What are you up to today? This week?

[heidiiiii]

What has been calling my name ever more insistently for the past several days is the White Orchid. I've had the vision in my head ever since it arrived. It needs to be executed! :lol:

I have been thinking of mine too but it is under my bed so it`s screams are muffled..LOL Once the Christmas tree is put away, I will turn around the MHM and finish the kids/nannys bedroom..and then I will use my birthday money to get supplies so I can start on the Pomeroy house. I have been buying up lighting supplies at AC Moore (40% off) every time I have a little extra in my cash stash.

What are your plans for the Orchid?

I am still going to make mine *Christmas in CT*(1940s CT farm house for the rich guy that wanted to marry Barbara Stanwyck). I saw the movie on TCM yesterday..maybe that is why it entered my head too.

[AuntDee]

Each winter I set a goal to learn something new. (It keeps me from going stir crazy being cooped up too long. I like to be outdoors and have windows and doors open to hear the birds and nature sounds). This winter my goal is to learn how to make good homemade bread. Not with the bread machine but from scratch. Yesterday I made a batch. The flavor is good, the texture is nice but I think it is too heavy. I think it needed less flour and a warmer place to rise. the rejects I make will have to be made into bread pudding or made into bread crumbs for breading fish or chicken. Today I am making Stollen, which every good German has to have for Christmas. Rita

[heidiiiii]

The flavor is good, the texture is nice but I think it is too heavy. I think it needed less flour and a warmer place to rise.

I put the bowl on top of the Fridge. Just enough warmth from the motor. Make sure you do not over knead it. The gluten will break down and make it heavy and tough. If you can smooth it out into a ball in your hand, press it with the knuckle of your thumb and it springs back..it is perfect.

Others may be able to give you some advice on it too.

[KathieB]

What are your plans for the Orchid?

It's going to be a mushroom. :lol: Inspiration photos in my gallery.

[grazhina]

I've been baking bread for years, and my favorite way to let the dough rise in the bowl is to place hot tap water in the bottom of a large bowl, then place the dough bowl in it, so that it rests on the rim, preferably not actually touching the hot water.

Also, I pour a little oil into my bowl, then plop in my dough and swish it around to spread the oil along the sides of the bowl, then I'll flip the dough over so the oiled side is on top. I'll lay a piece of plastic wrap over it, then sometimes a lightweight dish towel. If the room is cool, or the dough needs a long rising, I'll change the water in the bowl.

Our power came back on around 9:30 this morning. I was wrong about the neighbor's up the street, their power didn't come back on Saturday, it was FRIDAY. I was pretty sick, and only knew what I could see from the one window.

When the power goes out in Maine it goes out pretty much all day or sometimes for days. One year we had no power outages, which was amazing. This would not be surprising if we lived out in the country, but we live in town. I used to just stoically take it, there was nothing I could do, and I'd just make the best of it, and wonder how everything could get so messed up, but you know, seeing house after house all lit up right up the street, while you and your other neighbors sit in the cold and the dark and your food spoils, well, it drives you crazy.

Our next door neighbors read CMP the riot act, I hear. The mister came home with a generator this morning so they'll be ready for the next time.

[Muriel]

:'( My car died! Well the gearbox and clutch died, and to fix them will cost nearly as much as I bought the car for. I live in a country village 13 miles from work, an hour long (and expensive) bus drive. :'( I'll have to get a new car, but 9 days before christmas isn't a good time! Plus I'm supposed to be doing quite a bit of driving around over christmas to relatives.

It is a nice car, renault clio, but I've had to spend a lot of money on it over the 1.5 years I've had it, so debating what to do. In some ways I want to keep it cause i've spent so much money on it, but also thinking maybe it is at the age when things just keep going wrong and wearing out. It is nearly 10 years old and I've replaced a drive shaft, break pads, battery, 2 tires, oil holder container thing, two exhaust pieces, windscreen washer pump, something to do with the hand break, a few light bulbs... But the gear box is gone, the clutch needs replacing, it has been very wet inside the car, so there's a leak somewhere and it isn't the sun roof, nor any other place obvious (suspect something underneath the car as the floors are wet, though can hear sloshing above me when I turn corners after rain!) The cd player doesn't work - there's a cd stuck in it, so we can only listen to radio or 'O brother, where art thou?' soundtrack. And the windscreen wipers need replacing... and who knows what else will wear out in the next year.

