A Giveaway and Locksmithing

Linda Stubbs, and her blog, Prairie Flower Farm has done a very generous thing..she has gathered many good cookie recipes from her readers and put  together a free cookbook...its on a pdf file and you can download it here....I contributed two recipes myself that are family favorites..one was my grandmothers and one a Swedish recipe that a co worker of my husbands gave us years ago..both are very good......so please get over and get your copy..you won't be disappointed!

I spent today helping Alan doing some locksmithing...both houses were here in our area so the drive wasn't bad...the first  house was very trashed and run down but had alot of potential to the right buyer. It was in a good neighborhood and had lots of good square feet with a fireplace, lots of storage cabinets (a big plus with moi), 3 bedrooms with a large yard, a covered patio and fruit trees. Needed alot of clean up and work....
The second was a big box house with 6 bedrooms, very modern and clean with wood floors which were very pretty.....way too big for most people and more suitable as a bed and breakfast or a old fashioned boarding house.
We are tired tonight but its a good tired....sorry no photos as the son has my camera..I haven't heard from him yet but that's normal for him...they didn't get started on the trip until early evening yesterday...it takes about 12 hours to get to where they were going in Northern California, Humboldt county. We haven't been up there in years and I envy him..beautiful countryside.......

Hallelujah chorus and a little decorating

This has been going around the Internet viral...beautiful! a wonderful way to start the Christmas season.....
we started a little bit more Christmas decorating...I went through our linens and found one crocheted table topper and when I was at the thrift shop last week, I found a cute little wreath of various Christmas fabrics on a wire frame so I combined them for a holiday candle arrangement..I found one lone red votive candle  holder and raised it with another one
...the wreath was only .50 cents!

 Our youngest son  Matt (19) is going on a 4 day trip up to Northern California with a neighbor who is building their retirement home on the coast.....first time he's been up there so he's borrowing the camera. (Shh..don't tell, but we bought him a nice one as his Christmas gift.)...he loves  photography and I am sure will come back with some good photos to share..he'll be back on Thursday..I will really miss him..he is asking for travel prayers.
There are supposed to be strong winds today...in some areas as high as 50 mph. and its still unseasonably cold...Our normal temperatures this time of year are in the 70s and its been in the 50s all last week and into this week. Plus we had rain again over the weekend. In fact, its been warmer in St. Paul, Minn than here...very weird.....

Arbor House Lane Giveaway

One of the new blogs I've just started following is Arbor House Lane...she is having a giveaway which will end on Dec. 3rd...she is giving away one sheet music ornament, one button ornament, one sheet music tree, and 3' button garland......very pretty so please sign up for a chance....her blog is a delight to the eyes so have fun!

100th Follower Giveaway Winner!

I am proud to announce the winner of the redwork towels...Alan drew the name, Pauline, from Country Dreams
 Congratulations, Pauline....I see that you're from Kansas ,we both love the Midwest, my  husband grew up in Iowa and we've traveled through Kansas many times....hope you enjoy the towels and I will send them out as soon as I get your address.......thank you, everyone, for signing up and I will be  having more giveaways in the new year....already looking ahead to Valentines for stitching projects..and will be working on more redwork.

I'm having quite a problem with Blogger lately..I wanted to change the background to a Christmas one but blogger expands every background I try..the same thing with banners right now...any photo banner I put in, is HUGE..even ones I've used before...hence, this blog is a little plain right now....is anyone else having this problem? hope its just temporary....

YES!!! I was able to do some blog decorating..last night nada but this afternoon...YES!!!...hope you like it...
thank you,Tammy from A Primitive Place for the great blog background..it was just what I was looking for.

