Thanksgiving Update

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my darling little sis here from Maine. It is always so nice to have her home since she doesn't get home very often. The girls' have really had fun with their aunt. Yesterday they went to Chuck E'Cheese and then to the mall for some shopping. My little one came home with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer from Build a Bear Workshop and the great thing is.....it sings. At 5:30 this morning, Rudolph started singing and a little hand patted me on the shoulder all accompanied with a little voice that said, "Don't you love this song?!" My reply was that yes I loved the Rudolph song, but she and Rudolph needed to go back to bed. She said ok and pitter pattered off to her bed. I on the other hand was wide awake so off to the coffee pot I went. The only bad thing is that my computer has now totally and completely crashed, so I will have to update the blog from my mom's house. I will update at least once a week until my computer is fixed. So this is this week's update and I will try to cover all briefly.

Sewing and Scrap Challenge
I have finished another Sunday dress and just about finished the pinafore that goes with it. I will put some embroidery on the sleeves and the peter pan collar and then it will be done. On the scrap challenge, I had some linen pieces which I made coffee filters from. I like the linen because it is unbleached and natural. It is also a loose enough weave that the water flows through easily. I took small squares, folded them across into a big triangle. Then I cut the tip to make it more flat and then sewed the seam. Easy as pie and I have new coffee filters. I have a bunch of this linen from my art days (it is used for canvases), so I was thinking of making some of these to sell at the store blog. Do you think anyone might be interested in them? They last a long time and wouldn't cost much at all. Anyway, just an idea. I am now working on a needlework piece that I picked up several years ago, started, put down and never got back to. It is a small piece and I am not really sure what I will do with it, but it is a nice change from cutting and sewing types of things. I will have it finished in a day or two and then need to work on a couple of shirts for my little one to go under her jumpers. The jumpers still fit but the shirts are too small, so I will just make a couple new ones and then we will be set. I think that is about it in the sewing area for this week.

Montessori Preschool
I completed the counting cards and ladybugs that will be a Christmas gift for my little one. The ladybugs were shells that I painted to look like ladybugs. I also got the sandpaper numbers finished so that she can trace and feel the symbols for her numbers. I painted the red rods which is beginning math concept teaching longest, shortest and everything in between. It also teaches that several can equal one. These will later become counting rods which will help her learn addition and subtraction concepts. I have the sandpapers letters written on the sandpaper, but not yet cut out and put on the cardstock. I will get that started this week. She can sing the ABC song, but this will be her first formal introduction to the symbols and have the ability to feel their shape. I am right proud of myself that I free handed the cursive so that they can be cut out and put on cardstock leaving enough of the letter to be traced. We also this week will continue with our geography by painting the flags of our state and the United States. We also plan on doing leaf rubbings of trees and then talking about the parts of the leaves, then continue with tree drawings and talking about the parts of trees. Anyway, I am sure there will be more and of course we will continue with what we have already introduced.

Food
We are getting ready to start our Christmas baking and will get the breads done and in the freezer since the candies need to be done relatively fresh. This will free us up a bit to do some other things. I have a great rabbit recipe that I tried out on everyone last week and they liked it. I thought it was really good and it is a crockpot recipe. So here it is:

Creamy Rabbit and Rice
1 rabbit cut into pieces
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package of onion soup mix
Salt and pepper to taste

Places salt and peppered rabbit pieces in crockpot. Then mix the other ingredients in a bowl and dump on top of the rabbit making sure that all of the rabbit is covered. Cook on low for about 6 hours or on high for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours. When the rabbit is tender it is done. I served this over brown rice with a side of asparagus and sliced tomatoes. I also served with garlic bread. Super yummy and oh so easy.

Well, that is about all I can think of right now. Like I said I will update once a week at least until I get the computer fixed and then I will be back to normal. Hope you all have a blessed week. Kat