Warm snowmen

I suspect there are many of us who like snowmen but not the cold weather required to make the real thing. If I ran the world (one of my many goals), I would arrange for snow only to fall where no shoveling is required. Boots would never be needed except as a fashion statement. Driving would be not be a challenge (except for drivers who shouldn't be on the road whatever the season) and cars wouldn't be covered in grime from driving through slush and salt used on slippery pavement.

*sigh*

In my delusional little world there is plenty of room for warm snowmen, the kind kept indoors. I have so many of them, this year I've decided to wait until January to display most of them. Once Christmas decorations come down, the house looks bare so putting them out will be a nice change of pace.

A few escaped their boxes while I was looking for Christmas items and I thought I'd use them in today's Three or More Thursday post. Please check out The Gypsy's Corner for more posts with this theme.

This photo is on an odd angle because the quilt hangs in a narrow walkway between my kitchen and living room. This wall quilt was made the friend I mentioned in yesterday's post.

This cute pair was given to me by a dinner guest one year. Hmmm, I should invite her over again!


Can you believe I got these in an online swap years ago? There are a small group of women who have been cyber buddies for years on a private message board. I hit the jackpot when my name was matched to the woman who shopped for this snowlady and Santa in blue, just for me!


I made this wall quilt 10 years or so ago, right after we added a family room to our house. The embroidery was done by hand but the quilt was machine pieced.


This snowman featuring Mickey and Minnie is by Jim Shore. He was a gift last Christmas.


This wall quilt can seem a little spooky looking to some. I made this in a class with the pattern designer as the instructor. The quilting was done by machine, free motion style. I think the black thread and the eye detail is what bothers some people. The red on his hat is a cardinal. He hangs in my upstairs bathroom.


Lastly, here is my one and only Santa Bear. J.L. Hudson used to be THE place to shop in the Detroit area. It eventually became Dayton-Hudson, then Marshall Fields and is now Macy's. In 1985 they began offering Santa Bear at a nominal price with a purchase of a certain dollar amount. No one realized that first year or two that they would become desired collectibles. This one is from 1986. Next to him is Shivers, a reindeer from Avon. He runs on batteries. When you turn his switch on, he shivers in the cold making the bells on his antlers ring.


It is cold enough for snow today, but none is predicted and the sun is shining so I should step away from the computer and go attempt to finish some Christmas shopping.

Warm season's greetings to all of you!

The Baking is Done!

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving here in the USA, many of us might be busy cooking, parade watching or entertaining guests to visit our usual blogs. My sister-in-law will be cooking a delicious meal, but she doesn't bake so I am in charge of desserts. This is never an imposition. My only problem is limiting the number of desserts!

First we have the gathering of ingredients and bakeware.


The rectangular dishes are for a very easy pumpkin cake recipe using canned pumpkin, a yellow cake mix, a can of evaporated milk and a few spices; and for a Paula Deen apple and caramel concoction. The pie plate is for the de rigeur pumpkin pie.

After the pumpkin cake went into the oven I noticed a banana that was too ripe to eat as is, so I baked a loaf of banana bread today too, and threw in some mini chocolate chips in honor of the holiday. Hours later, here are the completed desserts.


Are you wondering what is in the dark pan to the right? Those are pilgrim hats.


This recipe was in a Taste of Home magazine. Tint a small amount of vanilla frosting yellow and use it to hold a miniature peanut butter cup to the bottom of chocolate striped shortbread cookie. The original recipe called for mini Chiclets to use as the buckle on the frosting hatband, but they don't seem to be available anywhere so I used mini M&Ms.

Everything is packed and ready to go tomorrow. Three of the four have to be refrigerated so our refrigerator is very full at the moment.


So full, this bottle of wine had to come out to make way for dessert.

Halfway through the second glass, my face is flushed and the refrigerator was rearranged again to accommodate the bottle's return. I love that wine glass but I'd be better off using it with diet Coke.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and Happy Three or More Thursday!

Three or More Thursday

I've just discovered a lovely blog written by a woman named Tam who has begun "Three or More Thursday" posts. The image on the right (three acorns in a white dish) will take you to her blog The Gypsy's Corner . Thanks Tam for starting this, and thanks to Linnea at Neabear and B-Daddy's Nest for being the first Three or More Thursday guest and leading me to Tam's blog.

My three or more today will be about Halloween since I only have two more days to enjoy this holiday.

These towels hang in my bathroom. Their order changes on the whim of guests using the bathroom. Apparently some think that the black towel should be flanked by the lighter (brighter?) towels. Others think the orange should be in the middle since the black and white ones have pumpkins on them and the ghost placed between them leads to a better balance. Is there a Feng Shui rule on this?

Hubby is no help. All he wants is a "real" towel by the sink. The decorative towels aren't very absorbent, therefore aren't "real" towels.

Happy Three or More Thursday everyone, and stay out of the candy until after tomorrow night!