Sunday, November 30, 2008

After Thanksgiving...gas is $1.50 here now


After enjoying our Thanksgiving turkey, it's been a nice quiet weekend. Shopping for a few groceries for things to eat up the rest of the turkey...turkey & noodle casserole, and turkey salad sandwiches, and a trip to Office Depot to replace our computer keyboard (I actually wore out the e and s keys) meant that we had to head to the shopping areas. Surprisingly, we were able to park close and the traffic wasn't bad. We bought an ergonomic keyboard and so far I like the feel of it. The keys are in a slight arc instead of straight across. It seems like a natural fit for the hands.

I've kept busy this weekend. For the last several years, our family has talked about doing a family cookbook to share our favorite recipes. I have collected recipes and I spent Thursday and Friday typing them into a recipe format. You know how sometimes you write a recipe on a card and only record the basic stuff. Well, when you put those recipes into a cookbook, you have to fill in all of the other information that people might need to cook it...like, how long you bake those cookies or cake. Mom even dug out her recipe for Hard (lye) Soap, and we have Karen's recipe for Homemade Noodles (and they are really good). I'm still waiting for recipes from some of the family so we have some from everyone. I don't think it will be done in time for Christmas because it will take 2 - 3 weeks to get it printed. We'll gather some more recipes when we go home for Christmas and then get it finished and printed. I want to include photos of our families too.

Some of the recipes that I included are the candies that Wayne's Mom and I used to get together at this time of year to make. We would each buy 10 pounds of sugar and we'd spend a whole weekend making batches and batches of different kinds of fudge, divinity, peanut brittle, date roll, and more. We wouldn't stop until we'd used up all of that sugar. Then we had goodies to share all through the holiday season. Typing recipes for all that food made me go out and buy some ingredients to make Toffee, peppermint bark, and Santa's Snicker Surprise cookies. I haven't baked much lately...so this will be a treat. Oh, and I need to make my favorite - Snickerdoodles - Mom added that recipe to the book.

Wow, I love the feel of this new keyboard. It has a good touch.

Gas here ranges from $1.50 to $1.56. Doesn't that make you wonder why there were charging us $4.00 a gallon a while back?

Today is a sewing day. I haven't stitched a thing for a while, and I'm ready to make a sample of a Lone Star quilt for a new class that I'm going to be teaching soon.
Have a great Sunday!

Bonnie B

Saturday, November 22, 2008

It's Saturday...gas is $1.58 today

Hi. It's Saturday and I'm starting to get myself organized for Thanksgiving. Wayne and I did our grocery shopping today before the crowds hit the stores next week. We'll be spending a nice quiet weekend here at home. After working hard these past few weeks to get the Paducah Registration Guide finished, I'm ready for a few days of doing some sewing...wow, I haven't touched my sewing machine for weeks.

I just received the updated version of the Bernina digitizing software, and I've been itching to digitize some of my own designs.


This is also the weekend that I work on our Christmas Newsletter...written like a small newspaper, complete with photos and news articles from throughout this past year. It takes me a few days to get it written and then several more to print it, so we always starting on Thanksgiving so it can out in early December.

The price of gas is still dropping here. It is still crazy though. Some days it will drop 10 cents and then go back up 5 cents the next day, and then drop again. Guess it is a byproduct of the turmoil our economy is in.

Happy Thanksgiving!


Saturday, November 15, 2008

Breezy fall day and gas is $1.71 today

Happy Saturday...it's a breezy fall day here in Paducah today. Wayne and I did some shopping this afternoon. We couldn't believe the traffic at the mall...all of the stores had sales already and the day after Thanksgiving is still a couple of weeks away.

This week we had rain Wednesday through Friday, so we had rain showers and the trees were raining leaves all over our yard. Now we have to get those leaves dry before we can do our mulching with the mower. And we are still waiting for Mr. Tree Trimmer Guy to come take care of the four trees that were damaged from Hurricane Ike winds. They have been swamped.

We saw gas for $1.71 here today. It sure makes you wonder why it was $4.00 a gallon a while back, doesn't it?

Looks like a good night for some hot soup.
Keep warm wherever you are.

Bonnie B

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Colorful Trees, $1.95 gas & More


Today is Saturday and I worked until about 1:30 p.m. - we are working on the Registration Guide for Paducah and info is still coming in from the teachers.
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This was the view in our back yard this afternoon - the color in the trees is very late this year. The pretty yellow, oranges, and reds are just now showing off their color. These trees go down the left edge of our property. Some of the trees have been raining leaves this week as we've had brief periods of wind and rain showers. Next will come mulching up the leaves with the mower. We don't rake leaves, we just mulch them and let them nurture the ground during the winter.
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More good news is that the price of gas has fallen below $2 a gallon. Today it is $1.95 at the station up the street from where we live. Who would have thought that we'd think that under $2 was cheap. Wayne certainly likes filling the gas tank for $20 instead of $40.
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It was a beautiful, sunny, crisp fall day here today. We took advantage of the bright sun with a little shopping trip and stopping for a bite of lunch.
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Hope you all are enjoying these nice fall days. Soon it will be cool enough that we'll want to stay inside and quilt though. That will be a good thing!
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Bonnie B, who is ready to make a quilt...