Bean Pot Cookie Jar

Do you have a cookie jar? I always think of cookie jars as being cute. Mine isn't cute. But I like it alot. I don't know if it is just New England, or all over - but these were everywhere when I was growing up. Crocks, jugs, pots - all painted the same. We used to have a large crock and every year Mom would go out in the woods and cut pine branches off the trees and string white lights on it. She liked that better than the Christmas tree.

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This bean pot was a gift to me, from my brother-in-law. It came from his family home. Anyway, I've always thought of it as a special gift from a special place in his life, so it is special to me. And we put it to good use around here.

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Here's a photo of the latest batch of cookies (minus a few!). We almost always make the same kind - gingerbread molasses. Actually, I just mix up a big batch of dough and then keep it in the fridge - then we make a tray at a time. Fresh cookies all the time! My son just loves cookie cutters and takes his job of picking out what cutters to use for each batch very seriously! What's that you see... dog biscuits? Ah, yeah, well - we DO have 3 different dog biscuit cookie cutters. For April Fool's Day he is going to bring in dog biscuit shaped gingerbread molasses cookies to his class. He thinks this will be a fine joke!

A snow day...

At least 10" of snow. No school. We went sliding - and lasted for about 45 minutes, which is pretty good considering how deep the snow was... the wind was howling and blew the sled away 2X. But we did have fun! I love the sled where the 2 of us can ride together. The good news is that we only lost power for about 4 hours last night, phew!

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This is a photo of my stray cats insulated cat house. We keep it on the front porch and angle barriers in front of the door if the wind is blowing from a different direction. It is about the size of a lobster pot and is insulated all around with about 4" of stryrofoam inside. The door is pretty small - the have to scrunch down to get in, which is the point - keep the warm air inside! We have 2 stray cats - they never come in the house so are very used to cold outdoor weather. It might seem cruel, but the worse thing you can do is let them inside on cold nights - then they get used to a warm climate. Beside the fact that SB is allergic to cats. It has been -25C (that would be -13F) here some nights this winter and the cats have been just fine. One of them cut his foot on the ice the other day, but won't let me near him to check, but he doesn't seem to be limping so I guess he is fine. In anycase, they are well fed and we make sure their drink doesn't freeze.

Hard to believe that this week when I was at the stores - one thing on the list was rubber boots for SB for mud-puddle weather. Got to buy these things early if you want the right size and we only go to the stores about 1X every six weeks. We always have odds & ends on our list like - basmati rice, certain pasta noodles we like, baby bella cheese, etc. This time around it was boots and socks for SB - and getting ready to go he was complaining about his sneakers - yup, needed bigger sneakers too. Did the Easter bunny shopping this trip - so now I am all set until about mid-April, hopefully!

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I was going to try to get new boots for myself (didn't happen), but I guess DH and I can keep sharing the same pair of boots for the rest of the winter! His feet are just 1/2 size bigger than mine. Last snow storm I went to visit the neighbors and then told them I had to get home, DH was waiting on the boots. They howled with laughter and offered to take up a collection for me. For awhile there we were also sharing gloves , which was annoying me - DH lost 1 of his and so then proceeded to wear my nice pink ski gloves on the tractor, but got tractor grease on them, grr. One day I went to run errands with MY gloves on and got home pretty late, in a snow storm. DH was out there on the tractor, wearing POTHOLDERS, plowing the driveway so I could get up the drive - sweet man that he is. So, I felt badly and ordered him new gloves from Sears (we still have catalog delivery in Canada), but when they arrived I thought they wouldn't do and returned them. Good thing too because 2 days later I found the missing glove of DH's. Yeah!

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Here is a photo of SB's new rubber boots! SB is thrilled beyond belief with them - Fireman boots and all, you know? He has been wearing them around the house with his fireman hat and was a bit put out that I wouldn't let him go sledding with that get-up. Ha! Even so, I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have him hug and kiss me for 2 days straight over rubber boots!!! Which is why I shop early - I knew he wanted this style of boots and when you are 5 1/2 - the small things are so important. Whenever spring does decide to make an appearance, at least he will have dry feet, Fireman style.

Happy Jacks Progress

Without sashing or with? I am thinking... maybe, just maybe if I have a solid-ish maroon (I don't think so - I've already looked) or navy... I might sash it. If not - well then I think it looks just as good without sashing... introduces a bit of a 2nd design. What do you think?
For the outside borders I cut bricks of the darker fabrics when I was cutting the blocks. So far - everything came from stash! I did have to add a few more colors to use what I had, plus I made that 1 segment reverse to use that last bit of those greens.

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I actually did consider buying a bit of maroon fabric the other day - it is a 12 hour day for us to go shopping so we don't go often... but wouldn't you know, SB needed new sneakers AND rubber boots (mud-puddle season will be here before we know it and I don't want to have to make a special trip just for boots!), socks, and just - well, I didn't get the maroon quilting fabric. I did get 1 meter of maroon fabric - but it is fleece - for pants for my ever-growing boy!