The Stone Rabbit

A New Christmas Treat.....Appearance: Fail Taste: Wonderful!

 

 I have LOVED Ree Drummond ever since I first started blogging and discovered her blog, THE PIONEER WOMAN.

She is funny, smart and talented beyond belief in so many ways!

She has turned her blog into a wonderful business.   She has written cookbooks and childrens books....has a line of kitchen products....and her latest endeavor is the restoration of an old building in a small Oklahoma town that she's turned into a deli and gift shop.  A journey to this business of hers is definitely on my bucket list!

 

 

I have made a few of the dishes from this particular book of hers....among them the cinnamon rolls!  They turned out great and I'm terrible at making such dishes.

Yesterday, I decided to try making this pie.....where you roll out the crust, put the filling in the center, then fold the edges of the crust up to the top of the pie....it's a rustic look and I love it!  I had visions of of taking a few of these to our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day gatherings!! 

I used the recipe for the flakey pie crust that's  also included in this book.

Just look at Ree's beautiful finished pies!!

 

 

So, here's the first one I made.

I'd call it a tad more than "rustic", wouldn't you? :)

Disregard how nasty my pie pan looks....it's ancient.  There have been a lot of pies made in it over the last 30+ years.  I'd like to call it seasoned.

Actually, Ree bakes her rustic pies on a baking sheet, but by the time I'd wrestled the pie crust around, there were lots of holes in it....the juice from the filling was oozing out...and I fear I'd have an oven fire if I just plopped it on a sheet.  Thus, I contained the oozing mess in pie pans.

I also added fresh cranberries to the fruit mix.

 

 

 Here's my second attempt.

By then I'd wised up (I thought) and lined the pan with foil...hoping to  make the clean up easier.   The edges of the first crust were pretty well adhered to the pan by the time the baking process was complete....a real challenge to remove a "slice".

However, on the second pie there was just as much "crust sticking" going on.....and, sadly, trying to remove the pie from the foil (in one piece) didn't happen.  I ended up just peeling the foil off as best as I could and piling the "pie" in a dish.....it took on the look of a cobbler.

 

 

 

I have to say, while the finished dishes were  not worthy of an entry in a fair because of how sad they looked, they were definitely "blue ribbon material" in taste!!  Such a flakey crust....and the filling was  yummy!

 

So.... I will practice working with the crust recipe.  It's not gonna happen until after Christmas cuz I need to bake some of my "go to " dessert recipes .  They are the ones I have repeated so much over the years that I could make them in my sleep!!   Well, now that's an exaggeration!!

 

 

 

This morning, THE STONE RABBIT, Twiggy and I have been wrapping presents!!  I don't know why I procrastinate doing the wrapping, but I always do!  

Thankfully, that's all done.  Now we are gonna pop a couple of things in the oven to cook while we take a little nap and recharge .

 

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND for a long list of other bloggers who are ready with their Pink Saturday shares!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!

DANA

 

And Now......it's time to decorate for Christmas!

 

 

These days are flying by!!  Just a little over a week ago was Thanksgiving, followed by picking up our fresh tree at a local tree farm and putting it in a bucket of water on the patio cuz I had to launch into the final few days before my Christmas sale!!

The sale was this Friday and Saturday and it was OUTSTANDING!!  We had so many wonderful shoppers show up!  It was the best sale we'd had there in a few years!!!

Anyway, I sold out on the first day and had to be creative about coming up with a few items to plunk in my booth for the second day.  I stayed up late and got up early to make a few more snowmen....and I brought a few pieces of Easter and Halloween inventory I had left.....a couple of witches and a Halloween mouse did sell!  :)

I have a lot of help from Twiggy Cat and THE STONE RABBIT as I spend hours in my craft room creating items for my seasonal sales.  This is a photo from 2013...I was pricing some inventory.   I didn't realize Twiggy was in the background when I quickly took the photo!!  She was on the furnace vent cuz it was a cold day!!

You can see our cut tree through the patio doors!!  We just put ours in the stand tonight.  I can pretty much count on us getting into a little disagreement as we wrestle it into the stand, but this year things went pretty easy! 

