A Little Dream House

Erin and I enjoyed making the gingerbread house so much that we may do it again next year--Lord willing.  I made a collage of pictures...

finished...

...and the process.

We have a night light inside it, and the heat from it makes the whole room smell like baking gingerbread.  Mmmmm-mmm!

I want to figure out next years project a little earlier in the season, and have it baked and ready to go before we put it together on Christmas eve so it won't be so drawn out over days.  We'll see. 

We have a family pot-luck tonight...my nephew who's a cop in Dallas is visiting Mom and Dad, so we're having a meal together---FUN!



Home Sweet Gingerbread Home

We finished it!  I love it...I just got in the Christmas Spirit a little late...better late than never.  Here is what we did today after church and lunch.  First we made shingles and cobblestones.

Attaching the shingles

I thinned the chocolate icing---that was our problem yesterday---works like a charm now.

Humble beginnings.

Checking out the lights.

More detail.

Erin's real good with the small details.

I added the snow and she did most of the tiny details.

I'm looking little tired here.

Erin's still going strong.

Aaaaaand DONE!

The front, and...

The Back.  WooHoo!

That Can Be Fixed

We've been working on the gingerbread house, and "That can be fixed" seems to be how we are getting by.  It's been a couple of years since I've made one, and we're trying some new stuff like chocolate royal icing without a lot of luck, but here's where we are...

We've decided to let it dry overnight, and finish it maybe tomorrow.  We've had a lot of other things going on and so we're a little distracted by...

fixing Christmas Dinner,

posing for pictures,

opening presents, doing dishes, visiting grandma and grandpa, watching movies, and such things.

I got so hot I had to put a cool top on, and eventually we got around to working on the house, and I think we were trying to rush the drying process...

...but here's where it is for now.

The cans are suppose to hold every thing in place til it ---the royal icing--- dries.

Being creative is messy work.

Oh, by the way, we had a semi-white Christmas...

It started snowing in the night and we woke up to this.  It's not much, but we'll take it. 

GINGERBREAD HOUSE MAKIN'

First, I made the gingerbread--I use Wilton's recipe that I have used for years.  Next I drew up some patterns for the house Erin and I wanted to make.

It was nice to have two pairs of hands.  I rolled and cut out the pattern pieces while Erin baked them and ...

took them off the cookie sheets to cool on racks.

We pounded some clear hard candy to put in the window slots.

Back in the oven to melt the candy--we put it on waxed paper so we could get it out of the pan.  Greased foil might have been better.

It doesn't take very long for it to melt--so we watched it happen.

Here are the pieces with melted and cooled yellow candy in them.

In the morning or afternoon we will start the assembly with Royal Icing.

Here is my own Mr. Clean helping us out.

Thanks dear.  We also went to a Candlelight service tonite at our church.  I'm pooped.

The Star

This is one of the surprises I got for my hubby for Christmas.  Our Bible Study group viewed this on our last meeting before the winter/spring classes start up.  It's amazing--you must see it if you get a chance.  I know my hubby will love this.  I'm pretty sure he won't look at my blog before Christmas, so I can tell you about it.  He's in the kitchen doing dishes for me right now--I married Mr. Clean.  He actually enjoys cleaning, and that works for me.

I actually would rather do the dishes myself, but on my schedule--you know when I feel like it.  A while back I asked him not to do dishes and it hurt his feelings, so now I LET him do them-- I'll adjust--tee-hee!
I have presents to wrap and gingerbread to make, and supper to cook.  I best get with it.

Quilt Going to Niece

I'm making a label for this quilt I made for my niece and her baby.

It got down to 6 degrees last night--Brrr!

  My sister is traveling soon to see her daughter, and I'm sending this quilt with her for my niece and her baby.  So a label is in order---I'm kinda of bad about not labeling my quilts.  It's a must-do though.  I love this quilt and the colors, and I must name the quilt.  Maybe something about blue skies and daisies.

It's suppose to get up to 24 degrees today, so most of the snow will melt in the sunshine.  I hope it snows again soon.  Maybe without the deep freeze though.



BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

BRRRRR!  Winter has arrived.

