Handmade Swag

  I think my sway turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  What's even more exciting is the fact that I just moved this picture from my facebook page.  Wow!  Anyway, back to the swag.  During that week my hubby was hunting at the cabin and I was here decorating, I put a wreath on the front door that my dil made for me years ago.  I remember being in awe of it and thinking how did she do that.  I had never done wreaths or anything else like that before.  I got to thinking about making something for the sitting room door and asked my hubby to bring back some pine branches during one of his walks.  I was willing to work with whatever he gave me, knowing he'd come through for me.  He brought back 2 different kinds of pine branches, some with small pinecones on them, plus some club moss.  He said people used to cover wreaths with the club moss for decorations.  Anyway, I started with the swag.  I knew what I wanted to do based on something I saw and it seemed so simple.  I grabbed the branches and wired them together end to end, tied a bow in the center, added pinecones to the ribbon and then as an after-thought, glued some holly around the bow.  We were both kind of impressed by it and the great thing is I don't have to store it until next year!  Then on to the club moss, which, out of respect for my hubby, I needed to do something with that.  I had an old grapevine wreath that was never used so I began the process of covering that with the club moss.  It started looking pretty nice  -  very light and airy.  I finished it off also with some holly for color and put that in a basket by the front door.  I might decide later to put it up on the wall, somewhere, but I haven't decided yet.  This will be the extent of my Christmas decorations this year, even though I have so many more that could go up.  I'm totally enjoying what I have now!

Bear Proof

I'm not saying the cabin is bear-proof but here's the proof of a bear.  This was taken when my hubby was at the cabin hunting.  He takes down a bunch of apples for himself and the deer and leaves them on the deck.  When he got up one morning he found all the apples gone and all that was left behind were a couple bear paws in the snow.  That goodness for the snow or there would have been no sign of him.  A couple nights later he was woken up early in the morning by a loud sound coming from the deck.  What had happened was the bear came back up on the deck for more apples, ran into an unexpected gate propped up and got scared by the loud crash it made as it fell.  Sometimes that's all it takes with these bears.  They don't seem to have much of a backbone unless they are with a cub, then watch out.  We've known that there were bears around and have both seen them from time to time, but never were quick enough to get a picture.  We've seen droppings all around and a battered up wooden bird box , too.  We'll keep trying for that elusive picture that I can add to my collection of the "Animals at the Cabin" cd but until then the pawprint will have to do.  By the way, my hubby also found droppings down over the hill.  Apples will get you every time.

New Phone

First a little background.  Last year we made the move to Straighttalk in order to save some money on our wireless bill.  The only downside was that we had to buy our phones outright.  I got a slightly more expensive phone with a camera but realized within a couple months that my reception was very poor and the Internet that we were supposed to have was basically non-existent.  So here I am with this phone that is practically useless but at least there was no contract.  I refused to pay for the pricey data plan in addition to an expensive smartphone.  Then came Cyber Monday or Sunday, since they seemed to start early.  I found a straighttalk smartphone for $79 that seemed perfect for what I wanted.  I would keep my plan which provided unlimited minutes, text and data.  I have been tracking this thing all week, waiting in anticipation and getting sucked into believing this would change my life.  Anyway, it came yesterday and I was waiting in the sitting room for the FedEx guy with a bag of candy to show my appreciation.  Then the fun was supposed to begin  -  not!  Like all technology and me, it's a love - hate relationship.  It can be so frustrating to figure things out like this.  I was under no assumption that this was like the pricier IPhone or Android but what I wanted was a phone I could talk on and get e-mail.  I put in all my contacts which was my tutorial for learning how to use a touchpad.  My voicemail was somehow already on the phone but don't ask me how.  I finally mastered the texting part after a couple mishaps, I could talk from the sitting room with my hubby on the phone and the e-mail finally magically appeared later in the evening.  I was able to sleep peacefully last night knowing that I got what I wanted.  Of course, that was after all day on the phone, setting other work aside that I wanted to do, grabbing what I could to eat to get back to that phone and a nasty headache from looking at the little screen too long.  It wasn't a life changer  -  just one less thing to worry about.
P.S.  I love it when my screen is filled with yellow highlights (spellcheck) and nothing is misspelled.  I feel like I'm speaking a different language.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

