First EVER...blog give-away!

I love Christmas music! Love it VERY much. It is a huge task for me not to start playing holiday music before Thanksgiving. So, I cheated this year and started playing Christmas songs a few days early and have updated my blog with my Christmas Playlist (on the side, in green). I have LOTS of favorite songs, but only one REAL stand out that I listen to over, and over, and over and over...until Charles puts the 'ole kibosh on it! My favorite song is listed in my Playlist, sooo....

...here is the BLOG GAME/GIVE AWAY:

You'll have to do two things, first pick which song and artist you think is my favorite and second you have to read the "How to Build a Community" poster on the sidebar. Post a comment on this post stating
YOUR FIRST NAME,
THE SONG THAT YOU THINK IS MY FAVORITE and
YOUR FAVORITE DIRECTIVE FROM THE "COMMUNITY" POSTER.

The first person to guess it correctly AND have all three things in their post will be sent a HOMEMADE goody (or two) from me! Your goody will be a surprise. It might be something holiday-ish, something practical or something to eat! Never know, but it'll be GOOD!

Have fun, enjoy the music and GOOD LUCK!

I Hate My Coat!

We have had a nice, warm fall. Not a lot of cool days, hardly any snow. But last night that changed. It snowed and the temperatures dropped overnight. I do not have many winters under my belt, but I have started to dread the arrival of snow and lower temperatures. Not because I am not liking winter itself, but because I HATE MY WINTER COAT!!

Back in 2004 we were planning our Christmas trip to London and Paris and being a true Floridian, I didn't own a proper winter coat. In hindsight I realize that I made two critical errors in my coat purchasing decision:

1) There are no stores in Florida that would stock the kind of coat that I needed, so I was forced to order on-line-which means that I couldn't try it on.
2) My husband's advice was the only advice that I sought out for the specific things that I needed to look for in a proper winter coat. He gave me a list of things that I "needed" in a winter coat. Things that I've never considered like "thermal lined", "sealed seams", "temperature rating" & "storm flap".

Because I always try to look for the positives, I CAN say some nice things about my coat:

1) It is nice and warm.
2) It's black, so it matches everything.

That's it. That is all I have in me to say nice about my blasted coat!!

Let me tell you about this coat and just why I hate it so...

First of all, it is water-proof. Have you ever worn water-proof clothes? They are stiff and make noise. My jacket's material sticks out in all directions, it crumples in odd spots and when I move it rubs on itself, so it makes a scrunchy sound. Yuck.

Second, it's zipper goes up VERY high. I suppose that the collar is high on purpose so that it keeps one's neck warm, but I have a short person's neck and that bloody zipper, that if it went all the way up, it would fall just about a 1/2" shy of my forehead. So, I fold the collar down and zip up to just my neck. This makes the excess collar stick straight up and pokes my cheeks. Honestly! It pokes my cheeks! Nice...

Third, it has elastic sleeves, an elastic waist and lots of "thermal" protection (padding). These three things combined, on this plus-sized gal, makes me look like the Michelin Man out and about, wearing a water-proof, black coat. I've destroyed every photo of me in that coat.

Fourth, it is a jacket and not really a coat, so it can NEVER go from throwing snowballs in the yard to a casual dinner out. In other words-It's UGLY!!!

Fifth, it was expensive. This is why I have not parted with it yet. Yet...

I am happy to say that this weekend I am going coat shopping! I am headed to Burlington Coat Factory in Horseheads and am gonna come home with a proper winter coat that I don't give the squink eye to whenever I take it from the closet. And if it happens to not be water-proof (AKA-snow proof) then I'm gonna put a rain poncho in my car and if I ever need to be 100% waterproof, then I'll slip it on over my beautiful new coat and jump into a impromptu snowball fight!

AND...some unsuspecting, plus-sized gal is going to be shopping the racks of the Goodwill in the near future and see a black, water-proof, Land's End coat on the rack and say, "Oooh! This is a nice coat! Wonder why someone got rid of it?" To her I say, "Good Luck and I hope that the zipper-in-the-cheek thing doesn't drive you too crazy!"

Remembering...

