Photo Quest # 81 - Show me your shoes

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:51:18 -0800

2009_12_11 - Friday 007.JPG - Vox

I thought I had missed this week's Photo Quest. I have been working so much I have lost track of the days. Thanks for reminding me, Maureen! This is a true accidental photograph. I walked into the bathroom and was struck by the light peeking through the back of the door onto my shoes, which I leave all over the house. It is out of focus, but I like it that way. I took it without flash with a slow shutter speed. I like the shake of the bright spots of sunlight.

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Shoes

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:29:56 -0800

2009_12_11 - Friday 007.JPG - Vox

I should have had this photo for a recent Photo Quest, but I didn't take it until this morning. I like the contrast of light and dark. I'm sure the slow shutter speed accounted for the blurring, but I think it adds to the interest of the shot.

Another cold day today. I wore three shirts, but was cold all day today at work. Our counters are close to the front door, plus most of the store is kept cool enough that you can comfortably leave your coat on while you shop. I bought a sweater/jacket to wear while I work tomorrow. I don't like being cold. I don't mind for a few minutes, but not all day.

We were busy again today. There were three of us, but we still didn't finish all of the orders for tomorrow. Mostly birthday cakes. We have gotten a few holiday cake orders, or orders for birthday cakes with holiday decorations. We are selling a lot of cupcakes with holiday decorations. Last year, I made a lot of cupcakes with poinsettias on them, but this year I haven't had time to make any. Yesterday, we had an order for a cake with spring flowers. That was weird! I made daisies, daffodils, and tulips. It was very pretty, but it looked out of place. This year, we have a dark green icing that they call Winter Green. I used it and a dark red on a couple of cakes for the case this afternoon. I should have taken pictures. I was in a hurry to get things done so I could leave early. My original schedule was for 31 hours. It got bumped up to 40 hours, but they don't want you to ever work more than 40 hours a week. Didn't hurt my feelings to leave early!

I was sure it was Saturday night when I got home tonight. I have been confused all week. Glad I will get to sleep in again in the morning. I stayed up until 12:30 last night so I could finish reading my book. I was reading Echoes by Mauve Binchy. She is one of my favorite authors right now. I need to go back to Amazon and order another one. Maybe I'll wait until after Christmas. I need to get my cards in the mail, and presents wrapped, etc. Plus I'm way behind on my magazines. Not much point in getting them if I'm not going to read them.

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Christmas cactus

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:38:02 -0800

2009_12_10 - Thursday 002.JPG - Vox

My Christmas cactus plants are outdoing themselves this year. The sun was shining this morning, so I sat down on the floor to take some pictures. I thought these turned out pretty good. I should have used a tripod. I couldn't hold the camera steady.

2009_12_10 - Thursday 007.JPG - Vox

Here's another shot. I'm going to have to try with a tripod the next time! The original is much better. I had to reduce the pixel size so it wouldn't take all day to upload it.

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As seen at Walmart

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:22:50 -0800

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Have all of you seen the photos on the web of "Walmart" people? They are unbelievable! It is hard to believe that people go out in public looking like that. We always have a few who are underdressed, but we have just about as many who are "yesterday" dressed.

This woman is a regular. She must come in every week just after she gets her hair "done". Do they still teach this style at beauty school? She usually has the head scarf, too, to keep it in place, very high and piled on top of her head. We do have a set of regulars who are lost in the 50's. I'll try to get some more photos. Do these ladies exist in every town or just here?

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We are being discouraged from making up our own designs for cakes, and encouarged to use the Walmart style book. They do have some nice designs, and it won't hurt us to try to make some of them. This isn't exactly like the book. To me, cake designs are a lot like recipes. You use them for a general outline, but you add your own touch.

I worked by myself again today, so I didn't get a lot done. But we weren't rushed, so it didn't matter. I was going to try to leave an hour early to make sure that I don't work over 40 hours this week. That is greatly discouraged. But I took a last minute order, so I only got out the door about 15 minutes early.

I also had to "remodel" a couple of cakes that didn't get picked up so they could be served at the company Christmas dinner tomorrow. We always joke that the true test of a decorator is if you can take an orphan cake and transform it so it can be reused or put out in the case. Most of the time I can come up with something. We did have to throw one cake away today. Cakes don't sell well on the mark-down rack, and they take up a lot of room.

It was bitterly cold today, but we didn't get very much snow. Some people were talking about slick roads, but I didn't have any trouble.

I am finally finished with my Christmas shopping. I think I spent at least four hours trying to get the last two magazine subscriptions figured out. First I tried to go through the publisher, but they kept telling me my address was wrong, or I hadn't selected a country. I finally gave up and filled out a paper subscription form, only I couldn't find the envelope, and the address was no where on the form. Ugh! Then I tried Amazon. They had both magazines, but since I wanted to send each one to a different child, I had to do the whole process twice! I could enter one alternative address, but not two. If I had wanted to send the same magazine to 7 different kids, I could have done that, but I couldn't send two different magazines to two different children. Mercy! I may have to pick up a few stocking stuffers, but candy or craft supplies will work in that department. I haven't started on my cards, but I don't mind waiting until the last minute to do that. I did check my schedule for that week tonight. I work until 6:00 pm Christmas Eve. I think I may wait until Christmas Day to put up my decorations. I'm going to be home all day, with no company. It will give me something to do.

I warmed up some leftover potato soup and added some shredded cheddar cheese tonight. I also fixed a bunch of fresh broccoli with a cheese sauce. And we had homemade cheesecake that I had fixed yesterday. I ate mine with a bit of cranberry sauce. Yummm! It really hit the spot. The wind is still screaming around the house.

