Sock Monkey

Yippee!  I figured out how to put pictures on here!  So here is a sweet one of Angie with Jeffery.  I think he is the new man in her life!!!!  Well, now that I got to spend a fun day with my friend Angie and she brought me a wonderful sewing machine I am ready to get into high gear and start back sewing.  I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow and post it.

I have to finish up the 13 quilt blocks for the blue and white swap and have sold 2 dog halters that I have to make.  The lady ordered one green one for her poodle and one for her daughter's dachshund.    Never made one for a dachshund before, don't know how long to make it.  Making one for Jerry the Cavy was a little strange, had to allow for his "little" pot belly.  Also have to get some halters done up to take to the groomer's shop.  She and I decided that Valentine's day might be the next big seller, that and the University of TN and AL.  Those Crimson Tide fans are serious about their University something like the U of T fans!.  The Titans haven't done good enough this year to have their fans want theirs this year, maybe next year!  Thought I might run one of the stuffed dog models by the vets office and see if they would handle them there.  Maybe just a sign with the prices and my cards?  Will have to see.   Since I have to take the car to the shop tomorrow to get the oil changed maybe I can go by both of them then.

Here is a picture of one of the models with a UT halter.  I can make them with almost any kind of fabric, just have to be able to find what people want and sometimes that is the hardest part.  I would do one for Texas A & M but I don't think there are many fans of them up here.

Since the title of this post is Sock Monkey and I haven't even mentioned them I guess I should add that I finally found where I could order the socks to make them and now that I have a really good sewing machine I just want to make some for fun!  Know any little ones that would like one?  2 pair of socks came today.
Here is the scoop on the halters for small dogs:

Collars only encircle the neck, our harnesses have a band that surrounds the chest too. This design allows for distribution of force which may prevent choking and lower the chance of slipping out that is possible with only a collar. Harness usage is growing in popularity among many pet owners - especially for those with smaller breed dogs or exotic pets. These halters are designed to reduce the stress placed on your pet's neck while walking on a lead. Harnesses that have an added skirt and sash are available for your special little girl.

Another goodie recipe to share

A Different Pecan Pie

Well, this is really a different kind of pecan pie, I really miss that old pecan tree at the house in Point Blank.
This pie is very very sweet, it will easily serve 10 people even though it is only a 9" pie.

1 cup  pure maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 Tablespoons cold butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans
9" pie shell, unbaked*

Make your pie crust using your favorite recipe, put in 9" Pyrex pie pan and refrigerate until ready to use.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (I know this seems very hot but you will turn it down) *By keeping your pie crust in the refrigerator while you are making your filling your crust will be much more flaky.

Bring the syrup, brown sugar, salt and cream to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes.  Take off heat and cool for 5 minutes, stir in butter until it melts.  Slowly stir in yolks, tempering them if necessary but the syrup mixture should be cool enough that this shouldn't be necessary.  Sprinkle toasted pecans into pie shell and pour syrup-egg mixture over the nuts and place in a 450 degree oven and immediately turn it down to 350 degrees,  Cook for 50 minutes or until the filling barely shakes, it will finish cooking after you take it out of the oven.  Cool for 1 hour then refrigerate.  Bring to room temp before serving.  Serve with Bourbon Whipped Cream or vanilla ice cream.

Chicken and Dressing

We made it through Christmas day, for lunch we had the ham that was left over from Thanksgiving and I fixed some chicken breasts and dressing.  I just love plain sage dressing!  Here is my simple recipe for our favorite dressing:

small loaf of home-made bread that is getting old
1 onion chopped
3 or 4 ribs of celery, chopped
1 stick of butter
2 eggs
1 can of chicken stock
One chicken cut into pieces or 4 chicken breasts if you like white meat or 6 thighs if you like the dark meat. 
rubbed sage, Kosher or course salt and pepper
Bouquet Garni (optional)

Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken pieces.  Rub in Bouquet Garni on the chicken pieces or if you prefer you can use additional rubbed sage.

