Monday

Little ones in the house sure adds lots of fun to every day. 

 I've enjoyed my grandma time the past few days with Hannah and Noah and with their mommy and daddy too.

  They just left to visit with their other grandparents for a few nights ,

but...

Hannah ~ age 15 months

Noah ~ age 3 months

 ... they're coming back here for a little while before heading back up north and I can't wait to see them again! 

In the meantime, I'm busy getting my homey chores done up and restocking the fridge so that I can spend all my time playing when they come back.

Speaking of playing, let me show you one of my Christmas presents. 

See it hiding behind my wicker loveseat? 

Yep, it's a hula hoop!

 

 

The little girl in me asked Santa for it this year.  Will she ever grow up? 

Hope not!

It's not one of the sweet little innocent plastic kind that we had as a kid though, this one is weighted (3 lbs) and comes with promises to shrink my middle ~ if I use it.  So, I have a brand new toy to play with during the rest of the long winter days.  

 

I'm thinking of clearing a path in front of the TV so that I can hula hoop while watching old movies on Netflix.  Sounds like a fun way to wiggle off any new holiday pounds.

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Christmas Pie

Cherry Pie

1 box Dream Whip (2 envelopes)

1 cup evaporated milk, chilled

1 - 8 ounce block cream cheese

2 cups sugar

1 can Cherry Pie filling

2 graham cracker crusts

 

Pour cold evaporated milk into a large mixing bowl.  Add 2 envelopes of Dream Whip.

Whip until stiff (about 4 minutes).

 

In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

(Scrape bowl often with a spatula while beating.)

 

Pour into Dream Whip mixture and beat until smooth.

 

Put 1/4 of mixture in each graham cracker crust. 

Put 1/2 of Cherry Pie filling on top of each pie and smooth rest of mixture on top of pie.

Chill.

 

 

 

I always looked forward to my mother making these pies at Christmas time when I was a girl.

I made two of them today, one to take to my husband's parents' house tomorrow and one to take to my mother and dad's house on Sunday.

 

Sweet hubby and I are home alone on this Christmas Eve afternoon.

Both sons are at their girlfriends families' get-togethers and our daughter and her husband and babies aren't coming in until after Christmas.

 

So, we are going with the flow, starting our own new traditions.

We're going to our church's Christmas Eve service and then out to eat.

Something totally new to us for a Christmas Eve, but I'm looking forward to it.
It's special to me any time someone else does the cooking and clean up!

 

But I think things will be pretty normal in the morning with our traditional opening of presents and then our Cinnamon Roll Breakfast.

 

 

In fact, one of our sons asked if he could invite his girlfriend for breakfast.

Maybe the other son's girlfriend can come too.

 

I have to admit that I do like tradition, but change can be good too.

 

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas whether you celebrate with old traditions or new!

 

 

 

 

 

Post linked to:  Show and Tell Friday 

                         Pink Saturday

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The Gift of an Apron

I've been in my little hidey-hole (craft corner) working on Christmas gifts the past couple of days. Hopefully the young lady this apron is intended for hasn't learned of my blog yet since I want to surprise her. But I couldn't wait until after Christmas to show my blog friends my new creation. The fabric print combination was a very happy surprise to me after all my ponderings of putting the two together. I'm such a coward when it comes to mixing prints and colors.

Pocket detail

  And since an apron without a body is so one-dimensional and flat looking (kind of like a gift without love),

 

...I decided to be brave this early morning and snap pictures of myself donning the new apron.

It's a no-head kind of morning though because I've yet to finish my second cup of coffee and "put on my face" for the day.  :)

This post is linked to Pink Saturday.

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Keeping warm, keeping busy

Just thought I'd stop with my busyness for a minute to let everyone know where I am and what I'm doing.  I'm close to the fireplace in my little crafty corner working on Christmas gifts.

 Can't show pics of the gifts yet ~  well, I might show the gift I'm making myself when I get it finished.  :)


We woke up to a white world this morning.  Not snow, just a very heavy frost and a temperature of 20 degrees. In Alabama!  I'll just have to be contented with enjoying the company of my two buddies (below) while I enjoy everyone else's snow pictures. 

 

Got snow pictures?  Share your link in my comments section.  I'd love to visit!

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So it's back to normal...

Thanksgiving's over.
The turkey is almost gone.
I'm making my menu for this week.

