suziebeezieland

christkindlesmarkt

{image from strudelmonkeyat flickr.com : creative commons license}

Hi, sweet ladies,

Tonight we're off like a herd of turtles to München, Nürnberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Salzburg, & Wien. We'll get back a week from Sunday. Now that we're packed and ready, I am sooooo excited! :)

If you have already signed our suziebeezieland welcome post and would like to be included in a suziebeezieland drawing for a lovely Christmas ornament from the Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt, sign your name up here in comments, along with your email, and I'll announce the winner when I get back. (If you are a suziebeezieland regular and have never signed our welcome post, do it now if you'd like so that we can meet you, and next time we have a drawing you can participate!)

I hope you all have a lovely week. :) I'll try to take some good pictures.

a thanksgiving song

Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and he is to be held in awe above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.

Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his place.

Ascribe to the Lord, O clans of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him!

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth;
yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice,
and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!

Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!

(1 Chronicles 16:23-34)

today

This morning Christy and I and all three kids piled into her Pilot and drove out to LAX to pick up our wonderful Aunt Lucy and Uncle Keith from the airport. Then we came back here to the house where our parents and husbands met us, and we had a very fun brunch.  It was just perfect to spend time together.

Then Claire and I took a nap when everyone left.

Then this afternoon we made kiss-kiss-hug-hug Play-doh cookies (and also family initial cookies). Then we decided that an empty Cuties box would make a good playhouse for Ham-Ham.

"I dream of a terrace with a view of the Seine, where I will stand on autumn nights sipping Beaujolais Nouveau and watching the twinkly lights on the bateaux as they gently glide by. But for now, I must settle for the questionable ambiance of a cardboard box that once held citrus because these people do not understand my delicate hamster sensibilities," says Ham Ham.

our november house

. . . at that time of year a few weeks' neglect can soon transform a richly flowering garden into a mess of weeds and seed-heads, and the tidiest brick path into a slippery ribbon of moss and algae (Mary Stewart, Thornyhold)

I've just about finished up my crazed flurry of pre-Thanksgiving projects. It's time to just give the whole place a good cleaning and then sit back and enjoy the rest of the week without my silly self-induced stress. Although I got stuff done that needed doing, and I'm happy about that.

The garden is (relatively) weed-free, at least out front, and I'm hoping to avoid Mary Stewart's apt description of November's decay.

The pansies remind me of excited women doing holiday shopping.

I cut back the roses in front of the bay window because they were up to the top, and needed a rest. I like the hips, which come in round and orangish-reddish and offer interest when the roses are gone.

But there are still blooms on the fence.  They glow at dusk, and almost look blue.

The fountain used to be out back, but we see it more out front, so now it's there. The pansies keep leaning towards it for a drink, I think.

The bunny photos I posted the other day were overexposed, so here are a couple more, taken later when the sun wasn't beating on the porch.  Alas, the original bunny was decapitated in a fall onto the sidewalk (let us never speak of it again), so this is a replacement, brought around from out back.  I do miss that first, terra cotta bunny, who always looked so wistful and sweet to me. 

I made the bloom! sign at a trip to Color-Me-Mine a month ago or so.  Do you ever go there, or to a similar paint-your-own-pottery studio? It's so fun. I could sit there all day painting.  It's way too expensive (so we only do tiny projects about four times a year), but so fun. Claire and I paint, and Bob, who is the best painter in the family, watches. It took me awhile to realize that he doesn't paint so that he can help Claire so that I can paint. (I get completely absorbed in what I'm doing and don't hear anybody talking. "Mama. Mama. Mama. Mama?") When I realized what he was doing, I thought it was so sweet. Next time I want him to paint.

My sign kind of reminds me of something out of Beetlejuice, like stripey witch stockings. I'm not sure what I was going for. Maybe an inchworm? But it was fun to do, anyway.

Inside, I am so pleased to have finally hung up two prints of some original paintings our Catherine did. I'm a very slow picture-hanger-upper.

They are exactly the punch of color on that wall that the dining room needed. (The piece we had there before has found a nice home in our bedroom, where its subdued color palette works better with the bedroom's light green walls, and shows up better than it did against the yellow.)

And finally, here is my favorite pilgrim (squinting into the morning sun), ready to go to school last Friday and enjoy the Thanksgiving party. (Her hat was at school.)  She has had stomach flu this weekend (last night was a long night), but seems to feel better this afternoon. Hooray.

don't miss . . .

Don't miss Catherine's most recent photos of her shop, Red Shoes, all decked out for the holidays.

The cutest shop EVER. I saved one of the photos as my computer wallpaper, that's how enamored I am.

another little questionnaire for you

1. What are three of your all-time-favorite television shows, ever? Please stick to three. (You may include mini-series or one-time specials.) I'm just asking for "three of," not "the top three ever." :)

2.  What online communities do you belong to or visit frequently? (Ex: Facebook, Flickr, Two Peas, etc.)

3. How many speeding tickets have you had in your whole life?

4. Do you have opinions one way or the other about cranberry sauce with the berries in it versus cranberry sauce out of the can, all smooth and berry-free, with the can ridges imprinted on it?

5. What are you having/did you have for dinner tonight?

garden work

Gosh, I haven't posted in awhile. My aunt and uncle are coming out from Kansas City for Thanksgiving, which we'll have at my sister's house. We're having a little brunch here on Tuesday, so I've been straightening up outside so that the first time they see my house, their initial reaction (inside their heads) won't be, "Wow, a bunch of weeds!"

It's also just fun to get ready for them . . . I love my Uncle Keith and Aunt Lucy, and their own home is so lovely and gives so much joy, that I want them to feel happy here. But I have a tendency to go crazy.  I hate that tendency.

So out front I weeded and mulched, and planted some stock, and painted the porch floor and the front door and the threshold, which were all three looking shabby.

Out back I ripped out the dead impatiens and put new ones in some pots, and emptied, washed, and stored the rest. I got a few cyclamen planted, too. I like to see that red when I look out my kitchen door. 

It has also been good motivation to get some stuff done inside the house that has needed doing for awhile.  I'm thinking about painting our hallway and hallway cupboards. I got the supplies yesterday to do it, but today I'm more inclined to just clean house, which has become a disaster the past couple of days while I've been working outside.  I could probably get the hallway painted tomorrow morning, before Claire's class Thanksgiving party. 

We leave for Germany the day after Thanksgiving, and I've been getting ready for that, too. We're still wearing warm-weather clothes here, so it's strange to pack for snow and cold. 

I feel a little flustered with everything on my to-do list, and I got a jury summons for the week of December 15th, which I'm hoping won't turn into a trial a week before Christmas. Hopefully I'll get caught up the next couple days and will calm down. :)

book recommendations for winter

Have you read anything good lately that you would recommend to us?

not a "should" in the bunch

My first order from Amazon (using those glorious gift certificates) arrived today, and I'm feeling so excited. I didn't buy a single book I feel I "should" read. I just bought books I "want to" read. :)

I always have a nightstand full of heavy stuff, and then end up turning on the television to relax because all my reading looks too important and thought-provoking. 

I'm excited to just go to bed early-ish all this winter and read, read, read.

I don't think a single thought shall be provoked. :)

I'll let you know how I like them all. (Please don't give me any spoilers on any of these, or I'll cry.)

we are most amused

Prince Charles turns 60 tomorrow. I can hardly believe it.

Today is his birthday party at Buckingham Palace, hosted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II ("mum"). On Saturday, he is having a smaller party, hosted by the Duchess of Cornwall ("Camilla"), and attended by his praetorian guard ("friends"), with music performed by a Prince's Trust ambassador ("Rod Stewart").

I do hope he is having a nice birthday week. I have to say that I myself am having a perfectly lovely birthday week. I turned 43 on Tuesday. On Sunday, we had a party with my family ("my family"), and on Tuesday my sister ("my sister") came over and we drank coffee and watched a fun movie.  That evening I enjoyed a nice dinner with my husband and daughter ("Bob" and "Claire").  This coming Saturday, I will enjoy a lovely birthday breakfast with my friends ("my friends").

Happy birthday, Prince Charles. I hope you feel as blessed as I do.

green bean bundles

My mama, who is a suziebeezieland lurker :), sent along the recipe for the green bean bundles I showed you on Monday.  They are delicious (bacon, sugar, butter . . . what's not to love?!?!), and I'm salivating as I type this. :D  The note below the recipe is also from mom.

Green Bean Bundles

3 cans whole green beans

8 slices bacon, halved

1 c brown sugar

1/2 t garlic salt

1 c melted butter

1 t soy sauce

Drain beans and put into bundles of 10 beans. Wrap each bundle with 1/2 slice bacon, securing with toothpick. Place in baking dish. Cover with marinade of sugar, butter, garlic salt and soy sauce. Refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered. approx. 15 servings

Note: I tried this with fresh green beans, steamed, thinking that would naturally be better, but it didn’t work. Sometimes it’s hard to find the canned whole green beans, and even then they aren’t really nice and long, but they work.

georgette heyer

Hey! Have any of you heard of Georgette Heyer (16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) before, or read any of her novels? I just found out about her from a friend on Facebook, and am completely intrigued.

Apparently (I was just reading), she kind of invented the Regency romance genre.

I don't think I've ever read a book in the Regency romance genre before. I don't even really know what that is, actually. What is it? I steer clear of the romance aisle in bookstores.

But I'm fascinated because of the good editorial reviews on Amazon.

Heyer's books sound like light and fun, but pretty well-written and without junk, and if you might recall, I am looking for light and fun, but pretty well-written and without junk. (One of the reviews from Black Sheep says one of the characters has a guardian because her mother "created some unidentified indiscretion." That's what I want. Books with unidentified indiscretions. I don't want identified indiscretions.)

Listen to this description from The Reluctant Widow:

What starts out as a simple business arrangement soon becomes much more complicated as housebreakers, uninvited guests, a shocking murder, missing government papers, and a dog named Bouncer all contribute to this lively, frequently hilarious tale of mistaken identities, foreign espionage, and unexpected love set during the Napoleonic Wars.

Mistaken identities! Foreign espionage! Unexpected love! Napoleonic Wars! A dog! Hilarious! Doesn't that sound perfect? (I've been interested in the Napoleonic Wars ever since I plowed through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell a couple summers ago on vacation. Remember that? I got in trouble for reading when I was supposed to be looking at the splendors of the California coast.)

Or look at this, from an official Amazon.com review for Cotillion:

No sooner does Kitty arrive in London than she becomes embroiled in the romantic difficulties of several new acquaintances. Kitty's French cousin, Camille, a professional gambler, has won the heart of her new friend, Olivia -- who also happens to be the object of Jack Westruther's dishonorable intentions. Meanwhile, Kitty's doltish cousin Lord Dolphinton has fallen in love with a merchant's daughter who's embattled with his mother and needs his help. Finally, there is Kitty herself, who begins to wonder if the dandified Freddy might not be the man for her after all. As in all of Georgette Heyer's books, Cotillion transcends genre -- it is, quite simply, wonderful literature.

I think a few months ago I decided to avoid any recipe that had the word "meanwhile" in it, but I really like it when novels have the word "meanwhile," because that means there are subplots, and I love that. (I just don't want subplots in my recipes.) And look! There is a dandified Freddy and a doltish cousin, and so many people that it's hard to keep track. And they said "wonderful literature." Wonderful literature!

If you go on Amazon and search for Georgette Heyer, you can see that her books are all being rereleased right now, and into 2009.  She was really prolific! So I'm kind of confused about where to start. Which ones are good? I'm really hoping one of you knows and can recommend her to me and tell me which book to read first. (I'm also asking my friend on Facebook, and will report back to you if she gives me some recommendations.)

I got some most excellent Amazon gift certificates for my birthday and they are burning a hole in my Inbox. :)

my mom's kitchen

My mom and dad lived with a very old kitchen and two very old baths in their home for over twenty years, but have in the past couple of years been able to redo them all. I still get excited to see the new rooms.

We were all out there last night for a fun party, and I took a few pictures. I'll show you one of the bathrooms later. I didn't want it getting mixed up today with the kitchen. :D

The kitchen is warm and cozy, with beautiful white cabinets, dark wood floors, a dark brown table and china hutch, and splashes of red everywhere. It feels French. Some wonderful food comes out of this kitchen.

Here's a wooden chef we bought in Krakow.

I like how the little t.v. is tucked in.

I love the warmth of the copper molds.

I love the white lace curtains and the warm table lamps.

The red accents against the white backsplash just pop.

Mom's got her recipes up on the fridge as she works.

What's cookin'? We started with roasted red pepper soup . . .

. . . and then shish-ka-bob, served on warm yellow rice . . .

. . . and green bean bundles wrapped in bacon . . .

 

. . . and salad, and rolls. And then cheesecake and coffee to end with, which I did not photograph because I was too busy eating it right up. :)

Yay, sweet mama! Yay, mama's kitchen! :)

another little questionnaire for you

Here is another little questionnaire for you to cut-and-paste into comments and answer, just for fun. :)

1. Are you reading anything for pleasure right now? Do you recommend it?

2. What is something you remember getting in trouble for when you were a little kid?

3. How do you get your world news? Do you watch the news on t.v., or read the newspaper, or get it online, or do you kind of just wait for somebody to tell you what is going on? :D

4. Did you formally learn to type when you were in school, or are you self-taught? If you learned in school, do you remember anything about your typing class?

5. If you had to teach a class to suziebeezieland, what would you teach us?

10 random

1. I don't really trust anybody who never freaks out about anything.

2. My plan to eat some of Claire's hallowe'en candy hasn't really worked out, because she has it all memorized. I got busted for snagging a Reese's the other day.

