December 23 … the day before Christmas Eve day.
Several days ago…
Lovely, lovely snow!
And then it warmed up and got a bit ugly…
BUT…
Today, shortly after the above… I took trash to the dump …
On the way home … on the road home…
The Winter Weather Advisory appeared on my phone as an alert as I was on the road home …
I have high as in VERY.HIGH.HOPES for enough snow to snowshoe on Christmas Day!!!
Meanwhile, we continue on!
The day before the day before … :) !!!
For the last 2-3 weeks … since Thanksgiving weekend … I have had 2 Christmas Cookies on my “to do” list: Pannetone Cookies and Molasses Crinkles.
The Pannetone cookies are a Food52 recipe that is a kind of fruitcake shortbread cookie – YUM! The Molasses Crinkles are a long time Betty Crocker based favorite of mine.
So.
I LOVE shortbread, but between the butter and sugar … YIKES. Same with the molasses crinkles. AND, one of the challenges of “cookies” … for me … is the batch for 8-12 minutes and repeat which is a bit labor intensive …
VS
Biscotti!
I love biscotti for the subtle sweet, crunchy-crisp texture and easy to get in the oven as well as the long double bake … no batches!
So.
With kitten and work schedule, I opted to go for Christmas Biscotti.
My first round was an almond fruitcake blend with white chocolate. SUCCESS! Yum and then some.
I bought the King Arthur Baking Fruitcake blend of dried fruits thinking of the Pannetone cookie recipe as well as British fruit cakes (NOT to be confused with holiday DENSE fruit cake).
I have used the mix in a sourdough whole grain (spelt, rye, wheat and white flours) bread bread, with walnuts and apple…
A little hard to see, but the Fruitcake blend is in there. It makes for slightly sweet, fruity-nutty loaf that toasts wonderfully, makes excellent chicken, turkey or grilled cheese sandwiches.
Back to the cookies.
The “Fruitcake Biscotti” done … on to Gingerbread.
I had looked at many Gingerbread biscotti recipes.
… I needed inspiration as I did not have the “normal” spices: dried ginger and dried cloves. I DID have crystallized ginger and candied orange peel, though …
So.
They (Emmett and Oscar) have the entire house… BUT choose to play under my footstool as I try to research and decide on a gingerbread biscotti recipe…
Despite distractions, I make a plan and Gingerbread Biscotti with Candied Orange and Crystallized Ginger gets underway (also walnuts!).
Delicious success!
Thankfully, Biscotti keep for a long time as I have a good supply as well as some other ideas… Chocolate Chip Raspberry is one!
Meanwhile, the kitchen kitten plays …
The ball with fleece worm is a favorite!
And so ends the weekend. Christmas Biscotti jar is full and we look to Christmas Week … a week of fun and joy and good times in anticipation of a Joy filled holiday … the BEST week of the year as far as I am concerned.
Happy, Happy to all!
I have been taking photos and videos and planning!!! to blog or edit or something … every single day/night, but here we are a week later.
I have also had two Christmas cookie recipes on my list …
AND, work and house chores and walks and belly rubs, oh my!!
Well, work and walks and belly rubs happened. And a modified cookie … more on that this weekend … I hope.
Meanwhile…
To the accompaniment of the above fire (with sound) and music, the halls got minimally decked:
And stockings hung.
So far, kitten and dog have left the minimal deco as it was – hurrah!
A few nights, a very few nights have been clear enough to see the moon.
But sunshine and a bit of clearing today … maybe a view of tomorrow’s full moon. Even if not, even with overcast, our nighttime walks with moonlight through the clouds and snow on the ground … my favorite!
Inside, all is hilarious!
Nap by/on the computer…
Nap on and by me…
Naps all together – evening quiet time.
… after I got up.
On a different subject … the “smart” coffee maker after its update. Well, yes!
The week in review.
l love Christmas Eve day almost more than Christmas Day … it is the anticipation. And even though I no longer do gifts, it is still a lovely, lovely day of remembering the joys of childhood Christmases.
But today, end of the work week … but probably a working weekend so that I CAN enjoy Christmas time … this Friday, two weeks before Christmas Eve day, started with beautiful sunshine…
Above is a just before sunrise walk on my property … below is the start of a long walk on the state land. We have not walked on the state land since late Spring … first it was high vegetation and spring bears and then hunting season this fall, but now … it is our season to be out there!
Today, Friday, is actually our 2nd walk out there and we added a loop to our first walk. I am the weak link having not done longer walks over hill and dale since late Spring,
Gorgeous!!
Almost home.
A good outing! As recorded, .66 miles, 24.51 minutes of activity, heart rate at the finish = 112 , speed 1.9 … hope to improve THAT!
A stick … always bring home a stick.
It is a good thing that we made the most of the morning sunshine. By afternoon, when Emmett and I walked down the driveway to collect the mail … back to gray skies.
Time for a fire …
And naps all around!
The herbs … the herb grow lights are working well … hard to see, but all of the herbs are currently thriving – YEA!
