Shadows Potpourri

Yikes!

Blog post take two!

This is the second time I'm attempting this blog post tonight. I was mid-way through the first one when Pumpkin Goblin jumped up in my lap and landed ON the keyboard and somehow pushed the right buttons to make me exit completely out of WDC. She is now laying on the arm of my chair, nudging my hand as I TRY to type...and keep her from creeping further onto my lap. Her ears are backed and her tail is swishing, which means I'm on her "list". I'd better make this fast, so SHE can have my lap and undivided attention or else there's no telling what she may do.

At least, I can report I got several things accomplished this month. It has been a hectic month and I owe my husband a few special treats for his patients and help. After completing OctPrep, I put my story away for a little while.

I was correct last entry when I said I thought our tree was destroyed. Well, a good portion of it is. BUT, I did not want to trash the WHOLE thing. So, my good natured, (if kinda confused) hubby set asside the top tier of the tree (it is in fairly good condition) and took wire cutters and snipped all the "good" branches from the other tiers, until we had a huge pile of tree branches. The cat absolutely LOVED climbing in/under/through them! I plan to use them to make a wreath and table decoration sometime in November.

Restocked everything I need for bread baking this winter and have been practicing a basic white bread and an oatmeal bread recipe. The neighbors are enjoying being Guina pigs....we really don't need so much bread in the house. I have also been playing with a few other oatmeal based recipes AND have started stocking up on fresh cranberries. My little freezer won't hold many more bags....I'm waiting on my shipment of canning jars to arrive, then I'll be making cranberry apple preserves and spiced cranberry preserves. Next, we have accumulated about 50 cans of applesauce! No one in the family seems to eat it, and when they get it through the food banks, it always ends up at MY house. I don't turn it away though...I plan to use some of my canning jars and make homemade apple butter. Its very simple in the crockpot. This year, I told my husband everyone is getting home canned goodies from us for the holidays. That with some loaves of home baked bread...I think will make many folks quite happy.

PUMPKIN was on sale this last time I made a grocery order, so of course I stocked up! Last year, I remember they wanted nearly $4 a can! I got it for $1.30ish a can and yes, I got about 8 cans. You can do SO much with pumpkin and it does have some health benefits. (though I doubt the canned stuff has much after all that processing it goes through).

I discovered the cat has been using my craft basket that had a lot of my finished crochet granny squares I was slowly sewing together into a blanket...she has been secretly using that as a POTTY I'm doubtful I'll get that stench out of the yarn. I soaked the items in vinegar...so...we'll see how that turns out.

Youtube has me hooked on making vintage looking cotton baby dolls and toys. Oh my goodness...if you've never seen them, and you like dolls or crafting, that is something you should see. So, after double checking my budget, I now have an order set for delivery that include 900 cotton balls, toothpicks, food coloring, wire, and about 100 hot glue sticks. I hope my hands/fingers cooperate and let me do this. It IS tiny work at first when your molding the wire and wrapping the first layers of cotton...but then, I think it should get a bit easier. I think it will be similar to when I made the flower babies. Speaking of flower babies, I should make a few of those as well, but with winter flowers.

Always SOMETHING to do around here! Never a dull moment. AND, of course, I DO need to work more on the story I started and prepped all of October. Thank goodness for my crockpot. It sure is a life saver when I can dump stuff in and leave it-do what I need and then, come back to a fully cooked meal. I feel like I CHEATED or something because Monday I chopped up a whole head of cabbage, tossed it in the crockpot, tossed in two frozen smoked ham hocks, one chopped onion and about half a cup chopped celery, and left it to do it's thing. Later, I made a double batch of cornbread muffins and husband and I have been eating this for the last two days....and tonight my husband said he feels like he's been eating high on the hog...his way of saying "eating like a king" .....he's been quite happy with what's coming out of the crockpot and so have our dogs! Oh man, I've never seen DOGS gobble cabbage so fast! Thay absolutely love it. The cat, she nibbles at it somewhat but isn't that impressed.

Well, Goblin Cat is now laying with her paws pressed against the laptop and is slowly pushing....I keep having to pull it back to the center of my lap...and she's stopped nudging my hand and is now giving me no so gentle love bites as I TRY to type. Time for me to close everything up and snuggle with her. (Not sure she really deserves it though if my crochet items don't come clean!)

So, I had to come back and add this. I couldn't get my mind to calm down so I can sleep...going to be one of those sleepless nights. I wrote this, hoping it would help, but NO...I'm still wide awake! Now, I've got to think of something else to write lol. SO if you'd like to know even more detailed plans of exactly what I'm planning, check this out:

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