:'(

[TinyJudi]

I took yesterday off from mini-ing to spend some gaming time with hubby. We haven't played a computer game together in a while and I think he needed the time with me. I don't mind giving him a day..or two..or three if he needs it. He puts up with my projects and mess so it is a fair trade. It was a short day for me at work. Only a 6 hour shift. Man, I hope I get my hours back soon. We can survive, but the extra $4 would be nice this time of year. Started dinner early (Yum Lasagna) because I skipped lunch. Afterwards, I need to spruce of the Wine Shoppes topiaries. Also, need to get the stone bench painted. The casks are complete in and place. I really should get a pic posted. They turned out pretty good I think.

[Anna]

Counting down for Christmas holidays, four more mornings and then my parents will come to visit on Saturday and stay over, which we are really looking forward to!

Have most things under control for that weekend but still a "few" things left to prepare for Friday with a couple of costumes to make/sew etc for the choir students on stage....

Hugs

[heidiiiii]

Muriel, Muriel, Muriel...It is time to put the old lady to rest. Find out what it is worth and sell it. Get yourself a new(er) car..You deserve it. How many miles does it have on it?

I understand. My favorite car was a 1990 Mazda 626. It was 13 years old and only had 80k on it. She slowly be surely starting falling apart. The day I drove on the highway and the brakes did not work was the day I said Cianara to her. The brakes had lost air pressure, I had to pump them to get them going, got right off the highway and drove backroads home.

She sat for awhile and then we just junked her.

Both the girls are out (work and shopping) and Fred has the day off. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and string beans. Nice warm dinner.

Sump pump is working from the rain but no flooding..just in the hole. But it is supposed to rain tomorrow. I better keep an eye on it.

[havanaholly]

DH & I go to the opthamologist every four months so he can monitor our cataracts and today was the day. My prescription had changed so much in the past three years that I had to order new glasses (hurrah! I love getting new glasses & being able to see again!lol).

After that we went tooling out to the Highway Patrol station to get my driver's license renewed. It had been 16 years since my last picture (I got a stickie thing to paste on the back when I renewed it 8 years ago), so I needed a new one; now instead of looking like my mother I look like my father! and it's good until 2016! I was surprised they didn't make me retake the written test, like thay did DH when he got his license renewed in 2005, since we're within five months of the same age.

Then we got the tags renewed on my car and DH's truck; his F250 Super-Duty is considered a commercial truck because of its weight, so instead of renewing the registration in his birth month DH has to renew it in December. While we were puttering about we checked out one of the thrift stores (slim pickin's) and stopped at Bank of America to see if he could finally settle a dispute he's had going on with them since this summer! They seem to have gotten the problem straightened out at last, and we came home a pair of happy campers.

[Muriel]

Muriel, Muriel, Muriel...It is time to put the old lady to rest. Find out what it is worth and sell it. Get yourself a new(er) car..You deserve it. How many miles does it have on it?

It only has 77,000 miles on it. Unfortunately it can't drive anywhere. I drove in slowly to the town where I work, carefully turned into the garage and parked. The guy came out to see what the problem was, I explained it clonked when I turned, so he turned, it clonked, he stopped, he tried to go, and it wouldn't move anymore. It died. They aren't allowed to fix that sort of failure at that garage, so he phoned the next door garage and they came and pushed it over to theirs. Had a look while I was there, but said they'd need a closer look, so phoned me with results. But cause it can't drive anywhere, it needs towing... And I've got nowhere to tow it to as home is 13 miles away So can't really sell it via advertisment cause they need it gone tomorrow... So gotta phone scrap people that'll come pick it up for free and pay me probably $70-100 for it. (it cost me about $350 to pass its required test barely 2 weeks ago. Wasted!)

Would have probably bought a new car in a year or so, but wasn't ready to do so now. So will probably get a cheap one to last a year or so.

Well now we've decided to get rid of it, i can look at new old cars. And phone scap people in the morning! :monkeydance:

[KathieB]

Muriel, what a bummer! At least you have a plan. That's half the battle. Once you start the motions, the details will take care of themselves. (She says optimistically.)

