blue canning jars

All photos taken by Ashley.

my 100th post and the poor cookies

Yay! This is my one hundredth post! Now on to the poor cookies...

They were found this morning, at the scene of the crime. Their noses had been eaten, and they had been stabbed with a Phillips head screwdriver.

Their fellow reindeer looked on, unharmed.

The perpetrator 'fesses up.

A Blog Award!

Clare at I Have Loved the Rain passed this award along to me. Thanks Clare!

The concept behind the award being that the blog creators have shown an uncanny knack for seeing silver linings and making the best of bad situations (i.e., lemonade from lemons).
Now I am going to pass this along to a few more bloggers...

my Mom

and

simply

interesting...

I saw this blog readability test and thought I would try it and see what happened. Well, I guess you need to be a genius to read my blog. :)

updated to add: the link. Sorry about that Andi!

mandarins+leaves+light

Chocolate Cake

I made the Pioneer Woman's Best Ever Chocolate Sheet Cake earlier. This cake is beyond description. It's so good. Go make it for yourself. And you will find out. Trust me. Go make it. Now.



Okay, so you don't have to make it now, or ever, I just thought you might like it. Because it's so good. And because the cake + frosting contains almost one pound of butter.

Christmas Ornaments

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

our Christmas tree decorated with white lights, wooden cranberry garland, cardinal birds, and soon to come... popcorn chains and ornaments!

This picture doesn't do our tree justice. The blurriness bugs me!!! Ah! Anyways, some of us wanted to just leave it the way it was, (it is beautiful!) but the twins wanted ornaments. So I better go help decorate!

a sweet surprise

Caroline at Standing in the Sunlight hosted a giveaway, and I won! The package was supposed to arrive tomorrow. But what a sweet surprise when I opened the mailbox yesterday... and there was a package for me!

I loved the charming little sticker she closed the wrapping with.

And the lovely note card. How did you know I love birds?!

The bag is so sweet Caroline! I love it!!!

wild mushrooms

a sweet Etsy find

or, something I might like for Christmas *smiles*

8x10 art print ~ from mincingmockingbird

to answer the question

How did I like the movie Prince Caspian?

I liked it quite a bit. It wasn't my favorite, but I would watch it again (if only to look at Susan's costumes :-) hehe).

Prince Caspian is a bit dorky. But that just makes for laughter.

So, does that answer the question well enough to suit y'all?

Emmy, I know you will be disappointed that I'm not raving about it. But you probably expected my answer. :-)

hello!

Since I've been away, I have:

gone to my first choir performance

taken engagement photos for a sweet couple

primed my room, with some help

watched WALL E

bought some more paint

went to a birthday party

watched Prince Caspian at the party

went to church

made brownies

went to Sunday night bible study

primed my ceiling again

meet Handsome and Sweetie

These are our Livestock Guardian Dogs, Handsome (the male) and Sweetie (the female). They are Great Pyrenees/Anatolian crosses. They are huge, wonderful dogs! They live with and guard our goats.

They also guard the baby.

Making Paper Chains

Perhaps the simplest of all Christmas crafts. Paper chains. Today the boys and I made lots of them. Although most of you probably know how to, I decided it would be fun to make a little tutorial of how to make them.

Cut a piece of construction paper in half. And yes, that is a baby foot and hand in the corner.

Fold one of the pieces in half. Crease.

Cut on fold. Yes, that would be the baby again. Why is his suit un-snapped?

Take a picture of your cute little brother.

Fold the cut piece in half. Crease.

Cut on fold.

Now you have strips of paper.

Glue (the messiest and prettiest way), tape, or staple (the easiest way, but you can see the staples) the strips together,

until the chain is as long as you want it.

a baking kind of day

We didn't have everything I needed to primer my room, so that got put off till tomorrow.
But I did bake two things today. The first is...

Frosted Pan Hermits
from Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters

For Hermits:
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup raisins (I used Cranraisins)
1 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

For Frosting:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons butter (about 1/2 a tablespoon)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 teaspoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with foil, shiny side up. Grease the foil with butter or vegetable spray.
To make the hermits: sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Cream butter and brown sugar in electric mixer. Add the egg. Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons flour with nuts and dried fruit and fold into batter. Pour into pan and spread evenly. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester inserted in middle comes out clean.
To make frosting: sift powdered sugar and salt into a bowl. Add butter and whisk until combined. Add vanilla and milk. Whisk. Pour frosting onto warm hermits and spread. Allow to set. When completely cool, cut into squares and eat!

Next I mixed up this yummy Chocolate Cake. It's in the oven now, and smells oh. so. good. And let me tell ya, the batter is delicious.

Have you been baking anything recently? What do bake during Christmas time? I would love to know! Leave a comment, even if you don't bake. I love hearing from my readers!

a wee little swordsman

Good morning! Can you believe it? It's December 2!!!! Only 23 more days till Christmas! I have so much to make, and do, and decide. Today I am going to start priming my room. I want to get at least one wall done.
Last night Bryan and Rachel came over. I made Chocolate Sheet Cake. It is the best!!! (I will link to the recipe later.)

Vintage

Aren't these patterns cute? I love this one!

These women look so tall and thin. :-)

I love this one too!