Wednesday Wonder & Blogaversary Announcement!

WINTER IS IN THE AIR

Hello Blogland Friends! As you can see the bay is empty of leaves now. Lots of bare branches everywhere. The temps have been dropping now (especially at night) and they're calling for the first snowfall in my immediate area this Friday. So mornings have felt especially cozy and I often light my candles while I have my coffee.  

But I wanted to share that today is also my One year Blogaversary!! Yay!! I can't believe it's been a year already. It went speeding by! I have done 290 posts already. Truly boggles my mind, but it also brings tears of joy to my eyes as I have made such wonderful friends here in my blogging world. I hope you all know how precious you are to me, and how much it means that you take the time to visit or leave a comment. You feel like another family to me - and you're extra special as you're all mine! I don't even need to share. Lol  You've made my days many times - especially when I've had some rough days caregiving for my MIL or other. Please know how much I love and appreciate you all!  

So to go along with that I'd like to share that I'm planning a giveaway as a thank you! I'm still working out the details of what I'm going to do and I plan on having it all set by next week. So stay tuned and please come visit next week (probably Tuesday) so you can enter for a chance to win as I'd love to show my gratitude in this way. Blessings to you all. XO

Thankful Project

Just popping in to say I've been having fun working on a "Thankful Project" and I will be sharing it soon! Plus, I have a fun announcement to make tomorrow so come visit again then! In the meantime happy Tuesday!! 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and Happy Monday!

It was a busy sports weekend for us. My daughter finished up her volleyball on Saturday (they took 4th place - had 3rd in their grasp, but it wasn't to be). Lol Then a full day of hockey yesterday (2 games for each kiddo). Such is life here in the northwoods sometimes. I have a sports family so I roll with it! However, Friday my hubby and I did get out for a date night. We saw the new James Bond movie Spectre and had a nice dinner. It was wonderful! And so nice to catch up a bit and unwind with no kiddos. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are recharged to start the week ahead.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Sunny and a little chilly this AM (40's) but they're saying we'll hit the 50's. It's been wonderful to have some sunshine the past couple of days, after what felt like endless gray days. Although, they are predicting some snow (yes I said it) for Friday...but that it won't last. Temps will continue to be milder than normal and I'll take it!!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Whole wheat toast with some butter and strawberry jam. Pumpkin spice coffee with natural bliss sweet cream creamer.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Watching the garbage truck come take the garbage & recycling at the end of the driveway. God bless the folks who do the work of keeping our beautiful planet. Watching a few stray leaves swirl in the breeze now and then. They are pretty much all but gone off of the trees. I truly feel the shift to the next season.  Across our bay, last night, there was even a home all lit up with Christmas lights already. Seems to be the trend for this earlier and earlier every year. I love the music, but just can't get into the decorating part until after Thanksgiving. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Watching the morning news as I type this and Ruby snuggles by me. Sipping the last of my coffee.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

The usual laundry. Also, I'll be creating more dishes to load as I do some cooking and baking for the in-law's today.

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

I'll have my MIL here soon. I'm going to do some cooking and baking (as I mentioned), maybe we can go for a walk, we'll watch some favorite cooking shows I tape that my MIL likes to watch too. Also, probably do some more coloring and maybe some puzzles as we visit and listen to holiday music. I also want to catch up to comment with all of you - my lovely friends- that leave me comments. It's difficult when my MIL is here, but hoping tonight to catch up on my blog a bit. I need to add more of my latest posts to my recipe and craft tabs too. Life has felt so busy - especially on weekends when I usually have more time to spend. I know it's going to get crazier closer to holidays - but I'll keep up best I can as I LOVE my blog time!

CURRENTLY READING:

Still re-reading my Anne of Green Gables later books and loving them! 

ON THE TV TODAY:

WAtched the Good Wife and caught up on more of the Voice. Have cooking shows taped yet, finish up Greys Anatomy, and some holiday hallmark movies.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: I never did make the baked steak last week- I actually picked up stuffed pork cutlets so making those. Plus, scalloped potatoes, green beans and turtle brownies for dessert.