[Jeffrey]

finally finished all my school work just have 2 finals tomorrow and then im done and free to work on the christmas cookies roombox until december 23. Has to be done by christmas eve so i can give it to Oma!

[heidiiiii]

One drink ain't enough Jack you better make it three

I wanna get drunk I'm gonna make it real clear,

I want one bourbon, one scotch and one beer

One bourbon, one scotch, one beer

George Thorogood, 1977

That is what I was singing to on the way home from dropping Chelsea off at medication distribution class for work. Ahh! Takes you back, doesnt it? hehehe

I have to drive back to get her at the end of class for 9pm. Then I am going to crash in the bed.

[heidiiiii]

Now Natalie is sick...*spraying Lysol all over myself*

She has finals all this week but thankfully school is a half day for each day. She will survive.

I have a good gas story. I was down to a 1/4 tank. I went to the local grocery store gas station because you get money off every time you shop. I scanned my card and regular gas for me was $1.30 a gallon. I put $6 in and the tank was full! (prices are starting to creep back up though because of OPEC)

[Anna]

Sorry to hear about Nat also getting the "bug" so to speak, hope it goes away quickly! Is Chels starting to feel any better by now?

As for us, we were sort of awoken this morning by the house sort of shaking but thought nothing much of it since there are some heavy machinery passing as there is some maintence work and cables going in in our neighbourhood latley, buuuuuut I learnt when turning on the 'puter and looked at the today's local news that it was in fact an earthquake nothing big at all around 4,7 so just a mild "burp"... And we who thought that we lived in an officially stamped earthquake zone LOL

Oh well, live and learn I suppose...

Hugs

[heidiiiii]

Anna,

The news is saying that is the strongest earthquake your country has had in more then 100 years.

Chelsea is still sick but not dead-like. She has been going to work. Nat is in the beginnings of the cold/sore throat so she feels like &$*@ on a shingle. I woke her up early to take some Dayquil so she would survive her final today...Chorus to be exact. No singing involved..just musical notes. She has a concert tomorrow night.

I am just tired. Lots of driving. I have to save up money for the rest of this month and next month to do some work on the car. Nothing that has to be done right now..(hopefully) but they do have to be done soon so no more spending on extras until that is taken care of. When you only have one car, you have to treat it like a Queen. Fred is desperate to get another car and I think I am staring to agree with him. The shuttling around of the girls and him make it harder on me. The loan on the Nissan is almost paid off. He is being smart though. He wants to wait until Spring and see how the economy goes.

He will still use the scooter in the spring, summer, and fall..but in bad weather and winter we just need another one. I am still a little mad about that scooter. But I do not harp. That was his little luxury want that he had to have. How knows? The price of gas may go back up in the spring.

I want to learn how to drive it anyway. I could use it to go to Dr appointments and to my friends house for a visit. Nat has her eye on it too. LOL

Boy this turned into a mini rant of sorts...I think I need a nap.

More tree beading today. I am going to search for a button after I get off the computer for the stand (thanks for the idea Holly!).

[ilovecats]

:'( My car died! Well the gearbox and clutch died, and to fix them will cost nearly as much as I bought the car for. I live in a country village 13 miles from work, an hour long (and expensive) bus drive. :'( I'll have to get a new car, but 9 days before christmas isn't a good time! Plus I'm supposed to be doing quite a bit of driving around over christmas to relatives.

It is a nice car, renault clio, but I've had to spend a lot of money on it over the 1.5 years I've had it, so debating what to do. In some ways I want to keep it cause i've spent so much money on it, but also thinking maybe it is at the age when things just keep going wrong and wearing out. It is nearly 10 years old and I've replaced a drive shaft, break pads, battery, 2 tires, oil holder container thing, two exhaust pieces, windscreen washer pump, something to do with the hand break, a few light bulbs... But the gear box is gone, the clutch needs replacing, it has been very wet inside the car, so there's a leak somewhere and it isn't the sun roof, nor any other place obvious (suspect something underneath the car as the floors are wet, though can hear sloshing above me when I turn corners after rain!) The cd player doesn't work - there's a cd stuck in it, so we can only listen to radio or 'O brother, where art thou?' soundtrack. And the windscreen wipers need replacing... and who knows what else will wear out in the next year.

