Pies and Butterflies!

Ahhh, Thanksgiving! We spent it with family and had a wonderful time. My brother and sister-in-law played host and hostess in their lovely home and we ate and laughed and were so grateful for each other. We came home and decided we were going to cook a turkey on the following Sunday. We ended up having a whole Thanksgiving meal together, just me and my Dear Hubby. When I was cooking a pie that morning, I decided to try a new crust recipe I saw on Facebook. It's here: No Fuss Pie Crust I followed the directions and mixed it up. It felt kinda tough but I soldiered on. You were supposed to be able to press it into your pie plate, but it was not behaving itself.

Mr. Skellie came into the kitchen and between the 2 of us, it finally resembled pie crust.

Filled it with pumpkin pie filling, and baked it until it was done.

After it was cool, it was time to taste test it. My pie crust recipe is easy to cut, so I was surprised when I had to cut and chop it to free the first piece.

I didn't have the same luck with the second piece.  

The crust had good flavor, but it was crunchy and fell apart easy. I think I'll go back to rolling out my pie dough, I like a more tender crust. However, I still ate it....;) Today, I finally found myself in my shop staring down all these butterflies.

I guess I really should stick them on the wall over the curtain, they have been waiting for quite some time now. They came with little stickers that I stuck on each one.

I started putting them up, and began having fun doing it.

So here they are, a Kaleidoscope of butterflies!

Have a great day!

A small project for the shop...

It all started with a leftover piece of plastic downspout and a whole lot of strip wood. When I moved my shop, all my stripwood and dollhouse trims ended up all mixed together in a small wastebasket along with several long cardboard tubes full of random pieces. It was tippy and made it hard to find what you were looking for. My Dear Hubby cleaned up the downspout piece and built me a box to hold 10" pieces of it. I wouldn't recommend using metal downspout, the edges would be really sharp.

I brought it right into the house and started organizing. Well, I guess I have way more pieces of dollhouse trim than I thought!

I knew he didn't have any more downspout, so I saw the mailing tubes and thought maybe he could build another box that would fit those....

and why not put both boxes on a base....and add some castors....and a handle! He's an incredibly patient man! LOL! I drew a little picture and he found enough scrap plywood in his shop to put it together for me. The mailing tubes were cut into 10 inch lengths also and then he sized and cut a base for both boxes.

He used small casters on the bottom...the back 2 were fixed castors and the front 2 are rotating.

He lined the 2 boxes up, then glued and screwed them in place.

Lots of clamps!

I had saved an old knob from something, so that was added too.

When it was done, I brought it into my shop and had fun organizing my dollhouse trims.

I was concerned that I didn't have enough baseboard to finish up the Steampunk Summerhouse, but I have plenty! Yay! So here it is right next to my bench, neat and accessible.

I'm getting so organized, I just can't stand myself! 😊 Now Bill has less scrap wood kicking around and I have a cool wood storage thingy! Have a great day!

Back from the dead...I think.

Finally on the mend around here! Mr. Skellie and his cat did their best while I was under the weather and they are relieved to be able to go back to what they do best...sit around on their bony butts! LOL! This past weekend, I was feeling much better so Mr. Skellie did come out to Bill's shop to give me a hand with a little project. Bill and I have had a stack of license plates that we've been carrying around with us for quite awhile now. They are from most of the places we've lived during our 42 years of marriage. Bill finally came up with a good idea of how to display them. Since I'm the chief decorator around here, I was glad to join him in the new addition to his shop. He handed me his hammer and fixed up the ladder for me and Mr. Skellie and I went to work.

He handed me the nails and watched from the top of the shop light. Well, every time I missed the nail he would start snickering and there were a few times the nail went right through the air...obviously something was wrong with this hammer. "This must be a trick hammer." I said. Mr. Skellie just laughed and said, "Operator error!" No sympathy around here that's for sure. "I know," I said, "You're handing me rubber nails!" "Wrong again!" he said. I offered to give him a go at it and he said his arm hurt. So between him snickering and the nails flying, I got the giggles and then I couldn't hammer at all! Well, I was trying to nail into OSB...weird stuff. So I soldiered on and got the first row done and started on the second row.

Whew, just a few more to go.

Lot's of fun memories up there for sure.

Here's the finished product!

Even Mr. Skellie had to approve.

I think I'll go take a nap now...It will be back to the fabric shop in a few days. Trying to get back in control of my kitchen and the rest of the house. When everybody's sick, chaos reigns for sure! Have a great day!

All on my own...

Mr. Skellie here! Debra has caught a bad cold and I am on my own around here. My cat and I have been doing the best we can to help out,

a cup of tea, a cold compress, chicken soup....a skellies work is never done! Today I am trying to get through the laundry without falling into the washer and also being company to Debra who is on the sofa moaning. Bill took care of her all weekend, guess it's my turn now! I sure don't need a respiratory problem...oh wait, I don't think I have a respiratory...I even offered to let my cat sit on her lap but she still gets the heebie jeebies when she sees him.

So I will be holding down the fort for a few more days I think. I hope Debra feels better soon, I miss her sense of humor. Now where does she keep the dust rags.....Oh, and sorry for the repeat pictures, she put the camera up high and I can't reach it. And she said if I took her picture while she was sick, she would break my legs....Eeee! If you get bored, stop on over to my Facebook page...https://www.facebook.com/skeletontales/

A new friend and plans!

Mr. Skellie was running all around the shop this morning, arranging this and that and putting away anything that was out of place. "What are you doing?" I asked. He said he was getting ready for company. He also said my hair needed some work..."I always look like this at 7 am..." I said. Mr. Skellie just rolled his eyes and told me to go and fix myself up. Personally, I think he still has a bug leg stuck somewhere, just sayin'. While I was getting ready for this mysterious company, I heard a small tap at the door. "I'll get it!" Mr. Skellie yelled. When I walked into the shop, he introduced me to his cousin, also from China.

"Why is he so much bigger than you?" I asked. Well, it seems his ancestors were part of the Dinka people, and were all very tall. You learn something new every day! He said he traveled here to be with his cousin on his wedding day. I didn't say anything, but asked Mr. Skellie if I could speak with him in private. I asked him who the lucky lady was. He told me he hadn't thought of that yet, but while he was in Mikel's yesterday....you know, that French place; "You mean Michael's?" I asked. "Well, yes, but you're not saying it right, you need to say it with a French accent." he said (with a French accent).  I just let that go. He showed me a great arbor he found for when he says his vows to the as yet mysterious lady

and also picked out flowers for her bouquet and for the bridesmaids.

"How much is this going to cost me?" I asked. "Not much, I had a coupon." he declared. I was surprised to say the least. Looks like I'm going to be busy. He also picked up a yarn cake for it too.

"I hate to break it to you, but that is to crochet with" I said. He stammered that he knew that and why don't I get busy making this shawl for myself so I will look presentable.

I never knew these plastic skeletons would run my life like this! LOL! Oh, and I was also instructed to find him a wife...the search is on! Have a great day!