The Thankful Home

A few days ago I told you about a 7 day thankfulness challenge my daughter wrote about on her blog.

Her sweet words stuck with me as reminder to look around and appreciate the little things we take for granted on any given day. 

This morning I walked out of my bedroom bright and early....the dogs were squeaking to get out and it's Monday morning and I didn't sleep well.....but the sun was shining through the front windows and the house was cozy and warm and all was well with my world. 

And I started thinking about how lucky I am. 

Although things can get a little overwhelming when I don't have enough time off work I'm thankful that I have a job that I like and a boss I adore. 

The firewood tower is almost empty which means I need to bring in wood before work....but I'm so thankful for my beautiful fireplace that keeps my house lovely and warm. 

And strong legs and arms to carry loads of wood up a flight of stairs. I'm grateful for the exercise. 

The laundry that's piled up in my master closet right now means I have plenty of warm clothes to wear. 

And the pantry that I organized yesterday means I have lots of food to prepare for the people I love. 

The linen closet I also worked on yesterday is stocked with paper goods, toiletries, table linens, and fluffy clean towels all of which make my home cozy and efficient. It's the simple everyday things such as this that make me feel at peace in my life. 

The dog hair that I'm constantly vacuuming up means I have two wonderful little furbabies that I love sharing my life and home. And my furniture, which apparently is theirs. 

What about those puppy toys that I pick up ten times a day and throw back in the toy basket? I'm so thankful for those little furry brats - they wake me up at the crack of dawn because they just want Mommy to be able to enjoy a glorious sunrise!

The mess my daughters made downstairs over the weekend reminds me how thankful I am to be able to spend quality time with my two beautiful daughters on a regular basis. Someday I'll be an empty nester and I'll miss their silliness and their busy lives and their messes. 

I won't miss them waking me up in the wee hours when they come home, though. Nope. Mommy needs her sleep!

I am so very thankful for the sweet man that came into my life when I was going through a painful divorce and kept me sane and gave me strength. His strong shoulders supported me through many challenging times over the past 5 years and although we don't live together we do have a committed relationship and I consider him my partner.

My sister will be hosting Thanksgiving once again this year and my other sister will travel from Boston with her little family to join us. The only thing missing will be my parents, who are in Florida for the winter and no longer travel back for the holidays. I am eternally grateful for my wonderful family - we are so blessed.

And I am ever so thankful for the many people who have been stopping by my humble little blog. I feel as if I have a bunch of wonderful new friends and I love reading every one of your comments! They inspire me to keep sharing my thoughts and my simple little life with the folks in Blogland.

I am a truly lucky woman. 

Crazy for Cappuccino

Weekends are for cappuccino - without a doubt. It's my little treat to myself on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And vacation days. Basically any morning I don't have to jump out of bed and run to the office. 

My sister came for a visit recently and I made her a cappuccino and she looked around my kitchen in confusion, wondering how I made it.....without an expensive cappuccino machine. 

So...I thought I'd share my little secret with you, my blogland friends!

I start with my Moka pot. Don't look too closely at it - I don't follow the instructions NOT to put it in the dishwasher and the metal has discolored. Oh well! If the discoloration bothers you, make sure you don't put your Moka pot in the dishwasher. If you are like me and don't like to hand wash dishes unless you absolutely have to.....go ahead and pop it in the dishwasher. It doesn't change the flavor or performance one bit.

Note: The 6 cup Moka pot is a big fat lie - this makes 2 cappuccinos total! If I'm alone, one of them goes into a mason jar for an iced cappuccino treat midweek. 

I also use a can of Illy Moka,  my milk warmer, and my fast froth. All total I spent about $55 for my equipment, as opposed to anywhere from $250+ for a cappuccino machine. The coffee is about $15 per can on Amazon, but a little cheaper if you buy 2 cans at a time. And since I only make this on the weekends, one can lasts me about a month. 

Ok, here we go. 

Unscrew the top of the Moka pot from the bottom and remove the coffee filter. 

Fill with cold water up to the level of the valve, shown on the front of the bottom of the Moka pot. 

Set the filter back into the base of the Moka Pot and loosely fill with coffee, Don't pack it in, but fill it to the rim, clean off any  mess around the rim and screw the top portion back on. 

Put your Moka pot on the burner with the flames reaching to the edge of the bottom of the pot, not coming up around the sides. 

At this point I usually feed the birds.....because it takes a few minutes to start brewing. 

The coffee will start bubbling up through the middle of the Moka Pot, and pooling in the upper portion of the pot. 