:'(

Wow! I'd definately just replace the car. It sounds like a money pit. I know Hondas are very reliable, good value for the money and pretty as well. I'm afraid i'd exchange it just based on the cd oh brother where art thou soundtrack being stuck in the cd player......lol...just kidding. Seriously tho, it does sound like a money pit! Good luck to you

[ilovecats]

Glad you didn't have any damage Anna. or injuries for that matter.

[ilovecats]

Well it's my day off. Silly me I had scheduled my appointment for an oil change at 8 am, so that meant i had to get up earlier. I actually work up at 6 before my alarm went off and couldn't go back to sleep knowing i was going to have to get up soon...so, in addition to that, there was fresh snow on the ground so I had to drive in the snow (which i really dislike) to get somewhere on a day I really could have slept in on. Ah well, that errand is done and I stopped off at UPS to ship a package. Came home and shoveled the drive and sidewalk. Looks like it's gonna snow again so i'm sure i'll be out this evening doing it all again. There is a snow blower in the garage but I don't know how to use it yet. So there it sits...lol.

I just ate breakfast and had a cup of tea. The tea was so yummy, i need another cup. I'm gathering up all the unwanted scrapbook supplies and boxing them up today, my supervisor is coming over on thursday to purchase them. I was going to go thru the minis and furniture in the basement today so that i can decorate an actual dollhouse! However I'm not in the mood...lol...so I'm thinking of watching movies on this snowy day off.

Had some excitement last night, one of the guys from my neigborhood was going around and shoveling sidewalks/driveways etc...i go outside to see who the heck was shoveling my porch off. well i locked myself out of the house. no coat, no shoes. luckily i have an exterior keypad to get into my garage, and was able to break into the house that way. It was a tiny bit nippy out without shoes or a coat on.

I have to work the next few days then I have a 3 day weekend. I was going to paint my real life house, but as I haven't done any mini fun for so long i changed my mind and i want to relax. Except that yesterday I was asked to be on call for work during the day on saturday. Not happy about it, but i haven't had to take call in so long that I can't complain. Still annoying tho.

[havanaholly]

The physical exam went well, nowhere near as "exciting" as last year's!lol Afterwards DH took us out for Thai food for brunch. When we got home I had to go take a nap (the front that brings yucky weather wreaks havoc with my sinuses); when I woke up & came back downstairs I heard a strange noise; DH was asleep on the futon & I could hear him snoring! Very quiet day otherwise.

[Gayle]

Charleston SC had a 3.6 earthquake today.

[KathieB]

Ouch! From Sweden to South Carolina, the old world is rockin' for the holidays!

We set out today for the 30-mile drive to Sedalia for Lloyd's treatment despite the winter storm warning, but turned around about a mile south of Marshall after spotting a car in the ditch. Since the road (a US federal highway) was not very safe and the prediction was for sleet/ice to follow, it seemed the prudent thing to do. The temp was low enough that the salt really wasn't working. The folks at the cancer center approved the decision. Missing one day will not throw off the course of treatment.

Tomorrow is another day. :wub:

[havanaholly]

A car in a ditch is an excellent reason to stay at home. I emailed DS and he said they were unaware of an earthquake. Isn't it getting close to time for the New Madrid fault to move again?

[heidiiiii]

We got a bit of sleet, a bit of snow, and a bit of rain last night. It is in the 40s now so it is all melting away. They are saying there is going to be a Biggun storm on Friday. The weather channel is saying a wintry mix and our local stations are acting like it is going to be a huge storm. You never know who you can trust sometimes.

I hope it starts during the day so that they cancel school and Chelsea does not have to go into work. If it starts when the kids are in their care, they have to stay there until the parents pick them up...which means I will have to drive in that mess!

Tonight is Natalie`s winter concert. She can barely talk but she has to show up..part of her final grade. The teacher told her that she could lip sync since she can barely hear and may mess up the tone. I am worried she might start a coughing fit on stage.

I have a therapy appointment this morning and then I am going to bead some more of the tree. I have to go to the grocery store sometime soon for Christmas food. Do not want to do it on Friday (snow) and do not want to do it next week (Christmas crowds).