The Winter Doldrums

About this time of year just about everyone is sick and tired of winter, anxious for warmer temps and spring, and tired of being cooped up indoors.   This must be the 'winter doldrums' that is often talked about.  It's easy to be bored, easy to gain too much weight by snacking too much, and somehow nothing seems interesting. 
     To combat boredom in the middle of winter I usually start a new project, or get out the cookbooks and try some new recipes, or find a new book to read, or get started on cleaning and sorting projects.  Anything just to keep busy!  Sometimes I have to really work at it to stay motivated, because it's easy to just go take a nap.   If the weather isn't too cold or snowy I'll go for a long walk.  Or I might call someone I haven't talked to in a while.  Sometimes I re-arrange furniture.  Today I hung up some new curtains in the kitchen - they weren't really new, but I have several sets of curtains and I hung up a pair that I haven't had on the windows for quite a while.   It makes the kitchen look different and that's what I wanted:  something new to look at!
     What do you do to combat the winter doldrums?  Will you share some of your tactics?

We're Committed Now!

We've been living in an unfinished house since we moved into it in May of 2006.  We actually built the home in 2005, but it was nowhere near complete enough to move into until spring of the following year.   But since 2006, we have not finished the living room or the bedroom - two of the hardest rooms to finish.  We, that is, I, decided that "enough is enough" and I got tired of the polka dotted walls (polka dotted, as in dabs of sheetrock mud to cover drywall screws).   It was always a matter of time and money to finish projects, and then Harold got sick with multiple myeloma (bone marrow cancer) and his level of energy took a nosedive.  I have carpal tunnel issues with my hand and it is difficult for me to hold brushes and trowels without pain after a few minutes of gripping, and since Harold does an excellent job of drywall finishing we have put projects on hold until he can get to them.   We also finally scraped together enough money to finish a few things, and so here it is - 2015 and we are going to finally finish the living room!!!

Here is what the living room looks like now:

We still need to take down the rest of the ceiling fan and two more pieces of  furniture.   See the polka dotted walls?

We have furniture stashed all over the house, making it hard to get to things.  This will help us to get going!

I will post a photo or two of the finished room later on.   I am thinking of painting two walls with a pale blue and two walls with a pale beige, and putting up a wallpaper trim I bought a couple years ago that has blue and beige flowers.    The bay window will have a sheer valence curtain of either beige or blue (or both), and all window and floor trim will be painted white.   We still won't be able to afford flooring, so I'll paint the wooden sheeting floor again with a fresh coat of beige paint.  Our decor won't be magazine fabulous, more like "country eclectic".   At our age, buying new furniture seems like a waste of money (that we don't have anyway).  The finished living room will certainly be an improvement, though!  Next project will be to finish the master bedroom.   Wonder how long that will take?  This is what happens when you build your own house all by yourself without using professional contractors and you do things as you can afford them.   But, we will APPRECIATE things more!

And Another Year Begins!

Happy New Year to all!  Can you believe it's already 2015?  I have changed the looks of the blog again, as I like to start a new year with a new look!  This will be the start of my 3rd year blogging.   I truly appreciate all the comments and views from my readers.  If you don't know how to comment, try using the name/url to do so.  If you don't want to publish your name, then use anonymous.

Here is something I started last year's blog off with, and I still think it is a great suggestion for a general New Year's resolution for everyone:
                   **********************************************
Mend a quarrel.  Seek out a forgotten friend.
     Write a love letter.   Share some treasure.
Give a soft answer.  Encourage youth.
      Keep a promise.  Find the time.
Forgive an enemy.
     Listen.
Apologize if you were wrong.
     Think first of someone else.
Be kind and gentle.
     Laugh a little.  Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude.
     Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.
     Speak your love........speak it again.........Speak it still once again............
                    *************************************************

Wonder what 2015 will bring?  It always seems a little scary, yet exciting to begin a new year.   I always feel like a kid with a new coloring book and a new box of crayons.   No matter what 2015 will bring, let us always remember to trust in God daily and let Him direct our paths.   Things always work out better when we let God be in the driver's seat!

Christmas Fruitcake

Fruitcake is one of those misunderstood food items.  At this time of year, everyone makes jokes about fruitcakes and a person either "loves 'em" or "hates 'em".  Some fruitcakes are indeed awful, especially the ones commercially made and found in your average grocery store.   Personally, I cannot tolerate any fruitcake made with citron, or some of the glaceed fruits they sell for fruitcake mix that taste like chemical sludge.   For me, a REAL fruitcake uses real dried fruit and real nuts and real juice.  I have tried many recipes over the years, and the best one I have found is from an old Better Homes and Gardens cake cookbook from 1980.  I am typing the recipe here, and if you like fruitcake, please try it!  It takes a while to mix up a good fruitcake, and it takes a while to "mellow out" a good fruitcake.  So it is indeed a labor of love.   I don't make a fruitcake every Christmas, maybe every few years or so.   This insures that when I do make one it is really special!  Nobody ever jokes about MY fruitcakes being used for doorstops!

CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE

3 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder 

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. salt 

Mix the above in a large bowl and set aside. 

Then in a really large bowl, mix the following: 

2 c. brown raisins

2 c. golden raisins

1 12-oz pkg pitted prunes, snipped into small pieces

1 12-oz pkg dried apricots, snipped into small pieces

2 10-oz jars maraschino cherries, drained (leave cherries whole)

1 c. chopped almonds or slivered or sliced

1 c. pecan pieces

1 c. walnut pieces

Mix the flour mixture and the fruit mix together in that very large bowl.   Set aside.  

     In another bowl: 

4 eggs, beaten (I use either large or extra large)

1 3/4 c. brown sugar

1 c. freshly squeezed orange juice (yes, use fresh it is so much better!)

1/4 c. molasses

3/4 c. butter, melted (stick and a half)

     Mix the wet ingredients together and then mix this into the dry mix.  The batter will be stiff, just keep on mixing everything together until well blended.   Mix by hand with a wooden spoon - do not use an electric mixer!

Next, grease three 8 x 4 loaf pans and line with wax paper all around.  Grease the wax paper and use 2 layers for the bottoms of the pans.  Fill the loaf pans with the fruitcake batter, filling about 3/4 full.  

     Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 1 3/4 to 2 hours until cakes test done with a long tester pick.  Cool, then remove from pans and peel off the paper. 

Now, here's the fun part!  Soak 3 old linen towels or heavy cheesecloth in orange juice (for this part you can use the concentrate stuff).  Squeeze out the excess and wrap the loaves up in a cloth, one at a time.   Put into plastic bags, and store in the refrigerator for a week (two weeks is even better!), although it's still OK to eat after 3 or 4 days of mellowing.   Store fruitcakes in the refrigerator and if the cakes get a little dry, wrap them in orange juice soaked cloths again.   You can also freeze the loaves, but I have never done that because this fruitcake keeps very well, and it never lasts long anyway!  During the holidays it goes quickly and I also give some of it away.    Instead of orange juice you could use apple juice, but I find that orange juice seems to compliment the dried fruit better than apple juice.   Traditional fruitcake is soaked in brandy or rum, but I don't drink and I don't have liquor in the house.   Soaking the fruitcakes in fruit juice makes it so that even children can enjoy this fruitcake!  A very MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!

The fruitcake batter ready to bake in the wax paper lined loaves.

The finished loaves fresh from the oven. 

The loaves are wrapped in juice soaked cloths and put into the refrigerator in plastic bags for a week before eating.  I just use bread bags to store them in.

Decoration Plan

Now that December is here and most of us are beginning to decorate for Christmas, how do you go about it?  Do you start right after Thanksgiving?  Do you put everything up at once?  Do you put outdoor decorations up?  Do you put a little bit of Christmas in every room of the house?
     Back when my children were small, I would put up all the decorations I had all at once, and put the tree up about 10 days before Christmas and take everything down either on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.   We usually had a real tree, so having the tree in the house for that long a time was probably stretching the life of the tree.   Sometimes my kids would help me decorate, but most of the time it was "Mom's job" to put up the tree and decorations.
     Now that my kids are grown, I tend to put up the decorations a little at a time.  By the time Christmas Day arrives, the house is all decorated.  I still leave things up until New Year's Eve.  I like to start the new year with a clean house and a clean slate.  So, on Dec 1st, the first thing to put out is the window candles.   I have electric candles that I put in almost every window of the house, and some larger ones on the porch.   Also on Dec 1st, I get out my Christmas dishes!  During December, I only use my Christmas dishes (unless I run out of clean ones!)  Tomorrow on Dec 2nd, I'll put up a few more decorations, and on the 3rd, a few more things, etc. etc.  By the time Dec 25 is here the tree is up and my house is fully decorated.   I do try to put a little bit of Christmas in every room of the house (even the bathroom, which gets Christmas towels and a bar of Christmas soap, and some holiday scented liquid soap.).
     This year my son Jerry is coming with my grandson Jeffrey, and we are going to have a real tree!  A while back on my blog entries I mentioned that there was a blue spruce growing in the ditch alongside the road.   That will be our tree this year.  I will put that up a few days before the 25th, and leave it up until New Year's Eve.  Ten days is plenty for a real tree in a dry house.
     Another favorite decoration item to put out is my village that a neighbor gave me as a housewarming gift many years ago.   She bought it at an auction and thought it might fit on her bay windowsill, but it didn't, so she graciously gave me the entire village when she saw my big bay window seat area.  I don't have a recent photo of the village, but here is one from a few years ago, before I added trees and people:

I put the village out sometime around the 6th of December.

