MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS!  

We hope you have a blessed day with loved ones and remember the reason for the season!

My little Christmas gift

to the girls I work with.   I got each of them a Christmas pin, but then I had to make it more complicated by making a card to put it on.  So, 18 cards later, I am finished with that project.   It was fun, I must admit.

I’m getting close . . .

are you?

I just have a few hours of shopping left to do today and some more wrapping.   Then, I can just stay home and finish up a couple of little embroidery projects.   When I saw this in print, it doesn’t look so simple, but I’ll have it all done by the weekend.   How about you?   I hope you will have time to breathe before the Big Day.

Pecan Pie Muffins

I love recipes that don’t require a lot of “equipment”.   For this one, all you need is the bowl, a few measuring cups and a spoon (and, of course, the muffin tins).

Melt the butter in the bowl that you will mix everything in and then just add all of the ingredients.  If you have three mini-muffin tin pans, you can do them all at once and, from start to finish, you have 3 dozen little muffins in less than 25 minutes.

PECAN PIE MUFFINS

2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup of finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients with a wooden spoon.  Pour into greased muffin tins, filling 2/3 full.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.   Makes 3 dozen mini muffins.

  I would try to get a better picture of the baked muffins, but they are gone already!!

Back in the saddle again . . .

Well, ladies, while I have been here physically lately, I have been emotionally distracted.   I have had several weeks of mammograms and a biopsy and am thrilled to say everything was okay.  I decorated for Christmas half-heartedly because, while I knew in my heart everything would be fine, I couldn’t help but play out the other scenario in my mind.  I am faithful about my mammograms and I hope you all are too – and let’s pray that the government doesn’t get in the way of our getting them young and yearly.  Now I am decorated and ready to let the holidays begin!!!

My Sign Arrived!

Several weeks ago I won the giveaway from Paula at Castle and Cottage Signs.   She paints beautiful signs in many styles and I received a custom-made sign as her gift.   After deciding what I wanted on the sign, she sent me pictures of several versions on different boards, with different lettering styles and the final product suits me and my house perfectly.   See what you think . . .

I can’t wait until I need to send someone a special gift and I can work with her again.   (She also has a blog and an etsy shop. – check them out.)   I’ve told Paula this in our emails, but I want to say again – Thank you and I love, love, love it!!!

Still in awe . . .

It’s been 60 years since this picture was taken of me with Santa and I still love to look at him!

Christmas Decorating – Part 2

Today – the tree.   Before . . .

 and after . . .

 

It has birds, nests, snowy branches, berries and silver and gold poinsettias.

Another project tomorrow.

Christmas Decorating – Part 1

I just accomplished the first part of my decorating – my Christmas village.   I enjoy it so much that I could really leave it up all winter.   So, it’s usually the first thing up and the last thing put away.  Tomorrow – the tree!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Count your blessings, but don’t eat too much!!   Enjoy your day with family, friends -- and football.

Another Frilly Dilly Bag

I promised a friend of mine that I would make her one of these purses for her birthday.  I made one earlier this summer and you can see it here.  We went together to pick out the fabric and, yes, that’s the Pink Panther you see in there!  It will be a belated gift for her, but I just had to get it done before the holidays or it would have been a New Year’s gift . . .

My Butter Pats

Sometimes you wonder why you collect what you do and then you look at it and you remember.   I have been collecting butter pats (I have 45) for years and they are in a desk/curio in my upstairs hall – not really where I can enjoy them.  But, I love them just the same.

Brrrr – it’s cold outside!

We may have a light freeze tonight so I had to put all of my plants in the greenhouse and I cut the last of my zinnias and one gerber daisy.   I don’t think I’m ready for this!    I so hope the sun will be shining tomorrow . . .

Yipeeeeeee!!!

to Paula at Castle and Cottage Signs!!!  I won the giveaway -- a  $40.00 gift certificate!   Oh my gosh, what do I want?!    I am so excited – this is my first win in “blogland”.   You know I’ll be anxious to show you my sign here when I get it.    Oh, I can hardly sit still  . . .

A Day to Honor

all of our veterans for their unselfish service to our country.  Two of them are very special to me . . .

my husband (Army, 1962) . . .

 

   and my father (Army Air Force, 1943).            

It is my belief that If ever there was a time that we should pray for our country and those ensuring our freedom, it is now.  

Okay, I’m a copycat!!

