Make new friends……..

But keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold.

Remember that saying?

That’s what blogging is all about.

You just keep making new friends to add to your list of old friends.

 

I just wanted to post a teeny, tiny little bit tonight to say a heartfelt Happy New Year to all of you. 

I wasn’t going to make any resolutions but I think I will just say I am going to try and blog more often and learn some more about Live Writer!  And I want to learn to take better pictures!

I will probably be asleep long before the ball in NYC falls but rest assured it will fall without me watching it.

   

See you in 2010!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

I just have to share this email I received with you.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas...Mom Style

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the abode

Only one creature was stirring & she was cleaning the commode.

The children were finally sleeping, all snug in their beds,

while visions of X-Box & Barbie flipped through their heads.

Yes, and dad was snoring in front of the TV,

with a half constructed bicycle propped on his knee.

So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter,

which made her sigh, "Now what is the matter?"

With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand,

She descended the stairs, and saw the old man.

He was covered with ashes & soot, which fell with a shrug,

"Oh great," muttered the mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."

"Ho Ho Ho!" cried Santa, I'm glad you're awake."

"your gift was especially difficult to make."

"Than ks, Santa, but all I want is time alone."

"Exactly!" he chuckled, "So, I've made you a clone."

"A clone?" she muttered, "What good is that?"

"Run along, Santa, I've no time for chit chat."

Then out walked the clone - The mother's twin,

Same hair, same eyes, same double chin.

"She'll cook, she'll dust, she'll mop every mess.

You'll relax, take it easy, watch TV and rest.

"Fantastic!" the mom cheered. "My dream has come true!"

"I'll shop, I'll read, I'll sleep a night through!"

From the room above, the youngest did fret.

"Mommy?! Come quickly, I'm scared and I'm wet."

The clone replied, "I'm coming, sweetheart."

"Hey," the mom smiled, "She sure knows her part."

The clone changed the child and hummed her a tune,

as she bundled the small one in a blanket cocoon.

"You're the best mommy ever. I really love you."

The clone smiled and sighed, "And I love you too."

The mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal.

That's my child's LOVE she is going to steal."

Smiling wisely, Santa said: "To me it is clear,

Only one loving mother is needed here."

The mom kissed her child and tucked her in bed.

"Thank You, Santa, for clearing my head.

Sometimes I forget, it won't be very long,

before they'll be too old for my cradle and song."

The clock on the mantle began to chime.

Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time."

With the clone by his side, Santa said: "Goodnight.

Merry Christmas, dear Mom, you'll be all right."

Sometimes we need reminding of what life is all about..

Especially at times when the Holiday season shouts,

and all we do is clean, bake, and procure.

You get the picture -- I'm sure.

So stop for a moment and hug that little one so dear,

whether he/she is 2 or 22, or even older this year.

For they are the gift that God gave us from Heaven above,

and what a special gift to be treasured, with endless LOVE!

May The Real Meaning Of Christmas Be With You All Year.

The Winter Season Arrives Tomorrow………

or so the calendar says!  But we all know Winter arrived already.

Especially everyone from the Carolinas

to New England with that blast of snow this past Friday and Saturday.

We actually didn’t get that much snow in my part of Ohio……that’s what usually happens, it blows right over us.

We did have a nice white covering though and are supposed to have more by Christmas.  I hope we do.

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My little fat birds are enjoying my home made suet and I just finished making another batch.  The resident Woodpeckers really enjoy the suet.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have changed everything on my mantle about 3 times so far.  Still may make a few changes tomorrow. 

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I have done a lot of baking this past week and am now getting some tins and bags of goodies to give to some neighbors and friends.

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Today I also made up some Christmas Coffee Cakes.  One for us to have on Christmas morning and one to give away.  They are so easy to make and are delicious.  Here is the recipe…….

Sour Cream Christmas Coffee Cake

Topping:

Mix together and set aside

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 TBSP cinnamon

~~~~~~~

Add in order and mix together:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 TBSP vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

8 oz sour cream

~~~~~~~

Put 1/2 of the batter in a pan

cover with 1/2 the topping.

Put in the rest of the batter and

then the rest of the topping.

This will make one 13x9 inch pan or can be put into 2 smaller pans.

I used 2 round  tin pans, covered with foil and then put into a freezer bag to bake later.

When ready to bake, uncover and bake at 350* for 30-40 minutes.

Just include a card with baking instructions if giving away.

I have been enjoying reading everyone’s blogs about all of their decorating and holiday festivities.

Sometimes I forget to blog myself or to leave comments but I just want you to know I can’t wait to see whose name pops up with a new post!

