Corks! There must be a hidden delight, or reassurance factor to them. Gee, OK,so it hasn't been for yeears, but I used to hang on to them too. Usually just a few handfuls at a time, finally gave it up.[Never had enough to DO something with, but gosh, it felt like a loss!] 'Ferdinand the [mellow] Bull', used to sit under a cork tree, and smell the flowers. Been thinking about how pleasurable various tree products are, like say, coffee, tea, and chocolate. Fruit and nuts are nice too. So is mahogany and walnut furniture, oak floors... Driftwood, is delightful texturally, and sculpturally. Being near Maple trees make me feel secure, maybe it's syrup sap scent, or something. Sassafras is satisfing too, Is it the mitten-y leaf shapes or the scent? I collect locations of special trees, and go out of my way to pass by. When I was a kid, it was old cigar boxes. They were great for kiddie treasures like the tourist 'jewelry' my aunties would send me, like shell flowers- glued with Duco cement? Old lovely china, with chips, used to follow me home, The jars of really cool buttons [mostly M.O.P. shell] went with the corks. Now, I can fend off almost anything, but something for a friend, and old books. Wall paper sample books were so much crafty fun, when I was growing up. The patterns were great for seeing the range of taste that was out there. They were addictive, we always wanted more, sorta like Christmas catalogs. Seriously, the cork thing is funny.

hi, my friend and i really enjoy making button dolls, so much so that we have hand written a book and put it on a CD on making button doll Angels...there are 15 different Angel designes to make, from county styles to cats, from bedtime ones to even a punk! if you would like to take a look at it ..it is currently available on E Bay and called 'Angels in Abundance'... its a great way of recycling scraps and buttons to make something precious and unique. happy sewing n bright blessings..linda * * *

57 Uses of the Bandanna Just ask Kit "What is a bandanna?" "A most useful thing," she will say. For this bright square of fabric Can be used in 57 ways. First as a triangular bandage For right hand, and left hand & knees, For right eye, & left eye, & headache Or for right foot, or left foot, or sneeze. You can wrap up your lunch in a jiffy, Then mop up the stuff that you spill. As a hat, it can look very spiffy. As a babushka, it will keep out the chill. It's a flag on the top of a flag pole Or on grease pit to mark the place, Or a warning on trailing tent poles That extend from bulging trunk space. You can bind up a cut from the hatchet Or a slip of the wrist with the knife, Or a burn to keep down the blister, And as a warning it may save your life. It makes a good sling for that broken arm, Will brace your leg while you use a cane, On the ground as a sit-upon serve you, On a trail show the way that you came. Round the neck it is Western in flavor On the head, a pirate so bold. Dropped coyly, it might lead to romance. As a muffler, it keeps out the cold. In a game, it serves as a blind fold In a relay, it's something to pass In a race, it marks home base line. At a square dance, marks laddy from lass. As a belt, it will hold up the trousers, Or a dress, it makes a gay sash. As a tie, it adds some distinction In a hip pocket, it gives certain dash. As an apron, it serves you at tea time Or centerpiece doily so gay Or a hot pad to lift up the coffee, Or to wrap up warm bread on a tray. In pairs their purpose is doubled. Two make a bikini, you know, Or a blouse, or a skirt, or sun shade If you know how to sew. For child care it is a blessing Tied to a chair, he won't fall Tears or tails can be dried very neatly And for play, you can make it a doll. For knot practice too, it is handy Square, clove, bowline, and more Now this makes 57 uses And you no doubt could add more. But with this, I'll end this ditty. More uses we'd name had we chose, But we'll add only the primary purpose That of blowing the nose. By Florence Bush

