A look at the year ahead...

I am not one to make resolutions for the New Year. So much of the time, when I have done such things, well, what is that saying? "I told God my plans, and He laughed"? Yes, that would be my motto...

Here we are, at the start of a new year, and since I am not going to make resolutions...I will instead, make a list of "general suggestions" for myself, and the things I hope to accomplish (it has such a nice ring to it--"general suggestions"...kind of like the way some folks look at the Ten Commandments, but hey, let's stay on topic, shall we? ;-) ).

Suggestion #1-finish decorating the main rooms of the house. Now, this is a seriously complicated, multiple part suggestion...dare I list what it entails? Okay--just so you know what I'm facing here...
Part one, I have to paint. I have finally chosen a paint color. Ironically, it is the exact same color I used in the adjoining dining room! I had actually gotten samples, of a couple of shades of blue. But there is no way that they will work on such a large scale, on my wall. The color I will be using is a sunny shade of yellow. Not too bright, not too brown, it really is a good, almost "neutral" yellow. It goes very well with the red furniture I already have in the house, and the fabric I have long had for the valances over the windows in those rooms...
Part two, valances. I will be mistreating my windows, a la The Nester. I could sew them. That'd be nice. But you know what? I've got five children, two hands, and a sewing machine at one end of the house, while all of the children are at the opposite end. Not a good combination. So, the less time I spend fiddling with fabric, needles, and thread, the better. Now, since I have the fabric, I need to actually *do* something with it. And, get some curtain rods. I keep hoping to find some in the thrift stores, but so far, no luck. I am almost to the point of purchasing thick dowel rods, and some sort of finial to screw into the end. I cannot find anything I like well enough, in my price range. So I am beginning to think that there is no way around making my own.
Part three, new futon covers. Gotta have those. The one we have, is as old as the futon (which is older than #3, who turns 6 this coming spring. While the cover has borne up well, under the wear and tear of our family, it has been finally relegated to the "only in cases of throw up and imminent arrival of relatives" duty. It has only one way it can be put on and used, thanks to the artistic endeavors of #3, and a sharpie. Sharpie doesn't come out very well, did you know that? Yeah. I tried. No luck. Since I want to be able to change the cover out, for the change of seasons, I'm going to end up needing two--not right away, but two of them will not be cheap. Regardless of color/style. I'm going to opt for a solid, since my valance material is very...patterned. I'll add other patterns and prints in the pillows.
Part four, which really ought to be part 3B, is new pillow covers for the bolsters. I'm obnoxious, though, and I like numbers and lists. :-) Especially since a futon cover will cost me at least $100, and the bolster pillows, close to as much for the pair. It will be a multi-event operation. The bolsters, however, will at least need to 'go' with both covers reasonably well. I may end up buying two sets, one for each futon cover, but not right off. Of course, one of my children, which one, I don't know, decided that those scissors that Mommy (that'd be me) keeps up high and away from small fingers, would be a great thing to use, to slice through one of the bolster covers we have. The slice is not, however, on the cover that has the smear of mommy's lip gloss, that someone was trying to hide...and failed. Lip gloss doesn't come out well, either, by the way...just in case you didn't already figure that out.
Part six--figure out what to hang on the doggone walls. I have one large, solid wall in this family room. You can see it below, in the pictures of my Christmas tree. Once the tree goes to its storage for the next year, the rocking chair will be moved into that location. I would like to put some thing on the wall, under the tray I have already hanging there. And I want to hang something on the other side of the red dresser, to fill in that blank wall space. I've got a few ideas, that I will hopefully share as I work on the room. Bear with me if it takes a while to get there.

You'd think that that'd be enough. But we all know that I can write out something and it looks like it will take three months to do it...but we all know better than that. I mean, painting will take a couple of days, probably. Gotta move heavy bookshelves. UGH. Hanging a couple of things on the wall? Not very long. Mistreatments, ditto, probably a single afternoon, maybe two. Futon and pillow covers are more a matter of money, and shipping time, than anything else. Not much work on my part, in that regard...