TUESDAY: cheese ravioli, garlic toast and salad

WEDNESDAY: not sure about the rest of the menu from here as I'll need to go grocery shopping and haven't made my list yet. Thinking maybe a new recipe like a ham & cheese casserole I printed off, or goulash from the show the Chew recently that looked SO good (more like a beef stew). Also, been hungry for chicken and dumplings - so stay tuned I guess. Lol! Plus, thinking I'll pick up stuff to finally make those spiced pear bars and will share when I do.

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

The usual crafts I've been mentioning: cross stitch, gift scrapbook (helping my Mom) and some cards I'd like to create. Gathered more things lately for my kiddos' school years scrapbooks too.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Maybe the goulash or the ham & cheese casserole I mentioned above. Also, I made some really delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies last week (as a favor to my Mom) and they were so perfectly chewy and yummy. I LOVE this recipe and I'll plan to share those with you this week.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I have 2 sets of measuring spoons and I find this SO handy when I'm cooking and baking. A clean set is then always available - and I use them both in a day often!

FROM THE CAMERA:

a recent fun walk with my MIL - being a goofball ;)  see no leaves on the trees (boo)

A view from my office/craft room window where I often work on my blog.

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Five on Friday: Projects

In my northwoods we're coming to the season of cold, frost, snow etc. And even though they're predicting a warmer winter overall for us this year, I know there will still be plenty of icy and below zero temps kinds of days. So I often think of this as hibernation season. The time of year when you want to be curled up indoors working on crafts or other fun projects while the wind howls outside.  

So today I thought I'd share some of the hibernation projects I plan to be working on through the holidays and beyond. When the snow is swirling I'll be getting my creative juices flowing!

ONE

Of course right out of the gate would be decorating for the upcoming holidays. For me that means Thanksgiving (which is mere weeks away) and Christmas.  I've put away most of my Halloween type decorations and have started to put up my Thanksgiving goodies - like this new turkey artwork pictured above. I've also been accumulating ideas -like this Christmas yarn pom pom garland in the photo below. I think Annie and I will have such a fun time working on something like that together!

TWO

I'm finally going to complete this family recipe scrapbook album I've been working on, with a bunch of our special family favorite tried and true recipes. I plan to give it to my daughter in the future when she's off and on her own. She's been showing an interest in cooking and baking more and more as she ages. I figure it will be a nice way for her to always have and keep the flavors this home one day when she's in her own home.  I've put the pages I've been completing into the album and covering them with page protectors. Pretty important to have those on cookbook pages, don't you think?  Especially if you're a new cook! Lol

THREE

I plan to finish getting all caught up in my kiddos' school years albums. I have a lot of catching up to do in my own family scrapbooks (I often feel I'll never get those done! Lol), but both of my kiddo's albums aren't too bad and I should be able to get them done. I love the poem my son wrote about hockey (a sport he loves playing so much) for an English class.

FOUR

Along with scrapbooking is my love of paper crafting in general. I plan to make more tags, cards and other paper craft goodies. Maybe even more scrapbook jewelry I haven't done in a while. 

FIVE

I also plan to get more needlework time in during this long winter. My daughter and I have taken turns working on the "Girls Rule" sign for her room and that will get finished first! But I've accumulated some other cross stitch and embroidery I plan to give a go to over this season ahead. I have very limited embroidery experience, but I'm most excited about taking on that new challenge! 

 In this long winter season ahead do you have some fun projects lined up for yourself?  I'm linking up with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

 

Autumn Salad & Honey Dijon Dressing

I used to always think of salad as mainly a side dish to my meal. But I've come to love and see salad as a wonderful meal anytime of the year! What I love is that the ingredients can be so versatile. Just use whatever flavors you prefer, and it's especially fun to play with what's seasonal for fruit or veggies. 

The other night we had salad as a family as our meal for the evening. Everybody could have whichever fruits or veggies they liked best and wanted to add. I didn't take pics of the individual ingredients, but here's the salad I made for myself and here's the ingredients I provided:

I started with a base of romaine lettuce (my favorite of choice for salad), shredded carrot and broccoli for everybody - as we all like those. Then we all added what we wanted from these other ingredients (I chose them all!): 

*shredded rotisserie chicken 

*apple and pear chunks 

*dried cranberry, 

*shredded cheddar cheese, 

*sunflower seeds,

 *asiago cheese croutons  

But the biggest hit was the honey dijon dressing! I forgot to take pics of the process - but here's the empty bowl to let you know it was used up by all 4 of us and my son wanted more! Lol  

EASY HONEY DIJON DRESSING

1/2 c. olive oil  

1/3 c. honey  

2 Tbsp lemon juice  

1 Tbsp mayo  

2 Tbsp dijon mustard

 Whisk everything together until well blended. Re-mix before serving if needed.

