It's Time!

It's that yummy pumpkin time of year again. The whole pumpkin thing has exploded in recent years. It used to just be a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks. Now it's everywhere!!!! Creamer, Ice cream, waffles, muffins, soup....you name it, its probably been pumpkin-spiced. Well, here is my new favorite addiction. This Pumpkin Swirl bread from Pepperidge Farm and Great Value pumpkin spice cream cheese from Walmart. I can't get enough.  They were out of the cream cheese for days when I needed more....so when they got it back I bought 3!!! Do you have a favorite pumpkin thing? Let me know....

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Tomato Corn Soup

This is so super easy you're not even going to believe it! I kind of invented it myself so I don't have real measurements....but you can't mess it up.

Saute chopped garlic and onion in olive oil in a saucepan. Add 2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes and 1 15oz can chicken stock.  Add the kernels of 5-6 ears of corn and several sprigs of chopped basil, salt & pepper to taste. You could add shredded chicken, italian sausage, bow tie pasta....use your imagination :)

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Pam's Jam

It was a busy weekend...but I found some time to make jam. Blueberry and peach....something about making jam just feels good. And the taste is soooooo yummy! Aren't they pretty???? On to making pies this week.

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A Plain Wooden Bowl Makes Me Happy Everyday

Hi there. It's been a while. I'm sorry. So much happening and going on. But I wanted to share one of my favorite things with you. Didn't I used to have a weekly Favorite Friday post 400 years ago???? I should really start that back up :)   Well....guess where I found this amazing bowl? Yup. My Goodwill!!!!! $1.99. It was kinda dingy looking....but I could see the potential. I brought it home and gave it some TLC and it perfect to hold my little skeins of sock yarn. I keep it on the end table next to my chair and smile everyday. It doesn't take much to make the Treatgirl happy.

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A Trip to Florida

Greetings from sunny Florida!!!! Cubby and I planned a little getaway with my cousin's family from Buffalo. We went to Orlando, but for some reason I call the whole Orlando area "Disney" ... we really didn't even go to the Magic Kingdom this trip. We were so lucky to be able to stay at my aunt's timeshare again. It was perfect!!! Here, let me show you all the fun we had.........

One day we took a road trip to visit my mom in Delray Beach. It was the best day!! We had a lovely lunch at her beach club, went to the beach, and swam in the pool.

Here are the little ones carrying their boards over to the beach.

The pool was fun too!! We had rain almost every day.....but it didn't put a damper on much. Where we stay has fun activities for the kiddos all day long. They played games, tie-dyed tshirts, did crafts, there was an animal show and Cub got to hold an alligator. Of course it's the one picture of the week I missed :(  We all loved the hot tub too.

We went to Universal and Isands of Adventure. It was our big park day....The Treatgirl isn't much of a daredevil....so she didn't do many rides (actually just two). It worked out great that my cousin, her husband and little girl took Cub on all the rides while I sat with our bags and cameras. I did love the Shrek 4-D and Twister attractions though :)

The Harry Potter area was Cub's big thing.....Just recently he started watching all of the movies. They looooooooved the ride in Hogwarts and he spent all of his cash on a wand. He's been practicing his spells on me :)

Ok. Here is the one of the rides I did go on....The Carousel in the Dr. Seuss area :)

Another day we went to Wonderworks. The kiddos loved it. It is filled with lots of hands on experiments...A bed of nails you can lie on, a room that simulates a hurricane, a bubble lab, and an XD theater where you wear 3D glasses to feel like you're riding a rollar coaster. On the top floor you can walk along all kinds of tight ropes and wooden bridges high above the floor. Another thing the Treatgirl didn't feel daring enough to try.

Oh...here's a picture of Wonderworks before we went in....

A couple rounds of putt putt.

And a visit to Downtown Disney on our last night. It went by soooooo fast. The two teenagers and Hubs stayed home and had a week without any rules....now it's back to reality. But we have a ton of wonderful memories!!!

