Memories in the Making

Grandson Jonah from Boise flew alone for the first time to spend time at the lake in Wisconsin.  He has been flying with his mom several times a year since he was a baby, so he is a seasoned pro.  His mom is coming tomorrow, so the return flight after the Fourth will not be a solo one.  How fun!  While we were at St. Pete Beach in Florida in April, Jonah collected a bottle-full of shells.  His idea was to make a necklace.  We carefully carried them back, and soaked them in bleach for a bit.  Grandpa Carl slowly drilled tiny holes in the shells, breaking a few here and there.  Jonah put the jump rings in the holes, and I put them on the chain and closed them up.  I think the creation looks great!  Next project is covering a cigar box with the remaining shells.  As I type, the box has received its first coat of gold spray paint.  After a few more coats, the shells will be glued in place.  It will be a very nice treasure box, I am sure.  Over the next 8 days, children and grandchildren will be arriving.  Weather forecast is almost perfect: 80's, no humidity, sun.  The lake and swim raft will get lots of action, fish will get fed plenty of worms, fires will be lit in the fire pit, the new kitchen will get a good work-out.  Aah, summer in Wisconsin.  We don't have have any shells to collect, just memories.  Jerilynn

Bear is All Better

Youngest grandson had a crisis and was hoping Grandma could help.  It seems that Bear got a badly needed wash and "all his legs broke!".  What happened is that the stuffing compacted and his strong, polar bear legs were floppy and useless.  I told Ben that Bear would have to spend the night with me and I would do some surgery on his legs.  I made a small incision just under his front leg joint.  I carefully stuffed what seemed to be the whole bag of poly-fill into all the legs and the tummy.  I found a curved needle, some sturdy cream-colored thread, and stitched him closed.  Not a whimper from Bear.  Very brave.  As you can see he is already up on all fours, feeling pretty back to normal.  I think I better bring him to bed with me tonight, as he is used to sleeping with someone and I can keep an eye on his recovery.  I remember how easy is was to "fix" all the ouches and troubles when my kids were young.  A kiss here, a colored Bandaid there, all better.  Problems were "big", but solutions were easy.  The older we get, the harder it is to fix what is wrong.  However, a kiss still helps, and a bear hug, too.  Jerilynn

Egg Nest Breakfast

Yummy! This recipe has become one of our favs lately. You will need a muffin pan, of the large variety. Spray with a non-stick spray. Place several pieces of thick bacon on a jelly roll sheet (you will need 1 to 2 pieces per egg nest) and place in a cold 400 degree oven. Bake until bacon is about halfway done. Reduce oven temp to 350 and remove bacon. Meanwhile, as the bacon is baking, cut any type of bread into circles to fit the bottom of the tins. I have found a wine glass that is the perfect size! How wonderful! Lightly butter the top of the rounds and place them in the bottom of each section. WIth two forks as your tools, place bacon around the sides of the muffin tin sections. Depending on your bacon, you may need more than one strip - sometimes I have to cut extra strips in half to use. Carefully crack open an egg and drop on top of bread circle, in the bacon nest. Place in oven and bake until desired egg doneness. At the very end, sprinkle on some cheddar cheese and return to oven to melt. You can see the bottom of one I turned over - the bread is toasted! I have 4 big muffin tins, and can make 24 of these egg nests. People gobble them up like crazy! If you are lucky, you will have leftovers for the next day. They warm up beautifully in the microwave. Jerilynn

Carl, the Dockter

What did I do yesterday?  During the all-day, grey, rain, thunder storms day?  I took a nap, watched HGTV, and watched a tutorial.  (more on that tutorial a bit later).  I stayed inside, unplugged computers and sewing machines, just in case we got zapped.  What did my crazy husband do?  He made all new cedar sections for our dock!  Yep.  In the horrible weather.  He carried each old section (11 in all) up the long stairs, took off the old, rotting wood, and cut all new pieces, spaced them just right, and carried them down and plopped them in place.  The dock, of course, looks brand new and beautiful  I asked him please to keep it this wonderful natural cedar color, but, alas, it won't stay that way.  Soon it will be a soft grey.  That's okay.  It will be nice and safe and sturdy.  Just in time for the two-week long Fourth of July Family onslaught.  I pray for sunny and hot weather so that the new dock can get tested.  Thanks, Carl.  I love you even though I think you work too hard.  ( The above pictures were taken today as he replaces the wood on the bench.  As you can see, it is a much nicer day!)  Jerilynn  P.S.  The tutorial I mentioned is at Jessicasprague.com.  She is a digital scrapbooker and her tutorials on Photoshop Elements are not to be missed!  I have purchased a few of her classes over the years and have learned so much.  This latest class is her free present for her 5 year anniversary.  It is her top 5 favorite things to do in Photoshop.  I intend to watch the lessons again and again until the info sinks in.  It is amazing how just a few quick changes can really help a bad picture go good.  Pay her site a visit right now!