I have a busy week planned:
Grocery buying today.
Working at the food pantry tomorrow.
I also have plans for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

But I did take a little time to dream-wish this morning.
My sweet hubby is wanting me to give him Christmas gift suggestions, so I've been searching Etsy.
Here's what caught my eye:

At Your Witts End Etsy Shop

I love the shampoo bars I've been getting from Chagrin Valley and these look great too.

CT Natural Works Soap Shop

 

 

I have trouble making a Christmas list because I'm a very contented lady.

If I'm surrounded by my family at Christmas, that's gift enough for me.

But I don't mind sweet little surprises.

I mean, if sweet hubby insists.

  

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A note for my friends

The pies and cookies are made.

The turkey is defrosting.

The rolls are rising.

 

So while I had a minute, I wanted to stop and wish my friends a Happy Thanksgiving.

Thank you for being my friend, I'm so thankful for you!

 

Love you! 

Sherry

 

 

 

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Picking out a new washer/dryer...Who knew it could be so complicated?!

Washing clothes should be a simple chore, right?

Just throw the clothes in the washer with a scoop of my handmade detergent,

push start and wait for the cycle to end so I can hang my fresh laundry on the line.?

 

Well, that's fine and dandy until you go to replace your old washer/dryer combo because the old washer decides to start oiling your clothes and the 29 year old dryer's knob falls off.

 

Who knew there would be so many choices in the store now?

Should I get a front-loader?  A top loader with an agitator?  Top loader without an agitator?

All these decisions made my head spin.

I don't like too many choices, that's why I buy almost all my groceries at Aldi. :)

 

So, after reading all the pros/cons on online reviews, I chose....

Big surprise here...

I chose the old tried and true top loading machine with an agitator.

Mostly because I hate changes (almost as much as I hate choices).

 

I got this new Maytag Centennial set yesterday and it's been chugging away all morning cleaning all the laundry we brought home from our weekend camping trip.

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So far, it seems to be doing a great job with cleaning  BUT  I must say it is sort of loud and it takes longer to run a wash load than my old GE model did.  Guess I'll just have to get used to a little change after all.

Speaking of change,  I'm still trying to get the red out...of my hair that is.  I've treated it with another dose of Vitamin C/shampoo mixture this morning.  I don't know if it's any lighter but it shouldn't get a cold this winter.  :)

Thank you for stopping by my blog today, hope you leave a comment to let me know you were here.  Traffic in Blogland has been pretty slow lately, probably due to everyone out enjoying the beautiful fall weather and I don't blame them a bit, in fact, that's what I've been doing too!

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Yikes ~ I turned my hair RED!!!

So what do I have in common with this cute little Smoke Tree in my front yard?

Both of our crowning glories turned RED lately!

I like hers much better than mine though.?

I finally got up the nerve to put some color on my hair for the first time ever!

I wanted to use a more natural route so I bought this from Sally's Beauty Supply,

Reshma Henna.

 

I chose Natural Chestnut since I thought it was the closest to my own hair color.

You see, I didn't want to change my hair color, I just wanted to cover my silver strands.

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Well, I did cover the silver,

with RED!

 

This is Monday, one day after my henna experience.

 

It kind of reminded me of a childhood dream of mine, to have hair like one of my favorite tv stars.

 

But that was a dream that I left behind many years ago.?

 

 

I was very surprised with my new hair color and it wasn't a happy surprise.

So what to do?

Google How to fade henna.

 

I won't go into all the details but one treatment included the items below:

distilled water, raw honey, cinnamon, VO5 Kiwi Lime Conditioner.

 

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Mixed up, it looked like a mess, but on the bright side it did smell nice.

Yes, I actually put that on my hair, TWICE!

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I couldn't tell if it lightened the reds at all, so I tried some other things that I won't go into detail about but will say that one included Dawn dishwashing detergent...my poor hair!

 

 

I kept running across the idea of lightening colored hair with crushed vitamin C tablets mixed with shampoo.

 

So, did I try that?

Sure, I was desperate.

 

Here's the results after the first try.

I think the red was a little more subtle.

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And here's this morning, after my third treatment.?

 

The sun was barely awake (as was I) when my son snapped this picture for me, but believe me when I say that the Vitamin C treatment really made a difference!

