Snow Day!

They got this one right on the money...SNOW! The weather wonks predicted that we'd get 3-5 inches of the fluffy stuff after midnight last night, and that's just exactly what happened...wonder of all wonders. We went to bed after 11:00, nothing on the ground, nothing falling from the sky. We woke up this morning before 7:00...accumulation all over the place! The dogs are having a ball, playing in the backyard, but as you can see in the photo to the left, Missy M isn't having so much fun.

Even though her company was on a two-hour delay (officially), she got up early to try and dig her car out...no such luck. When she emailed her manager of her plight, she received a reply that the roads were actually worse than they appeared. Looks like she's working from home today.

There seems to be a layer of ice underneath the snow. The City of Louisville doesn't salt or clear the streets in neighborhoods (unlike the service we enjoy in O'Fallon), just the main arteries, so the curve in front of her house appears to be a slippery slope for the few passing vehicles that we've observed...from the warm interior of her house. Hot chocolate, anyone?

I'm putting Snow Day rules into effect. When Missy M was a little girl, we always made a big pot of either soup, stew, or chili on a Snow Day. Then, while we watched videos (back in the Dark Ages, before DVDs), we baked bread and cookies. The house was warm and smelled wonderful...and lovely memories were made.

Fast forward to the present. I've put some chicken breasts on to boil, in preparation of making Brunswick Stew. I baked Blueberry Muffins to enjoy with hot tea for our breakfast. I've got some Oatmeal Cookies (Missy M made these last weekend and froze some of the dough before we ate them all in one sitting...:) in the oven right now, and when they are done, I'll get started on the dough for a couple of loaves of bread. Yep, it's all about staying warm and being comfortable...and what better way than keeping the stove in service? And, with the threat of more cold weather with ice on the way...and the potential of losing electric power...I've learned that it's best to have your gas stove in action before the lights go out!

I'm using Missy M's humongous Crock Pot to cook the Brunswick Stew. Although it means preparing all the veggies before they go in (raw carrots and potatoes just don't do as well crocked in all that tomato base), I think the taste of the finished product is ever so much livelier. And, by par-boiling the potatoes, I end up with potato-water to make my bread dough...see, it all is connected! Plus, cooking the stew s-l-o-w-l-y is exactly what the Stewart Clan did on the farm in Tennessee, all those many years ago. So what if their Pot wasn't a Crock but a big, black kettle on an open fire? Just making Brunswick Stew draws me nearer to those who came before me.

Here's my recipe for Crock Pot Brunswick Stew for a Snow Day:

Ingredients:


2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (use large ones...or 3 smaller ones)
1/4 pound (more or less) cooked pork loin
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (for water to boil meat)
Water to cover
2 large, peeled, diced potatoes
Water to cover (no added salt for the potatoes, if using the water for bread dough recipe, below)
1 small onion, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
8-10 baby carrots, diced
2 Tablespoons butter to saute veggies
2 cups of reserved (meat) broth
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz) with liquid
2 small cans tomato sauce (8 oz each)
1 can lima beans
1 1/2 to 2 cups corn kernels (I use the frozen kind)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon Paula Deen's House Seasoning (I make it according to her recipe with salt, pepper, & garlic powder)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1-2 hot pepper pods (remove before serving, if possible)
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup catsup (optional)

Preparation:

Place chicken breasts and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt in a large stew pot; add water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 2 hours, until chicken is done and falling apart. Drain chicken on a plate to cool; reserve broth. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken with a fork. Place shredded chicken in a large Crock Pot.

Skim fat from reserved broth. Add cooked pork loin to stew pot. Return broth to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer pork, uncovered, until pork is done and falling apart. Drain pork on a plate to cool; reserve broth. When cool enough to handle, shred pork with a fork. Place shredded pork in Crock Pot. [NOTE: tastes better when you have a mixture of chicken and pork...or, you can be traditional and use squirrel. I've warned those varmints that are presently nibbling on the birdseed in the feeders to be afraid, be very afraid...but they seem to know that I'm only kidding. Squirrel? Ewwwwwweu.]

Fill a saucepan with water (NO salt). Add potato, and simmer 10 minutes. When done, add diced pototoes to the Crock Pot. [NOTE: if not using the potato-water to make bread dough, you can use some of the reserved broth to cook the potatoes and add both to the Stew in the Crock Pot when the potatoes are fork-tender done.]

Melt 2 T. butter in a saute pan. Add diced carrots, onion, and celery to melted butter and saute for 8-10 minutes until tender-wilted. Add to Crock Pot. [NOTE: Nana/Momma/Edith adds diced green pepper, but I'm not particularly fond of the taste. Cook's choice.]

Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, lima beans, and corn to the Crock Pot. Stir in reserved chicken broth and seasonings, and simmer cook on HIGH for a couple of hours. [NOTE: here's where you can add the traditional okra, if you'd like. I don't particularly like. Also, N/M/E uses canned, creamed corn...I prefer the frozen niblets, as they hold up to the Crock Pot better.]

Add 1 T. butter and catsup to Stew and reduce setting to LOW for 4-6 more hours. Adjust seasonings and remove pepper pods before serving. Great with hot cornbread muffins or freshly baked bread. Yum!

Serves 6 to 8. Leftovers (if any) freeze well.


Basic Bread Dough for 2 Loaves

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of water, warmed to 105-115 degrees
1 teaspoon sugar
2 packages yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 cups potato-water (water reserved from boiling potatoes with NO salt added)
7-7 1/2 cups flour, divided
1 Tablespoon salt
melted butter

Preparation:

In a 2-cup measuring cup, put the lukewarm water, the yeast, and 1 tsp. of sugar. Set aside to bubble and double in bulk.

In a 4-cup measuring cup, put the potato water (warm enough to melt the room-temperature butter, but not boiling hot), the 1/4 cup butter, and the 1/4 sugar. Stir to mix.

In the mixer bowl, put 3 cups of flour. Add the yeast mixture and the potato water mixture and stir to mix well. Allow this batter to rest for about an hour, until doubled.

Add the 1 T. salt to 1 cup of flour. Add this to the yeast batter and stir down. Using the dough hook on the mixer, begin incorporating more flour, one cup at a time, until a soft dough begins to form. Resist the urge to add too much flour. Knead the dough, either with the dough hook on the mixer (I do) or by hand for about 5 minutes. Let rest while you prepare the pans.

Grease well two 9x5 loaf pans. Divide the dough in half, form each half into a loaf, and place in a prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm part of the kitchen until the loaf has topped the edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. (I like a soft crust, so I place a pan of water in the oven while preheating, to create a moist environment.) When ready, put the pans in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the top of the loaf rings hollow when tapped. I like to brush melted butter on the top crust at this time.

Remove loaves from the pans. Let cool on a rack. Slice with a serated bread knife and enjoy!

OK...enough blogging. Better check on the stew. And pop in a Midsomer Murders DVD. Some things change...some things never should!

New Moon Wishes and Burying St. Joseph

As the owner of a house that's for sale in "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression" (to quote the Wall Street Journal), I've been focused on the things we could do to make our property more marketable (read that: BUY THIS HOUSE, BUY THIS HOUSE, BUY THIS HOUSE). You know...things like fresh mulch on all the flowerbeds (check), fresh paint in neutral color (check), fix all known issues like leaks and broken tiles (check check), and update light fixtures in bathrooms and dining room (double-check). We even added new porcelain tile to the hall bath, using the extra tile from the kitchen project. Woo-hoo! Our Realtor assures us that the feedback has been positive for the most part...that our house "shows well" and is "priced right."

OK...add fresh flowers and freshly baked cookies and you'd think we'd be done with our "enhancements." You'd be wrong. There are still things to be done, like making my New Moon wish to sell the house...oh, and burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard.

I noticed on the calendar that today (January 26th) is the New Moon. That got me to thinking about making a New Moon Wish as another step in selling our house. What's a New Moon Wish, you ask? More on that in a sec, but first some background.

I once worked with a young lady who had more than a passing acquaintance with astrology. I mean, she used the language of astrology...and it didn't necessarily sound bogus when she said things like "the new moon is in Aquarius." Me? I know that I'm a Cancer, that the Moon rules Cancer, and that the sign Cancer "rules intuition, feelings, emotions, moods, Moon, mothering, roots, home and family," according to the New Moon Journal blog. I can relate, but I remain a skeptic...and therefore a bit amused when I read or hear stuff like that.

Still, this co-worker introduced me to the idea of New Moon Wishing, which she took to great lengths. I've forgotten all the specifics that she told me about the process, but through the wonder of the Internet I was able to click through to the basics, which I found on the Red Lotus Letter ezine (I see that astrology and Feng Sui have mind-melded here):

"Astrologers have long known that endeavors begun on a new moon have a greater chance of success than at other cycles of the moon. They have also known that it is a good time for making your wishes known as the growing energy of the new moon will help bring your wishes to fruition. But for the greatest success, you should follow the technique below.

