Hi everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Did you stay up till midnight and celebrate? We went out with some friends to Olive Garden and enjoyed the evening with some really yummy Italian dishes. Then we talked the guys into taking us to Kroger before they closed at 9:00 because Leann told me heavy cream was on sale till the store closed. She had just made some homemade butter before we got to their house and it was wonderful! How did I get to be 68 and never tried making butter? I wanted to try it for myself. So while everyone else was in Kroger shopping for snacks and “adult beverages” we were shopping for heavy cream. Needless to say there was plenty. (It was on sale from the regular price of $5.99 down to $1.99!) SCORE!!! I bought a few cartons and will show you how it turns out… We aren’t sure if it’s cost effective, but at $1.99 for probably 4 sticks of butter we thought it might be. I’ll have to see.
My hubby worked outside most of the day at church getting the gunk out of the gutters and cleaning out the van for a conference some of the students are going to in Minnesota in a few days. It was pretty cold here today and he was frozen when he got home. Now that we are back from our evening out I’m sure he’s in the living room fast asleep. Guess I’ll kiss my own hand! :o) I’m back in the sitting room writing this post. I just heard fireworks going off in the distance… someone’s celebrating!
Let us know if you plan to make any resolutions or changes for the new year? Anyone have anything exciting on their want or want to do list?
I just mostly want to say what a fun group of ladies you all are! I am SO very blessed to have you as friends and it warms my heart to know how kind and thoughtful you are to each other. When one hurts, we all feel your pain and when one is joyous, we all share in their joy! I enjoy reading your comments so much and I’m not sure why my life has gotten so full lately, (actually for a little while now) but I’m hoping to interact more in the coming year. I liked it when I did!
I hope you have found my blog to be a place of comfort and peace and happy sharing and fun pictures and stories and memories sparked. I”ve always wanted it to be a place to find a little happiness and inspiration and maybe just lift you up if you feel defeated or down. Maybe there was just a simple idea that someone shared that you might try… but most of all, I just want this to be a place where you can come and then leave with a smile on your face. May the Lord bless you in this next new year with a grateful heart and lots of love to share with others. That’s what I want!
Now, this IS a dolly blog, so WONDERFULLY and PERFECTLY timed, Linda sent me a picture! YAY for Linda! Thank you so much!
It’s party time for the 40’s girls!
Love to you, and Happy New Year!
Linda💕
Happy New Year again to all of you!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Happy New Year!
Nothing special going on here–I cut most of the fabrics for the mug rugs, and did a little knitting while I watched “Royal Wedding”, an old musical staring Ron’s favorite, Jane Powell.
Actually, Jeanne, when I was a kid, I remember mom taking the cream off the top of a bottle of milk (remember that?!) and she had my brother and me take turns beating it with an egg beater until we got butter! Then we cut some fresh chives and chopped them and mixed them into the butter, and had it spread on her freshly baked Swedish rye bread. Yummy!!
Linda, thank you for sharing a picture of your girls celebrating the New Year! They all look so festive, with their sparkly dresses and party hats!
I responded to a few comments on yesterday’s blog, if you wish to go back and look. Some were to responses to my original comment, and one was to Sylvia’s news about her dear husband.
Charlotte, I remember the milk bottles delivered to our house when I was a kid. My mom would pull off the top of the bottle and lick the cream off of it. I thought that was really yucky! I guess she must have poured the milk and cream in something else after that !
I also remember that during the war for butter we had some kind of a white glob in a bag with a yellow thing in it that we had to squeeze until it all turned yellow and was our “butter”.
My mom remembers that as well, Sissy. It was margarine with a dye capsule. My mom had the job of kneading the color in. Fun for a two and three year old.
My mom usually saved the cream for baking and such; what cream was left, she shook back into the milk.
That white glob was called “oleo”, or “oleomargarine”, and that dye thing continued in the state of Wisconsin (“America’s Dairyland”, remember) long after the war was over and other states sold margarine already colored! I guess they were afraid that yellow margarine would take away from the sales of butter, and thus hurt the dairy business. Not sure when that law got repealed, but it was in effect for quite some time afterwards.
And if you lived in the northland of Minnesota and went out for the day the milkman delivered the milk, the milk froze in the bottle and pushed that cardboard cap right up! I remember Mom cutting the cream off and storing it to use in coffee!
I’ll try and send a photo to Jeanne of the result.
