Morning makings.

Once again I find myself in the kitchen 

early as can be.

I love it.

I'm whipping up a little something for a friend about to bring new life into the world for the second time.

Butternut squash and swiss chard mac-n-cheese! Woot!

Before.

And after.

In all it's bubbling-golden-brown-goodness!

Nursing mama's need there iron.

One last fire on this chilly gray morning.

The aftermath.

Who could complain about dishes while 

surrounded by all this beauty?

Certainly not me.

And just because it makes me smile, and my last early morning "culinary adventures" ended in song, please enjoy this one.

We've got spirit, yes we do!

Christmas spirit that is!

I don't like to go overboard with the decorations (mainly because I don't want to clean it up) but I love a real tree, a wreath and stockings on the fireplace and some boughs (trimmed from the bottom of the christmas tree) on the top of the entertainment center (no pictures of that yet because I have to add the lights).

I use wire edged ribbon in lieu of the metallicy fuzzy garland. I think it looks elegant.

And, of course, I kept the glass ornaments up high.

I have yet to decorate the wreath. In past years we've ordered one already decorated and delivered right to the house but in order to save a few bucks ($35 to be exact) I purchased one undecorated when we bought our tree.

Tis the season for a sniffle too.

Here's a recipe for my herbal cold and flu remedy.

Medium sized knob of ginger sliced

1 lemon sliced

2 sticks of cinnamon

4 cardomom pods

5 whole cloves

6 cups of water

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Turn heat down to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, turn heat off and let steap for another 10 minutes. Store in a glass jar in the fridge and heat and serve as needed.

I have been making this recipe since I was about 19 years old. It hasn't failed me yet. 

Now we just have to keep this little rascal from yanking down ornaments.

The house smells wonderful and the ambient glow of a christmas tree in the evening makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.


Now...back to that knitting!

WTF.

How is it December? How? How? How?

Well, I am just knitting my little heart out trying to finish the 2 projects I've got going.

One is taking precedence over the other right now as it needed to be finished yesterday...literally.

Eeek!

The other, not until Christmas.

Shew.

Meanwhile I added another little feature to my workspace/dressing room.

From the door the the closet was about a 14" strip of unused wall space.

I used to have pictures hanging there but moved them to another wall in anticipation of doing a project like this.

Little tip... I used chalk to make my marks for the hooks. It wipes away easily.

I bought ceiling hooks and wooden dows at the size I wanted. 

This could vary depending on where and how big a space you wanted to do this in.

I envision it holding sewing-projects-in-progress or just pretty fabric.

Here's my little helper.

Here's the finished product.

As if this wasn't accomplishment enough I made this little mobile for Iris's room.

I bought the stars back in September for her birthday and with the impending holidays I thought it would be perfect in place of the butterfly mobile we had up in the spring and summer.

I used the inner ring to an embroidery hoop to attach the stars and used some clear string I had from my jewelry making supplies to attach it to the hook in the ceiling.


Yay for progress!
I've made some headway in my mending/alterations pile as well.
I'l be revisiting the 2011 TDL soon also. 
The year is almost over.
It's time to take stock and start compiling a new list.
I may even have a resolution or two.

The Pumpkin Patch

This was last year's pumpkin outing. It was just me, baby and the husband. 

It's always kinda been our thing to get pumpkins and carve them together, secretly competing for the best pumpkin.

And this is now...

Iris and her BFF Vivian

Cousin Matthew ringing the "Fun" bell.

The cousins.

Snack o' war.

Finally, a smile.

She enjoyed being pulled around in her wagon and she didn't even try to jump out.

That wagon used to belong to her Aunt Nicole (my sister from another mister) who is now 17.

I think that's pretty cool.

We haven't carved our pumpkins yet. 

I'll post some pics when we do and you can be the judge.

October.

It's October.

The weather has been frighteningly rainy. Like... apocalyptic rainy.

All of our fall/winter shoes and boots were covered in green fuzzy mold.

Yuck!

It's hard to fend off the humidity when you don't have air conditioning.

But a cool crisp fall air has moved in, for now, and even though there is still more rain in the forecast, we have this...

It is our primary source of heat other than some radiant heat in the kitchen and bathroom and it burns consistently (and by consistently, I mean 24/7) throughout the fall/winter season.

So it's safe to say that things are drying out. Finally.

This is also knitting weather and, as my 2011 TDL indicates, I wanted to learn a new knitting pattern this year. I've accomplished that and we'll have to talk more about that list soon.

I taught myself to knit in the round (with the help of books and the internet) and am becoming more "pattern literate". I still have a lot to learn but I feel much more confident as a knitter now.

Currently,  I'm working on these booties. This book "Knitting For Baby" has to be one of my greatest library finds. I recommend it for anyone just learning to knit and looking to tackle more involved projects. It is soooo user friendly. There are lots of patterns that use only the knit stitch so learning the structural part of knitting isn't clouded by trying to remember when to purl, knit, yarnover and blah, blah, blah. Plus, all the pieces are small and can be completed relatively quickly.

I might need to own this one some day but for now I'll just have to renew it from the library a few times.

In other news... I'll be participating in the "under $400 grocery challenge" this month. 

You can find out more about it by clicking on the "Grocery Challenge" badge in the sidebar.

Happy October!