Hard at work

Ellen worked hard on this gingerbread tree! She has always been a crafty girl.

Frosty

Courtney and Kelsey got snow too!! Thanks for the cute photo, Jen! We like how they used Grandpa's hat.

Snow!

We awoke this morning to a fresh carpet of white! It snowed all morning and was really quite pretty. You can see about 3 inches on this feeder. Heavy, sticky, snowman-building snow.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very merry Christmas!!

Christmas Program

We went to our nieces' Christmas Program last Sunday. Courtney played Mary and Kelsey played a little angel. It was a very nice program, directed by their mom, Jen. Courtney played a very serene Mary and you can see that Kelsey enjoyed her role.

Super Simple Truffles

No pictures, but I have to share the easiest truffle recipe you will ever find.

1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips- milk chocolate will work too.
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

Melt all three ingredients together in a heavy pan, stir well. Place in the fridge for 2 hours or so until cool. Scoop by the teaspoonful and roll into balls. Roll in desired coating (chopped nuts, cocoa, powdered sugar, crushed candy canes) Store in refrigerator until serving time. These are very smooth and delicious. This recipe came from my neighbor who is an excellent cook.

Blueberry Salad

Blueberry Jello Salad

A friend served this at our Christmas book club party and we all loved it! Very easy and beautiful served in a clear glass bowl.

1 large box of Raspberry Jello

1 can blueberry pie mix

Dissolve Jello in 1 cup boiing water, add pie mix then 2 cups cold water in glass bowl. Chill until set.

Topping

1-8 oz pkg cream cheese-I used reduced fat

1-8 oz sour cream-I used light

1/2 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients, spread over Jello and sprinkle with chopped walnuts or pecans.

Rolo Turtles

Rolo Turtles

These are the easiest ever! Place Rolos on small pretzels. Bake for 4 mn at 250 degrees, just enough to slightly melt the Rolos. Press a pecan on each Rolo and let cool. That's it!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 4th Birthday, Carly!!!!

December 19

You're a sweetheart!

Love you~

Auntie Laurie

Fish Houses

I took this photo on December 9th. The ice was pretty safe with the previous week's arctic temp's. It was close to 50 degrees that day and I counted 10 fish houses from this angle. Dan and I walked down to the point and 6 of the seasonal cabins were being put to use. That's pretty unusual, but with the lack of snow and warm temp's, people are getting a little bonus time in. Can't blame them! Today, on the 16th, only one fish house remains. It's the one by itself right out in the middle of the photo. Some guys will risk anything for a walleye!

New House

Last Sunday, Mom, Dad and I drove over to see Royce and Lynn's house in progress. It was a beautiful day to travel. I'm not sure how warm it was, but it was somewhere in the 50's! It took about 3 hours to get to their place near Rock Creek. They are building it themselves and doing a wonderful job. The taxidermy shop/garage is pretty much done. The setting is very wooded and peaceful. After touring the buildings and walking on the trail we had a nice lunch in Grantsburg and began the long drive home. Here are some of the pictures I snapped.

Cat Exercises

One...two...STRETCH!!!!!

Christmas Party

Our Elementary Christmas party was held on Friday evening. I arrived early to help out a bit and the hostess gave me permission to post some pictures of her lovely home before everyone arrived to mess it up. Just kidding. I love looking at interior pictures and I will try to do this often on my blog. The party was lots of fun and well attended. How could you not have fun in this atmostphere?! Enjoy!

Hungry Chickadee

Brrrrr ...

we've had 2 arctic days here on Sandy Point. I've been keeping up with my bird chores outside. The birds have been so active at the feeders this fall. We are really going through the sunflower seeds. The cats do most of the birdwatching around our house as Dan and I usually get home just as the birds are settling in at dusk. It keeps the cats out of trouble.....most of the time.

Looking forward to 40's this weekend!

Thanks for checking in. Laurie

Birthday Girl December 5

The little pumpkin turns 4 on Tuesday. Happy Birthday, Sophie!!!

I hope all your birthday wishes come true!

Love, Auntie Laurie

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It was very nippy out there today but my window box had been waiting long enough.
This is the way I usually decorate it. I'll add white lights and that will be it, well maybe a bow. The old ladder is a recent acquisition. I debated between this option and bringing it into the TV room and putting throws on the rungs. Maybe in January I'll bring it in. The TV room is the coldest room in our house so it will be useful. The buck and doe have been placed back outside and that is it for the outside decoration.

November Skies

Goodbye November!

Back in Time

This was the last day I took pictures of the yard this fall, early October I think. It's going to be a long time before we step out the door and see green again. Today, the wind continues to blow and it was -7 with the windchill at noon. The poor kids had to go outside as -10 is our cutoff. They were not happy campers when they came in. I would have had them stay inside but it's not my call. I did tell them that on Fridays this winter they can stay in the classroom and read over their recess as an option. I have a lot of bookworms in my class this year so they're excited about that. Back to the photo...I painted the service door on the garage red this summer and it made such a big difference. I didn't know they were called "service doors" until we had them installed. Hope you are keeping warm. Happy Birthday, Jen!!!! Laurie

Hanging in there

We're just hanging out this evening. Maisy jumps through this stool several times per day. Sometimes she stops and hangs in the middle for awhile. She did it long enough for me to grab my camera this time.
The wind is really howling out there tonight. So far, we're only getting some rain. I'm not really looking forward to winter but the snow would make things look much prettier around here. I've been putting up some Christmas decor but no tree yet. Usually I have it up by now. My kitchen window box is empty too. It's one of my favorite things to decorate for Christmas. I'll post a picture when that's done. We got our first Christmas card today and it wasn't from the person who usually is in first place. With that card I guess the holidays are officially here. Merry Christmas! Laurie

Thrift Stores

I had to get my hair cut and highlighted after school today. While I was in Fergus I was able to hit two thrift stores. I found two great kids' books, another about Gettysburg and one wonderful Pyrex teapot. It's the only one I've ever seen with this cute round shape. I'm brewing tea as I'm blogging. The Gettysburg book is a great find as Dan and I visited the battlefield site while in DC this August. We both agreed that it was the highlight of our trip. Dan will be pleased with this find unlike the china he's used to me lugging home. Oh, and about the haircut...I had 5 inches off the back! Hard to believe it was that long. I'm back to my angled bob and I went darker for winter. One last thing, I changed the comments so that anyone can comment, not just members. I'm learning!

November 26, 2006

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging. I have decided to blog to share my interests and life with family and friends. In this photo you can see Sandy Point which inspired the name of this blog. Thanks for checking in! Laurie