Two Unrelated Links

Having some extra time around the holidays, we have found some new enjoyable locations. One fun place to explore is the Strip District in Pittsburgh. The name sounds a little odd, but there is a "veritable smorgasboard" of shops to poke through. Today I'll provide the link to a great coffee/tea shop. I am experiencing several loose leaf teas thanks to them including a vanilla almond and a hibiscus selection. It's called Presto George.

We are looking forward this evening to a dinner at the Black Forest Restaurant. It supposed to have authentic German food - even German beer and wine. Hopefully, we'll have room for dessert.

There is a snowstorm predicted for this evening, so we might have to stay at the Black Forest! I'm really just praying for safety, as I take my father-in-law to the airport tomorrow afternoon.

Stay warm!

Fun Fabric Favorites

Here's a list for you. It's part of a contest from True Up; you should check it out! Let's talk some fabric, specifically a few of my faves.



1. Favorite Trend (with Color) is blue! I love blue this year. This is a great example from Anna Maria Horner: Little Folks Voile, a Free Spirit fabric.

2. Favorite Holiday Fabric: Windham Fabrics, Merry Mushrooms. I just love the versatility of this one. It looks great with ribbons!

3. This is my wildcard entry - I love this design. It's My Mind's Eye: Just Dreamy, Riley Blake Designs.

4. One of my favorite motifs from the year are medallions. This one is a Free Spirit fabric. It's by Jennifer Paganelli - Sis Boom.

5. My favorite floral print (this was a toughie) is from Heather Bailey. This is from her Nicey Jane line from Westminster Fabrics.

6. My favorite quilting weight cotton collection is Nicey Jane. I just can't stop admiring it! Here's one of the examples from Heather Bailey.

7. The birdie on this fabric is the best! This is my favorite home decor weight fabric. Alexander Henry designed this - his fashion for home line.

8. This is my favorite novelty print. How cute are these ducks by Lizzy House? This is from Andover Fabrics - Lizzy's Red Letter Day line.

9. My favorite overall designer is Heather Bailey! I love her Nicey Jane, I've used so much of her Pop Garden and others. Check her out. She has a beautiful blog; the pictures are just to die for.

10. My fave fabric shop for prices has to be fabric.com. I also enjoy Glorious Color to check out my precious shot cottons.

http://www.trueup.net/?p=8500

Everything is New Again

- new fallen snow is just beautiful.

- new cell phone numbers need to be given to those who might want to call us.

- new house needs a new garden to go with it! Seed catalogues are starting to be ordered.

- new cookies are baked to replace the lingering Christmas cookies.

- new blog post is about to be posted at the start of the new year.

- new week begins a sweet visit with my parents.

- new visitor to arrive tomorrow (Big Fish's dad).

- new 50 lb. bag of birdseed is opened to feed the birdies who tell me they're starving.

- new ideas for a couple of Valentine's projects for my etsy shop are brewing.

- Thanking the Lord for each new day.

Off to be a Good Little Consumer

The kids and I are venturing out in the snow to add our stimulus to the economy. On the list today: pick up some wine for visiting house guests, find a pine wreath for the house, purchase a welcome mat on which to wipe muddy feet, buy groceries, etc.

One other thing I have to buy - a card reader for the computer. Due to the fact that we have a newer computer and an older camera, a simple cable is not doing the trick to get pictures up on this blog. I am so thankful Big Fish knows his way around technology! Someday, soon, dear blog readers I can show you some pictures of the house and our tree.

Since Brookie has decided that cleaning the windows involves licking her finger and rubbing it all over the glass, I must now go and introduce her to the finer points of housekeeping. Stay warm and cozy!

A Discussion on Firewood

I had a chimney guy come out yesterday to put a lock-top damper on our fireplace chimney. Today we are supposed to get some firewood delivered. Hopefully, we'll be able to cut and stack our own wood in the future. In many situations the wood needs time to dry and season. We would like to use our fireplace now! I can't even imagine how much wood is required to heat a whole house all the time.

Our new house actually has a furnace system that not only uses oil but also has the capability to burn wood or coal. We are attracted to the wood burning idea (especially since it uses the ducts already in place throughout the house), but we'll have to stockpile more wood!

How do you heat your homes? And how do you keep the air from being too dry in your house if you do burn wood? Does a humidifier of some sort do the trick?

We did discover that energy efficient items like the lock-top damper qualify for a bit of a tax credit. I think it's about 30% of the bill that can be refunded. Make sure you are saving receipts for your energy efficient things - even the light bulbs!

In other news: the camera has been discovered and batteries charged. We are now missing the cable that enables us to download the pics to the computer. Someday we might get it together! In the meantime, we're going to bake cookies! I would like to make the batter for two kinds today: gullets and maybe giant nutmeg cookies. I'm a bit behind on baking, but I did go through ye olde cookbooks last night. I have about half a dozen varieties that I would like to get done. Then, I have two kinds of candy to make. I'm thinking a little tin of cookies would be a nice gift for the neighbors. Best to get busy!

To-Do List

After a great weekend of spending time both with our own little family and my parents and brother, we are now hoping to get a lot done this week. Sunday was actually the last day to worship with and spend time with my brother - a missionary doctor in Uganda. It was a great time, and I am so thankful for him! I am older than him by exactly 11 months and 3 weeks. Isn't there a term for that, like Irish twins or something? I am very thankful for email and skype. Sometimes it sure doesn't seem like he's that far away. We can actually send instant messages and all!

Anyway, my list of things to do this week is at least 15 things long! It also seems that when I cross one thing off the list I think of more things to add. It's hard to cross things like "unpack" off the list. That is an ongoing adventure. Today I found one of my saddles in a box, the high school newspaper that I edited as a senior, and about 200 ink pens I've collected along the way! Where does one store that kind of stuff? I have been tossing bunches of stuff, and as Big Fish points out "we don't need to buy anything, ever" I guess we'll be saving money!

I'm close to using the camera again. I've narrowed its location to the bedroom closet. I'm off to make a pot of chili for dinner and then work on that list! Ta ta for now!

We're Home!

Now.....if I could just find my camera to take a couple of pictures of the progress! We are officially in our new (to us) house and working on unpacking. We have a lot to be thankful for, and we are enjoying the views of the woods around us. This morning I saw some kind of woodpecker from the kitchen window. We've hung a bird feeder and suet feeder and have sighted some nuthatches, titmice, bluejays, etc. Yes, the pesky squirrels have shown up as well!

Exactly five days after moving in we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for my side of the family. Dinner was actually the Friday after Thanksgiving, and there were 21 people in attendance. It was so fun to show our place to my dad's parents and his three siblings. I've started a guestbook to coincide with the beginning of life in the new house.

Well, blog readers, I'm back to the world of unpacking. We just hooked up to the internet yesterday, so I'm looking forward to "getting back to the swing of things" - as the saying goes! Hopefully, I'll be starting some crafty type things soon! I have some Christmas baking - cookies especially - to hopefully share as well! Cheers for now!