Happy New Year!

I'm just finishing up the day at my office.

And then it's home for a lovely long weekend.

Baby it's COLD outside.

I just came back from lunch.

Needed to run to my local health food store

for some vegetable glycerin

so my ice cream doesn't freeze into a 

rock solid mass.

Anyhow.

I'm looking forward to a nice,

quiet,

relaxing,

long

weekend.

Other than taking down the tree...

There isn't much I HAVE to do.

Rod and I might ride the horses.

I might do some cooking for the 

coming week.

And I might just relax.

Sounds wonderful.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas 2016

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.

Of course it started out with the traditional

Indialantic Santa on the Fire Truck

Kyle said "Wow, that Santa looks like

he's about 23... too young!"

Rod replied with an "ahem!  I was only about

that age when I was Santa on the fire truck

for the first time!"

Hahahahahahahaha

It was a pretty short group this year.

We found them (we drive around town

watching and listening and then pull over

on the next corner to stand and yell)

but they weren't doing their rounds,

they were on a call!

I guess they left a bunch of them there.

Once we found them again later,

it was just the police escort,

a fire truck

and a rescue truck with a trailer

holding Santa, Mrs. Claus and some elves.

BUT

they threw GOOD candy this year!

Rod got a SNICKERS!

Then off to Denny's for the traditional

"The Santa Clause" Christmas Eve dinner.

It wasn't nearly as busy this year.

But the food was still good.

And the company was GREAT!

Christmas morning was SO different than

most years.

We slept in.

We went to church!

We came home and had breakfast.

And then Jim and Sabrina came over

and we opened gifts!

(There were no stockings / Santa gifts under the tree

this year... Mrs. Santa kind of dropped the ball...)

But it was a wonderful day

and everybody was happy.

Rod and Kyle made a candle holder

from a hunk of the oak tree they cut down last year

held up by two horse shoes painted black.

It is gorgeous and goes with my table perfectly!

They also made the napkin holders

out of more horseshoes.

PERFECT!

Then we pushed them out of the way and

spread out Kyle's custom puzzle.

It's a pretty hard puzzle.

But we had a LOT of fun working on it!

This is the picture I used.

Cropped a little more off the left side

so there is only 1 set of pine trees.

He took this picture one morning

while riding his long board.

We got lots done on the first sitting!

And then our eyes went buggy.

(Kyle did the bottom, I did the top)

It was sort of a "food themed" Christmas for me.

Jim got each of us an Air Fryer

and I got each of us (Jim and (I) a pressure cooker!

Between the two of us we are GOING to

learn to eat well!

(Kyle was pretty excited about the elevated choices!)

Mom and Dad sent us a lovely

towel warmer you plug in your bathroom.

It makes your towels warm and moist.

But unfortunately my towels are already

warm and moist.

(We had 83 degrees and 87% humidity on

Christmas Day!)

So, we took it back to the store

and traded it for an electric

ICE CREAM MAKER.

Something we will use daily and think

of them (with FOND, ice cream-ie happy thoughts!)

(And an oil Mister so I don't have to buy

yucky, chemical filled, Pam spray any more!

Here's to delicious, healthy avocado oil spray!)

Spent yesterday morning re-arranging the

kitchen island / shelf unit.

Other than the blender

(which is on the kitchen counter next to

all my canisters that hold my

smoothie ingredients)

THIS is our official cooking station!

We made AWESOME french fries in the

air fryer.  And a terrific roast in the 

pressure cooker.  (Plus beef gravy, green beans, 

Rhodes dough rolls, and Pop's fruit salad...)

Tonight I'm excited to make

roasted brussel sprouts in the air fryer,

BBQ country style pork ribs in the

pressure cooker,

and Moose Track ice cream in the

ice cream maker!

(ALL on plan!)

Sounds YUMMY!

Rod also got me this fabulous (HEAVY)

cast iron / enamel dutch oven and several

nice, new replacement enamel frying pans.

I'm pretty hard on my pans.

I make bacon and eggs or sausage and eggs

or french toast EVERY morning and they get

pretty worn out.

(Ignore the nasty, chemical filled Pam spray! Notice

the lovely avocado oil just waiting to be poured

into my nifty new Misto thingie... lol)

(Also notice my awesome heirloom salt/pepper shakers!)

Jim and Kyle are requesting pineapple upside down cake

in the dutch oven PRONTO!

(not on plan, but they will love it anyway!)

They are predicting "winter" on Friday.

(High of 62)

So I'm predicting a big dutch oven full

of broccoli / cheddar soup for dinner!

YUM!

All - in - all a DELICIOUS Christmas!

Neighbors

We lived in the city for 19 years.

We knew the neighbors on both sides of us.

But ... we weren't a "neighborhood".

Maybe it was just me.

Now that we live out in the "country"

we finally have NEIGHBORS!

(ok, excuse the pun, we do have

horses in the "neigh"borhood,

but that's not what I mean... lol)

We TALK!

We know when one goes in the hospital.

We know when somebody's dog

is having MORE surgery.

We notice (and watch out) when 

folks are out of town.

We catch each other's animals

and bring them home.

(Our's or their's... either works...)

Saturday evening Rod went out

to feed our cows.

Sir Loin was standing by the fence

watching intently.

That generally means the bobcat is there.

Rod called Kyle to bring his rifle.

Nope.  Not the bobcat.

The neighbor's BULL and a calf.

Somehow Jogger and one of the babies

made it from Brock's on the north of us

to Rick's UNFENCED property on the south of us.

Skipping our MULTIPLE FENCED property 

in the middle.

Neat trick!

And getting them BACK to their own pasture

was also a pretty neat trick which involved

the donkey and goats getting out

and ending up locked in the arena next door.

(Not to mention an hour of "wrangling")

I just got an email from another neighbor.

