November knit bits

I am pleased to say that I accomplished my November knitting goal of completing the two holiday gifts I making this year. The first item is a gift for Aidan's teacher, a simple buttoned neckwarmer:

My hope is that Mr. A will keep the scarf at school to quickly put on for recess and stay warm while keeping the students from killing each other. The pattern is Fourteen by John Brinegar and once I found an online video that showed me how to knit into the row below, it was a fun and easy knit. I used Baby Alpaca Grande Tweed by Plymouth Yarn and oh, baby, is it soft.

I also finished the other item on my list but I have no picture to share because a) it is still blocking, and b) there is always the off chance that the person for whom it is a gift will read this post and I don't want to spill the beans. Stay tuned for a post-holiday sharing of the photo and description.

I also quickly knit up a cute little star ornament from leftover yarn in my stash:

It is for a knitting friend who recently experienced an unfortunate life-altering event and a group of people is sending her these little crafted hugs to put on her tree.

As for the other goal of maintaining my walking schedule of three times a week...well, not such a success there. Between wet weather, holiday guests and winter laziness, I did get out several times to walk but not as much as my goal. While I am going to try and remain active outdoors as much as weather permits, the only goal I am going to set for December is to make it to New Year's Eve with my sanity intact. And for those who know me well, you know just how much of a challenge that can be.

And a good meal was had by all

Here was the menu at our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday:

• Turkey
• Cornbread dressing (made by my mother, who makes the BEST cornbread dressing)
• Sweet potatoes
• Mashed potatoes
• Gravy
• Creamed corn
• Cranberry sauce, both homemade and jellied straight from the can
• Homemade rolls
• Apple pie
• Chocolate chess pie

Whew. I used my new mini pie pans from King Arthur Flour, so we didn't have two full size pies. The mini pies were the perfect size.

We brined our turkey this year using a recipe from Emeril Lagasse:

That 48 cent per pound turkey (love love love my Wegmans) was both beautiful and delicious:

As you can see, I don't put any effort into fancy table decorations or linens; instead, I put lots of effort into preparing delectable food:

And Thanksgiving dinner at our house was well the effort.

Surprise!

My mother arrived on Sunday to spend Thanksgiving week with us. Although her birthday is on December 6, we decided to surprise her with an early birthday celebration. We got a lovely cake from The Gingersnap Bakery, which James was able to pick up the cake this afternoon without her knowledge:

It is a French vanilla cake with chocolate mousse filling between the layers, and ganache frosting. Pure decadence and about ten pounds in weight.

I prepared one of her favorite meals for dinner, beef stroganoff, and then we put a candle on the cake and brought it out, singing "Happy birthday to you!"

I am pleased to say that she was completely surprised. Spenser, of course, got into the spirit in his own little cat manner:

Happy early birthday, Mom!

Four more years

We have another presidential election in our rear view mirrors. Whew. I had no intention of staying up to watch election results but you know how it is with good intentions. James and I got caught up in the drama and excitement, and watched all evening; Aidan even watched for about an hour before his bedtime. And although the polls out west closed long after he went to sleep, the next morning Aidan told me how he thought the states voted and managed to get all the states but one correct - look out, Nate Silver - and deemed Florida too close to call.

Speaking of Florida, I told James on Wednesday that is is crazy that every four years, so much hangs on the outcome of a state that is 98% whackadoodles. Our friends who live there are, of course, part of the 2% rational people in the state. I saw a tweet that said "Why do we even allow Florida to vote?", which made me laugh. Thank goodness it didn't come down to Florida this election or it would have been 2000 all over again, with possibly another stolen election. Whew.

Anyway, Tuesday night was like the Super Bowl of politics minus wardrobe malfunctions and expensive commercials. We toggled between CNN (I adore John King and his smart board) and MSNBC, but jumped over to ABC briefly when a Facebook posting alerted us that Diane Sawyer was apparently participating in our election night drinking game (every time they say "battleground", drink!). We, of course, missed Karl Rove's hissy fit on Fox. The whole event was nerve-wracking, it was fun, it exhilarating. And, if you don't know me well, it ended the way that I wanted it to end, with Barack Obama being reelected president.

Here are some random thoughts about politics and the election:

• I am absolutely in awe of the voters in Florida who finally cast their ballots well after 1 a.m. the next day. They were in line when the polls closed and were therefore eligible to vote, but what fortitude, what passion, what patriotism they displayed by staying in line until they could vote. Mazel to you and you are NOT part of the 98% whackadoodles in your state. 

• I am appalled by the new low levels of nastiness displayed by people of all political persuasions. Yes, I voted for Barack Obama, but that does not mean that I say rude, untrue or bigoted comments about Mitt Romney. All in all, I think Mitt Romney is a fine person with some good ideas and talents, and I simply disagree with enough of his positions to make me not vote for him. That's all. I don't need to post vile cartoons on Facebook or circulate email messages full of lies. Disagree with a candidate? Vote against her/him.

• Speaking of nastiness, I am flabbergasted by people who lash out at those who did not vote the way they did by questioning their intelligence or their loyalty to our country. In three words: how dare you. I lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for sixteen years and had a "Defeat Helms" bumper sticker on my car for most of those years. Never did anyone accost me for expressing that opinion, but I have a writer friend in Raleigh who was recently cursed and called ignorant because another person did not like her Obama-Biden 2012 bumper sticker. How dare you. 

• Yay for Maine, Maryland, Minnestoa and Washington, and yay for marriage equality!

• I sincerely hope that Mitch McConnell finds something worthwhile to put on his "to do" list for the next few years. Any elected official that says "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president" should be ashamed of his/herself. The single most important thing that Mitch McConnell or anyone else in Congress should want to achieve is to make this country healthier, smarter, stronger. 

Bathroom renovation

We have a new bathroom! Well, not really, but it certainly looks like we do. James has been working hard to turn the cave-like downstairs bathroom into a beautiful, functional bathroom. We neglected to take "before" photos, but take my word when I say that it was dark, ugly and poorly plumbed.

Let's start with the shower. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we turned our attention to the downstairs bathroom because the shower leaked; it appears that the person who rehabbed our house never sealed between the shower pan and the shower stall, so that water leaked out anytime the shower was used. It was that way since the day we moved into the house. James first removed the flimsy shower stall and even flimsier shower base, and with the help of our neighbor Ben, who is a plumber by trade and an incredibly nice guy, properly installed a sturdy shower pan. Then James installed subway tile on the three sides of the shower stall, adding one row of beige glass blocks for interest:

Gorgeous, and it does not leak!

We had a lot of wasted space just inside the door on the left side, so James made a cabinet to fit the space:

What a great use of that space and pretty, too. The sink vanity was an ugly, nameless color so we painted it white to match the cabinet:

Although you can't see it in the photo, we changed out the knobs on the vanity to match the knobs that James installed on the cabinet.

We chose a lovely biscuit color for the walls in an eggshell finish, and chose to accent with black and white:

Love the shower curtain:

Here is a close-up of the wall decal next to the sink:

How fun is that? I decided that since I always seem to say that phrase, I might as well put it on the bathroom wall in the form of a vinyl wall decal from Trading Phrases.

Applause, applause! What was once an eyesore is now a lovely, light bathroom that we are proud to have guests use, and is now the preferred bathroom of everyone in the house. Well done, James!

More pie

When I told my friend Jennifer that I had signed up for the pie crust class, she told me that King Arthur Flour was bringing one of their traveling baking demonstrations to Syracuse. I looked up the date of the demo and put it on my calendar without knowing the subject of the demo; all I knew was that the demo would take place at the New York State Fairgrounds (very convenient for me) and that is was free.

The demo was yesterday and the subject was...wait for it...pies and scones. James and I arrived about thirty minutes early and there were already quite a number of people there. We were handed a small booklet containing recipes and helpful tips, along with a numbered ticket for the door prize drawing. We scored seats right up front with an excellent view of the demo table:

The room was decorated with several large signs like this one:

To the right of the demo area was the tempting display of door prizes:

So many prizes, but no winning tickets for us.

But we did win lots of great information and had a very fun time. The presenter, Irene, had a pleasant style and voice and she did an excellent job of talking and doing, told lots of stories, and she interacted well with the audience. I found that the info she presented added to the info I learned in the class two weeks ago. The single most interesting thing I learned yesterday is to add your butter in two steps: the first half of the butter is worked into the small pieces, but then the second half is left in bigger pieces. That allows for both a tender and a flaky crust.

I tend to get fidgety during presentations but the time flew by. In addition to the pie crust demo, Irene showed us how to make scones. Both James and I have never cared for scones, but we came to agree that perhaps we have just never had a good scone. I will definitely try the cheddar, bacon and scallion scone recipe from the booklet that Irene demonstrated.

On the way out, each participant received a King Arthur bowl/dough scraper (a $1.95 value!) and a sample of cheese from Cabot, one of KA's partners.

Today I put the information I learned yesterday into practice and made an apple pie:

It looks and smells good, so let's hope it also tastes good!

On we go

Can I tell how glad I am to have Halloween over? Sure it's a fun holiday with costumes and candy, but for those of us who are introverts (and yes, people, I am actually an introvert - just ask Myers-Briggs), it can be an excruciating evening. The choice is stay home and make small talk with all the little goblins and their adult escorts, or escort Aidan around the neighborhood and make small talk with people handing out candy. It was my turn last night to take Aidan around the village but James armed me with a generous margarita in a to-go cup, so it wasn't bad at all. Our ninja had a great time and cleaned up in the candy department (and was very polite and gracious), and I got to see how much fun some of the people in the village have when handing out candy.

In October, I did as well as possible in the goals department; until Hurricane/Super Storm/Pain-in-our-Butts Sandy came along, I was able to walk three times or more each week. And while I can't say that I am back to feverish knitting, I did find and complete some fun projects.

Now it is November and we start the slippery slide towards The Holidays. In addition to trying to maintain my walking schedule, my goal is to complete the two knitting projects that will be holiday gifts; the first is an item for my mother, and the second is a buttoned cowl for Aidan's teacher. Both are small projects but I would like to greet December with them complete. Since Mom is coming to spend a week with us at Thanksgiving, I am trying to get her item done before she arrives. As long as Sandy hangs around and dumps rain on us, I will certainly have time to knit.