Cook chopped onion and celery in the butter until onion is translucent and tender.  Cut the bread into 1/2" cubes, sprinkle the bread with the sage, spread them onto a cookie sheet and toast in the oven while the onion and celery are cooking.  (I like lots of sage so I use 1 to 2 tablespoons of it on my bread cubes, maybe even a little more!)  Soon as the bread is starting to lightly brown remove it from the oven and allow to cool down.  Pour the eggs over the crumbs, add 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt and 1 tsp. pepper, the onions, celery and butter.  Toss, then add the chicken stock until moistened.  If your bread is very dry or you have a larger loaf you may have to use 2 cans of stock.  Place in a 9 X 13" baking pan and place your chicken pieces on the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour then cover with a sheet of parchment paper and wrap with tin foil.  Never let the foil touch your food, always have a layer of parchment paper between the food and the foil.   Continue baking until chicken is 165 degrees when tested with an instant read thermometer in the thickest part of the meat.  Remove from oven and let the chicken rest for 10 to 15 minutes, this will make your chicken more moist and flavorful than if you don't allow it to rest.

When you make dressing you can make it with 1/2 corn bread and 1/2 regular bread if you like corn bread dressing.  You can also add all sorts of additional things to it, everything from Creole sausage to oysters to nuts to apples.  Any of these add a wonderful new flavor to your dressings.

Christmas Eve

Heard from John today finally, he is working so can't come to see my right now, I really wish he could come, I need some kind of support system, oh well, guess I am just going to have to deal with it.  Today was one of those prime examples of the stuff I am dealing with, Max didn't lock the gate to the horse pasture when they put out hay yesterday.  Just hung the chain over the gate and the mares got to meadling with it and pushed it open.  He was so sure someone had opened it he was sure he had locked it.  Got the girls back in and he said he had it locked but when I went over and checked it he had done the same thing again, just attached the 2 ends of the chain to each other but not around the gate. 
Got ham and chicken breasts out to fix for tomorrow and made a pecan pie with a new recipe that I heard on Cook's Country, made with maple syrup and molasses.  Looks yummy, will fix some bourbon whipped cream to have with it.  Carey, Tony Bill and the kids came over today and I gave the kids their Christmas presents, Clayton loved his Toy Story dino flashlight.  It roars then asks if it scared you, (really cute) and he kept going into the bathroom where it was dark so he could check it out.  I had told him he could use it if he had to go to the bathroom at night so he could see where he was going.  Carey told me that Kinzie had put up her glow in the dark stars I gave her since she is scared of the dark, they keep her safe!  Kinzie is getting a camera from Santa so I gave her a scrapbook kit and she seemed to really like it, I told her it was something she and her mommy could do together.  That and I found the slippers I had bought for her last year that were on the end of the year sale for a buck or so.  Had bought them a size too big so she would have them for this winter.  She really likes wearing them when  she stayed with us after school, she would always pull off her shoes when she came home and get her slippers and put them on.  I really hope we can swing getting the house across the street from them.  I really miss the little ones but with Max's mood swings I couldn't take the chance of having them here all the time..

Here we go!

My first posting on this blog, I am guess that this is really going to be more of a journal than anything else but that is a good thing!  Max has had a pretty good day today, I am learning that some days are really rough and others are just OK but those are good days.  Maggie Mae went to the vet this morning, the groomer, Marcie thought she might have a thyroid condition but she doesn't.  Dr. Nester thinks it is some kind of allergy.  Guess they will put her on pills like Richard is on for his allergies.  Not like we need more expenses but maybe the pills will be cheap like his are, get 40 of them at a time and they cost $4.00.  That we can afford that.

My sewing machine is going caput, that I can't afford.  Angie said she had an extra machine that I can use.  God bless her she even said she would bring it up here.  I want to do something special for her for doing this for me but I don't know what, will have to think on it.  I know she wants to go see Teresa's animals so we will do that for sure. 

Max came in this afternoon all in a tiff, the diesel tank is gone.  Doesn't surprise me, just hope that the trailer is still in the back, it is on our property so it better be.  We went over and looked at the house since we had so much rain yesterday to see if there was any flooding.  Looks good.  Just hope we can get this place sold and sold fast before Marsceen makes Max and me both nuts.  I have listed it in Craigslist, HomesteadingToday and we have a sign out front.  We tell everyone that we know that it is for sale.  Doug St.John called about it for one of the daughters but who knows?  Will keep our fingers crossed.  I just can not believe what she has done to us, really don't even know why she is so hateful.  One day, we can have the farm the next she sells everything, hell, she may have sold the farm for all we know.  I just hope we can get enough from this place to buy the house and fix what needs done.