Happy Thanksgiving from Ginger

Yep, I made the pie. But not the giraffe.

I cooked the pumpkin myself, strained it in cheesecloth, added homemade pumpkin pie spice mix and the other ingredients, and baked it just right.  Okay, the crust is the coolest thing...I bought it refrigerated, rolled it into the pan, and shaped the edges. Looks homemade, but it isn't. 

Our hostess made a beautiful apple pie with lattice crust on the top. Her little girls were so proud of that pie and the others she made. 

At this time of year, and always, I am thankful for family and friends. I am thankful for plentiful food, for my church, and especially for the Lord and his constant presence in my life.

Daily Shots

I have a friend who has to give herself a shot every day for the next two years. She went to buy a sharps container, and they are not cheap! The nurse said she could just use a milk jug if she wanted.

I made a small container; it's only going to last a month or two, but it came out cute. I simply took a white plastic jar with a screw-on lid and had Anthony drill a hole in the top. It's a little bigger than your typical cold-cream jar.

I made a decorative label, covered it with contact paper, and stuck it on the jar. And then I took it to her--but I forgot to take a picture first. Oops.

I can post the image of the label; I guess you can just picture it wrapped around the jar.

 

 Do you think your could give yourself shots every day?  I really think it would be hard. I hope this makes it at least a tiny bit more cheerful process for her, because for every needle she disposes in this little jar, it will remind her that someone cares about her.

Crafty, Maybe, But Not Craftsy

I am working on kitchen curtains, but I've been hired on as a tutor at ITT-Tech, and it's the end of the quarter. My biggest project lately was making a review sheet for the students.  We had a big review session on Saturday--3 hours long.  5 students showed up at various times, out of the 20 or so enrolled.

 So, my pictures today are of math review!

If anyone wants all seven pages, please post a comment. These are just random selections.  I could probably improve them.  I think I'll run them by my math whiz son.

Digital Camera

I finally got my own little digital camera. Now I can take my own pictures of finished projects. Maybe that'll give me the incentive to actually get one done.

I read many reviews of inexpensive digital cameras, which said they don't give a lot of options. That's perfect for me! If I wanted options, I'd learn to use my husband's D-SLR. We went to Best Buy and played with a bunch of them, to get a feel for them.I finally settled on a Sony Cyber-shot.

I wanted black but it had to be special-ordered so I decided on silver so I could have it right now.

The other choice available locally was red, but it was a little too close to Utah Red! 

The BYU Blue one also had to be special-ordered. I really didn't want a color anyway, but that black was a very pretty camera!

The one I got doesn't say on the box it does video, and I was disappointed when I realized that.  Happily, it does have that feature, which will be nice when I see my family again, and it looks really easy to use.

It does have a lithium ion rechargeable battery, supposed to last 230 pictures. It's lighter and doesn't require carrying a bunch of batteries around, so that's good. But what if it dies in the middle of an important event? The Nikon Coolpix that takes AA batteries is a nicer shape, though. And should I have held out for black and waited the week for it to be shipped?

Buyers' Remorse. Isn't it awful? I'm happy, I got a camera, on sale, with a gift card to pay for the first $50 of it (Thank you Qwest) and now I can take pictures and basic videos.  I gave in to the temptation of comparing my price to the online price, and guess what?  I only found one price $5 lower; all the others were at least $10 higher. It's a wash between shipping and state sales tax, so I feel really good about the price. And I am helping support local people in keeping jobs.

I guess my next project is reading the manual.

Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego?

My biggest project of the year came up in July. After an unexpected job offer, we made a sudden move, 1200 miles away from our family and friends.  This move has been taxing in so many ways.  I've been lonesome, tired, homesick, and sick.  On the plus side, I'm making new friends, developing a new life, and have a job I love.

To start off with, we loaded the absolute necessities for a month-long trip into my car. Summer clothes, since this was July. Computers & monitor, blankets, first aid kit, toiletries, and my sleep machine, (cpap) along with a good supply of snacks and bottled water, were included in this list.  Then we hit the road.

At the first night's stop, we discovered something I had overlooked, when we got to a hotel with a pool, so we headed to Walmart for an inexpensive swimsuit.  We found that swimming at night was the perfect way to unwind after a long day in the car--or even 2 hours, which is all we made the first day, after we finally got out of the house.

We stayed a few days in a Super 8 motel. Sadly, they didn't have a pool. They did have the most secure internet we found on the whole trip--and the lowest price.  We started apartment hunting, and went to church on Sunday. "We don't know if we're visitors or new members of your congregation; it depends on where we end up living!"

On Monday Anthony went to work while I used Ethel, our trusty GPS, to find my way around town and look at more houses and apartments.  That night the owner of this darling little house called, and on Tuesday we signed a lease with him.

It's a great little home for us, complete with chicken wallpaper in the kitchen!  I asked the landlord about changing the wallpaper, but he said no. He's kind of partial to the chickens, I guess. So I am sewing cute muslin curtains and hanging color-coordinated pictures.

I found this darling table and 5 matching chairs at Goodwill, to complement our country kitchen look. I knew there was no way our dining table would fit in the space available.

After a month, we went back to our hometown and loaded the rest of our belongings into a Budget truck.  That was an adventure in itself!  Two of our sons came along; one transferred to a state university nearby, and the other helped us drive the truck and unload before flying home and off to adventures of his own in a Master's Degree program.

While we were there, we attended a special event, the sealing of our son's family at the temple. We believe that when families are sealed in the temple, by special authority, they can be together, not just until death, but for eternity. 

We have visited historic Nauvoo, Illinois, including a couple of visits to the Nauvoo Temple.  We plan to visit other local sites as time goes by.  We have also been to Lake McBride and Bloomsbury Farm for the corn maze and other fun activities. It's a great place that I hope to take the grandchildren next summer!

I picked out this cute little giraffe and started the "Ginger Project" to help the grandchildren relate to our activities and, hopefully, feel closer to us.  We take Ginger all sorts of places and take pictures to send to the grandchildren, by phone or Facebook.  It's fun.  We bought a Ginger to send to them, but so far I think she has only visited one family.  In this picture, Ginger meets a new friend.