Checking In

I sure hope you all had a very good Christmas! We did and I am playing on mine right now. Santa gave me a laptop. :)
My daughter and I was sick but I think we may be getting a little bit better now. I am still drained but trying to do a few things that need doing so I wont be sooooo weak when I am able to do anything.
Started taking down the Christmas decorations today. Got them all down off the front porch now.
I just wanted to check in so you wouldn't think I fell off the face of the earth or something. lol
I also have something I can't wait to share with you that my sister scored for me.It's an old Victorian chair. When I saw it awhile back I had a fit over it and they had decided to throw it out. :( Thank goodness my sis remembered me or I would have just died! I've not been feeling well so I don't have all the programs I need downloaded on this computer to be able to show you the pic. But I will share it when I can. It's covered in that old gold fabric that used to be soooo popular years back. It seems to be a nice sound chair and I can't wait to find some fabric to recover it in.
Also wanted to wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Be sure to come back and see my chair when I get the pic uploaded on here. :)

Christmas Cooking

I don’t know about you but I sure enjoy cooking for Christmas when I have the energy. Today I have been working like Santa’s little elf making some Christmas goodies. I made 2 more batches of my peanut butter balls, and then I made hubby some Oatmeal Chocolate Coconut Chewy’s and I am here to tell you those things are nothing but yummy and chocked full of chocolate chips! Here is that recipe if you’re interested and I have NO IDEA where I found this recipe so I hope no one will get upset with me for sharing it. I am not claiming it as my own.

 

Oatmeal Chocolate Coconut Chewy 
Yields 5 dozen

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup shredded coconut

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F .
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk and vanilla.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture until well blended.
Stir in the oats, chocolate chips. walnuts and coconut until evenly distributed.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven for a chewy cookie or 14 minutes for a firmer cookie.
Cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet and then remove to wire rack.
Cool completely and then store in tightly sealed container.

Also made our dog, Buddy some treats and here See below) is that recipe if you’d like it.  I made a double batch of them and got 97 treats and I have no doubt in my mind the dog LOVES them! It was so funny because the first one I gave him to try he came back to me in the kitchen and stood there watching me waiting on another one! lol Also don’t know where online I found this recipe but just wanted to share it in case someone was interested in having it.

 

Dog Treats

Don’t forget to purchase a dog bone cookie cutter.

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tlb. baking powder

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

1 cup milk

 

Directions

preheat oven to 375.

In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder.

In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk.

Then add dry ingredients and mix.

Place on a lightly floured surface and knead.

Roll dough into 1/4” thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut shapes.

Bake 20 minutes on greased pan until lightly brown.

Cool on rack.

These cookies will burn easily so keep an eye on them.

 

and now for proof they are yummy….

The cookie treats cut out with the bone cookie cutter. The cookie cutter is about 3” long.

Cooked on the cookie sheet.

Now for hubby’s cookies……

Then the peanut butter balls……

I’ve had this peanut butter ball recipe for many many years. A good friend of mine, Vera Anderson gave it to me wayyyy before I even had a computer so I know I didn’t get this one on the internet.

So I’ll share it with you as well. It’s very easy to make!!

 

Peanut Butter Balls I ALWAYS make a double batch!

 

1 package of graham crackers crushed

1 box confections sugar

2 sticks melted butter

1- 1 pound jar peanut butter (I always use creamy)

2/3 block gulf wax (paraffin wax)

6 oz. chocolate chips

 

Directions

Mix crackers, butter, sugar, and peanut butter together in large bowl.

Roll into balls and refrigerate 2-4 hours.

Melt chocolate and wax together in a double boiler so the chocolate wont burn.

Then dip balls in chocolate and place on wax paper. I dip mine with a toothpick and then just wiggle the toothpick a little so it will fall off onto the wax paper.

**************************************

Now tomorrow I will try to do some pecan sandies and some old fashioned molasses cookies. Also I’ve got to dip the peanut butter balls I have in the fridge chilling.

I hope you are getting your Christmas cooking done and all your shopping as well.

