Happy Homemaker Monday

 Happy Monday Folks!

We had a busy weekend and you can probably guess the culprit. If you said HOCKEY you're correct!! Lol  My son is a freshman and made the JV team and had some scrimmages on Saturday. And we were out-of-town yesterday for my daughter's hockey games. There was a big gap between my daughter's first and second games so we got a nice lunch in with other team parents. And then we did a bit of shopping too! So made a fun day of it too. Now on to this busy week ahead!

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Pretty gray and yucky. Rainy and in the upper 40's. However, I can't complain. Yesterday where we were for hockey it was beautiful! It was sunny and mid 60's! Unbelievable for November around our area (we were about 2 hours away). Looks like it will get cooler as the week goes on and we have another chance of snow on Friday.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Some peanut butter and honey toast. Coffee with peppermint mocha creamer.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Watching the light rain fall outside.  Thinking about what is ahead for the week as I look at the gloomy gray and try to find my motivation. Lol

RIGHT NOW I AM:

My Mom still has her extra bible study class on some Mondays so I have my MIL for almost the whole day today. She's snuggling Ruby and we're watching Price is Right which she seems to actually be somewhat engaged with this AM. We laugh at some of the contestants and visit in between.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Laundry catch up, but overall still pretty tidy from the weekend - just some light cleaning and picking up.

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Plan to do some house chores. Make lunch for us later. Need to work on cleaning out some closet areas as we will be getting new carpet throughout most of the house this week! We'll be moving furniture from room to room depending which on they're carpeting that day. But several closets have storage things we'll need to move to get up out of the way so they can carpet them.  My MIL has a medical appointment one day this week I'll be bringing her to and my son has an appointment a different day this week too. Going to be a busy crazy sort of topsy turvy week - but nice to get things done before the holidays. I think maybe later I'll take my MIL and run some errands just to get out of the house and get some exercise for us both. May go look at some things I'd like to check out at the mall and can walk around there a bit since it's so rainy outside.

CURRENTLY READING:

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

ON THE TV TODAY:

Still need to catch up on the Good Wife and have some cooking shows taped. I think I have some Hallmark movies taped too.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: Leftovers from the weekend

TUESDAY: homemade pizza and autumn salad, pear bars for dessert

WEDNESDAY: breakfast for dinner - cheesy veggie egg scramble with polish sausage on the side and english muffins 

THURSDAY: salisbury steak, slow cooker mashed potatoes and homemade gravy, veggie side dish 

FRIDAY: leftovers, order in, or something else easy

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Not much change here - scrapbooking. Potential cross stitch Christmas project.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

If I make the mashed potatoes in the slow cooker - that will be a new way for me. Also, the salisury steak would be a different recipe.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

We have a decorative bowl on our island counter and I often try to keep bananas, apples, or our nature snacks (all natural) in it so we all try to chose a healthier option when the munchies hit. It's there and it's convenient!

FROM THE CAMERA:

Photos from this weekend - 

My daughter in white (#16) taking a shot on net!

Coach Dad (my hubby) next to some of the players during the game - including my Girl #16!

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:


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

Thanksgiving Page & Thankful Letter

Happy Weekend! 

Today I wanted to share this Thanksgiving scrapbook page I finished recently.  As you can see it has a lot of the fun traditional Thanksgiving goodies on it.

There's a "thankful" title, turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry, and even pumpkin pie! Lol Love the dimensional Jolee stickers!!  I used this pretty Fall looking floral background scrapbook paper. I then used my circle cutters to cut out different shaped circles and even some of the rings left from cutting out the circles...like the layering it gives.

I'm not sure what photo I want to "officially" use yet on this page for when I use it in my album. But I put this older photo of my son and daughter had taken in the Autumn years ago. I had used it in my Christmas card that year (probably 5 years ago now already!) But you can see below it I  added a unique touch as well it the envelope.

I liked the idea of using this envelope and cardstock "letter" that could be used to write thankful thoughts and other memory journaling. Or I think it would be really neat to have everyone in the family write something they're thankful for on it and it would be a great keepsake too. So I cut cardstock to fit the envelope and then embellished with a Fall leaf sticker. Then I used ribbon to easily open and close it. 

I think a project like this would be equally lovely framed and used that way and not in a scrapbook. It could be put in a frame that could sit on the table (or hang on the wall) and could be used each Thanksgiving. Just put a new piece of cardstock to write what everyone is thankful for each year. It would be fun to pull it out each year and look back at what was written down the previous year.  Wouldn't that be a lovely yearly tradition?

I just wanted to end this post by saying how thankful I am for you, my wonderful blogland friends! Your comments on my post yesterday blew me away. When I have time later I will be commenting individually, but I just need to say how much it meant to me that you would share such supportive comforting words and thoughts with me. Several even shared your own experiences with Alzheimer's disease...and your reassurance in letting me know our family is far from alone going through something like this meant so much to me! I send you all warm hugs, and again deepest thanks. You moved me deeply.  

I'm linking with Andrea from Scrapality for Scraptastic Saturday.

Five on Friday: Alzheimer's Facts

Happy Friday Friends! 

As many of you that visit here often know, I'm a caregiver for my Mother-in-law with Alzheimer's disease. My family and friends mean everything to me, and my in-law's are no exception. My MIL has been one of my best friends for many years and was there for me many times throughout my life (I've known here since I was a teenager). She is not herself anymore, but I feel blessed that I'm now able to be there for her at this time of her life. I pray that medical folks are truly on the verge of finding a cure for this awful disease! I thought I would share some facts about it with you today.

ONE

*Almost 2/3 of those with the disease are women.

TWO

*It's the only cause of death, out of the top 10 in the U.S., that can not be prevented or cured.

THREE

*Every 67 seconds in the U.S. someone develops the disease.

FOUR

*It's the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S., and 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer's or dementia.

FIVE

*More than 60% of caregivers rate the emotional stress of caring for their loved one as high or very high.

This information is found at www.alz.org  I'm linking with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello Friends! Sorry I'm late posting a recipe today, but it was one of those fun busy kind of days. Once I got my daughter off to school I went and had wonderfully fun day with my Mom. We ran errands, went out for lunch and even accomplished some Christmas shopping! While out shopping it started to snow big wet flakes and looked so pretty. Then it was time to grab kids from school and make an early dinner as my hubby had some sports tonight. But I'm finally here to share this excellent recipe with you!  This wonderfully chilly snowy day was the perfect kind of day for baking too! And these amazing chewy and chocolatey oatmeal cookies do the trick beautifully!

Chocolate chip cookies are awesome and have their place as probably the best all time cookie. But sometimes it's nice to shake it up and add some texture and oatmeal does that so well! I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, by panthera, and it is the best oatmeal chocolate chip recipe I've ever made. Many times oatmeal cookies can get too crispy - these cookies are just right...not crispy, but perfectly chewy and the perfect balance of chocolate and oatmeal. SO GOOD!! I forgot to grab pics of the making them process, but here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

 

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

The only thing I changed is that I didn't add walnuts (my kiddos don't like nuts in their cookies) and so I added a few more chocolate chips. 

 I can't stress enough how good they were, but I'll just say do yourself a favor and go make them today!! 

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.