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Turkey ala King

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Happy Spring! I know for most of us it doesn't really seem like it yet.....So let's make some warm, cozy, comfort food. Recently I got together with the Soul Sisters for our first meal swap. Jennifer Juniper got the ball rolling....We all made a dinner that we could freeze....Got together at Joy's house for a wonderful lunch and a craft ...and brought along our dinners. I didn't take any pictures....so click HERE to see all the fun over at Hope Studios....Jennifer did a great job at putting it together for us! I made a turkey dinner casserole for everyone and with the turkey I had left over I made Turkey ala King. My mom used to make it when I was a little girl and I swear I haven't had it since then.....so I googled a yummy recipe and got busy.

It turned out sooooooooooooooooo good. Even better than I remember my mom's being. And it was soooooo super easy! I remember her putting it over those little puffed pastry boats from Pepperidge Farms....I didn't even know if they still made them???? But there they were in the freezer section.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try them.....I'm thinking next time I will just use a roaster chicken...because it's not every day I do a turkey and have leftovers to make this :)

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter
4-5 fresh mushrooms- sliced
1 Tbsp. flour
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup chopped, cooked turkey (or chicken)
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large skilllet over medium heat, cook butter until golden brown. Saute mushrooms until tender. Stir in flour until smooth. Slowly whisk in chicken broth, and cook until slightly thickened. Stir in cream, turkey and peas. Reduce heat to low and cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. 4 servings.

Done. That is so easy!

I actually doubled this recipe and it was perfect for our family of 5.

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Island in the Sun

It was a trip of a lifetime!!!!!! Chip and I celebrated our 20th anniversary in Barbados! We had an A.MAZ.ING time! The highlight of our trip was finding this desserted beach. I have been to Barbados many times when I was younger with my family and we came here. It was on my wishlist that I could find it and bring Chip. I asked a bunch of Bajans (the locals) and no one had heard of it. Well...that didn't deter me....we rented a car one day ( and I have to say Chip did a GREAT job of driving on the opposite side of the road on the crazy, skinny roads!) and I got us right to it. It was literally the prettiest place on earth with THE BLUEST water.

This picture was taken from the top of the cliff looking down.....absolutely no one or nothing there.

There is a very narrow staircase cut out of the coral cliff that takes you down to the beach and this is a view of the burned out old sugar cane plantation house up above overlooking the beach.

I will always treasure this in my heart.

We stopped at one of the 1,200 rum shoppes on the tiny island to have a rest  :)   ....and then continued on to Bathsheba....a breaktaking beach further up the coast.

We took a tour of the Mt. Gay rum factory on it's actual 310th birthday! They have been producing rum on the island since 1703.

Here's a view of the beach from our resort. I could never get tired of it.

We enjoyed dinners out, the steel drum bands, limbo and even karaoke one night! I got him a backgammon game for Christmas to bring along and we played everyday. We didn't have our cell phones or watch t.v. once.

And how about this sunset from our balcony every night?

It was just the most perfect week....The hardest decisions every day were which bathing suit to wear? Beach or pool? Rum punch or rum runner?????? I'm already dreaming of going back.......ahhhhhhh.

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Coffee Mug Cozy

Who wouldn't love to have a cozy for their coffee mug?? I finally whipped one up for myself....I made these as a little treat for my Soul Sisters for Christmas this past year. They take next to no yarn....perfect to use up some extras in your stash. I had seen several different ones on Pinterest....But I ended up combining a few of them and making my own pattern.

If you'd like to make one yourself keep reading:

materials:

a little bit of worsted yarn

size 6 needles

cable hook

2 buttons

Cast on 56 stitches with size 6 needles. Knit 2, then purl two at the beginning of every row. Work a 4 stitch cable, then knit 2 until there are 4 stitches left in the row. Purl 2, then knit 2. On the wrong side you knit the first and last 4 stitches of every row. Continue for 16 rows then bind off. Work a buttonhole on row 4 and row 14. Sew the buttons on the opposite end. You're done. These literally take just a few hours. Get knitting :)

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More Jars

I love my jars. You can click HERE to see another little post I did on other jars I love......Here are a few I keep out all winter. My dad's girlfriend gave me the snowman one on the left. It makes me happy. And the one on the right I got the day after Christmas a few years ago. They are both from the Hallmark store. And how perfect is that snowflake votive holder I got at RiteAid drugstore? ahhhhhh.....snowflakes. Don't get me started. I love them too!