How to Make Your Wishes for the New Moon

1. Write your wishes down. You must write them down on paper. Use red ink, or write on red paper, or put your wishes in a red envelope.

2. Write no more than 10 wishes. No more than 10 wishes and be specific. Instead of writing “I want more money,” write “I wish for a $10,000 raise this year.” See the difference?

3. Make wishes correspond with the moon’s energy. Each new moon is in a different astrological sign, such as Leo, Scorpio, etc. To make the most of the energy of each one, be sure to make wishes that have something to do with that sign, such as money or business when the moon is in Capricorn, real estate or social relationships when the moon is in Taurus, or the health concerns, such as back problems if the moon is in Capricorn.

4. Put wishes in your bed pillow for 30 days or place them outside where the new moon can cast its energy on your wishes. Sleeping with your wishes will keep you mindful and goal-oriented of what it is you want achieve. After the 30 days, put your
wishes into a “wish box” next to your bed. Don't like to sleep on them? Then put them next to where you sleep or in a special silver "wish box." *

5. Write your wishes at the right time. Timing is everything. So make sure you time your wish list correctly! If the new moon is at 3:00 a.m. or while you are sleeping, simply make your wishes before you go to bed. Try to make your new moon wishes as close to the new moon as possible and don't wait longer than 2-3 AFTER the new moon.

[NOTE: the article didn't say "2-3" what...hours? days? weeks? Bummer. --p.a.]

6. Is your birthday on the date of the new moon? New moon birthdays are extra potent! So, if your birthday falls on this day, consider yourself doubly lucky – and by all means, make extra certain to make a wish this day!
7. Sign and date your wishes. Always sign your name and put a date on your "wish list."

*(As I recall, my co-worker advised that your list be burned rather than slept upon, but I suppose there are different schools of thought on the issue.)

Anyway, lest there be any doubt...I wish for a full-price, no add-ons contract on our house in MO within the next 10 days. I also wish for a closing date of February 28 or earlier. I further wish that we get the house we want in NC without any problems.

(Hey, if I'm wishing about real estate, I thought I'd better be aggressive and throw in both houses...:)

Now, that only leaves St. Joseph. If I remember correctly, I first heard about this one when we lived in Ohio. A neighbor advised me to bury a statue of St. Joseph in the backyard (she specified "head down") in order to facilitate a sale on our house there. Hunh? Was she kidding me? Apparently not. If you Google "burying St. Joseph to sell your house," you'll get over 25 million hits. Amazing.

Here's a link to an article that does a good job of explaining this one (note that it is from a business-oriented site, Bank Rate.com):

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/real-estate/20040831a1.asp



I guess I'd better get out the shovel! Actually, since we are supposed to get 7 or more inches of snow tonight in MO...and since I'm still in KY awaiting better traveling weather conditions...I'll have to hold off on my spade work.

I'm Ready for Phase 2, Please

It's Week Three of the Big Spruce-Up on Autumn Grove...and I'm so over it. I am sick...both OF the dust and BECAUSE of the dust. Still, I can now report some progress of note.

The painters got most of the painting done last week, so the main level looks all "brand new." The electrician came today to install the new chandelier in the dining room, along with new light fixtures in the main level bathrooms (see the photo on left of the Master Bath). He also did the math and got the mirrors installed (what's that old adage...measure 47 times, hang mirror in right place once?). The Stanley Steemer guys came this morning and did their thing with the carpet...which looks great, by the way...but the house is now so damp that the dehumidifier in the basement is registering 80% (the highest it will read, I think). The tile guy came to install the kitchen tile (replacement for the damage done recently by the leaking ice maker line)...more on that in a sec. And, last but certainly not least, our Realtor dropped by to put the sign in the yard and the lockbox on the porch. It must be official...our house is FOR SALE!

Still to go...the Realtor Tour is in the AM, as is the MLS listing photographer. Meanwhile, the repairs on the wall and the ceiling in the basement (some water damage) continue. Then, the Molly Maids arrive on Wednesday for a real good clean...hopefully to get rid of all this dust. Got to get everything all finished for the Open House scheduled for this weekend.

About the kitchen tile...wouldn't you know that the WRONG tile arrived after a two-week "special order?" Right size (18"), wrong color (taupe-ish instead of brick). I figured I had a choice at that moment...LOSE IT, royally, which is what I really felt like doing. Or, get the tile guy to help me figure something out. He was fantastic! He worked out a design, incorporating one of 3 extra "old" brick-colored tiles we had along with several of the copper accent tiles (like in the breakfast area, which is what we were trying to make match) to help "bridge" the transition. Custom tile, indeed. And, it looks great. I would never, ever have thought to mix and match the tiles like this, but so what? He'll get the grout done tomorrow, and we can call that a wrap!

