Happy Halloween

Wishing you a entertaining Halloween...whether you go out or stay home.....we just stay home usually and watch a movie...answer the door when the little ones come...this year our son, his sweetie and baby will be answering the door and giving out candy....its fun seeing the little princesses, and pirates.....have quite a bit of candy this year..we went to Dollar Tree and picked up alot of it...then got a couple of huge bags at Walmart so should have enough...our son has been prowling around wanting some early but we held firm....he has quite a sweet tooth so I expect the door bell ringers won't get all of it...

Tonight I will also be drawing the winning name for my October giveaway...if you haven't signed up..there is still time.....

Can hardly believe only a few weeks until Thanksgiving!

Bread Pudding....

We had some leftover homemade bread from the bread machine day....and I decided to go very old fashioned and make some bread pudding! I've seen bread pudding listed in many restaurant menus lately...guess its back in fashion again...I used my 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook and think it turned out very well.....it was so easy to make, I wondered why I haven't done it sooner...great way to use leftover stale bread....with prices as they are...its good not to waste anything.....

Bread Pudding ala 1950

2 cups milk
Heat to scalding... Pour over.

4 cups coarsely chopped bread crumbs

Cool and add...
1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar ( or use Splenda)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup raisins

1 t. cinnamon or nutmeg

Pour into a 1 1/4 qt. casserole dish, buttered. Oven temperature 350 for about 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted into pudding comes out clean. Serve warm with or without whipped cream.

We had one job in Spring Valley today and of course, are taking tomorrow off...Spring Valley is about 90 miles one way from here....but it was a beautiful day, blue skies and cool temperatures, a pretty drive. Afterwards we did a little Christmas shopping...got baby Jayden a couple of things...living with us, there isn't much space for many toys and such...but we did get him something for his crib to play with..and a darling stuffed monkey....he's growing so fast, out of all his newborn clothes already...and is fast outgrowing the 6 months sizes so we will be looking at larger clothes for next year.....at least we got started....

I am also going to start the baby quilt...bought the kit a while ago and decided if I don't get started now, it won't get done...its an ABC quilt...I ordered it from a favorite shop online...The Calico Spice Shop

She has many nice things to embroider and quilt...pillowcases, tablecloths and runners, quilt blocks, cheater panels, etc. so if you're looking to make something for a loved one....please check her little store out...I've ordered from her many times and am always pleased...she has good prices and fast shipping...most of the products she sells are made here in the States also......

Home Sweet Home Thursday

We started out very early this morning as we had 6 jobs today...all the way from Escondido to Spring Valley...made for a long day of driving...and very profitable...the interesting thing is that last year, we were busy with foreclosures and this year its with escrow re keys.....meaning more people are buying homes now which is a good thing.....it is a good time to buy...
 Today we ran the gamut  from a wreck of a house to a beautiful condo in a upscale neighborhood.

I have learned over the last few years, it doesn't really matter what your house looks like on the outside...a tiny cottage, or a affluent mansion...a log cabin or a mobile  home....a duplex or a mountain retreat..a apartment or a 50s ranch house...they are all just boxes...its what  goes on inside which makes the difference.

Home is where friendships are formed and families are grown;
where joy is shared and true love is known;
where memories are made and seeds of life are sown.
This is the place . . . that people call HOME.

We came home to the dishes all put away and the carpet vaccumed.....all in all a great day!


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Halloween Decorating Big Time

Some people go all out, don't they? this family doesn't live too far from us, up in Riverside, Ca.....got alot of time on their hands...LOL


Our weather has been on the cool side..really unusual for October...we are usually in the 80s but we've been in the 60s....I am taking advantage and making bread today in the bread maker...sugar free of course.....and we'll be having potato soup tonight. One loaf cinnamon raisin and one oatmeal. if I am really ambitious, might bake a pie also. No jobs today so far....we had 4 yesterday.....and quite a few tomorrow....
We don't do much for Halloween other than giving out candy to the little ones but the young people here have been carving jack-o-lanterns..

New Stitchery

Thought I'd share my newest creation...this cute prim "Someone Called Me Grandma" stitchery I just finished....the pattern is from Primitive Stitches and I just couldn't resist......if you'd like me to make you one for yourself...you can order them through my Etsy shop.....

