Etcetera #18 {Cat Socks, Cozy Winter Days, & Other Sweet Stuff}

| Allison

Hello, friends!

I have a bunch of little adventures for you today – exploring the farm with my family, making doughnuts, going on snowy walks, participating in gingerbread house competitions, witnessing Sully being a goofball, and more! Enjoy this collection of random photos from the past few months.

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PORTRAITs

These first several shots are from a Thanksgiving walk with all my family plus Sully (my fiancé) and minus Logan (who was at his girlfriend Chessie’s house). Mom gathered some cedar and sumac and for arranging at the house later as we explored. Her face is rather blurred in the background here but she looks so pretty and happy!

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Here’s Jeff, looking casually cool in his sunglasses, ripped jeans, and tied jacket. He climbed up the hill and I had to get him to look at me for a picture.

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Here’s Sully looking casually weird with a huge lamb’s ear hat. For some reason wearing that leaf on his head made him so happy. :’D

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And here are Jeff AND Sully, trying out Jeff’s strength… or something. HAHA I DON’T KNOW. Boys… *shakes head*

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Here are my parents being cute, as normal. 🙂

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Haha I love these pictures! We always measure the grandkids at Gram & Granddaddy’s Christmas, and this year it was a very full laundry room while that took place. The black and white one makes me smile. 😀

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The result of our measuring? JEFF IS A GIANT. HAHAHA GUYS LOOK. This picture cracks me up every time. My aunt and grandmother are only slightly over five feet, and Jeff is now over 6’4″. One of you guys commented about Jeff’s height on a recent post… yup. My little brother is not little anymore.

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I know I already posted a different version of this photo from visiting Grandpa and Grandma, but I love this B&W one and had to post it too. This photo has such a soft, quiet mood to it.

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A cutie B&W of my cousin’s daughter who wanted to show me that she found a rock! Yay rocks!

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Animals

AH IT’S SO FLUFFY. (I’m not gonna die, though. Sorry, I couldn’t resist finishing the quote…) Doesn’t this miniature pony look like a stuffed animal? The perks of going on hay deliveries!

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Speaking of stuffed animals, we stuffed Tom’s paws into little pet socks Carmen got for her birthday and he was NOT impressed. As soon as we let him down, he shook his paws as fast as he could, causing socks to fly everywhere, and sped away. We laughed so hard, especially when Jeff took a slow-motion video of the feat. (No pun intended.)

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Guess what? We got a cow! I don’t think I’ve posted about her on here yet, have I? We got her maybe a month ago. Her real name is Rose, but Megan calls her Meat, for reasons you can probably guess. She’s so fuzzy in her winter coat!

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Nellie is also looking fuzzy in her winter coat. She wasn’t too sure about sharing her pasture at first, but she’s mostly acclimated by now.

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Last but not least, Maggie had so much fun exploring the snow with me when I took the pictures for this post.

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SNOW DAYS

I couldn’t fit nearly all the snow pictures into the Q&A post, though, so here are a few extra. The pasture fence sparkled with a combination of snow and frost. ❤

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I LOVE this one. Both serene and mysterious at once.

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Look at this cute little snow angel puddle I found! Isn’t it cute?

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A black and white of Maggie blazing the trail among snowy branches, toward fog rising in the distance.

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The snow actually started while I was housesitting, but I didn’t have my camera with me so I had to make do with phone pictures.

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Everything looked so crisp and clear and lovely in their neighborhood! I also got to shovel a driveway for the first time, since dad and brothers take care of our driveway with a snowplow since they clear roads for the state anyway. I shoveled the driveway here but did not do a good job of clearing my car, so it was a rather stressful and dangerous drive home after such a big storm. :[] Thank God I made it home safely!

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DOUGHNUT MAKING

I guess this is my last year for our Christmas Eve tradition of making doughnuts for Christmas breakfast. (Click here for the recipe.) Therefore I had to document the occasion, along with everyone else. I quite enjoyed the Portrait Mode setting on my phone for these, hehe. We’ll begin with newly-cut doughnuts rising on an extra table board.

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Dad prepared a pan full of Crisco for frying the dough and Mom got the rolling-out started.

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Doughnuts all over the kitchen! Flipping them is Megan’s favorite job.

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Behold the fruits of our labors. Oh goodness, I just remembered we had to take turns getting this shot since almost everyone was trying to get the same picture with their phones at the same time. 😛

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NATURE

Even though it’s winter, there are still bits of color and texture to find. I think these are ground cherries… but whatever they are, the plant looks so neat loaded with papery lantern-shaped shells.

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Privet grows in the fencerows and along the edges of woods here. There’s something fresh and appealing about the small navy berries and sturdy green leaves.

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These are old phone pictures from back in autumn when Mom had fun arranging various bits of dried nature. You can’t see the form very well in this picture, but at least you can tell that the colors glowed in the afternoon sun. ❤

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Another phone picture trying to capture the sun outlining these sumac berries and soaking the red leaves.

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A backlit bouquet from my grandma’s house. So cute and cheerful!

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These aren’t quite as cheerful, but pretty nonetheless. I love sunlit goldenrod even when it’s bleached and dry.