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I hope you all have a wonderful, productive, and healthy week.  See you again soon!

Linda

For Your Feathered Friends

Do you like to keep your bird feeders full and your birds healthy and happy at your house?

I just love seeing all of the birds that come to visit…………The Cardinals, Blue Jays, Chickadees, and yes, even the Sparrows.

 

I decided to search for a suet recipe and here’s what I found.

For this recipe you will need:

saucepan

solid shortening

peanut butter

corn meal

quick oats seeds or nuts

raisins or other dried fruits

bread crumbs if desired

Place 1 cup of solid shortening and 1 cup of creamy peanut butter in a saucepan over very low heat. Stir until melted.

To the melted shortening mixture, add 3 cups plain cornmeal. Mix thoroughly.

Stir in any combination of the following: quick oats, raisins, chopped apple, bird seed, bread crumbs, or dried berries. Stir until combined.

Pour into a plastic container lined with aluminum foil. Place in the refrigerator cool.

Once the suet is cooled and solid, slice into squares and place into your suet cage.

Store any remaining squares in the refrigerator. Enjoy watching your feathered friends!

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I’m still trying to finish up my Christmas Decorating.  It would go a lot faster for me if I would quit rearranging everything!

I hope to be back later in the weekend with some more photos.

 

Feeling a little stressed?

                                                                  

Just think how this guy must feel!

 

I can’t believe that we are almost to the end of November already.

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For being only 3 days from Thanksgiving, I am surprisingly calm.

Could that be because I am not hosting our meal for 24 people but instead will be going to our daughter’s?  Now we will all be bringing loads of foodstuff to this get together but there is a lot more pressure on the host and hostess of these large events.

Ah, the advantage of getting older…… your kids grow up and take turns having family dinners at their homes!  The host daughter this year is a 4th grade teacher and poor thing has teacher/parent conferences tonight and tomorrow night.  But she is confident that she will pull it all together since she has Wednesday off!  I have no doubts, she is really pretty organized.

Gee, now that I think about it………

I think it is my turn next year.  Oh, well, I’ll worry about that later.  For now I will stay nice and calm!

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I have been meaning to post this recipe ……………..it is so good.

It’s one of our staples that my oldest daughter makes every Thanksgiving.

Oh, and even all of the kids love this one.

Sweet Potato Puffs

2   40oz cans of sweet potatoes that have been drained.

3 egg yokes

1 1/2 teas. salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 cups crushed corn flakes 

1/2 cup of melted butter

another 1/2 cup of melted butter set aside

1 bag of regular marshmallows

Foil muffin paper cups.

Mix together, sweet potatoes, egg yokes, 1/2 cup butter, salt and brown sugar.

Mix remaining melted butter with crushed cornflakes.

Now, mold the potato mixture around a marshmallow and then roll in the crumb mixture and place into the muffin foils.

Then use your thumb and make an indent into each puff.

This should make about 30 of these.

Put foils into a plastic container and freeze before baking.  These can be assembled up to a week before needed.

When ready to bake

Preheat oven to 350*

Place frozen puffs in their foils into muffin tins. Do not thaw before baking.

Bake for about 30 minutes

These are so good,  I think you will like them.  I always thought that crushed pecans would be so good added to the crumbs but my son-in-law is deathly allergic to nuts so we avoid those.

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I also just wanted to say that I have been enjoying so many blogs this season with all of your finds, re-dos, recipes and creations.

I, like so many of you plan to “Bring on Christmas” at the end of the week.

May you all have a wonderful

“Thankful”  Thanksgiving!

See you again soon!

Linda

 

Some Wednesday Finishes

I finally have a few items finished that I have been working on.  With this colder weather I am thinking about putting out some winter time decorations already.  It seems like I just got my fall stuff out. I friend is taking some hand mades to a show to add to her booth.  Now I know why I don’t do shows anymore.  It’s a lot of work and I sure do make a mess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been going through some recipes…………I am in the mood to do some baking.  I’ll try to post one on Friday.  Hope you are all having a good first week of November.

Finally……Indian Summer

 

What a pretty day in my part of Ohio today.  Two of my Grandkids and I went walking in a local wooded area and took some pictures.  Our leaves may all come down this week after the expected rain arrives late on Tuesday.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by to visit.

Do we call it a collection…. or a fetish?

I was thinking that I would go around the house and take some photos of some of my favorite things that I like to collect.

One group of those are antique baby and toddler shoes.

Can you imagine having to fasten all of these tiny buttons on your child’s shoes?

                                 Just look at the worn edge on the side of this shoe.  It was probably handed down from one child to the next.  I just left the scraggy little shoe lace that was in one of the shoes.

