Thanksgiving Setup

Because I have been promising my mom for quite some time now, this morning I take a break from my work on the paper to post some photos of Thanksgiving at our house. Yes, I know it was a week and a half ago, but that's how things are going around here these days. :-)

Setting up for our 16 guests started with rearranging the front room, bringing out my sewing table to extend the dining room table and setting up a card table to seat the extra four people. Scott's desk was cleared off, and an extra table was also set up under the window by the door.

Once we had a functional floor plan I started to set the tables and decorate a little.

But first, a break to point out my antelope, which we finally got back from being mounted. Isn't he pretty?

The tablecloth for the long table was a length of fabric from my stash. I've had it for quite some time, and recently used part of it to make curtains for the spare room, but I think I'll make the rest of it into a tablecloth for this table when I have it set for 12.

My drop-leaf pedestal table served as overflow for the food when we all sat down to eat.

The centerpieces were simple - just glass pieces from my collection with artificial foliage from Hobby Lobby's fall sale last year.

Another fabric remnant graced the desk - this remnant is intended to recover the green stools in the tv area. But it sure made a good tablecloth, since that project is still on the list. The vinca vine is one of two I rescued from planters outside. I figured why let them just freeze and die, only to buy new ones next year?

Guess what? Another fabric remnant on the table by the door. This table served all the drinks, which included mostly whiskey and wine, as well as coffee mugs. The geranium in the window you can't see very well, but this is its second winter inside.

My Bourbon Pecan Pie had molasses in it instead of corn syrup, and people really liked it.

This cowboy fellow made of horseshoes was a gift for our wedding.

The milk bottle carrier was a find at Odds and Ends. ** moment of silence ** :-) I still miss that store.

As I was setting the tables I realized that I have exactly enough dishes and silverware to serve 16 people - that worked out well!

I kept the centerpieces on the long table scarce, as I knew we'd have plenty of dishes of food for which to make room.

This is how the card table ended up. I prefer not to iron, that way everything is evenly wrinkled, and it looks more casual. That's the style nowadays, didn't you know? Besides, that's just one less thing I have to get done when preparing for company.

I did have to scrounge a little for enough dessert plates. And, this table actually ended up being for appetizers instead of desserts.

The drinks table, with the glassware I selected for each beverage, and the yellow coffee pot my mom found me. I like putting whiskey in decanters - now I just need a few more of them. And then the problem will be remembering what kind is in what decanter....

So here's the front room on Thanksgiving morning, just about ready for guests to arrive.

It actually all fit together pretty well. With our small house, it will always be cozy with that many people, but it works. The key is to keep things minimal and as open as possible for people to move around and spread out.

And here it is, full of people! I just took the time to snap a few shots in the midst of dinner. By this point I was so tired from cleaning and cooking that I could have gone to bed as soon as the meal was done. :-)

On my menu was a turkey, sweet potato spoon bread, a green bean casserole, corn casserole, dinner rolls, cranberry bread pudding, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cream cheese dip for crackers, dill dip for vegetables and Velveeta/sausage dip for corn chips. Scott smoked a brisket, and his brother Rick brought pork loin. Others who attended brought salad along with them - then that was one aspect of the meal I didn't have to worry about - as well as desserts to fill in after the meal.

And now we're planning a Christmas party for Dec. 16, so there will be more photos of the front room transformed for that holiday. The furniture set up is quite a bit different now, and I rather like it. This morning Levi and I took a nap on the leather loveseat next to the wood stove before coming to work, and it was wonderful on a six-below morning.

Our Christmas tree this year is rather homely, but now that I've got the lights and decorations on it, it's growing on me. The point of hunting in the mountains for a Christmas tree is not to find a perfect one, but for the experience. If we wanted a perfect one it would be a lot easier to visit the nearest supermarket parking lot. :-) And, I figure this way we won't set the bar too high for Levi's first Christmas, and he won't expect too much next year...

Project: Christmas Lights!

This weekend Melissa came over from Lander to visit, and while she was here I enlisted her to help put Christmas decorations on the house, something Scott was very grateful for. :-)

This is the second year I outlined the house's roofline with lights, and I just had to remember the system I worked out last year.

We brought back extra pine boughs from our Christmas tree hunting trip, and used them to create four mini trees in some planters I bought from Ross and used for flowers all summer long.

Melissa helped by untangling and checking the light strands before handing them to me on the roof. Her dogs Miles and Chip also came to Casper to visit.

