Pleasant productive day

I woke up early as usual and got my normal morning routine things done- fixing husband's work lunch and morning coffee, doing my Bible study and earning some Swagbucks. 

Then I went through my coupons and the newspaper ads from yesterday to plan out my errands, 

Before I shopped, I did some small sewing jobs like turning our old and worn hand towels into cleaning rags by cutting them in half and zig-zagging the raw edges. 

H

I added some length to another pair of jeans for the long legged grand daughter. I used purple polka dots to go with the purple stitching on the pockets. 

This baby shirt was a gift and had a design on the front that we didn't care for. It is a nice heavy weight shirt so to make it wearable, I put a fabric appliqué over that design. 

One of my errands was to stop at CVS for a prescription refill. CVS had Christmas, gifts and toys marked down 75%.  I got a few toys for future gift and also got this cute retro design hot air popcorn popper for $5

LED lantern was $2.50 at the CVS clearance. It will be perfect to use in our tornado safe room. 

This cubby shelf is from Walmart and was bought for our play room, because don't we all want to get organized for the new year? With just a few hiccups, I even managed to assemble it all by myself.  

Tomorrow, I hope to get the toys put in it. 

Smoked Turkey Soup

Our lunch today was so good!

For Thanksgiving, my family was at our home. I did a lot of the cooking and my brother brought a big smoked ham and smoked turkey. The meats were cooked at a restaurant on the campus of the university in our town and were both delicious. 

I've made turkey soup a number of times but always with a baked turkey, never a smoked one. 

The Thanksgiving turkey came with a recipe to make soup so I wraped up and froze the carcas after my husband carved it.

I did not read the recipe until after I had already simmered the carcus with water and celery, then strained and chilled it so I could de-fat it. According to the recipe, I was supposed to sauté onions and cook the turkey with onions and spices.

I ended up just heating the broth and cooking 1 cup of rice in my 2 quarts or so smoked turkey broth. 

Then I added 2 jars of Red Gold brand medium salsa (I bought it really cheap about a year ago and still have 8 jars) some leftover smoked turkey from our Christmas Eve turkey that my husband smoked, some frozen corn and a can of drained pinto beans. 

We ate it with a little grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips. 

From now on, I will save all turkey bones, whether baked or smoked, to make broth.  

This smoked turkey soup really tasted good on this cold, windy Sunday. It was thrifty, easy and had a lot of good nutrition in it too.

In the top picture is the leftover soup in a half gallon jar- I think I can have smoked turkey soup for lunch all week! 

Verse from Today

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, (Exodus 34:6 ESV)

Christmas Highlights

My sons showed up in matching sweaters, but not matching hairstyles or

Matching boots. 

Fun gifts

Sweet family time with great grandparents and great uncles and lots of cousin playtime too.

Christmas Day food 

7 layer bean dip, fresh fruit platter, veggie platter with dip, triple crock pot filled with Rotel Velveeta dip, meatballs, and little smokey sausages in barbecue sauce

And of course, lots of cookies, some candy and a pound cake. 

After Christmas

My daughter got this gingerbread house kit on clearance at Walmart for $3. My brother, the wreath maker, put it together with his great nieces, Elizabeth and Andie. Elizabeth was interested in making the house look pretty but Andie was just interested in eating the candy trims.

Old Santa and New Santa

My mom made the felt and cloth Santa about 50 years ago, he looks pretty good after all this time I think. 

This year, she crocheted the outfit for a new Santa doll. He is plastic and I bought the undressed doll at Hobby Lobby at a clearance sale. 

Mom made his outfit with supplies she had on hand. Can you see Santa's rhinestone belt buckle? New Santa has a bit more bling than old Santa. He also has eyeglasses.

That's how we had our family time here in Oklahoma. Our decorations are still out and will probably stay out for another week or so. 

I hope you all a happy Christmas, however you celebrated.