Christmas Time is Coming!

Is everyone Ready for Christmas? Are you ready for Family Gatherings and the Gife of Giving and Receiving? What are your Plans for Christmas? Are you staying home? Going to Families House for a Gathering?

Do you got your Tree up already? When do you put it up? Alot of things going Hog Wild during the Christmas Holidays and the New Year Holidays that it's sometimes easy to forget even the slightest Details to Dinner, Gatherings, Etc.

Fill me in on what you are Planning this Holiday, I'd like to hear form you. Are you in the Christmas Spirit? Anything special you are looking for on Christmas Day from your Family? Family comeing in From the Army? Navy? anywhere else?

This is my Christmas Tree, Sorry the picture is so Crappy, it was taken with my iPhone in low lighting, so it's kind of dark and fuzzy, but that's Ok, you can see it instead of all my Clutter around the tree, that's not the Christmas presents either LOL. My Tree is 7' 5" Tall. It's a Synthetic Tree.

Every year me and my Girlfriend goto Walmart along with our Boy and we purchase an Ornament of our liking and we put it on the Tree Christmas Day. It's something we started and been doing for the last 2 years now. If there is an ornament that we can't find that we want, then I Let them Choose something out of my Christmas Patterns and I cut them out and we Hang Handmade Ornaments on the Tree.

Do you have a Family Tredition that you do during the Christmas holidays? Do you Eat Dinner then open Presents? Do you open presents when you first get up before Breakfast? Do you open on Christmas Eve or day?

When I was a Kid, we used to Wait all day with anticipation and open our presents after dinner while the adults were cleaning the after Dinner dishes up for the evening. Now since this is long and gone as kids and grown into Adults, we tend to have our own little Tredition that we tend to do with our Kids.

Me and my Girlfriend will Wrap presents of course, and our 10 year old still believes in Santa Claus, so we will wrap while he's in bed or well before christmas, then when we know he's Good and Sleeping, We open the Fireplace Insert like Santa came in, make some Noise with a Bell and yell at the boy and when he gets up we tell him he JUST missed Santa and he left all these presents.

And then we all Dive in, let the boy Play with the Toys for a few hours then send him back to bed and he gets up first thing in the morning and plays with his toys while we get ready to get up and get ready for the morning.

Tell me your Stories, Leave me comments on what you do for christmas and all!

Handi

Happy Thanksgiving

I'd like to Wish all of my Friends and Family along with all of my Followers to my Blog a Happy Thanksgiving.

This is a time to say thanks for ______. You fill in the Blanks. Your Family, Your Friends, Your Fellow Woodworkers, Your Fellow Scrollers, Whoever it may be, it's the time to give thanks.

I give thanks for all of my Family that's still in my live that hasn't been taken from me by Cancer. I give thanks to all of my Friends I've made in the last year from Great woodworking friends to Great Scrollsawer Friends.

It's been a wonderful year so far, except for a few health problems in the family, but today isn't a day to think about all of the losses each of us have been threw, it's time to be grateful for all of things that we still have and all of the new memories that we are making.

Thanks for being a Friend.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Handi

Cubscouts Popcorn Fundraiser

Hello everyone.

I just wanted to toss out a Website for my Son for his popcorn Sales. He's a Webelo this year in the scouts, and of course, yet again, every year the Scouts sale Popcorn cause this is their ONLY Fundraiser they do every year, and this year they decided to try some Online popcorn Sales.

Well being a Blogger and an E-Mail Nut, I've decided to give it a go around and post my Sons Site so I can try and get him some Hits and sales to help him with his Scouts.

So if you click on the title of this Post, it will take you to his Scouts Popcorn page, you can check out all of the popcorn that they provide and have it all shipped right to you no matter where you live.

I hope that everyone will check out the site and try to order some popcorn if possible, and even go as far as forward this post to other friends and family as well to help promote my Sons popcorn sales.

This means alot to him and he's looking forward to getting some great rewards, so All of your help is appreciated in advanced.

Thanks,
Handi

Canning - Tomato Juice

Canning. Does anyone can every year or season? What do you can? Beans? Corn? Sauces? Jams and Jellys? Juices?

Last night I had what felt like close to 10lbs of Tomatos. Give or take a few lbs.

I boiled and canned all of my Tomatos lastnight so they wouldn't go bad. I got more yield from my Tomato plants this year then what I had in the last 2 years which I'm grateful but would've been more grateful if I had more then what I did.

I Planted 12 Rutger Tomato plants. 8 of them did not do any good, the remaining 4 I Planted here at my house, and they took off like wildfire. Maybe it was the soil, maybe it was the sun, I don't know, but I had more from those 4 then I had in a long time.

I only had enough Tomatos to Process 4 Pints of Juice. It's well under what I wanted for the season, but I guess I'll have to do with what I have, maybe next year things will be better.

For anyone who is interested, here is the recipe I use to can and process my Juice.

Tomatos
Pickling/Canning Salt
Pint Jars
Water Bath Canner or any Kettle

Quarter up your Tomatos, Core them and cut bad spots out.

Take about 1/4 of the quarter up Tomatos and blend them to make juice.

Pour in a kettle with the Quartered Tomatos and start boiling with lid off, the object is to boil off the water to thicken the juice.