Day after Thanksgiving

We had a very nice day yesterday....it was quiet and peaceful...in the early afternoon everyone gathered and helped get dinner ready.....the turkey really came out beautifully this year....

not having all my holiday things, we made do with what we had...and were happy with the result....the table looked simple but festive

the tablecloth was my mothers which we use every Thanksgiving...the glasses are Depression glass from my grandmother, the boys great grandmother as well as the candle sticks were some found by my paternal grandmother found at the Amvets store back in the 60s when she would visit us every summer.....I think they may be carnival glass...the dishes were from my step fathers estate....they are called His Majesty from Johnson Brothers....so many generations  were represented.....the silver was my mothers......I am truly blest with so many heirloom pieces , so many memories of past  holidays with family. Our oldest son led the prayer and we all thanked the Lord for His many blessings. This year has been a rough one but we find ourselves all working, bills paid and healthy...thanks be to God...

One little decorating item I discovered was this small little hanging ornament...I found it at Michaels and bought it as it was only about .75 cents....thought it looked cute on the candlestick, wish I'd found two!

Tonight at 6:00 p.m. we will draw the name for the winner of my redwork towels....and I will be announcing it in my post tomorrow......so there is still time to enter if you haven't already done so...just click the photo on the left side.

A Warm and Happy Thanksgiving to You

wishing all my readers a wonderful Thanksgiving....I will not be posting tomorrow to spend more time with family.......usually I post a vintage Thanksgiving postcard but I found this wonderful video of them so...enjoy!



now off to make pie and getting ready....

oh..I almost forgot....Linda at Prairie Flower Farm is having a giveaway..actually two....she has designed the prettiest embroidered quilt and is giving away the pattern in a pdf file to her readers + is giving away one quilt kit of the same pattern for a lucky winner....so please sign up if you like to embroidery or quilt..here is the link..4 Seasonal Stitcheries

I posted this video some time ago...but thought during this busy week, it might be nice to visit it again....a small break from cooking and cleaning for Thursday.....we have our turkey thawing and tomorrow, I'll be baking pie...
its been so cold here..we've had to turn the heat on..normally, we don't do this until February or so..sometimes there are winters when we don't use it at all....its 30 degrees right now at 8:30 a.m. and they predict rain....ironic as the newspapers are reporting that we are in a El Nino which means a dry warm winter..but then what to experts know? It pored rain last weekend too...nice as we haven't had bad fires this year anywhere..a few minor ones but not like in years past.....

Pork and Sweet Potato Stew.....

We get the Better Homes and Gardens magazine..this month is a real keeper..so many good recipes and ideas..if you haven't picked up a copy..I highly recommend the December issue......as I had some thick boneless pork chops in the freezer and sweet  potatoes....I decided to make this stew and no one was disappointed...its very good and a little unusual.....

Pork and Sweet Potato Stew
1 pork loin, cut into 1 1/4-1 1/2 cubes (as I had boneless thick chops, I thawed out 4 and used them)
3  T. flour
3 T. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 to 3 stalks celery, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.oz can chicken broth
1 10 oz. bottle apple/cranberry juice (I couldn't find any sugar free so used all apple juice)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/4" cubes
1 to 2 oz. fresh snipped sage (I couldn't find any so used dried)
Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Place flour in large bowl, add pork and toss to coat. In a large Dutch oven, heat 1 T. of the oil and brown half of the pork cubes...remove and then brown the second half. add more oil if needed.

Add remaining oil and cook onion,celery, cook 5 to 7 minutes until tender. Stir in garlic. Sprinkle in any remaining flour, stir to coat. Slowly add broth, juice and 1 cup water. Return pork to pan, add sweet potatoes, and sage.Bring to a simmer, then lower heat and cover. Cook 20 to 30 minutes more or until pork and potatoes are tender. Sprinkle a little nutmeg over when serving.

I also finished the basket arrangement, bought all the homespun that our local Walmart had.! They are about out and I didn't know if they'd be getting any more in so bought the rest of the bolt.  Its actually nicer than this photo.....as I added some dried orange slices. Someone suggested rag balls so I added a few, thanks for the idea!I have enough matching home spun to make a runner for the china cabinet so that's my next project.
 Work will start next week on the garage but we are not sure if we will get our Christmas things out of storage before the end of December.
If you haven't signed up for my giveaway, please do...we will have the drawing after Thanksgiving....and announce the winner on Saturday, the 27th.