The next big room? My bedroom. I soooo want to get that painted, and my desk and sewing areas arranged in there. We'll need a bigger mattress (OH YAY!!!!), and I have a good deal of hands on projects to do--painting the walls, painting and 'antiquing the dresser and bed, getting the mattress, making valances for the windows and the bathroom getting dolled up to match...I am sooo looking forward to it! I need to get some storage set up in my crafting closets (there are two, believe it or not!), which already have things in them, but they need organization and I need shelves for that...lots of things to hang on the walls, of course.

I'm trying to not make this house some cottage fantasy on feminine overdrive. The bedroom will be in "bold" pastels, if that makes any sense at all. I'll make sure to get some pictures up of the fabric, and paint colors, as I go along. If I remember. LOL. You don't want to see my room now. It is far from the restful, peaceful, oasis it *ought* to be. It is more the "please put that on my sewing table/nightstand/in the closet" catchall, that I go in once, or twice, a day. Maybe. LOL. But I still want it to be nice. It is a large room, between the bedroom, and the master bathroom, the master "suite" runs the entire width of the house. NICE. Much bigger than our old bedroom, in our NC house. I also need to get El Husbando a new nightstand, as well as chair for him to sit in, to put his shoes on. Something upholstered, and nice, but not too expensive. I may end up taking that upholstery class through the local "continuing ed" program. Expensive, but probably cheaper for me to learn how to do it myself, and reuse the skills over and over again, than to buy material and have someone else do the work.

So I have a list of decor projects. Not including the standard "keep the house clean, organize things better, finish the wool shawl I started working on last year, try to lose weight" type of decor projects. Yes, the shawl and weight loss are decor projects, when you are at home 99% of the time, you want something NICE to look at, when you pass one of the mirrors...or when you finish scrubbing the toilets and are able to stand upright once more...lol.

I'd like to get to work on putting out some flower beds out front of the house, but because of the geese, that will have to wait until we can fence in an area. And fencing isn't cheap, especially the pretty, durable kind. It has *got* to be durable, thanks to the "winds that come sweeping down the plains" We had 40-60 mph winds just this last week, in the Christmas Eve snowstorm. Those are rareish, at least in this part of the state, but they are something that happens every now and again, especially in spring and summer. So, that being the way things are, its best to be prepared.

I left my English cottage garden back in North Carolina, where we had really lovely soil. Deep, rich, and perfect. Shade, some sun, but lovely all around.

Here we have clay and unremitting sunshine. There are very few places where shade is enough to keep those shade loving perennials alive during the hottest months of the year, when the sun bakes man, beast, flora, and fauna without regard to financial status, rarity, or expense. Not to mention, trying to lighten the soil, so we actually can grow something in this clay. Since most of the by-products of the chicken coop end up in the garden, I'm not sure what I want to do about the flower beds. I think I will start off working up near the mailbox, with some daylilies and iris, daffodils and such. Something that will naturalize, spread, and not require a whole lot of maintenance or effort on my part. I want it to look nice, but if I don't want to spend a lot of time/money I don't have--and I know you all understand *that*!

Anyway, folks, what are your "general suggestions" for yourselves, this year? Do you have house plans? Lifestyle changes? Or are you pretty happy with where you are, and are just looking to expand on that?

Regardless of your plans for the evening, or the upcoming year, I pray you will have a safe, and happy, New Year's Eve, and new year...

Not to party..and an economic ramble...

Well, I was able to get in touch with everyone or their answering machine. We canceled. Not enough people are going to be able to come, soooooo....no sense going through it all. I will, however, be trying again in the next month or so, because I may as well try, try again! :-)

Now, leaving that topic behind, we did in fact get more snow. Not much, however. It melted overnight, which is fine. It is nice to have it slooowllly soak into the ground. Some still ends up in the ponds, of course, but even though we had a wet spring/summer/fall, late fall into early winter has been very dry--not good for the wheat farmers. Not good at all, especially given the poor crop that they had this last year, when they had drought, and then late freezes. Killed crops all over. And not just wheat--peaches, nuts, you name it. They were all affected.

So this year, we are praying for bountiful crops. And not just the farmers. All the us need to be praying too. There were crop failures across the board, from wheat, to corn, to soybeans. The fruit and nut crops in California are toast, thanks to the enviromental folks' insistence on cutting off the water to the central valley. Not to mention many many other crops reliant on that water...so if things are expensive where you are now, stock up as you can--they aren't going to be getting cheaper. And if you have the means and wherewithal, plan a garden. Container garden, even if you cannot do anything else. Every little bit helps. And it is far better for you.