Have a blessed new year everyone!
Happy New Year, everyone! While I fell asleep way before the year turned to 2025, my dolls were still up celebrating!😊. In fact, they still are! I just had to get them out of their Christmas dresses, since it has been a few years since I did a New Years party theme. I found the bars on clearance last year at the grocery store, of all places, and thought they would work for a scene like this. Luckily, they did! Thank you Jeanne for showing the picture!
Thank you Charlotte for the compliments!
Oh, Jeanne, your paragraph of what you wanted to blog to be for us, is exactly what it is! It is such a happy way to start the day, and with friends, dolls, and fun, what could be better?
As far as what I am changing for the new year, well, I am getting back on track of counting my calories! I got somewhat off the track during the holidays, and I see where that is going, so I am back to writing everything down that I eat, along with the calorie count. I limit myself to 1,413 calories a day and keep active, so I don’t do much in the way of exercise, except for some balance exercises which help!
Yes, Charlotte, I also remember skimming the cream off the top of our milk that the milkman brought when I was a girl. Our milk came in quart glass bottles with a round cardboard top. My mother always used the cream for coffee. Now I buy gallon plastic containers of milk, which doesn’t sound so pretty, does it? At least we can recycle the plastic milk containers!
Jeanne, let us know how your butter turned out!
Linda rides again!! Thank you for the fun photos, your girls are beautifully dressed as always and I love the hats. Thank you for sending your lovely photos.
Jeanne, as for any “changes” for the New Year, it is always the same, making no more cookies for a long time and trying to eat less to lose the pounds that I added
in December. Thank you for your words today about the blog. It is such a fun time of our day to see your photos and those of others. Also we are there to share good and bad with each other. Some times it seems that I have more friends here than those around me.
Wishes for a happy and healthy New Year to you all!
J’aime bien lire tous vos commentaires ; ce que je ne fais pas,sur les autres blogs ! Vous êtes toutes des amies les unes pour les autres . Il y a beaucoup de chaleur, de tendresse et de gaité , ici. Ce n’est pas un blog de poupées comme les autres . Dommage que vous soyez si loin !!! Ici,aussi, il y avait de la crème sur le lait (dans des bouteilles de verre ) et ma mère l’utililisait pour un gâteau. Nous avons passé Noël avec nos trois enfants et le 1er janvier avec les deux qui habitent près de chez nous;la troisième est repartie chez elle,en bretagne. Je vous souhaite,à toutes,une belle et douce année,remplie de jolies poupées.
I like reading all your comments; which I don’t do on other blogs! You are all friends to each other. There is a lot of warmth, tenderness and joy here. This is not a doll blog like the others. Too bad you are so far away!!! Here, too, there was cream on the milk (in glass bottles) and my mother used it for a cake. We spent Christmas with our three children and January 1st with the two who live near us; the third has gone back home to Brittany. I wish you all a beautiful and sweet year, filled with pretty dolls.
Always happy to read your comments. They confirm how we are more alike than different the world over. Have a Happy New Year!
Chère Georgina,
J’apprécie toujours vos commentaires. Vous m’aidez à pratiquer mon très mauvais français au lycée.
Jeanne nous a créé une place bien particulière sur son canapé imaginaire.
Nous sommes ravis que vous nous rejoigniez et que vous soyez devenue une « Sofa Sister ».
Je vous envoie des bénédictions et de bons vœux.
Bonne année!
Dear Georgina,
I always enjoy your comments. You help me to practice my very poor high school French.
Jeanne has created a very special place for us on her imaginary sofa.
We are delighted that you have joined us and have become a “Sofa Sister.”
I am sending blessings and good wishes to you.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Georgina! Always enjoy your comments. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed Christmas with your children and that two live near to you.
Dear Linda, your girls are so pretty,. I love the dresses, and oh such sweet faces. I love this scene, the tree with tea set is so cute. Thank you for sharing this. I am grateful to come to Jeannes blog and read. Being a caregiver for my parents for 14 years and also a wife and mom was rough and i do not have so many friends anymore.
I sew a lot. …
I am happy everyone has some good attainable goals. Yes the diets. I am scrawny but I do not eat properly – so my goal is to start eating at least one good meal a day. They say “for breakfast you should eat like a king” Perhaps I will start making eggs.
