Sunday, September 26, 2021

Sunny September Weekend Mornings!


Good morning! I just decided, I guess, to be domestic this weekend.  When  I woke up yesterday, I began to bake fall favorites. It seemed like the thing to do because our house really needed that ambiance of Autumn. 


Actually, I think it all started because I finally decided to organize and beautify all my recipes I've downloaded from sites on the internet.  Some are Paleo, some Keto, some just scrumptious. They were just folded and stuffed in a basket but I grabbed a three ring binder, some inserts, and a pretty bunch of coffee themed digital images from My Porch Prints (an artist of digitals on Etsy). I also used some dividers that I made from magazine pages I've been hoarding saving... a lot are from Bella Grace, a gorgeous magazine I won't be getting any more due to its price and an extremely cranky/rude salesgirl. 





I made and froze two huge loaves of pumpkin/pecan bread, using a recipe from my Planner Perfect group leader, Jenny Penton.
You can find it and some other information about the group here. 


And no fall baking would be complete without my grandmother Iona's apple cake.  I just can't believe how much I love this recipe.  It can't be replicated with any box or combo, and outside of the time spent loving slicing apples, it is sooooo easy and quick. I'm putting the recipe for it and the sauces below ---- again. I know. I share it constantly! We froze a little over half of it also....  I have no willpower, and it's too moist to keep very long.


Saturday morning was coated with thick layers of beautiful fog.  My kitty seemed mesmerized, as if she decided to search through it for familiar ground.  She wasn't particularly distraught, just kind of pensive and wide-eyed in wonder at the overall grayness of her beautiful back yard.




I prepped the eggs for my son's adventures in egg pickling.  This batch is jalapeno Worchestershire!   I dunno...  They are swimming in hot pepper flakes, jalapeno, and murky Worchestershire tinted brine for one week before we allow ourselves a taste. He will no doubt like them....  I am partial to plain boiled eggs actually, so two of the ones intended for the experiment did not make it to the jar.



Not sure how, but I have even less counter space than I did before the remodel.  It doesn't help to have ten billion different gadgets and contraptions.  I think I should go back to a firepit only and a pot and spoon..  Lol...  Stay tuned, but you won't be seeing that happen any time soon.  



Today we are having spaghetti squash with Chicken Parmesan sauce...  I have fallen in love with this squash after I learned to roast it rather than boil, as I tried to do for years.  I just sprinkle salt and pepper and garlic salt on the cleaned out squashes, spray heavily with olive oil spray or coat with olive oil by hand. I turn them upside down in a sprayed tray and bake 40  minutes at 400 degrees. Then whenever it's time to eat, make the sauce...  just a marinara sauce with lots of grated Parm and chicken pieces and serve over the shreds of goodness...  I'm getting hungry.




Have a lovely week. Stay safe and be happy.

Sunday, September 19, 2021

Warm September....

While the general feel of Autumn is in the air,  these hot days don't really agree.  All I can say is,  "What would I do without our AC?" I am totally,  100 percent spoiled.  


So,  what's on everyone's agenda for the last part of this gorgeous month?  I'm really enjoying the Autumn ambience everywhere here... I have a few projects lined up... 

Tea-dyeing and coffee-dyeing Day! I've been watching tutorials,  and I'm ready to see what this endeavor brings.  It sounds like quite the process... I'm in the collecting/staging/self- talk stage... When I'm all done, we'll have delicious looking paper and lace and ephemera.  


Monday (tomorrow)  a group of friends and I will be starting a Bible Study Zoom event centered on the Gospel of Matthew. We call ourselves The Baby Zoomers... lol. We've done a few studies in the past year and a half... Ah, modern technology!  I use my Kindle Fire... it's the only thing I use it for because I really think something about it contributes to my acute bouts of Vertigo...  


My cousin is a Pink Zebra dealer,  so I supported her business with this cute wax warmer and some yummy Pumpkin Cupcake crystals.  Oh, my! 

Talk soon!  👄 

Monday, September 13, 2021

My favorite video on YouTube

If you ask me, everyone should love life like this little dog named Morty! I watch this multiple times a day sometimes... It makes my heart happy...




Whimsy and Hugs!

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

No labor.

Wow. I took the day off. Hope your holidays were fun. We watched TV ate salads for lunch, polished off the brownies, and tried what I called Fauxziti. (Wouldn't that be a great word for the triple word space?!)...

I cubed 3 zucchinis into Ziti-sized bites and layered with parm, sauce, that Little Caesar dip, and browned hamburger... covered it with some mozarella and baked 40 minutes... It was good... meaty... different... 

I watched Season 1--' three episodes of Spark Joy... it's Marie Condo again from "The Life Giving Magic of Tidying Up"... it caused me to clean out my candle drawer... lol... and contemplate rolling up my clothes... Then I watched all 6 episodes of season 1 The Chair with Sandra O. I couldn't recommend it, but I wanted to watch it all ...due to my allegiance to my past.. it concerns an English Professor and Department! 

So... If I can pry myself out of this recliner, I'm calling it quits... My son had a great day with his friends... all via the magic of the internet.

Planning my September stuff!

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Happy 40th!

We had a great day!.
I woke up early and fixed all the little Caesar's copycat recipes... 
I tried the gluten free brownies... unfortunately they have sugar so they aren't keto... 


These turned out ok... I had some whipped cream in a can and that helps! 
I thought this was great...

I made macaroni salad with GF Mac and all the other ingredients.
and I made the crazy bread and then the garlic dip for vegies

I couldn't get the wings so we had Little Caesar's wing sauce smothered on chicken strips. I think the air fryer would have been fun for these... but they worked great!

All.in all with the gifts and some fun TV, my son said he had a good day... Thanks for reading and commenting! I always love to hear from you! 





Friday, September 3, 2021

Happy Labor Day

Whimsy and Hugs! It is time to visit two last rooms... the ladies room and my studio. I have decided to stop rearranging and feeling the chaos in this Studio...  It seems impossible to create Junk Journals without JUNK! lol... I think that's a universal issue with the papercraft bunch... 
Here's my stash!










You just have to let this sink in... This is an AFTER  look at this room... lol...  I luckily took no photos before. Probably because I couldn't find my phone/camera after I got in there...

So, finally we come to the ladies room...  No doubt nobody except me will see this room...  but I see it pretty often, actually. lol...








I think my son is off work today. He enjoys his job right now so much he really might work anyway.  I used to be like that with school. It is a dangerously wonderful thing to do...  These days the ties with work are so easily whacked in half...  Isn't is odd how we never stop trying to protect our children from the things that have broken our hearts?  I mean, really...  those things were simply life, with all its beauty and terror and anger and love. I wouldn't want to protect anyone from experiencing this wonderful, chaotic, sad, and ecstatic creation, but I really believe that old proverb that says a woman is only as happy as her saddest child. 

Labor Day is the garden gate between Summer and Autumn, I think. With my own life, Labor Day brought me my greatest gift, my little boy! Have a great one, and stay safe!




Thursday, September 2, 2021

Welcome!

Well, that's all the tea I can drink! But I do have lots of tea and coffee tucked just about everywhere.  The kitchen is always the coziest! 


Halloween cards ready to send!



I have been gluing up a storm lately!


I painted this little witch a few years ago. She is looking at the moon! If not...
 I have been told she looks like she has a cow snout!!!!! Oh dear!


Imagine a white pumpkin wax warmer here. Mine arrived cracked so I have to wait!







And then it's off to my bedroom... time for a nap?











so.... see you tomorrow for a little trip to the ladies' room and my Studio...