I am going to put this on ebay early this week but thought I would offer it here first. 

Brand new Elizabeth McKay Ireland Cape in Camel.  Size 8 (but would fit a range as it's a cape and very flexible).

I LOVE this piece!  Love love love it.  But my wool allergy has become worse in the last few years.  So I've never actually worn the cape.  Not even once.  So sad.

But it's too beautiful to go unworn. 

So my stupid allergy is someone else's gain. 

Originally $225.  My price, $165.  That INCLUDES shipping with a tracking number (To the US.  Talk to me if you want it shipped outside of the US.).

Let me know if you're interested.

So I am newly obsessed with TEDx videos on Youtube.  Like I have not really watched TV in a week.  I'm either losing my mind or finally finding it.  Fine line.  Jury is still out.

I LOVE this kid.  Preach it brother!  I'd love to meet his parents.  What a cool and forward thinking kid at such a young age.

I didn't mean to take a break.  It just happened.  Or life happened, actually.  And the blog didn't.  You know how that goes.  I'm busy trying to get some work work done this week so I can work on a friend project and then personal holiday projects in December a bit more.  So I might not be back on here much until after Thanksgiving.

In the mean time, look at this video.  I watched it three times.  It makes me want to find new ways to reach out to my community.  Such an inspiration!

Girls, I need to update my face.

Not like with a new face.  Though I think we have all had a day or two when we thought..."if only I looked like her instead of me!"

No as in I need to actually do something with this mug.

I'd like Botox, truth be told, between my eyebrows.  But budget and even more, fear wise, that is not an option. 

But do you want to know what my daily beauty routine is?  It's pathetic is what it is.  But here goes.  Don't laugh.

* Moisturize.  Not with anything special.  Whateversonhand.
* Concealer.  Some days just under the eyes and a few other spots.  Other days, practically my entire face.  It just depends. 
* Blush.
* Sometimes bronzer.
* Sometimes but not very often, eyeshadow.
* Sometimes but even less often, mascara.
* Chapstick.

Usually it stops after the blush and the chapstick finds its way on me later.  I own about nine million different lippys.  Every brand and flavor.  You name it, I probably own two and purchased them with coupons.

Now I actually own a lot of make-up.  From Bobby Brown down to drug store brands I got free with coups.  And I don't think there is much difference. 

But I am lazy!

And unskilled at eye anything.  I think I need eyeshadow lessons.  And not from a Mary Kay lady with those cardboard diagrams (no offense if you are into MK- just totally not my thing- the parties creep me out).

So this weekend, my personal homework project is to buy a new eyeshadow brush.  I'd like to say my quest for better beauty will go beyond a new brush but I'm going to be honest, it probably will not.  Not this week anyway.

I'm just putting it out there that my face is a sad state of boring right now.

** I bought the quilted charcoal Sperry boots and can't wait for them to arrive.  I'm giving up on finding riding boots this season.  Just like I do every November.  It's my thing.  I search.  Fail.  Give up.  And start all over again next August.

** Also, back to politics, I thought Ashley wrote a completely great blog post about talking about the election and politics to her children the other day.  Something for all of us in there.  Plus she's so damn funny.  Read it.  I could not have said it better myself.  I don't have kids (bitter) so it makes more sense for her to write this instead of me. 

** Happy weekend!  Who is everyone cheering for tomorrow?  Obviously I am all about my Dawgs beating the Tiger Eagles!  Sic 'em!!

Oh boots!  My favorite topic lately.  And while I still have not settled on the perfect riding boots, I do think I have found a perfect pair of these-will-do-in-the-mean-time-plus-are-more-practical-in-snow boots.  Cute and soft Sperry wellies.  Love them!




I love these too.  All Sperry.  On Zulily at an awesomesauce price right now.  Woo hoo!

If every elected official, from the smallest local position to the tippy top of the White House, was required to give a two minute statement the day after an election. 

What would that two minute (no more, no less) statement disclose?

They would be required to tell us the first they they will do to compromise with their counterparts across the aisle when they take office.  They would be required to tell us which toy they will share first in the sandbox.

Do unto others as you would have them done unto you.

Share and share alike.

Compromise.

Be kind.

And we, the voting public, would hold them to it.

Few things infuriate me more than politicians raving about how they will stand in the way of others who have opposite ideas.  What the heck does that accomplish?  Find something...anything...you can agree on.  Fine something...anything...you can give up.  And start there.