Oh and the down sizing is going to happen for sure. It is going to be PAINFUL and agonizing. Just thinking about it makes me feel icky🥰
I am grateful for all of you. Keep healthy and happy
Happy New Year
Well, Happy New Year to all. Neither other person nor I made it til midnight, but I did wake up often hearing explosions from those still celebrating. The last one went off at 3:45 AM. The mac and cheese I made was great with regular sharp cheddar and the added Asiago Italian cheese as well as bacon. Yum. Not exactly diet food though. 🙂
I remember my grandmother had milk in bottles with a strange top where there was cream. Our milk came in bottles too dropped off on the porch by the milk man, but without the cream on top. Believe it or not, those little cardboard tabs from the old milk bottles with the dairy emblem are now collectors items. In fact, we have a bunch of them. 🙂 Can’t wait to see Jeanne’s butter experiment. I remember butter making with students while doing a pioneer unit years ago. I think we just put cream in a jar and everyone took turns shaking it until butter formed. 🙂
Linda’s girls look like they are having a fantastic time. Thanks so much for sharing. Their hats are so cute and dresses too.
No plans yet for the new year except heading up to the other house to uncover the plants. Fortunately, it didn’t frost last night.
Jeanne your blog is part of my morning routine. I love seeing what you are doing and what the sofa sisters have going on. All of my doll wants and “needs” have come from your blog. Ruby Red Fashion Friends and Little Darlings were unknown to me until I found your site in 2018. Doll news is always top of mind but I enjoy sharing in everyone’s news.
One of my resolutions was to downsize my AG collection. Then Linda posts those glamorous pictures of her AG dolls and my resolve is broken.
Happy New Year to all!
That’s funny, Debbie! I have a cute ballet scene going on now too, but I better not show that! 😊
We would love that too! 💖
I just remembered my butter from cream experience. My mother gave dinner parties frequently and I was enlisted to whip the cream for dessert while she was dressing for the party. I learned accidentally that butter is made from whipping the cream. It is not a happy memory so I will not be joining you in this domestic chore. I might start baking bread again with store bought butter melting on top.
Yes, I have made butter from cream a few times. I know we did back in Girl Scouts. My mom definitely remember the milkman coming. In fact, that came up just the other day in regards to something else. She also recalls shaking the milk bottles or school lunch cartons to blend the cream in. She also had the bakery man, egg man, Fuller brush man, Real Silk Hosiery Lady, and later the Avon lady. The Fuller brush man and Avon lady still came in the 1970’s when I was visiting.
No, we didn’t stay up for New year’s either. No sense being tired for the day since I have indoor kitty meds and outdoor kitties waiting early each morning. Can’t oversleep as Ollie (aka black furry alarm clock) is already on the bed with at least one other ready to wake me sometimes before the alarm. Woke up to graupel snow, but it’s gone now.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Sofa Sisters. Yes, this blog is just as you imagined it would be, Jeanne.
Your New Year’s Eve scene is so cute, Linda. I love the pretty dresses and the party hats. Yes, do show the ballet scene. Your dolls are always doing something fun!
Your dolls’ dresses are so pretty, Linda. I can remember the last time I dressed up for New Year’s Eve (A salsa dancing party at a downtown hotel, 20+ years ago), but those days are long gone.
I, too, made butter in Kindergarten, sitting in a circle and passing a jar. By the time I was teaching, science lessons had moved on to making ice cream in zip top bags. Some ideas are better on paper; we had a lot of frozen fingers.
Dear Jeanne, it is always a joy to join these wonderful women on your sofa. This is a safe spot to share who we are and what is meaningful in our lives. This is a place for all, even non-cooks, non-crafters, and non-sewers like me (laugh).
Wishing you and the Sofa Sisters joy (joyeux, gioioso, glæde, χαρά, Freude, guendanayeche’, injabulo, freyd, and in all of the languages you know).
But you are the official poem writer, doll convention sharer, and most importantly the “Queen of Countdown to May”, Dorothy!! As a May baby myself, this is very important to know. 😁 Happy New Year!!🥰😸🎉
Jeanne, I just want to let you know that I look forward to your post all day. I save it to read in the evening, after I’ve had my shower and are in my pjs. Sometimes, it’s the best part of my day,(on the rough days, when everything hurts and everything has gone wrong🙂). God bless you, and I hope you and your family have a lovely, healthy 2025. And make lots of beautiful clothes for us to admire.