Bucket List

The theme of Christmas this year was "It's a Homemade Christmas." OK, it was more like "DON'T SPEND MONEY," but the other one sounds better. Sadly, I didn't take pictures of a lot of what I made. (Hopefully I'll get some pictures not taken on an iPad from my mom and sister later.) One thing I did get pictures of, however was the gifts I made for some of my favorite girls. 


Meaghan has been talking about this being the year of stepping outside our box. Doing something we don't normally do. something that scares us. Well, what better way of keeping track of these things than a Bucket List?

 I don't have in process pictures, but here's what I did:


Materials
Canvas
Spray Adhesive
Staple Gun and staples
Fabric
Hammer
Cup Hooks
Eye screws
Twine
Card stock
Hole punch
Tiny bucket (can be found in bridal or gift wrap section of craft store)
Mini clothes pins


Directions

1. Cut a piece of fabric to size of your canvas. Leave about 2 inches of extra fabric on each side.
2. Coat your canvas in spray adhesive. Follow directions on the can for drying and adhering directions. Carefully place your fabric onto the coated canvas making sure any lines are straight. Smooth out any bumps. Make hospital corners to keep them looking neat.
3. Staple extra fabric to wood frame on the back of the canvas. Hammer down any nails that don't go all the way in.
4. Cut your card stock into strips about 1"x3" and punch holes in the top.
5. Screw one cup hook into the upper right hand corner and one into the lower left hand corner of the wood frame of your canvas. I drilled a tiny pilot hole, but I don't think it's necessary.
6. Screw eye hooks into the wood frame of your canvas. I made pilot holes for this as well. Attach twine to eye holes to make your "clothes line." Set these up however you want. I did one next to the eye hook on top and the one on the bottom with a few off kilter lines in between, making sure there was room for the strips of paper.
7. Put your paper on the top eye hook and your bucket on the bottom.
8. Write down your bucket list items and attach them to the clothes line with your mini clothes pins. When you've done it, put it into the bucket. It's more satisfying than crossing it off a list!

You could also use this as a to do list, a chore list (I feel like kids may get a sense of satisfaction by putting their completed chores in a bucket. Not that I know much about kids), a menu board. Whatever!

Inspiration

Or maybe lack thereof.  I have been totally uninspired to blog lately.  I was sick of just posting recipes, especially since I'm a total amateur.  But it felt for a while like that's the only real creative stuff I did.  My life is kind of routine, so I don't always feel like I have anything interesting to share.  I will try to do better.  Part of what will help me may be my new camera!

I was in New York last weekend to run a 5k with my sister.  The 5k turned my knee into a blob of molten lava, but other than that it was pretty fun.  One of the things I really wanted to do while I was there was take a trip to one of the legendarily awesome camera stores in the big apple.  I was originally thinking B&H, partly because I had a gift certificate, partly because it's more well known.  After very little convincing, my friend Shawn convinced me that we should really go to Adorama for their much more personal service and large used stock instead.  I'm so glad we did.  And I'm so glad I forced brought Shawn with me.  I ended up with a gently used Nikon D90 which arrived yesterday.  I'm so excited!!!!

Here are some of the test shots I've taken with my "Nifty Fifty" (50mm f/1.8) lens.  These are straight off the camera, completely unaltered.

Thanksgiving Plate

I stuffed as much as I could on my Thanksgiving plate... and in my stomach.  Most of the menu is represented here.  Clockwise from the top we have:

Mashed Cauliflower by Z

Stuffing by Eric

Fluffy Sweet Potato Casserole by Courtney

Pomegranate Lemon Cranberry Sauce by me

(Not shown is Ginger Orange Cranberry Sauce, also by me)

Roasted and Fried Turkey by Eric

Carrots and Parsnips by Pam

New Orleans Corn by Pam

Green Beans by Courtney in the center.

Everything was really, really good.

Follow This!

You've heard me talk a lot about JT.  It's cause he knows a lot... about a lot.  And he inspires me and the rest of our little clan in a lot of things.  He's a modern renaissance man.  So it kinda made sense when Marti started a blog about things JT has taught her.  JT has taught me a lot too so I'll probably be making an occasional appearance over there.  Follow So follow "Things I learned from JT."  You'll probably learn something.

Thanksgiving Menu

So, I know it's a bit late to talk about Thanksgiving planning, but here goes.  We're having 8 people over for Thanksgiving (for a total of 10!).  Thankfully our guests are helping out by bringing over a dish or two.  Here's the plan:


Eric and Jaimee
-Baked Brie en Croute
  -1 with Quince and Apple Compote
  -1 with pecans, brown sugar and honey
-Fall cookies
-2 Turkeys
  -1 Organic free range for roasting
  -1 From Harris Teeter for frying
-Stuffing
-Fresh bread
-Cranberry Sauce
  -Orange Ginger Cranberry Sauce
  -Pomegranate Lemon Cranberry Sauce


Courtney (and Dave)
-Green Bean Casserole
-Sweet Potatoes
-Personal Pumpkin Tartlets
-Personal Pecan Tartlets


Zeina
-Salad
-Roast Cauliflower (Pureed?)
-Pear Apple Cranberry Crisp


Martins (really just Eric's mom)
-Corn side dish
-Carrot side dish
-Pecan Brittle


You can probably tell what I'm cooking by my inability to make a decision when it comes to delicious sounding food.  I'll be back next week with some of the recipes and pictures of what we made.