Today is a day we remember what happened 10 years ago. Everyone has different thoughts, feelings, remembrances of this shared experience. But last night I got to look at this event from a very different perspective. Thanks to a dish that wasn't communicating too well with it's satellite, I had limited choices on TV to watch and I picked the History channel. They were running a 9/11 special which was called "Voices from Inside the Towers". It featured recordings from people stuck in/evacuating from/headed into the towers and recollections from their loved ones. It was sad and hard to watch. But it did have a simple and ultimately uplifting message. One that reminded me of a quote from one of my all-time favorite movies, Love Actually. (It is at the beginning of the movie, in a voice-over done by the fictional British Prime Minister.)

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around.

So my simple joy today on this very sad and emotional day is LOVE. Pure, complicated, unconditional, fleeting, unrequited, passionate, sweet, trusting, blazing-hot, tender, inspiring, messy...LOVE. Keep it, share it, give it away, shout it from the mountains, hold it close...treasure it until your last moment on this earth.

We are in need...

Charles and I are in the final (yippee!) stages of becoming foster parents and we have a few needs. I have been trying to collect some non grown-up things for the child coming into our home in a very short while and since we do not know the exact age or sex it has been kind-of difficult. So let me explain...

-We will get either a boy or a girl between the ages of 0 to 6 years old.

-When we get "the call" it will be hours before the child will be placed in our home. Depending on where we are it could be at work, at home, at the store, deeply asleep! We just don't know.

-They will come with SOME personal items, but not nearly enough, or any of the "big" things.

-We will be first time parents. "No experience required", my fanny!

-We are planning on being foster parents for a long while, so my ultimate goal is to have an inventory of items for children in that age range. That way when we get a call, we do not have to scramble for anything.

-There is no children's consignment shops in our town. One Goodwill the next town over.

So, you see, we need some things! If you are parents, you'll know what we need much better than we do, but I'm guessing...

-Car Seat ("seats" for different ages/weights)
-Crib
-High Chair
-Eating & Drinking Stuff (not food, but the dishes, etc.)
-Toys & Games
-Books
-Clothes
-Grooming Supplies (I couldn't think of a better way to say that...)
-School Supplies (not "consumable" items)
-How-To books (for US!!, like the "What to Expect" series)

If you have stuff that you are not using anymore, would love to purge, would loan it to us until you need it again or would just like to pay-it-forward to a good cause, then we are your people! Because we need so many different items to get us set up for so many ages, we wouldn't be able to pay a ton of money for the items you have, but if you could email me privately with what you have, we can talk. Also, if you live near us and know of a good children's consignment store, please let me know of it.

The very much appreciative Pecks!

mavenjen@yahoo.com

Aah, country living!

Another story from the country...

Today I came home from work to discover that a few of my plants on the steps and front porch were tipped over, so I righted them and put the potting soil back in and went to get the dogs. We head back outside for a potty break, Kiwi on a leash, Ginger running free. When we get to the spot where the plants were knocked over, Kiwi goes crazy with the smell. She really wanted to just stay and sniff there for awhile. But necessities await. We are near the flag pole/planting bed you see in the below photo when, I hear the unmistakable sound of cracking underbrush. And from the sound of it, it was something large in the tree line ahead of me. In the photo below, it is to the left of the driveway. I realize that we are not alone and pick up Ginger who has yet to go potty and wait to see if it moves on or stays put. I am watching the tree line as a really big bear moves out into view and just stares at us. (Gulp.) I know I'm not supposed to turn and run and I really don't want to 'cause Ginger still needs to go potty, so I just take a few steps backwards. The bear, seeing me move, decides to turn and run (Something that I am quite happy for them to do!). Unfortunately, it runs into the road just at the end of the driveway as a car was just going by. The car misses the bear, but spooks him to turn back around and start running towards us!! My sensible back-up, baby steps turn into a full fledged turn and run maneuver. The bear is headed towards us. The car that spooked the bear sees what is happening and backs up and watches (My hope is that they wanted to lend a hand if I got into trouble!). I make it to the front porch and see that at bear has turned off and is now running parallel to the road/stream, across our front yard and back into the woods. But he is going slow, so we all got a good show of it.

Now the old terrified-of-bears me would have turned tail and gotten back into the house as soon as she had heard the cracking in the woods. Or, would have figured out that those plants were probably knocked over by a bear and not ventured out at all for the rest of the day. But, no... The new embracing-all-parts-of-country-living me knows that bears are all around us and has decided that she is not all that scared of 'em anymore. Respectful, but not scared!



