Been Gone Too Long

I just noticed that I haven't been on here and posted anything since December! Lordy!!  I need to snap out of it and get with it! LOL  The holidays just wore me out.  I'm not a huge fan of Christmas.  Too many sad memories, parents are gone, family's not close, yadda yadda yadda.  I put on a big, brave face for my children and husband but the day after it is over, I am over it!  The decorations go back up in the attic and everything gets a nice, shiny cleaning and I move on!  Now Valentines Day is around the corner.  I will be moseyin' up in the attic again this weekend and pull down some of the heartsy and lovely decorations for that! Valentines Day is so sweet!  The decorations are all pretty and girly...it incorporates candy (that can't be bad, can it?) and it only lasts one day!  I think that is why I love Halloween so much!

I'll get myself in gear and get some things worthy to post on here.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

Christmas Decorations Going Up!

So, finally my Christmas decorations are going up.  I have been very slow this year in decorating. 

We always put everything (inside and outside) up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  This year, we

DID get the outside lights up.

My son begged to put the Christmas tree up by himself.  He got as far as helping assemble the prelit tree and hung 2 ornaments and fizzled out!!  Ahh...the joys of pre-teens!

How's decorations coming out at your house?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wanted to tell everyone to have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving holiday! We decided to break out of the usual routine and host our dinner on Friday night. That way my children/grandchildren can have plenty of time to jump from household to household on Thursday and spend the whole day with me on Friday! ha ha!!! There is a method to my madness! :) If it works out, it will become a permanent plan idea.

Take a lookie at my recent Craig's List purchase! I've been needing a kitchen island and wanting one for so long!  With the holidays coming, I need more counter space!  This little baby is fitted with two deep shelves, which you can see I've already filled with items that used to sit up on top of the cabinets.  I had to use a chair to reach them!  No more of that! :)  It also has two drawers, one on each side, and the end flips up to make an even bigger surface to work on!  And the best part?  $40!  Yea, me!!!

If you haven't used Craig's List in your area, you should definately check it out. I must admit I'd been searching 3 months for this item and found plenty but most I couldn't afford or were sold by the time I called or emailed.  So patience is a virtue with Craig's List!


Anyway...everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy time with your loved ones.  I am so thankful for all of you who read my mindless ramblings! 

Dollar Tree Crafting for Your Thanksgiving Table!

We no more than finished with Halloween and now it's time to decorate for Thanksgiving!  Yea!  Changing from one season to another with decor can be expensive...but it doesn't have to be!  If you have a Dollar Tree in your area, they can be a great place to start for decorating.  We have all seen blog after blog filled with wonderful Dollar Tree creations!

I was so inspired by these that I created my own table centerpiece with many items from Dollar Tree!

The glass vase was $1.00.  The leaves were $1.00.  The gourds and pumpkins were $1.00.

I spent $1.00 on a flameless candle.  I already had batteries (AA) for it and a bag of

spanish moss to fill inside the vase to lift up the candle.  I used some scrapbook paper I

had on hand to form a band around the vase.

My Dollar Tree didn't have small grapevine wreaths, so I had to go spend $1.44 for one

at Michael's Crafts.  While I was there, I fell in love with a little package of various sizes

of green pear vase fillers.  You see one on my vase.  Isn't it cute?!  They were $4.99 for a bag

full.  Considering how little I spent on the other items, I splurged! Total cost?  $10.43...but

get this...I made of 6 of them for that price!!  They are all over the house now in various places!

Have you made anything for your Thanksgiving table?



Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

If you search the "net" there is no shortage of recipes for pumpkin seed roasting.  I, however, came up with my own variation after several failed attempts with a 'too easy' recipe from Martha Stewart's website.  No tutorial on this, just instructions on my version, which is OH SO GOOD!

First, gut your pumpkin.  Clean as much of the pumpkin fibers off the seeds as possible.  This is the least fun part of preparing pumpkin seeds to be roasted!  Use a strainer and rub the seeds between the palms of your hands as you rinse with warm water.  They are slippery little devils, so expect a few escapees during the process! hee hee 

Fill a saucepan with water (how much depends on how many seeds you have but you want them covered with water).  Sprinkle liberally with sea salt.  Then pour in your rinsed, drained seeds.  Boil on the stove for about 5-10 minutes.  Drain and rinse with cool water.  Pour seeds onto a dry cookie sheet and place in oven at 350 degrees until seeds are dry.  The time varies with ovens, but it took mine about 25 minutes.  Remove and let cool enough to handle.  Pour into a plastic container with a lid that matches.  Add 2 TBSP olive oil and a generous sprinkling of Lowery's Seasoning Salt.  Place lid on containter and shake, shake, shake!

When you open the lid, if any seeds aren't covered good with Lowery's, sprinkle in a little more and close the container and shake, shake, shake again!

Pour this onto the cookie sheet again and bake at 350 until seeds are slightly browned.  It took mine about 15-20 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy! 

Pumpkin seeds are really good for you, by the way.  They are high in fiber!

Caramel Apple & Pecan Cookies

Thought I'd been missing in action long enough!  Trust me, I've been up to some things, just never could find the time to blog about it!  Hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather that is FINALLY here!  I had grown very tired of the high heat day after day!  It's refreshing to have fall temperatures and enjoy the leaves starting to change.

With fall, for some reason, comes the desire for me to bake!  I love to bake!  I rarely have the time to do it, however.  This week, though, was fall break with the kids so I had the time to do a little baking. 

While perusing blogland a few weeks ago, I discovered a yummy recipe on Smashed Peas & Carrots blog for Caramel Apple Cookies.  You can find the recipe HERE.  Doesn't it look & sound devine?  I borrowed a pic of Maggie's finished product because I forgot to take a picture of mine!

Loved, loved, loved these cookies!  I highly recommend it!  I changed it up just by adding a 1/2 cup of chopped pecans that I had on hand.  Do heed her recommendation to use parchment paper.  The caramel really sticks!  I used wax paper because I was out of parchment and got to enjoy scraping them off the waxed paper when they were done. (not fun)

You can see all the oats and caramel bits.  Yum!

More Silhouette Giveaways!

Stephanie, at Under the Table and Dreaming,  Kara's Party Blog, The Shabby Nest, and Grosgrain Fabulous are all offering a deal to win a Silhouette Craft Cutting Machine!! Woo hoo!!  Boy, would that ever look great sittin' in my craft room! LOL

If you wanna try to win one, go HERE and HERE and HERE and, yeah, HERE

Thanks, Stephanie at Under the Table Dreaming, Kara's Party Blog,  The Shabby Nest, and Grosgrain Fabulous for giving us a chance at an early Chrsitmas present!