Oh yes, I think you could say I'm ready to move on...literally and figuratively. Until then, you can check out some photos I posted to the Flickr Slideshow (left column) of the mess...er, progress with the Big Spruce Up activities.

Out With the Old, In With the New

Check out what's happening at our house this week (photo of breakfast area, taken from in front of the great room's fireplace, right)...all of the old paint, wallpaper/borders, etc., are in the midst of being removed...and this is what chaos really looks like! The furniture that's left in the house for staging purposes (and to make certain that the house is considered neither "vacant" nor "unoccupied") is piled in the middle of the floor...covered with protective plastic sheeting to minimize any damage from the dust and drips. Good thing, too, since they painted the ceiling today. Tomorrow: the walls get a coat of Builder's Beige (much the same color that you see on the walls already...only it will be fresh, as they say).

I hate this much confusion in our lives, but it must be done...or, at least we believe that by doing this, we will be able to sell our house in MO much faster than if we didn't...and get on with our new lives in NC. Still, I can barely find a perch in the middle of all this dust & clutter. Yeeeooow.

To keep myself sane in all the hub-bub, I am concentrating on a new knitting project...two socks at a time on two circular needles! Missy M actually got me going while we were at her house for Christmas, loaning me her book "Knitting Circles around Socks" (shown, left). Unfortunately, she found the book to be frustrating, as all the steps are written for right-handers...something she finds too many times. It took me a while to plow through the directions and decipher the diagrams, but I think I finally figured it out. As you can see in the photo, I've made it through the heel(s) and am well on my way on the foot(s)...er, feet. I try to do a little on this project each evening in order to calm my anxieties and settle me down for sleep. Learn something new each day, right? Right!

In addition to all the inside work that's being done by our contractor, Leave It To Weaver, Mr. T. and I grabbed paint brushes this afternoon and took advantage of our first (and potentially ONLY) "warm" weather day (55 and windy) since all this began. After the contractor's guy finished power-washing the house, Mr. T painted the trim and the columns on the front porch, while I applied the stain to the deck out back. Both projects turned out well, and we are thankful for having this brief opportunity to tackle the exterior details that needed decent weather for doing.

So, how will we be spending New Year's Eve tomorrow? Probably recovering from another work-day around the house. But, never fear. I do have a bottle of Stone Hill Winery's Steinberg White chilling in the fridge, and I found a couple of festive wine glasses on seasonal special at Schnuck's today when I went to get us a salad for lunch...and we have some party hats from last year that didn't get packed. I guess the movers thought we might need them...? Maybe we can get some Chinese Take-out and then clink our red glasses of white wine to toast in 2009! We're such party animals, aren't we?

Here's hoping that it will be a good one for us all...

OK, So I Couldn't Stand It

I'll admit it. I'm a Christmasaholic. I love everything about Christmas (except, maybe, fruitcake...:). And, so my earlier declaration that "there will be no decorating for Christmas around the MO home this year due to the up-coming move" was barely out of my mouth before I started.

I first put that basket of green boughs, cut from the bottom of Missy M's Christmas tree, on the front porch. They looked so lonely that I went to Lowe's and bought a wreath for the door. Oh, and I decided that the Santa Nutcrackers that usually stand by the front door (and need painting so terribly) could pull Door Duty just this one last time.

Then, because I had so many, I created another basket of boughs for the dining room table. And, while looking for the Christmas DVDs to take to Missy M's, I spotted the child-sized Rudy and Rhonda Reindeer, packed separately from the other stuff...and they just begged to be allowed to sit on the sofa for a while. And, what should be in the bottom of the bag? Why, two stockings...which are now gracing our mantle.

Then, while looking for something else entirely in the garage, I came across my Rudolph antlers and nose for the car. So, there's Miss Lillie Pearl , sporting her Holiday finery while in the parking lot at the Y (in the photo to the right)!

Ahhhhh. Much better.

