Bumping The Recipe

The light in the house today, 

a rainy dark day, is so perfect for me.

This is always my favorite light...

A hot cup of coffee,

warm snuggly clothes,

gentle music and a good book.

Heaven

Join me?

It's 10 a.m. and yet the trees look like early evening.

Justice photo bombing.

I didn't adjust anything in the shots.

This is the "temperature" in my home most days.

I finally had to turn on the heat.

Up there?

Top of the stairs?

My studio

I'll be there all day.

Bumping the recipe from earlier because the light

 is just too delicious today.

Z

Crockpot Bella and Pot Roast Revisited

I posted this recipe

1-2-2010 

and it is still a go-to when 

chuck roast is on sale

Remember Bella?

I love her

All the ingredients are here

This time I used ketchup with balsamic vinegar 

All in one bowl

Spicy Wine Pot Roast

3-4 lb beef pot roast- I use chuck

salt and pepper

1 small red onion chopped

1 package brown gravy mix

1 cup water

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup dry red wine

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire

1/8 tsp garlic powder

Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper - place in crock pot.

Combine remaining ingredients -pour over meat.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

I serve over buttered noodles.

Super Simple

If you wish - take the broth that is made

and mix with a little flour/milk to thicken 

Perfect for the rainy day we had yesterday.

Lots of leftovers

Darling Daughter - Dearest Son

This week and 

my two favorite people 

Hannah at work on

Kensho At The Bedfellow

She is Production Designer on the film.

You can check it out at the link above.

oh, and like it on facebook if you wish.

Lots of photos there.

They are working so hard on this independent 

film and we all should support independent films.

Ben creating the signage 

for the wedding of his two friends.

According to his girlfriend,

they were the hit of the party.

He cooks, designs, writes, works in film media,

does standup, repairs broken 

everything for me.

One very lucky Mama

And they're home in a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I giggle just saying it.

A Few More Touches

Justice has a habit of sleeping behind the wing

chairs in the living room.

A few days ago she got under and behind the chair 

and while trying to leave, got turned around,

confused, and ended up trapped 

and howling under the tree. 

She nearly toppled the tree,

and thank goodness I was home.

 I borrowed this fencing from my pal Sue last weekend.

It needed to be repaired so after a bit of surgery last evening,

I placed it around the tree to prevent any more mishaps.

It touches the back wall preventing her 

from getting under the tree in any way.

I loaned a few bottle brush trees to Sue

for her to use this year, 

and when I saw how many I still

had in the box, well..

a few more showed up here and there

 at oldgreymare.

The ones above are tucked into crystal door knobs.

I also loaned out some garland and some bed springs...

She liked what I had done with some in the table boxes.

Tis the season to share with our friends and family

Family Room

Those of you who have been around oldgreymare awhile 

know that I always use containers to decorate my tables 

during any Holiday. In a moments notice it can be whisked

off the table and out of the way.

Makes for super easy entertaining.

Each year I change it up, but always using

 the same materials I have gathered over 30 years.

Last year's box

My folk's old firkin

The tree in this room is all green ornaments

I start with green frosty berry picks,

tucked in all over the tree.

The required birds nest is in here also.

Lots of big flocked cones and TaDa!

Still more to come and lots more to do.

Stay tuned

***

I have to take the time to address this one last time

 because it seems to happen to me quite frequently now.

"No reply comment blogger"

There is a new RANT over in the 

**** It Bucket

erin's art and gardens has left a new comment on your post "Family Room": 

i'd like to point out, in case someone doesn't know, that if you change over to "Google +" you will have a "no-reply" e-mail...i have switched back to Blogger because of that. 

Erin made a good point.

 I'm confident that many Google + users are unaware of that fact.

Wraps And Tags

This time of year I gather all my supplies

 to wrap gifts and make tags.

I make it organized and pretty so the 

process is a joy.

This year there is only one color way.

Natural Black Cream

I put everything in transportable trays

 so I can work upstairs in the studio 

or downstairs on the porch.

I pull items from my 50 drawer apothecary as needed

Punches, Envelopes, Stamps

Darling Daughter's B-day is coming

I go to the trays and start playing.

Evening Twinkle

It's fun to walk through the living room

 in the evening.

Everything twinkles.

Working my way through

room by room

adding and subtracting 

till there is just enough twinkle.

Twinkle quotient is directly

proportional to room size

subtracted by tree quantity

divided by tree height 

multiplied by energy level of

decorator.

Balls In The Bedroom

Felted balls are the theme in the bedroom this season

felted snowflakes and birds

felted tree toppers

snow people with buckets of balls

felted trees and touches of blue

jars of balls

A large felted wreath with a touch of felted mistletoe

yeah.... like THAT'S gonna happen!

Felted garland with frosty balls

 The view over my toes each night

For some reason seeing this garland

of felted and glittered balls makes me smile

Balls In The Bedroom