All Around The Cottage...

 All the ingredients for making Lemon-Coconut body butter.
Homemade lemon infused oil, and coconut oil

 Add coconut oil to mixer and pour in a bit of lemon oil.
Whip for a few minutes until frothy.

 Refill old canning jar, and ta-da... Lemon-Coconut body butter. 
Great for slathering on when you get out of the shower, or rubbing into your heels and putting on a warm pair of sock before bed.  Sure helps my hands stay crack free too.
Easy to make, affordable,  smells wonderful, and best of all... great for your skin!

 Spencer was asked to play his bagpipes for a funeral in a neighboring town.
He's played at quite a few funerals now, and he feels honored to be asked.
Here he is with members of the VFW.

 Just after the 21 gun salute... he's ready to play.
Spencer embraces our Scottish heritage, and taught himself to play the bagpipes.
He's very, very good.  Maybe it's in the blood.... his 3rd great grandfather was from Scotland, and played the pipes too.

Scottish shortbread sounded good this weekend , so I made some.

 Lemon Shortbread.
Pressed into a pie tin, scored and ready for the oven.

 Cooling on the baking rack. Baking shortbread in the pie tins makes it really easy to remove in one piece for cooling. 

Cut along the score lines with a sharp knife.
Delicious!!'


Recipe : Lemon Shortbread (You may double the recipe if you like)
1/2 C. butter
1/4 C. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/4 Cups of flour

*Cream sugar and butter together. Add lemon zest and stir in to butter mixture.
Add flour a little at a time, and stir in by hand.
Dough will be crumbly, so work it together by hand, until smooth.
Divide dough in half and press into pie tins.  Prick dough with fork, and score.
(You may also cut dough into squares or rounds)
Bake in oven preheated to 325 degrees, for about 14-15 minutes, or until the bottom edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
When cool enough to handle, cut along score lines with sharp knife.
Enjoy !

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm grateful that General Conference was this past weekend.  I always feel so inspired.
~I'm grateful for a visit from a dear friend.  Good conversation, and laughter.

{Oh Deer, Oh Dear...}

 Oh Dear, where does the time go?
It's hard to believe that so many weeks have gone by, and I've neglected to blog.
Like everyone, we have been so busy, and the days pass by so quickly, before I know it, weeks have passed by.

We've been enjoying the deer.......they're moving into town more.
There are a few impressive bucks in the herd that has been hanging out in our neighborhood.
Spencer snapped the picture of this guy, on Saturday.

 Spencer finally received his new kilt, all the way from Scotland.
He had to wait almost two months for it.
He couldn't be happier to finally have the kilt, and all the accessories.

 We've been enjoying beautiful winter sunrises.....

 and sunsets.

                             

 

All around town, it's beginning to look  like Christmas.

Decorations are up, and twinkly little lights,

Yesterday, we had a snow storm ..... it added a magical Christmas touch.

 

Attitude of gratitude:

~I'm grateful that we are going to have all of our children home for Christmas

~I'm grateful that my MIL will finally have surgery on her shoulder tomorrow, and begin the healing process.

~I'm grateful that will the hundreds, and thousands of miles that we've driven over the past few months,  our Heavenly Father has watched over us, and kept us safe from harm and accident.

~I'm grateful that my CD from "Time out For Women" finally arrived. I can't wait to watch it, and enjoy the music, and the presenters talks once again..... so inspiring.

 

Enamored..

 I have become enamored with deep charcoal colored paint. Completely gaga.
For quite a while, I've been looking at ReStore for charcoal or black paint.
Never had any luck..... until about 2 weeks ago.
Then, I scored two - five gallon buckets.
 Delight.
As soon as we had a day with temperatures above freezing... I painted all the exterior doors this gorgeous charcoal color.
Made a basket filled with daisies and ivy, and happily hung it on the door.

 I need to put another coat of paint on the doors, and razor around the glass.
As you can tell, the charcoal color has a lot of green undertones.
Perfect.
Spencer took the pictures for me.
I had to laugh.... every picture he takes is slightly askew.
I wonder if his right leg is shorter than his left leg?!

 Speaking of Spencer...
He has been putting in hours and hours of practice on the bagpipes.
He has offered to play at funerals for free, and the phone is ringing off the hook.
He has also been asked by a local mortuary to play for funeral that they have.
He plays beautifully, and enjoys it so much.

Bountiful Baskets was this past Saturday morning.
Everyone here forgot all about it, and slept in.
At 7:00 am.. the doorbell rang, and one of the volunteers delivered our produce.
So thoughtful.
Now, I need to ripen the pears and make something with them.
Any ideas?
Maybe I'll end up making a few jars of pear butter.