Of course, it really will be much better after this week. The movers arrive on Tuesday to start the 4-day packing process...and then most of our "stuff" heads to NC. We will keep just enough (to-be-donated-later) furniture in the house to be able to stay here while waiting for it to sell. Everyone...think positive real estate-related thoughts!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

Let's check the ol' calendar on the wall. December First. Right! Let's look at the thermometer on the kitchen window. 28 degrees. Brrrr! Now, let's look outside and check the weather. Snow on the ground and still coming down. Yep. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'm actually thankful for the wintry weather to remind me of the season, since we won't be decorating for the Holidays around this house this year. No, we'll probably be loading up the moving truck to send our stuff to storage along about December 15th. Makes me a little sad since decorating is such a fun thing for me. You know, getting out the Christmas China and Waterford "Twelve Days of Christmas" wine glasses...unwrapping and placing the 50+ Nutcrackers...picking out just the perfect size tree (and then removing some off the bottom so it'll fit...:)...going through all the many ornaments we've collected over the years and deciding which ones/how many we can use on the tree this year......oh yeah, I'll miss all that for sure.

Fortunately, while we were visiting Missy M for Thanksgiving, she suggested that we go get her tree and decorate it. Yea!

We found a beautiful Fraser Fir at Lowe's, which was tagged as a 6'-7' tree, but reaches almost to the 8' ceiling, even after a trimming and a hair-cut! Mr. T. did the lights, and topped the tree with the Star and Angel (a gift from Auntie D). I tied ribbon on the new teal (matches her colors perfectly!) and silver bell ornaments. Then, Missy M placed all the ornaments and the raffia, just so. She has such a wonderful eye for design, so her tree always looks magazine-perfect (as you can tell from the photos).

She's also got her own collection of Nutcrackers going, as you can see in the photo (below). We found a cute one this weekend that's actually an Advent Calendar...or, a Countdown-to-Christmas calendar. He seems to fit right in! The Harrod's bear on the right is from a trip to London a couple of years ago.

OK, so I did bring back the branches Mr. T removed from the bottom of her tree (we didn't want the doggies to do too much damage as they investigated...:), and I plan to place them in a basket on the MO porch, along with a red bow, ho, ho, ho. At least I won't be a total Scrooge. And, of course, I'm consoling myself with the vision of returning to the NC mountains next year, selecting and cutting down my own Fraser Fir...and then eating a yummy meal at the Daniel Boone Inn in Boone, NC. Ah...memories...ahead of time!

FO and UFO Report for Oct-Nov '08

I thought I'd better get a post together about my current crop of Finished (FO) and Unfinished (UFO) Objects. Probably a good idea since I'll soon be packing up my yarn stash for the upcoming move to NC, right? Missy M reminded me that I would have to CHOOSE which yarn to keep off the moving truck...you know, which yarn/projects I would like to work on in the interval between selling our MO house and moving into our NC house. Decisions, decisions...

As I've reported in an earlier post, I finished these Rippling Dunes Socks for N/M/E (photo to the right). They are made from the Maizy Yarn (85% corn fibre, 15% nylon) in colorway "Miami Nice," and they turned out pretty good...at least she seems to enjoy wearing them.

I also finished felting the purse/bag out of the Andes wool for her, too. I got this wool at the Yarn Garden in Lawrenceville, GA, intending to knit a scarf with it. Well, I knitted about 1/3 of the scarf and realized that I didn't really like the abrupt color change from pinks to greens in the scarf and I frogged it. Sigh. What to do? Hmmmm...since the yarn was 100% wool, I wondered if it would look good felted? I had seen a pattern for the "Grab & Go" felted bag with (unfelted) I-cord leaves and stems in the November 2008 Creative Knitting magazine and decided to (alter it...make it bigger...) give it a go! Isn't it amazing how the colors changed when felted, as you can tell from the photo (left)! Missy M found the button in just the right green at the Quilt Shoppe in St. Charles...perfect match, wouldn't you agree? N/M/E has stuffed it full...and takes it with her everywhere.

I've finished a couple of Christmas gifts for the SILs, but I'll hold off on the photos...just in case one of them happens to read this post. Hey, I can keep a secret...

On the needles now...a scarf for Missy M (don't worry, she picked out the yarn and has seen me working on it...:) and the Shawl Collared Sweater for Mr. T. I finished one sleeve while on a recent trip to ATL and am hap-hap-happy to report that it appears to fit him. Have cast on the second sleeve and completed the ribbing and a couple more inches of the stockinette. Hoping to finish both of these UFO's in time for Christmas. Knit, knit, knit!

Oh, and I have a pair of socks outta Harry Potter sock yarn going, too. Since those are probably for me, I'll just take my time on them. Will probably use them for those times I need something "different" to work on...to keep from getting bored with one or another project. You know how that goes, don't you?

And, last but not least, I'm back to working on Christmas stockings. I finished 4 of them a couple of Christmases ago (when we were at Missy M's house for the first time) for the two-legged family members. Now, I have to work on stockings for the four-legged mutt-mutts!

OK, better stop blogging and get back to my knitting!