On To 2013
8:57 a.m. - 2013-01-03


So far, this new year has been about squash. I still have a three milk crates full of butternut and other winter squash, but I don't have much freezer room to store it, so it is sitting out there on the porch. The freezing weather doesn't seem to faze it. I cooked up two giant ones the other day that were about 8 pounds each, then I cooked some more smaller ones for New Year's Day lunch. We invited my MIL over for a simple but tasty lunch. I was going to make a repeat of the Christmas breakfast casserole, but after much thought, I decided the cholesterol bomb would probably kill her. Instead, I used the leftover sausage to make the sausage and rice casserole recipe that came from their family. My MIL must have gotten it out of some magazine back in the day, but it is truly scrumptious. The meal was not very hard to do since the casserole and the squash were cooking by themselves in the oven, so all I had to do was make some muffins.

The funny thing that happened was that the my husband left to pick up his mom, who now lives quite close to us in an independent living community, and shortly after he left the doorbell rang. I opened it up to find my MIL on the doorstep, having driven herself over. She said she had told the spouse she would drive herself when he visited her the day before, but I guess he didn't hear that part. Right after that surprise arrival, the phone rang, and it was the spouse asking if his mom had showed up at our house since she didn't answer her doorbell at her apartment. So the arrival part was choppy, but everything turned out fine. The MIL had a great time, which makes the year start off nicely.

It is very cold here, in the 20's, which isn't rare, but is unusual. I have been thinking about my seed order, since with the economy going down a dark path, we decided to expand the vegetable garden. I also need to start cooking up the jam for next year using the fruit I froze last summer. That should open up some freezer room for the never-ending squash.

I finished knitting a pullover and now just have to sew it together. In the meantime, I noticed that I have 4 skeins of red/orange/yellow/red orange variegated yarn left over from a finished afghan, so in an effort to use up yarn, I am making the flashiest cardigan ever. It should be fun to wear around the house, and everyone will be able to see me from a vast distance.