"FedEx just tied a gift to your front gate.

Do you want me to bring it to my house until

somebody comes home?"

Neighbors.

They are AWESOME!

The Santa Clause

We FINALLY had time to decorate

our tree last night.

It's been sitting, 

all pretty

and fragrant

and naked

for several days.

But last night Rod put the lights on

and then we put on the decorations

(NO GLASS)

(*crazy puppy)

and garland.

We bought a REALLY bushy one.

Couldn't put very many ornaments

on it anyways.

It looks really pretty!

And while we were decorating,

Kyle was flipping through channels

and found The Santa Clause

(and The Santa Clause 2)

They were on different channels.

So every time there was a commercial

he switched to the other one.

It was a little confusing.

But Tim Allen is HYSTERICAL!

We laughed and laughed and laughed!

Still haven't seen White Christmas

or Its A Wonderful Life yet

so it's not officially the Christmas Season,

but we're working on it.

New "Winter" Coat

I ordered a new "winter" coat

from a company in China.

It reminded me of the gorgeous

coat Mom bought me when I went to 

Utah back in 1977.

(It felt like it took from 1977 to arrive...)

I still have that coat.

I haven't worn it in 35 years.

I have broken umpteen million hangers.

It weighs about a gazillion pounds.

But it's so PRETTY!

LOL

This one is perfect for Florida winters.

It was cold this morning when I left the house.

The car thermometer said 60.

But it was lightly raining,

so it felt more like 55.

Hahahahaha

Anyhow.

I was snuggly warm.

Yes, I took a selfie in the office bathroom.

It has knit raglan sleeves

and a light wool A swing body.

With pockets in the side seam.

More evidence that 

Americans / Canadians

slouch.

The pockets are in the side seams.

I have to really stand up straight

and put my shoulders back

to put my hands comfortably in them.

It also has GIANT buttons.

I would wear a black trash bag

if it had giant buttons.

LOL

It also has a really pretty pleat

in the back.

Pretty hard to take a picture of 

your back.

But it's SO pretty!

(My earrings say HoHoHo)

3.2.1 Lift Off

There was an absolutely gorgeous

rocket launch last night.

It was nice and clear so when

they lit the candle,

it really brightened up the 

whole sky line.

There are lots of trees

(not to mention the curve of the Earth)

between us and Cape Canaveral

but it was still a really bright glow.

And then it rose up above the horizon

and then above the tree line

and gosh it was pretty.

And FAST!

Photo shamelessly stolen from a Facebook post

Smaller than the shuttles.

But seemed quicker.

It is such fun to watch them at night.

Not only can you see the flare

of the engines when there is 

booster separation,

you can also see the boosters

actually fall off and watch

them as they drop to the ocean.

It was really weirdly quiet though.

We waited and waited and there

was never any "bumbling" 

(that's what the kids have always 

called the sound of the engines).

It was great to see another 

successful launch

and know that we are back in 

the Space Business (at least a little bit).

(It was a military satellite carrying

extra bandwidth for the military) 

Late to the Party (as usual)

You probably already know this.

I've known it for a long time.

But I've never tried it.

I don't often make things with shredded chicken.

But tonight we are having the missionaries

over for dinner again.
One of our favorites is leaving tomorrow

to go back to Idaho.

We invited them over and asked them

what they wanted...

And he requested chicken enchilladas.

I've never made those before.

Obviously, I've never SPELLED that before.

LOL

But I have seen a THM recipe around

for about a year that everybody raves about.

So I said sure, and pulled out my

trusty iPad.

(It's on her blog)

I knew it would take quite a while to 

cook the chicken,

shred the chicken,

make the sauce,

assemble the enchiladas,

and then bake the thing.

So I did everything except bake them

yesterday.

I used my Pressure Cooker (my old one,

I haven't opened my new one yet...)

and did up a big package of 

skinless, boneless chicken breasts.

It was fast,

easy,

and they were SUPER tender!

(Bonus!  I got about a quart of chicken broth!)

Then I put them in my

regular mix master

(since I don't have a KitchenAid)

(which has been my excuse for not trying this sooner...)

(Yup, that's Rod in the background.)

(And we still have the giant map on the wall

showing all the places the guys made deliveries)

We could take it down since nobody

is driving anymore,

but honestly the missionaries get a kick

out of pointing out where they live.

Anyhow.

Back to the chicken.

I stuck it all in the bowl

and turned it on.

It literally took less than 30 seconds.

I let it run longer because it was FUN!

But it was done earlier.

Seriously!

This would have taken me forever

with 2 forks.

Well, to be perfectly honest,

I wouldn't have done it.

Which is why I never make recipes

with shredded chicken.

Shredding sounds like a pain in the neck.

But this is EASY!

And FAST!

And FUN!

Took longer to wash my bowl

than it did to shred my chicken!

(But I had to wash my bowl, cuz I used

it again to make a yummy THM friendly

chocolate cake...)

TRY IT!

YOU WILL LIKE IT!

(unless you've already been doing it for years

and you are sitting there snickering at my silliness...)

The Eagle (Buffaloe) Has Landed

I guess.

I was in bed, kind of watching a Christmas movie

on Hallmark at about 1:30 this morning.

Hopped up and checked out the tack room

window - no big white truck in the yard.

Next thing I knew, it was 2:28.

Rod took a quick peak and the truck was there.

But all the lights were off in the house.

So Kyle has arrived!

And is ASLEEP.

YEA!!!!!

This morning he is either...

a) still asleep

b) already unpacked the trailer and returned it

c) sitting on the couch binge watching

all the Alaska shows he missed in the

past 6 months...

LOL

Either way, he is home.

Safe and sound.

Can't wait for 4:00 to roll around

so I can go home and give him a HUG!