OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER CHAT

[flipping_treasures]

As we fall into winter we look forward to crisp air, fiery leaves, apple cider, pumpkin spice, bomb fires, holiday fun and chatting with our jewelry friends.

[flipping_treasures]

The black ball and I recognise the lump under the quilt!  LOL

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  Ours was quite as planned.  I made a piece of ham for Chuck and had a smoked turkey leg for me. 

Our Thanksgiving is this week-end.  I'm doing a turke and a ham.  Made cranberries and salsa yesterday.  Thought I would try a hash brown cheese bake this year.  I really like those.  

I did get the tree up this week.  Basiclly I have all my Christmas shopping done and the gifts all wrapped.

Fedi, dressing one deer is a lot of work, can't imagine 5!  But yummmmmmmm on the deer sausage I'm sure some of it will end up as.

Saying goodbye to November and hello December.

[peachstategal]

Hello from Georgia!

I've been reading your posts and love hearing about what is going on in your lives.  

Fredi ~ Sorry that your dream of full time quilting is not working.

Sara ~ As usual, you are a busy bee canning and using all that nature produces to fill your larder.

Sandy ~ I hope all is well with you and your family.

We have had a lot going on over the past couple of months.  A leak in the ice maker ruined our floors and we finally got the new flooring in.  It was a bad event that turned into lemonade instead of lemons.  New wooden floors and sheet vinyl in the kitchen paid for by insurance.  

I contracted shingles about three weeks ago.  It is a lot better now but during the first two weeks all I wanted to do was scream.  If you haven't had the shingles shot I would highly advise it.

Finally, this week AT&T dug a hole in the top of our yard to lay cable and broke the water line.  Walking on the grass was like walking on a wet sponge.  They are finally here today to fix it.

Carol

[1940fc]

Howdy Sandy & Peach!  Good to see ya both

Mercy Peach..seems like you`ve had your share of bad lately!   Good to know your insurance co paid off tho..many times they mess with ya!

Ok...ready for some FUDGE????  Just tried a new (for me) recipe and it is wonderful and so EEEEEZY!!!!!

Microwave Marshmallow Fudge

1 container chocolate frosting  (I used a dark chocolate)

12oz Semi Sweet Choco Chips

1/2 cup chopped nuts  (I used pecans of course)

1/2 cup miniature marshmallows

Butter, softened

Line 9 x 9 in pan with foil leaving hang over on sides for easy removal.  Butter the foil 

Melt frosting & chips in microwave..stirring every few minutes till smooth. 

Stir  in chopped nuts, & let cool 10 minutes before adding marshmallows.

Spread evenly in prepared pan & refridgerate till firm.

Using' foil handles', lift out of pan & remove foil

Cut into 1" pcs..makes about 2 lbs.  Store in fridge

[1940fc]

My stepson is due here shortly for the weekend. 

JJ is just NOT gonna give up his Christmas blankie for nobody!  LOL  He was buried completely under it again..poked his head out when he heard me in the room, &  then zonked right back out. 

[fredi*frogi]

My CJ (rat terrier) was like that with blankets...he loved to be under them 🙂 Or wrapped up in them, lol.

While I can skin and quarter the deer, thankfully all I had to do for these 5 was cut the meat from the bone, picking out the roasts we wanted and then grinding the rest of it. i had help, lol, my mom, dad and my hubby (who btw won't touch the meat for anything or anyone, lol). We are currently in shotgun season #2 and I told hubby if he shoots one, I'll come gut it for him if he wants me too, lol ;). So basically if I could shoot one myself, I can take it from alive to the table (cuz I can cook it, too!). Actually now that I read that back, that's pretty cool! LOL My mom makes jerkey, summer sausage & trail bologna (like summer sausage) and it's all very good 🙂

peach, thanks, if I could win the lottery i could afford to quilt full time 😉 but then I'd have to play the lottery, which I don't do very often, lol.

i'm looking forward to a fairly quiet weekend with hubby gone hunting for most of it. I plan on getting one more quilt done of the 5 I have left to do before Christmas. Fingers crossed I can get them done by then! LOL

[peachstategal]

Fredi said, "my hubby (who btw won't touch the meat for anything or anyone, lol). "

Do you mean he won't eat it or won't help cut it?   Just curious!

