Christmas Wishes

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Memories

Not the end of the world yet, so time to keep living and enjoying life!  Thought this cartoon was cute.

As I grow older (which is not bad, when you consider the alternative), I have given thought to "stuff" that never occurred to me years ago.

One thought which I hope never happens is that I would be confined to a nursing home (or what ever the politically correct name - assisted living, etc.), what I would like people to know if for some reason I cannot communicate anymore.

As a child, I loved dolls and paper dolls.  My Mother apparently loved dolls as well because she always made sure I received lots of dolls for Christmas, birthdays, etc.   My uncle even made me a "doll closet" from an old TV cabinet one Christmas.  It was one of my all time favorite gifts.  It also qualified me for the "biggest" present that year.  My brother and I always seemed to take pleasure in receiving the "biggest" gift and he usually won, but that year won out with that doll closet.  As I grew older, my dolls disappeared and it became my shoe closet.  With shoes put in shoe boxes and nicely stacked within the closet.  Hmmm - now for the life of me, I don't know what happened to that closet.

Paper dolls were a pleasure to me as well.  I didn't play with them as much as I liked to cut them out.  Perhaps that pleasure led me to my love of rubber stamping and card making as well as quilting today. 

Back to my original thought:  I need to tell those I love that if for some reason I cannot communicate and you wonder what will make me happy.  Just buy me some scissors and keep me supplied with paper dolls to cut out.  I will neatly cut them out and put them in a box and be as happy as one can be in those circumstances.

As a reader of Pinterest I've been delighted to find lots of links to paper dolls which bring back those wonderful childhood memories.

This is a paper doll I recently found on Pinterest.  I don't remember ever seeing this one.  It is called the "Lucky Strike doll".  I'm surprised I didn't have this one as both my parents were smokers.  Of course this could not be on the market today because of anti-smoking laws, which is a good thing.  But I found it interesting.

Zentangle challenge #100, quote

"Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling." ~G.K. Chesterton


I always look forward to Mondays (I know it's Tuesday already), because "The Diva" issues a new zentangle challenge on her blog.  This weeks challenge is special because it is her "100th" week.   Here's my challenge for this week:

Christmas is only a week away and I still have some small wall-hangings that I need to quilt for my family.  But at least my back pain is relieved.  The shots in my back have finally taken away the pain.
I hope I never have to go through pain like that again.  Thanks to all who expressed concern.

Quote, Diva challenge zentangle, recipe, less pain

    I've been thinking about my blog lately and have decided that I will be sharing more of my happenings and thoughts than I've done up to now. 

Today it's about 60 degrees here in Indiana with a little wind and a lot of sun.  While I was out shopping I saw several convertible cars with the tops down.  I don't even have a sun roof on my car, but I did open the window. 

My back is feeling better after the shots on Thursday - hopefully when I go Thursday for another shot, it will relieve all the pain so that I won't have to have surgery.


Today's challenge is #98 by The Diva.  She challenged us to use the tangle pattern called "keenes" by
Donna Hornsby.  I like the pattern and in my mind I always think of the song, "Teeney Weeney Yellow Poka Dot Bikini" whenever I use that tangle in one of my zentangles.  Anyway, since the pattern is a round shape and I'm in the Christmas mood already, here's mine:

 

 

Since I am feeling better, I even decided to bake.  I looked through the pantry and for some reason, I had 4 cans of pumpkin.  Why?  Who knows but since they were so many cans, I chose to make pumpkin bread.  I searched through my file for a new pumpkin bread recipe because I haven't really liked the recipe I've been using. When I say my file, it's actually a big box with recipes from magazines, friends, family, etc. that I just knew I'd get organized.   Eureka!  There was a hand-written pumpkin bread recipe (in my hand-writing on a scrap of paper so who knows where I got this recipe.).    The results using this recipe is the best pumpkin bread I've ever made.  It's spicy, but not too spicy and very moist:

 

Pumpkin Bread

 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

 

1 cup liquid oil (corn oil is what I used)

4 eggs

15 oz. (appr. 2 cups) pumpkin (I used Libbys pumkin)

2 1/2 cups sugar.

2/3 cup pumpkin ale beer (or water if you prefer)

 

Mix the above ingredients. 

 

Mix together :

 

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

 

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture and mix well. 

Add apprx. 1 cup chopped pecans, and mix well.

 

Pour into two greased lg. loaf pans filling each 2/3 full.

 

Bake for 70 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

 

I forgot to mention, that since you use only 2/3 cup of pumpkin ale, drinking the rest of the bottle while mixing the dough could be a good thing (if you like beer  - I don't, so I'm saving the rest of the bottle for my hubby after he gets home from work).

 

 

 

Well, since the bread turned out so well, I've decided to make some chex-mix.

It's in the oven now.  I don't know if being in so much pain is the reason I've been so hungry this past week or what, but I've eaten every package of chips, etc. in the house. Honestly it's like I have a tape-worm.    Thus, the reason I'm making the chex mix. 

 

Hopefully tomorrow, I will feel even better and I will get out the Christmas decorations.  That will add to my festive mood even more. 

 

 

Quotes, zentangle and some pain relief.

Two quotes today and a new zentangle. 

Thursday I had my first injections into my back.  The Dr. said it would take a couple of days before I would know if the injections are going to relieve my back pain.  This morning, I woke up with a lot less pain than I've been experiencing.   Halaluja!   I'm still in pain, but at least it's more bearable.

Thank you to all of you who have included me in your prayers and expressed kindness while I was suffering with the horrific pain.