I wish each and every one of you a VERY VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pumpkin Spice Cookie Recipe

I wanted to share a recipe with you all. I don’t remember where I found the recipe but it could have been at THE TASTY KITCHEN BLOG. I made them a few minutes ago and they are really good AND easy which is a must these days for me! Plus I had all the ingredients on hand and that is also a plus for me.

                         Pumpkin Spice Cookies
                       (Makes about 50 soft cookies)

1-½ cups Butter (soft)
2-½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
4 whole Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 pint Pumpkin Puree
1 quart All-purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Cloves (was a little too much cloves for me, going to add ¾ tea. next time.)
1 teaspoon Allspice

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients then stir into the creamed mixture.
Drop onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-12 minutes.

I had a small sweet potato in the fridge that no one had eaten so I mashed it up and threw it in the batter to. I used a heaping teaspoon full of the batter for each cookie. These cookies are really good and soft but I was thinking of something I want to try with them.

I’d like to make some of the creamy white confectioners filling that is in the middle of some cookies for these. I think it would be sooooo good! Now if I can just find that recipe!

More pix of the cookies……

Whoops looks like I may have found a recipe for a white filling for these AND there is a cookie called, Pumpkin Whoopie Pie! so that might just be what these turn out to be.

 

Filling

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup margarine (softened )

8 ounces cream cheese (softened )

1 teaspoon  vanilla flavoring

 

NOTE: You may want to half this recipe because it seems like a lot for this small amount of cookies.

Cream all together until smooth. Put into a zip-lock bag and clip the bottom corner just a little bit so you can squeeze the filling out the hole onto the cookies. You  may want to put down some wax paper to do this on so you will have a place to fix the cookies.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We’re just about to get finished with our decorating.

I only lack the garland around the back door and I will be done. Oh except for the beads on the bottom of the tree. I lack one more row of those and didn’t want to have to go back in the attic again for them.

I figured I would share some of the decorations with you all.

A few of the ornaments on the tree.

Next pic is the mantel.

Above the windows with the Christmas cards on the shelf.

 

Little nativity scene lamp.

The nativity.

I hope you all are about done with your Christmas decorating to!

Blogger Named Mary

 

I have been looking at this blog for I know 45 minutes now and just had to share it with you all. I found the blog simply by doing a search on crazy patchwork quilts.

As you saw from my last post I want to do something with my old quilt. So I was looking trying to get some ideas. I don’t really quilt although I have wanted to. I do have a bed spread pinned together to do one day though. I bought it and it has that old stuffing junk in it and when I washed it, it knotted up inside it so I took it out and added me a blanket inside it. Now I have to sew it all together.

Anyway I have been enjoying her blog for the last few minutes and I see she has tea parties!

I LOVE having tea parties and love anything related to tea things. I have had to chill out on my collection of tea related things because I have NO MORE room for it! 

Anyway just had to share her blog with you. She is a VERY interesting lady indeed and living in a really neat place as well! Looks like she has some wonderful recipes to! Anyway do check out her blog! I know I will be visiting it again as well.

Devonhouse Recollections

Christmas Decorating

I am getting closer and closer to getting things decorated for Christmas.

I am going to use blue ornaments this year on my tree. I am tired of my ornaments that I have had many many years. So I bought me some blue ones this year. Will probably have to still use some of the old things to fill in with though.

I guess I will have to make us some stockings to match to. I was planning on using white, or silver with the blue ornaments and wanted to use gold but the DD says that wont look right. I think white, gold, and blue would be pretty with clear lights myself.

I have an old old quilt in my attic in a box to keep it safe that my Maw Maw made when we were little kids that I would dearly LOVE to make stockings out of. Just don’t know if I have the heart to cut it up. Although it’s all to pieces in spots already. It’s all hand sewn and it’s been falling apart for many years so I don’t use it anymore. It would be sooooo neat as stockings! She was always my favorite Grandma because she was so precious. I wish I’d had another little girl so I could have named her after my Maw Maw, Carrie. Anyway I’ll have to ponder on this for awhile to see IF I can cut it up for stockings or not. Don’t think it’s fixable so this would be a neat use for it. I’ve had it since I was a teen and I dearly love the old thing! I just can’t toss it!!!!