I know that many of us know that the economy stinks. So many folks out of work, some who have not been able to find anything in so long, that the unemployment benefits have run out. Unfortunately, I don't see that getting any better, any time soon. Not that I am some great economist, but honestly, look at the policies being put into place, legislation, court cases where the judiciary is legislating, the international economic outlook is bad, just based on markets..but taking a look at the food situation--so many crop failures, not just here in the US, but overseas as well? Folks, things are going to get ugly. Please, buy some extra food, put up some stuff while it is available at a reasonable price...cause I don't doubt that soon, it will be completely UNreasonable. Or not to be had for any price...

I'm not sure if any of the rest of you have noticed, but there is inflation going on right now. We're already seeing it, in sneaky ways. Where manufacturers charge a dollar more, and reduce the size of the packaging--sometimes, so subtly, that you don't notice it until you really LOOK. A friend of mine, a year ago, purchased some biscotti from Sam's Club. Got the same package this year. But the biscotti inside the package, are 2/3ds the size that they were last year. And she paid more (she keeps receipts, given her line of work). I've seen it--in the diapers I buy for #4 & 5. (I'd go to cloth, but oh, no. These two are regular little firemen, iykwim!). The Walmart brand has been my 'go to' purchase for them. They were reasonably priced $13.98/box of 82. A few months back, they changed the packaging, just a bit. I didn't notice it, until I got home, and sat the new package down on one I had bought previously. It was smaller! And then I looked at the amount of diapers in it...they had dropped the number of diapers, to 70. And I knew, when I had picked them up, that they had bumped the price up a dollar, to $14.98. So now, I am paying $15...for fewer diapers. Given that 12 diapers is a day's worth for us around here, and I know that that would be a good two days' worth, for someone with only one baby, this is significant, especially if you are on a tight budget and can only buy what you *need*, and only enough to get you from one paycheck to the next. Used to, one of those boxes would last me close to two weeks. Now? I'm lucky if I can stretch it to a week and a half. It does add up...

In another example--the size of cans of tuna. A while back, not that long ago, really--tuna was in 6 oz cans. Now it is 5. And some folks have reported seeing even smaller cans--for the same price as the old 6 oz cans! Sugar, used to be in 5 pound sacks. Now, it is 4 pounds--and you are still paying an arm and a leg. I counted myself blessed to luck into a sale locally, for 4lb sacks of sugar for $1.50-1.59 each. Between $.375 and $.40 a pound. Walmart, has their "Great Value" brand, for $2.98 for 5 pounds. $.60 a pound!

The sugar crop was one of those that took a pounding this year, btw, folks, so be forewarned, prices aren't likely to go down anytime soon. If you are like me, and bake, or can, and know you will need sugar this summer--buy it now. Put it in a rubbermaid tote in the bottom of a closet. Seriously. You'll thank yourself later, when you have to take two and three looks at the price on the shelf, and sugar is through the roof.

Our farmers, all over the US, took a real beating this last year. The mono-culture method of farming, prevalent since WWII, has become a real liability now. These farmers, deeply in debt for seed, equipment, herbicides/pesiticides, fuel, and the like, are now in real trouble. They didn't have a crop this year, in many places, and in some, barely anything of salable quality. Now they are in hock, and their farms are being sold at auction, just so that they can pay their debts. If they will be able to do that. Family farms are being abandoned, simply because of a single year's crop loss...

Now think on it...permit me to indulge myself in a bit of a rabbit trail, here..

If there weren't enough successful crops this year, to feed a good many people...if the farmers who attempted to grow these crops, are not farming anymore, thanks to their overwhelming debt loads, and the ground is lying fallow...and so no new crops are being planted for *this* year...are we not in WORSE shape, than we were previously? Fewer growers, fewer things actually being grown, equals fewer things being harvested. Fewer things being harvested, leads to less food making it to the markets--whether as fresh, frozen, canned, or processed. If it isn't there, it isn't there. Now, supply/demand says that we'll see the demand increase...even as the supply dwindles. And the prices will reflect that--the companies will charge what they CAN for the food, because they know that people cannot live without it. People *do* have to eat. Period. We can do without cable, we can do without cell phones, or land lines. We can do without eating out, or going on vacation. But we cannot live without food.