Well look what I scored on at my Goodwill last week. Another Hallmark jar. With snowflakes AND mittens. MITTENS. LOVE THEM TOO. You can't really see it....but the knob on top is in the shape of a little jingle bell....

The same day I got the mitten jar, I got this merry days jar. From the Hallmark! And today I scored on ANOTHER one. I couldn't just leave it there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup. You guessed it.  Another jar from Hallmark. And mind you almost all of them still had the Hallmark sticker tags on the bottom. But I only paid .99 cents for him and $1.99 for the the other ones. I know I can't keep all of them.....So some of them may turn up as a treat for someone special next year :)

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Knitting and sewing. And painting.

Wow. I can't believe it's almost the end of January. I have been loving my days. It's been snowy and cold and I've been very busy knitting, sewing and painting!! A lot. I always like to get started on my Christmas knitting in the days right after Christmas...and this year I got going on mittens. I like to have several pair in my stash. I even knit a red pair for Cub's bus driver for Valentine's Day. And for the record I don't need to look at the pattern anymore and I can knit a pair in 2 hours and 10 minutes without a potty break.

Look at this!!!! A hot water bottle cover. Who woulda thunk? I had seen one knit in cashmere on Restoration Hardware's website when I was looking around at Christmas time for $119! ....and I saw another one in my Country Living issue knit in alpaca on a farm in upstate New York fpr $68. So of course the Treatgirl decided she must need one and googled "free hot water bottle patterns" and found one for herself. I tweeked it a little bit and just used some Lions Brand yarn I had in my stash. That was the easy part. I didn't even know where to find the hot water bottle!!! Just in case you need one....they have them at Walmart for  $4.87.

Chip went to Nashville a week ago and and that also set off a flurry of sewing and painting. It all started with a new rug by my front door......Which lead to painting the office. And then the dining room. Which meant the front hall, powder room and upstairs hallway. And CindyLou's bedroom.  I did that all on my own. HE'S GONNA HELP me with the stairways, kitchen and great room. Hopefully by February 14th!! That's my deadline. :) And if I wasn't painting walls....I was painting on my ceramics. I making the cutest little things ever. NO pictures yet.....maybe later this week. Wheh. Then it was sewing new pillows. I had been around to TJMaxx and Marshall's several times and didn't find anything that spoke to me....But the down pillow inserts I had were perfectly fine. So I just got some fabric and made them myself.

And another set for the love seat....See my pretty snowman tree in the background?

Which lead to a new cover for the window seat in my kitchen.

 And if I wasn't painting or sewing I was knitting these adorable little hearts. I had forgotten all about them until a friend stopped over for a quick little lesson the day I was painting my dining room. It was a wonderful break and I was happy she inspired me. Click HERE for the pattern. Chip is away again all next week.......It's on to the kiddos bathroom re-do! And maybe a little more painting and knitting :)

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It Took Me a While.....

 Happy New Year!!!!!!!!! I hope everyone is happy and heatlhy! The last few weeks have been a blur and I've been wanting to share so much....it's just life has gotten in the way. And my new phone..... Santa brought me the Samsung Galaxy and I know I'm going to love it some day.....but I'm still learning and it's getting frustrating. Anyhoo....I took these pictures of our Soul Sister Christmas party and it's taken me this long to figure out how get them off of my phone and into the computer. Yikes!!! Our annual Christmas get together was actually in January this year........so I'm not as late as it really seems. One of our sisters was very sick so we post-poned it until January 2nd. Which was sooooo nice. We met at our traditional little restaurant....

 ...We played the guess-the-waiters-name game. I was there early and he introduced himself to me and I still didn't remember it!! So I got to play too :) Here I am with MarzipanMom.

Of course we had our ornament exchange. Always homemade for less than $10.

Here are the sisters with a little extra treat I knitted for everyone....

Coffee cup cozies!! They all loved them.....Can you believe I didn't make one for myself??? I might have to do that.

And of course we conned our waiter into taking our group shot too. This year the day after the party I ran into my local Walgreens to buy my 6th tree just for all of my precious Soul Sister ornaments. I tried to sneak it in, but Chip noticed. Oh well....I don't care. It is perfect!!! And I already know what I'm making for 2013! Hope your holidays were happy!!!!! Bundle up and keep warm!

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