I found a new site with tons of wonderful patterns, not just for embroidery either....I posted about it on my other blog but decided to mention it here too...its called Bustle and Sew and I've had a lot of fun exploring the site..there are several pages of free patterns...I signed up for the newsletter also......I am seriously thinking of making this darling elephant toy....its under the free pattern pages.....isn't he cute and so reminds me of toys made back in the 1950s......looks like he would be quite suitable for a new baby...no parts to come off or swallow.....

Bustle and Sew is on Facebook also so if you are a FB fan....check it out....!

Thursday Musings

I've been on Facebook and looking at emails...the world is in turmoil...can be overwhelming, and I just encourage everyone to stay informed and vote next fall, I haven't made up my mind yet on who to vote for..will depend on how the Republicans put up...like Ron Paul on some issues, Herman Cain on some issues and Newt on some issues.......we are in for a rough ride.....

that saying.....I'm reminded of the parable of the houses......Luke 6:46-49
"And why call ye Me, `Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?
 Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:
  He is like a man who built a house and dug deep and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock.
  
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house without a foundation upon the earth, against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great."

I've been having a difficult time posting photos....even though I'm well under my allotment... my avatar looks like a black triangle exclamation point   along with alot of old photos I've posted on past posts....reported it to Blogger last night and discovered quite a few others were having the same problem.....just starting following some new blog and hope they don't think I chose such an avatar....hopefully, my own cute little one will appear again....anyone else  having this problem?

 I also wanted to mention that my dear hubby has a new blog describing  his misadventures growing up in his family of 10 siblings...called "My Evil Twin"...I take no responsibility for it..LOL..but some of the misdeeds are very funny....

New Giveaways

I can't believe Blogger...did a post yesterday on several giveaways...and checked to make sure it all posted..this morning...no post and its not even in my saved pile....what's with that? anyway....there are many nice giveaways going on right now.......if my post from yesterday shows up...I have added several new ones to this post.....and if you are reading this and haven't entered mine....its on the left hand side....ends on the 31st.

Brenda from the Rusty Thimble is giving away this darling primitive gingerbread man with a vintage grater....

Grandma Kringle is giving away another gingerbread man...this one is equally cute.....and her Etsy shop is wonderful...just looking at her wonderful creations puts one in a holiday mood....

for something a little different..Trisha from easily amused, hard to offend is giving away lots of crafting goodies, either an altered art grouping or a cute gathering of cards, ribbons and such

If you like cottage decorating..A Gathering Place is a wonderfully sweet blog and Rebecca is giving away one of her wonderful train cases....

Different Forms of Government and Thoughts

With small groups now taking over Wall Street and other cities.....I've like perhaps you, been reading and looking on, and I must say, I am not one of the 99% that that they claim...they seem to be made up of 3 groups..the hardline socialist/communist crowd, young college age people, and the "hippy", street people, so I thought I'd put up this good educational video....what is really eye opening is the comments I read from the college age young people...they have really been wrongly educated and have a distorted view of government and history...all of this can be laid at the feet of the college professors who have never been in the real world or had a real job. I think this type of "education" starts in high school and continues through college...

When our youngest son was a senior, I was helping him with his history class...reading through the book, it was amazing and alarming...there was an entire chapter on the formation of labor unions..another on immigration.and only two pages on the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln.
not only that, but the Constitution was ignored...ignored....of course, there is a reason why California is rated at the bottom of the education scale...40th.
How education has changed here....it was required in 1969 to take a Civics class and an Constitution test in order to get your diploma.

The demonstrators should be at Congress and the White House rather than Wall Street...as it was these offices who made the decisions that allowed the bankers to make obscene amounts of money. Bankers are always going to go for the bottom line..that the nature of banks..remember "Its a Wonderful Life"? and the banker. Mr. Potter? We are a nation of laws. Laws that control such people. Where are laws made? there ya go....

I've seen about 6 of the videos these young people have posted..they've run up student loan debt/ credit card debit and are blaming the banks rather than taking responsibility of their own choices...it sounds like their parents didn't do a good job teaching these children good work ethics and personal responsibility. They are being used by the socialist/communist crowd as useful idiots.

I also saw a interview with a young woman who wanted us to go to something she called "primitivism"...she described it was a hunter/gatherer society. Not realizing that millions of people would die in such a society now..when she was asked that question, she answered "we all will die sometime". I don't think she knew what she was saying, as women in that type of society work from morning until night in constant drudgery. I'd give her a week.

I don't know where this is all going...nor does anyone else...perhaps when winter comes, everyone will go home and it will fizzle out...one can only hope there will be no violence. I also wonder how many of these people will do the one thing that will really make a difference...and vote.

A Swap and Wrapping Up the Week...

I did a swap with Nancy, Huggins Haven...and got this wonderful raggedy runner that she made..traded with her some redwork towels. I just love it...she also included a matching candle mat......I love the warm colors.
I also bought one of her wonderful pillows..a fishing one for our boarder as he is a avid fisherman....I think he will like it....Alan sure did..
these things are one of a kind so don't have a photo of the pillow but here is a similar one she has in her shop.
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All of her crafts are very well and expertly made..and make wonderful gifts....

also I am open to doing swaps....with the economy the way it is...
swapping and bartering may be the way of the future........

 Our weather has been on the warm side, in the 90s....this week our jobs have been few...we did have two yesterday but only one today....and several days with no jobs...sigh....late yesterday afternoon  we had a job in Lake Elsinore...an eviction and the house (really a duplex) was very dirty with broken windows and trash everywhere...took us over an hour to get it secured..10 locks, windows to board up and we had to padlock several gates and the garage.....It was two story with a separate house on each floor...the bottom had been freshly painted and was clean but it was another story with the top half....the only thing going for it was the view...and what a view it was...wish I had taken a photo...you could see the entire lake from the living room..and at night, it was spectacular....starry skies, a harvest moon and lights out on the water...just beautiful.
I am planning on doing some crafting and housework this weekend..maybe a little baking too......do you have any plans?

3 Bean Salad

This is just a very basic recipe for 3 bean salad...I hesitated to post it as its so basic but with our boarder, realized that alot of people haven't grown up with this ...he says he grew up with mostly fast food, frozen dinners, etc. and has been amazed with the recipes we use here....
The recipe came from a Mennonite cookbook I got back in the late 60s....the poor book has been used so much, its missing its front cover and is not a little tattered...The More with Less Cookbook

Basic 3 Bean Salad

Use 2 cups of each of any three kinds of canned or cooked drained beans. Choose an attractive color combination of any of the following:

cut green beans

cut yellow wax beans

soy beans

red kidney beans

green lima beans

great northern or navy beans

chick peas or garbanzos

In a large bowl, toss beans with:           medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium green pepper, chopped

Combine and pour over the bean mixture:

1/2 c. salad oil

1/2 c. vinegar

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. salt

1/4t. pepper

Chill before serving. This improves the longer it sits, marinate it over night or longer. I normally use kidney, garbanzo and green beans, skip the green pepper, and use Splenda instead of sugar...neither of us can take green pepper any more...would you believe I got the onion from our garden? 

In California, we serve this any time of year, although I know its mainly a summer salad in most of the country.

He's smiling!

Yes, we finally were able to get a photo of Jayden smiling.....he's also started giggling and making little noises...amazing how fast babies grow and its so fun watching him day by day..we are really blest to have the young family with us...at times a little tense but I am reminded of years ago when our own boys were little....he is now 14 lbs at 2 months...about the same as our youngest son was at the age......a little chubby looking but cute as a button...and our boy is thin now so I told them not to worry.....he is such a good baby, only cries when he's hungry or needs a diaper change..and is sleeping much of the night.....he goes in for a well baby visit later this week....

I think I will bake several loafs of the applesauce spice bread I made yesterday to give to neighbors, two of the men are diabetic, one just diagnosed this year.....its so tasty, I am sure they will enjoy a loaf......knowing  their wives, I don't think they get diabetic baked goods at home!

Rain, Thunder and Applesauce Bread

One of my good friends shared this on Facebook and I thought it was so cool..had to pass it on to you....

We had a job this weekend up in Ramona, Ca....Ramona is a small semi mountain community...the job was very easy..only one lock on a condo....but since the town is so close to Julian, we made a day trip out of it and got some of our favorite Julian apple pie and a few apples....unfortunately, we realized inflation must have hit as the apples were twice as expensive as last year....so we didn't get many...we usually buy a 40 lb. box, make applesauce and can quite a few quarts but as we found out one box would cost almost $35.00 decided against it....did get a few lbs though...Jonathan..and some Snow apples....

 Alan also bought two bags of crab apples...they were very ripe so when we came home, we cut them up and made applesauce right away....not enough to can but I am going to make some applesauce muffins and bread...
I found  this recipe on the Mr. Food site and think I will try it......sounds very good  indeed..

