Snowshoeing,fudge eating and popcorn making......

As most of you know, I really can't stand winter, but living in Western Pennsylvania where we are on the edge of the snowbelt, I've learned to embrace it and in doing so I enjoy snowshoeing. Saturday was a perfect day for Buddy the Wonder Dog and I to go on our first of the winter season snowshoeing trek! I went to my mom and dad's farm where I take their dog Buddy with me.We set off across the field heading toward the woods but it was the last day of deer season and I thought we'd better stick to the fields.

The snow sparkled like millions of diamonds in the sun.

The trick to snowshoeing in a cut cornfield is to stay between the rows. When I cut across the rows I have all the grace of a water buffalo in a ballet! Just look at the remarkable blue sky!

So I got back inside, warmed up and had just a little bit of fudge. I love fudge and my mom makes the best! It's smooth, creamy and oh so chocolaty.

My niece Andrea came over to my mom and dads' on Saturday too. She thinks I'm crazy because I make up Christmas songs and make her sing them along with me. That's ok, everybody needs a "crazy aunt" in their lives.

My great-niece, Riley was there too. She's pretty funny, we kind of have the same sense of humor. She was looking at her grandpa while he was talking to her like, "you are so full of crap grandpa Jeff" but didn't say a word to him, she just had that sly smile on her face. I think that Riley thinks I'm goofy too, but that's ok, everybody needs a "crazy great aunt" in their lives!

Nanny (my mom) and I whipped up a batch of "Freda Popcorn". What you ask is "Freda Popcorn?" Well, about 18 years ago I worked at a hospital as a speech pathologist and I had a sweet little lady who had a stroke and I saw once a week for outpatient therapy and her name was Freda. She was an awesome cook and would always bring me new recipes. She gave me this carmel popcorn recipe which my mom and I make almost every Christmas.

Freda Carmel Popcorn Recipe

pop 12 cups of popcorn and set aside in a big roaster

In a heavy sauce pan melt 2 sticks of butter, stir in 2 cups of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of light Karo corn syrup and bring to a boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Take off the heat and stir in 1 tsp of baking soda and one tablespoon of vanilla.

Pour over the popcorn in the roaster and mix until it's coated.

Bake at 250 for 30 minutes, stirring ever 10 minutes.

Store in an air tight container. The girls had a good Saturday!

Popcorn update: I came home from work today and stuffed almost half a gallon bag of it down my throat! It's addictive!!!!! YUM!

Snowshoeing!

We got hammered with about 12-13 inches of snow on Friday night and Saturday morning. Bad for the roads.......good for snowshoeing! I went today to a park near my house and snowshoed for about an hour. Click here to see the kind of snowshoes I have. Now my body feels like.........hmmmm.......how can I describe it? I know.......do you remember those old washing machines with the wringer that squeezed the water out of the clothes? Well, it feels like my whole body was squeezed through one of them! I'm afraid I'm going to be one hurting puppy when I wake up in the morning. But, it was worth it to be out in the fresh air and I snapped a few pictures of the beautiful snow blanketing everything. I hope you enjoy the pics!

Every now and then "look-up", it's amazing what you might be missing!

Looks like the fence posts are wearing little white snow hats!

Just 3 more months until these tiny buds burst forth into leaves. Hope springs eternal. I've walked past these trees many, many times and never noticed the carvings in these trees....
I guess my perception was heightened due to the lack of oxygen going to my brain while snowshoeing because here's another one!
I hope you had a nice, relaxing Sunday! It's going to very cold this week with a high of 11 degrees on Thrusday and 9 degrees on Friday! BRRRRRRRRR! Stay warm wherever you are this week!

Taking a break!

As much as I love to craft and feed my habit of crafting I've noticed a strange phenomenon.....my butt and thighs have been getting bigger. All of the great holiday food along with with cold, snowy weather and little to no exercise have taken it's toll on the body! Therefore I've decided a need to find more balance between crafting, computing and moving so yesterday I packed up my snowshoes and poles and went to my mom and dad's farm to snowshoe with their dog Buddy. He is a great snowshoeing companion......a border collie with a lot of vim and vigor, to say the least. He's somewhat hyper and raced around trying to herd anything in his path! It was a beautiful day with the sun peaking out between snow squalls and a brisk 19 degrees! Mom said Buddy slept most of afternoon and night and is still moving slow today! I, on the other hand was even too tired to go down to my studio and craft last night!