I'm glad I don't have to worry about any animals out in the cold.  We used to have pets and need to make arrangements for them in this kind of weather.  It's suppose to really get cold tonite--3 degrees with wind and gusts as high as 26 mph.  We may need to turn off the pump on our little pond, though.

The fish in it do fine, even if it freezes over--as least they did last year.

It was cold walking across the parking lot at church this morning--the wind just takes it out of you.  Though winter doesn't start for another week from tomorrow, I think it's here.

Christmas Parties

Well, we've been to two Christmas Parties in as many days.

.  Yesterday we went to my nephew, Rick's home.  Guess who forgot their camera?  Mmwa.  I do that a lot.  I asked my sister Alice to send me a picture.

This is Me, Alice, and Donna, sisters three.  Our fourth sister, Paula is with the Lord, and it was at her son's home.  It was potluck, and I made a spinach salad with oranges, pomegranate seeds, pecans.  I made a vinaigrette with orange juice, zest, and honey to go with it.  The other dish I made was little baked tortilla cups with a filling of chicken salad, and a topping of sour cream that was sprinkled with green onions, and bacon crumbles.  I wish I had gotten pictures of them.  The dessert table was off limits for me, but let me tell you it was to die for.  We played Dirty Santa with our white elephant gifts.  FUN.  Paula's and Donna's grand babies galore were there.  It was nice to get together with family.

This morning our Sunday School Class had a party.  It was breakfast buffet.  It was fun too.   After we came home, our little pet house guests were taken back home. 

Tonight we watched a Blu-ray Movie.  It was a really good picture.  I'm impressed with the detail on the Blu-ray.

Pet Sitting For Our Grandkids

We're watching our grand dog, Chili.  He's a sweet dog. 

We are also watching their hamsters, and I forgot their names.  Erin and I are calling them Al and Mickey.

This is Mickey--He likes to bite. (It doesn't hurt that much, but it is startling).

And, this is Al.

Chili likes to stay near us, right now he's curled up by my feet.  I think he really likes my hubby best, but hubby's at work so I'll do.  My hubby spoils him a lot.

See what I mean.  I don't think Chili's allowed on the furniture at home--he may need retraining when he gets home.

Yesterday we started putting up our new TV.  Here's how it looked before.

We had to move our 55 gallon aquarium, and the TV, stand, and all the parafinalia that goes with the TV.  What an ordeal.  Our daughter, Erin helped us--I don't know what we would do without her.  She found some sunglasses behind everything.  I think they were broken. 

Moving the aquariums really was tons of fun. 

We watched The Day After Tomorrow after Erin got it all hooked up--she's so smart--I just can't stand it.  We have an Amp, Speakers, Video player, Blu Ray, and new TV with their wires galore and places to plug in that just make my head swim, and she figured it all out.  I just helped with the other stuff, running to the store and picking up food.  WOW!  What an ordeal.  Chili was just running around like everything was normal.  Because I am so electronically challenged I made sure we labeled everything as we unplugged them, and Erin didn't seem to think this was necessary.  It wasn't either.  Just give me a needle and thread.

This is what it looks like now, but we're not finished yet.  I do love the new TV, and the way the aquarium looks on the new stand.  The picture is great, and I can't wait to see an actual

Blu Ray DVD.  The sound is good too.  It will take me a while to figure out the remotes, and how to work everything.  Right now I need to run to the pet store and get a new heater for the large aquarium, before the fish die.



Fun Handwork

I've enjoyed working on this project, and it took a week's spare time.  We've been on vacation with our daughter doing all kinds of things.

I took this outside to get some good light for a picture.  I still have a few holes to cut on the backside to take the papers out of the appliqued flowers, and leaves.  I like something to do when we are watching a movie or listening to the radio, and that will work out fine.

Here's the backside.

Boy, it's such a nice day outside!  We've had a lot of grey skies lately and it's so good to see the blue skies again.

Now I'm ready to work on the pieced inner part of the quilt so I can return the book to the library.

The pattern calls for plain corner squares on the ends of the borders, but I'm thinking about jazzing it up a little.  I have to remember to make it fit with the same look though.  Hmmmm.  I don't want it to compete with the border strips, but I don't want it plain either.  What to do.  I have a while to mull it over while I'm working on the other border strips.

I linked up with amylouwho's sew and tell.