BIG DAY IN OUR HOUSEHOLD

Our older daughter bought her first vehicle and she

paid for it with her own money--in full! She works

for our home repair business, house sits, babysits,

mows lawns and in all her spare time she is

learning to be a pharmacy tech. Oh and she is

taking a math class at the college.

It's a neat truck, just the right size and 4 wheel

drive (very important with our steep driveway)

Right before we went and picked up the truck

our younger daughter brought home straight A's

on her report card!

Lots of progress in the kitchen to report. In fact, with

everybody helping all that is left is a second coat of

paint on the trim and then I can call the inspector.

I just know he is going to show up with the dreaded

clipboard in hand. And probably a magnifying glass.

He may even be wearing a white glove to check for

dirt and debris underneath the flooring. I wonder

if he will request a step stool so he can inspect

the ceiling for cleanliness.

If anybody needs me I will be in the hall closet

with the door shut and lights off until he's gone.

Can they be bribed with pastry?

Did I just write that?

Here is the outside entrance that I will use to bring items

in and to load up to deliver. Everything is recycled--

isn't that awesome? My husband is a genius at reusing

items instead of throwing them away. He makes

them work for what we need and makes them look

nice as well.

I still need to order vinyl graphics for the patio door

so nobody tries to walk through it. That would

be bad, wouldn't it?

Especially if it was the inspector.

Must be deer hunting season. Doesn't everybody have

antlers cooking on their barbeque?

I SHOULD PROBABLY STOP SLACKING NOW

It's November 1st and time to get back into the swing of things!

My dumb camera finally bit the dust and only produces pictures

that are bright purple. When I was down south I looked at cameras,

but I just wasn't in the mood to spend $250-300. dollars for

another point and shoot when it doesn't seem like mine was all

that old.

By the way--do you like the new header photo? My older brother

shot that down at the beach across the road from our house. The

surfers come in droves this time of year because of the fantastic

wave action! He sells his photos too if anyone is interested in

some sensational art for their homes. His photos make fantastic

Christmas gifts for people that enjoy wildlife and the outdoors--

you should see the ones he took of the 3 bear cubs that were in

town this year!

I have lots to share and believe it or not I have been thinking

about Christmas and Thanksgiving (in that order) already! Maybe

the 33 degrees and ice on the front deck yesterday had something

to do with that.

In the meantime here is a hilarious video for you to watch. Anybody

that has ever shared their life with a cat will thoroughly enjoy this:

SEE YA LATER ALLIGATORS

I am flying out at 6 am to help my mom and dad

a bit in WA state. I may try to post things on the

blog while I am gone, we'll see how it goes.

I am going from the 50's to the 80's, so I better

pack light. It will be weird to see pumpkins out

in the fields.

Take care ya'll--see you in October!

LOTSA PROGRESS

There was a large amount accomplished on the kitchen

this weekend! The cabinets were a huge hurdle due to

the fact that we don't have a shop for my husband to

work in. This time of year the weather is iffy at best

and the plywood cannot get wet, so you really have

to have an indoor place to do the assembly.

He ended up moving his jeep outside for awhile so

we could stack everything inside 1/2 of the garage.

I have the mega important job of sanding the tiny bits of

roughness off the edges of everything that won't be seen.

What would he do without me?

The blue tool in the foreground is called a Krieg Jig. It is

a pocket drill that makes the perfect holes to put cabinets

together easily and quickly. We saw it advertised on an

info-mercial when we were on vacation in Florida

last January and realized it was exactly what we needed.

See, info-mercials DO work!

Here are the partially completed cabinets set up in the

kitchen. Now comes the thinking part--where does

everything fit the best? The counter tops we bought

on sale when we were in Juneau are going to look

awesome on top of these shells. On the left wall we

have to fit the 3 sinks, a small handwashing sink,

and the cook top with the microwave over it.

Sorry Lilly--the mean old health inspector says no more

doggies inside the kitchen.

These are just some of my 350+ cookie cutters.

The item they are hanging on is an old shoe

rack that we didn't use anymore. My husband

cut each round piece in half and then bent each

one the opposite way. I can probably fit about

500 cutters on here if I use the front and back.

Now if I could just figure out a great way to

organize them...

A fun cake I did this weekend for a trackhoe operator.

Yes, the dirt is grated chocolate.

Can you believe tomorrow we are halfway through

September?

Oh look around that corner over there--it's Christmas!

WHAT'S THAT SMELL?

It must be September! The salmon are going

up the streams to spawn and then die and

the resulting smell leaves a little to be

desired to put it mildly. I think walking is

the worst because there are several streams

that go right under the roads and bridges.

It's a very interesting plan God had, isn't it?

The salmon eggs hatch in the streams, the

baby salmon grow up some and head back

out to the ocean, then come back again to

the very spot they were spawned to lay their

eggs and when they die off their bodies fill

the same streams where they were born

with nutrients. Yep, God is a pretty good

planner to come up with that scenario

waaaay back in ancient times.

I just started attending a bible study at our church

on Tuesday nights called It's Tough Being a Woman

by Beth Moore. I have done a few other bible

studies by her and Wow what a teacher she is.