And Lucy was there.

And so was Foxy.

Levi's mini tree ended up on the table on the front porch. The wreath on the door is a creation of prior roommate Amanda.

Melissa also strung the lights and ribbon on our pine bough trees.

And I kept plugging away on the roofline, with a break to feed Levi inside.

Tada! I stepped outside to take a few photos after dark.

I really liked the pine boughs on the railings like I did last year, but I wanted something different this year. I think our mini trees are just the ticket.

After Melissa left I finished up a few things and put the timers on our extension cords, so now we're all set for the Christmas season!

We would have had a lot of this done yesterday, but Levi caught the cold that I had on Thanksgiving, so I spent a lot of time yesterday and last night with him. Thankfully he was back to his normal self today, and this morning all four of us went out to brand the colts in a wind that was much stiffer than we expected.

How the Red Dinner looked

Drop-leaf pedestal table in the front room - red salt and pepper shakers from Heather for housewarming.

Well, it wasn't anything perfect or extravagant, or anything like I had first envisioned decorating for the Red Dinner party could be. These days, I just don't have a whole lot of time for a whole lot of detail, so I had to let my grand plans go and be satisfied with a few simple place settings and arrangements, all pulled together from things I had in my house. I thought about going out to buy some new things to use, because decorating with new things is always fun, but then decided to save my money and make do.

That saving money scheme is how I've already managed to put $1,000 away in my 'baby savings account' for furniture, supplies, fun things, etc. It will be fun to have money available to hopefully splurge on a few things for the baby room, but even with money saved specifically for something, I sometime still have a hard time spending it. :-)

Two tables in the front room on Sunday morning - the girls helped set and decorate.

So I went 'shopping' in my house, and these are the few things I came up with to decorate my Red Dinner tables for Valentine's Day. The loveseat is *still* over in the tv area, so I still had plenty of room to set up my drop-leaf pedestal table for four place settings. With that table, I can easily seat a dozen in my front room.

On my big table I used my everyday red tablecloth and dressed it up with one of the lace curtain panels I've had tucked away for quite some time.

The red pitcher in the center of the table is one of my favorite pieces that friend Amy gave me some time ago. Alas, somehow it got a crack down the side - no idea how/when that happened - but it's so pretty I still keep it for decoration. I also used a few other red glass pieces, as well as tin mini loaf pans as candy dishes. And the wooden puzzle pig that friend Emily gave me just for an item of interest. :-)

Oh, and the chairs at the head and foot of the table I painted just in time, because they went great. :-) On the right side of the table is my trunk that I used to seat two, and moved a desk chair around that side for the third place setting.

In the first photo of this post you can see these flowers placed on the wood stove. Scott brought this pretty red chrysanthemum plant home for me the other day, and I love it. He likes to buy me plants rather than cut flowers, because then they last, and I hope that I can keep it alive! The last time he brought plants home for me, he bought me two, and one lived and one died, so I think that's a good strategy.

Salad/snack fixings on the buffet line.

When we got home from snowshoeing everyone was very hungry, so I set out these fresh veggies and some dip on the end of the counter for people to munch on, as well as the chocolate heart sandwich cookies. As you can see from the empty cucumber and dip bowl, my guests were very appreciative. :-) Thanks to Jamie, who helped me put the last minute things together for the meal, and to mother-in-law Shirley, for doing the dishes before we even got home! That's always a nice surprise.

The kitchen buffet line.

This is how I serve meals when I have a lot of people over. Since the table didn't have enough space for all the food - and since there were two tables, anyway - I just put the desserts on the table and the rest of the food was served buffet style. I usually fill the long counter with serving dishes for the sides, and put the main course on the end of the 'U' and it seems to work pretty well.

Our menu was spaghetti with red meat sauce, cottage cheese/ red Jell-o salad, heart-shaped garlic bread, lettuce salad with red veggie toppings and red velvet cake, heart-shaped sandwich cookies and a chocolate cake that Melissa brought over. I also had conversation hearts, of course, and heart-shaped Junior Mints on the tables.

Melissa and Penny getting ready to enjoy the meal.

This is what my main table looked like when I had all the places set... at the last second Melissa and I squished in four place settings down each side because we didn't know if another pair of family members would show up. Turns out they didn't, and good thing, because 10 at that table wouldn't have left much elbow room.

If I ever have more than 12 sitting down to eat at once in the house, I'll take the library table from my sewing room and set it, as well. That would give six more places to sit, at least.