I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw it on the Cherry Hill Cottage blog.  Then Tina showed the idea again when she recently gave us a tour of her friend Monica’s beautiful cottage.  (She said she got the idea from Monica!)  Well, my hubby went deer hunting this weekend so I thought this was a good chance to figure it out and not have to listen to “how many holes are you going to put in the wall?”.   Tina said she is going to blog about how to do it, but I couldn’t wait – I might be making some adjustments after she lets us in on the secrets.

My living room sofa is a vintage style print of brown and red floral so my plates have mostly those colors.   It was a little challenging, but not too hard.   I let a day go by and then asked my husband if he noticed anything.   He said “Only those plates on the wall – how many holes did you have to put in?”   Boy, do I know him!

So, what do you think?

Here’s my sofa (from the back). . .

I’m sharing news about a giveaway!!!

Paula of Castle and Cottage is having a blog giveaway.  All you have to do is go to her beautiful blog, become a follower and comment on your favorite color for Christmas decorating.

She makes beautiful signs and the winner will receive a $40 gift certificate to her etsy shop.   Check out the sign she made for Tina of Cherry Hill Cottage.

And, here’s a bonus, if you have a blog, mention it there and then let her know and you will get a second entry in the giveaway.  Don’t be late – Saturday, November 14 by noon is the deadline.

Sweet Little Napkin Rings

Aren’t these the cutest napkin rings?   I bought them at an estate sale years ago just because I loved looking at them.  I had almost forgotten about them, but had to move everything from my dining room this week to have the wood floor refinished and came across these.   They are wooden and made in Germany.   They make me smile . . .

My Herb Garden

hasn’t really loved all of the rain we have gotten lately.   The mulch seems to have disappeared and some things are looking water logged.  But then, there’s this

Mexican mint marigold (or Texas tarragon) – smells like licorice and blooms in early fall.   My hoja santa (which means sacred leaf) plants (below) don’t usually do this well, but they are not totally suited to this climate.  I guess they like it wet.  It comes back every spring.

Rosemary is looking good

and so are some of my roses.

I even have enough to put some in the house, so I’m happy!

White Wednesday

Just a few things I thought I’d show  you.   This is the upstairs guest room with white bedding.

Here are two vintage European shams I bought at the La Bahia show (near Round Top).   I visit this lady’s booth every time I go there and just drool.   This time I decided I would go ahead and buy them.  I am going to embroider on them, but can’t decide whether I should do our initial, “his” and “hers”, “yours” and “mine” or a design.   Still weighing all that!  I bought the inserts at royalpillow.com.  They have great prices -- $8.70 each for 30” x 30”.   (I’ll show them to you when they are embroidered and on our bed with the toile bedding I just ordered.)

And just for laughs --  I don’t know where I saw this, but it makes me smile just to look at them!  Don’t you love ‘em?

Another Project

checked off my list!   I found this large frame at a barn sale and it was rather wobbley (is that a word?) and missing a piece in the corner, but I really liked the carving.  Okay, I bought it for $3. My husband tightened it up with glue and clamps and I reconstructed the missing piece.  (Not perfect, but close enough.)

Now what?   It is pretty large (45 x 20) and I didn’t have a picture for it so decided it would make a great blackboard.  So I made a blackboard with a nice smooth board we found at a garage sale, bought some chalkboard paint and painted . . . and painted . . . and finally – it’s a blackboard!

It is on a wall between my kitchen and dining room and is actually the first thing you see when you walk in the back door (which is where 95% of people who come to my house come in – don’t ask me why). 

(FYI:  If you are going to make a chalkboard, I would recommend making your own paint – it worked much better than the spray paint.  The “recipe” I used was 3 tsp. black (or any color you want) acrylic paint, 1-1/2 tsp. glaze (like for faux painting) and 1/2 tsp. non-sanded grout.   I already had all of that so that’s what I used, but I also saw a formula on the internet using flat black paint and grout.)

A Recent Purchase . . .

Little by little I am showing you some of my “treasures” from my trip to Round Top – actually I think I bought this in Carmine.  Anyway, I walked past this picture, glanced at it, backed up, walked a little further, went back, looked at it again  . . . has this ever happened to you?  I just don’t know why, but I was drawn to it – just couldn’t take my eyes off.  Well, it’s one of those things that I knew that if I didn’t buy it, I’d think about it forever wondering why not!  It has a copyright date of 1907 and I tried to find out a little bit more about it, but was unable.  At first I wasn’t quite sure what was taking place here, but now I think that this lady just stopped in to have her palm read.  (Sorry about that little glare spot in the middle.)   If you have any other interpretation, I’d love to hear it!