What a Friend!

What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!

 

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged, take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows over every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and  laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He'll take and shield thee, thou wilt find a solace there.

Another Giveaway and thoughts

Not only am I having one...others are too...great time of year, huh?..Tammy from A Primitive Place has these adorable stacking Christmas boxes to be given to a lucky winner...
I was looking through some older posts and actually found a photo of our old (and very melted now) Christmas tree...it was over 9 ft. high as we have tall ceilings in the living room...

.The skirt was yo yos that I made and stitched together..trimmed with skirt with vintage hand crocheted lace..sadly I think its gone too...since then, we've found a smaller tree that will go on a chest in the living room...I've been collecting ornaments from the thrift shop and do have one large box here in the house so all is good.

Those of you who are new followers, we had a garage fire on May 4th of this year which destroyed many things.....still haven't gotten the garage finished but there is light at the end of the tunnel...they will be starting work the Monday after Thanksgiving... things were saved and are in a storage locker which we can't get to as its too far away.....I wonder how many Christmas things were saved? I had a lot of Dickens Village houses, boxes of ornaments from over the years, antique and vintage depression glass..two sets of china..etc.
Its fun starting over though and it could have been much worse...we have so much to be thankful for....

100th Follower Giveaway

As I've just hit 100 followers...its time for a giveaway and this one is a goodie...I"m giving away 4  redwork towels....these are so nice....the towels themselves are very high quality..the best you can find with all 4 edges hemmed and a hanging loop....I hand  embroidered them with a vintage pattern of baby birds..sorry the photo lighting is poor...we've had some gloomy days and it's hard to get the lighting right. This giveaway will be only for 7 days and will end next Friday, the day after Thanksgiving., Nov. 26..this will be the last giveaway for the year.....that way, if  you are the lucky winner, you will receive them before Christmas....

To Enter....(you must have a blog to enter) for one entry,  become a follower and just leave a comment, for two, post this giveaway on your blog and for three, be a follower of Sweet Home Stitchery, my stitchery store...so you will have 3 chances to win!.....I will announce the winner on the 26th....Alan will draw  the name from the old fish bowl......



I also wanted to let you know about another giveaway...Johanna Parker is giving away this absolutely wonderful Snowman Candy Cane stand

 Isn't he adorable? I would love love to win him.......her designs remind me of Christmas long ago...

Our son has been working with a investor who has bought at auction a foreclosed house....the previous owners had left loads of stuff behind....he's brought home a few things (with permission) brought home 3 saucers, matching tea cup (oriental style with no handle ) and  plate....as there was only one tea cup...I flipped it over and made it into a candle holder with one of the saucers....think it turned out rather nice....glued it together with some glass glue. It makes a perfect candle holder.  The porcelain turkey was inherited......I get it out every Thanksgiving.....I wanted to show you the plate  as its Spode but blogger is not allowing me to post any more photos right now. I'll try again later.......guess I was lucky to post one! Son also brought home some vintage cookbooks, two bags of cinnamon scented pine cones and a cute primitive stuffed bunny..guess he knows what his mom likes, huh?

I am planning on using the pine cones as a Christmas display.....remember the Don Fransico coffee basket I won? the basket was a pale natural color, so yesterday I stained it with some black walnut stain.  Playing around with the idea of trimming the basket with homespun, and piling in the pine cones and other natural materials.....I'll show you when I get it done...that is, if Blogger becomes a little more friendly!

I just realized I have 100 followers now...guess its time for a giveaway.......as I can't seem to post photos..I will start this tomorrow..so please check back...I'll be giving away redwork towels.....

I am posting this photo later..this morning, Blogger wouldn't let me..here is the Spode plate that he brought home

Yikes!

I've been getting so many emails from so many sites predicting that in the next few months prices on everything (and I mean everything) will be going up ....yesterday I got an email from saying there will be world wide  shortages of basic items like flour and sparse grocery store shelves...and long gas lines (ala Jimmy Carters presidency if you're that old and can remember)..cotton prices are going to be high, so clothes will be more and more expensive....scary stuff..you've probably gotten similar ones.....I've noticed that prices are going up slowly in our local grocery store and gas prices have gone up a few cents so far. But "they" are predicting that it could get much worse......we had a family meeting yesterday and informed everyone about the possible looming situation and encouraged each other to good works and togetherness. I would also encourage you!

