My shops both have coupons up and running. To save 15% at my snood shop use the code: THANKYOU15 for 15% off.
And you can use the very same code on any of the items in Mae Bae's for 15% off there!
I'm not sure if I can ever have enough pictures of the turkey. This is my eighth Thanksgiving making a turkey and when it's done I still walk around with a huge grin thinking: "I cooked a turkey! And it turned out!"
So here's another picture of the turkey (and Sadie waiting very patiently):
Someone else was less patient during the minute it took to snap pictures while Paul grabbed plate (because in this house if the plates were on the table first it would likely be a plate smashing disaster).
She certainly was cute though. And she ate two slices of pumpkin pie. And a berry cobbler. And then half of my cobbler. And key lime pie. The desserts were definitely a hit with Mae.
I'm certain I took so many pictures of the food because I was really still rather shocked that our gluten free, dairy free Thanksgiving dinner was really going to turn out. I kept waiting for a disaster.
I even threw in a salad because I was so sure there wouldn't be enough food (complete with home made dairy free ranch).
I needn't have worried because there was definitely more than enough!
When asked what she was thankful for Sadie said "this feast we're eating" (she's the one who started calling it a "feast"). And then she added "For my sister. I'm thankful for my sister."
Patch spent a large portion of the day being thankful for Maggie's guitar.
Thanksgiving is exhausted.
I almost got up this morning to go to Joann's. There fantastic flannel sale was luring me in.
But then I thought, would I rather walk to the car in the freezing freezing cold or stay in this nice warm bed (with the warm flannel sheets I changed onto it yesterday evening and the super thick comforter that I found in a box last night) and I just couldn't convince myself to get up.
Apparently there's just nothing in a store that I want more than sleep in a nice warm bed.
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
(I'm sending in two posts since it said it was too long ~ Bonnie)
ReplyDeleteYou've mentioned in your some of your posts about how cold your house feels and I wanted to offer some suggestions. I hope some of this helps get it feeling warmer in there.
First, did you know a stairwell acts like a chimney, drawing the warm air up to the second floor? I don't know if you have the doorway to the upstairs covered during the day, or even if that's practical because I don't know what you do for naps and stuff, but if you could cover the doorway with a quilt or blanket when no one is upstairs to prevent the heat from going up from the downstairs while you're all downstairs, it might help.
Second, sometimes a lack of humidity makes it feel colder. You could run a humidifier, or you could just put a pot of water on the stove to "simmer." I know, that's more energy use so it might not be practical. But a passive way to add humidity is to wet towels and drape them over either the radiator if that's what you have, or in front of the forced air vent on chairs. Keep them wet. We use a juice bottle with about a quarter of the top cut off, fill it with water, and put a newspaper accordion folded and fanned out to wick the moisture, and put those in front of our forced air vents. Now I know with little ones that might not be practical, but it might give you an idea of what you can do to add humidity to the air. You might be able to pick up some kind of humidity indicator cheaply at a hardware store, and that will help you to know when to add moisture.
Another thing is to make sure your heat vents aren't blocked. I know you mentioned Mae can get in them, but I hope those are just the air returns. I know you mentioned you put furniture over some of these things, so if these are the heat providers, you probably need to find some other way to keep her out while unblocking them. (continued in next post.)
Check your light switch boxes and electrical outlets to see if cold air is coming in there (see if you can feel a draft when you put your hand over it). You can take off the cover plate and fill the inside with that foam filler stuff (about 2.50 a can.) Watch out though, it expands ALOT and a little goes a long way. You can also see if cold air is coming in around baseboards and next to windows or doors. You can use that foam stuff to fill up the spaces. For the doors, you can buy a roll of felt (or use felt scraps?) to staple in the door jamb if you feel cold air coming in around the doors.
ReplyDeleteOf course, drafty windows are a big problem. The plastic sheeting things work somewhat. Personally, I hate them, but I'd rather be warm than worry about how it looks.
Lastly, my brother bought one of those infrared heaters (about $120 for a six element one and Menards just had one on Black Friday (4 element) for $49). They are very safe around kids. The cabinet doesn't get hot and it won't start a fire. My brother uses it in his apartment to warm the room he's in, either the living room or the bedroom. He said the room he's in stays warmer, the gas furnace doesn't come on as often, and the electricity he uses is cheaper than the gas heat. He finds he is warmer and saving about $30 a month on heat. He also covered all the inside door openings with plastic sheeting (attached at the top and on the hinge side with staples and tacked at the other side to be easy to move aside, and longer than the doorway so it gathers at the floor) so the kitchen and bathroom are much cooler than the living room. Now, I wouldn't live with my inside doors all covered with plastic that I'd have to move to go from room to room, but he lives alone and doesn't mind. But you might be able to do something like that on the basement door that might be letting cold air up into the house. You might be able to put plastic sheeting on the basement side stapled on the top and hinge side and tacked (with tacks) on the doorknob side) to keep the drafts out since you don't go down there often.
I hope some of these idea help. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. God bless. ~ Bonnie