This is just food. Prices per barrel for oil have gone up, to almost $80/barrel as of my last check. So petroleum products go through the roof, too, thanks to the passed on costs of manufacture--this will cross all over the market, since we need fuel to get the non-petroleum based products to market, too. Any and all products created at any point with any form of petroleum (everything from plastics, to inks, to cosmetics, to clothes) are going to see a big rise, as well...since we not only have the transportation costs, but the costs of the petroleum going into them as an ingredient.

And so the prices are GOING to rise. There's just no way around it. And yet...yet...the government insists that prices haven't risen. That there is no inflation. That there won't be any inflation...

Hm. Is the Emperor naked? Who is the man behind the curtain, and why does he want us to not see reality? How much worse is it, than I have seen, and talked about here?

I hate the feeling that I am being manipulated. I hate knowing that the powers that be, out there, are pulling strings, trying to get me to watch the right hand when the left hand is off doing something nefarious, freedom-infringing, and certainly far more important...the big question to me, is, if they want me to look here...if they are continuously trying to draw my/our attention to this 'big event' or that, where else do I look. I almost feel like I've been out wandering in the woods at night...and come across someone doing something illicit. They don't shoot me...no...they put their flashlight beam right into my eyes, while their "associates" clear out with whatever it was they were doing/getting into--causing me to be temporarily blinded to their activities. And by the time my vision is clear, the signs of activity are gone, and all that remains is the aftereffects. I cannot "prove" illicit activity, but I can darn well deduce from what is left, that something hinky was going on.

So yes. I am angry. I don't know what to do next, but I do know, "do *not* look into the light. Look away. Check around the area--see what is going on "behind the scenes". Don't read the front page, read pages 15-20, of your newspaper. Follow their trails. Overlay the information, like it seems our government security forces cannot do. See what really is going on, and see what they do not want you to see...and then talk about it.

Because I am sick and tired of being treated like a child who is incapable of understanding. I am sick and tired of my government, and its lackey's, telling me I have nothing to worry about...that Uncle Sam will take care of me.

Because I know that the way he wants to take care of me, involves the invisible, yet substantial, chains of slavery...of subjugation...of servitude. And I want nothing of it. Get your greedy mitts off of me and mine, "Uncle"--believe me--I am teaching my children about you. And the tricks you pull. And your vile scheme to overtake our liberties, to have us hand them over on a silver platter, and with nary a thank you, take those precious, God-granted freedoms, and throw us all into some socialistic nightmare of a future.

No thanks. Keep your chains. Keep your servitude. Keep your mindless obedience. For all that I have undying faith in my Creator, you, most certainly, are not He. And I will not surrender to you. I will not let you take me and mine. I will fight you to my last breath...I will not let you take this blessed freedom, this sweet liberty, no matter the cost.

For those who propose such things as good and beneficial for all--I will pray for His mercy on you. May a spiritual 2 x 4 whomp you upside the head before it is too late. And to paraphrase a friend of mine's blog title/header--may you willingly fall to your knees before the Lord, lest you be shoved to them.

And may His mercy, and goodness, fall on us all. For I fear we will need it sorely in the new year to come...

To party..or not...

Now, you all know I have posted before, about the need for building greater community networks. To build a 'net', in your local area...that I have posted about hospitality, and how cocooning ourselves away in our own homes, not reaching out, but spending our time before the tube, or the computer, doesn't do anything to build up those ties that bind...

Trying to take my own advice, El Husbando and I decided to have a party on New Year's Eve, nothing late, mind, just a quiet evening get together, with plenty of food, and just take the opportunity to get to know the neighbors better. I hand delivered the invitations to everyone...a total of six couples. It pains me to admit, that of the six couples, one told me right out that they could not come. I appreciate that very much. Because not ONE of the other five couples, has let me know whether they are/are not coming. Not one word. Not a phone call (and yes, the information was on the invitation, right beside the typed RSVP).

