Iceland has been displaced as my favorite island and eventual vacation paradise. This is Sark, the 2-square-mile utopia between England and France. Population is around 600, and only this year did they escape the grasp of feudalism. I wounder how much it would cost to buy a summer home here?

Hurray for holidays off!

...off of work, off of school, off of all responsible thinking and decision making. What a treat! I was very fortunate to get both Thursday and Friday off work. But, it was back to the shears on Saturday. Brad and I were able to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Talbots on their TV! And then the Youngs came over and we ate a yummy dinner that everyone contributed to. I think we did a pretty good job of not eating too much (at least I did). Then we talked and played games or took naps all afternoon, followed by pie! Brett has converted me over to the Razleberry Pie, by Marie Callanders. It is really to die for (and so much easier than making one yourself). My frozen pumpkin dessert turned out a little too frozen with not enough flavor to even compare to the Razleberry.

I have been aprehensive about seeing the new movie Twilight. I liked the books, but they were so cheesy and melodramatic. From the previws, I thought that the movie was going to be even worse! Well, we had the evening free and two free tickets so we decided to try it out.
It was great! Of course Bella still comes off as a nut case, but I thought that they did a good job of not making it too teenagery. In the books, I think Bella comes across as pretty immature. It was smart how they had Bella removed from the other high schoolers around her, somehow making her seem more mature than everyone else. I also liked the themes in the book/movie: loyalty, self -sacrifice, self-controle and (of course) impossible love.

So, after all, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie and had a great time!


Here are some pics of our feast. Not everything was photographed, as we were pretty hungry by the time everything was done!






And because we had Friday off too,we decided it was a pretty good day to set up the tree!
And, like every year, we thank Millie and Mark for our lovely tree decorations. They just keep going and going, year after year.

Birthday Bash

November is Birthday month around here, so here are some pictures of our celebrations.
We didn't get to celebrate on our actual birthdays(due to school and work and our everyday hectic lives), but we have big plans for this weekend after "the test". Actually, Brad did take me out to eat on my birthday, and I made Brad's new favorite dish for his, so we did some celebrating already.

First, Brad got his favorite thing on his birthday, snow! It snowed all day and this is what we had outside this morning.




I made this for fun to have something cheery around, I felt very creative.



This is the Sweet and Sour Chicken that we love, and that Brad had to have. Thanks to Becca for introducing it to us and giving us the recipe.


This is Brad blowing out his "candle", I made some O'Henries (also known as schotcheroos) for dessert. It was a pretty busy day so that's about all we had time for.


But, this weekend we are planning to go see Batman, which Brad has been wanting to see since...forever; and Brad consented to go see Hello Dolly (performed by a local musical group) with me in return! I am very excited.

Sourdough

Yeah! for early birthday presents! My wonderful mother sent me everything I needed to get started with sourdough. And I got all my mother-in-laws tricks as well. How can I fail now? So, all I have made is sourdough popovers (which didn't turn out as well as intended), and sourdough waffles. I haven't been brave enough to try plain old bread.

(Oh, by the way. The pumpkin bread was ok, but not amazing. I want to blame my finicky oven, but maybe the recipe wasn't the greatest either.)

Because I lack faith in my oven, I'm not sure if I am ready to trust it with hours of care over a loaf of bread. But the waffles are amazing!! I found this recipe on-line and we love it. It makes a lot , so we freeze them and then pop them in the toaster for a quick breakfast or snack. I don't think we have to worry about not using the started often enough; I can barely keep it replenished. Let me know if you want a start of your own, "Bubbles" grows fast and likes to share.

My idea of pumpkin carving

I picked us a small pumpkin(mostly for decoration) at a local farm. After a few weeks of looking at it I just couldn't see it all go to waste, especially because I had "three cans of pumpkin" on my grocery list. So I decided to try my hand at homemade pumpkin puree.

I was trying to cut it in half but I only managed to get each end off instead. I lightly oiled the cut sides, put them face down on a cookie sheet covered with tin foil, and backed it at 350 for about an hour.



Here is one empty shell next to a full one, it was very soft!
I put it all in a mason jar and blended it in our blender.


I made a small mess but it was fun, and worth it.





Sadly, we did have one fatality. The rubber washer got loose and eaten by the blades before I could save it. I wonder where we can get a replacement?




When the pumpkin was almost done baking I turned the temp down and put in the seasoned seeds. They turned out great!


We ended up with two full cans like these and a bowl full of tasty seeds! It tastes just like babyfood!



So, now I have to make pie and bread and cookies out of it or it will all be for nothing.

P.S. The bread is in the oven as I am writing this!

Projects

Ok, these might not be the best pictures, but I am so excited about my recent projects I just had to share.

First of all, after a long summer of weird hair, I finally have something to work with here! This is my self portrait on a good hair day.