Anyway figured I could sew some lace trim that looks old and some old buttons in the seam areas where she’d sewn to help hold them together as well. This would be one of those projects that would tug on my heart strings if you know what I mean. She liked to make quilts and I know she’d be happy I couldn’t just toss it out and I think she’d be pleased that I made something from it. As you can see I’m trying to decide. lol The old quilt is nothing fancy by any means. My Uncle had an upholstery shop and he’d save her the ticking from making the mattresses so she could make the quilts with it. But that’s what makes it even more important to me. So you see WHY I couldn’t toss it and I keep hanging onto it.

I’ll have to get it out and take a pic of it so you can see it.

Edited to add the pix……..

 

This is the ticking they used to use to make mattresses with. She made two of these from the ticking, one for each side. Then she sandwiched old pieces of cloth inside it.

You can see both sides of the quilt on this next shot. She made them to keep us warm. I have another one but she made it with little squares of fabric and it’s not quilted like this one is. So tickled that I have TWO of her quilts!!!!

Little Urn Christmas Trees

Finally got my urns this year for my birthday so I made me some little Christmas trees in them with some tomato cages and wrapped the cages with garland. It didn’t take long at all to do it.

This project didn’t cost me anything because I already had everything I needed to do it with. The old garlands I have had many years and the lights, oh AND the tomato cages. lol

The tomato cages fit so snug into the urns I didn’t have to attach them in anyway. I was worried about how to attach them because I didn’t want to have to put soil in them. I tried it first and they fit so well I didn’t add any soil to it.

One is fatter than the other one but it’s ok. That piece of garland was fatter than the other one. This is the skinny one without lights. It was raining, cold, AND windy out there today but I got em done!

Now here it is with lights.

Then here is the other one that is fatter.

Both of them together. Sorry the pic is a little blurry. I am going to add some garland around the door with some bows and lights as well but I was too chilled to do that today. With all the rain, wind, and cold, I had to get inside and warm up.

 

 

If you’d like to make you some little Christmas trees you can find all kinds of directions online. Just go to www.google.com and type in how to make tomato cage Christmas trees and you will get lots of directions.

It’s very easy. All I did was turn the cage upside down and tie the wires together that you stick into the soil. That is the top of it. Then I stuck them into my urns and started putting the garland around them. I just used pieces of the garland to wrap around the cage here and there to hold it in place. Then I added the lights. You might need 3 garlands between the two of them though because 1 wasn’t quite enough to get one of them all covered. I had some short pieces that I used to finish it up with. Then I used a strand of 100 clear lights and a 50 strand for each one. I think I might need more lights on them though so you could use 2- 100 strand lights on each tree. It was fun to make and didn’t take but about 15-30 minutes each. I had to transplant a plant that was in one of my urns, so it took me a little longer on one of them.

Happy Thanksgiving Wishes

I wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope each and every one of you get to be with family this year and you truly are blessed indeed.

Nothing like being with family at Thanksgiving and Christmas. So many folks are lonely and have no family. It would be so neat to make them a part of your family this Thanksgiving.

I think of my friend Georgia Keefe at this time of the year every year. She was my online friend. She passed away awhile back and I sure do miss her but she is with her Ben whom she loved so much. She was always emailing me funny stuff and keeping me laughing. She lost her Ben (her hubby) at around Thanksgiving several years ago and she would share with me how she missed him and how lonely she was. She lived in Indiana and how I wish we could have met in person. She was such a sweet lady and I tried my best to encourage her.

At Thanksgiving she wouldn’t have anyone and I asked her to find a lady friend at church and go out to eat on Thanksgiving and go shopping etc. So she did that one year because she said she was going to be alone and I just couldn’t stand the thought of her being alone on Thanksgiving.

So if you know someone like Georgia, you might want to ask them to share in your Thanksgiving and make them a part of your family. I know they will appreciate it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU TO GEORGIA!!!! I KNOWWWWW you are having a much better one than we could ever have on this earth!

Man I can’t close with that like I was going to do! Have you ever thought about having Thanksgiving in Heaven? Now THAT would be Thanksgiving! Could you just imagine the food and how it’s all spread out on the table and how pretty everything is and how God is just chatting with us all and we’re praising Him? A little like the Lords Supper pic we see with the long table and everyone gathered around it and all our friends and family that have gone on? Oh my goodness it’s just going to be awesome spending Thanksgiving with our King and our love ones one day!!! Make sure and thank Him for our blessings and again HAPPY Thanksgiving to you all!

Rose

Thinking About Christmas Decorating

Am wondering how many more folks are thinking about Christmas decorating?

I usually do my decorating after lunch on Thanksgiving day. Well I used to do that but now a days I start some time after that. One year I even started in December with it. I have NEVER waited that long because I was just too excited about getting it done.

My hubby and I bought a Christmas tree a few years ago at Lowes but when we got it home, it was much too big for the space it needed to go in. I should have taken it back then, but didn’t. So I have lived with it ever since. I couldn’t ever put the lower branches on it because it was wayyyyyyyy too big around and it was also so close to the floor there was no space for the presents.

Those branches we weren’t using so last year we took those and cut them to fill in some areas on about 3 rows that were missing branches from day one.

So last year hubby tried to get me to throw the tree away and lets just get another one. You know how it is after Christmas, no extra money. I told him no, I can’t get rid of it until I get a new one. Then this year it hit me, why not cut the inside part of the branches off so it wont be sooo wide.

So when I got the idea I asked hubby would he cut the branches off so we could keep this tree since we’d paid so much for it. It’s a nice full tree and the ones I’ve seen for around 200.00 aren’t as full as this one. So that’s what we’re doing now, cutting them off. He lacks 3 more rows from being done with it. I got a couple shots of him and the tree while he’s working on it. You can’t tell, but he DOES have some glasses on to protect his eyes from the steel.

Hubby loves this cutting tool. It has came in sooooo handy for all kinds of things. I think this is the one that somebody gave to him.

As you can tell, I always color code my rows of branches on the tree. That way we will know what row goes where as we’re putting it together. You can’t see these once the other branches are put on the tree. When we bought it, there was different colors of paint on row but it was so faint I decided to color code it with pipe cleaners.

As you can see the tree is sooo nice and full. I haven’t even messed with the branches to fluff them out or anything. We just stuck them in place to make sure we’re getting shorter as we go up the tree.

Stay tuned for some decorating photos really really soon. I will start that up some time after Thanksgiving hopefully. I’m going to start working on the tree and when that’s finished I will decorate other things n the house so please come back and visit me again soon.

P.S. It just  hit me, Hubby is going to see his brother for a little while so I might just get the garland out of the attic and decorate the banisters outside. I don’t like to do it when it’s cold because I freeze to death trying to get it done. It’s a pretty day for it so I just might go ahead with that today.

Rose

Carving Pumpkins

Or should I say, punkins like my hubby says. ;)

My sister and daughters boyfriend got with us all last night and we all carved some punkins.

You can tell just how serious we are about carving pumpkins because of the faces we are making as we carve. ;)

 

This is my sister carving hers.

Then I HAD to show the one I took after the one above with her grinning from ear to ear.

Then the hubby and Cindy carving theirs. Caught Cindy with her eyes closed on this one.

This is some serious business.

Then her boyfriend Waylon, drawing some art on her Halloween CD cases.

Then the group picture. Notice the windows are open. I had the AC set on 70 and Cindy was hot. ;)

Here’s mine below. I just noticed I didn’t get any of the pix of the others after they got finished. We went outside to take pix and we smelled smoke and we’re under a burn ban so that got me side tracked. Turns out the fire was at his brothers house next door to us. Fire trucks got it put out before it caused any serious threats to any of us.

