Living Simply and Deliberately: February 2013

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Happy Fasnacht Day!

If you are not from my neck of the woods, you may be scratching your head right now wondering what in the heck is Fasnacht Day.

While many of you may call this day "FAT TUESDAY"

Those of us who live in Pennsylvania Dutch country know this day as

Fasnacht Day,
the day before

Ash Wednesday.

internet pic

Fasnachts are delectable deep fried doughnuts.

Fasnacht Day is simply a celebration of doughnuts!

Dozens and dozens of fasnachts were made, sold and eaten today!

Jason Malmont/The Sentinel
To read the full story..click here

Rather than indulge in a fattening fasnacht today,
I made some baked pumpkin doughnuts, using one of my home grown pumpkins from last summer's harvest.

Yes, I still have a few pumpkins left!

In case you're wondering, I used the King Arthur recipe
for baked pumpkin doughnuts.

I shared my doughnuts with a few of my favorite friends at the Y.

Mmmm....coffee, conversation and

doughnuts.
(Lots of conversation!)

Notice the Layena bag. I was also peddling eggs!

As Martha would say,

IT'S A GOOD THING....

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Joy of Winter

Hello....and thanks for stopping by!!

You're always

WELCOME

here!

We are in the chill of winter around here.

Do you like winter?

I like winter in small doses.

Just give me a white Christmas and

one good blizzard. And I'm good to go.

While I don't especially enjoy the cold, never ending days of winter...

I do enjoy the extra time it allows me to do some other things I enjoy.

Allow me to explain!

Have you noticed that it seems that we spend all year preparing for these wintry days?

Around here, preparations begin early for our yearly garden, by planning the garden and ordering seeds.

(Coincidentally, that's exactly what I did today. )

We order the seeds and start the seedlings.

As soon as the soil is dry enough, Hubs begins working the soil.

He calls it work, but let's get real-

He's having a good time!

We sow....and reap.....

We Can....

and dry...

and freeze.

The pantry and freezer are filled to the gills.....

Our makeshift cold cellar is loaded with potatoes....

Hubby dug a hole and buried an old deep freeze
in our woods to serve as cold storage..clever, huh?

And last but not least....

the wood is brought in so we can stay toasty and warm all winter.

Enough of all that work....

Let's get back to what I love about winter...

What I love is having a break from all that work!

It gives me a little extra time so

I can enjoy doing the things I love to do.

This year, I painted the main living space of our house. The day after Christmas, as soon as the decorations were tucked away, I took everything off the walls and got started.

While some of you are surely saying, "you love to paint?"

Well, not exactly.

But I do love to redecorate (on a shoe string budget).

I love change!

And I love to CREATE!

I have been enjoying the redecorating process even though it has been a ton of work. But you'll have to wait to see the fruits of my labor until my next post!!

Sorry :(

I hope the suspense doesn't kill you!!

On snowy days, I enjoy putting a puzzle together or baking. My favorite snow day recipe is this recipe for making sticky buns. Yum!

Nothing like watching it snow with a cup of coffee in one hand and a warm gooey sticky bun in the other.

Baking is enjoyable...But crafting is my passion.

And so, I have been spending these gloomy, dreary winter days, crafting.

My friend Barb nudged me to invest in a Cricut.

This is the Cricut Expression 2..
A Cricut is a cutting machine that cuts paper,
fabric, and vinyl.

I have to admit, at first I wasn't all that thrilled with my pricey purchase. But after some research and a few you tube videos, I feel like I am finally getting the hang of this piece of machinery.

So I made some cards....

And then I decided to get brave and give cutting vinyl a try.

It was scary at first, but oh...what fun!!!!

I vinyled everything!

Check it out...

First a few candles...

then a glass vase.....

Cut out the word love with a
very delicate font!

All of this was just practice for ...

The word family for on the wall.

And the piece de resistance.....

Our family name on a frame with
a burlap background.
(I have a fetish for burlap!)

Wow...this post has turned out to be quite lengthy. But I hope I've inspired you to get crafty, whatever your craft may be. But even better would be to inspire you to make the most of the winter blahs.

For me,

Crafting is the best way to spend a winter day!

How do you spend your winter days? I'd love to hear what gets you through the winter.