Advent!

Today is the first Sunday of Advent!  It is early this year (or it seems so), and I am happy to break out all my awesome Christmas music.  I know the Christmas season doesn't officially begin until, well, Christmas, but there is just too much beautiful music to cram into those twelve days, so I enjoy it now.

I will try to recommend a different Christmas album or collection every week this Advent, since my taste in music is a bit out of the mainstream and most people haven't heard of stuff I like.  My music recommendations for this first week are Celtic Celebration and Celtic Celebration 2 by the Night Heron Consort.  The arrangements are beautiful and prayerful and really do justice to the meaning of the season.

Don't you just hate it when the holiday music on the radio consists of all these people ridiculously oversinging every song?  I mean, seriously, people.  Chill out.  I always thought of Advent and Christmastime to be such a peaceful, hushed time.

A Child born in the still of the night, surrounded by gently cooing animals.

Angels in the darkened sky calling the news to lonely shepherds in the fields.

The three Magi traveling in the darkness, following the star to the stables, then stealing away into the night.

So let us enjoy the peace of the season and save your vocal chords (yes, Ms. Carey, I'm talking to you) for another day.

In conclusion, here is my favorite non-religious Christmas song, sung by the only person who should ever sing it.

Tripping, Turkeys, and Tires

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and hasn't yet gotten trampled in a Black Friday frenzy.  I can't even imagine going out shopping today.  I am running out of some really essential groceries like milk, bread, and Goldfish crackers, but I'm staying home and waiting until tomorrow to venture the streets.

Plus, my car has a flat tire.  Again.  But that story should end yesterday's narrative, so we'll come back to in a few minutes.

Yesterday morning, things were just peachy.  The cherry pie was finished and looked great.  See?  The house was clean, my outfit was ready, we all slept in, and life was good. 

Then, while I was taking pictures of important things, like this pie, Wee Ninja Girl tripped over my leg and totally face planted onto the (hardwood, of course) floor in the dining room.  She bit her bottom lip and scuffed her nose.  She now has a lovely purple mark on the inside of her lip, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by it.  I think it took me longer to recover.

Later, we packed up and went to my Awesome-in-laws for dinner.  We brought WNG's port-a-crib and all her bedtime gear in the hopes that she would take her nap there.

She didn't.  Not one wink.

Luckily, even when she is overtired, WNG is generally well-behaved, although she did hoark down what remained of a cranberry-walnut topping for brie and crackers and then refuse to eat any dinner other than about 3 green beans.  Needless to say, she has been eating an awful lot today!

Dinner itself was wonderful and we had a great time.  The turkey was perfection itself and all the trimmings and desserts were fantastic.

On the way home, in the cold and slight drizzle, we got a flat tire.  It is literally a two-mile drive from the A-i-L's house to our own, but we only made it halfway.  Of course, the trunk of my car was packed full, so we ended up having to put as much stuff as possible (including the tire!) in the backseat next to WNG, who wasn't as cranky as I was by then.

This stupid tire keeps going flat, even though we've had it checked out by tire pros and they all have said it's fine.  We tightened the little metal thingy in the valve thingy and it seemed to work for a while, but now we're going to replace the whole valve and hope for the best.  Or we could just buy a new tire.  Sigh.

Enjoy your leftovers!

So. Yeah.

Lest my faithful reader fear that I have succumbed in the Great Ladybug Invasion, I must put your mind at ease. 

It turned out that the "invasion" consisted of a grand total of five ladybugs.  Five.  I disposed of two all by myself, heroically and with minimal whining.  The others I trapped and waited for EP Dude to deal with as he saw fit.

I have my limits.

In the meantime, Wee Ninja Girl decided to cut three more teeth (including molars!) and is about to cut a fourth.  And as an added bonus, she is getting over another cold which, thankfully, wasn't as bad as her first.

I managed to rake the leaves from the neighbor's trees and create a compost pile in the backyard in between rainy days and might actually get the lawn mowed before it snows.  Except that the forecast has been hinting at snowfall tomorrow and I think it's safe to say that I will not be raking leaves on Thanksgiving morning.

I started to burn out on the knitting and crocheting after I made Wee Ninja Girl and my niece Sweetie-O square pink hats (not that the hats are "square" as in "L-7," but they are square shaped) so I've taken up sewing.  EP Dude gave me a lovely Husquevarna sewing machine for Christmas '06 and I'm finally using it consistently.  I've made myself a knit blouse and wool-blend skirt for tomorrow, and also this apron, which I haven't really used yet because I don't want to get it dirty.

Yes, I know that's the point of an apron.  But it's so pretty!

Tonight I kick off the holiday baking season with delicious (I hope!) homemade sour cherry pie with delicious (I hope!) homemade pate brisee crust.  Last year's was awesome, so I have a lot to live up to this time around.

Then it will be time for Christmas cookies and Figgy Pudding!

That's right, I said Figgy Pudding.  I found a recipe on the interwebs several years ago and managed to save it before the site took it down and I make it every year.  If you, dear reader, are very good and eat all your veggies, I promise I will post it for you in time for Christmas.

If you don't believe that it will be delicious, remember those enthusiastic carolers that not only demand that their audience bring them Figgy Pudding, but they refuse to leave the premises until they get some.

It is totally that good.  You'll see.

They're baaaa-aaack!

I think I may have mentioned before that I don't do bugs.  As in, the smallest, most innocuous invertebrate makes my skin crawl, my palms sweat, and my legs to shake.

I blame this weakness on my older brother, The Philosopher.  When we were wee, maybe five and six years old, he told me a story about a bug called a "Stink Bug."  This particular insect was so dangerous that if it got near enough to spray you with its stink, you would DIE.

Of course, every time we saw any kind of a bug, he'd say "Lookout!  A STINK BUG!"  And I'd go running off, screaming my gullible little head off.

Before the Legend of the Stink Bug was imparted, I didn't have a problem with bugs.  I even had a pet praying mantis.  Alas, now I am reduced to a sweaty, trembly mess when in the presence of such creatures.

Therefore, I'm having a bit of a hard time now that we've been invaded by ladybugs.  There is one on my bedroom window and one on the upstairs bathroom window.  *shudder*

We get them every year, and every year I freak out.  I know they are harmless.  I know they are helpful—or would be if I could manage to keep alive any plants that might attract aphids.  But still... there is something creepy about their hard little shells and how they rattle between the blinds and the window, sometimes fluttering, sometimes crawling, always LOOKING AT ME.  *shudder*

Anyway, at least the ladybug invasion doesn't last too long, and then it will be Winter and all the bugs will die.  And we can live in peace until the giant beetle thingys start coming in through the windows in the Spring.

Can't hardly wait.

Blogging Hypocrites Anonymous

Hello. My name is Jess and I'm a Blogging Hypocrite.

Hi, Jess!

I have a number of blogs I follow and if they aren't updated frequently, I start to resent them. I mean, sure, maybe it's written by a mom of half a dozen kids under age 8 who also works full time as a haberdasher whilst running a farm, but come on, woman, it's been THREE DAYS since you last updated! Sheesh!

And yet, here I sit with a sadly unupdated blog.

I think it's just because other peoples' lives are so much more interesting than mine. Don't get me wrong, my life seems interesting as I live it, but when I sit down to write about it... well... it's just not the same.

Some examples of things I might have written about this last week:

• For the past few days, I have forcibly extracted approximately 7.3 miles of mucus from Wee Ninja Girl's nose while she gets over her cold.
  
• After discovering three little mouse poops on my cutting boards over the weekend, we managed to catch two mice in the have-a-heart trap we borrowed from my ever-so-awesome in-laws.
  
• My car has a flat tire again. It's the same one that has gone flat twice before, but when taken to the shop, they can't find anything wrong with it. This time it was just in the driveway and we weren't on our way to WNG's baptism or doctor's appointment, or out of town. So... it really isn't that bad.

So... yeah... fascinating stuff. Sigh.

I haven't even been doing much yarncrafting lately. I am going to try my hand at baking bread sometime soon, so you can look forward to the narrative of that disaster in the days ahead.

As a peace offering to my blog reader (Hi, sis!), here is a pretty summery picture of a bee on some wildflowers.

