(If you didn't read the post about the dome going up, read it before you read this one.) Saturday morning, the plaster crew showed up around 9:00. It was above freezing. They worked inside the dome and they warmed up the interior of the dome with a propane torch/heater. You can see the orange part of the flame in the low, center of this photo. I think I would have set myself on fire with that open flame.

They drained the standing water off the bottom of the pool, taped off the tile, and filled all the remaining holes with a quick setting concrete. Then they brought out the plaster gun and started shooting and smoothing the plaster.

As you can see, we went with a deep blue color.

These guys know their job. They have skills and were fun to watch. Check out the fancy footwear!

They got the plaster smooth and dry and started filling the pool. Notice the water bottle taped to the end of the hose to make it float! Low tech, great idea.

As I write this, the dome is off, the crew is gone, and we have two hoses (with bottles) going full strength into the pool. Somewhere around 5:00 a.m. we should have a full pool and be able to turn off the water.

You know, this is day 10 of the actual pool building by the pool building guys. But we only decided to build a pool in September. Today, December 5, we are filling it! Steve and I are amazed at the speed of this project. Not so much amazed that the professionals did it in 10 days – we are amazed that we managed to clear the backyard, move and re-build our fountain, take down and put up a fence, and more. No wonder we are both feeling like we've run a race. But I have to tell you that we both have big grins on our faces tonight!

On Friday afternoon, two guys from the plaster crew came by to set up a dome. Our temps have dipped below freezing and this dome kept the pool above freezing so that they could start the plaster Saturday morning. They were sort of surprised by the small size of both our pool and yard.

They set up two fans. I thought they were blowing warm air, but they weren't.

This is what it looked like, fully blown up. The fans went all night…

I make Christmas ornaments every year to give as gifts. This year's ornament is a bird made from vintage fabrics. Each bird is made up of 2 sides and 1 bottom gusset. I used a different fabric in each position on each bird. Here are a few of the 21 ornaments I made:

I covered wood clothespins with glitter and hot glued a bird to each clothespin. Luckily I don't mind living with a little glitter because it went all over my studio.

I keep one ornament for myself. One side of my bird is light, and the other side is…

…red! The bottom gusset is the red and white dot. I ran three lengths of flexible wire through each bird after I turned them inside out, during the stuffing process. I glued a wool bead to each end of each wire, making the birds look more festive. We'll probably be putting this pattern in the Christmas book we are currently working on.

Jonelle asked about the gluten free cookies I made. Lorna, my DIL, has a gluten free flour mix that we use just as you would regular flour. She mixes 2 parts brown rice flour with 1 part tapioca flour and a pinch of xanthum gum.

How much of a pinch? I had a 20 ounce package of tapioca flour (however many cups that turned out to be) that I mixed with 40 ounces of the brown rice flour and I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of xanthum gum.

This is a grainy flour as you can see in the photo. It works great in cakes. It's a little sticky for gingerbread men but I added more flour as I rolled the dough and that helped. As the dough gets warmer, put it back in the refrigerator to chill. I used parchment paper on my cookie sheets so as not to contaminate the gluten free cookies with any bits of flour that may live on my cookie sheets (I am really careful about that sort of thing).

I use an old Martha Stewarts gingerbread recipe that calls for a little ground black pepper. It adds a nice kick to cookie. I tried to find it online, but couldn't so here it is:

Crisp Gingerbread Cookies

From Martha Stewart's Decorating for the Holidays, 1998

6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in the spices, salt, and pepper; add eggs and molasses. Add in flour mixture on low speed. Divide dough into thirds; wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350°. On a floured wok surface, roll out dough 1/8" thick. Cut into desired shapes. I like to decorate the cookies with red hots before cooking – the more the merrier!

Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Martha's recipe
says to refrigerate the cookies before cooking them, which I sometimes
do.

Bake 8-10 minutes, or until crisp but not darkened. Let the gluten free cookies rest a few minutes on the cookie sheet or they will break into bits when you move them. Cool on wire racks.

This weekend is the annual Pops concert at Austin College put on by the Sherman Symphony Orchestra. It is always a festive and fun way to get into the Christmas spirit. We opt for a table which means that we sit up near the stage and we have a place to put our hot chocolate and cookies during intermission. I always make gingerbread men for this event.

I had Elanor and Jack over yesterday morning and I thought it would be fun to let them help with the baking. I am now going to admit to something that not every mother or grandmother will admit to: I do not bake well with children.

I do not have fond memories of baking with my boys when they were little and that is probably because I have erased those days from my memory. My husband has always been better in the kitchen with children and I've decided that I really don't need to try to do what he already does so well. I made a promise to myself – never again. None of us needs the stress that was generated yesterday by doing what was supposed to be fun.

However, at the end of the day, we did have lots of gingerbread men and women (both with gluten and without) and everyone was very happy. FYI – I use red hots instead of raisins on my GBM. They add just the right sweet punch to the cookie.

I hope you each had a lovely Thanksgiving! Ours was different. We visited Steve's family in Moore, OK, on Wednesday night. We visited my mom and my sister, who was still in the hospital, on Thanksgiving. And then we drove home and built fence. We ate our turkey dinner on Friday which was odd, but not bad.

I'm showing you our trash containers – not photogenic but it's where they live. I spent a few hours on Friday moving wheelbarrows full of that red sand you can see there. I'm so glad that I don't have to do that on a daily basis.

Steve built a lovely gate. The hinges are self-closing (for safety) and they work like a charm.

Steve devised a way for me to hang my bird feeder so that I can fill it from the yard and then move it out over the alley. That way the squirrels can't get to it and the bird seed falls in the alley, not next to the pool – but I can still see the birds at the feeder from my studio window. The design needs a little tweaking, but it's going to work really well.