14 Days And Counting...

In just two short weeks (that seemingly take forever), around 8am Central Time, Neccy and Mom will arrive at the Nashville airport while Jack and the kids will come in sometime later in the day via car. I think everyone is pretty much just as excited as they can be...me too!! The flight is only two hours but I betcha it's going to feel like it takes all day...I'll be there waiting, with the heater on, when the flight comes in :)

We don't have anything planned except maybe a trip to Pee Wee's Place if the weather allows for it. Maybe the Diner or the Farmer's Family buffet for breakfast one morning. We'll see. These are just a few of the local (sorta) places we tend to gravitate towards if and when we leave the farm. Oh, and the new pizza place, Snappy's. I don't think Jarrett will be able to survive 3 or 4 days without pizza! LOL

The pizza there was just the way I like it when I'm going to eat pizza, which is a very rare occasion indeed. The crust was thin and slightly crunchy. We ordered the all meat pizza but had them go light on the sausage and heavier on the ham (in consideration of my system, of course). It was wonderful. Plenty of cheese, not too much sauce, lots of toppings and they kept it in the oven long enough to brown the tips of the ham and pepperoni. We ordered a large and it was eight slices. We had 4 slices each and that was plenty to fill us up with a couple beers on the side. It was way off the healthy eating meter but it was worth the splurge!

After we ate the pizza, we went to Tractor Supply. We had a coupon for 15% off for "Friends and Family" night. A friend of ours gave us the coupon and it was only good this one night and only from 6-9pm. I know, I know, that's a stretch for me to even be awake that late, let alone be out shopping...ha ha ha! Well, TS isn't so bad if you absolutely must shop.

At this time of year they have their holiday stuff out everywhere. John Deere green tractor ornaments, clocks, cups, etc. All manner of farm animals are also ornaments; cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, etc. Horses are a big thing as ornaments and decorations go. You can get a string of lighted plastic horses, a garland of green with little plastic horses hanging on it, even horses on wrapping paper. If you haven't visited a Tractor Supply in a while, you might want to check them out for Christmas. They have some pretty cool gift ideas if you're into that sort of thing.

We ended up getting Wally some boots, getting the horses some sweet feed, getting me a scoop for scooping out the sweet feed and a couple extra lights for the dog house. With our 15% off coupon we realized a pretty decent savings! The dogs now have a 250 watt red light in their house...lol They're living in the red light district so I called them ho'dogs, Wally said they were retired ho'dogs...too old for any of the antics of their younger days...lol!! kinda like us :)

By the time we got home, the roosters were up in their trees. Since it's gotten colder, I noticed that they sleep two or three together instead of on separate limbs or in separate trees. Roo sleeps in his own tree and he's alone on his tree limb. I know he doesn't mind - he's got enough body fat to keep him warm without having to snuggle with a rooster thug!! He might like a little chicken action though...LOL!

Speaking of the weather - it was 13 degrees at the cabin this morning when we got up. By 10:30 central time, it had warmed up to 17 degrees... lol! The high is supposed to be 46, we'll see if we get there. I see the high in FL is supposed to be 63...not bad, not bad at all. I double my socks and I wear a thermal shirt under my regular shirt. I wear my Carhart jacket with one of the two scarves that Teri brought me and my goatskin gloves that we got from Tractor Supply on Saturday. I stay pretty warm all things considered :)

Now, when I have to get out of the car or leave the cabin or my work building...that's when I get cold. Something about those outside temperatures that just so darn low these days...lol!!! ha ha ha ha ha Like for instance, yesterday I needed to fuel up my car before the price goes over $2.89 a gallon and I needed a few things from the grocery store. Well, after pumping gas in 32 degree weather, I decided to pass on the groceries. We can make it another day without stinky old milk anyway...lol!

Here's my new plan (you knew I'd have to have one to survive the winter, didn't you?), I'll do my shopping on whatever day the weather-person says is going to be the warmest! LOL No matter what I'm out of! I'll fill up my car in the afternoon when the temperatures are at their highest! I already don't let my gauge get below a quarter of a tank. It's too far to the nearest gas station to take that chance - especially as early as I leave in the morning. We always have gas in the cans on the farm because we need it for the farm truck, the 4 wheelers, the generator, etc. so if I had to, I could use that. I won't let it get that low though - I'm already used to it :)

The forecast for the weekend says Friday will be the warmest at 50 something (sounds like grocery day for me!). From there it cools down and rains come in Saturday night and Sunday. Sunday they are calling for rain and snow storms. I don't know the difference between "regular snowing" and "snow storms" but it doesn't sound good for driving conditions on Monday...The truck Wally gave me isn't ready for me to drive yet so he said if it's that bad, he'll bring me to work :) whew! More new things for me to learn about - driving in the snow... heck, just walking in it will be a challenge! ha ha ha I'll be slipping all over the place. Those poor rooster's feet are going to be like little icicles!

I'm going through some lotion like it's going out of style. My skin is missing the humidity of Florida big time. Hand lotion is a must. Good hand lotion, the kind with glycerin seems to work best for me, that and shay (?) butter. My skin soaks it right up! It reminds me of when Ernie and I flew out to AZ to visit with Dizzy Debbie when she moved there the first time. We were literally slathering the lotion all over, all day long when we were out there. Talk about no humidity - it was worse than what I'm experiencing now :)

I also remember that I was cold and wore long sleeve shirts and/or a jacket the whole time while those other two hot mamas were in tank tops and regular old T-shirts... I'm pretty sure Debbie wore her Nike shirt a few times ha ha ha j/k.  We had some kick-butt Mexican food out there too... to date, nothing compares. The ones here are pretty close but just not quite the same. Of course, we were on vacation so everything was good no matter what! ah yes, that was one heck of a good time we had that year :) We'll have to do it again sometime...

Well we're definitely getting into the "comfort food" time of year. We've had Hamburger Buddy a couple times now since it is the newest recipe for me. It's one that we really enjoy. There are quite a few ingredients but most of them we have on hand. It is both warm and filling but not so heavy that you don't feel like doing anything after you eat it. We have had meatloaf, Swedish meatballs w/gravy over noodles and for tonight, the chili is defrosting. It sounds like lots of beef but there is venison in there too and as we all know (right?) venison is super-duper lean. There is so little fat that we actually have to add fat in order to keep it from sticking to the pan.

I'm looking forward to getting that squash out (either canned or frozen over the hot, hazy days of summer) and having a nice gooey squash casserole with lots of cheese, some dill and maybe some cream of chicken or cream of celery soup. That and a nice, thick slab of ham and maybe some green beans (also from over the summer) to go with it...sounds like a winner :)

What are you cooking now that the weather has cooled off in Florida? Have you had a chili cook-off at the Oriole's yet? It's always a good little fund raiser as it generates a lot of participation both in the cooking of it and the judging of it. Get them chili pots out!! For those of you in AZ, Dizzy, I know you know how to make chili...maybe it's time to give it a try again. Have Megan make some, you make some and Mom can make some. Let Brian and Meg's boyfriend be the judges :)  lol your own little cook-off. Better yet, suggest that they have one over at the place where you play poker...????hmmmmm

As I travel back and forth each day, more and more people have put up Christmas decorations. There are some really nice lights decorating the entrance to one of the fancier neighborhoods I drive passed every day. They have those ones that you drape over a shrub...whatever they're called. Anyway, they have shaped them into snowflake shapes and they look very cool! I have no idea how they did it but I always hope the lights will be on when I go by...sometimes I think I'm too early and then I miss out :(

Another house has a huge tree in the front yard (don't ask me what kind, I'm still studying the trees too...) and it stays green all year. They have decorated it with lights from top to bottom and they couldn't possibly have left any lights at the store where they shopped. It is jam-packed with multi-colored lights and they are hung perfectly. They must have had a bucket truck out there or something because the tree is about as high as a two story house. The house is only a one story. It always makes me smile when I drive by that house...so glad they did all that work for me :)  lol!

I'm coming to the end of my decorating and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the cabin. Hey, at least I haven't bought another Christmas item this whole year...well, except the one little snowman that I got at the awesome garage sale (where my Timberlands were bought) and he was only a quarter. That shouldn't really count... :)

I'll take some more pictures this weekend once all the boxes have been cleared from the living room....

Do you have all your shopping done? Are you doing a gift exchange at the Oriole's? Tell me, tell me, tell me who got whom... I get a big kick out of knowing who everyone got on the list. That is one of the funnest things to do there and I miss it. But, hey, don't get me wrong...this is real good too :)

As Days Go By Until Christmas, I hope all yours will be merry and bright...I doubt all your Christmases will be white but maybe, just maybe ours will this year...

"No matter how carefully you stored the lights last year, they will be snarled again this Christmas." ~Robert Kirby