Applesauce and Spice Bread

Cooking Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¹/2 teaspoon baking powder
• ¹/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
• ¹/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¹/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup sugar
• ¹/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 ¹/4 cups applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
• ¹/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• ¹/4 cup chopped pecans
• ¹/4 cup packed brown sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the nutmeg, and allspice.
    
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs, and milk. Stir dry ingredients into applesauce mixture; stir in 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. Pour batter into a greased 9- x 5-inch loaf pan.
    
3. In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup chopped pecans, the brown sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to make a topping; sprinkle evenly over batter.
    
4. Bake 1 to 1-1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pan.

I'll have to tweek it a bit as we don't use brown sugar but think I can substitute something else...have to work on that......

Two  hours later.....

I used Splenda instead of sugar..added two T. of dry milk powder which helped it rise well....and for the topping, used chopped nuts, two T. flour mixed with some sugar free maple syrup which made a rather nice crunchy topping....it was a big hit with the young adults as well as us old folks....its already half gone!

Good Bye Piano !

You probably know, if you've read my blog for some time, we had found this student piano at a foreclosed house...and as I've always wanted to learn to play, Alan brought it home for me....I've enjoyed it but it came time to decide between a rock and a hard place.....our kitchen has so little cabinet space...it was a choice, storage or piano...so knowing myself, decided storage was more important right now with 6 people in the house..put the piano on Craigslist and it was sold last night....
now, instead of the piano in this space..the little curio cabinet is there...right now its packed with kitchen items...but when the new cabinet is built in the alcove where the old antique was housed, it will then have our collection of depression glass in it....although that will have to be adjusted while Jayden is here....

plus there is lots of space on either side...I want to get a small round table for the corner....nice for a prim tree this Christmas....
here is the open space for the new cabinet...we are getting the wood for it this weekend....and will paint it to match the rest of the kitchen cabinets with the same hardware...

Can hardly wait!

Jayden Report

Jayden is growing by leaps and bounds...he is 7 weeks old now and weighs about 12 lbs..he can already lift his head fairly well and is trying to roll over...and has taken to smiling at times...so far, I haven't been able to get a photo of his smile...this is the best and of course, its out of focus...but in time, we will get that delightful smile...he's making more sounds too..

Here he is with his mom...we had a little scare the other night..after his bath, he turned very pale and went limp..the kids tried calling the doctor but couldn't get through so they took him to emergency...by the time they got there, he had recovered but the doctors did alot of tests anyway..took an Xray..evidently he was congested and stopped breathing for a short time...scary....he now sleeps with a humidifier in the room and his cold is clearing.....he's no worse for wear but we all were a wreck...lots of prayers that night!

My October Giveaway!

I am giving away this cute spider web candle mat.......just the thing for Halloween......especially with the big fat spider lurking........for the rules and to sign up...check out the link on the side of my blog on the left....it will take you to my other blog Sweet Home Stitchery........still haven't gotten up to 100 followers over there yet. It was my goal this summer and now it will be my goal this fall......
My newest project is to start stitching the 1886 patterns....here is the first one of the series...and yes, I can post the pattern here as its not copyrighted and over 100 years old....

I fell in love with these little girls!

Saturday Evening

We are continuing our organizing and cleaning....guess you'd call it fall cleaning rather than spring cleaning....removed all the ceiling lights and washed them out..replaced light bulbs...rather mundane work but needed...the hall looks alot brighter now....

Early in the week, I got up on a ladder and cleaned the ceilings, and ceiling fans.....getting tired yet? We also checked the furnace and got it ready for the winter...the furnace filter was really dirty after the summer...we replaced it and washed out the old one for later.....

we completely cleaned out our walk in closet.....what a difference! and of course, the vacuum broke down and it took Alan much of the day to fix it.....Thankfully he was able to as getting  a new vacuum really isn't in the budget right  now.

and we have a mouse...probably mice...keep putting out traps in the kitchen and he's been stealing  the bait...even the sticky traps which I hate to use....the cats are on mouse alert, taking turns patrolling the kitchen area, especially peering under the stove....heaven help the mouse if he sneaks out!

None of these are fun jobs but they are satisfying when done......tomorrow afternoon..yard work..still have weeds to pull.(.yuck.)....I planted lettuce in the boxes Alan built this past summer....as our weather is cooler, its a perfect time....
now you know why I haven't been posting as much....busy busy busy....with locksmithing and organizing...we had 4 jobs on Friday....

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