Happy, Happy Friday this two weeks before Christmas Eve.
My sweet boys!! Honestly!!! It is three weeks since Oscar joined Emmett and me and it is pretty incredible how well he has settled in to the Fambly Summers! A lot of credit goes to Emmett. Emmett persevered calmly through the initial hissing and spitting … respecting Oscar but never giving up trying to be friends.
I am so very happy with how they are interacting.
Baby portrait!
That little face … looks so innocent and sweet, doesn’t it???
Well, mostly it is, but Oscar has his moments :) And I am glad for those also – he gets the “kitten crazies” and zooms around the house or plays with his toys (he only has a few … ) and HOLY COW … how does a 4.5 pound kitten make so much noise???
I know he is 4.5 pounds because we had our first vet visit on Tuesday. Oscar was pronounced a well adjusted kitten: a little shy as befitting his home, not crazy scared … in the middle of the kitten spectrum. Dr. Jim, whom I’ve known for 26 years!! came into the room and said: “Was this planned?” … which sent the tech and I into gales of laughter …. it was kind of like he asked if it was an unplanned pregnancy. Anyway, I got to tell Oscar’s story and Oscar got high marks for demeanor and health plus his first vac.
Another vac in a month and then the BIG OP in February and on we go. It was good. The first vet appointment with a new family member is always a bit emotional for me and it was helpful to start with a laugh. Kudos to Dr. Jim and all of the Bigfork Animal Hospital staff and techs. They are so very kind. And I was extra anxious as I had to take a 5:20 p.m. appointment which meant toing and froing in the dark. I do not drive at night very often and it is challenging for me, but obviously, I did it and all’s well that ends well and mostly, I am thrilled that Oscar had a good first visit with no ramifications from his shot or the car ride.
Onward!!
Meanwhile.
At home.
That first cat tree … history. I didn’t like how it looked. I didn’t like that it didn’t have staggered levels. Oscar never went beyond the first level and mostly ignored it.
I got the same tree that I had for Auggie.
Everyone is happy!!
For me, it is “nose to the grindstone” … next week is the last full work week of 2021. I will work a bit after, but not a lot so I want to get my task list in shape and hours in (hired gun programmer = paid by the hour!) so we all eat in January.
It helps to have helpers…
So much sweet!
I can help ??!!!
Like his brother before him, Oscar is a “programming kitten” :)
And we are a technical FAMBLY !
This year, my black Friday splurge was a Keurig coffee maker. And not just any Keurig coffee maker. As befits my I.T. professional status, I bought the new-ist Keurig: K-Supreme Plus Smart.
Hee.
It connects to Wi-Fi and my phone and my Alexa. So, I have phone and voice control.
I.E. I can start the darn thing from bed in the morning so as to have a cup of coffee waiting for me when I get to the kitchen. DREAM.COME.TRUE.
The previous three images are screen shots from my phone.
I am so happy!!! And it is 2 days and all is working well and I have a first cup of coffee to get me on my way with Emmett for our first out … AND an easy afternoon decaf.
Life is sweet!
Sweet stuff at my house!
***re the recent AWS (Amazon Web Service) outage … which did affect Emmett’s GPS collar, but not my home Alexa stuff. This kind of thing happens. I am not concerned. All parties will review and consider/implement redundancies. I stand by Internet reliant apps!!!
Oscar has gained almost 2 pounds since he came home … he is up to almost 4 pounds :)
He has gone from hissing if Emmett just looked at him to playing hide and seek and toy keep away.
Oscar has the run of the house day and night and is constantly exploring spots to climb and hide.
Thankfully, he is so far, sleeping all night, i.e. no middle of the night kitten crazies. He has chosen to sleep on top of one of the big pillows that I use in lieu of a headboard.
Meanwhile, last Wednesday, a new cat tree arrived: assembly required. I planned to put it together Thanksgiving day. I also planned to do a bit of work Thanksgiving day to make up for the previous Thursday and Friday that I did not get much work done between getting Oscar and helping us all get situated.
I put the cat tree together yesterday, Saturday … “best laid plans”, etc., etc.
But it went well!
The carpeted board on the chair and those 3 bags on the floor are all of the parts.
Naturally, I had plenty of help …
Bits and pieces…
Fortunately, everything had a number or letter label – YEA!!
I started at 9:15 a.m.
About 1/3 done and I took a break …
Oscar started having fun even before the tree was assembled.
Back to work … another level and then I assembled the “condo”. Oscar is lying on the cover for the condo … and went to sleep … AND the sun came out, so Emmett and I went for a walk.
Blue sky, fresh air … it was wonderful to stretch my legs and putter about in the woods for a bit. We had an extra long outing to give Oscar plenty of time for a long nap … and for me to procrastinate!
Assembly complete. PLUS, I took apart the giant dog crate that Oscar was no longer using … the office is back to mostly office except for the tree and a lot of new cat toys…
I am sharing my mini-trampoline with the cat cave and a feather toy … so far, the cat tree is a bit lonely …
And a boot box is the preferred play spot.