First Thanksgiving, then going to the tree farm that weekend, then I work like a dog to get ready for the Christmas sale which is always the first weekend in December.  After that....it's finally time for me to get our decorating done. . .and shopping....and cooking....and cleaning!!  ho ho ho!   However, I wouldn't have it anyother way!

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND for a long list of other bloggers who have their weekly Pink Saturday shares ready for you!!

 

DANA

 

Merry Christmas 2015

 

Today THE STONE RABBIT helped me with my Christmas gifts to Bonnie.   It's so hard to believe that in just two weeks I've decorated, shopped, wrapped, cleaned, cooked and entertained both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  

I often dream of having everything done by the day after Thanksgiving, but there is no way that will ever happen.....I just don't operate that way!!  I actually must enjoy trying to cram everything together at the last minute as that's the way I've always done it..... actually, these next few days are some of my favorite.  I love knowing all the "work" is over and now I can bask in the glow of the Christmas lights that are all over our house on various trees and greenery vignettes.  

Anyway,  Bonnie and I had a great breakfast this morning , followed by our gift exchange.  She and I roll the same way.....she's also always down to the wire  getting  her preparations done for the holidays.....so us getting together AFTER Christmas is pretty much a tradition for us and it's one I really look forward to.  We're not stressed and thinking about what all we still need to do...we're done and ready to relax for the next few days!

 

 

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!  

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND for a long list of other bloggers who are also ready with their Pink Saturday shares!

DANA

 

Running the Candy Cane Course 5K 2015!

 

Last Saturday, I ran my last race of the 2015 season......The Candy Cane Course 5k/10K in Independence, MO.

I took this picture from way back in the pack of  folks (nearly 1000 participants!) as we were listening to the National Anthem just before the run started!

 

It was perfect weather!!  Just nippy enough so once we started moving it felt great!

 

 

 

Following the run, we posed with The Elf, Steve.   Steve is in charge of the running events put on by BODIES RUNNING.  He also leads a few of us in a weekly speed workout session.

 

This great group I'm pictured with (I'm second from the right) are some of the awesome folks I've met through running over recent years.  Well, I've know Santa for a lifetime!

 

 

 

After we left the race, our group met for breakfast and a great time of socializing in a place where we weren't running!  

 

 

 

THE STONE RABBIT  and Twiggy love the gorgeous snowglobe medal we all received for completing the 5K!  I do, too!

 

 

Thank you, Beverly, of HOW SWEET THE SOUND, for hosting our weekly event!!

Happy Pink Saturday to all of you!

 

DANA

 

Taking a Moment. . .

 

These days prior to Christmas are filled to the brim with busyness.    Cleaning, decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking.....  so many activities seem to take priority over the truly important moments of the season.

This morning, before the day became crowded with "things to do" I was able to stand outside and LOOK at the sun rise.  What a spectacular gift to us. Surrounded in God's beauty, it was the perfect time to pray for the many people I have on my prayer list these days.

 

 

As I was fixing breakfast, I realized that I hadn't even taken the time to use any of the Christmas dishes I had so proudly purchased many years ago....many of them on the "China Club" plan our local Jones Store used to offer us!!  Sadly, both the plan and the Jones Store are gone....but I've still got my great dishes and they need to be used and enjoyed.

Nothing like having breakfast with THE STONE RABBIT and Santa!

 

 

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND for a long list of other bloggers who are ready with their PINK SATURDAY shares!!

DANA

 

Winding Down.....Gearing Up! 2015

 

Here is THE STONE RABBIT in a picture I took early this morning (Friday)  as I was packing up my van and heading out to my booth at my favorite show of the year!! It's nearly been 20 yrs. that I've done this sale!  Oh my goodness....I'm feeling really old!  

This rabbit friend is one of my biggest fans....always encouraging me along my crazy creative ways over the past (nearly) 40 years.

He was most appreciative of these Pinterest inspired  snowmen guys I had made from "gifted" shutters from a friend .   I  "hoarded" them (and proudly so, I must add) until the "right" time came to make them live a new life!  No longer needed in dining room windows, they were transforned into snowmen!!**

 

 

 

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND for a long list of other bloggers who are ready with their PINK SATURDAY shares!!