Sunday Fall-Funday

We spent yet another lovely fall day up in Maryland at Summers Farm.  It took us a ridiculously long time to get up there.  We got stuck in traffic, we needed a food stop and then we started talking about fresh eggs.  Turns out Meaghan's family up in Frederick has 19 chickens.  That means 19 fresh eggs every day.  That's a lot of eggs.  So of course we had to make an organic, farm fresh egg stop.

Summers Farm has a ton of fun to offer at the low, low entry price of $10.  We didn't take advantage of everything they had to offer, but we did partake in the straw slides, the extra large jumping pillow, the apple cannon and the corn maze.  Oh, and the apple cider donuts of course.  On the jumping pillow we may have been the only adults without children.

Apologies on some of the pictures.  The camera accidentally got switched to ISO 3200.

Eric, Meaghan, Lauren and I the supersized Summers Farm Rocking Chair

 

 

 The slide was actually pretty fast.

 The ginormous jumping pillow!

 

 

This leaning tower of height measurer is way off.  Meaghan is at least 6'1".

 Enter "The Long Maze"

 Handstands are always in order

 Peekaboo

 ____ Be no evil.

Apple Cannon.  Eric hit the target on his second try.  I did not.

Moving to the Country, Gonna Pick Me a A Lotta Apples

OK, so I'm not moving to the country.  But sometimes fall makes me want to.  I can't tell you the number of times we've gone out to the country this fall to do fun fall-y stuff.  A while back we went up to Homestead Farms in Maryland for our yearly apple picking trip.  it was an absolutely beautiful day.  We were late this season so we only had Cameos, Braeburns and Pink Ladies to choose from, but I still came home with 34 pounds of apples.

Homestead farms also has a petting zoo which I still love, even though I'm.... too old to enjoy a petting farm that much.  But, OMG!  Baby farm animals!  *Squeal*!  This year they had baby pigs with wagging tails (awww).  They had heirloom chickens, goats, a baby cow.

After a brunch with my ladies in the morning, gorging on testing apples in the orchard, a delicious, buttery caramel apple to snack on and a late lunch at Chee Burger Chee Burger, Eric and I both thought we might die.  We spent the rest of the night sacked out on the couch.

 

 

 

 

 

Deep Creek Weekend

A few years ago some friends and I went to Deep Creek Lake for the weekend.  It was May, but it was still cold.  We had a good time.

We finally did it again this year.  Except we did it in Fall.  Such a better idea.  the colors were beautiful.

We got there Friday, bought much more food than eight people need for a weekend, got our fishing licenses (and I got a pink fishing rod!), played cards.  Had a grand old time.  JT and Eric put together a definite fall type meal of meatloaf and mac and cheese.  JT also brought three homemade pies.  I was warned many times that samples of all three had better be left in the evening when some other friends arrived.  I somehow held off and we had samplings of homemade apple cheddar pie, apple caremel pie and blueberry pear pie for dessert.

Saturday was a really fun day, but a really full day.  We started with scrambled eggs and bacon thanks to Eric after early morning fishing off the dock.  We went on a freezing cold boat ride and got stranded in the middle of the lake when the engine died.  Went fishing in the boat and had sandwhiches we brought along.  I read (of course).  We went to the Haunted Mansion at Wisp where I basically lost my voice due to screaming.  We came back to the cabin to a Top Chef Quick Challenge dinner of pasta, sausage and salad started by Eric and finished by Rachel and Marti.  Eric and Bryan built a campfire.  I taught everyone the essentials of S'mores making.  We made S'mores.  Whew!  I'm exhausted just typing what we did.

More pie for breakfast Sunday morning.  We were sad to go but we decided to make the Deep Creek Lake weekend yet another yearly event.

View from the cabins wrap around porch.

 

 Kota wishing she was playing in the leaves.

 We put glow sticks on the dogs so we could see them when they went outside at night.

 Dexter.  Always sweet and charming.

 At the table.

Dahlia playing cards.

Fishing off our dock. 

JT has crazy fishing zen.  He is the fishing master. 

 Rach taking pictures.

 Me breaking in my pretty pink fishing rod.

 As much of an action shot as you can get in fishing.

 Our sweet ride....that broke down in the middle of the lake.

 Boatin' crew

 Dahlia rode with me.

 Dex rode with Eric.

 Our fearless captain.

Our crew says goodbye to Deep Creek.  For this year.