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Wednesday, 23 November 2011

I should have known better...

... than to have tried to carry on a conversation at the same time I was putting ingredients in the bread machine.  The result?  I didn't put in as much water as the focaccia bread recipe called for.  And that's why you find me perched on a stool - for leverage - rolling out a lump of stiff, hard, unyielding bread dough.


These flabby middle-aged arm muscles aren't up to the job of spreading that resisting dough out to the edges of the pizza stone.


After many minutes of my struggling with the impossible, my photographer (eldest son) takes pity on me and trades me his camera for my rolling pin and with those young muscles, gets the job done quickly!


The bread turned out wonderfully, by the way. 
Wish I had gotten a picture of it before we gobbled it up.

We're planning His/Her Thanksgivings again this year.
Thursday, Thanksgiving with my parents and family and Friday, Thanksgiving with sweet Hubby's family.

I wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving season!

Love,  Sherry




Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Color My World!

I'm over my whining spell about the time change and now I'm working on adding color to my grey surroundings.

I started out my colorful journey at the plant nursery where I bought some bright plants and flowers that can handle the winter chill.

I snapped this picture of the ornamental cabbage after bringing it home and setting it on my front porch where the afternoon sun was bringing out its colors.

Below is the same plant on this cloudy day (first large plant on the left).
It's funny how the sunshine affects the color, isn't it?
I think sunshine has the same effect on me...it just brings out my color.

ornamental cabbage, kale, and pansies
  
 I surrounded the cabbages and kale with many, many pansies.
Pansies always make me think of children's happy smiling faces.

I still have this brave, lone, little bud on my front yard rosebush.



I found this picture in a store yesterday while out and about in town.
It's very large and took the saleslady and me quite a while to squeeze/wedge it into the backseat of my car after my purchase.
It took even longer to get it out once I got home, even though I had help from my son!
Sweet hubby hung it over the living room couch last night and I think it carries on the Color My World theme quite well.

And last, but not least, I went through some of my many pounds of cotton scraps with ideas of making some colorful throw pillows for the couch.


Below are pictures for happy-scrappy throw pillows I found on Cluckclucksew.com.
(The links below the pictures will take you to the tutorials.)

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Sprocket Pillows
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Petal Pillow
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?And today?
Well, I should be cleaning house.
But.....
I may go out in my backyard and walk around barefoot instead.
The day has started out warm with just a little peek of sunshine here and there but
thunderstorms are expected later today and then cooler weather behind that.
So I think I'll just play hooky from housework and enjoy this "snappy new day!"



Wednesday, 16 November 2011

I JUST CAN'T GET USED TO THE TIME CHANGE!!!

I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!!!
I don't like darkness settling in before 5:00 p.m., or even earlier on cloudy days.
I don't like not being able to take an after-supper walk with my sweetie because it gets dark before we even start our meal.
I don't like the closed-in feeling that comes with the early evenings.
I want more light, more sunshine, more happy things in my fall and winter days!

Thank you for listening to my whining. And now....

I have a Plan!!!

I plan on LIGHTING up my life!
I'm starting with winter blooming flowers for my backyard garden.


 

I plan on going to a plant nursery tomorrow and bringing home some pansies to plant outside my kitchen window.
Those little smiling faces will make me so happy while I wash dishes at my kitchen sink this fall and winter.




I want to cheer up our home.
I've been searching for bright ~ but cheap ~ ideas to chirp up our living spaces.
I love the brightness in the rooms below:
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simplecasualliving.blogspot.com

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images.meredith.com

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micasarevista.com

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vintagehome.tumblr.com

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homegoods.com

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justinetaylor.tumblr.com

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creamofwhite.tumblr.com

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inspirationfordecoration.blogspot.com
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 inspirationfordecoration.blogspot.com
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I have a list of some other things that I hope will help fill the shorter winter days with cheer:
  • fill bird feeders with food to attract a wide variety of winter birds (I enjoy bird watching out my patio door in the winter)
  • add lemon to my tea/water (lemon tastes like sunshine! :)
  • play uplifting music
  • get more caffeine ~ (my favorite idea :)
  • keep volunteering in the kindergarten class
  • keep up weekly eat out date with my friends
  • daily exercise (walk outside when possible or exercise to a DVD when I can't get out)
  • take advantage of every minute of sunshine possible
  • buy a cheery new coffee cup
Do you have any ideas I could add to my list?  I would love to hear how you deal with the shorter fall and winter days.  Your comments always cheer up my day!
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This post is linked to:  Whatever You Want Wednesday

Monday, 14 November 2011

Camping Through the Years

Sweet hubby and I squeezed in another camping trip before Old Man Winter forces us to park our camper for a few months.
We love fall camping trips. As a matter of fact, we just love camping trips whenever we can take them.
This trip was to Guntersville, AL State Park.


While there, we saw this cute little camper and it got me thinking of the campers we've owned over the 23 years since we first started camping.


Our first camper was a 10 foot Scotty similar to the one below.

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Picture courtesy of Roaming Times
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It was a 1960 something model that we bought for $300 in 1988. 
It didn't have a bathroom and we could barely stand up in it because it was so small.
We had two small children at the time.
Sweet hubby and I put a lot of labor into the little camper along with about $200 worth of materials.
We were so happy when we went out camping in it for the first time and we fell in love with camping on our first trip.
After only one trip in our little camper we were offered a bigger camper ~ 15 feet long!~ at a very good price.  And it even had a bathroom!  Okay, the bathroom was a little space about two feet square with a toilet that you had to close the lid on to be able to take a shower.  But still, it was a bathroom!
We snapped that one up and sold our little Scotty at a $350 profit. 
We kept that one for a few years and then bought one a little newer, but still only a 15 footer.

Then along came baby #3 and one trip out in our 15-footer made us hit the road looking for something a little bigger.
That's when this new friend came into our life.
Our 1971 Airstream (Avion peeking around the end)

Our family of five had 14 years of camping fun in our 27 foot Airstream.
We have so many fun memories of our camping adventures over the years.
We found having a camper made Alabama History come alive for our little homeschool.
We were able to visit the places we were studying. 
My favorite was Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, AL. 

My clever hubby built the blue fabric cot you can see over the bed below.
Our three children giggled (and sometimes argued) themselves to sleep many nights in their cozy beds.


The table (below) let down and the couch pulled out making a full size bed for hubby and me.
It was a pain to have to set it back up every morning for breakfast, but so worth the trouble.


Here's a few more interior shots of our Airstream.




A few years ago we found our current camper, a 1988 Avion.
It was larger and nicer than our old Airstream, so we decided to make a change again.

We have always seen camping as a blessing to our family.
I think we are closer-knit because of it.
We were able to take family vacations that we couldn't have afforded if we'd had to stay in hotels and eat out.

Oh, and here's a hint in case you decide to go camping and want a private spot:

When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant. ~Author Unknown




Thank you for taking this camping trip with me down Memory Lane today.

Come back soon!


Wednesday, 2 November 2011

A Fall Tour

My happy little friend and I took a tour of the flowers that are still blooming in my yard.


We thought you might want to join us before Jack Frost comes and steals the beautiful blooms away.


 






Earth laughs in flowers.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Thank you for joining us.
I hope you have a happy day!
~Sherry~


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Tuesday, 1 November 2011

Hello November!



What a beautiful weather-wise start to a new month!
We've got a fire in the fireplace on this chilly morning but the temps are supposed to get up to 70 degrees later today!
The leaves are beautiful!
And even better than that, I'm back in the classroom today!
I'm a substitute teacher in a fourth grade classroom again today.
I just hope I remember WHY I signed up for this job:




I love kids!