These little white leather high tops were quite special in their day I am sure.

 

    

                               

And then I have some little orphans……………….just the right shoe.                                    I  would love to see some of your collections.  Just think about all of the special  things that are just waiting to have their pictures taken.  

I’ll be back another day with another grouping.…….we only need three of something to be a collection…………. right? 

Ah Hem……..

Excuse me………….. does this view make my butt look big?

How is everyone doing today?  I have been on a roll moving furniture and changing everything in my house that isn’t red hot or tied down.  I usually get this way when Fall arrives and then again in the Spring.  When I was growing up my Mother always did  Fall and Spring cleaning.  Something feels good about fresh starts, don’t you think?

What I really want to do is get out my camera and play with that, but I will wait and get my work done first.

Be back again soon.

Well, here goes……………..

I just need to practice more with this new format so I better begin.

Did I ever mention that I “fritter”?

In other words I keep hopping from one project to another.  So far today I have done some laundry (not all of it), took a few pictures, trimmed and brought in more bittersweet, of course read some blogs, did some painting in the garage, started some chicken and noodles and now have been playing with Photo Bucket and Live Writer. 

As the days keep getting shorter I feel this need to get so much done during the day before dusk.  I can get really lazy when the sun goes down.

I am not really happy with the shots I took but here are a few.  I think I need to use a tripod, sometimes they are so blurry.

 

Some of the bittersweet from my yard.

 

 

 

I like anything by Warren Kimball especially the flags.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me today,  I will see you again in a day or two.

Linda

Test post for Live Writer

This is a test!

Yea!….It worked, I will be back

tomorrow with a real post!

Another Beautiful Day

I just had to take a break from working on my bittersweet and have some chili that my husband made. It tasted so good.

I have made some headway on my pile of vines, I now have several piles instead of one.










And now to this, stripped of leaves, ready to be bundled.









Yesterday we had our two grand dogs for a visit,
Here they are ready to go home. Gracie a Lab mix
and Summer a Golden Retriever.












I need to get back outside and continue my
work. I hope you all are having a good weather day where you are, Linda

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Company's Coming.................

and that is why I have been gone for so long. It is amazing how much you want/need to do around the house when you know someone will be visiting for a few days. The guest room needs to be just perfect and comfy. Kitchen cupboards and counters all cleaned, windows washed, weeds pulled from the gardens.................well, you know.
My sister-in-law will be coming here from PA on Thursday. She hasn't been here for several years now and we have a lot of catching up to do. In some of her past visits we have gone to German Village (one of her favorite places), Inniswood Gardens, The shops in Westerville, Sunbury and Lancaster.
This year on Friday we are planning to go to the Country Living Fair that we be at the Ohio Village. Are any of you planning on going to that one? The staff will be there from Country Living Magazine along with David T. Smith and many well know dealers. Here is the link to the show.
http://www.countryliving.com/antiques/shops-and-shows/cl-fair-promo-0509

Then on Saturday (if we can both still move) we are going to The Spirit of Friends Show at Malabar Farms http://inthespiritoffriendsshow.blogspot.com/
Just look at the list of Vendors...............Hi Alice!

Then I also have been doing some sewing and sign painting for a friend to sell at a show she is doing. It is going to be beautiful weather here again today so I hope to start stripping the leaves off my bittersweet vines that we started cutting yesterday. My vines are out of control, I don't know how we will ever get the ones that have grown up a huge pine tree. This is a pile of the vines that needs the leaves stripped off.

I have a pot of vegetable soup simmering and I am getting ready to make an apple pie so I better get busy.

Will see you all soon,
Linda

So glad to hear from so many of you

Just a quick post to say Hello to all of you who have visited my blog. It is so good to see my "old" friends and to meet so many "new" friends. I am in the process of signing up to be a follower to all of you and I will be adding you all to my list of blogs to visit. Gee, they really do make this pretty easy to figure out, don't they?
You know I have some friends who won't go near a computer or if they do they won't try anything new. If they only knew what they were missing. I see so many of you are using the Windows Live Writer now and I think I will tackle that next.
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We went to a ton of yard sales yesterday but didn't have much luck. Some of you Ohio gals might be familiar with Swappers Meet in Johnstown over the long Labor Day weekend. Well there are sales galore in all of the surrounding areas from Friday until Monday. When I say not much luck, I only mean I didn't find the kinds of things I would buy, like prims of any kind!
There were plenty of other household items and of course baby and children's things.
I think we will go to Sunbury on Labor Day in the hopes of finding that fantastic item that is calling my name.
I'll be sure and let you know if I find anything.

Buy for now,
Linda