3. I'm reading The Holiness of God for our Bible study, and have never in my whole life felt so convicted about how I'm spending my time each day, and what I'm putting into my mind with my entertainment. You know I always struggle with this, because I just want to read and watch fun stuff that makes me relax and laugh or feel thrilled or excited, and be one of the girls, but some of the really popular stuff is seriously trash. It's hard to swim upstream, or miss out, but then I think, if I really believe I'm going to spend eternity with God, with this holy God, why would I spend any time now putting junk in my head? It's just dumb. No, really.  So I'm trying to find stuff that's fun but not junk.

4. I cleaned out my dryer vent today (I unscrewed something and stuck the dryer hose down there) and couldn't believe all the lint stuck in there. I think my house was probably ready to burn down! I cleaned it because the clothes haven't been getting all the way dry in their cycle, but now they are. I'm not what you'd call a detail-oriented housekeeper sometimes.

(I think that when you start talking about your dryer vent it's probably time to stop blogging. I hope someone reading this is interested in dryer lint.)

5. Wahib's Middle East Restaurant is down the street from us and we've never tried it out, although we want to because everyone says it's great.  It's supposed to be fantastic Lebanese food.  But what is really intriguing me is the big sign in front for Wahib's Dinner Theater, which is currently Dude! The Musical. I notice it every time I go through the drivethrough at McDonald's, which is just across the street. What could that possibly be about?

6.  Also, while we're discussing signs that intrigue me, south of us there is a sign pointing down a little road for TomatoBank.  Since I've never seen the building, I thought maybe it was just a sign going to nowhere, or just a joke, or maybe a scam. But I guess TomatoBank is a real thing.  It would be kind of fun to have a credit card with a tomato on it.

7. Mark and Valeria, if you are reading this, I am praying for you every day. I hope Luke can come home from the hospital soon. xxoo

8. It is still in the 80s here, but I bought thermal underwear today because we're going to Germany and Austria later this month for a week's vacation. I hate having to buy cold-weather clothing that we won't get much use out of, but I hate freezing even more, so thermals it is! :) We also have new snow boots and mittens. You can get some pretty great deals on thermals, boots and mittens in southern California in November when it is in the 80s. :)

9. My Uncle Keith and Aunt Lucy are coming out from Kansas City for Thanksgiving. I'm so excited!

10. Bob is out tonight seeing some shoot-'em-up movie with his friends, and I spent two really nice hours plopped on the sofa with the dog and cat scrunched up next to me, watching HGTV.  As soon as it starts getting dark earlier and signals that it's autumn, I turn into a television fiend, even though I've not been terribly interested all summer.  This is why I have to make sure I'm not watching junk, because once it's actually winter I am seriously glued to my sofa. :)

the suziebeezieland monthly newsletter

The suziebeezieland monthly newsletter for November will mail out this weekend and Monday.

If you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please sign up using the form towards the bottom of the right sidebar over there --->

If you don't like it when you get it, you can unsubscribe by following the directions at the bottom of the newsletter. :)

The old newsletters are archived here.

The newsletter mails out in two separate batches in alphabetical order by first name, 24 hours apart. I have to do it this way because I have a cap of 50 mailings per day with my free WebAsyst account. :)

turkeys

Last year, Bob and Claire mentioned that it was kind of a letdown in November after I removed all the Hallowe'en decor, so this year I got some Thanksgiving placemats and a runner and napkins from PB Kids. They had this stuff in their store for about a week before they replaced it with Christmas. I don't think Thanksgiving is very lucrative for the big retailers.  But it's my favorite holiday and I'm happy to have some special placemats for it. :)

 

november in the suziebeezieland bookshop

Here are my nine picks for November. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I am pleased to recommend these books to you. (I'm also very excited about Alicia's book coming out!)

(If you click on that link above you are going to have reading deja vu in a second. :D Sorry about that, but I figured why rewrite what I want to say when I've already said it the way I want to say it?)

pink gingham

I have several pieces of black furniture in my house. Our bedroom nightstands are black, and the end tables and coffee tables in the living room are black, and my desk is black.  In dusty, smoggy southern California, black furniture almost never looks clean. It drives me crazy. Especially my desk!

So last week I found a gingham curtain panel on sale over at Pottery Barn Kids. It's width is exactly two times the depth of my desk.  So I just folded it in half and laid it on down, like a runner.

Now my desk is exactly as dirty as it was before, when it was black, but I CAN'T TELL. :D

the suziebeezieland weekly poll:television habits

Here's our latest suziebeezieland poll. (I know they're not really weekly, but "the suziebeezieland every-now-and-again poll" seems like a clunky name for it.) But note that all polls close one week after I post them, whether or not I post the results immediately.

Please choose one. :)

Here are the results from our last poll! Interesting, huh?