Mom gave me this cute flannel last time I was home and I just recently got it out and made something with it. I am most proud of the pillow (made the trim myself!). It's probably not baby-safe but it sure is cute.



And, or course, Jo-Ann's was having a sale so I had to partake. I wanted another fleece blanket, but not the no-sew kind that you tie. I wanted to sew it with yarn like my old one. Little did I know that two layers of fleece is very hard to pull yarn through (no wonder people just tie these). It is still a work in progress. I need to invest in some leather fingertips before I can finish it. Conferencec weekend and another sale at Jo-Ann's should do the trick.



See, it's very cute. It's pink and brown, and I tied it with little pink bows. It will be my couch-napping blanket; in fact, it already is.



In other news: Brad is studying for a final exam in one week. I got the weekend off to enjoy conference with everyone else who enjoys it. It has rained here all week (so much for straitening my hair). The trees are changing and our street looks beautiful; I will post a picture of it as soon as it stops raining long enough to get out there. We have ants in our bathroom, and not the little guys, we have the big, reproductive ones with wings. Also, any ideas on how to get black mold out of grout will be greatly appreciated.

We are doing good; our spirits are high and the holidays are just around the corner!

Last but not least!

We had one last hurrah before the end of summer; surprise! we went camping.
We went to Watkins Glen with some friends and had a great time. It rained on us most of the night but the morning cleared up and we went on a hike through the gorge and it was beautiful.

Sailing!

Brad's dean has a sail boat and is a big boating fan. He invited anyone who wanted to, to go sailing with him. Mostly because it is easier to sail with at least two people. He keeps his boat in a little slip on the Genesse River that runs right into Lake Ontario. We took him up on the offer and had a blast out on the lake.

We learned a lot of names that I can't remember now, but everything on the boat has a strange name just to make it confusing. We can't just call it the front sail and the back sail, or right and left, but everything most be renamed to make it hard for people to learn the skill. Somehow this reminds me a lot of medicine. Why do we have to make up such strange names for everything?






Here's Brad and his dean (pretty much the coolest dean I've ever known)





All those little sail boats behind me were having a race it was pretty fun to watch. They all pulled out these bright sails (again, I forgot their real name) when the wind was directly behind them.


We liked the quiet, peaceful feel. No loud motors! We could talk and move around. There was a little cabin below deck with soft seats and all the necessities. Brad and I may have been converted to sailing. Brad's dean takes week long trips in the boat, stopping at restaurants on the shore, and either sleeping on the boat or sleeping just on the shore. Sounds like lots of fun to me, and very relaxing. Anyway, we had lots of fun, thanks Dr. G.

Ryan's visit and a project for Hannah

Brad's brother Ryan came for a visit and we had a blast. He stayed a whole week and Brad and he got to spend a lot of time together. Sadly, I was unable to get time off work, so I worked while they had fun. They went to Palmyra and the Lollypop Farm. Got ice cream at the Chill and Grill, and did some running on the canal. Ryan also did a lot of studying for the ACT while he was here. I hope he got enough studying in; we mostly wanted to play.

Looks like the goats were the favorite at the Lollypop Farm.







I did get to go to Niagara with them and that was very fun. We did the Cave of the Wind tour and all got special water shoes and a poncho. We got ice creams and saw the falls up close and personal. On the hurricane deck you can get soaking wet if you are not careful. We managed to stay pretty dry under out ponchos.


We waited in line for quite a while, but it wasn't hot and there was lots of people watching to do





The falls are in the background in this one. We stayed on the American side to keep things simple, but it was fun to get so close the the falls and see how fast the water really is moving.



I started a new project, and Brad insists on taking pictures of me working on it. This is the only one you will get, sorry. I am making another dress; this one is a stretchy knit.




Summer is going by way to fast! I have been wearing a jacket all morning, I am not ready for the cold again!
School started today for Brad. He is very excited about his new professor and classes. I am not quite ready to let him go back.

Camping at Seneca Lake

Seneca Lake was a little bit windy, but it wasn't too hot. Everyone had a great time. The night before we left, Hannah spent a few hours making some fancy sweet and sour chicken tin foil dinners. On Friday I was in charge of packing the cooler, and I missed the dinners! I was rather distressed when I realized it, but Hannah was a good sport. We ended up going into town for wings. We ate the chicken when we got home; it was excellent!

Hannah says her hair is crazy, but I like her new curly style.

Brett was our official cook, and we all felt indebted to him. He's really patient and knowledgable about camping food. Becca probably won't like this picture, but I had to include it to show how bad the wind was.

Somehow the Talbots eluded our camera.

coming and going

Daddikins

Brett and me contemplating the meaning of life

Hannah and I really liked canoeing. I even got Hannah to overlook the moss and go swimming with me the next day.