Really? More Spiders !!!

The "Frankenstorm Sandy" was not as bad as it was thought to be, at least not here on the Bruce Peninsula is what I mean by that statement...with there have been some pretty high winds and power outages in and around our area.  Nothing even close to what the emergency situations have been in New York City and other places which have seen much devastation.   

"The Canadian Red Cross has a Hurricane 2012 Fund in place.  Should anyone like to donate to this Fund giving assistance to the chaos created by Hurricane Sandy, you may do so by *clicking* HERE. 

Before I get going onto my Today, I had forgot to share my Happy Mail from Yesterday ...

"This is the Post Card I received through Post Crossing all the way from Belarus.  The card depicts "The First Frost".  Lovely, is it not?"

I also was able to "scoop" a photo off of Facebook of one of our "Magnificent Seven" Checkerboard Aussies from the 2011 Litter.  

"This would be Boston.  Now just over 1 1/2 years old, belonging to my Cousin's daughter, Erin and her husband, Mike.  What a handsome well groomed fellow Boston is."

It really is so nice to still be in contact with person(s) who have purchased one of our "Checkerboard Aussie" puppies.  

Now back to my Today.  

"Once I had came in after taking Lexus and Missy Mercedes out this morning, Rob was so kind to have gone out in the early morning light to give Buddy his first thing in the morning walkabout.  It was a really nice little break for a change.  Thanks Honey.  You can tell by the garden how much rain we have gotten, and it is still coming down now as I type away here."

For some dang reason I am still not feeling quite up to par, this of course I am still blaming onto the weather changes.  Regardless the one thing I wanted to get accomplished today, which wasn't overly strenuous, was some Homemade Bath Salts.

"I tripled the "recipe" for the Homemade Bath Salts, which yielded me nine Jam Jars.  Once they had been filled I got to decorating their lids with some Christmas material and ribbons my Auntie Gladys had given me.  Thanks Auntie !  I know have these nine jars all ready to go as gifts on hand when needed.  Homemade, thoughtful and for a wonderful use."

Recipe/Method please?  PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE.

Once I had finished up with the Bath Salts, it was after the lunch hour and time to head "North of the Checkerboard" as Rob and I had an appointment with the Good Doctor to get our Annual Flu Shot.  This flu shot by the way was not the one on the News last night that has been on "recall", so we were safe to go.

With our appointment over with, Rob and I took advantage of the RBC Bank and Foodland grocery store while we were in Lion's Head.  Once we had attended to our needs we took a little drive down towards the Lion's Head Marina.

"We had noticed a couple of trees down and up rooted around town.  A crew had been there cutting this one up for its removal."

"There had been quite the show going on with very high waves coming in and smashing against the breakers."

"The high winds and waters were equally intimating as well at the shores edge."

As I had stood outside our vehicle taking photos, I could not imagine the force of a Hurricane, as truly it would be overpowering and tremendous, or so I imagined it would.  I am very thankful we live where we do.

Finally we made it back home late this afternoon, where I got our Supper prepared right off the cuff.  Today I was trying a "new" chicken recipe I had recently came across (there are a never ending supply of recipes only a keyboard away, you know?).

"Another Easy Peasy as 1-2-3 Recipe added to my ever building collection.  The flavor was all in the "toppings"! "

Recipe please?  PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE.

Since I do LOVE Halloween so, you can imagine my delight when a fellow Member on "Cindy's Recipe Exchange" submitted a recipe they had "tried, tested and made true" for our exchange.

"Really?  More Spiders?  Ha... not that Member, Delynn, knew how much I detest Spiders.  What a wonderful job she did of these, also commenting that all the Adults and Kids at her Day Group today loved them !  Way to go, Delynn, they are totally awesome, spiders or not."

Recipe/Method please?  *Click* HERE. 

This has pretty much been my day thus far in a "nut shell".  I have promised a friend I would go meet her at 7 pm this evening as there is some Halloween activities she thought I would love to be at (can you believe I am going out for an evening?  I am not sure yet that I can myself).  I am off and running, once again, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".

Whole Wheat Please !

I only had to leave the house once today, and that was to go to the store to pickup some carrots for the  Beef Dinner I was doing in the Slow Cooker.

"I can  never mange to come out of that store with just what I went in for.  But how could I not when I came away with all these savings.  Total Bill $31.72 for all of this, plus a 10kg Bag of Flour which alone cost $11.99."

