Weekend with Abby

Scott was gone last week, so my niece Abby came over Friday night and spent the night at our house. Abby and I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and ate pizza, then Abby went to bed and I waited up for Scott to get home (aka: slept on the sofa until about 1am when Scott came in).

On Saturday morning Abby requested bacon, so we had bacon and eggs. Then Abby and I went to the store to get stuff for Thanksgiving, and Scott spent the day outside raking up leaves.

I had to make a pie for the pie auction at our church, and Abby helped! We made a pear cranberry pie with a pastry cream on the inside. I really wish I could have tasted it, as it was a new recipe! Here is Abby rolling out the top pie crust (you can see the bottom of the pie and the filling behind her) And here she is pinching the edges. She had never made a pie before!
Finally, brushing the top with milk and putting slits in it.

This was a beautiful pie--Good job, Abby! I will have to ask the family that bought it at the auction how it tasted.

After our baking excitement, Abby and I put up the Christmas tree and all the decorations. It was great to have her around for a couple days!

Portland, OR (or the mountains in my mind)

This posting is entitled "Portland, OR" not because we are enjoying a wonderful vacation there, but because Scott is enjoying the inside of a hotel conference center there this week. He is learning something about acidification of food, and got to visit a pickle factory today (gag! puke! vomit!). In an incredibly ironic twist, a number of the health inspector professionals (including Scott) developed a bout of food poisoning last night, sending a few of them to the hospital...and fortunately only sending Scott to the bathroom. Scott did bring the camera along this time, and we'll see if he managed to get out to take any pictures. That can be difficult when attending a conference.

Scott has been gone for 2 out of the last 3 weeks for work, as well as one overnight trip in the middle "home" week. I have been so busy that it has hardly hit me that he was gone, as I have been busy at work, and running around like a maniac at home. We don't intend to get this busy, but between church activities, occassional visits with friends, and spending over 2 hours a day in the car commuting, I barely even have time to cook supper. I enjoy being busy, to a certain extent, but this week all I want is to not have to work, but to spend all my time at home cleaning, organizing, cooking, decorating, and listening to Christmas music. I am looking forward to the upcoming holidays.

Tomorrow night my niece Abby is going to spend the night here with me (Scott will get home late). On Saturday she is going to help me bake some goodies for Thanksgiving and possibly even put up Christmas decorations. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with her!

Once again my pictures aren't lining up...I need to check my settings, I guess.

I have very cold feet, and in the winter I can get into bed and be warm and cozy everywhere except for my ice cold feet. And they will remain cold for hours. This week, I bought some scrap fleece, and made "corn bags" for Scott and myself. I am sure you will appreciate the fabric. I hand sewed the fleece, then filled it with feed corn. Heat it up in the microwave, throw in in the bottom of the bed, and voila! Warm feet all night long!

Tonight for supper I am making Holiday Tortellini soup. In this first picture, you can see the chicken broth simmering with wonderful smelling bits of bacon, onion, and garlic.

And here is the final product. Added tomatoes, spinach, and delicious tri-color cheese tortellini.

And just to make it extra specially good, here's a shot of from scratch oat bread baking in the oven. Should be tasty!

In other news, you may remember that a couple weeks ago the 60 mph winds knocked over our windmill and bent it a big. Scott tried to straighten out the blades, and it was ok until the 40 mph winds hit today. Today we took it apart and put it in the shed for the winter. Here is what it looks like:

Kitchen Creations

I apologize that the words and pictures aren't lining up in this post...I am not sure what is going on, but I can't get it to work right. So, we're just going to have to live with it.

Last weekend I spent most of the day on Saturday making stuff from pears. I canned about 15 quarts of pear sauce, 5pints of pear preserves, and made a bunch of little jars of pear honey. The pear honey isn't actually honey--it's pears, sugar, and pineapple juice cooked until it's the color and consistancy of honey. Yum!

Scott was in Oklahoma City last week for a conference. He left the camera at home, however, so no pictures. Highlights included a trip to the OK City bombing memorial (and a stamp for the national park passport!), and attending the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.

I worked from home today, so I had time to make a yummy supper. I made a meatloaf (turkey and pork) stuffed with bacon, mushrooms, onions, and mozzarella cheese. It was pretty good!

Here it is, all ready to roll up:

And here we are mid-roll. I've never made anything like this before, and I discovered that when you make a meatloaf roll, the meat tends to split. BUT, you can just mush it back together!

I decided since I was making a yummy meal, I might as well set the table!

And here is the final product!

I also made some rolls and a baked sweet potato. My plate presentation wasn't very good...it looks like the food was frowning! Don't worry, it was very tasty!

I also found time to clean the bathroom. After I finished, I decided to hang up a little shelving thing I've had for a while. Now my q-tips and band-aids are easy to access!

In other exciting news, Pella Christian volleyball won their Regional final tonight, and are going to State for the 4th year in a row!!! Go Eagles!

Olivia's Birthday

Last weekend we went to my parent's house to celebrate Olivia's 3rd birthday. She got a Cinderella dress for her birthday, and wore it all evening.Garion hasn't quite figured out the "self-portrait" camera thing yet.
We gave Olivia a pair of "Barbie" dolls...one was Cinderella in a dress just like Olivia's!

Tim & Carrie came to Pella for the party, so Scott got to meet his new niece Kendall for the first time. He held her for a long time, and even put her to sleep...he's a natural, don't you think?

Uncle Jim and Kendall bonding.