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A woolly little forest at golden hour.

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Ah, I love this one! The blur and sunlight make me so happy. 🙂

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ETCETERA

Sully’s brother and sister-in-law invited his siblings and I over for a gingerbread house competition. It was a BLAST! I only took pictures of the house Sully and I make, but here you go. Isn’t it cute?

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Of course we had to include a heart somewhere. 😉

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On the subject of hearts, I noticed the other day that bread tags have little hearts cut out of them!

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Welp, Sully and I bought our first Christmas tree together. Ta-daa! HAHAHA oh goodness, we had so much fun picking out this tiny faux tree from Target for Sully to decorate his house with. He quickly became quite attached to it and I must admit, I did too.

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We’ve been greatly enjoying the wood fireplace in our Great Room this winter. Nothing cozier than snow outside and a fire inside. ❤

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I’ll end with the fireplace in case it’s cold where you live too. It’s supposed to snow again this weekend so I might have another frosty photoshoot for you guys soon! Meanwhile, stay warm.

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I hope you enjoyed that crazy quilt of photos. 🙂 I always love putting these posts together and looking back on a few months’ worth of memories.

Which photo or category did you like best? Have you ever made homemade doughnuts or had a gingerbread house competition?

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

40 thoughts on “Etcetera #18 {Cat Socks, Cozy Winter Days, & Other Sweet Stuff}”

  1. How cute! I love the soft look of the woolly goldenrod in the low light! And that photo of Jeff with your petite family is hilarious! XD

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  2. Hey Allison!
    Beautiful pictures (as usual 😁) and…YOUR COW IS SOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!! I also really liked your pictures of the snow angel puddle and the bread tag. I never knew that the bread tags have hearts cut out in them! That is soo neat! Always love your Etcetera posts!

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    1. Thank youuu! I know, Rose the cow is adorable. And thanks! I don’t think they always have heart-shaped holes, but at least that one did! Now I want to inspect all the rest of them before throwing them out, ha. I’m so glad you like my etcetera posts! Thank you for reading them. 🙂

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  3. I always love these posts, they’re so fun to read & I love how they’re just snippets of everyday life but it’s so fun to get to know you better through them! Portrait mode is the best, haha! 😉

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  4. Hey
    I love the pics… ❤️
    It’s so cool that it snows at your place?
    Do you guys own horses?
    Do you ride horses

    I’m obsessed with them

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    1. Thanks, Saudah!
      Yes, I’m blessed to live in an area with four different seasons and snow in the winter!
      Nope, we don’t own or ride horses. We used to have a donkey but sold her a bit ago.

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        1. We did. O.o Megan didn’t much have time to take care of her and play with her so she let Carmen do it, but then Eeyore wasn’t getting along well with Nellie at all and we figured selling her was simplest. So we sold her to a guy who owned another donkey and I think it worked out great for everyone!

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  5. The cat’s socks photo was so funny! When you said Jeff took a slow-motion video I laughed from picturing what that would look like hahaha!!! Do you have the recipe for the doughnuts by chance that you could link???

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  9. Your mum really does look really happy and really young and pretty😍. In that specific photo, she looks like she could be your sister with dyed hair.
    Jeff is really tall and that pony picture looks so good. Like a stuffed animal indeed🐎
    The snow pictures are beautiful😍. How do you manage to take such amazing pictures? And yes, thank God you arrived safely indeed🌼
    Doughnuts look delicious 👌🏼
    The nature pictures are perfect. Especially the dried leaves🍁.
    All the pictures were great but I loved the nature category and the picture of your mum🌻.
    I’ve made Homemade doughnuts – yes, but a gingerbread house – no but one day.
    This is an amazing post Allison and the photos are all perfect👌🏼🌺

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    1. Hehe, thank you! I know, before her hair was gray she got asked if she and her daughters were sisters sometimes. XD
      He IS. And I know, right?!
      Thank youuu! Well for this specific photoshoot, it was pretty easy to take good pictures – everything was already so beautiful that I just had to go out and take a bunch of photos! And then edit them. That does help. Ah yes. ❤
      They are!
      Well thank you!
      I love taking nature pictures so yay!
      How did your homemade doughnuts turn out? Good, I hope! And I hope you get to make a gingerbread house one day. They're a little tricky sometimes but super fun.
      Aww yay, I'm so happy you enjoyed the post, Sabrina! I loved your long comment. ❤ Always love hearing from you!

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  10. I loved seeing all these miscellaneous photos! So fun and aesthetically pleasing. My favorite photo is the one of the snowy pond. That lighting is gorgeous! I actually took a bunch of photos out in the snow yesterday, which was very enjoyable. 🙂

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  11. I just found your blog! It is amazing. I do not live on a farm but I work on Thistle Creek Farms in Tyrone. It is awesome to see that people share the same interests as me!

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  16. I’m late I guess (haha), but I love all the photos! The snow is beautiful, and the doughnuts look amazing. *mouth waters* We have a tradition of making chocolate cinnamon doughnuts when the weather turns cold as well. ☺️

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  17. Pingback: A Cozy Christmas {Decor Ideas} – A Farm Girl's Life

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