"From bottom up, a layer of carrots, Center Shank, Eye of Round & Sirloin Tip Steak sprinkled with Montreal Steak Spice, covered with a layer of thick onion rings, topped with New Potatoes then laced with Worcestershire and Soy Sauces.  The Crock Pot is my very Best Friend in the Kitchen, especially when there is a full day of other household duties and chores ahead of me."

Bed stripped, three loads of laundry washed and hung out on the line first before I got to something I have been balking at doing  for years, years and years.  Actually since I had been in my mid-twenties when I went to all the work of making bread, kneading it, leaving it to rise to find out that didn't happen as I had never checked the expiry date on the Yeast (Duh).  There had been one very tearful phone call made to my Sister, Donna, that day I well remember. That very first experience of making Homemade Bread from Scratch turned me off from ever trying to make it again until this morning ....

Quite a few months ago I had left a comment on my very most favourite Food Blog, One Perfect Bite.  Mary, in turn, left me a comment here on my own blog encouraging me not to loose faith, giving me the link to her Beginner's Whole Wheat Batter Bread.  It had been on my mind all these months to give it a "try" ....

".... so began my Bread Adventure this morning.  Yeast meets warm water, with Honey following.  Bread, salt mixed alternately.   Covered with Plastic wrap for 1 hour,  punched down, divided, covered with floured tea towel.  Risen product into 400*F Oven for 30 minutes."

"The aroma filled the house with two loaves later, brushed tops with butter, left sit to cool."

"Someone in the shadows of the hallway laughing as they "catch" me sampling a really thick warm piece of bread I had just slathered with butter (once again my own camera being used against me... ha!)."

Note:  I doubled the recipe to yield two 9x5 loaf pans of bread.

Whole Wheat Please?  PRINTABLE RECIPE *CLICK*  HERE.  

Special Thanks to Mary of One Perfect Bite for her kind words, encouragement and her wonderful recipe.  I will be continuing to make "bread from scratch" from here on in ... it is sooooo good.

I had mentioned I had wanted to try out making some Homemade Bath Salts.  The very next thing I started out to do ....

"This is all the ingredients and tools you need to make Homemade Bath Salts, along with a glass jar(s) to store in."

"Epsom and Sea Salts mixed, with Food Colouring added.  Dehydrated milk and Essential oil is then added into the mix.  I used Tea Tree Essential Oil as this is what I had on hand."

"All gussied up to make someone a nice little gift maybe?"

Recipe please?  PRINTABLE RECIPE *CLICK* HERE.

"Lots of ideas to make a couple of matching gifts maybe?  Gift Giving made Easy Peasy as 1-2-3."

Did I stop here?  Heck no there was still hours ahead of me to fill ....

"I spent some time enjoying myself while I put the finishing touches into my Secret Sister's gift box.  Yet needing to be wrapped, an address affixed, then into the Post it goes tomorrow.  I am so EXCITED !!!   I also signed up for two more Post Crossing addresses, so two more Post Cards were wrote out and addressed to also be put into the Post ."

"I found the time to make a trip out to our Garden to take out the last of the Leeks.  I see some Homemade Potato Leek Soup in our Future .... "

The remainder of my day was spent making up our bed fresh, along with folding the other laundered items.  All this done in one day, not without mention the sink full of dishes being done up how many times, and I still don't have one whole room clean !!!  Where in the heck does the day go ... mine all seem to fly by so fast ?

Dinner was oh so tender and favorable.  Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE my Slow Cooker?  Ha ...many many times before, and this not being the last time.

"Leftover Beef drippings.  What do you do with yours?  I freeze mine to be used up another time in a Beef Vegetable Soup or Stew.  What a waste if all this flavor and goodness when down the drain."

The other day I also went on board with Carla's *Reverse* 100 Things Challenge ....

"The object of the game is to simply get rid of 100 things before December 15th.  I have already gathered a bag of clothing to give away, thinking I am off to a great start.  Now to remember 1)   I am doing this challenge; 2)  Record the items I rid our home of up to and hopefully exceeding 100.  I think those 2 points will be MY biggest challenge of all."

Tomorrow brings another busy day with high hopes I get at least 2 rooms cleaned and done.  What a vicious circle this cleaning business is with it cutting into much of a person's "enjoyable" living time !  Oh man, I need me one of those "House Cleaning Fairies" along with a "Money Fairy", a "Good Charm Fairy" .... get the picture?  not really my reality in this lifetime I am afraid, as the only Fairy I will ever see around here is the one that looks back at me every day in the mirror ... *sigh*.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it is off to more Housework I go tomorrow, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".