DANA

 

** Those shutters are now living a new life in two other happy homes!!  

 

 

Merry Christmas 2014!

 

Another Christmas Day has come and gone!!  It was a great one for us. . .I hope it was for you and your family, too!!!

 

 

Please visit Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND, for a long list of other bloggers who are ready to share their seasonal or PINKS with you this weekend!!

DANA

 

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!

 

Thanks to a looming entertaining deadline, I was forced to accomplish amazing Christmas decorating progress within the course of less than 24 hours.  While I was basically happy with the results, I SWEAR that I willl NOT do this to myself again next year.  

I promise I will start my decorating earlier, as well as my Christmas shopping and I will also have our cards ready to deposit in the mail by no later than December 15th.   Also, I am positive that my holidays would be much calmer and enjoyable if I would get some of the baking done early and placed in the freezer so that all I have to do is pop them in adorable decorative containers that I will wisely purchase days after this Christmas for 90% off the regular price.

I could go on and on about the way I want to do things next year. . .but I won't because, honestly, I do this EVERY year!!  I guess it's because I work better when the pressure is on!

Here THE STONE RABBIT is posing with a small collection of vintage Santa pictures I have.  I've always been a lover of Santa, with my favorite ones being those that are vintage (like me!!)

 

Hope you have a wonderful PINK SATURDAY and a calm, relaxed last weekend before Christmas!

Please visit Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND, for a long list of other bloggers who have PINKS or SEASONALS to share with you this weekend!!

DANA

My Favorite Sale of the Year is in the Books!

 

When I ran across this adorable shirt at Target a few weeks ago, I KNEW this was the one Patty and I would wear on the first day of my upcoming Christmas craft show.  It's called  "Craft Patch"and was held  last weekend at the Pavilion of John Knox in Lee's Summit, MO.

Sometimes finding a cute shirt doesn't happen. . .but it did this time!  That was the easy part.

 

 

 Of course, the  hardest part comes from spending hours coming up with items to make and then actually making them. . .and  in the final hours comes the set up of the booth at a time when I'm dead tired already from the last minute preparations.

Patty has helped me with this show (and many of my other ones) over the years.  She's my right arm.  She helps be haul in the many wooden boxes and other heavy items I "think" I have to have in order to build my display base.

 

 

She helps me set up the tables and drape the tables and create display areas and unwind lights and snake electric cords and plug in lights and scatter greenery around to cover the cords and to fetch whatever I need. . .

 

 

and just before everything is about to come together right before the customers walk in the door. . . . .

 

 

she stashes the last of the empty plastic bins, organizes the tissue and bags, gets the money box in order. . .then looks at me and says something like "when do you think we'll be too old to do this?"  :)

Seriously, she's amazing and I know if I didn't have her help it would be a lot more difficult to pull this off. . . and not nearly as much fun.

And for all of her work, what does she get?  A lousy Christmas shirt. . . and biscuits and gravy from the concession stand!  :)

 

 

THE STONE RABBIT agreed with me. . .this was really a great shirt.  We wore  long sleeved black tops beneath it and black pants. . . and many, many folks asked where we found them!  So, Target, you got some mighty fine free advertising from us!  :)

 

 

 

Something else that's mighty fine is what you'll find at Beverly's blog, HOW SWEET THE SOUND!  There will be a large group of other bloggers ready to share their seasonal or PINKS with you again this weekend!!

Happy Pink Saturday!!

DANA

It's Christmas Tree Time!

 

One weekend in October our son and his family and my husband and I made our annual journey to a local tree farm to "tag" (reserve) our Christmas trees!!

 

 

Last Friday, we returned to cut down our trees!

My DIL and son and grand kiddos have already decorated their tree. . . ours is still in a bucket of water waiting for me to do the same!  That will be happening this week!

 

 

 

THE STONE RABBIT gets as giddy over Christmas as I do!!  He was waiting for us to pull up with our Christmas Tree 2014. . .and he declared it to be yet another beauty!

 

 

 

Please visit Beverly's blog HOW SWEET THE SOUND for a long list of other bloggers ready to share their PINKS or SEASONALS with you this weekend!!

DANA