november in the garden

Even though it's a dark month, November is still beautiful in its own way. And if the chamomile is still blooming, it feels a tiny bit like summer.

a tree-filled christmas

Phillip and I had a lot of fun getting out the Christmas decorations on the weekend. For the past few years, I've really kept things to a minimum, but this year I'm feeling nest-y and wanted to make the living room 86.9% cozier. The catch being that some of these things aren't toddler-friendly. So I moved our customary family and friends pictures from the bookshelf, and set up a little birch themed space, well out of reach. I used a Frenchy's table runner underneath everything to add some more texture. My dad has a woodlot and cut a few specific birch pieces for me to use in craft fair displays, and I bought the tabletop birch trees after Christmas last year for next to nothing. The birch bark candle was a Frenchy's find (it was new) and the little white ceramic Christmas tree with the red lights was purchased at a craft fair this fall by Adam and I - it reminded us both of our grandmothers. And Phillip loves it. He says goodnight to it. I asked Adam if my display looked too much like a store display, and I loved his response:
"If you're selling Christmas!"

the winners & christmas is coming

Christmas has exploded in one corner of our living room, and I've already given away one very early gift (seen above). Isn't that fantastic wrapping paper? I picked it up at Chapters last year after Christmas, for next to nothing. I love it.

Okay, folks - only 4 comments to win those fantastic labels? I guess everyone else isn't quite as excited about them as I was. It it because I told you they're from the dollar store (where I very seldom go)? Regardless, I got some random numbers generated, and comments 2 and 4 were selected! Amber and wabisabinaturals are the winners! Please e-mail your mailing address to met at grahamsherrie [at] yahoo [dot] ca and I'll get them to the post office, post-haste.

Next up are those decorations! Have a great evening!

recipe-a-week #35: mom's corn chowder

My mom's not much of a cook. I'm sure she could be if she put her mind to it, but she's just not interested. Actually, we're about as opposite as you can get - she isn't into decorating, craftiness, or any of the other things I love. (Except Phillip. of course.) Something funny happened last Christmas that sums her up neatly.

I really wanted a copy of Great Food Fast. Mom asked me what I wanted, so I told her that it was something I would really enjoy and use. I didn't get it from her on Christmas day, but since she's kind of got a habit of forgetting gifts in closets, before I went out and bought it, I thought I'd better ask, just in case.

"Mom, did you happen to get a copy of Great Food Fast for me for Christmas and forget to give it to me? I'm just checking before I buy my own copy."

"No, I didn't - you have a cookbook already."

Ayup.

Incidentally, speaking of cookbooks, here's Martha's new book, Dinner at Home, which I won by calling the Sirius channel on the day I was nearly killed. It's pretty great, as one would expect.
All that said about Mom's cooking, there are a few things she makes that I love. (One of which is refried macaroni in tomato soup, which sounds revolting but is heavenly.) Another is her corn chowder. I made a batch while the computer was down and out, and here's the "recipe".

Sherrie's Mom's Corn Chowder

In a wee bit of butter, saute some finely chopped onions in the bottom of a large pot. If they start to brown, add a bit of water. Cook until translucent. Add a bunch of diced potatoes, and enough water just to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce and cook at a simmer until potatoes are tender. Add in one can of 2% milk, a can of creamed corn, and some extra corn niblets, if you have some on hand. Douse liberally with black pepper (that's my addition) and grated carrot, if you like. Heat though, and serve. YUM. I ate this for about four days straight and didn't get tired of it.

Here I am on my way to Ingrid's baby shower last weekend.


And my little addendum - 20 weeks at the time.Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

cherry burl bowl

We went to a craft fair a few weekends ago, with a couple of specific vendors in mind. One of them was Winston Spates, a local artist who makes the most gorgeous hand turned bowls, ornaments, and other creations from wood. They are more carefully finished and finely done than any others that I've seen. This is a cherry burl bowl we bought for ourselves (we bought a different one last year as a gift and wished that we had bought one for ourselves, too) and we also bought a gorgeous ornament (Phillip's choice), which I'll try to remember to post a picture of soon.
Mr. Spates said that he does most of his business directly, through a studio at his home. Since he doesn't have a website, if you're local (or not) and are interested in his extremely reasonably-priced work (this bowl was $40 - a complete steal) just leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I'll send his contact information your way.

And don't forget to leave a comment over here to win something fun!

up and running with a little giveaway

This frosty scene greeted me when I walked out of the door yesterday to another beautiful day in a streak of sunny November weather we've been having.
To celebrate our computer's being back (essentially, it's a new computer - all new innards, and half of a new outer) I'm going to have a little giveaway! I found these little adhesive chalkboard labels at the dollar store today, and picked up a couple of extra packages to send to a couple of lucky readers! Each package has four different labels in it; they're stickers with a slightly rough surface, perfect for writing on with chalk and sticking to just about anything. As you can see, I used two of them on jars on the laundry shelf. (Incidentally, I picked up the jars at Frenchy's awhile ago - even though they don't have matching lids, I think they're pretty great. And I wish that I had a chalk sharpener so the writing could have been made tidier. Ah, well.)

So... leave a comment about how you would use them before I get home from work and have a chance to choose two winners (sometime in the early evening Atlantic time) on Tuesday November 17, and a package could be on its way to you!

Hope you have a great weekend!

miscellany

Can you believe that P was this small? And cute? (He's on a steady continuum in the cute department, methinks.) I keep wondering if Son #2 (that's what we've decided to name him) will look like P or not. We'll see! Now that we've had the ultrasound, I just really, really want to meet him. I remember the same feeling with P.

Still no computer. We're expecting it to arrive first thing tomorrow! In the meantime...
a few other fun things to share:

Pictured above, the most beautiful baby quilt I've ever seen. (Photo from here.) I wish I could touch it! It's in Jewelweeds' Etsy shop. She was the featured seller on Etsy a few days ago, and I fell in love with everything she makes, and even ordered a few little gifts for Christmas. The featured seller interview is here, and she has a blog here, too!

I thought that this would be so much fun to try - such a simple way to make foamy steamed milk, without any tools other than a glass jar and a microwave. And Phillip would love the texture of the foamed milk.

Speaking of making fun things, here's how to make your own microwave popcorn. Yum.

Here's hoping that the computer will indeed arrive tomorrow and I'll have a nice bloggy weekend!