A Little Old Lunchbox . . .

brought into the 21st century.     I bought this old lunchbox with this project in mind when we went to Round Top last week.   I had been seeing lots of “charging stations” in catalogs and stores lately and mentioned to my husband that it would be a good idea.   I started thinking about what we might find that he could modify.   We came across this cute little lunchbox and it was perfect.   He put a power strip inside and now we have our chargers (cell phones, MP3 player, Palm Pilot) all plugged in and all we have to do is connect whatever we want to charge.   He even put a switch on the back so we could turn it off instead of unplugging it all of the time.   Isn’t he the best?!   Now all I have to do is decide where to park this little gem so it will always be handy. And, I must decide -- to paint, or not to paint.

Overnight Coffee Cake

We had guests last night so I made this Overnight Coffee Cake to have ready when everyone got up.   The recipe calls for frozen bread dough and then it rises while you are sleeping; ready to bake when you are awake!  Couldn’t be easier.

Ready to rise . . .

 

Looks like this in the morning . . .

and this when it comes out . . .

Overnight Coffee Cake

1 pkg. frozen cloverleaf roll dough (about 25 rolls)
1 small pkg. vanilla pudding mix (not instant)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans, chopped and/or 1/2 cup raisins
1 stick butter, melted
cinnamon

Separate frozen dough into pieces.  Combine dry pudding mix with brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans and/or raisins.  Sprinkle some pecans and/or raisins in bottom of pan.  Place half of frozen dough pieces in a well-buttered bundt pan.  Pour half of melted butter over dough and sprinkle with half of pudding mixture.  Repeat layer.  Leave cake pan out overnight; the dough rises beautifully by morning.   Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Invert on serving plate to serve.   Sticky – but good!

(Note:  I have had trouble finding frozen cloverleaf rolls lately.  You can use the frozen dinner rolls, but only use about 22 of them.  I cut them while frozen into 2 pieces.  I cover the frozen cake with a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper, sprayed with Pam, while it is on the counter overnight.)

We're Off . . .

Round Top here we come. Be back this weekend and I hope I have lots of goodies to tell you about. Keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't rain (every day)!

HAPPY FALL Y’ALL

Don’t you just love this time of year?   Maybe it’s just because it is such a welcomed change from summer, but the air even seems to smell differently – even in Texas where I know it is not as special as some parts of the country in fall.   Anyway, where ever you are, enjoy the new season and be thankful for it!

(This platter is Johnson Bros. Windsor Ware, Harvest Fruit pattern.)

Laundry Room

I had a few questions about the wall hanging above my washer and dryer when I posted about making laundry soap. Well, the wall hanging has multiplied because it was so easy! I bought fabric at the quilt shop that came in panels of various cherry designs, cut it and stapled it around artist canvases. I bought another cherry print and lined the rag basket on top of the freezer. On one wall are some little cherry plates and at the ceiling, yes, that's a huge wasp nest (no longer inhabited, of course). I added some cherries to the vintage pantry in the other corner. The long painting near the ceiling is what got this all started several years ago -- bought at a flea market in McKinney, Texas. (Click on picture to enlarge.)

Every Day Dishes from the '50's

These dogwood pattern dishes were made by Homer Laughlin in the early 50's. I have a service for ten and they are dated on the back either 1950 and 1951. These are the dishes we ate on every day when I was growing up. My mother must have gotten them new. Well, not these exactly. When my mother passed away and I was going through her things, I found this covered casserole and several large platters. She had given away, broken, or somehow didn't have the plates any more. I was able to get the dinner plates, cups and saucers, berry bowls and bread & butter plates on ebay. We don't use them every day at my home now, but, when we do, I can still see them on my mother's table. She would be amazed to see them again.

A Heavenly Happy Birthday to my Mom

Today my mother would have been 91 -- she has been in heaven for 6 years. I still miss her, and so many things on a regular basis make me think of her. The only good part is that I know that she is now in a better place.

I have always loved this picture of my Mom taken when she was about 4 years old (that would have been 1922). As you can see in the second picture, it was in a real state of disrepair so I decided to have it restored. While it was not an inexpensive fix, I gladly paid the price as it brings me great joy and I have it displayed on a wall with real wedding pictures of members of my family. She told me that she had no idea why she and this little boy who was just a neighbor dressed up like a bride and groom. They sure didn't look very happy about it!