It was a filling and satisfying meal and had the yummy flavors of Fall! 

Wednesday Wonder

A View Through My Window

Halloween Wrap Up & Recipes

Good Morning!! 

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a great Halloween weekend and really had fun getting into the food and decorations for the party we hosted this year!  

Outside it was drizzly and gray, but it didn't get too cold which helped. We put out several fun decorations added to what I shared last week - including several skeletons, a big skeleton ghost and giant spider and web! Here's some photos of outdoors and the trick or treaters ready to head out:

This flying skeleton ghost was really big - and creepy! It was positioned right above where trick or treaters would walk to our front door.

if you look closely you'll see another ghostie hanging there and my pumpkin on our stone address sign

a rainy view through the looking glass (our side door window)

a creepy spider made a web right over our kitchen window!

some of the crazy crew ready to head out for treats (that's my wild BIL in the big foot costume - Lol)

heading into the night seeking out treats and hopefully few tricks (I sent many grown-ups with to-go cups of hot cider or other warming drinks of choice - wink wink) I stayed behind to man the candy hand-out at our place

Inside though, I kept things nice and warm and cozy. Cider was simmering away with some cinnamon sticks and cloves. The grown ups got mugs filled with a little butterscotch schnapps, hot cider, whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkle. Makes a great hot caramel apple cider!  For the kiddos the night before Annie and I made up an army of mummy drink boxes using adhesive bandages and cutting out eyes from my scrapbook cardstock:

Just take off the straws before you wrap them up and put them to the side. Then keep the spot with the hole for the straw on top open.  The kiddos loved them!

For those grown ups that wanted a cold adult beverage I made up a pitcher of caramel apple sangria. I took a bottle of chardonnay (or take any lighter white wine), added a cup of vanilla vodka (add caramel vodka if you can find it) - I couldn't find caramel vodka so I added the vanilla, but then I also added a bit of the butterscotch schnapps. Then add 6 cups of apple cider and I added a bunch of chopped honeycrisp apples. I let it chill all day before the party. To serve I rimmed cups with cinnamon/sugar mixture using more cider to make it stick and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

I forgot to a get a photo of the dip - but I made up 2 trays of chopped honey crisp apples and topped them with gummy worms. A great trick I mentioned in another post is to toss your apples in some pineapple juice after you cut them in slices. It doesn't affect the taste and they will not turn brown! For toffee caramel dip - take an 8 oz. cream cheese and 8 oz. of cool whip and beat together. Then mix in a little but of butterscotch caramel ice cream topping (about a Tbsp or 2). Then spread into a dish and take a knife or spoon and drizzle more of the butterscotch caramel over the top in a crazy pattern. Top with a sprinkling of toffee chips and chill until ready for your party!

I made up a meat and cheese tray to go with crackers and topped it with plastic spiders and some cheese "leaves" I cut out with my cookie cutters.

I also made up a veggie tray infested with spiders to go with dill and ranch dip.

Then Annie and I made some gross severed finger cupcakes (my girlie went ghoulish all the way this year!). I doctored up boxed mix cupcakes by using 1 box golden vanilla cake mix, 1 box of vanilla instant pudding mix, 1 cup of oil, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 cup of sour cream, 4 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix all together to make a thick batter and fill cups 2/3 full. They are so moist!! Then I made homemade chocolate buttercream by beating 6 tbsp of butter. Then add 2 & 2/3 cup of powdered sugar and 1/2 cup of baking cocoa alternating with 4-6 tbsp of milk beating until it's the right consistency - then stir in 1 tsp of vanilla. It's SO yummy! Then Annie topped her cupcakes with candy severed fingers and cleavers and red gel for "blood". So gross looking - but so tasty!! 

Earlier in the day we also went to visit some of the grandparents - including my Father & Mother -in-law. They have that awesome old historical home made from cement bricks that is a perfect Halloween house, as it's kind of gothic looking anyway! They always deck out their porch with lots of fun creepy things.

