CHRISTMAS JAM AND LAZY SUNDAY

 We didn't exchange gifts this year because, well, we bought a house!  Ha.  Plus with so much going on with unpacking and getting settled in, it was easier to eliminate that pressure.  But birthdays are coming March, watch out!  Ha.

But we did get some gifts from friends.

A very sweet friend sent us this.  It's a jar of homemade cranberry jam or also called Christmas jam.  We couldn't wait to get into it.

We broke out the toaster and toasted some English Muffins.  Oh my gosh it was SO good.  Cranberries and I believe some orange flavoring along with the traditional Christmas spices.  I am currently checking recipes to put in my canning folder and I can't wait to make some and gift it next year.  Pay it forward, ha. 

We bought these really neat flickering flame led lights for the two beside the door and we are obsessed with them.  They look so cool at night, like there are gas lights on each side of the door.  Had to share.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and holy cow, a new year is coming this week!

CHRISTMAS EVE 2025

It's Christmas Eve!

Where did the time go?

We didn't do much decorating this year.  The closing and move just came too late in the year.  It's only in the last week or so that we have gotten everything finally unpacked...but a lot of that is still sitting around needing to go to homes somewhere in the house.

Got a wonderful gift from a very sweet friend.  Our first ornament for the new house!  It will have a place of honor on the tree every year.

New Home - New Beginnings - New Memories!

DONKEYS AND BREAKFAST ON THE ISLAND

Hey everybody!  Hope you are doing well and getting prepared for Christmas!

We are still unpacking but almost done.  

I was outside moving the plants from the garage back outside and...

...I had an audience.  I so wanted them to come over to the fence but they were wary of their "new neighbor", ha.  I should get some carrots for next time!

Breakfast on the island?  

No, we didn't travel, ha.  Our island at the house is finally cleared off and now we can use it as intended.

Put the griddle down by the pop up outlet...

...and cooked up some pancakes!

Off to run some errands!

TURKEY BONE STOCK CONCENTRATED

With our two turkeys, we decided to make some concentrated turkey stock to freeze for future use.

We put the bones from the two after we had stripped off the meat, into the fridge overnight.  The next morning, we put them into the pressure cooker.  Even had some juices that had already congealed.

We added 8 cups of water...

...and put the lid on.  We pressure cooked it for a few hours (two cycles).

This is what it looked like.  Beautiful bone stock.  All of the flavor possible has been extracted.  We strained it and put it in a large bowl, covered it and popped it in the refrigerator overnight.

This is what it looked like after that process.  That thin layer on top is all the fat left.

A flat edge spatula got it all off.

Look at this!  It is literally turkey jello, ha!  We tasted it and wow, so good.  

The eight cups of water gave us seven bags of liquid gold!  We packaged them into one cup amounts because it's so concentrated, when we are ready to use it, we can add some water and get two cups of delicious turkey stock.

Now that we have the space to prep, store and put up, we LOVE planning ahead like this.

This weekend, it's chicken time!

END OF YEAR GARDEN BARGAINS

 We might have moved but I'm still looking for good deals, ha!

And here are a few I found last week.  We presume these were end of season clearance or maybe things they found in the backroom that they didn't get rid of earlier and now they marked them down again.

Nitrile garden gloves, they are a water-resistant fabric (in a fun Texas theme design) and then the bottom (palms) are coated with that rubber gripper stuff.

Then I found these.  Haven't seen something like this before but it's called a "hook sprinkler".  You can hang it on a branch or a wall, and the hook also acts as a base for uneven ground.  There is even an on/off switch.  It says ideal for small spaces so I figured it might be a good way to get water to the fruit trees.  And who knows how the future garden will be set up.

You can never have too many watering devices, ha.

And lastly, I was needing some trimmer string for my weedeater, which even though I'm not using this time of year, Spring will be here before we know it, and this will be one less thing to get (for a while anyway).  I found these in pre-cut pieces the exact length I need for mine and they are the "twisted" variety which I love using as it keeps the long grass tangling to a minimum.

You can probably see the prices on these, but it was $11.00 for everything!

Now THAT'S a deal!

FIRST FREEZE OF THE SEASON IN OUR NEW HOUSE

 Winter has arrived at the new house. Well, OK, maybe not full-on Winter, but our first freeze, ha.

When we woke up on Sunday morning, it was 59 degrees...

...and by 5:00pm it was already down to 45.

We spent the weekend putting up stuff for the freezer and kind of meal prepping, using our wonderful new kitchen since we have the space on the island.  More on all that in future posts.

I did the final mow of the season last weekend so the grass is looking nice and short and after last night's freeze, it will now turn beige and be dormant for the next few more months.

We got this alert on our phones.  It's not a pipe worrying freeze (though, hopefully we won't have to worry about that much more at all in this new house) but we did need to worry about the sensitive plants we have.  But unlike years past, no more driving out there and setting up a heater, covering them, etc.

Instead, all we had to do was carry them a few feet and put them inside the garage.  The garage temp was 55 this morning while the outside temp was 28, so no worries there!  My car is still parked outside on the driveway, so it had ice on the windows this morning.  I need to swap 2nd Man's car for mine, ha!

The well is protected by the shed (a couple of cool new things we ordered coming for that).  The house was nice and warm, we set it at 70 and it hardly ran, so that's good news for the electric bill, ha. 