And here is a decidedly unflattering picture of some deer. I tried to come up with a good caption, but to no avail. Feel free to offer your caption ideas in the comments! (Thanks, sis!)

stalk

(Distant) Memories of Summer Wrap

With winter inching closer every day (I hear it is snowing in the northern Midwest already!), who wouldn't want to snuggle up in a lovely Homespun ripple-stitch wrap? As a bonus, it's made in two shades of blue reminiscent of Caribbean ocean waters. So, while the blizzards rage outside (or, if you live in an old, drafty house like I do and even crisp fall temperatures cause your fingers to turn blue and you're a big, whiny wimp like I am someone I know) you will get lots of use from something like this.

I won't, though, because I made it for K, my sister-in-law, whose birthday was last week.

As an added bonus, it works up pretty quickly and you can huddle under it while you crochet.

Yarn: 3 skeins Lion Brand Homespun yarn.
I used 1 skein of "Colonial" and 2 skeins "Blue Sky,"
but really any bulky weight homespun-type yarn would work.

Hook: US size P/12

Stitches: chain (ch), no-turn-chain double crochet (ntcdc), double crochet (dc)

For an explanation of the ntcdc, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LxYpo-tyi8

The NTCDC counts as the first stitch of each row. If that stitch isn't working out for you, replace with "ch 3" throughout the pattern.

Foundation row: Chain 62, turn. NTCDC, dc in ch. Dc in next ch. *skip 2 chs, 3 dc in next 3 chs. Ch 2, 3 dc in next 3 chs.* Repeat from * to * 6 more times. Skip 2 chs, dc in next ch. 2 dc in last ch. Turn. (62 sts)

Rows 1 thru 75: NTCDC, dc in dc, dc in next dc. *skip 2 dc, 3 dc in next 3 dc. Ch 2, 3 dc in next 3 dc.* Repeat from * to * 6 more times. Sk 2 dc, DC in next dc. 2 dc in last dc. Turn (62 sts)

I crocheted three blocks of color (Blue Sky, Colonial, Blue Sky) in 25 rows each because I'm kind of lazy, but any striping pattern would work.

Enjoy and keep warm!

Stovetop Pork Chops

To counter the depressing tone of my previous post, I give to you the recipe for stovetop pork chops. EP Dude and I started with a Jacques Pepin recipe and tweaked it to something that works for us when we don't have oodles of time to cook dinner but still want something tasty and not take-out.

Ingredients:

4 trimmed boneless chops
~1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
~1/2 Cup Italian Seasoned bread crumbs
~4 shakes dried Oregano
~2-3 tsps Dinosaur BBQ Cajun Foreplay rub (or spices of your choice)
~2-3 tsps fresh ground pepper
~1-2 tsps Kosher salt
1 large egg
Canola Oil

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.


Over medium heat, pour just enough oil into a 10" non-stick skillet to cover the bottom. If your stove is anything like mine, it will take a bit of time for the skillet to come to temperature, giving you enough time to prep the chops.

Combine the flour, bread crumbs, oregano, rub (or spices of your choice), pepper, and salt into a bowl.









Beat the egg in another bowl.










Dip the chops into the egg and then the breading mixture one at a time and set them aside until the skillet heats to temp (which for me is when a couple flakes of breading sizzle in the oil).





























Arrange the breaded chops into the skillet. They should cook for about 6 minutes per side, depending on their thickness. I time it out by washing up the cutting board and dishes from prepping them while they cook on the first side, then flip them and prep the sides while the other side cooks.





When I flip the chops, I make sure that whichever side or end was on the outside of the skillet now rests closer to the middle, to made sure they cook evenly.










When the chops are golden brown on both sides, remove them from the heat and place in an oven-safe glass dish. Put them in the oven until the side dishes are ready This will make sure that they are cooked through and keep them warm.


For tonight's dinner, I made a side of summer veggies right in the same skillet in which I cooked the chops. The recipe for this is from the Betty Crocker cookbook.

Add about 1-2 tablespoons of oil to the already-hot skillet and turn the heat to medium-high.




Start with one zucchini (sliced 1/4" thick), one summer squash(sliced 1/4" thick), and about one cup of sliced mushrooms.












When the skillet is hot enough, toss them all in and stir frequently for 4-5 minutes











When they look like this:


















add one cup of grape tomatoes.












Sprinkle with chives and some garlic powder, and let simmer (still stirring frequenly) for another 2-3 minutes.










Time to plate up!












Oh, I also made a box of Toasted Pine Nut couscous. Yes, from a box.

Who do you think I am? Martha Stewart?