There are many good informative sites so will not bore you with things you can do......we've got quite a bit of canned food stored and are adding more as we can afford it......one site said by next year 20% of Americans won't be able to afford food....20% ! and of course, we will have the garden too......do what you can to protect your family...we intend on storing water ....hopefully, the situation will not be as bad as is predicted but its always good to be prepared......I have several sites on frugal living, etc. on the left hand side of this blog that can help.
but more important that preparing physically, we need to prepare spiritually.....we live in scary times with uncertainty.....God promises are sure....and true. I would encourage you to read the Bible daily...seek Him while He may be found.....Bible Gateway is a wonderful way to read the Bible in a year......

Fabric Tags

I've been working on an order for some of these Saint Nickolaus tags for a special friend...and thought I'd mention that if you have meant to order some..now is the time as we are fast approaching the big holiday season....I can make as many as you need....they are great on the Christmas tree, tucked into a card for a little special gift or as a bookmark! I tie ours on doorknobs and also tuck some in a primitive wreath. I have quite a few designs so if you like snowmen or reindeer or Santa, please check out my other blog and click on tags.....right now, free shipping for all my blog friends......all the patterns are by Primitive Stitches.....

Josh's Birthday Cake and Funny Cat Thanksgiving

Our boarder, Josh had his 23rd birthday this last weekend...and as it's traditional in our household for birthday cake...and he doesn't like chocolate....I baked this tasty butterscotch cake using a yellow cake mix. It was a big hit so thought I'd post the recipe.....

Butterscotch Pound Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 small pkg. vanilla instant pudding
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 pkg. butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine first 5 ingredients. Mix well for 4 minutes or so. Gently stir in butterscotch chips. Pour into a greased and floured (I used Pam) Bundt pan and bake. Bake for approximately 1 hour (generally takes the full hour)

It really didn't need any frosting but since it was for his birthday, I drizzled a little vanilla glaze on top...just a mixture of powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to thin it out..no real recipe for that.....it makes a very moist and tasty pound cake..great with tea or coffee any time of day......

Saturday Travels

We  found ourselves in downtown San Diego for the second time this week..this apartment is in escrow and the new owners are moving in soon so the bank had us re key it for them....lovely two bedroom place on the 4th floor.  As we worked, I heard a bell so looked over the balcony and saw the trolly. This is more like a tour bus with a trolly theme.

We walked across the street to the local World Market and found some charming bottles for
making vanilla..also found some fresh vanilla beans...now just have to get a bottle of vodka...

The building is only about 3 blocks from the harbor so on our way back, we traveled down to Market Street and spied the cruise ship that had been stranded down in Mexico.....you've probably heard about the emergency and the ship being without power or water for a few days..having to be towed back to port.

We  snapped a photo of a old sailing ship that is permanent display, The Star of India...
It is part of the collection of the Maritime Museum.

Lots of driving today....we had the option of doing it on Monday but wanted to take a two day weekend. Hope you enjoy the photos and have a great weekend!

Traveling and we got a turkey!

Today we have some odds and ends to do..put smoke detectors in a foreclosed house, re key another one and also check on reported locks that don't work on the third..these are all over the county so lots of driving...one is in Torry Pines down in San Diego county....God always is supplying us with work....especially thankful as this time of year is always expensive.

We also picked up a big (and I mean big) turkey for Thanksgiving..its in the freezer now but will probably take all of 3 days to thaw, 23 pounds! Our oldest and his fiancee both have to work on Thanksgiving but there is window of two hours so we will plan on the dinner during that time...I remember having to work holidays..not fun..I don't know who will buy tacos on Thanksgiving so I don't think they'll be busy, do you?