I understand, that the holiday season is a busy one. I really do. I know how terribly crazy my life was last week. However, it takes what, two minutes? to make a phone call...two-three minutes to say "we cannnot come, so sorry", or "We'd love to come, can we bring anything? We're so looking forward to it". The lack of consideration is mind-boggling. Not only that, it is potentially very painful, both personally, and financially...

We're not financially over-endowed. We have five small children, and we're on a limited budget. Times are tight all over. I cannot afford to spend money on food that will not be eaten. Especially, food for a party that will need to be eaten very shortly. Even if it isn't expensive on a per-ingredient level, it does add up.

And that's not taking into account, that it is kind of insulting. I wonder, are they coming? Do they not want to get to know us better? I specifically put on the invitation, that we really wanted to get to know our neighbors better. To have an invitation--a hand-delivered one, no less, ignored, basically...well, I just don't know what to think. Have we somehow insulted people? Is this just the way people are, now, so inconsiderate that to say "yay or nay" is beyond their capability?

I always try to let people know whether we can come or not. And if we have to cancel, I make it a point to do it asap, so that they are not purchasing food for us that we won't be there to eat. It is just good manners, and consideration for others. And it hurts that apparently, I'm the only one who thinks so, around here.

The worst part is, I don't even have a phone number for many of them. Lots of people out here are not listed, so getting phone numbers is a sketchy thing. You have to KNOW someone before you get their phone number, apparently. And so, I cannot get them on the phone to ask, "Are you coming?"...I'll have to make another trip to see for sure.

And while I am very interested in getting to know my neighbors, and eager to better our acquaintance, I have no desire to appear, desperate..if that makes any sense.

Have any of you been in this situation? I mean, really, not ONE person has called to say yes or no? I don't know whether I ought to buy 'party food', or not! I've got some already, but there are other things I was waiting on, since I didn't know how many folks would be coming for sure. Now, I'm what, three days out, and I *still* have no idea...

It is very frustrating, and disappointing.

But despite this, I am not going to let it stop me from trying to be hospitable. I am thinking we will try once a quarter, to get people together. Once a month would be good, but I cannot bear the burden that often...even simple dinners get expensive when there are more people to feed. And besides, people *do* have other things to do than come to my house, lol. I'll just keep trying, and maybe I'll have better luck next time. A couple of months to 'lick my wounds' will be enough time, I think. People will be more inclined to look for something 'different' to do of an evening, come mid-February, long after the winter holidays, and before spring lightens things up with warmth and flowers...

Wish me luck!

Ugggggghhhhhh I can't believe I ate the whole thing!

The whole pan of green bean casserole, that is. Over a period of 2 1/2 ish days. I love green bean casserole, but only get permission to make it on holidays (not that El Husbando gives me a strict menu. But he doesn't care for it, and I rarely make more than two sides per meal. And so, if I am making green beans most of the time, they had better be with onions and bacon. Not with soup and french fried onions on top! ).

Now, before you think "glutton"!...well, maybe a bit. But I had some for lunch and dinner on Friday, lunch and dinner on Saturday, and lunch and dinner today (I said I like the stuff, didn't I?). And now I have one fewer pan to shoe-horn into my refrigerators. I am going to be breaking down the sweet potato casserole into a smaller package, since there is only a little of it left. Woohoo! One down, one to go!

But of course, there is still the enormous turkey sitting on a platter in my fridge. Yeah. That is getting sliced and diced tomorrow. Some of it will be bagged and frozen, some will be cooked into broth and canned up for soup use later on. Some will be sliced and used for sandwiches for El Husbando to take to work later this week. It will all get taken care of..whew. Thank goodness.

Of course, I've got a ton of things to do this week--we're hoping to have a party on New Years Eve--we're still not sure if anyone will come, and if so, who. But, we'll be sitting around with our bells on, and food laid out for eating. Whether anyone shows up, oh well! :-) Of course, I'm not sure how much food to make. We didn't invite a huge horde of people--6 couples, and one of whom told me right out that they wouldn't be here, as they will be out of state visiting family. So, I know of a couple of people who won't be here. Nothing from anyone else. Wish they'd use the RSVP number I put on the bottom.

