GATOR VICTORY

The Mighty Florida GATORS are on their way to the National Championship again!!!!

Wowow....what a game against the Red Tide of Alabama! It was a nail biter!

Sorry you didn't win but......

HOW 'BOUT THEM GATORS!!!!!

GATORS gonna beat 'BAMA

You may or may not know this but I am a University of FLORIDA GATOR at heart! I didn't go to university there but I grew up in Gainesville and my father taught at the university for 30+ years.

Well....now you know and so with that knowledge you'll surely understand if every now and then I get a little bit EXCITED about this American College Football team! They are on their way to the South Eastern Conference SEC again this year in Atlanta against Alabama...hopefully going all the way to the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (again- 1996 & 2006). My cousin Wendy's daughter, Meghan, is one of their sport medicine staff! So my family is a little proud of that too! Sometimes we see her run out on to the field!

GO FIGHTIN' GATORS!

This weekend they are going to BEAT Alabama! And I'm going to watch it on TV! You don't know how exciting this is for me! We just bought a flat screen TV for our summer house and cable channels (which went totally against my principles of having a TV at the summer house at all). But....I gave in because my hubby said we could use it to see our zillion digital photos and home videos because you just plug in a memory stick right into the TV! Cool. So I wasn't so excited about the channel thing...until today when we installed it and I saw UCLA vs. Arizona St play just for a bit (wasn't interested in the actually game), then it dawned on me that I can watch FLORIDA Football on it too! YYYYEEEEEEHHHAAAWWWWW!

OK you 'BAMA fans out there....wanna come over and watch with me!? Cause you're gonna get CHOMPED big time! You know who I'm talking about.....

Thanksgiving is over...Christmas count-down begins!

It's the end of November..... these are the fabric post cards I sent off to my FP Groupies! I hope they arrived safely! This time I made one for EVERYONE...even the people who I haven't heard from yet! I was inspired by a member in our group, Rhonda, who has made several posts about her magical food pot and the tastful treats that are created i n it! The post office let me put the stamps directly on the fabric post card & they canceled the stamp so then I could place the fabric post card into a little ziplock bag to protect them on their journeys around the world. I am curious to know if they arrived nicely--no yucky torn plastic baggie. Vicky, another member in our group, does this as well so I guess the postal people along the way accept this packaging. Now it's time already to make the December one! Christmas Count Down begins tomorrow morning! Maya's advent calendar is filled with all kinds of surprises....she went to bed planning her morning. (get up, get dressed, open #1 door, feed the dog and fish...etc) I found this wooden advent calendar box at a LOPPIS (a community yard sale) two years ago for 10 kronor (about $1.00). It was a little beaten up but my Dad had a fun fixing it up for us. I think some other grandfather must have made it by hand. Last year we used it as a count down to our trip to the USA instead of for Christmas...then each time Maya asked me "how many more days until we go?" I just told her to count the unopened doors. It's one of the little treasures I've found at the LOPPIS!
How do you count the days until Christmas?

Our Swedish version of Thanksgiving....

Thanksgiving was delicious as usual but I really, really missed my friend Kelly Sue (the only other American in this group & it just wasn't the same without her). She's on her way "home" to Florida to see her brother in the hospital. (serious-serious and we are sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers that way!) With KS gone...it was me and the Swedes and the 3 Girlieteers! Bo's brother Leif, father-in-law Robert, Uncle Åke (still going through treatment for cancer), mother-in-law Barbro, MY Bo, Kelly Sue's hubby Peder, little Sophia and Maya jumping out of the photo...Caithlin was off doing something. I'm thankful for so many things but especially that we have each other and our health!

After dinner the 3 Girlieteers put on a theater show for us!
"The Wise Indian Catfish and the Wind Fairy"
A performance not to be repeated again, I'm sure!
Simply because there are just too many fun costumes and themes to perform, why would they repeat a performance!? Can't wait to see the next show!

Journey to Pumpkin Pie

Last year I learned 2 things ...
1- not all pumpkins are for eating (Yuck...see Maya's face below in this 2006 photo)
2- pumpkin sellers will tell you that all the big pumpkins are for eating (or maybe they didn't understand my broken Swedish...)Last year I made the most horrible tasting pumpkin pies ever because I trusted the seller's words....ok, the fresh pumpkin didn't taste right but I thought that maybe the taste would improve with sugar and cooking...WRONG! And now I've been permanently bannished from making pies at my friend's Thanksgiving dinner. How could I go so wrong you wonder? Why not buy a can of pumpkin? Well, it's not available within an hour's car ride of my house. So I've got to do it from scratch! And you've got to have the right kind of pumpkin! Which leads me to tell you how I came about getting the RIGHT PUMPKIN this year! And if my sweetie Swede husband reads this...please forgive me but it's just too funny not to share!

In preparation for today's Thanksgiving celebration I wanted to make fresh cranberry sauce. The recipe I use calls for sugar and one whole orange with skin + two days of sitting. So my hubby takes the shopping list I made for him to the grocery store in the BIG city to buy all the stuff we needed...on the list I wrote 6 oranges with nice looking orange skin (NOT tangerines). He came back with 6 tangerines with nice looking skin. Thankfully he bought everything else I wanted on the list perfectly. But I was ready to make the cranberry sauce right then and there...he went to our local store to get me the orange with nice looking skin. This time he came back with 3 yellow GRAPEFRUITS with nice looking skins! I burst out laughing, then he burst out laughing...then Maya just had to join in because it was so funny that Pappa didn't know what an orange looked like! This time I went to the store! But it was the busy time of the day so to avoid the huge lines I went to a little shop run by an immigrant man....there I found the ONE ORANGE I needed. And then I saw it.....an OPEN pumpkin, one I could hold and smell before purchasing! He cut a large chunk off for me and assured me that I could eat it! This man I could trust! Another immigrant!
Isn't this cooked pumpkin lovely? What color! What freshness! What flavor!
Can't get that from a tin can! No way....this is THE good stuff!
I made a pumpkin pie (with gluten free crust), two crustless puddings, and one Martha Stewart Pumpkin Cheesecake!
Then along came an Indian princess and ate them all up! Well, she actually liked her Farmor's blackberry pie best! But I'm sure she'll enjoy left overs tomorrow!

Looking outside & feeling loved inside

Well, I 'm feeling better as far as my coughing cold although not 100% better. We will be having our Thanksgiving Celebration on Saturday as planned. Can't wait to eat all that yummy stuff once again! (We've already celebrated last week with other friends!) Before I dropped off into sickyworld....this was the morning sky from our driveway as I was getting into the car on Tuesday for work at 7:35 am. Beautiful, huh? And below is the lake we live near...I just had to stop the car and take this shot out the car window! Maya agreed that it was worth being a titsy little bit late just to spend a few moments looking at the view!
Thursday after the snow had melted we found evidence that the WILD BOARS have been hunting for their grubs in our yard! Yuck...what a mess they have made in our grass! This pack of wild boars has been attacking several of our neighbors' yards over the last year...we've been lucky, up until now they've only been pooping in our yard. (Yes, I know how to identify wild boar poop! just ask!) Their constant visits to the golf course have really caused problems for the grounds keepers so this past week they've put up an electric fence around the perimeter of the course. It's low enough that we can step over it to go sledding or skiing but it's not good for our dog, who has already gotten a shock from it. Our hunting neighbors shot 4 (including a sow) 2 weeks ago but apparently this only made the boars more aggressive in the area! Bo won't walk with Pepe, the dog, into the forest at night anymore...he has heard their snorting a little bit too close for comfort! Have you ever seen a wild boar? They are HUGE! It's much nicer and safer to meet a MOOSE up close than a boar!
Just as I was feeling very sad today....(will explain later)....Bo came in with the mail! SURPRISE , SURPRISE! Betty in Orange County, California (mother of my best buddy, Betsy) sent me the most wonderful package! I don't know if she reads my blog but it seems as though some little voice (Holly?) has told her my desires! Just look....CANDY CORNS, Quilting Magazines and OBAMA headlines! Betty, you don't know how much I needed cheering up today! Thank you for that LOVE gift!! Not a note or anything! Total surprise for no reason at all! I owe my quilting interests to Betty...who taught Betsy....who lived next to me and gave me the quiltin' bug! I will devour and save these gifts!
And then the next surprise on a day I really needed it.....My American Women's Club treasurer sent out this message to all our members....

Hi all!

<>One of the jobs of the club treasurer is to pick up the mail that comes in for the club. This week we received a letter from a company that sells a product for quilters, with an offer for a 10% discount to club members.

The company has a website: www.colerspatchplates.com where you can see the product (a two piece metal template in varying shapes and sizes for patchwork quilting). Along with the letter to the club was a sample of their patchplates - I'm not a quilter but I can describe it as a very sturdy item which I can imagine would be quite useful to folks who have the patience for this pasttime!

The letter is signed by Matthew S Jewers, 07770 673 388, matthew.jewers@btinternet.com.

<>

G. W.

AWC Club Treasurer and Picker-upper of the mail

PS - the board agreed that the sample quilting template should go to a special member of our club who donates a quilting square to a special FAWCO project every year - Carol Doughty.

Isn't that NICE! I was so pleased to read this message from our treasurer! :-) A feel good moment!
These are two of the FAWCO quilts I have made blocks for...the blue one has 3 of my blocks. The one for this year is being pieced together in Germany at the moment. Thank you AWC board! I will enjoy using the gift you've given me!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving in the USA and Canada! More thankfulness later this weekend from me.....

A hug to Natalie for her special message to me on her website! :-)

Sick

I'm sick...cough cough sniffle sniffle aaachoo aaachoooooooo HEADACHE
Maya's sick.....cough cough sniffle sniffle acccchhooooo acccchhhooo headache
Bo is sort of sick...he's taking care of us.

My computer has been sick....low on memory, giving me warnings, won't let me do what I want to do, working very slowly! Maybe I need a new computer! (yeah! and oh no! at the same time!)

I've got to take at least one of us to the doctor!
Unfortunately, neither Maya or I have had fever much so it will probably be the computer who goes in first!

Soon I will be better and ready to cook a Thanksgiving dinner! I hope.
Will go to bed early again tonight....see if that helps.

THANKFUL for an early Thanksgiving

Last night I received an email that makes this Thanksgiving a VERY THANKFUL one! My cousin Wendy's son had a successful lung transplant on Wednesday morning! Stephen is doing well and is already breathing on his own without a ventilator! Isn't that amazing! We are so grateful for the person who left this earth but donated their body for others to continue living! Stephen will have a longer life with healthy lungs. He has suffered with cystic fibrosis all his young life but now he has a chance for a normal life! We love you! Fabric post cards from my FPC group! They are each so fun! What talented ladies! Thanks! Mine are on the way....
Have you ever seen golfing in the winter?! It's quite popular here....as long as the snow isn't too deep. Today the course has a steady stream of golfing groups. Our house sits next to the golf course and we can observe all their activities from our western windows! In Sweden golf carts are not allowed unless you have a physical handicap so that makes winter golfing possible...just need good walking boots!
Here's the red winter hole flag. They don't use the same course in the winter as the rest of the year...they avoid the sand pits and also have little platforms to stand on instead of muking up the teeing greens. Bright orange and red balls are used instead of white ones.
When there aren't any golfers around....we can go sledding down the hills or cross country skiing. Today Maya was only able to sled a few times as there were just enough players to that made it too difficult to be safe!
We could see that someone got up early to go skiing this morning before the golfers showed up! Maybe the snow will stay around long enough so that we can get out our skis too!

This afternoon we'll go to our friends' house to have our first Thanksgiving dinner....I've got the traditional green bean cassarole cooking in the oven! Next week we'll have Thanksgiving at our house with Bo's family and the Carlsson's. Who will you have Thanksgiving with?

SNOW

Friday we woke up to a beautiful white covering of snow on the ground! Our wooden Dalarna wind workers were a little stiff but I'm sure they will start to spin again if the wind picks up. This is the view when we turn onto our street. It's a winter wonderland! Brrrr.......
Ducks still swimming on the lake!
Maya threw the first snowball of the season at me! She's getting better at it! I'll have to watch out!
And our first snow person! ....although it's only about 10 inches tall and it sits on Maya's swing apparatus. It wasn't quite the "right" snow for large snow people or quite enough either, so we settled for a tiny one this time.
I love the snow, really I do....but I forget that it takes much longer to get out of the house (layers of clothing) and then time to prepare the car (warm up, ice and snow off). And a little slower on the uncovered road by our house. As we live outside the town our road is very rarely plowed unless it is super deep snow. It's the most dangerous part of my commute to work! It's WINTER!

Look what I found while I was cleaning....

During my crafty/laundry room clean out the other day I came across this old magazine I had bought some years ago at a 'Loppis' here in Sweden. It's from England...1908...a hundred years old! I had such a good time flipping through the pages and laughing at how much "Ladies" magazines have changed during the last 100 years! Unfortunately the "free art picture on Satin" was no longer in the magazine when I bought it.
This hotel featured on the cover is flying both the American and the British flags.
This is a sample of the inside contents....mostly very dramatic romantic stories with detailed black and white sketches. I have a friend who would love to cut this up for crafts...but NO NO NO! I'm keeping this treasure whole!
When I got to this full page comic I burst out laughing when I read the caption...see below!
OH baby, have we come a long way!!!

Not only do we drive....we steer the way!

Now I want to go back the shop where I got this one and see if I can find some more! Fun stuff!