Because hello, of course I want my way all the time.  And of course I think I always have all the correct answers.  But so does everyone else.  And the best way to get off a selfish high horse is to step away from a "me me me" attitude. 

You've got to give a little, take a little...

I think it's great that politicians get us all fired up.  But I think it's greater when they actually get things done.  And the only way to do that is to share.

If only our elected officials could be more like four year olds on their best behavior.  That would be amazing!

Do you have favorite words?  Perhaps they are your favorite because of meaning.  Or because of a memory.  Or in many cases for me, just because they are fun to say.

Want to know a few of mine?

Palindrome.  Hands down my very favorite word.  I learned it in kindergarten.  Watching 3-2-1 Contact in a doctor's office waiting room.  (I also have a penchant for remembering useless information like sitting in a waiting room at age six.)  To this day I am bizarrely attracted to numbers, words and patterns that are palindromes.  Like I get strangely excited. 

Eclectic.  A high school vocab word.  Probably 9th grade.  New to me at the time but from that week on, I have found myself using it on a regular basis.

Y'all.  Slang.  But I picked it up in junior high.  I had a teacher who was very southern (we were instructed to reply yes ma'am or yes'm) and went to summer camp in Athens, GA.  I love that it can be a full sentence.  Y'all.  Depending on how you say it, it can mean a million different things.

Do you have any favorite words? 

So did you know that today is election day?  I bet you didn't.  Everyone has been so hush hush about it.  Especially on social media.  No one's even mentioned it on Facebook.

Or you know...something like that. 

I don't live in an area that offers early voting. 

Which is so dumb.

But they didn't ask me.  They should.  I have all the answers.  But alas, I'm still waiting on that call.




So today is my day.  To exercise my beloved right to VOTE. 

I truly do not care who you vote for.  I do hope you read up on your local politics.  They honestly have a much bigger impact on you personally than national politics.  It's important to know what people stand for and not what party is backing them.

Because in case you didn't know this...I think political parties are dumb.  So dumb.  They mean nothing.  And sort of bully people.  And totally limit our choices.

But that's another topic for probably another blog altogether.  Given that like 95% of my readers are Republicans.




I am voting for my good man President Obama today. 

But only because Hillary isn't an option! 

Here's hoping we all end up with a few of our favorite choices at the end of the day!!  And here's hoping those choices do more good than not this season!

Before frosts and hurricanes ravaged my 'hood, I picked all of my green tomatoes off the vines.  Sadly I let them sit and get icky for nearly a week.  I got busy and lazy and ugh...I hate when I let food go to rot like that!

In an effort to save what I had left, I searched for a recipe to make quick use of my green tomatoes. 

A few will ripen in a sunny window.  But it seems I just left them out too long and most were getting gross after a few days.  Time was of the essence.

I found two recipes for green tomato jam that were completely different from each other.  In the end, I used one and and added my own flair.

This was a great way to use up green tomatoes.  It didn't even require peeling so the prep work was super fast.  Big plus! 

As for flavor, it's sort of like a sweet and sour thing happening.  The night I made it, I used a some on a roasted chicken and it was delicious.  So I am thinking meat and fish will be a great match.  I put pretty much anything on a baked potato so I am sure it will be great there too.  And I bet it would be yummy on top of a brick of cream cheese with crackers. 




Green Tomato Jam

Ingredients:
* 5 lbs green, unripe tomatoes
* 3 1/2 cups sugar (I used vanilla bean sugar)
* 2/3 cup lemon juice
* 1 box (2 pouches) liquid pectin
* 1 tsp ground ginger
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Directions:
* Core, remove seeds and dice green tomatoes. 
* Add tomatoes, sugar, lemon juice, ginger, cinnamon and cloves to a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer on low until it becomes soft and syrupy.  It took me about an hour.
* Once ready, add pectin, one pouch at a time.  You might only need one.  I needed two though.
* Test on a small plate kept on the ready in the freezer.
* Fill sterile jars and process in water bath as usual.  Or store in fridge for two weeks.

So I mentioned yesterday that I was bringing this to the food swap.  Yes well, at least two other swappers brought something similar.  Go figure!  Here I thought I was being all unique.  So it was hugely unpopular.  Which was fine because I will totally use it at home and perhaps a few will be gifts.  I just thought it was so funny though that two other swappers had the same idea!

Jack Rogers shoes are on sale on Ruelala right now.  Lots of cute styles are available too!

With the millions of dollars spent on political ads, has anyone spent any moola on research to see if those ads change even one voter's opinion?  Do you believe they ever make an impact?

Because I would put money on the answer being a big fat NO.  They all seem to cancel each other out.  It's like a screaming match between kids where they all just scream louder and louder and no one is heard.

Political ads do in fact annoy everyone.

Political ads do in fact confuse many.

Political ads do in fact make everyone sound terrible.

Political ads do in fact cost millions of dollars.

Political ads do in fact annoy everyone.

But as far as changing a single opinion....um...jury is still out.

Oh lawdy I cannot wait for Wednesday to roll around.  I need these ads to stop.  Badly.

Also, when is Smash coming back?  I miss it!

Today I am headed to the Food Swap with eight trade hopefuls.  Four jars of green tomato jam (recipe will be up tomorrow) and four containers of bacon jam.  Hopefully they are as popular as the last time I swaped!

This is pretty much the best recipe ever.

After posting the recipe here, I discovered that it is magically delicious on a baked potato (regular or sweet).  So when I make it, I am sure to double the recipe.  It does take quite a while to cook up all the bacon and then caramelize all the onions.  So I might as well double it up and freeze portions (y'all know I am super addicted to freezing things). 

Because a baked potato (done the lazy way in the microwave of course) with bacon jam is pretty much the greatest super quick dinner on the planet, any night of the year.




So go forth and make up a batch of bacon jam!  You will not regret it, I promise! 

While I am off being a crank pot and doing something I don't want to do, outside in the cold, with people who don't want me to be there, you should stay inside and drink coffee and cocoa.  Spiked, perhaps.  And read blogs while waiting for football games to start.

Check this out!  Mavis, one of my favorite bloggers, featured my sad sad potato tale on her blog!  If you are new to her blog, go check it out.  She's pretty awesome and fun to read about.  Plus, she has chickens.  And I've recently told you about my chicken fantasy.  She's under 100 lbs away from growing 2000 lbs worth of food this year too.  Hello how cool beans is that?!

Back to me.  Wallowing in my misery.  Ugh.  Sometimes being a responsible grown up is zero percent fun. 

I found this on a friend's FB page so I don't know the source.  But gosh isn't that just such a nice way to be a good neighbor.  It's one thing to be without power, a hot shower or even a bed.  But to not have the normalcy of smart phone contact...

Sometimes the little things can make such a BIG difference!

My city has several claims to fame.  About four actually.  And I've told you about two of them over the years.  But one special feature that I've neglected to share is that we were once the third wealthiest city in the nation.  In great part due to the iron works industry.




The Liberty Bell replacement?  Made here.  More than 90% of the horse shoes used by the Union Army in the Civil War?  Made here.  Lots of other stuff like railroad spikes and more I'm too tired to list?  Made here too.




Of course, like all things that go up, the local economy fell.  And then it plummeted.  Horses were out and cars were in.  And bells...well that's just not the booming industry it once was.  Iron gave way to steel.  Industry changed.  It happens.  It's life.  It's progress.




But my city has held onto some of the finest works of American architecture in the nation.  And outside of many homes and churches, are remains of our once prosperous iron industry.  Fences and railings and church doors, oh my.




More than 100 years old, some more than 150 years old, and still stunning.  Oh sure, love is desperately needed in many areas.  But you could never replace pieces like this. 




These are now humble, middle class homes.  City homes that are more often than not snubbed by the suburban loving locals. 




But that's OK.  We know what we have down here.  And we treasure it.  The devil's in the details.  And we are flush with stunning details!




My favorites in the city are those with pineapples.  A sign of welcome. 




Years ago I took you on a Tiffany tour with me.  I included the inside of this church actually as it is one of our many treasures with an interior designed by L. C. Tiffany.  Yes, as in that Tiffany.  Not just windows.  But the interior.  So pews, alter, tile work, baptismal font, and the list goes on.  Stunning is a ridiculously simple term for what we have here.  I'm lucky, I know!




This is my second favorite fence in the city (I didn't happen to walk by my very favorite when I randomly took these photos last weekend).  Of course this tour-de-fences was not planned so these are all on my blackberry and not very detailed.  But can you see the pineapple at the top there?  And how intricate the fence is?  Swoon!




So what secrets does your city hold?  Does it have a claim to fame (or three)?

Happy belated Halloween from the sweetest little witch ever!  I hope you had a very sweet holiday evening!