So those are my simple Valentine's decorations - I'd had visions of making a garland to hang on the beam that divides the upstairs of the house, or any of the number of other Valentine's ideas I'd seen on blogs, but we had snowshoeing to do! So I let the details go, kept the food and decorations simple, and was able to enjoy the day and our company.

Note to self, though: don't brown ground beef, put it in red sauce and leave it in the crock pot for several hours. I thought it would save time, which it did, but being in the crock pot and cooking so long gave the beef a different texture. Not bad, just different, and I don't think I'd do it again. In the future I would just brown it, then reheat when we were ready to eat the meal.

Lu enjoying the wood stove in the front room.

And just because this photo was also on my camera, here is Lucy the morning after our party in the front room. It doesn't look like it, but there were hot coals in the stove, and she likes to go over there and lie on the rug. I don't blame her, it's quite cozy by the stove.

Even though they're not coordinated and aren't an interior decorator's dream, I have three rugs there in the front room, going from the front door to the stove. They're good for when we have a multitude of boots and people going in and out, and then we always also have plenty of space to set our firewood when we bring it in from the front porch, especially when it's snowy and needs to drip off.

Oh! Another thing that happened since the Red Dinner is that on Valentine's Day Scott and I went to our first baby doctor appointment. It all went smoothly, and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. :-) I think that made it a lot more real to Scott, and at 20 weeks we'll have an ultrasound, so we have to wait nine weeks to see any images. Even then, we're not going to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl, so we'll have to be careful which images we get to see, especially since this doctor's office offers the 3D images.

We're also in the midst of combining checking accounts - which sounded like too much of a pain to do before now - and putting some long-term financial planning in place, so we need to get an overall view of our budget and incoming and outgoing funds and all that good stuff.... I'd put it off until now, but with a baby on the way, it's better done sooner than later. With just the two of us a budget wasn't that big of a deal, because we have plenty coming in to cover our basic expenses and bills, but I know adding a baby and its accompanying costs will likely change that...

For today, I need to get all the editorial for the paper ready and packaged up for Tracy, because I'd like to finish and proof it tomorrow, as I'll be out Friday for our trip to Jackson for the cutter races. I also have several interviews scheduled for Friday afternoon, so it will be a busy weekend. Poor Scott - seems like we can't go on any trips anymore where I don't try to combine them with the paper or interviews somehow. Since the cutter races run Saturday and Sunday, we've also taken Monday off for our drive back to town. It will be a nice mini vacation before we hit March, which is busy for the Roundup with our increase in advertising for bull sales.

Where are my knitting needles...

I might have to get them out after finding patterns for these winter creatures on Etsy recently.

The patterns themselves are only three dollars, and the yarn to make these would only be another few dollars. The big investment would be the time, but they just might be cute enough to attempt at some point.

I also found these little farm animals, which is what I think my nursery theme will be. With both Scott's and my ag backgrounds, our little one needs an early introduction to farm/ranch life. I'd really like to get some things with black baby calves on them, or Hereford calves with their cute, bright-white faces, legs and tails, but having a really hard time finding something that specific. Most mainstream baby things feature dairy calves, which are cute, but somewhat out of place in Wyoming.

A weekend at home

I got to stay home this last weekend while Scott left at 4 a.m. Saturday to take our 10 replacement heifers to the feedlot owned by a friend outside of Thermopolis. I had hesitated to commit to the trip, as earlier in the week I still had the nasty cough caught in Iowa, and my stomach had also not been feeling well.

By Saturday, however, I was feeling much better on both accounts, and the kids - meaning Link, Lucy and Foxy - and I got some work done around the house.

But first, Friday night started out with leaving the office an hour early - a nice treat on a Friday afternoon - and heading to the grocery store. I emptied the refrigerator before we went to Iowa for Christmas, and I had yet to stock it again.

When I got home and put all the groceries away, of course the girls were on hand to help me cook supper.

This is part of what I picked up for dinner. Earlier in the day I had seen Pioneer Woman's recipe for Quesadillas de Camerones, and it looked so good that I made it for supper a few hours later.

In addition to the shrimp, the recipe calls for a healthy dose of red and green peppers and onions. Pretty hard to go wrong with a start like that.

I cooked them in a skillet on high heat for not too long. Just enough to start to soften, but not get too soggy or mushy.