Oh, and PS-the foot prints in the grass leading away from our front porch were from a bear. A really, giant bear since those footprints/impressions remained in the grass for days.

Hello Autumn Menu

Hello All!

I have been working hard on putting together a yummy menu for our long weekend in the Pennsylvania countryside. There is a full kitchen with all the bells and whistles on site and I am going to use that baby to make us up some tasty meals.

I always post the menu ahead of time so that in case my menu doesn't meet any of your dietary requirements or if something isn't to your liking you can make other arrangements. There is a 'fridge space in the kitchen and in the crop room, so feel free to bring something you might need. As always, there will be PLENTY of food, but if there is a snack that you MUST have to crop with, then by all means bring that along. I will have coffee service set up all day long as well as iced tea, lemonade, water and a few sodas. There will not be a TON of soda, so if there is one that you need, please bring it along. I always prepare a vegetarian (not vegan) option to every "meat" meal, so please let me know ahead of time if you are a vegetarian. All the food is prepared together, so I cannot take any special requests at mealtimes.



Whew...with all that said...here is the menu!

Thursday

Breakfast-Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Grits, Biscuits with Jen's Homemade Jams & Preserves
Lunch-Posh Cheese Sandwiches with Roasted Peppers, Mixed Green Salad with Jen's Homemade Blackberry Dressing and Mini Brownie Banana Splits
Snack-Chips & Salsa
Dinner-Olive Chicken over Linguine, Crusty French Bread and Chocolate Bread Pudding with Whipped Cream

Friday

Breakfast-Caramel Sweet Rolls, Thick, Smoked Bacon and Melon Salad
Lunch-Vegetable Quiche, Cheddar & Cauliflower Soup and Lemon Drop Cupcake
Snack-Peach Bellini Floats
Dinner-Toasted Almond Chicken, Whisky Glazed Carrots, Creamed Spinach, Parker House Rolls and Baked Apples with Jen's Homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream

Saturday

Breakfast-French Toast with Berry Butter & Maple Syrup and Sausage
Lunch-Grilled Turkey & Cheddar Panini with Chutney, Spiced Cabbage Slaw, Chips & Assorted Chocolate Truffles
Snack-Homemade Pretzels with Cheesy Mustard Dip
Dinner-Pumpkin Penne, Green Beans, Roasted Tomato Bruchetta and Peanut Butter Mousse with Whipped Cream

Sunday

Breakfast-Made-to-Order Omelets, Hash Browns and Fresh Fruit
Lunch-Grilled Goat Cheese & Tapanade Sandwiches, White Bean & Wild Mushroom Soup and Cheesecake Tartlets with Blackberries
Snack-Fruit & Cheese Plate
Dinner-Meaty Moussaka, Marinated Vegetables, Greek Salad and Baklava

Winter in Summer?

When I told all my friends and family that Charles and I were moving to Pennsylvania, I had a bunch of mixed reactions. But almost every person wondered how I would make out in winter time. Being a clever Southerner I made sure that all my "up north" visits were made in the summertime and thus had avoided seeing snow up until our move up here. There was cause for their concern. Heck! Even when I was wearing my most optimistic pants I held a small dread for (gulp) snow.
There was one fellow down south that really worked hard to convince me that I would hate snow. That I might think it was nice at first, but I wouldn't get used to it, wouldn't like it and would never be able to stay up here. He pounded me with this every time I spoke to him or would relay anti-snow messages to me via his wife. It got to be downright pesky.
Now I consider myself a pretty positive and upbeat person, and for the sake of my husband and my sanity, I told myself that I was going to make the best of the big changes that were coming into our lives. So with arms (and mind) wide open I have embraced our new rural lifestyle-winter days included. In fact, I have either put up such a good show that I have convinced myself or it is more possible that I actually do LOVE it up here! I find myself telling folks ad nauseum just how much I am enjoying life as a Northerner.
I so wanted to tell my friend that for me, it wouldn't matter the season I was living in, that I would still be ME. I would still think the same, enjoy the same things, love the same, create, socialize...that I would just have to do it all in snow boots!

So, today, during this most wonderful summer season that I was looking up some summer quotes when I found this one that I would like to share with that negative dude down south...

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. -Albert Camus