 

I even read where some ladies have taken off layers of old permanent dye with this.

The good thing is, it didn't uncover my silver strands, but I've decided that I can live with them when they do make their reappearance.  They weren't that bad after all. :)

 

Now if I can just grow out this short, short haircut...I'm never satisfied, am I?

 

P.S. If you're interested in the Vitamin C process to lighten colored hair just Google:  How to Lighten Dyed Hair with Vitamin C.

 

Oh, and good luck!

 

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Happy Halloween ~ Got Plans?

Do you have special Halloween plans?

I plan to shop for new winter boots this morning then meet my friends for lunch.

That's always special to me.

 

 

Then tonight, I plan to cook chicken wraps for supper and maybe try out the Pumpkin Muffin recipe that's been flying around Pinterest lately.

I apologize for not posting a link for the recipe but there was no link included with the Pin.  I wonder how many Weight Watcher Points one of these muffins would be.  I need to budget my points today so that I can enjoy one tonight  ~  guilt free. 

Hope you have a wonderful Halloween!

 

 

Edited to add:  I calculate the muffins to be 4 points on the older Weight Watcher's point system.  ?

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Dreaming in Full Color

Like always, when winter comes knocking on my door I'm ready to brighten up our home for hibernation.  I'm thinking of doing that with a new quilt for our bed this year.

I thought about making one similar to the table cover I made a couple of years ago, just a little bigger.

When I walk into my breakfast room the bright colors always make me happy.?

I love piecing quilt tops BUT here's a little secret,

 I don't really like to quilt.

I've saved this tutorial on my Pinterest board for months now. 

I could quilt the pieces (on the machine) as I go and when the top is finished, the work is done.

TA-DA!

 

And goodness knows, I've got tons of pretty cotton scraps just waiting around to be made into something useful and cheery.

 

 

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When Life Hands You Lemons

A friend gave me a HUGE bag of lemons the other day.  I love lemon in my water so I pulled out my old-fashioned juicer and started washing, slicing, and squeezing lemons.  It took quite a while!

I strained the juice, put it in ice trays and popped them into the freezer.  Later, the frozen cubes were transferred to a large zip top freezer bag and now every night I have a refreshing glass of ice water with fresh frozen lemon juice.  It's quite a treat!





 

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Book Review with a Recipe

Read any good books lately?
Well, if you know me well, you know I love to read.  Mostly what I call "fluffy" books.
Books that make me smile, mostly.
Especially books that speak to my heart and that I can relate to in my career ~ homemaking.

So, how could I not love a book with a picture of a homey little cottage on the front?

The picture is from the front of the book, The Tale of Holly How by Susan Wittig Albert.

 

It's book two of a series of eight from

The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter.

 

They're cute little tales with a mixture of characters of humans and their animals that can speak and reason.

It took a bit of getting used to, the animals talking, but it seems sort of natural after a while.

And the great part of each book is the recipes at the end!

I just had to try this one.

 

Sarah Barwick's Lemon Bars

 

 

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

grated zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup lemon juice

2/3 cup butter

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup old-fashioned oats

candied orange peel for garnish

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9" x 13" pan.  Pour condensed milk into medium-sized bowl; stir in lemon zest and juice.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add flour and baking powder in two additions, beating very well.  Mix in the oats.  Spread about two-thirds of this mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan, making a smooth, firm layer.  Pour milk-lemon mixture over bottom layer.  Spread remaining oat mixture evenly over lemon layer.  (This is easier if you "dot" it in place, then smooth.)  Bake for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned.  Cool in pan; refrigerate for one hour.  Cut into 16 squares.  Decorate each square with a bit of candied orange peel.  Refrigerate.

 

 

And I must say that this is delicious!  The piece pictured above is being eaten as I type.  Yummy!

 

I'm currently reading book 3 of this series, and the more I read, the more I enjoy them.  They are very well written.  Here's a sampling of Ms. Albert's writing that I especially enjoyed (maybe because I have a little something in common with Parsley).

"Stop, Parsley!"  roared the badger, but in a kindly way, for he knew that it was Parsley's habit to talk all the way around a story or two or three times before she could manage to open the front door and step into it properly."