[scifidaughter64]

If anyone needs a good laugh.
I just had a message from a buyer asking me for the battery info for a set of scopes I am selling. He is so confident that he is going to win that he wants to order the replacement now to have when the scopes come.

I needed that laugh after the fiasco of the underage buyer that tried to cancel an order after it was shipped. At least that won't go against me.

[1940fc]

 We had 67lbs pecans cracked from 2 trees. 2 other trees were not so good & the squirrels cleaned the big tree

After giving some away..T cleaned the rest & this is our stash!  I think will last awhile  lol

I thank the squirrels for not getting them ALL  this year!

[flipping_treasures]

Sarah, do you roast them before storing them?

[ms.sellainy]

Very funny, scifi. . . did he win the auction?

That's a fortune in pecans, 1940fc. I just paid about $9 for 8oz of pecan PIECES, that wont do much to satisfy my desire for a delicious as well as pretty, pecan pie! Les see. 67 times $18.00 per pound - Wow!! Considering the work involved to shell them, I'm filled with the utmost admiration for your diligence! Yes, the squirrels were kind, but probably stuffed from the big tree. They will get through the winter just fine. LOL.

[1940fc]

They actually clean out to a little less than half  the in- shell weight. But yes..still a nice pecan haul!  We priced them here on sale for 9.99 for 16oz  halves

All I do is use my Food Saver..  vacumm seal them & toss in freezer & use as needed.  I `ll probably do about 2 cups per pouch. That`s what`s great about vacumm sealing..they`ll keep forever in the freezer.

I`d love to vacumm seal in Mason jars  to save freezer space (what little bit I have lol)  but nuts cannot be stored long term

Normally pecan trees only bear every other year  and that depends on weather too. So feel quite blessed to get these this year!

[scifidaughter64]

No. He was in India. A gentleman from Texas won the auction.

One of the only things I miss about SC is picking up the pecans. We used to pick them up from the trees on Parris Island. Fresh is good.

[flipping_treasures]

We have a huge pecan tree in our back yard.  It was a poor year this year, so we will have to see about next year.  We also had one in our front yard in Austin and it was on the every other year schedule.  I had a couple of ladies that walked their kids to school pass our house every year.  They asked me one year if they could pick up the ones that dropped.  I said sure.  They would bring the kids by with little plastic bags and pick the yard clean.  It was fun to watch.

[1940fc]

It`s time for...

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww

https://www.buzzfeed.com/kaelintully/dont-stop-me-now-im-havin-such-a-good-time-yea-im-a-kitten?utm_...

[fredi*frogi]

Sarah, cutness overload!!!

I love pecans and I make a pretty good pecan pie, if I do say so myself, lol...I've got some in the freezer now, for the xmas pies, mom and I find them on the last big yard sale weekend of the year (3rd weekend in october, it's my county fall color tour).

Peach, my hubby won't touch the raw meat to de-bone it 🙂 He's running the grinder this year, and since we grind directly into the storage bags, there's no meat touch (as someone else shoves the meat down the grinder's throat, lol). When we got together 6 (almost 7) years ago, It hougth the poor man was gonna starve...he 'refused' to eat deer meat. Thankfully I've converted him! LMAO...otherwise he'd have starved! 🙂 The first year we processed together it was about a month before I could get him to eat deer again. Now, I can cook it while we're processing and he'll eat it. This is also the first year he stood next to the table as we were de-boning. Usually he sits far away and gets bags ready and fetches and carries stuff for us (when I've a knife in my hand a hunk of deer in front of me, he's my beer-assistant...if you watch fast & loud you'll know where that's coming from :)) He also takes care of the trash and like I said he manned the grinder this year :). It's work to process your own, but man does it taste better 🙂

I've a freezer question for you guys, just trying to figure this out, hubby's friend has both a deep freeze and an upright, and they vac-seal almost everything (like I do) but there's gets freezer burnt within a month or two. Dude said last nite they have pork chops in their upright from three weeks ago that are white with freezer burn. What on earth could be causing that?? I've got deer in my upright from 2015* and it's perfectly fine!!! Any ideas would be fabulous!!

*Found a single package of burger under a big bag of french fries (that was also out of date and got tossed). We'll eat the burger tho 🙂 HAHA