It seems that no one uses them, or responds to them anymore. I like having people over. If I am not going to have anyone show up, I'd like to know now, though, before I go to the trouble of really thorougly cleaning the house again, setting up a buffet table, etc. Not to mention the food to purchase and make into something.

When you have parties, do you put an RSVP on there? Do people use them? Do they let you know? If you're invited, do you let them know asap, or do you wait til a few days before said party? Am I old-fashioned, for expecting folks invited, to let me know? Especially since I said things like "we'd like to get to know our neighbors better" on the invitations? It is kind of hard to not take a complete and total lack of response personally.

Of course, I realize that this is the holiday season, and many people are very busy. But a two or three minute phone call isn't that difficult to make, even for me, and I've got a very busy household, Christmas time or not. I just wonder...am I completely out of line expecting folks to call/stop by, whatever, to let me know that they won't be coming? Or is this just the way people are? Even people you would expect to have better manners than that?

Anyway, I do hope that your plans for New Years Eve--whatever they may be--are settled, and will be fun. I pray for a blessed, healthy, and financially stable new year for us all...and I do hope that you will return the favor, as we've got a lot of stuff on the table financially in the first three months of the year--a potentially substantial pay raise/promotion for El Husbando, our tax returns, and the sale of our home in North Carolina. All of which are very vital for the ongoing financial stability of our family--it will be a great blessing to be out from under a good deal of debt (our plans include paying off the majority of our non-mortgage debt with the proceeds from the taxes and sale of our home). So obviously, your prayers are very much needed, and very much appreciated....so I'll say thank you in advance, and ask that you continue to pray as you think of us, through the first quarter of the year.

I'll be posting more tomorrow. I've got quite a bit spinning about in my head these last few days. Not much silence and quiet to pursue those lines of thought, however, and I hope that with El Husbando heading back to work tomorrow, things will 'normalize' a bit, although we'll be starting to write our thank you notes...which should be interesting...wish me luck..

How to cook a turkey so good your husband wants one once a month...

Seriously, folks.

Brine that turkey. It is, quite frankly, the simplest, easiest, most time/cost effective way of making a moist...tender...flavorful bird, that you can imagine. Keep in mind, I am not a baster, a clock watcher (well, I am if I have other casseroles and such to go into the oven, but still), or any of that nonsense.

1/2 c brown sugar
1 c kosher salt (the recipe originally called for 1 1/2 c, but when I tried that at Thanksgiving, we found it to be too salty)

Dissolve the brown sugar and salt in a quart of hot water (I put the water onto the stovetop in a sauce pan, add the sugar and salt, and stir with a fork til I cannot feel anything gritty). Once that point is reached, I added rubbed sage, whole black peppercorns, whole bay leaves, and garlic paste. And boiled it for a minute or two, then turned it off.

In the meanwhile, I had finally maneuvered that behemoth of a bird into a VERY large (to my mind) stock pot--the sort you use for frying turkeys, or cooking up a REALLY big batch of chili when your entire family is visiting...including cousins...

Pour the brining solution over the turkey. Now, pour cold water into the container with the bird....until the bird is submerged. I goofed, and Mr Tom was only "mostly" submerged. A portion of his flesh right around his neck region remained above water, but it was the best I could do, short of enlisting the help of El Husbando and his bad back, and the mandatory presence of a 22 qt pressure canner pot. No thanks. One huge pot to clean was enough, thank you....

I put a lid on the pot, and left it on the counter (no way I could have moved it). He stayed cool enough all night there, but if it had been any warmer, I'd have moved him to the sun room (totally poor name--it is on the north side of the house, we don't heat it, and it stays COLD...but I digress). Anyway, keep that sucker COLD as you can, overnight. Let the sugar and salt do their work, the spices and herbs work their way into the very cell structure of this formerly feathered denizen of the poultry yard...and wait...

I pulled him out (no rinsing, ladies!), put him into the pan (he BROKE my roasting rack! I get to go buy a sturdier one after the first of the year), and slathered him up with butter. You should have heard me...it was awful....rubbing the softened butter in, asking him how his "holiday season" had been--as if it were a client and I a masseuse....I even did voices..."So, how are your holidays going, sir?"..."Wellll, not too bad so far..."...."OH, don't worry, because now you will end up on my table, BWAHAHAHAHAHAAA!".