I made this yesterday for dinner and it also turned out good.  I was surprised at how low in calories both of those soups were without using the thickeners.  For this soup, I held the red peppers over the burner of the stove until they were charred.  Then I put them in a bowl and put a plate over top to let them steam.  The only thing about both of these soups was that I would have liked them thicker.  To the garlic soup I added more potatoes and to this soup I probably would add another pepper or less broth.  Anyway, that's what I've been working on here.

30 Clove Garlic Soup

I made this soup for supper tonight and I'm very impressed.  I've seen recipes like this before where you use all this garlic in chicken and it comes out really mild.  I was curious about the soup so I made it.  I have to admit I've been in a cooking slump lately and even though I've tried different things, none have been good enough to post, until now.  It was also the first time I roasted a whole head of garlic.  The house smelled delicious!  No vampires here, that's for sure.  The recipe also said it had a soothing effect and also helped if a cold was coming on.  I don't know about that but it was tasty.  The next soup on the menu is Roasted Red Pepper Soup.  I'll keep you posted.

Flour or Corn Tortillas

Flour or corn  -  that is the question, at least, on the Top Chef show from last week, where someone failed to specify which one she wanted and she got the wrong one.  I didn't realize there was such a controversy over which tortilla to make enchiladas with.  I've made them and probably used flour since I stopped using corn for tacos.  We didn't like how crunchy they got and broke up before we could eat them.  So since then I always buy the flour, until this weekend.  I wanted to make a new dish with my turkey leftovers called Turkey Taquitos.  It called for corn tortillas so I bought white corn tortillas.  I thought they might be different so I felt it was worth a try.  Well, I found them to be very difficult to roll up, they cracked very easily and they seemed to absorb way too much oil when I cooked them.  They were definitely crunchy but not like those old ones I used for tacos.  Then I had an idea to use them in my quesadilla maker with the same ingredients.  Big mistake!  It's been awhile since I used it and forgot that it said not to use corn tortillas.  I still have a little filling so I might make a regular quesadilla with my flour tortillas.  I guess I'm not up on all the Mexican food formalities and what I use where.  I do know what I like and I guess it's back to the drawing board for me.

Local Pharmacies

Ok, here's something I've been obsessed with since last night.  Maybe I'm over sensitive to this stuff but it bothers me.  A little background  -  I called in my refill on Friday am and was told it would be ready Monday after 2pm.  I'm thinking that seemed a little long but I didn't need it immediately so I didn't choose that option.  I figured I'd go down Sat. afternoon and it would be ready anyway.  Wrong assumption!!  The tech informed me that it had been sent away to be filled and they didn't get their shipments on the weekend hence the Monday pick-up date.  Whoa, let's back up here.  I thought this was supposed to be my local pharmacy where they are taking care of me on a personal level.  I guess what startled me most was the fact that there were signs everywhere welcoming the Lakeside Pharmacy patients to Giant Eagle.  I assumed the only local pharmacy in the area went out of business and of course GE was there to pick them up.  I realize that this GE gets a lot, I mean, a lot of prescriptions but I thought they were handling it.  Apparently not!  So who is filling my prescriptions?  Not George or Michelle, evidently as I never ask for them right away knowing they're busy and want to give them a little time.  How nice of me!  In all fairness the tech did offer to cancel the order and fill it there with a half hour wait.  I was stunned anyway so I said no I'd come back Monday.  Now my choices are different in my eyes.  Either I can always say I need my prescriptions right away so I'm sure it will be filled there or go to another pharmacy.  I started taking my mail order stuff to CVS so I don't have to deal with the mail so that is always an option.  Maybe I should have been trying to support that local pharmacy that went out of business so we all would have a choice. I don't think GE would have suffered any.  Things sure have changed since we had our little pharmacy by Shur-Fine.