Food Court Musical

My good friend, Kay sent me this video....I would have loved to have been there.....
Kay and I have been best friends forever it seems..in high school, she was Eliza Doolittle in the high school play, My Fair Lady. I wonder if her kids know that? LOL.

It was very windy and cool yesterday..lots of leaves in the yard, on the street and elsewhere. I love this time of year. I like to watch the leaves dance down the streets and the trees rustle..each home here originally had a tree in the front yard but some have taken them out, sadness to me as I've always loved big trees. Alan thinks our tree is a maple..we are not sure. Its about 60 ft. tall and beautiful. Its getting down to freezing every night now.

See? Southern California has seasons..just not on the coast. Its probably why so many retirees have moved to this area..they can enjoy the seasons and yet not get the very cold weather like is in the Midwest...we have many people here that were originally from Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and other Midwest states.
I am baking some pumpkin muffins and the timer just went off so that's all I'll post today.....hope you enjoyed the video!

Happy Veterans Day and some cards

Today being Veterans Day...I wanted to honor all veterans..especially my dad and brother...Dad was a old school Marine and served for almost 35 years..he served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam wars. My brother is a Air Force veteran, and retired after 20 years, having served overseas in England and South Korea as well as many states here in the good old USA. God bless our military! Semper Fi

I made some Thanksgiving cards yesterday.....I think they turned out ok...there are so many wonderful papers, stickers and such in the scrapbook departments...so easy to put together and I think are nicer than the bought cards. you do have to add a little extra postage as these need to be hand canceled. These are going to special friends and family.

Gaslamp District Revisted and Kona Coffee

We found ourselves in downtown San Diego ...again in the Gaslamp district...yesterday there were very few people downtown..a nice day to visit, no crowds or heavy traffic. Downtown San Diego is a nice mixture of old buildings and new...it all seems to meld together well. Notice how clean the streets are?

I took this photo looking down the street from the loft balcony. This loft has been sold and the bank wanted us to re key it for the new owner. The building has security and underground parking. Here are a few more photos I snapped

Looking north

Convention Center

Early Christmas shopper?

We had two other houses to do..both fore closures..and then home...it was a long day as there was lots of driving..got  home in the afternoon....to find the coffee basket I won on Facebook from Don Francisco coffee had come! 3 nice packages of various coffees and a big mug...sorry, for the glare...its hard to photograph something with cellophane on it.....so this morning, I am enjoying my mug of Kona coffee which is about my favorite..its so good......

Short Post

Just a short post this morning..we have several jobs today and I decided to tag along. I will take the camera in case I see something interesting..we are going to downtown San Diego again.  I am also thinking of doing a give away ...fill you in on the details later....hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

Pumpkin Bread....

Yesterday afternoon, I thawed out one quart of the pumpkin we had pureed from the Halloween Jack o Lanterns.....I read on several sites that you should only use a certain kind of pumpkin as the others are stringy but I didn't find that to be true...
after going through recipes, I found one from the Food Network site...Alton Brown who I really admire had one using fresh pumpkin....It turned out very nicely and I used Splenda instead of the sugar called for. It raised well and is very moist. Instead of using toasted pumpkin seeds, I added chopped pecans.....so here is Alton Brown's recipe ala Dani

Pumpkin Bread

2 cups flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. sugar (Splenda,ala Dani)
3/4 c. vegetable oil (I use Canola)
3 large eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 cups shredded pumpkin
1 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (ala Dani, use chopped pecans)
Preheat oven to 325. Sift the first 5 dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients, sugar (Splenda), oil, eggs and vanilla. Combine the two together and then fold in the shredded pumpkin and seeds or nuts. Once they are all incorporated , pour into a non-stick loaf pan or spray the pan with Pam. if you have neither, be sure to coat it with butter and flour. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. At this point a toothpick inserted should come out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan and turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.
You can use the recipe for muffins also, use the same temperature but only bake for 30 minutes.
I had two slices this morning with coffee..its very good both as a breakfast as well as snack or dessert. the pumpkin flavor combined with cinnamon and pecans is delicious.

