In memory of the ice storm I do not wish to relive any other way than pictures…
Dining Room Re-Decorate
New Look in the Works
Yes…I’ll admit it. We painted the dining room not long after we moved in and now, we’ve repainted it. In the midst of making decisions for the rest of the house, I found wallpaper I wanted for an accent wall in the dining room. We ended up repainting the walls with a color chosen from the paper. The trim color also came from the paper, but it’ll have to wait another day to be finished. I ran out of time.
When we moved in, this room had been papered and then painted. Seems they were covering up a nice mess in the corner behind the French doors where moisture had caused the plaster to start coming off the walls. Made for a nice mess to fix. Scott learned alot in a hurry.
Mirror looks pretty good...
I’ve got to admit, this is a big change. I was really determined to go with a uniform color throughout the house and not to go dark, especially in the dining room. But it seems the house has other plans and I don’t think we’ll go against it.
I have a wall paper faux window to go over the light switch. Waiting until the paint cures to put that up. The elephants were going to leave, but I really like them and they work well in the room.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the trim finished during the next few evenings. I want to get the living room painted and I can’t do that until the dining room is done. And then I have the bedroom to paper. But at least we have a direction, and that makes this easier.
Missing My Puppy
I knew this year would be hard. This is the first Christmas without Charlotte. I keep thinking about the first Christmas she was with us and how much we enjoyed having her and Baxter here. She seemed to understand so many things and we were so excited to have her. It really doesn’t seem tat long ago, which is so unfair. I wanted her with me longer than this. That’s the risk you take with rescued animals. You never know how long you have with them.
To make matters worse, we got a Christmas card from one of the first families we did an adoption with. They adopted our foster, Betty Boop, a retired breeder. Betty was such a little queen bee. I’ll dig up pictures of her and post them later. They also adopted a dog named Griffin, one of the prettiest bassets I’ve ever seen. Scott and I delivered him after Christmas (it actually snowed that year) as a gift for their daughter, Ashley. Griffin and Betty both past this year.
Add to that the news I got that the mother of our basset, Christie, had to be put down this fall, and I think I’m at my limit. These animals each touched my life in ways I’m not sure I completely understand. Charlotte was such a big part of our lives and took us on the adventure of fostering. She made things so much easier with her way of keeping everybody under control. Betty was a little diva who was so glad to be loved rather than breeded. Griffin…well, his story is even more complicated. Let’s just leave it that he found someone to love him for who he was. Christie’s mom, Izzie, had led an impossible existence in the puppy mill where Christie was born. In rescue, she was happy and safe and content.
In the end, I know they all were loved and cared for. It hurts that they’re gone and that they had to go through so much in their little lives. I tell myself that those last years were so pampered, somehow it must balance out. I look at my crew and know their time will come and pray for the strength to get through it. All rescues, all with different stories, all with rough starts to a life that now provides everything they want or need. But it doesn’t seem to make up for where they’ve been or what people put them through.
So, Miss Charlotte, I know those puppies are in good hands because you were there to meet them. I know you have guided them into fields full of sunshine and chewies. But sweetie, your mommy still misses you so very, very much. I love you, Charlotte Elizabeth.
Brobee Cake
4 years ago today, a small miracle came into our lives. Since then, we’ve had more ups than downs, though I have to admit, he’s been more than just a bit of a handful. This year, he wanted a Brobee cake. Brobee is a funny looking green character from Yo Gabba Gabba. So, Scott and I got busy looking at ideas online and then took off on the Brobee adventure.
It’s actually two cakes, the body being one – a yellow cake with food coloring to make it green – and the other making the arms, legs, and horns. We did that part in chocolate. Scott cut the pieces and put the body together. Elaina and I did the decorating. I think it turned out rather well.
Happy Birthday, Donovan. You are loved more than you know.
Cranberry Salad Recipe #3
This is yet another Cranberry Salad Recipe I got while I was searching. My aunt gave this one to my mother. My mother sent it to me. Haven’t made it yet. I knew we’d have alot of leftovers and I was worried about how the bananas would hold up in the salad. So I stuck with the recipe I’d already found.
Ingredients
6 oz. cherry jello or any red jello
2 ½ cups boiling water
1 bag cranberries (Chopped fine)
1 large or 2 medium apples diced
4-6 bananas sliced
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup of sugar (can use a little more if you want) I just used 1 cup
Directions
- Dissolve gelatin in boiling water set aside
- Chop cranberries and pour into mixing bowl
- Add apples, bananas, nuts and sugar
- Mix well and let stand 10 minutes
- Add gelatin to fruit mixture
- Pour into pyrex container
- Let set overnight in refrigerator
Cranberry Salad Recipe #2
This one I haven’t made but was given to me when I was on a search for a recipe. I’ve seen a picture of it, though, and it looked good.
Hot Pepper Jelly
Now, this one is not my favorite. In fact, I tasted it and that’s all I’ve done. My mother likes it. Scott and Elaina both eat it. But it’s not something I want to mess with. Still, I’m going to list it so I don’t lose it.
This is another recipe that Scott had on a message board.
Mint Jelly
I made mint jelly for the first time years ago when we lived in town. I had more mint than I knew what to do with, so this made sense. I’d seen it in the stores. We loved it. So when we moved out here, it seemed like worth a try. We have plain mint as well as spearmint and chocolate mint. All make a nice jelly. You can use mint on lamb, but we use it on toast. Donovan likes it on his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Persimmon Jelly
We have persimmon tree in the back yard that seems determined to drop tons of persimmons on us every year. We’ve come up with a recipe that works well. Our persimmons are sweet, never tart like alot of others. It’s an American Persimmon. We’ve tried making persimmon perserves, but that was absolutely nasty. Won’t do that again. This works well.
Cranberry Salad
So this one was an experiment. I wanted to do something different. My first marriage, when we went to his family’s for holidays, someone there always made a cranberry salad and I loved it. I don’t know the exact recipe so I just found another one. Scott and I loved it, but the kids wouldn’t touch it. Not a big deal. We’ll make it again. I still changed a little. I never add nuts to things, but I left them on here.
