I called Ricardo while he was next door, and he insisted that I get a photo with him. Thanks, hon'... it came out pretty good. I'll add it to my growing collection of photos taken with politicians.
I've always wanted to make one of these cranberry trees. It wasn't that difficult, and only took about 2 and a half hours to make. The styrofoam cone was only about $4, but I had to use three bags of cranberries. I would make it again -- it still looked good even after two weeks.
I made these pinecone wreath thingies from the pinecones that I had glittered last year. I made four of them for the windows downstairs. My only cost was the ribbon I bought on sale... not bad for less than an hour of work and about $3.
I always make clove-studded oranges. I already had the cloves, and the oranges were a few dollars.
I like to have a few decorations in the kitchen (since I spend so much time there!)... so I decorared my dried spices with a few ribbons.
I made this kitchen wreath with the branches that we cut off the bottom of the tree. I added gold pinecones from last year, and recycled a bow. After the holiday I cut all the branches off the wreath form to reuse another time, so this cost me nothing.
I bought this wreath at the Christmas tree farm, and added my own bows. It costs about $22.
I decorated the corner of our living room with this old tree. I bought some little glittery snowflakes for about $4 to decorate the tree.
Even though I have a gazillion ornaments, I always make a few new ones each year. I had all the supplies on-hand for these glittered doves, but I broke down and bought some fancy Martha Stewart glitter (but I had a coupon!)... so they cost a dollar or so.
I also made these ice skates... I couldn't resist... I thought they were too adorable.
The end result? A tree with so man decorations that you can barely see the tree!
I left work early the day before the storm to go to the grocery store, but the lines were crazy-long anyway. My cashier told me: "I hope you got everything you need, cause I won't be here tomorrow!"
The day after the storm you couldn't even see our car!
And here's our view of our street... a true winter wonderland.
After all the shoveling, there was nothing left to do but make a snow angel.
We finally got a little snow. It's all gone now, but I'm crossing my fingers for a white Christmas.
We returned to Homestead Farm (where we go pumpkin picking). I was happy to see they give you a ride out to the fields and back.
We spend a while wandering around, looking at all the trees and debating over what kind we wanted.
Timber! We finally settled on this guy.
Ricardo dragged it out to the road to wait for the tractor.
It's getting cold!
And here it is on our car, bagged and tagged.
Now we just gotta get it in the house.
It was a tight squeeze, but the tree made it inside. Now for the hard part: trying to keep the damn cats away from it. 
In November we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Ricardo took me out to a fancy restaurant... Cheers!
Here's our home, all ready for the trick-or-treaters.
If you look closely at the 1st photo, there's a small grey animal inside the front door -- it's Vince! He loves sneaking in the photos.
I was particularly proud of my planter arangements -- I stacked funky pumpkins with Spanish moss in between. I used wooden skewers to secure the pumpkins. The greenery is left over from the summer, and the berries are a la Michaels.
Here's another one of those funky pumpkins -- how could I resist this striped guy?
I couldn't resist buying a big bag of these "second" heirloom tomatoes priced at just two dollars a pound (half price). Even Johnny had to agree that they sure smelled good.
Sliced in half -- so pretty!
I start with a layer of sliced onions with olive oil, salt & pepper in baking pans.
Then I add all the halved tomatoes.
Next I take some peeled carrots,
and dice them.
Then I grab some of these cool garlic heads (still attached to their stems)...
and smash them.
Here's what my pans look like after I add the carrots, garlic, and cherry tomatoes from my garden. Ideally these pans wouldn't be so crowded. But, I got a little carried away, and I was trying to use up all my ripe tomatoes.
Here's a close-up of a baking sheet ready for the oven...
and after about an hour in a 450 degree oven, here's what comes out.
I let everything cool a bit, then run it through my Kitchenaid to get rid of the skins and seeds, and turn it into a nice pureed sauce.
In the end, I'm left with one big pot of sauce.
Later on, I make up a bunch of these little baked ziti casseroles for the freezer.
(And one for dinner, too!)
Samantha is queen of the porch... she can spend hours outside lounging on the gliders. Must be nice to be a kitty of leisure.