Nancy, I knew y'all would be amused by my decision to make salsa. It isn't making it that I find so difficult---it is the struggle to get all the canning done in addition to all the summertime gardening chores, all in the endless summer heat---especially since my kitchen faces the west. Being able to make the salsa in autumn or winter is so much nicer. Also, it comes down to quantity. I made only about a third of what I used to make, so before I had time to get tired and burned out, I already was done. Anyway, it just didn't feel like Christmas without counters and tables covered with gift bags containing jars of salsa. So, now that I have cluttered up the house with gift bags (we buy them in lots of 100 online from U-line) and jars of salsa, it feels like Christmas. Like it or not, and on hot summer days I kinda hate it, this has become our tradition. I honestly did miss canning this summer, and I miss having lots of jars of pickles and canned tomatoes and such, but I put up enough tomatoes in the freezer to get us through the winter, and now we have enough salsa too, even after we give away a lot of it. Tim gave me a stripped down list containing how much salsa he needed for work and it was so short I told him he could add more names, so he added about 10 more. I'm glad he didn't go too wild adding more names to the list, or I'd be making more salsa. It helps that his current work group is about 1/4 the size of the work group he had back when he was a lieutenant. It sounds like you got into the spirit and are creating Christmas joy everywhere. I did decorate the house more this year than I have done in the last decade, purely because the girls love it so much. To me, there's something that is just so nice and cozy about spending chilly, cloudy, rainy winter days indoors in the kitchen, cooking or baking with Christmas lights twinkling on the tree, and elsewhere. Even when the dogs are grabbing ball-shaped Christmas ornaments and running off with them, and the cats are attacking everything on the tree, it still just.....feels like Christmas. Oh, and when I was making salsa all day, I didn't even have to run the furnace because the hot, steamy kitchen was heating up the whole house. I didn't even realize how hot and steamy the house was until I went outside around 5 pm to feed the deer and birds (and squirrels and coons and possums and whoever else shows up....) their dinner. It was windy and chilly, but not rainy that day, and I did wear a coat. When I walked back into the house, I was stunned at how hot and steamy it was just from the day-long salsa canning operation. The difference between the indoor air and outdoor air reminded me why summer canning is so miserable.... Rain makes our cats and dogs crazy. It is almost like they want to go out even more than usual because it is raining and they can't. They drive me crazy with whining and fussing and sitting at the door and wanting to go out into pouring rain. We had mostly light bands of the rain, not the heavier ones that hit y'all, so we only have about 1.6" in our rain gauge, which is plenty since we just had good rainfall last week as well. We have nothing but mud again. I guess winter mud season has begun. The wind has been pretty rough. I think our highest recorded wind gust was only about 41 mph or something, so we never got the drastically higher wind, but even wind speeds in the 30s and 40s create quite a brutal wind chill. Jen, Our dogs are the worst beggars when I'm baking. I guess the aromas drifting out of the kitchen fire up their appetites. I bet you will be busy with extra dogs during the holiday season. There's a pet boarding facility in our county and two of my friends used to work there. They always were insanely busy during holiday periods. It is so nice of you to make puppy gift bags. Jennifer, I'm glad y'all were able to cross getting Ethan a replacement vehicle off your list and now have one less thing to worry about. Traffic was brutal here too. We got paged out to a couple of wrecks yesterday, but the worst wrecks were well north of us, including a double-fatality crash in the evening where 3 VFDs had to extricate two people, both in critical condition, from the wrecked vehicles in addition to the one who didn't survive the impact. It was so horrible, and to think that two families lost loved ones this close to the holidays is just so sad. Hopefully the other patients recover well from their injuries. It is astonishing how many more car wrecks there are when it rains, and a crash like that can change families' lives in an instant. Chris just drove in from Dallas this morning, and told me a few minutes ago that he was battling strong winds in the rain all the way home, so the highways must have had one of those strong bands of wind and rain over them at the time he was driving. It doesn't seem that bad here at the house, but we are in a low-lying area and have acres and acres of trees serving as wind blocks, so I think we don't feel the wind as much here at home, at least sometimes. We did have thunderstorms, which seems odd for December, but our weather is nuts so that doesn't even surprise me that much. I'd say name the chicken whatever makes you happy. But.....sometimes pet names can sound ridiculous to other people. We once had a dog named Biscuit (Chris names him after Limp Bizket) and then got another dog named Honey. When they were out running on the property and I was out calling their names wanting them to come home, it sounded like I was calling my breakfast to come in, i. e. "Honey! Biscuit!" Both are long gone now, and since then I've been more careful about giving animals names that sound like food. Well, except for Pumpkin. He was orange so that name was just a natural for him. Your young roo will realize he is in charge in late winter or early spring when it is time for him to fertilize the girls' eggs so y'all can have chicks if you choose to let the hens set on eggs and hatch them. It is a hormone thing. I am sure it must be triggered by daylength or something once a rooster reaches a certain age. Trust me, he'll turn into Mr. Macho Man when he realizes he rules the roost and that the rest of the chickens are his harem. From that point forward, he'll have an attitude and he will be so proud to show off his boss-man attitude. He might develop a lot of swagger that borders on being obnoxious. We'd had a few roosters over the years who thought they'd spur every human who walked into the coop or the chicken run once the spring season had begun. Generally I could put a halt to the constant spurring by whacking a rooster once or twice (not hard, just enough to get its attention) with the broom. Once you establish that the rooster is not allowed to spur people, life gets much easier. It's all good, though, because once he reaches that point, he'll be a rock-solid protector of his girls, herding them together underneath shrubs or trees, for example, when hawks are flying over. He'll also fight fiercely to protect them. I agree that it can be hard to keep things looking nice when you have indoor pets. It is a constant struggle, but one that we willingly endure because we love both our home and our animals. I feel like I'm constant mopping up pet paw prints, wiping up assorted messes (we should own stock in Chlorox Wipes), and sweeping up/vacuuming up pet hair. It is never-ending. For as much hair as the cats and dogs shed constantly, I have no idea why they are not bald. I have nothing gardening-related, other than that first bloom on the first amaryllis has opened and it is solid white and so very pretty. I placed the amaryllis pot on a shelf in front of a black chalkboard today so the white flower stands out like crazy in front of the chalkboard. That plant has two blooming stalks, each of which normally produces 3 or 4 flowers over a period of weeks, and now a third stalk is arising from the bulb and will produce at least one flower bud. It is an oddly shaped bud, like someone sliced the top off (though it is intact) and gave it a flat-top haircut, so to speak. It will be interesting to see if that bud produces a normal flower. The next plant to bloom is one that has produced only one flower stalk so far. I had the four year old this morning while Chris went to Dallas and back again, and beginning tonight, we'll have both girls for the weekend while Chris and his girlfriend both work. We have lots of fun holiday activities planned and they are excited. It is hard for the little one to understand how much longer she has to wait for Christmas to get here. Every time she comes into the house, she asks if today is the day to open presents. By now, she should know that the answer is 'No'. Today she informed me that she needs a new baby doll because the two dolls she has here at the house "need" a little sister. I personally feel two baby dolls underfoot are plenty. Anyhow, our holiday shopping for her is all done already and I have no desire to fight the crowds to do more shopping. I'm grateful it rained. There were some pretty big fires (800+ acres) yesterday in parts of western OK that had the wind gusts in the upper 50s but no rain. Those of us who received rain could have had the same wildfire issues if we had remained dry. As annoying as the constant rain can be while it is falling (I feel like those rain bands have been circulating over us for days and days, and it really has been only two days), it is good to get the rain after the plants have frozen and are brown, crispy and ready to burn. After today/tonight, we get some better weather for a few days so that will be nice. I miss the sun when it is not shining and visible. Dawn