Happy Birthday, Jonathan!!!

 Jonathan Scott was born Feb 4 early in the morning. He's not gotten up that early since, except to go deer  hunting. His brother, Tony, gave Jon his middle name. Tony also gave Jon the cat in the photo taken last April (2015).

 We celebrated Jon's birthday this year with a moderate turkey dinner. Complete with grey mashed potatoes. (I had a spice mix from something else that I accidentally spilled into the lovely white taters, the spice mix appeared to be heavy on the pepper side!). There is not a photo of the mashed veggies--

When I made Jon's cake, I discovered I had not purchased enough Kit Kats. It took one break more than 10 full size bars to complete the circle. I also used 6 bags of assorted flavors of M&Ms on top. When we added the 21 twirly candles, it was a rather festive topping! We put in one straight candle for the 22nd birthday.

 Steve's hand was getting a bit warm, so he had to pull back to cool off before finishing the rest of the lighting.

 I also took one of Jon blowing OUT the candles, but alas--I was standing in the way of the smoke and well, it ended up being a VERY dark picture.

We decided if the citizens in Ceaser 3 had a chocolate coliseum to live near, they'd not have complained! (Jon's been playing this and his citizens got very annoyed at living next to their coliseum!)

 Cutting a cake is always  interesting. The edges would have been more secure if I had been able to get it all decorated when the frosting was 'sticky'. Putting more decor on at a later time made things tumble easier. Jon didn't mind.

 Kila tried to get a stray m&m. He was mad we took it away.

 OK, forgot to turn this around! Jon had a choice between cookies and cream and chocolate chip mint ice cream. He chose wisely.

 We let the birthday boy cut the cake (talk about a blurry photos!! Jon also didn't take many of these pictures). On the cake he didn't use a protractor or consult our neighbors (one is his HS geometry teacher and the other is a uber smart science professor type) for assistance.

 We rounded out the evening with a couple shakes of Yahtzee. Which dad won both times. We are pretty sure he added up his columns more than once...

 Jon had poppy seed muffins at work yesterday and then today, on Friday, one of Jon's coworkers made a cake for him! I think he had a pretty good birthday. Wonder what next year will bring??

Ice Cream Run

It started out stormy, but the sun poked thru the clouds by late afternoon. The kid suggested we make an DQ run and use the coupon I had. Sounded like a good idea. There was a lovely display of rays, but we stopped in the wrong part of the highway and the photos had too much of man in them. Jon wanted to get some of the hills and so we stopped. The winter wheat is lovely~ 

 I laughed when I read on a website about 'birthday freebies'. If you join the Blizzard Club, you get a coupon like this every month (good for a couple of weeks) and it is buy a medium and then you get one free. We did!

 On the way back to town, Jon took a different road. He also stopped to pick up a floor mat that was lying akimbo on the asphalt. It was in really good shape, too! I took a photo of the setting sun.

 Along Dry Creek, there are several farms. We were entertained by the lambs who have been born recently. They are such hilarious creatures at this age (before they turn into stubborn annoyances). They were bleating and frolicking and seemed to be having a great time celebrating being alive. The ewes weren't as impressed.

 I've always like this old grain elevator and Jon took several photos of it for me. This isn't my favorite one, but it shows the whole building. The ghosts of previous harvests were blowing in the weeds before it-I'd like to go inside, but am pretty sure it wouldn't be very safe.

 Yesterday, a favorite FB friend (one I got to meet in real life) died of cancer. This ice cream run was in honor of him, really. He loved ice cream, we met at DQ before one of his chemo treatments. Alaska Bob was a larger than life man who wielded a keen wit and had a great eye for photography. He'll be missed by so many of us. Toni wrote about him on her blog, I hope you visit it as we celebrate Alaska Bob.

There was a jiggling in the Force.....

No spoilers. Just jell-o. I got a Star Wars jiggler mold for Steve on his birthday (he was 51, what else do you give someone that age?) and finally used it this month. Which makes sense, right? 

When all the jigglers were together in the blue glass pie pan, it was hard to discern who the characters were. From top to bottom we have: Darth Vader, Chewie (and it appears he was....), R2 and C3PO, Yoda, and a Storm Trooper. (did you get them right?)

As for this new movie? Well, tears dripped down my face several times. Not during the times you might expect, though. The opening scene of words and theme music really got to me and the last scene on the hilltop made me sniff, too. If you have seen the middle movies(the only really good ones, if you watch them un-altered), you won't need to follow the lines in this one. I think they cribbed most of their dialogue from those classics. Which made me laugh a great deal (I may have annoyed a few people). All in all, I have to agree with Tony. It was extremely satisfying..and it wasn't even a Snicker's Bar. 

Christmas!

We always miss Tony, but we seem to feel it more on Christmas. In ages past, the boys would sleep by the lighted tree. We'd leave the Christmas lights on all night, inside and out. Makes for a very bright household! We left the lights on this year, but Jon opted to sleep in his room with Kila. They woke up VERY late. Another thing Tony would never let happen. The first things we usually open are Santa presents and Christmas socks. Jon found a Hallmark tractor  this year. A tractor very similar to the one he drove for Brooks (It appears I don't have any of those photos posted to share, cept on FB. How silly!). 