A fun Halloween was had by all - and everyone survived with few tricks and lots of treats! Hope this gives you some fun ideas for your own celebration next year! 

I'm linking with Brenda from Cozy Little House for Tweak it Tuesday.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday my Friends!

It was such a fun Halloween holiday weekend over here. Hope you had a hauntingly wonderful weekend too! ;)  We had a lot of fun at our annual Halloween party. Many neighbors, friends, and family came over. The drizzly rainy night didn't even stop the kiddos from trick-or-treating, but just added to the perfect ambiance of the night. We had several friends stay later we ordered pizzas and we played games into the night. Then yesterday was a nice recovery day - cleaning up and then relaxing and watching the Packers last night (sadly they lost their first game -boo!). Now on to the week ahead as we begin this wonderfully thankful month of November.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Kind of gray right now, but it's supposed to clear up a bit and may hit 60* today - unseasonably warm for my neck of the woods! The week ahead looks mild in general, and maybe more rain by the end of it.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Toast with a little peanut butter, banana and honey with some banana. French toast flavored coffee and natural bliss vanilla creamer.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Looking at the brightness of the last shrubs holding some color on the side of my house. Everything else is pretty bare and it's gray skies. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Watching the Today show with my MIL. My Mom had a special bible study class this morning, so I have my MIL for most of the day today. She's snuggling Ruby as we visit, watch the show and I type this. 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

House is really nice and clean. We had shampooed the carpets last week, scrubbed the floors, cleaned every nook and cranny and washed all the windows etc. That's a wonderful thing about having a party - it motivates a super clean up! We even actually caught up on all the laundry!! (if you can believe it) So it feels great to know that the house work will be light this week.

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

My hubby took down the Halloween stuff outside yesterday. We had a lot of fun decking things out - and I'll share an after Halloween post tomorrow with some details and recipes! I still have a few Halloween things up in the house and thought I could have my MIL help me take them down and get out my bin with the rest of the Fall decorations I have that are more Thanksgiving related. If it gets nicer out like they're saying - we'll take Ruby for a nice walk today too. Maybe do some coloring and work on some puzzles together. Then I'll cook up some dinner to bring home for her and my FIL when I drop her off at the end of the day. I'll then grab my daughter from school and zip over to her doctor check up. Nice busy day.

CURRENTLY READING:

I'm reading Anne of Windy Poplars right now.  I had all of the Anne of Green Gables book series when I was young, and I want to have the set for my daughter to read one day. I felt in the mood to re-read some of the later books, so I bought some of them recently. I also recently picked up some of the Avonlea video series because the Fall and upcoming holidays gets me in the mood for all things Avonlea.

ON THE TV TODAY:

Already watched my Good Wife - can't get enough of that! I also watched the Great British Bake Off show that I have never caught - but finally watched and loved!! We still have some amazing race and shark tank to catch up on, as well as some of my cooking shows I tape.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: tacos

TUESDAY: leftovers (tacos are always good for 2 nights)

WEDNESDAY: very busy night with sports and religious educ - so something easy like sandwiches and soup.

THURSDAY: baked stuffed steak, au gratin potatoes, salad

FRIDAY: maybe a date night out with my hubby if I can swing something!

* going to bake some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for my Mom - as she owes a friend some goodies and asked me to bake them for her. Lol (she's not as much of a baker). Also, might bake up pear bars that I love making in the Fall. They have a creamy layer topped with cinnamon spiced pears and all on a macadamia nut crust. So good! 

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

I actually just picked up a small cross stitch project I may do for the holidays. Also, I think this week I will hopefully be able to help my Mom finish up her scrapbook gift project. Will share photos when we do!

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Nothing really new - however I did make an autumn salad a week or so ago I never shared (with homemade honey dijon dressing) that I will probably share this week.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I had read about cutting aluminum foil with your scissors to sharpen them. My daughter tried that this weekend and it worked great!!

FROM THE CAMERA:

Some preview of my post tomorrow (details from our Halloween party)

Annie's drink box mummy army (bandage wrapped drink boxes)

apples and worms - served with my toffee caramel dip I'll share tomorrow

Annie was a prom queen corpse (my little Girl is growing up and wanted to go ghoulish this year)

Aaron was a crazed prison pig - didn't trick-or-treat but got into the fun for a while

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.