Now it's time to start warming the milk. I use organic fat free milk and it works perfectly for this. 

Fill the milk warmer about 1/3 full of cold milk and put on a low-med flame. Keep it stirred - nobody likes scorched milk! You want the milk hot but not boiling. 

Take your handy-dandy Fast Froth and place the whisk part into the hot milk. Turn it on and move it up and down in the hot milk to aerate the milk and produce a beautiful froth. I keep the pot tipped slightly to the side while doing this, which seems to help aerate the milk. 

Keep an eye on the Moka Pot - when the coffee stops bubbling up through the middle turn it off. 

I drink my coffee black during the week but my cappuccino? I like one teaspoon of organic raw cane sugar. I put the sugar in the bottom of the cup first, and then pour in hot milk from the milk warmer. Stir to dissolve the sugar. 

Now add half the coffee from the Moka pot. Stir again. 

Top off with foam from the milk warmer, spooned off the top of the hot milk. 

Add a sprinkle of cinnamon and tell everyone to leave you alone for a little while. 

Sit in  your favorite chair next to the fire, grab a magazine or your iPad or whatever makes you happy, and start your day off right. 

What's your weekend treat to yourself? 

The Cure For What Ails You

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with swollen glands. Uggghh I don't have time to be sick! I guess that explains the general feeling of malaise I had during the week. I had a tough time shaking it, which is totally not me. I am generally a very positive person, happy in my life. Try to see the positive in every situation when possible. 

So when I have a day that I wake up and can't shake off a mood? Must be something my body is fighting. 

What's a gal to do? Make chicken broth of course!

It's really the easiest thing in the world to make at home and so much better by far than anything you will ever buy in the market. And if you happen to be a vegetarian you can eliminate the chicken and just double up on the veggies. 

Start by gathering your ingredients. This is much more a tutorial than an actual recipe....

Chicken carcass - (Note: Whenever I make a roast chicken I save the carcass in the freezer to make chicken broth at a later date. You can do the same if you buy one of those supermarket rotisserie chickens.) 

2 Onions

1 Head of Garlic (I used 2 because they were tiny....and because, well....garlic!! Yum!)

Celery - you can use either 2 - 3 stalks of celery or do what I do which is use the leafy top of the celery stalk that isn't good for much else (unless you want to use it for a garnish in a bloody mary....yes, please!)

Carrots - about 2 whole carrots. I didn't have any picked out of the garden so I left them out. 

Parsley - fresh if you have it, dried if you don't. A good amount. Probably a good tablespoon or more if using dried, a handful if fresh. 

Peppercorns

Thyme

3 bay leaves

I also throw in a little of the Vermont Country Seasoning shown below. Because I have it. Any herb based seasoning would really work. 

Water

Throw the chicken carcass (frozen) into the bottom of your largest crock pot bowl. My crock pot has 3 sizes so I use the largest....if yours only has one size just use what you've got. You can also do this on the stove in a large stockpot but I don't like leaving the stove on for 24 hours so....crockpot works for me!

Chop the celery very roughly into large pieces, same with the carrots if you are using them, and throw them right in on top of the chicken. I threw in a couple of string beans I had in the fridge also just because I had them and they needed to be used up. And in went the parsley. 

Cut the onions and garlic head in half and throw it all in. Leave the skins on . You're discarding eveyrthing but the broth at the end so you don't have to be fussy here. 

Add about a tablespoon of whole peppercorns, a half teaspoon of herbed seasoning, and a half teaspoon of dried thyme leaves. And 3 bay leaves. 

Fill the crockpot with water - I use water right from the tap since I have a whole-house filter. You may want to use filtered water if you don't. Your call. 

Plug it in, put it on low, and leave it for at least 24 hours. That's when the magic happens, when everything breaks down and comes together. It has to be left for a minimum of 24 hours. I've even left it for longer (about 36 hours) and it was just fine. 

It seriously takes about 10 minutes to throw it together into the crock pot (if even! That was with taking photos of each step!) and at the end you have a beautiful chicken stock you can use for the base of your soups, stews, whatever. I often do this in the morning before work and the following morning strain it out and put it in the fridge. 

When it's been simmering on low for at least 24 hours, let it cool a little and then remove all the larger stuff to a bowl to cool for a while before throwing out. 

I usually put as much of the chicken that came off the carcass aside for my pups. They love it mixed in with their dry food!

Then I put a large bowl into the sink, put a fine mesh strainer over it, and pour the broth into the bowl, emptying the strainer as necessary when it fills with scraps. 

