Happy Birthday Number Twelve to Penny!

Good morning,

Happy Birthday number Twelve to our Penny.

The image above was taken with our daughter, Catherine, Penny's trainer, just after they had earned one of Penny's first blue ribbons. 

Penny has so many agility titles and ribbons now that we would need to build a new room onto the house to display them all.  She is now our Senior Canine Athlete and is retired from showing, but still loves to go to the dog club to work out.

I just took the above image and the one below. 

Penny was taking a nap on my bed when I told her I needed a picture to use to celebrate her birthday.  She said she'd just pass and keep napping.  ;)  She sleeps there on our bed with us every night. 

Penny is such a sweet, loving soul.

Lois

One of My Toy Stores

Good morning,

I have several favorite "toy" stores.  This is one of them .  ;)

What are your favorite toy stores?

Lois

Little Lady Bugs Looking for a Home

Good morning,

I snapped this image with my phone camera of the project on my lap.

Those little lady bug buttons are looking for a home on this sweater that is on the knitting needles now.  This sweater is a custom reserved order child size 10 cardigan.

So sweet!

What are you working on now?

Lois

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Just Doesn't Sound Right....

Good morning,

There's something about recycled toilet tissue that just doesn't sound right....

Lois

Moss Art

Good morning,

I snapped today's image with my cell phone. 

This moss is growing in a narrow strip of soil between our sidewalk and driveway.  It's just so pretty.

It's amazing how many things we are noticing at home now that we are retired and have time to appreciate what is right here around us.

Happy Friday!

Lois

Dinner Rolls

Good morning,

I'm on a bread "kick" again.  This time I made dinner rolls that turned out so very yummy!

In this version I used sour cream, raw sugar, rolled the bread dough in golf ball size balls and put them in this oval pan.  I brushed the top with beaten egg before baking so they turned out brown and pretty.

Yum!

Lois

Chili Night

Good morning,

Last night we had an old standby meal which is especially good when it is cold outside.

This is chili with beans, onions, and cheese served on spaghetti as my Mom used to make. 

I chopped onions...

...boiled spaghetti...

...browned hamburger with onions, drained off the grease, added tomato sauce, beans, chili powder, and, the (not so) secret ingredient, a half teaspoon of cinnamon. 

 We added some shredded cheese and enjoyed a tasty meal.

 I also made a batch of bread.  Above is the the bread as it looked when I put it in the oven (with no heat, just the light on) for the first rise...

 ...then into bread pans for the second rise, then baking.

The funny part is that I took it out and we ate some before I took pictures of the finished product so I'm afraid you're left to your imagination for how that looked.  Oh, wait, I have plenty of pictures of bread.  

 

 Here's one now. ;)

If you're interested, my bread recipes are here.

Enjoy!

What's your favorite cold weather meal?

Lois

Road Trip Project

Good morning,

I always have a project with me when on a road trip.   Since our most recent trip was between Cincinnati and Louisville, I had some quality time with the knitting needles while chatting with My Honey and watching the scenery go by.  Of course, I wasn't driving while working on this. 

This royal purple project in the image above is the first few rows of a boot cuff that is part of a sweater set custom order.

The project is now finished and has been shipped.  To see the finished sweater set, click here.  :)

Do you multi-task while traveling (and not driving, of course)?

Lois

What Is It?

Good morning,

We followed this "Oversize Load" for quite some distance while on a recent road trip.

It was fun to try to guess what was on that truck.

We finally decided it was a satellite dish or a swimming pool, most likely the former.

What do you think?

Lois

Over the River and Through the Woods to Tor and Teresa's We Go....

Good morning,

We live on the "South Coast of Ohio" and are taking another short road trip.

This time we are crossing the I-75 bridge across the Ohio River to the North Coast of Kentucky to visit our friends Tor and Teresa in Louisville.

The skies were cloudy that day, but our spirits were sunny and we had a great time on the other side of the river. ;)

Lois

Renting Out a Room - New Bird House in the Garden

Good morning,

Now that we're retired we thought it might be a good idea to rent out a "room."  ;)

My Honey built this Blue Bird House in his wood workshop.

We had a warm January day so it was our chance to mount it outside.

We are hoping we get it in a spot where we can take pictures when the new tenants move in.

Right now there are no leaves on the trees, but when Spring arrives, the back garden is a "room" of green walls. 

The bird house has a safe spot for the family we hope will move in. 

We are looking to meeting them!


Kjell has made other bird houses for our shop, too.  Click the last image above to take a look.

Enjoy!

 Lois

Blooming Again

Good morning,

My African Violet is blooming once again. 

When I used to travel much more than I do now, the plant would survive for two to three months, but there would be no blooms.  I'm home now, checking the soil every day and, and of course, talking very nicely to her.  She pays me back with beautiful blooms. 

I have more house plants in a large basket that need to be separated.  I'm looking forward to a warm day so that I can do the re-potting outside on the patio where I can more easily sweep up the mess I will surely make.  Buried in that big basket is another African Violet.  I have no idea what color it is so I look forward to solving that mystery.  ;)

Ah, yes, flowers!

Lois

Grilled Turkey!

Good morning,

OK, more food again.  ;)  We haven't changed much at all after retirement. 

That's Catherine, the grillmeister when it comes to turkey on the grill.

Catherine has plenty of helpers.

Another great meal with friends and family.

I'm not the only one who takes pictures of food.  ;)

 yum!

enjoy,
Lois

Rainy Drive

Good morning,

Now that we're retired, we can decide when we want to go out and where we want to go.

Last weekend, however, we went out driving around in the rain so we could go to our Labrador Retriever luncheon at Belterra Casino.

It was rainy, but it didn't keep us from going to this event.

The food and the slots were much better than the weather.

The club picked a great place for the annual dinner to see friends and where the food was yummy and the slots paid me to be there.  ;)

Win-Win!

Lois

Sleeping In

Good morning,

Last weekend was a chilly one in Cincinnati.  Penny sleeps on our bed and likes to be covered so I often put an extra sheet over her when she is sleeping at the bottom of the bed. 

Penny is a sweet old soul.  She'll be 12 at the end of this month;  that's 84 in human years. 

There is nothing like the love of such a sweet old dog. 

Lois

Gray Winter Day

Good morning,

Mostly gray skies and leafless trees continue into Winter, but Old Glory certainly brightens the landscape in our front yard.  :)

Spring is coming!

Lois

Signs of Spring

Good morning,

Here we are in the middle of January and there are already signs of Spring.

The first Iris leaves are pushing up in the bed of leaves and stalks from last year.  I leave a layer of airy decaying plant matter over the Iris.  It keeps them warm as the old matter decomposes and enriches the soil.

We will be home to see the Iris bloom this year!

Enjoy,
Lois

Winter Food - Home Made Soup and Bread

Good morning,

Last night we enjoyed the perfect winter dinner. 

Catherine made potato soup and I made fresh bread. We ate soup by the cup full with hunks of bread as we watched TV together.

The house smelled wonderful and our tummies were warm.

Ah, yes, retirement is good.

;),
Lois

Nap Time for the Girls

Good morning,

I tried to take this picture while Wendy was sleeping, but she opened her eyes and gave me "that look" (leave me alone!  I'm sleeping!) by the time I got my camera.  She sleeps with her blue platypus toy in her mouth.  So cute!

Also in the bed was Penny, who just continued snoozing while I took pictures. 

Our two girls are so sweet. 

:),
Lois