 Steve found a box of candy cane Christmas lights in his loot. Maxwell wasn't as impressed as Steve was.

 How irritating-I can't turn this photo of Jon's ammo box full of candy. The perfect preppers box. Inside is a part of a 2x4, assorted KitKats, Rolos, the ammo was added after the candy was removed!

 Our tree. The first one purchased from Jon's former Boy Scout Troop. It was a lovely tree. I'll be sorry to take it down in 10 or so days.

 Jon got me a lovely oven mitt. On me, it is an elbow mitt, but I rather like it. We were amused to discover the tag had 22 different languages on it, all stating this was 'not for commercial use'. It, however, didn't state what was not to be used. The mitt? The logo? The tag?

 Another of my gifts included bird seed and a new feeder. In my haste to fill said feeder, I forgot to cinch the catch on it and poured out a measure onto the porch. Moses is waiting for someone to stop by.... They did later, but only after Moses left!

 Supper was yummy! Jon's volunteerism got us a lovely ham earlier, so the not thawed turkey went back in the freezer. (they did have a dress down call on Christmas Eve Day--it was a false alarm, but they were ready!) After dinner I had some spice cookies that needed decorating. I think it was a great deal of fun!
                                               Jon's cookies.

                                                              Steve's cookies.

 Kristen's cookies (note, they are sideways again. Dadburn blogspot!)

 Another of Steve's sideways cookies.

                                                Dorothy's cookies (also sideways).

 We ended the evening with a few hands of Triominoes. Steve and Kris were left in the dust as Grandma and Jon blasted away. It was touch and go for a while. At one point, Jon forgot there are more ways than one to reach a solution. He had the numbers 4,4, & 5. Steve told him his score was 8 and 5 or 13. Jon looked up and said, "I thought it would have been 9 and 4....." Jon finally got into the math groove. Here is Jon's closing round of points. 44. Grandpa would have been very grumpy with this grandkid of his!!!! Nest time we'll skype Tony and he can play with us.....I wonder if that would work?????

Winter begins!!

December 22 and it has been a LOVELY day!!! I made a LOT of cookies and delivered them to my loved ones. (I think it was 7 batches and nana bread and assorted other treats) I also delivered my Advent Collection for the food pantry. I know it isn't Christmas yet, but I wanted to get it there before next Monday. That is the day the pantry is open. 

 

Steve spent a bit of Monday working on the dryer, which officially gave up the ghost today. I was irritated, but the clothes will dry eventually.

I wanted to make a stuffed crust pizza. Using a line (sort of) from 'Ground Hog's Day', I had the ingredients..... The bread machine made the pizza dough. It was dubious, but delicious! Then,the edges were filled with a quarter of a mozzarella cheese stick, half of a smoky, and so on til the circle closed.  Ragu pizza sauce covered the crust (yeah, cheating, but I do easy!), topped with Parmesan cheese, chopped up smokies, deer burger, and cheese. 

 It was cut it not quite in proper pieces, but they were eaten clear to the crust! Normally, I end up eating Steve's crusts, so this was good. You can see the cheese and the meat inside the edge. Not a bad pizza!

 Then, during the latter end of  baking cookies for the guys to take to work, it started to snow!!! Yes, I squealed!!!!!!! Jon took many of the photos-I begged him to!  I wanted to go out for a walk, but he reminded me of something very important. Something I learned as a kid in Alaska. When the snow is right, you make a snowman! You don't wait. The next day the great snowman snow might be gone. The most important rule of snowmen building. NOT ALL SNOW IS GOOD FOR BUILDING WITH.

 So, I created Marge. Jon kept checking on me, cuz it was taking so long. The walks sort of got cleared as I went, so it wasn't all play! However, the play was GREAT fun!! Isn't she cute? She is a bit short, the snow is full of dirt and leaves and grass, but she makes me smile!!!!! I just had to take a snow person selfie.

December warmth~

Moses and Maxwell T. Silverstone know how to enjoy a cold December day! Thankfully, it has gotten warmer, although we still don't have any snow. It tried today (12-20), but after a brief snain, nothing. 

 As you may have noticed from previous readings, I absolutely ADORE red salmon. I had some and wanted to do something different with it. I found a super delish, amazing, tasty recipe and opted to use it. The odd part? I've seen this recipe elsewhere, but when I read the one found on the link highlighted, it made my mouth water! The words and phrasing Marzia used were perfect!

 I didn't use as much honey as the recipe called for and the fish was still slightly frozen. Thus, the photos in the link are much better than mine. The caramelizing she did was beautiful! However, I am sure ours tasted better (Alaskan salmon does). :o)

 I'd like to share another link. This one takes you to a nativity you can stick to your fridge. I have a great many nativities around my house and this one is fast becoming a favorite. I've sent off into the world copies of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and His manger. Sharing His birth and sharing an author friend at the same time is pretty cool. The magnets are the worst part, for me. I had some that were great and those were the ones I sent away. The ones I had left were wimpy, as magnets go. Some of them would not even adhesive spray stick to the shape (they would fall off after they dried!). Many of them were perfect for sticking to the fridge, but alas, you could not stick the baby to anything but the space above the magnet on the manger or Mary. He floated! I learned some magnets have 'power' levels on the back. I needed something stronger than 2. It was a great deal of fun to color and I'll do more for next year.