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Mostly Monday

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:19:55 -0800

2009_12_7 - Monday 004.JPG - Vox

Another moon shot from sometime, I'm not sure. Recently, to be sure. I remember it was cold. Perhaps it was Friday after I got home from work. I used to just collapse as soon as I got home, but I'm trying to make myself cook a wee bit so hubby will have something good the next day while I'm gone. On Friday night, it was just garlic toasts and pudding. I can't remember what I did Saturday night. Last night I just watched Sunday night football. It was a good game, even though I did pass out before it was over.

We were cleaning out the top part of the frig this morning. Found a pie crust that I had forgotten about, so I made a pumpkin pie. And turkey a la king. Yummy! I ate mine with brown rice. I've spent the entire afternoon on the computer, just trying to catch up.

I worked by myself on Sunday. Not much time to be creative. I wanted to get started on our Christmas cupcakes, but never got around to it. On Friday, we had decorated four racks of cakes for Saturday. That is a lot! We got most of Sunday's cakes done on Saturday, just a couple left for me to do on Sunday, but then several more came in late, so I was busy.

I need to finish putting our records on a spreadsheet and order some magazines for the grandkids for Christmas. I won't do much shopping this year. Doing Christmas activities and cooking and decorating help me get in the Christmas spirit, but there won't be much of that this year. Bummer! We did get a dusting of snow last night. It didn't last very long. It has been a grey, dreary day.

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A bit about Thursday

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:18:17 -0800

No photos today. I slept until 10:00! I had stayed up late last night trying to get all of our bank account info transfered into Quiken. Then I was so cold that I couldn't go to sleep. Finally, about 3:00 am, I passed out. I bought a heater this afternoon. I don't want to go through that again. I have fleece jammies, flannel sheets, and down comforter, etc. but I still couldn't get warm. If I'm cold at bedtime, and can't seem to get warmed up again. I'm going to have to drink a cup of hot chocolate or something.

I had to take my sister-in-law to her eye doctor's appointment this afternoon. I'm sure they do a good job, but two hours is much too long for me. And I even ran a couple of errands before I went back to wait, and I still got tired of sitting. For some reason, every time I'm in this doctor's office, I pick up a copy of Ebony. I like to see the world from a different perspective. Living out in the sticks like we do, I tend to forget that there are good, intelligent, smart, attractive black people out there who are serious about making the world a better place. This issue had an interesting article about the new Disney movie, The Frog and the Princess. Walmart usually pushes all the Disney movies, even in the cake case. We have two new kits for this one, both of which are very nice. It will be interesting to see how well they sell.

I stopped by the cake case for a few minutes to find out how things look for tomorrow. Sounds like we are going to have three busy days. As long as we don't have too many signature cakes, we will be fine.

I did a little more Christmas shopping today. Since I will be at the store almost everyday from now until the 25th, I can pick up things as I think about them. I have a sweater and vest for my sister-in-law, and I have some books ordered from Amazon. Still need to get some magazines ordered for the grandkids. I'm going to get a Sleep Sheep for the new great grandbaby.

Still need to do some more work on my records. Hubby wants the information on a spreadsheet. For some reason, he has trouble seeing what is on the report from Quiken. Makes perfect sense to me, but he wants figures all in a row. Quess I'll see what I can do. I used to do lots of spreadsheets but haven't worked on one for awhile. We'll see!

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Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes with Vanilla

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:26:50 -0800

CINNAMON SWEET POTATOES WITH VANILLA

3 lbs. sweet potatoes

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

Cook sweet potatoes in salted water until tender. Cool slightly, then peel. Place sweet potatoes in bowl of blender with other ingredients. Process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Adapted from a recipe in the November 2009 edition of Prevention.

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Creamy turkey and noodles

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:36:41 -0800

2009_12_2 - Wednesday 001

CREAMY TURKEY AND NOODLES

1 large onion, chopped

3 celery ribs, sliced

1 cup baby carrots, sliced

6 tbsp butter

6 tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp each dried thyme and parsley flakes

2 cups milk

4 cups cubed cooked turkey

4 cups turkey broth

1 cup frozen peas

4 oz dry egg noodles

In a large saucepan, saute onion, celery, and carrots in butter until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour and seasonings. Gradually add milk. Bring to boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes, or until thinkened. Add turkey and noodles. Add broth. Stir. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add peas and continue heating until noodles and vegetables are tender.

Adapted from recipe found at www.tasteofhome.com.

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Sarah's Potato Soup

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:56:06 -0800

SARAH'S POTATO SOUP

2 cups water

4 cups raw diced potatoes

1/2 cup diced celery

1 cup diced onion

1 cup milk

3 tsp. chicken soup base or bouillion cubes

1 cup half & half

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tbsp flour

Cook potatoes, celery, and onion in water for 20 minutes, or until tender. Add milk. Mix together sour cream, flour, and half & half. Add some warm soup to sour cream mixture. Return to pan, and heat until thick. Do not boil.

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French Bread Stuffing

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:50:27 -0800

FRENCH BREAD STUFFING

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups chopped celery

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

10 cups French bread cubes

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp sage

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup chicken broth (if needed)

Preheat oven to 325.

In large skillet, cook and stir onion and celery in better until onion in tender. Stir in about 1/3 of the bread cubes. Add seasonings and stir. Turn into bowl with rest of bread cubes and toss. If stuffing appears to be too dry, add chicken broth and toss.

Turn stuffing into buttered 9 x 13 inch glass dish. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes.

To make ahead of time, take out of oven after 30 minutes. Vent foil and let cool. Refrigerate. Remove foil and finish baking prior to serving.

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