I think my daughter got some pix of the other pumpkins and I will share those later.

Edited to add: OK I got some pix of the others punkins. ;)

My sisters scarecrow pumpkin.

Cindys witch…

We even baked us a cake for the occasion.

 

Waylon carved one but his was a daytime pumpkin and wouldn’t show up at night.

Fall and Thanksgiving Decorating

 

I am still working on my table. I want to use these dishes so I am trying to work in some of this color into it. I don’t know IF I will be able to make it work but I am trying! ;) This green color (in the plates) is really hard to find in candles and napkins or napkin rings etc.

 

 

I thought about using the green candle in the centerpiece. My plans were to use those brownish napkins stacked up on the other side as well. I’m still playing with it as you can see.

My Retreat on Our Front Porch

I got another idea and I have no idea how long it will take me to get this one done. Hopefully NOT as long as it has our bedroom!

First off, we live pretty far off the main road so this will be nice and private! We never use our front porch. No one ever sits out there except for me and that’s not very often. I have wanted to close it in with glass windows but that doesn’t seem like an option with my hubby. It’s just wasted space and I can’t stand that.

SOOO with that said, I have decided I need a space that is feminine and just for me! I am going to decorate it with pink rose fabrics, really shabby chic but with no chipping paint.  Hoping to find some sheets or whatever at the thrift store to use for this project. I’ve been seeing lots like I am referring to. In fact just yesterday I saw a pillow sham that was white background with small pastel pink roses in it. It was quilted and I didn’t even think to get it. :( It wouldn’t have been but .25 or .50 for the thing. ughhhh

I know I have a couple things I can get started with but I want to get all the wood cleaned and painted. It is all in really bad need of cleaning. As you can see DH’s exercise bike thingie is out here but I will be moving that to the back patio so this will be MY space! ALL MINE! ;)

I also don’t want the swing on here.

I want a hanging bed so I can lay on it and read and just take a nap if I want to. I’d put the bed in front of the windows about where the swing is but the opposite way so it wont get wet or I wont get wet when it’s raining and I’m out there. ;)

I don’t have any shutters on the front porch because I took them down. I  got tired of being stung by wasps!! That’s ALL the shutters are fit for down south, wasps nest areas. lol

A friend of mine gave me the little metal tables. I want to get glass cut for them or put a top on them and use ceramic tiles.

Ignore all the cushions turned up like this. If I don’t do this the cats will sleep on them and I don’t like to sit where they’ve been. So when I do sit out here I turn them back up to keep them off the cushions.

This is a view from the opposite end of the porch. As you can see it’s a really nice size area. I want the hanging bed on the end where the swing is and then on the end where DH’s bike is, I want a small table with 3 chairs I think. Oh by the way, the bike only gets used about once ever 6 months so I’m sure it would be ok to relocate it. :)

I’ve got several beige almost sheer curtain panels I can hang up around the outsides of the porch to soften it up some as well.

I’d LOVE to have some ideas on how to dress it up with accessories. In the pic below I wanted to show how wide the areas are between the windows. I have some metal things like sconces, and a metal planter. I also have several mirrors as well. The areas between the windows and door is 34” and 29” wide. I have a plastic framed mirror that is narrow and long that I think would be neat in between the windows on one end. I’ll need to paint it to match. I think a pastel pink would be neat. With the huge oak out front you wont be able to see it from the road anyway.

The house faces the west by the way.

As you can see I have a wicker lamp that I’m going to paint to match everything. Not sure exactly what color yet though.

I’d like to at least screen the porch in to keep the cats out so I can keep it clean. I figured I would put a piece of clear plastic over the bed when I’m not using it so they can’t get on it. Don’t think they will like the plastic.

I really need to start looking at porch pix online and also I have a few porch books I can get some inspiration from as well.

This should really be fun because I can fix it up just for me and not have to worry about getting too feminine. :) weeeeeeeeeeee

Stay tuned…………. and if ya got some ideas I’d love to hear them.