I am posting this in the evening..we had a nice day...very windy, a Santa Ana wind//one minute it would be blowing all the neighborhood leaves into our yard, and then a few minutes later, the wind would change and away the leaves would go down the street to another yard. The weather people say we are in for rain again..

No work today, as Alan was able to get paperwork done...working on profit and loss monthly sheets which isn't fun so we took a break in the afternoon and went Christmas tree shopping..yes, I know what you're thinking, already?

No buying, just checking out prices....everything, I mean almost everything was either destroyed in the fire or is still in storage...our beautiful tree is gone...melted...as are all our outdoor lights, and yard decor.....we are taking this as an opportunity to do something different. It was fun looking. Most of the stores are all decorated already and others are putting their things out. I'm sure its the same where you live. We're so thankful that it was only material things that were destroyed.....

We bought advent calenders for the boys and their girlfriends which we will give at the end of the month..they are the kind that have candy behind each door.....

As it will be Sunday when you'll be reading this (hope you changed your clocks back)
..Casting Crowns singing, Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus....so true, so true...

New Pie Crust Recipe

I and pie crust haven't gotten along for years.....my mother would make wonderful pies and the crusts were always flaky and tender...just didn't happen for me..I have been using the Pioneer Woman's pie crust recipe which is a good one but didn't give me the results I really wanted..especially as it would break constantly when I wanted to roll a top crust. Don't you just hate that? You go to all the trouble to make a nice pie, roll out the top crust and it breaks in 3 + places....I have pieced together top crusts more than I care to admit.

I think I've found the answer...in the latest copy of BH&G magazine they feature a cook that makes the most wonderful pies...his name is Alan Carter
this link is for the BH&G's Alan Carter's pie recipes....

here is the crust recipe..I made an apple pie (using sugar free pie filling with extra cinnamon) and it was so easy to roll out...no breaking and the top crust came off the board easily..it has an elastic quality..It cut evenly and the slices lift out of the pan in one piece! Success! Very flaky and tender. Mama would be proud.

Fool Proof Pie Crust ala Alan Carter

 In a very large bowl, combine 3 3/4 c. flour, 1 T. sugar, 1/2 to 1 T. salt (I didn't use that much, he likes a salty crust), 1/2 t. baking powder. Mix well. With a pastry blender, cut in 1 1/4 c. unsalted butter leaving chunks the size of peas. Combine 2/3 c. very cold water, 2 T.  sour cream, and 1 t. vinegar. Add liquid all at once to the flour mixture. Quickly stir to distribute, do not over mix. The dough should be slightly crumbly. let rest on the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Divide into 3 portions, shape into disks and use right away or can be frozen for up to a month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator to use.

I used two of the apple pie and have one in the freezer for another time....maybe pumpkin at Thanksgiving.
I steamed 3 pumpkins and have 4 quarts of pumpkin waiting in the freezer for pie. That recipe will be for another time closer to Turkey Day......

I also wanted to mention that I've added a list of free sample sites...they are trustworthy and although its late now..these little sample items make great stocking stuffers at Christmas....I've gotten little samples of new gum, cologne, post it tags, nutrition bars, etc. Some of the samples take longer to get than others..the list is down on the left hand side and says free stuff....Bless your frugal heart!

Rusty Thumble Giveaway and a little Sharing

Brenda, at The RustyThimble 
having a wonderful Christmas giveaway all this month...and is giving away12 wonderful ornaments, all different to one lucky winner...so please sign  up..Isn't this prim Santa cute?

I wanted to share with you something Alan built..this little stand..isn't it nice? I think so anyway.....perfect for display...it folds up too when not in use...

I am also working on some Christmas things...just got another pattern from Primitive Stitches and am planning on making a runner for our coffee table..I have several but they're in storage...mine are not stitched but vintage ones from the 50s so this one will be different.....am debating whether I should quilt it or not but that is in the future as I haven't gotten it stitched yet!

Wednesday Funnies

I thought today might be good to share some funnies...after the election yesterday..a good laugh is what we all need...aren't you glad that all the political ads are over???