Stay warm if you're in the cold snap areas!

PUTTING UP OUR SECOND TURKEY

As many of you know, we roasted two turkeys now that we have two ovens and the new freezer space.

We did our dry brining in the garage fridge for a few days and then used a browning bag for the most wonderfully juicy and golden turkey we've ever made.

We ate on one turkey for days (of course, ha) and then this one was 100% for putting up in the freezer.  I sat at the island and stripped all the meat off the bones (but saved those, more on that in another post).

I portioned them out into well packed, two-cup portions so we would have enough for future dishes. I put them into vacuum bags and sealed them up.

That one turkey, about 13 lbs, gave us five bags of a little over two cups each in our freezer that will be used for five different dishes, from turkey tetrazzini to turkey pot pie.  Maybe we'll have "Thanksgiving in July", complete with meat, dressing & cranberry sauce!

ONE CAR IN AND ONE CAR OUT

We've been emptying boxes...

We have these that we are going to give away if someone in the area needs them for a move.  Wouldn't mind them getting a second use for sure.

We've emptied quite a few and there are two more stacks just like this on the front porch but filled with paper and bubble wrap, etc.  Will give those away as well, if we can.

Look!  Now, one car is outside...

...and the other one is in the garage!  The only items left are what will go in the barn for storage for now.  All the household items have been moved inside the house.  The goal is to get the other side emptied this upcoming weekend (I get home in the dark so it's not feasible to get the stuff to the barn with no electricity out there).  Once the other side is empty I can park my car in there and we'll be good for rain/sleet/hail/hot weather!

Progress!

BEEN BUSY BUT THE SUNSETS ARE WORTH IT

 Sorry for our absence.  It's been busy.  Still unpacking and moving stuff but making process.

Caught this sunset last night.  It was going down fast and it had been a long day but wow...

...sunsets like this we wouldn't trade for anything in the world now.  We are definitely in our element.  Now, we just need to get the house finished, ha.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

WE HAVE A WELL SHED NEW HOUSE UPDATE

There was another concrete project we had done and it was for a special reason that we can now show you.

This was the way our well was installed.  They don't put anything big underneath, it was just a 3x3 concrete pad that came standard.

So, when the driveway was being worked on, we had them expand the area to hold an 84"x84"...

...slab!!  They poured concrete all around it.  This was the day of the pour...

...and this was after it had cured but before they removed the forms.  By the way, it was sprinkling this particular day, ha.

You may ask, why did you need to have a bigger slab poured?  Well (no pun intended, ha), we decided to get a well shed to protect our investment!

They installed it the other day...

And here it is!

It looks great!  It's exactly what we wanted.  We had the slab poured to be a little bigger than the building itself so that I can mow/edge around it without striking the building and damaging it. They also bolted it into the concrete so it's not going to blow over in a windstorm.

Best of all...

The shape matches the barn and mower shed!

It's built by a company called Polar Sheds.  They make sheds for this exact purpose.  It will protect our equipment from freezing temps (we can put a heater or light bulb out there if needed).

From their website:

"Our well houses are constructed with polystyrene between metal panels. The walls, roof and trim use an upcycled product commonly known as a sandwich panel.  The panels are 1.75" thick and consist of two sheets of 26-gauge primed steel with solid core polystyrene in between."

Here is the thickness, you can see it here on the door, the walls are the same way.  It has a latch so we can lock it if needed and even has a nice drip edge/drip cap above the door.

There is also an eye hook on the top and that way, if the well tank or pump ever need major servicing, it can be easily lifted off the slab.  A well service vehicle has the winch with crane to do this since they routinely pull pumps and tanks.

We should have no need to worry about freezing temps around the well equipment.  Also, it will all be out of our monsoon rains (and that has already been tested and the concrete stayed dry).  Lastly, it will be out of the blazing sun in the Summer.  Win/win/win!

Now, we just need it to match.  We're sensing some red and white painting in our future!

THANKSGIVING DINNER 2025

 Our first Thanksgiving in the new house is in the books.

It was quiet, just the two of us, but we got to use our new kitchen.  We considered it a dry run for next year's entertaining festivities.

We cracked open a bottle of wine...a Pinot Grigio that paired well with turkey.

2nd Man made some rolls, they were delicious!

I handled the snacks. Tried to go with as healthy as possible.  Mixed nuts (no salt), zero fat chips, a dip made with Beau Monde seasoning but using greek yogurt and the mayo we discovered that's so good, so it's virtually zero saturated fat, and then sausage balls, a holiday tradition, made with turkey sausage and 2% milk fat cheese.  We have to say, we didn't miss the regular versions, it was terrific!

I broke out our special "can-berry" dish (don't hate on those of us that like canned cranberry sauce!, ha).

I also made us a Caprese salad...fresh tomatoes (including those brown variety we found a few months back), basil, mozzarella and then drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The turkey that 2nd Man roasted came out perfectly (more on that in a future post).

He also made the stuffing and giblet gravy (totally forgot to get a picture of those).

I roasted some Brussels sprouts with turkey bacon and balsamic vinegar.

I set the table, we had all the food on the island and we jumped in!

The salad first.  SO good!

And then the main event (took the skin off the turkey for serving of course).

We were full and happy...

We are indeed all of these...

We are home.

We are grateful.

We are blessed.

And we are thankful.

Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend.