Day #6 - No School . . .

Wednesday morning will be similar to the last two - no school.  Our school system allows for five "calamity" days.  We used #5 on Tuesday. The state government is working on adding an additional three days so that days won't have to be made up at the end of the year. The only problem I see in that scenario - it's only January !! We can still have similar weather into the end of March and even April. Doesn't that sound like a really long winter ?  :)

I was telling a fellow blogger today that the best thing about winter is all the time we have to work on stitchery and quilting and all things indoor - at least here in the Northern Hemisphere.  I'm not exactly sure how the Southern Hemisphere deals with their winters.  My assumption is that it's cooler and wetter, but I'm going to have to research that.  I'm becoming more acquainted with many bloggers around the world and these are all things, at least for me, I don't know and have to learn.

So on to today's progress report :)

This cold zaps the energy, so after a slow start, Newton and I had oatmeal for breakfast.  Once that was cleaned up, I started making dinner:  Hamburger Vegetable Soup. Love soup in the winter months.  Filling, satisfying and guaranteed left-overs :)  It's a pretty much dump recipe

2 lbs. ground beef - cooked and drained

1 medium onion - chopped

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

2-3 cans mixed vegetables, un-drained

 (or separate cans of each - I used green beans, peas and corn)

32 oz. beef stock

4+ cups of water

season to taste

I browned and drained the meat, sauteed the onions then dumped everything into the crock pot on low all day.

I precooked 2 cups orzo, but you can use any small pasta or rice.

I like the rich flavor of stock, so I use very little if any water.  Sometimes I just double up on the stock and forget the water.  Make it as broth-y as you like or as thick as you like.  It's a very forgiving meal.  I served it with bread and butter.  A salad would be good too.  Enjoy :)

This came in the mail today. Very excited. I will probably prep this one tonight. It's a treat for me.

On to Bethlehem. . .

I hope you don't tire of my progress reports on this project.  It evolves and changes daily and everyday I love it more.

Yesterday I shared my camel because I was in love with his eye lashes.  And doesn't my little mouse just look adorable.

This is the goat. I worked on him today and he needed some personality, so I gave him an eye brow :)

So many of the colors are muted and this affords us some creative license otherwise, everything would just get lost. So we find other ways to bring some life and personality to the subject.

Once I got the goat done, I went back to the horse and gave him some eyelash too.

The are three chickens in this block.  If you know anything about chickens, only the males have combs.  I didn't catch that when I was drawing off the design.  Well, there has to be at least one female in the bunch, but I'd already drawn them off.  So I decided to make her comb bright pink :)  Here feathers are variegated grey.

She also needs some lashes to flutter at the new babe. I'm debating about the pearls :)

Just tickled pink with my progress and how easily the creativity is coming after the first step of the camel's eye lashes :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.

Stay warm and safe.