Yes. I am strange, I admit it. I even "replayed" it for El Husbando, who came to see why his wife was laughing like the mad scientist in a grade B 60's sci-fi movie. He got a good chuckle out of it, as I progressed to sprinkling our now silent "friend" with a wee bit more kosher salt, and some ground black pepper, on top of the now buttery skin. Tent over it with aluminum foil, and pop it into the oven. I usually pull the foil off about 30 min prior to our believed "oven ejection time", as to get a good crispy skin layer, as well as a good brownish color.

This turkey...my worrrrrddddd....it was delightful. The white meat was tender...MOIST....flavorful. If I had needed more convincing, after our experience at Thanksgiving (I didn't), I wouldn't need it now! We are planning to always brine our turkeys from now on, and maybe our roasting chickens, too.

I can, as you can tell, *highly* recommend brining your turkey. Just make sure it is thawed first. And remove the gibblets and neck, unless you WANT them brined...check inside that cavity (something I have forgotten to do from time to time...sigh).

It was a wonderful day, a wonderful meal, and I hope you will give brining a chance. I seriously had next to nothing to do to that bird, and it was done....

Let me know--have you ever brined a bird? What do you put into the brine, as far as herbs, spices, fruit juices....??? Inquiring minds want to know...

Whew....

Well, the presents are opened (I think it took a whopping 15 minutes from start to finish!). The trash is mostly picked up. The turkey is in the oven (since it will take about 5 hours, and we want to be eating around 2, welllllll...it *is* a 20+lb bird). The casseroles were made yesterday, the dough for the crescent rolls is rising in front of the fireplace, the cake is frosted and on the stand, I've got the pie dough just about ready to go into the pan. Let's see...I turned the crock pot back on for the green beans for El Husbando. I need to devil the eggs, set up the veggie tray, and get the casseroles coming to room temp. Oh. And the rolls need rolling and shaping up.

I've gotten a second load of dishes done this morning, already, and I'm on load two through the washer, too (the children were given a ton of clothing, and it all had to be sorted and washed asap, before it ended up sneaking in with a load and staining everything). El Husbando had a rough night (thanks to the weather affected back pain), and so he is laying down for a nap. I'm mostly keeping an eye on the twins and the bread dough, and trying to keep the fire going just right.

Hopefully, the weather that slammed us yesterday hasn't caught too many of you in its grip. We're still locked up tight here, although #1 went out and pranced about, wearing a dress, tights, pants over the tights and under the dress, some of her daddy's heavy military socks over the tights, rain boots, a coat, gloves....she wanted to go out, so she got to also bring in a bunch of firewood (wetish, but it is drying off in front of the fire (plus there's plenty of heat in there, and it still burns pretty well).

For all that the sun is out and shining, we'll be lucky to see 26 degrees today, so we'll likely be keeping close to home for a while yet. No chance of my going anywhere today or tomorrow. And possibly Sunday, but we'll see. We were supposed to have some friends come over to visit tomorrow, for desserts and coffee. I'll have to call them this afternoon and see if they are going to risk it, or not (they only live two miles away, but it is over some rough roads in good weather/conditions).

I'm tired already, but we'll have to see if I can get a nap later today. Unless El Husbando's back clears up, I'll be pulling another "all-dayer" :-) Maybe I can manage to go to bed earlier tonight.
Our company from up north won't be coming--they got hit with the weather, and would be driving straight through the worst of it, to come down here. No thanks. No sense risking it, as much as we'd have loved to have seen them. So it will be a nice, relatively quiet (well, five children and quiet...lol) weekend...

God bless, and I pray your Christmas was a beautiful one. Gifts may be few, but the best gift of all, came wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

To God be the glory for the greatest gift the world has ever known...a gift reviled, abused, broken, and finally, crucified, for the sins of the world...

May God forgive us all, for helping pound the nails. May He forgive us our sins, and help us to go and sin no more.

And may we all strive, to be a shining example of the love of Christ, His mercy, in this world (I'll leave the justice to Him).

May all of you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful Christmas.

From the Off to the West family...to yours....