The village at night

One set of my Christmas dishes is a set that Harold bought at a garage sale in Canada back in the days when he was a trucker.   They are a lovely set of Scio dishes with a 'made in Japan' on the back, so I know they are old.   I have looked up these dishes on the internet for pricing, and they sell for about $50 to $75 a set.  Harold says he gave 5 bucks for them.  When we were first married, my dishes were in storage and when Christmas time came I was upset that I wouldn't have any holiday plates to use, like I always did.  Harold just smiled and went out to a shed in the back yard and came in with a box of those lovely Scio Christmas plates and cups and saucers.  Was I surprised that he would have Christmas dishes (guys don't care about such things, right?)!  He told me how he bought them at a garage sale in Canada years ago and sort of forgot about them.   I have a couple other sets of dishes, too, so here is a sample of the plates and cups we will use during the holidays:

And here are the window candles that I put up:  triple candles on the porch, and single ones in all the other windows of the house: 

It was 15 below zero outside when I took this photo!

Tired of being sick

For a couple weeks now, Harold and I have been sick with colds and/or sinus infections.  This is the third time in 3 months.  It's getting old.  When a person is sick with a bad cold, nothing gets done.  No energy.  We are hoping this is the last time this winter that we are sick.  In Harold's case, his immune system is next to zero because of the chemo drugs he has to take.  This time I think I got sick first, then Harold.   The other two times I think he got sick first and then gave the virus to me.  So, if you've been wondering why I haven't written anything on here, it's because of illness.   But we are both doing much better now.
     We are getting a break from the cold weather today and tomorrow.  It's 40 out there now!  The snow is melting, and even the cats are out and about.   We have one last chance to finish some of the winter chores we didn't get done yet - like put tarps over the tractors and lawn mower.  After Monday, things get progressively worse - and the long cold winter starts in earnest.  I was thinking that for some folks in the south, like Alabama or Georgia, a day like 40 degrees would be "bitter cold".  To us folks up here in Minnesota - this is a great day!  Warm!  Beautiful!  Funny how things are all relative.
    

Winter Has Begun

It looks like winter 2014 is here!  We had this about mid morning:

About an hour later, this was the view outside my kitchen window:

An hour later, the same view:

And it's still snowing!  On a positive note, the woods DO look pretty with all the wet snow on the branches - like a winter wonderland:

Not good for Harold, though.  He was trying to finish setting the posts for our high tunnel greenhouse before the ground freezes.   In the early spring when we want to use this, the ground will be frozen.  We can put the plastic on this spring, but the posts have to be set first.  He worked for a while in the snow, then decided to wait until it quit before setting in the last two posts.

Harold sure is a hardy Minnesotan, eh?

Foolproof Apple Pie

Apple pie is our favorite pie and we were fortunate to receive plenty of nice pie apples from our neighbors this year.  Ever since I began baking back in 1971, I have used a foolproof recipe for pie crust from an early  Betty Crocker book.  It is called Stir and Roll pie crust.   My mother also has used this pie crust recipe for about 60 years and told me about it when I was just beginning to bake in the kitchen!  This pie crust is very "forgiving" and so if you don't roll things out quite to fit, or you need to make some patches in the dough, it is easy to take small pieces of dough and repair whatever you need to do. 
For the crust:  In a bowl measure 2 cups of flour and 1 tsp of salt.   I use a wire whisk to stir up the flour and salt.  Then, in a glass measuring cup, measure out 1/2 cup of Wesson or Crisco oil (use only these two brands!  Generic stuff is horrible) and on top of the oil pour 1/4 cup of milk.  Your measuring cup should read 3/4 cup.  See below:

Dry ingredients and wet ingredients ready to be mixed.  The milk will sink to the bottom and the oil will stay on top of the measuring cup.

Pour the oil/milk mix all at once on top of the flour:

Stir up this mix until you have a dough.  You might need to use your hands at the end.

The ball of dough for a 9 inch pie.

Moisten your rolling surface, and roll out 1/2  of the dough between two sheets of wax paper.  Then peel off the top sheet of wax paper, lift up the bottom sheet of wax paper with the dough on it, and turn upside down onto your pie plate:

Carefully peel off the wax paper from your dough.  Ease the dough into the pie plate, and repair any areas that might need a little more dough by using little pieces of dough that hang off the edge of the plate.

You can see that I had to put a few little pieces of dough on the edge here to cover spots that seemed a little thin and ragged:

The crust is ready for the filling.  Roll out the other half of the dough on a moistened surface between two sheets of wax paper for the crust top.   Place on top of filling as above and peel off the wax paper. 

I always use the little scraps leftover dough to cut out some leaves freehand, to put on top of the pie for decoration!

I made four leaves to put on the pie from leftover dough rolled out between two sheets of wax paper.

The decorated pie ready for the oven.   I always sprinkle the pie with a little extra sugar and put the pie on a foil lined cookie sheet to bake.

Don't forget to use a crust protector!  It keeps the pie edges from burning up too much.

The finished baked pie!

Here's what I do for the filling:   For a 9 inch pie, I mix 8 cups of sliced apples with 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (sometimes a little more depending on the variety of apple and how tart it is), 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.   After I put the filling in the crust, I always drizzle over the apples 2 tablespoons of honey!  Then put on the top crust and bake in a 425 oven for 45 to 50 minutes.
You'll have a great apple pie and you won't be sorry for all the work you did to make it!