If you wanted added flavor, add Carrots, Celery, Peppers or other veggies.

Boil for an hour until the quartered tomatos are soft. Put in a Food Mill and seperate the juice from the skin and seeds. If you got a Juicer, you can juice them the modern way.

Put juice without the skin and seeds back in the kettle and boil for another 5 to 10 minutes or until thickness is desired. If you wante Tomato Paste, boil til thick.

In the mean time, if you have a dishwasher, Sani-wash your jars to heat them up, on a side burner, heat up the lids and have your water bath up and ready.

Ladle in your Juice or paste into 1 Pint Jars to about 1/2 to 1/4 head room, put 1/4 tsp. Pickling Salt in each Jar, Put on lid, screw it on til its a little firm, then another 1/4 turn there after and toss into the water bath canner.

Process in Boiling water for 10 to 15 minites, Pull out and put on Towls overnight, check lids to see if it's sealed, if not refridgeate it.

That's all there is to it. Enjoy your Juice!

I'm A Food Blog

Come check this Blog out for them who are interested in some Home Making of Cheese and Bacon and some other stuff. Click the title of the Post and it will take you to the blog!

Revamped

I've been Playing around with Google Blogger and seen that they had some new features to the Blog. Some of which I've been wanting to impliment into my Blog for sometime, and that's Columns.

Well Finaly I'm able to get my wish. I revamped the site and got close to what I wanted for a blog with the columns. So I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do lol.

More to come in the near future or latter future when i get a wild hair to write something.

Baseball

Well... I know it's been along time since I've posted. Matter fact it appears that it's been at Damians 3rd game of the Season since I last posted.

Well the season is already over, has been for a month maybe a little longer, Damian's team won 5 games of the 10 Played which wasn't bad at all. Not bad for a First timer Little Leaguer either.

Unfortunatly he did not make it into the tournement, they Played one last time to try and make it into the tournement but but didn't make it. But that's ok, i'm still proud of him for trying and getting as far as he did with what little training and practice that he had.

Via Credit Union @ Creek Run: Game 3

My Son "Damian" Plays for Via Credit Union Little League Team, They Played their first Game last night. It was Actually Their 3rd Game of the Season cause the First 2 Games we got rained out and the opposing Team Canceled the Game.

Via Lost to Creek by 10 Points, the ending Points were 5-15. I'm happy with the team for Participating and trying their best since it was their first game, but I'm a little disappointed that the team didn't work together as a team nor pay much attention.

During this, Creek Run Team made Several Base Steals and Via was basically sitting around Dumbfounded. Apparently the coach didn't teach the team about Stealing or what to do during the process of a steal. So I think that this Friday at Practice I will be bringing up that we need to focus more on Defensive Play.

This seems to be their Downfall right now in the game. With a Little more Practice and some better defense I think this will make all the difference in their game play. I'm glad that we've got some Practice runs before game 4.

Beer

The topic today is Beer.

Why Beer you ask? Well I'm not 100% sure why. Maybe because I wish to speak about it, Maybe I wish to know who drinks it, who likes it and or why they like it.

Last night I had my First Samuel Adams. I've drank and tried different beers in my time. Not ALOT, but I've tried many, from Budwiser to Miller.

I think this was before I considered getting into the Hobby of brewing my own craft beer which is what Samuel Adams is along with Dundee's Honey Brown is.

Dundee's isn't a Bad Craft Beer, if I had to Choose between Dundee's and Samuel, I'd go with Dundee's in a Heartbeat.

Samuel Adams I've been wanting to taste for sometime, and I couldn't see myself paying close to $7.00 for a 6 Pack for a Craft Beer or a Beer in general. So I decided to go ahead and indulge in my Curiosity in wondering what this beer tasted like cause I've heard some good things bout it.

Well, I'm going to tell you now, that the $7.00 I spent for the 6 Pack, was not worth the wait of taste, nor the $7.00 I spent for the 6 Pack. I thought that this being a Craft would have a more Fresher taste and Robust flavor. Well I was wrong, The only way I can explain the taste of this Beer is it reminds me of Squirting Peppermint Extract in your mouth and swallowing it.

The Potent Flavor, the overwhelming Power of the Coolness, the Bitterness and the really bad aftertaste. Needless to say, I wasn't very pleased of the outcome of this Craft Beer. I like my Beer and I like the Flavor of Beer, and the only few commercial beers I've came across that I've enjoyed were Miller, Ice House, Rolling Rock and the Non Craft Beer Honey Brown.

Out of the 2 Craft beers that I've tasted so far, Samuel Adams and Dundee's Honey Brown, I'll have to say Dundee's is far better then Samuel Adams any day.

So Tell me, Anyone that's Following me here, Send me Comments on:

Favorite Beer?

Brand?

Craft or Commercial?

What do you Look for in a Beer?

Do you drink Beer for the Flavor or for the Alcohol?

Drink to Mellow out or to get Drunk?

Just interested in knowing why so many People drink Beer. Me.. I drink just a few just to relax nothing more. I don't drink to get drunk. And I drink beer cause I like the Flavor of it, the bitterness.

Handi

Deadwood

Deadwood,
originally uploaded by jwarner75.

Here is a Picture of a Dead Stump I took in 07. I thought it was cool, the colors the texture and all.

I think it came out Great! All comments are Welcome!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.