Curtains! Stand up and Move One Room to the Right!

There will be an open book (open computer?) test at the end of this blog post.  The top photo is of the curtains we put up when we bought the cabin in January 2007.  Red, good.  The country tabs, not so good.  They served the purpose, and they are nice and heavy and kept the drafts at bay before we replaced windows.  I decided to replace the red curtains with the stripe curtains,  picture two.  Now these curtains started out as a big tablecloth from Pottery barn.  I originally made the tablecloth into a shower curtain for the downstairs bath/utility room, with the leftovers hanging at the kitchen window.  The previous kitchen curtains got way too faded and I was tired of the plaid (no picture!).  I decided that I liked the stripe so much that I would get two more tablecloths (thanks Sarah and Kate!) and use them for the living room.  To see if I was going to like them, I took the curtain in the kitchen and hung it on the side living room window, third picture.  We like it!  BUT, now I didn't have a shower curtain.  I found one I liked at Kohl's, a nice Suzani print (third picture), that goes well with the ceramic fish (fourth picture) that I bought a few years ago in the Swedish section of Chicago (thanks Ellen!).  The color is not good on the shower curtain photo, but in real life it is a nice Martha Stewart blue and white and beige.  AND, I didn't have a curtain for the kitchen window!  I will keep looking for something, but in the meantime I cut off the offending tabs and installed black grommets in the living room curtains and I think they just might be okay for a while (fifth picture).  I still need to finish the rest of the panels for the living room, and the panels for the big kitchen window.  And, iron the new shower curtain.  But, I am just too tired from all this switching around, so I think I will wait until tomorrow.  Jerilynn

A Date with The Red Chair

Was it all the Double Rainbow Happiness Cake I ate over the weekend?  All the Moscato wine?  Excess food?  In any event, I am on slow motion today.  We had a loud storm go through last night shortly after I fell asleep, which woke me up and I don't think I ever fully fell back asleep.  I have some sewing I really want to do, but, I decided to bead a little.  When you move, all the catalogs are not forwarded.  For an ex-catalog-career person, that is not a good thing.  I love looking at catalogs - their layouts, styling, how many products per page, what appears in the "hot spots", etc.  Anyway, after we moved to our cabin I went to the websites of the catalogs I like the most and requested to be put on their mailing list.  I assume they have a purge-merge so that eventually my old address will fall off and be replaced by the new one.  I am just now starting to receive catalogs, almost 6 months after officially changing our address.  One of the ones that came today was the Sundance catalog.  Love that one.  The clothes, the shoes, the bags....the jewelry!  I spotted the Caravanary Bracelet (bottom picture) for $68 and decided it would be fun to try to recreate it.  Of course, the "real" bracelet has sterling silver and gemstones.  Mine?  Not sure.  I just rummaged around until I found similar-looking beads.  Mine turned out a bit big.  I will need to take it apart and remove some of the spacers.  Not tonight, though.  I have a date with The Red Chair and some Mindless Knitting and some NCIS reruns.  Doesn't get much better than that!  Jerilynn

WHOOO HOO!!!!

Double Rainbow Happiness Cake update: It worked!!!!! AND, it is delicious! The frosting is made using 8 egg whites, 2 cups of sugar, and 6 sticks of unsalted butter. You put the egg whites in sugar in a double boiler and cook until the sugar dissolves. Then you whip the mixture 10 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. You then add the butter a few tablespoons at a time until blended in. Add vanilla, frost. Total yummmmmy. It was pretty exciting when we cut into the cake and saw all the layers. A fun birthday treat! Jerilynn