It goes into the fridge overnight at this point. In the morning, any fat in the broth will have solidified and can be skimmed off with a spoon. The rest goes into quart size freezer bags and into the freezer to be pulled out as needed. 

And some of it will be going to make me some good old Chicken Noodle Soup this weekend to hopefully head off this cold that's trying to get me down. 

Our temps are heading into the teens this weekend as an overnight low and they are predicting snow showers. Nothing like a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a nice fire to make you feel right with the world again!

Enjoy!

Cozy Evenings at Home

My daughter is off in Egypt right now, traveling around exploring the deserts and the pyramids and the tombs....she's got wanderlust, that one. Always had. She went away to school at 18 and never looked back. 

Me? I'm a homebody. There's nothing I like better than a cozy evening at home. That's not to say I don't have places I'd like to see in my lifetime but my happiest place is still right here at home. 

It's all the more sweet now that my home has only one name on the deed. Mine. And I am in control of my own destiny and will never lose another home to a man. 

But that's another story entirely for another day. I got a glaring reminder this week why things went the way they did....and I was so very glad to be out of that place in my life. 

Now I'm in my happy place. 

One of the most glorious moments of the evening, in my opinion, is when the afternoon chores have been completed, dinner has been enjoyed, the kitchen is once again clean, the dishwasher is running....and my work day is done. That's usually when I go around the house puttering...moving things a little to the left....what about moving that plant over there.....I could use a candle in that spot....you know the drill. 

I like to take photos to capture my little happy moment. They're not perfect, they're not staged. They are just my everyday life captured in a photo. Flaws and all. 

Today I'm sharing with you the photos I took last night. It will be almost like you came over for a visit. I wish you could!

Have a seat.  Put your feet up. Those chairs swivel. Feel free to swing around to watch TV or the cozy fire. 

Or the sofa for a cozy chat. Hi! That's me sitting on the corner of the sofa taking these photos. 

I have a dear friend coming tonight for the first time to my new home. I am looking so forward to her visit! She also bought a home in the past year with only her name on the deed. I'm so very proud of her....and me. And every other strong woman who has made the tough decision to get out of a bad place in her life and start over. You know who you are - kudos to you. 

I have a sister coming tomorrow night for an overnight visit as well. My guest room is going to be busy this weekend! That's ok, there are lots of clean sheets in the linen chest. 

You haven't seen my guest room yet....that's because it's not quite finished. I have nothing hanging on the walls and it feels a little naked. You wouldn't want to see it naked, would you? Ok....here's a sneak peek. More to come when I figure things out in there. 

I hope you all find a cozy spot in your home this evening that just makes you want to grab the camera and capture the happiness. 

Enjoy your happy place, my friends!

Things That Brighten My Day

Some mornings it's just hard to shake off a "mood" - this morning was one of those mornings. 

My older dog has this terrible habit of waking the house before dawn. She wakes my younger daughter first (she sleeps in her room) and after she gets out for her morning business she runs up the stairs and sits outside my door. Whining. Crying. Whimpering. It's beyond annoying and I don't know how to break her of the habit. If my daughter doesn't let her up the stairs, she sits inside my daughter's room scratching at the door and whining and being annoying. Either way, we don't get enough sleep. Ever.

And after a while it wears on you. Big time.

Today was one of those days. 

My older daughter is traveling (again!) - this time she's on her way to Egypt via Istanbul and I can't help but worry about her. So, it was a night of tossing and turning for me, and there will be many nights like that until she returns safely on the 23rd. Say a prayer.

I'm tired. I need a really good night's sleep.

Today I'm going to post some simple things in my world that always make me smile. In the hopes that they will brighten both my day and yours.

And I know they will. 

Autumn morning light on the deck - best place ever for my morning coffee

My sweetie got exactly 3 flowers on his hydrangeas all season....and he cut them and brought them to me!

Weekend mornings deserve cappucino

The morning light hits the green bubbly glass knobs in the kitchen and makes them glow

The best thing about my dog waking me up before dawn

A housewarming gift from a friend - it makes me smile every time I see it

My little monkey always manages to find the sunshine

The foliage in my back woods

My evening sanctuary

My old girl who won't let me sleep - she loves her new toy - it's hard to stay mad at that face 

Waiting for a party

My home, my haven

The blue jays come in one after the other now for their peanuts and entertain us to no end

The morning sun hits the trees right outside the kitchen windows and they light up the room

My little monkey is a big Giants fan!