Oven!

My oven is back!  The tech came out Monday and installed the replacement for melted piece.  In the first 24 hours we made cookies,

Reheated leftover pizza, made banana nut bread & muffins and prepared a side for our Christmas Dinner (on New Year's Day.)

It has been an expensive & tiring week, since we ate out many times that I would have popped leftovers or a casserole in the oven.  I'm so happy to have my oven back!

later days

New Year's Celebration

Billy had to work New Year's Eve, and it snowed.  Sarah came over and kindly cleared my sidewalk and driveway, since she'd already finished hers.

 I was glad she put down so much salt, because it snowed the majority of the day!

We played an abbreviated version of Bunko.  Each person rolls and whomever scores the highest in consecutive rolls (or a Bunko) takes the round.  All the other rules are the same.  The twins were able to play with us too, which was really nice, since the big kids tend to pick games that require reading.

We kicked off celebration just before Billy made it home.  We made a 7up and lime sherbet punch.  It's my favorite.  Only Grace seemed to enjoy it as much as I do.  I made a rookie mistake though and chilled the 7up which made the sherbet not melt as quickly so it was not as good fresh as it was after a little while on the table.

I had collected a nice group of hats and noise makers for my crew.  Note everyone participated :cough::Billy::cough: and Grace fell asleep, but the rest of us rocked our decorations!

Also, the kids discovered the sonic racing game on the Wii and have been having a great time with it. = )  William has been a super patient teacher with the twins, it's been really good.  Of course, after a while, the twins like to fight about everything, so the game quickly dissolves from there.

Eating our Christmas dinner (on New Year's Day) because my oven is back in buisness!

The holiday (today) was above freezing, so most of the snow on the roads and sidewalks started to melt.  It was a mixture of sunny and cloudy, but the high was probably around 40F with no new precipitation.

later days

Witcher Watching Party

Billy really enjoyed playing the Witcher 3 video game.  He'd tell me about it, and spent ample time researching stats when he'd play it.  So, when Netflix announced that they were creating a video version, he was excited.  He tried hard not to be, in case it failed to meet his expectations, but the closer it got, the more he talked about it.

So, I decided to throw him a Witcher watching party.  I invited Amber and Will (and their crew) and set to work on making it as close to that world as I could.

I think I went to a record number of thrift shops collecting steins and dishes.  One of my favorite finds were some aged wooden trays and some ceramic goblets.  I also snagged an ice bucket that was meant to mimic wood, and I put our "water from the well" in it.

My favorite project was the potions.  I stopped at a liquor store (at like 9 in the morning because they don't have blue laws in Michigan) and asked for the prettiest little bottles they had.  This is what the cashier and I came up with. = )

I took a before picture, in case someone actually wanted to drink one.

It took me about an hour to get off the labels, and once they were off I made my own.  Thankfully there are databases dedicated to the video games, so finding the names of potions was not too tough.  Fisstech will 'knock the user out immediately' so that label went on the tequila. = )

I also made some plum jam from plums!

Sadly, the pancakes that were supposed to have the jam needed to be cooked in my oven, which went out the day before I needed it.  = (  I was so sad.  So, I didn't make the pancakes, and I think I was the only one who tried the jam.  It was very flavorful, but not very sweet.  According to one recipe that I read (when I was trying to decide whether or not to skin them) I needed to pick ones that were a little riper than what I chose.

On the day of I dropped by Panera for some full loaves of bread, and then headed to our favorite BBQ place for a growler of ale.  Billy usually likes the Brown Ales, so that's what I picked.

One of the recipes was "Elf and Onion" soup.  They recommended beef in the absence of elf meat, so that's what I threw in.  But to help with aesthetics bought some decorative ears to toss in.

At our MOPS meeting last week, we made some signs out of stained wood and paint.  Mine reads "Bill of Fare" in Lithuanian.

Billy was very surprised, and I loved having Amber and Will over while we watched a brand new show the night it came out!

later days

December Things

My mom's friend was upgrading her recliner, and my mom claimed her old one on our behalf.  It's a big green one, very similar to the one we had in Houston.  Everyone was happy, except for William who cried when we took out the old, ugly orange one that was only supposed to be in our house for a week and lasted 2 years!

It snowed.

Then it snowed some more.

Then it cleared.  (And I hid William's treasures.) And then it snowed again.

After our gingerbread house fail, I bought a store made kit.  It went over really well.  They even ate part of it!

Grace also wanted to sew a wrist rest like Juliet did.  She was so excited!

Molly hanging out by the tree.

We got a package that did not belong to us.  It was for 313 and we live at 317.  (309 is our immediate neighbor), and I tried to find the owner in a forum, and asked our neighbor but without success. So, after stressing over it, I contacted UPS who sent someone to retrieve it, but not until 8 o'clock that night!  I have never been happier to be rid of a package.

I looked in my rearview mirror and chuckled when I saw all those reindeer antlers!

Our dishwasher stopped draining, so I ended up handwashing dishes for about a week.  The Thursday after it was fixed, my oven went out.  The repair guy came out Saturday morning, but didn't have the part.  He ordered it to be shipped overnight, but I received a call today that there was some issue at the warehouse and it wouldn't be coming today. = (  So, we'll be having something that can be cooked on a stovetop for Christmas this year.  The ham I bought will taste even better next week I'm sure. = )

My mom signed my crew up to help light the 2nd Advent candle at her church.  Alice did a great, careful job with the flame.  Emily's reading of the verses was lovely.  The other 3 were bored and I stressed trying to coral them from below the stage.  Whew.  She said that she got lots of compliments from her friends after service though.

We had the lovely Galvas family come over Saturday, who also has 5 kids!  The adults played Ticket to Ride, and Emily joined us.  From then on, she's been really excited to play again. William likes the idea of it, but is not quite patient enough to play yet.

Such a lovely December.

later days