On Scott's way home I had him stop and get the enchilada sauce for the shrimp, which I somehow left off my grocery list.

Yum! Butter, tortilla, cheese, veggies and shrimp get topped by a little more cheese and another tortilla. I always use whole-wheat tortillas for my creations.

Looks promising! Even though I did have some trouble getting the whole thing flipped. A bunch of the stuffing came out, but that just provided a prime opportunity to sample. The second one I made I didn't fill as full, and had more success.

Add a little bit of low-fat sour cream, and we were in business. Scott also really liked them, so I think they will become a quick-and-easy staple for supper. These shrimp weren't frozen, but I might try to find a frozen bag so I can keep the ingredients on hand for last-minute preparation. I just about always have the peppers in my refrigerator for one use or another.

The next morning, after Scott left at 4 a.m., I went back to sleep for a few hours, then got up and started taking down the Christmas tree and outdoor Christmas decorations since it was warm out, and forecasted to snow Sunday.

Link helped, of course, until I unceremoniously bumped him off the porch rail into the rose bush with the shovel handle. He was not very impressed with me as he hid under the car and watched me finish up.

Of course the girls also had to be a part. When I'm working in the front yard they usually tear around in circles of all manner, to the extent that there's a puppy racetrack path around one of the trees now. They're very good about staying in the borders of the yard, so usually I don't have to worry about their wild fighting and chasing. It's a good way to wear them down a little.

The bare front porch. No flower pots, no autumn decorations and no Christmas lights and evergreen boughs.

Every so often Scott brings home a load of 2x4s from his work that we cut into lengths to fit in our wood stove and stack on the front porch. The lumber comes to their yard with loads of steel, and it's only about four feet long, so not much good for anything else. It's free, and easy to get, and we burn these little sticks in the evenings when we can keep the stove supplied, saving our larger chunks for during the day and overnight.

The little pile of evergreen is part of what came off the railings, and it's the pieces that are small enough to fit in the stove. Again, there's a couple evening's supply of burning right there. I'm all for not running the furnace!

This tree that we chose from one of the mountain pastures at the Association was my first real Christmas tree since being out on my own, Scott's and my first tree together, and the first one in the new house. And now there it is, unceremoniously resting in my truck. I hear there's a tree drop-off location by the Extension office here in town, and that's its final destination. I thought it was very pretty, and enjoyed it very much.

So now there's quite a vast space that's opened up again in the front room. My eight-dollar Salvation Army desk will eventually come in to occupy the space as the landing spot for mail, bills, etc. I'd like to paint it first, but I suppose I could always haul it back outside come warmer weather, if even just to the front porch.

More cooking of favorite recipes on Saturday. These are the Marinated Tomatoes, which I find addictive with their oil and red wine vinegar marinade. Add a little bit of grated mozzarella, and it doesn't get much better. I ate the equivalent of probably four tomatoes that afternoon.

My stomach only felt really upset for about a week from the pregnancy, and now I'm pretty much back to normal, save for the fact that I still don't want any really heavy meals to eat, and nothing at all sweet. I find that the things I want to eat are all the things I should be eating, so we're in good shape. On my grocery trip I had also picked up salad ingredients, including this endive.

Add that to some curly leaf lettuce....

And some baby spinach...

And I have two big containers of delicious salad, which I top with mushrooms, olives, croutons, onions and whatever else I have in the cupboard/refrigerator and top with oil and vinegar with some salt and pepper. Delish.

Sunday afternoon the girls were driving each other and myself up the wall, so I bundled up against the cold and five inches of fresh powder, and off we went to the golf course for exercise for all three of us.

They love playing in the snow.

Much time is spent running and growling and fighting in crazy circles when we go to the golf course. I'm glad there's a place so near the house where they can run off-leash. Usually we play fetch, and I brought Foxy's new ball in hopes that there would be some areas blown clear on the greens, but no luck. I threw it once and they promptly lost it in the powder, so that was the end of that.

Trudging through the snow for a mile round-trip was great for all of us, and the pups slept peacefully most of the evening after their romp.

Scott arrived home as I was shoveling the sidewalk and driveway after our walk, and after going inside I finished making this Roasted Tomato Basil Soup and we had it with beef roast and vegetables for dinner.

As with all good weekends, it ended too quickly, and here I am back at it, working on the Jan. 15 edition of the Roundup. And it was -24 degrees this morning! I didn't even try to start my little diesel car, and my truck didn't really want to go, either.