via flickr.com

Have a peaceful and happy holiday and a prosperous and healthy new year!

Posted via web from Liza Lee Miller

via flickr.com

Sea otters are messy eaters so gulls love to hang out near them in hopes of snacks.

Posted via web from Birding by Happenstance

via flickr.com

Took my class on an amazing field trip out on the Monterey Bay. We got to go out on a catamaran owned and operated by the O’Neill Sea Odyssey. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching kids about caring for our planet and the ocean. I can’t share photos of my kids LOVING it but I can share some of the critters we saw.

Posted via web from Liza Lee Miller

I haven’t shared any birdie finds from Etsy in a while but there are some phenomenal birdie giftie things.

Frosted Feathers wreath by lyndell

Winter Bird necklace by RhondasTreasures

Mini Christmas Tree Adhesive Wall Decal by lovemeastore

Can you believe this? They are at it again! Tearing things up, stinky paint, noisy equipment, long discussions over color, why? What is the point?

They took the toilet out and tore up the carpet. Again, why? Just because it was white carpet and stained . . . whatever.

Like painting it all white and clean is so important. And, you want to know what? They aren’t even done with it. White isn’t enough . . . they are painting it green over the white. Does that make sense to you?

And, the name of the color . . . Reptilian. Seriously, paint should be named something beautiful like Lark’s Meadow not Reptilian . . . creepy!

So, all the nice soft carpet is gone now and instead, hard, nasty tile. How weird is that?

Remember the noisy equipment I mentioned . . . here’s the latest noisy equipment they felt we needed to have around. A tile saw. You can’t imagine the noise. I’m sure the golfers liked it. I now it drove the squirrels away and who do I chase when the squirrels stay away?

They say they still aren’t done. Something about grout after the tile adhesive dries. Will this nightmare never end?

Oh, there are lots of things I’m thankful for but high among them is having a good weekend with my family, the time to cook really good food, and time to relax and rejuvenate.

I was in charge of dessert.  I made my husband’s favorite dessert.  It’s a secret family recipe.  His grandmother taught me to make it.  So, I call it Robechaud Cheese Pie.  It’s rich and delicious.  I also made pumpkin pie from scratch.  I was so proud of myself . . . I’ve never made pie crust before.  I was pretty nervous about it . . . I had a big can of Libby’s pumpkin and frozen crusts waiting just in case.  I’m glad to say that they weren’t necessary!  The recipe I used was from Martha Stewart’s website.  She has about 15 pumpkin pie recipes.  This was a very basic one, classic, traditional.  Fortunately, I know something about cooking because the recipe had an error in it.  It called for me to cook the pumpkin pie for about 1/2 as long as it actually needed.  I went to pull the pie from the oven and thought, “Uh-oh.”  I searched the web, including the other recipes on her site, and realized it needed 60 minutes, not 30 minutes.  I left it in for the requisite time and it was perfect.

I was happy.

Ruby was also happy. She loves Thanksgiving. She loves helping clean up messes. This was a batch of yorkshire pudding that had an unfortunate accident. Greg was mopping it up but Ruby really wanted to help.

Here is what I’ve been tweeting about for the last year . . .

Somehow with all the other words mixed in there, even the word ’sigh’ doesn’t seem negative.

I’ve been finding time to read before I fall asleep at night.  This is, in my opinion, one more reason to love a Kindle.  When I read a REAL book until I fall asleep, I often wake up with a closed book in my hand, having fallen asleep mid-sentence.  Then I have to dig around to find my place.  Not so with a Kindle.  When I fall asleep mid-sentence with a Kindle, I wake up to find a turned off Kindle and my place is forever saved.  Hurrah!

So, I’ve been reading a bit lately.

I finished reading Diana Gabaldon’s new book (and the one before it as I needed to refresh my poor memory).  I can’t recommend her books enough . . . they are quite simply excellent!

Then, I was reading a Regency romance written during the Regency period.  It’s called Marriage
and it’s written by Susan Edmonstone Ferrier.  It’s interesting but a bit slow and draggy.  She certainly didn’t aspire to the “show, don’t tell” school of writing.  So, I’ve put it aside . . . not sure I’ll finish it.  Still, with the Kindle, it was cheap so no worries there.  The hardcover version is $30.  The Kindle version . . . $1.50.  LOVE IT!

Amazon is so good about sending mail when a fav author has something new so I was happy to learn that Nora Roberts had a new book in her latest series about 4 friends who are wedding planners.  It’s called Bed of Roses (The Bride Quartet)
. It’s a good read — Nora Roberts is always a good read. I just like her stuff.

Even when she writes under another name. The other name she writes under is J.D. Robb — she has the Eve Dallas series under that name. It’s set in the not-too-distant future. Eve is a cop in NYC. She and her husband, Roarke, clean up crime in their own inimitable way. I like this series because the character development grows from book to book and I like the characters. The latest book is called Kindred in Death. The cool thing is that in February, there’s another one coming out too. Yippee!

All those links go to the not-Kindle-versions of the books I recommended.  Not sure why Amazon won’t let me link to the Kindle versions themselves but they won’t (well, they won’t if I want to get $$$ for your buying these books on my say-so).  So, anyway, there’s the full disclosure piece.  If you click on those links and buy a book, I get a cut.  A small cut to be sure but there you are.   And, would it surprise you to learn that my cut is put directly into an Amazon gift card so I can buy more books to read? 

P.S.  I promise to find time this weekend to take pictures of the bathroom remodel and share them with you.  Promise!

When you own a piece of property on a steep hill in a redwood forest in the 1880’s and you need a barn, you don’t let little things like lack of level land stop you.  You build it on the hill and make it work.  We took a drive on a road we hadn’t been on in years yesterday and this stopped us in our tracks.  It was GORGEOUS!

Amazingly, the property was for sale, too but more than we can afford.  (As if we’re looking and thinking to move in this economy, no thank you!)

And isn’t it amazing when you are in the right place at the right time (even when you have the wrong camera!) to get a shot like this: