Happy New Years!

 

Welcoming in 2013 with love and peace

 

Mr. Darcy, Jennifer and Abigail

Fox Mountain

A Super Sweet December weekend

When I was a wee, little girl, Christmas time was always the best. We struggled like many folks and I remember that all our trees were "real" and several times I went with my dad to go out in the woods somewhere and we would pick out a tree together. If I liked one bigger, he would climb way to the top and cut the top of it off for the tree. As I grew older we bought trees or an artificial one but never would they replace those wispy ones from the woods we put in a bucket inside.

 

This is me. All giddy on Christmas Eve with my brother in matching pjs. I used to think that was so neat. We got one pair like that right before Christmas for a pic under the tree. I was 5 years old here and had made a Santa and proud to put his limp self with cotton balls and all right under the tree for Santa to see when he came to put the presents around!

 

Of course back then, mama put alot of icicles on the tree and as I grew older, she let me put them on there. I think then she would go back and even them out. :o

 

Those were the simple times.

 

 I guess my love for crafting came very early in life even way before this when I got put in the time out chair in kindergarten for playing with my crayons when I was supposed to be listening.

 

This weekend, Mr. Darcy and I went to a lovely, huge Christmas party and danced till we couldn't anymore. We had so much fun. The food was overflowing, the music was good too.

 

So, today I've been getting a little out of the village and decorating a bit. I'll show you some pics later but here are a few sneak peaks. We even got a pic with Santa but I don't have it with me right now.

 

 

 

more of the village when I get finished with it. It honestly takes a good 2-3 hours of set up.

I used a different "snow" this year. I so miss the other kind but couldn't find it in stores so I basically used the poly stuff.

 

 

 

On the baking front, Mr. Darcy likes yellow cake with chocolate frosting so in between decorating,

I made up one. The frosting recipe is from a Better Homes and Garden cookbook.

It's a Chocolate Butter Frosting.

 

simple to make and oh so rich!

 

it made enough for extra cupcakes if you whip it up though....I was licking beaters and bowls until I was about sick.

The one piece was mine till he gets home. Yes, I'm a pig. :P

 

 

Our Hoosier cabinet makes a great place to put sweets for the week.

 

the recipe for the frosting is:

 

Chocolate Butter Frosting

 

takes about 30 minutes to make, 20 if you are quick

 

this yields 4 and 1/2 cups of frosting!!!!!!  They say enough for one layered cake. I say enough for 2.

 

3/4 cup of sweet butter softened

 

2 pounds of powdered sugar (in a 2lb large bag)

 

1/2 -3/4 cup of milk ( I used canned evaporated milk as I was out of regular)

 

2 tablespoons of vanilla

 

3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's and a bit more to taste)

 

In an extra large mixing bowl beat butter (softened) with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. Add the powdered cocoa. Beat in 2/3 cup or so of milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in remaining sugar ( LOTS). Beat in additional milk to reach spreading consistency.

To frost a 13 x 9 inch flat cake, halve the recipe.

 

Then try to refrain from licking all the icing and spread generously on the bottom layer and sides. Then plop out the 2nd from the baking pan and load up the top and ice and lick until your heart's desire. :0

 

 

So what else is on the stitching front???? Well, lots of cleaning and sorting into new cabinets downstairs in my sewing area. (didn't get it today) but in the process I pulled colors for the freebie previous to this post for Mr. Darcy and my first Christmas ornie.

 

I was about to pull the colors and then I found this in the mounds of stash.

 

 

so I decided to use these silks I got a couple of years ago and the ones I selected from the box for the sampler are here. Silks stitch like BUTTAH!

 

 

yep, with some small piece of 32 count antique white linen

 

 

Obviously this was in between the village decor and the chocolate mess I made. :P

 

My other things I gathered are a small wooden hoop I've had from the Scarlet Letter for 5 years or so and these scissors.

They are 7.99 including free shipping from Speed Factory Bike Ebay store. They are antiqued with titanium planting over stainless steel. They are razer sharp and 4 inches. They have several about 7 or 8 other vintage style scissors. Great for gifties for stitchers.

The seller for these on EBAY is:

 

hsuan05

 

 

Along with this small clip on Mighty Bright light and a pair of magnifying glasses and I'm good to go!

 

 

 

Well, best get back to decorating and cleaning up.

 

 Soon bedtime will be here and yes, I'm watching the 2 hour special of the Walton's wedding tonight if I can stay up late. Late to us is 10pm here on Fox Mountain. 

Soon to get out my Christmas cards.....

 

 

oh what a list of things to do in December! 

Till our threads entangle again,

 

Jennifer

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Father who has blessed me, comforted me, and been there. He made me, knows me, and accepts me for what I am. There is no better Father than this.

Hope you day is full of joy and remembrance.

I am very thankful for my Father.

A Freebie for 9/11

In the middle of the morning/night. I created this. As 911 approaches we should all remember.

Enjoy!

I used

CC Freedom

CC Liberty

GA Weathered Barn

GA Buttermilk

GA Grecian Gold

Stitched into a vintage pinkeep for a gentle reminder with your favorite vintage linen.

Happy Labor Day!

Rest.

Relax.

Eat good food.

Wave goodbye to Summer.

Take a break from all your hard work.

Breathe in the dry, sunny air and nestle into a chaise.

Recharge on your journey so that you can be your best.

Happy Labor Day, my friends!

Concentrating on nature's beauty

You just never know what you might run into that is peaceful and beautiful.

Daily thoughts now. Let go. Embrace serendipity.

I'm going to try to hold that thought.as long as I can and enjoy the upcoming 2nd third of my life.

So much time wasted.

Who knows what's next?

I feel like a load has been lifted after reading today.

I hope you find that inner peace too. Life is too short to hang on to toxic relationships and imagining what could go wrong.

Expect the best. That is my thought for the week.

I know there will be challenges to this but trying hard, trying real hard.

I'll stick to my karma and let them stick to theirs.

nite nite after a good profitable day.

Stay-tuned at the serendipity that's coming my way.

Jennifer

Happy Labor Day

Hope it's full of barbeque, rest, and naps!

Happy Fourth!

Land of the free because of the brave.

Happy Birthday, America!

A Few To Remember that served our country

This is Body Guard's dad on the right, James (Jim)Dalenberg

Picture from when he was serving in World War II.

I think this was his battle buddy.

There is a plaque in the South Holland Library, downstairs Historical Society collection with his name on it.

I took many pictures on that trip to Chicago and I'm so glad I got these. We did get permission from the historical society to take these pictures, FYI.

The fellow in the black leather jacket......that's my hubbie looking at that uniform.

I was distracted by this:

Another family member in World War I

Of course, I couldn't help but remember our nurses on the missions. So I snapped this pic of the uniform.

This was back when nursing was really what nursing is about. I wish we could capture this dedication in this generation.

Miss Cornelia Dalenberg, BG's aunt, Jim's sister, was a missionary nurse that served many years.

Mostly in Saudi Arabia. She wrote a book, Sharifa, about her life and experiences over in the area, right where we are still fighting today. The Persian Gulf. We have a copy of this book and it's phenomenal to read because not much in their culture has changed over in the Holy Land in 100 years, really not anything at all when you read of her encounters. She served as a midwife for a King over there. What an honor.

She never married and dedicated her whole life to mission work.

And of course, here is my son, Matthew Brandon, named specifically because Matthew means "a gift from God". He just served in Afghanistan and thankfully, oh so thankfully, did not give his life there but did worry us alot. This was me taking his pic at his pinning ceremony in Columbus, Ga. --Fort Benning

Believe, me, it's a mixture of pride and complete terror, when your baby boy is in uniform.

Haven't heard from him like he said he would call us since the day he got back from Afghanistan. We are very proud of him as a soldier. As a son, who I thought loved me very much and raised, we are certainly dissapointed in his recent actions. I sincerely hope he can overcome those areas that challenge him emotionally. He left to deploy with alot of anger and didn't respond to any of his letters or packages we sent. In fact, the LT. told us finally that he wrote a formal letter that he was abandoned at birth and had not seen us in 6 years, and had been married for well over a year. The only truth was that he had been married. At first I was shocked. Then, I had to laugh as I remember quite readily our 22 years together.....from day 1 wiping butt to carrying to school and forever getting him out of trouble. I remember when he was 12 and the school called on the last day for his MMR shot which he had to have to be in school. He begged me to home school him in the back of the car while 3 of my nurse friends and I had to embrace him to give him this shot at the health dept.  Oh, my!  Where did that come from? 

 We sent plenty of pics and they were shocked and very apologetic. 

Again, we are so proud as a soldier and hope that the enotionally challenging issues certainly resolve if not only in his heart. That has to be hard to carry around such imaginations that are not real.

And this is my hubbie. He served in 2 wars being in the Reserves and retired 2003.

Our first year of marriage, he was called up for 9/11 to serve for one year.

Another frightful year indeed. But we made it through.

Maybe it was that kinda look right there that got me every time! LOL  Then,when he came back from that tour facing 2 young teens to stepfather and a  wife, his first one at age 44, he probably thought being in Reserves was better. LOL

Mother Goose day

Most of the cozy day was spent with a quilt, pot of tea, and reading material. So many other things on my list to do but the day just keeps slipping away so comfortably inside as the weather is quite dark and dreary through the windowpanes.

Through my reading today, I found out that May 1st is also Mother Goose Day, first started in 1987 by Gloria Delamar. I love Mother Goose Rhymes and can remember quite a few that were memorized and chanted as a little girl. I still look at my toes and remember all the little piggies that went to the market!

Even though we probably all had this in our literature in the early years, and I mean, early (vintage), the rhymes are quite entertaining to read even as an adult. I have so many favorites I can't name just one single one but certainly this one still I fancy. Maybe it's because as I get older I can relate to this true wisdom, although hard at times to follow, it's pretty good for little and old folks.

A Wise Old Owl

A wise old owl sat in an oak,

The more he heard, the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard;
Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?

Well, I've always been a night owl! ;)

I am here

Sundays are a time for rest. And boy did I last night!  I slept 11 hours straight........record time for me.  Bodyguard had to come check on me by 11:30am to see if I was still breathing, I guess.

I'm definitely so glad that I slept a good while because evidently my body needed it. And the day is a cloudy one so the sun didn't awaken me as usual.  So, all is well and we are still waiting for the confusion to stop.

Anytime this week Brandon should be back to US Soil. But the delays and reschedules and ifs and whens are our Sunday today. We just take one day at a time and hope that while they are diverting them all over Afghanistan they remain safe today and tomorrow.

It all made sense to me this morning as I was catching up on Afghanistan news and pics through Yahoo.

Today, March 21st is the Muslim New Year and they are all out celebrating and rioting and suicide bombers are crawling out of the mountains like ants in an ant bed evidently.  Thus, I can understand the delay now. It's a major holiday for this country.
What a crowd! This is in Kabul.

Newroz Day--Afghanistan. A celebration of Spring and the start of another year.

March 21, 2010. Afghanistan uses the Persian calendar which runs from the vernal equinox. The calendar takes as its start date the time when the Prophet Mohammad moved from Mecca to Medina in 621 AD. The current Persian year is 1389.

Evidently their New Year and our New Year is celebrated in a different way.  Absolutely nothing wrong with that but I feel so sorry for the people that get injured in these blasts and riots in their celebration.

I just know I am here today in a calm place, maybe in that outer ring of the confusion but in a calm place and for that I am thankful.

After I catch up on blog reading, I am going back to pick up the needle where counting threads soothe my mind.

Bostonian needleworkers---need good shop, have good plans!

Hi

Trying out a new option on Blogger with this post. Inserting and playing with pics. I think I will show you some St. Patrick's pics I accumulated this week. Here's my green for the day.

 I do have a trip to Boston in April for a conference, partly for business and partly also for 2-3 days of taking a look-see of the city. I've only been there once in my whole life so I want to see what I can in the little bit of time I have.

Please post any good needlework shops near the city of Boston!!!!!  I will make a note of them and have to find them. And while I listen to the latest gynecology updates on women's health I will be stitching away during the conference silently. I did this last year and was amazed at the other knitters who brought their stash too.  Let's see.....3 days of listening 9 hours, that's a good project finish maybe!

Right now Ren needs a good green helmet headgear/protector with back-up and forward bells for warning signs beeps. His head is banging around the room even if I have him a spot to rest. He is not with complaint but my goodness!  Maybe he needs a seeing-eye dog............