor bucket loads down to the woods to dump it!  I also cut the asparagus back in the asparagus bed, and weeded it.  JP helped me dig the remainder of the compost from last year into the tractor bucket, and it is now spread over the asparagus bed to soak in over the winter.  I still have lots of produce to take care of, but I did get the jalapenos prepped and frozen last night, and I am getting ready to make some Cabbage Roll Soup for dinner to use some more.

Cabbage Roll Soup (serves 8)

- 1 large onion, diced                                           - 2 T tomato paste             

- 6 cloves garlic, minced                                       - 4 c beef broth

- 1 1/2 lbs meatball mix                                        - 1 1/2 c V8

- 3/4 c uncooked brown rice                                  - 1 t paprika

- 1 med head cabbage, chopped (about 8 c )        - 1 t thyme

- 28 oz canned diced tomatoes                             - 2 T Worcestershire sauce

- Salt & Pepper to taste                                         - 1 Bay leaf

In a large pot brown the meat and onion.  Add garlic and tomato paste and saute until very dark.  Stir in cabbage and cook for about 3 min until slightly softened.  Add remaining ingredients and cook until rice is done, about 30-35 min.

Serve topped with grated mozzarella or parmesan cheese.

Kale, Chard, sweet peppers, jalapenos, Thai Basil and Dill

Watermelon, carrots, tomatoes and cabbage

The garden is waiting for its blanket of leaves and straw for winter.

I found this large snake skin in my garden shed when I was working down there this weekend.  I didn't see him hanging out there any longer, but I'm hoping that he had a nice meal of field mice that like to camp out while he was there!

So, like it or not, I'm preparing for winter.  Our driveway should be finished by next weekend to make winter driving easier as well. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Party Girl

 Another month has passed, and I have stayed busy with work - I picked up a few extra hours, since I don't need to be picking anyone up from the HS any longer.

The produce in the garden is keeping me busy as well.  I have frozen 2 recipes of pizza sauce, canned more crushed tomatoes, frozen tomatillos and okra, canned pickled red beets and dried SO MANY habanero peppers!

Tomatoes, jalapenos, habaneros, tomatillos, summer squash,
corn, turnip, okra, red beets, cucumbers and cantaloupes

About 3 dozen dried habaneros made about 2 1/2 cups

I've also stayed busy shuttling L back and forth from college.  She is VERY homesick, and school is about an hour away.  I got stuck in post-Steelers traffic last Sunday and it took me an hour and a half to go about 10 miles!

In my free time, I've been partying!  2 weeks ago, I went to a "Sound Bath" at the Yoga Studio affiliated with the Hospital that I work for.  The leader did some breathing and relaxation exercises with us for a few minutes and then played the crystal bowls for about 40 minutes.  It was SO relaxing!  The following day, JP & I tried out a Float Spa.  You are supposed to float, almost weightless in salt water for relaxation.  Neither of us found it to be that awesome or relaxing to be honest.

On Friday, I drove up to the Eden Hall campus of L's school, about 1 1/2 hours away.  It is Homecoming week, and they had a special event there.  L and her roommate took the shuttle from the main campus and met me there.  We walked around outside, and had delicious food, including pizza made in the outdoor bread oven.  After dinner, a Jackson Tribute band performed, and we saw a beautiful sunset over the farm.  It was nice!

Last night, the Library held a Great Gatsby fundraiser.  I dressed up in J's prom gown, which was 20's inspired and joined in!  They had a jazz band, a bar, lots of food, 20's style dance lessons, and an escape room.  I also won a basket full of goodies in the raffle!

I was just out picking veggies in the garden again, so I will have tomatillos, habaneros and tomatoes to deal with again tomorrow.  It is winding down though.  Every time I go out, I pull out a few dead plants.

It is truly Fall now, so I will need to think about getting some apples to make applesauce as well.

Enjoy your Fall and cherish your free time!

Empty Nest

It's been almost a month since my last post, and up until this week, it's been really busy!  J & L finished up their jobs and went shopping for back to school.  We did take a couple of day trips before they had to leave for their respective colleges.  We went to Wheeling for an evening - did some antiques shopping, ate at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, and saw the Hospital where JP & I used to work being torn down.

We also spent a day at Ohiopyle, where J introduced us to the "Natural Waterslides."

We took L up to school on the 21st (a Wednesday) and got her all moved in to her room.  She did not want to let us leave!

J had to be back at BGSU on Friday.  We stayed long enough to take J and her friend out for dinner, and they showed us around in their ceramics studio.  P sent me a "First Day of School" photo of J on the following Monday.

In the meantime, the garden kept producing, and we have enjoyed the harvests!  I've also canned plenty of tomatoes and beans.

Tomatoes, tomatillos, beans, carrots, cucumbers & okra

Beans, tomatoes, corn, eggs and Honey Crisp apples

Dinner from the farm:  cantaloupe, corn and tomato sandwiches

Canned tomato puree

In addition, I took my Board Exams the week after taking J back to OH (found out this week that I passed!!)  After finishing my exam, JP & I drove up to Pittsburgh to bring L and her roommate home for Labor Day weekend.  I also finished making a T-shirt rug for L's dorm room.

That weekend we had a bad storm, which seemed to exhilarate L's roomie!  We had several trees down around the property and blew both clothes lines down.

The storm also blew all the pears off our tree.  The girls and I salvaged what we could from the ground, and I was able to make 3 pints of pear butter.

This week I started working longer hours at work, and on my days off, continued to work on cleaning up from the storm and getting the pool cleaned out at well (it was full of leaves.)

We had a bit of rain this past weekend as well, which is a good thing.  Our creek across the road is bone dry - I've NEVER seen it like this in all the years we have lived here!

I posted a few more fridge facts, which I have now discontinued since it's just JP and I at home, so here are the last 2:

Misc Edition

The Last One

Here's hoping your back to school has gone well as have your transitions to Fall!