I love the video series that comes with this study

and the small groups afterwards really help to

get to know women in the church better.

On Wednesday nights I work at our church's

community outreach program for the kids

from 4 years old to 5th grade. We feed them

dinner at 5:30 and the program runs until 7:30.

There are games, challenges, scriptures to

memorize, teaching about Jesus and just an

all around great time.

Last night we served 100 dinners! The youth

come for dinner at the same time before they

go to youth group and let me tell you--those

teenage boys can eat!

Score!

Today my husband came home for lunch and

was looking through the local classifieds. He

found a picture of this cupcake display. Now the

weird part is he and I were just talking about

him making me one yesterday. (you know, in all

his spare time)

This is a large one with 6 tiers and last time I saw

it in my cake catalog it was $145.00. I got it

for $15.00.

It will work out perfect for me at the Artisan's Market

in December to display the decorated cupcakes and

cookies I will be selling.

Some pictures from the girl's riding day last week. They

had a lot of fun getting soaked to the bone.

Wow--nice distance!

sshhhhh...nobody move...whatever you do,

do not call this man.

He is working on a very important, highly

classified and technical job for the renowned

Grandma Tilly and absolutely cannot

be disturbed at this time.

Thank you for your cooperation in

this urgent matter.

PLAY DAY WEEKEND

What do most families do over Labor Day?

I think most plan something fun to do or

somewhere fun to go, don't they? The school

year starts early up here, so this isn't technically

the start of the new school year like most places.

My daughter has already completed her second

full week of school.

Around this house we usually just keep working

on this holiday. We are small business owners

and there are no built in vacation days to take and

we don't get holidays paid so the jobs just

keep on a-rollin'.

This year, however, is different. My husband

broke 2 teeth and one of them broke right at

the gumline--ouch. He went to the dentist

and he said that the teeth were not able to

be saved and needed to be removed. The

oral surgeon comes down from Juneau for

that every few weeks, so he had to wait

almost 3 weeks until this Saturday to

have the teeth removed.

Everything went as well as can be expected,

but he was told not to be lifting, bending

or basically doing anything that would make

the stitched up holes in his mouth throb

and bleed. The surgeon told him there

was a 70% chance of having a dry socket

with the bottom tooth because of where

it's located and his advanced age (41-- LOL)

He was restricted from working, but nobody

said anything about playing! He and the kids

loaded up the 2 Quads and a dirt bike and went

out to the end of the road to ride a little. Both

of our daughters have been riding since before

they could walk, so this is a real treat to them.

Me? I just stayed home and learned a valuable

lesson about putting several pairs of shoes in the

washer at the same time with the laces still on them.

Oh, and while he wasn't working my hamster-cheek

husband cut out all the cabinet materials for the

kitchen--yahoo!

Look what is growing up in our neighbor's yard. Poor guy,

he already went back home for the year and he's missing

these spectacular lillies blooming, along with continued

warm weather. It has been quite the summer with tons

of sun and very warm temperatures. The kind of weather

that makes all the tourists exclaim "I want to live here!"

I wonder what they would say if they could have seen

us trying to get to church last winter with our driveway

so coated with ice that our 1 ton truck with studded

tires and 4 wheel drive was sliding all by itself down

the driveway, in gear with the parking brake on?

They'd say "What kind of numnuts live here!"

Well, back to my bread and bran muffin baking for

a new week of school tomorrow...

ORANGE ZEST KNOTS RECIPE

I have had several requests for the recipe

of the Orange Zest Knots I posted this last

week. I found the recipe in this book:

I got this book from our library's for sale cart.

It is filled with simple, wholesome recipes and

there is a section in the back dedicated to recipes

that will feed 100 people.

Anyway, I recommend this book to anyone that

like simple home cooking and there are even

some nice colored pictures in the middle,

which I love in a cookbook!

ORANGE ZEST KNOTS

1 packet yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk, scalded

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

5 - 5 1/2 cups sifted flour

2 eggs, well beaten

1/4 cup orange juice

2 Tablespoons grated orange rind

Soften yeast in warm water with sugar in small bowl.

Combine milk, shortening and salt, cool to lukewarm. Stir in

about 2 cups flour and beat well. Add eggs, stir in yeast/sugar

mixture, orange juice and rind and remaining flour, mix well.

Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Gently knead on lightly floured

counter for a just few minutes until dough is springy. Placed in

greased bowl covered with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place

(I use my oven with the light turned on) until doubled in size.

Punch dough down, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Roll dough out

on lightly floured counter into 1/2" thick rectangle. Cut into 10"

strips, 1/2" wide. Tie each strip into a knot.

Arrange on greased baking sheet and let rise in a warm spot until

doubled. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, just until lightly

golden for the tenderest knots. If you over bake they can be dry.

Let cool for a few minutes and spread with Orange Topping (below)

ORANGE TOPPING

2 Tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)

Combine ingredients well and spread on Knots while still warm.

****This recipe made 30 Knots for me when I cut the strips 1/2" x 10"