 

 

So, leaving you with that, I'm closing the door and stepping out of this posting.  :)

 

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Oh, except to say this, the author has a wonderful website with such cute drawings, lists of her books, and even a free newsletter!  Hope you visit and enjoy it.  Now I'm stepping out again.  :)

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Great Pumpkin Dessert...

... that's its name and it lives up to it.

I mentioned in a post earlier this week (here) about all the specialty pumpkin products I saw on my weekly trip to Aldi.  It really got me wanting something, anything pumpkin flavored so I bought a can of pumpkin and after returning home, started searching for a recipe that sounded gooey and delicious and pumpkiny. 

After searching Pinterest ( for waaay too long), then pulling out all of my cookbooks,  I found it in one of my favorite cookbooks, Taste of Home's 2000 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes.  I knew I had found The One as soon as I saw it.  So, for your enjoyment, if you so choose, here's the recipe compliments of Taste of Home.  ( You can find the recipe and a picture at their website .)

 

Great Pumpkin Dessert

1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice *

1 package (18 1/4 ounces ) yellow cake mix

3/4 cup butter, melted

1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

 

In a mixing bowl, combine the first five ingredients.  Transfer to a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking pan.  Sprinkle with dry cake mix and drizzle with butter.  Top with nuts.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. 

Yield:  12-16 servings

 

*I didn't have pumpkin pie spice so I substituted with 2-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon,

1/2 teaspoon each ginger, nutmeg, allspice

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And here's the dessert in her (almost) full glory.?

Note:  My daughter and I both have this cookbook and we like to let the other know when we try out a new recipe in it.  So Heather, this recipe is on page 74 and earned my Great! rating.  :)

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My Own Diet Plan ~ maybe I should write a book

I've found a way to get my daily servings of fruits and veggies in and it's really helping with my weight too!

 

What I've been doing lately is at my meals, I've been eating my fruits and vegetables first.  That way I'm not stuffed with the "first foods" of meat and bread, not leaving room for the fruits and vegetables I know I need.  And because of that, I don't eat as much of the entr�e.

 

Simplistic I know, but hey, I'm a simple kind of gal.

Here's a current sample of my daily menu:

• Breakfast:  bowl of old fashioned oatmeal with rounded teaspoon each of honey and peanut butter, splash of whole milk. Black coffee,  1/2 cup fruit juice
• Lunch:  First I eat a bowl of fruit (whatever is in season; today was sliced apple, strawberries, grapes, kiwi ~ see picture above), then I have my entr�e (today it was leftover chicken pot pie), and 16 ounces of whole milk
• Supper:  Tonight we're having chicken/dressing, and stir-fried zucchini/onions.  (I'll eat the zucchini/onions first, then the chicken/dressing.

Note:  I buy 98% or more of my groceries at Aldi.  They have the fruits and vegetables that are currently in season at great prices! 

Who knows, I may even throw caution to the wind tonight and make a dessert!  After seeing all the pumpkin specialty foods in the store today ~ coffee creamer, pumpkin flavored cream cheese, pumpkin bread mixes ~ and after reading the long list of ingredients in a few of them, I threw a can of pumpkin into my cart (only ingredient was pumpkin).  Then I grabbed a half gallon of vanilla ice cream (didn't look at its ingredients:), for good measure.  I don't know what I'll make but I bet I can find something yummy on Pinterest and I'll top it with ice cream, insuring its yumminess.

So if you count up my fruits/veggies for the day it comes to at least five, not counting the pumpkin dessert and vegetables in the chicken pot pie (which I made from scratch with fresh vegetables).  I know that They've now upped the desired daily servings to 8-11, but I'm trying to be realistic.  If I put 8-11 servings of fruits/vegetables into my short little body, I wouldn't have room left over for anything else and I have no intention of giving up meat, bread, whole milk, and an occasional sweet treat. 

The great benefits that go along with getting these healthy servings in, other than weight loss, are that I'm having more energy and things are more regular if you know what I mean.

What about you?  How many servings of fruits/veggies do you get a day? 
Do you have a fun/creative way of getting them in?  I'd love to hear!

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Searching for joy

Waking up to a dark, rainy morning kind of got me down this morning.

A very rare Morning Glory leaf  :)

Yes, even Pollyannas can be affected by their surroundings.

So I went outside.  Nature is almost always a spirit lifter to me.  And it didn't let me down today.

 

 

 

I hope you have a smile on your face today.

 

 

 

 

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