Such Randomness

 Well, I have been away quite awhile.  How have you been?  I hope well.  I have several things to show you.  Even though I have been away, there has been some fun stuff going on in my little life.  I got a belated birthday gift from a sweet friend.  She knows I love vintage stuff....and pink just makes it even more special since it is my most favorite color in the world.  :)  Isn't it lovely???

 And, she also gave me these darling puppy salt and pepper shakers.  I love them!

 I put up thirty jars of strawberry jam for the winter.  That will not be enough for the mass quantities of peanut butter sandwiches we consume around these parts....but it will be a start.

 We stopped at the local farmers market and bought some tart cherries to make some cherry jam as well.  I was pitting them here.  Now that is a messy job....hence the apron.  The fruit is tucked away in the freezer until I can take the time to make a batch of yummy tart cherry jam.  After the cherry, I need to make blueberry.  That will be a first for me.  Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 I bought a couple new magazines lately.  I saw this one on a blog and it looked really neat.  And, it is!  It is full of fun ideas.  I already have my pages dog eared with things I want to do someday.

 Have you ever caved and bought these little magazines at the checkout line in the grocery store?  Please tell me I am not the only one who becomes weak when she sees yummy chocolate carmel goodness on the cover.  :)

And we also went to say goodbye to our beloved Harry.  I am pretty sure I was the only 44 year old woman crying in the packed theatre.  :)  Harry and his adventures have been in our family for 9 years.  It was sad to know this was the last movie.  I love it when goodness prevails over evil.  LOVE IT!!

So, I guess that is what I have been up to the past couple weeks.  Besides working....and that is not fun stuff to report.  Right?  :)
Have a lovely day!

Lazy Days

I foresee some relaxing times with a cold drink and a good book in this thing.  Summer is chugging by quickly.  I think this will help slow things down a bit, don't you?

Brown Paper Sack

 To you, this might look strange.  I mean, who leaves paper sacks from the market laying all over the kitchen floor?

I do!  For this little cutie to play in.  To us, these sacks represent something useful to help us complete a task.  But to this fellow, it represents joy and fun of HUGE proportion.
I hope you have a brown paper sack kind of day.  :)

Granny Smith

I painted my kitchen last week.  While my sis was here on her vacation, she just happened to have a piece of scrapbook paper with her that was the exact color of green I wanted to paint the kitchen.  Remember, all my walls were builders brown.  Yuckie!  So, she let me keep the piece of paper and I cheerfully skipped into my local Home Depot and had the sweet fellow there color match it to the paper. It came out almost exactly the color of the scrapbook paper.  I don't have a name for the color so I am calling it Granny Smith Green.  I also made new curtains in there as well.  You can not really see the sweet floral print on them.  The green I was matching is very subtle in the fabric.
 I loved being at my Aunt Pat's farmhouse as a kid.  I know that I should be living on a farm.  But I am in a subdivision where there is a HOA and not a sheep to be found.  So, I will just re-create my dear Aunties farmhouse kitchen.

Dinner Date

 We had friends over for dinner Friday night.  When we lived back in Illinois, we had people over to share meals with us all the time.  Since we have moved to Michigan, we have gotten out of the habit of doing it.  Well, lets just say that is going to change.  I forgot how much I enjoy fussing over people I care about with food.  I am wearing my new apron I made after buying the pattern over a year ago!

 Darling youngest daughter snapping our photo while she is helping me make dinner.

 The table is set for our guests.

 I went out in the garden to see what I could find in bloom for a centerpiece for the table.  I had a lot to choose from.

 Twinkle lights to set a relaxed mood.

Homemade salad dressing I packaged in my recycled frap bottles.  These little things come in so handy for so many things.  And since you gals love recipes like I do....here is the recipe for the dressing if you would like it.  It is tart due to the red wine vinegar.  So if you are a tart gal like I am...you will love this.
Salad Dressing

1 cup olive oil

1 cup red wine vinegar

2 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. onion powder

2 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

2 1/2 tsp. dried basil

2 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Dijon-style mustard

1/4 cup sugar to taste

Mix together and shake well.  Store at room temperature tightly covered.

Our friends insisted on bringing dessert.  Lets just say, that was a no-brainer for me.  These people know every bakery and candy shop in Michigan.  I kid you not.  They have impeccable taste for good things. When I saw them coming into the house with this pink box.....I knew we were going to have happy tummies.

See, told ya!  :)

A Special Gift for Someone So Special

My sweet friend Darla had herself a birthday yesterday!  I knew I had to make something with love for her.  She is such a cheery person.  So, I decided to make her a cherry runner for her special day.

I was anxiously waiting for the postman to deliver it to her so I could see what she thought about it.  She sent me this picture of herself after she opened it.  I think it was a hit.  :)

Recipes for you

I have gotten a couple requests for the recipes I mentioned.  So, here they are for you.  Both very yummy!  :)

Carmel Corn

Ingredients

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bag.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

2 devils food cake mixes
1 cup melted butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix well - roll into cherry sized balls.  Place onto cookie sheet.  Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  This is going to make a lot of dough...but you will need 2 cookies for each Oreo.  :)

Filling
 1 - 8 oz package of cream cheese softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix well and spread between cooled cookies.
Pop into mouth and enjoy!

Fun With Friends

 We were blessed to be with our dear friends on the 4th this year.  They invited us to their house for a cookout.  I made these little homemade Oreo cookies.  Let's just say...these are not figure friendly...but when you eat one.....you won't care.  :)

 They made yummy chicken and beef kabobs for the grill.  I am so proud of my eldest daughter for finally beginning to try new foods.  She ate one and liked it!  And it was not a chicken nugget.  Yippee!!

 Speaking of that girl....

 My sweet friend and daughter being goofy with the rackets.

 They had a wonderful toy in the backyard that my youngest has been begging for.  It was made from parachute material.  We are so going to get ones of these.  I can foresee lounging in the shade with a glass of iced tea and a magazine in my future in one  of these.

 They have pet bunnies and it was fun to play with them.

 It is tradition in my family to make homemade carmel corn and take it to the fireworks on the 4th of July to munch on while watching the show.  Last year was my first year of making it.  My youngest daughter told me I had to make it again this year.  She said, and I quote, "Mom it is tradition!"  I am glad she insisted I make it.  It was fun to share our family tradition with our new dear friends.

God's Word Is True

(if you click on this photo you can read what this says if you like)

This past weekend, we drove to Ohio to visit our dear friends.  One of the things we did was drive to Kentucky and go to the Creation Museum.  It was an amazing place!!  There was so much to do and see.  So many things to look at and read, we could not possibly see everything in one visit.  I would love to go back again someday.  I was humbled and brought to tears several times on how big and powerful our God is.  It was a good thing to be reminded of His awesome power and greatness.

Happy 4th of July

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Hope you all have a lovely Independence Day!  

Getting Crafty

 When my sister and I get together, we like to make a craft of some sort together.  We decided to make little buntings for her scrapbooks while she was here this time.  We had another craft to do...but ran out of time due to all the other fun stuff we had planned, and my new job.  So, this little project was it.  She got into my stash of fabric scraps and we came up with these for her.

I made one for myself as well and placed my little bunting in my kitchen as a little bit of decoration for the 4th of July.  Can you see my little antique Meadow Gold ice cream box I found at an antique store?  I think it is so sweet!