Happy Thanksgiving

I  just want to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving.  I am so thankful for all of my online buddies.  Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, for leaving sweet comments that make my day.  Hope everyone is enjoying this blessed day.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

My greatest blessing . . .

. . . .  my heart,

                       my joy,

                                   my Kiki!

 I love you so much –

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Fun in the kitchen

First of all I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to all of you for your sweet comments on my bedroom. It’s nice to think I inspire you to want to get creative in your rooms too, but I must give credit where credit is due.  THIS is what inspired me.  That link will take you to Becca’s beautiful blog, and if you remember Becca’s blog was where I got the inspiration for my ‘wine station’ too :-)  I can’t remember when I first browsed Becca’s Christmas decorations, I know it was well after Christmas last year, but ever since I saw this . . .

. . . I have had dreams of doing my bedroom too. I would love to put a tree up in my room too but I don’t have the toys to decorate it with and that would mean buying yet more decorations! One day – who knows? ;-)

If you haven’t already seen Becca’s lovely Christmas tour of her home click HERE and HERE. You won’t be disappointed.

Now, back to today’s post . . . fun in the kitchen! Yesterday Kristen and I made some peppermint fudge (something she picked out of the Paula Deen Christmas magazine) and some ‘5 layer bars’ (another Paula recipe from foodnetwork)

The layered bars were for Jason because he’d requested them, although the last time I made these I think the recipe was called ‘Magic Bars’? You simply make a graham cracker crust in a 9x13 pan, add pecans, choc cips, butterscotch chips, coconut and condensed milk, then back them for 30 minutes.  They’re very sweet and kinda sticky, but he likes em ;-)

I think the fudge is still pretty soft, it probably could have used a little more confectioners sugar, but I used 2 cups as the recipe says, so how do you know until after the fact?  Kristen likes them, but I’m not a huge fudge lover anyway, so I won’t be having many of these!

OH, what’s this?

Ha ha, that would be MY fun in the kitchen ;-)  I’m gradually stocking up my ‘cocktail’ bar. I bought some Baileys (had to buy two bottles to get a great deal, saving $14!) and some vanilla vodka to make Snowtinis again this year, and I got Gin, because I don’t have any in. I don’t have a cocktail in mind for this yet . . . any ideas?

Looks quite the festive gathering doesn’t it?   Today we’re going to decorate the game room with our ‘doggy themed’ tree. Stay tuned for my photos!

 

Denise

Making a start . . .

I know I said I don’t usually put the Christmas tree up until the day after Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t mean I can’t (or don’t) start pulling other Christmas decor out before then ;-)

Yesterday I decided I’d like to add a ‘splash of Christmas’ to our bedrooms. I don’t always do this, but I’d like to. It’s all a matter of not having enough decorations (if you can believe that) and trying to justify to Jason why I need more when there are at least 6 or 7 boxes in the garage stuffed with the stuff!  Jason wouldn’t really mind if I went and bought more stuff, he knows I wouldn’t go crazy mad and spend a whole lot. . .  indeed, how much CAN one spend at the Dollar Store (hmm, don’t answer that question").  Kristen and I went to the $$ store and to Hobby Lobby yesterday.  I’ve only taken pictures of our room so far – wanna take a peek inside?

 

Imagine it’s snowing outside, and a fire is crackling somewhere in the house – chestnuts are roasting . . . ok, not really, I’ve never roasted a chestnut in my life! But doesn’t it look cozy? I love it so far.

I need more lights so I can put them on these little trees too, and I will get my Christmas Boyds Bears out next week and sit them under the trees.

 Did you notice the pillows were all  over the place? I’d stood on the bed to try and grab the extension cord and forgot to straighten them back up!

  

Dollar Store ribbon! I watched a Youtube video on how to make a bow. I kinda knew how but was never happy with how they turned out. This one I was happy with :-)

Dollar Store wreaths too for above the lamps. Their wreaths are much thinner than in previous years so I bought an extra garland of greenery to add to it, and a poinsettia flower to pin on (also from the $ store).

My Christmas reading has started :-) I love going to bed early and reading Christmas fiction. Right now I’m reading The Christmas Clock by Kat Martin.

I still have the bottom of the room to finish, where the dresser is, so I haven’t taken pictures of that yet, nor have I taken pictures of Kristen’s room. We are creating a ‘Winter Wonderland’ look in her Wolf Den ;-)  Pictures coming soon!

I’m joining Between Naps on the Porch for MM

Cocktail of the Week

Often times on Friday night, Cheryl and I will share a glass of wine together and sample some new cheeses :-)  We’ve even made a whole night of it with her Mom and sister and sometimes our other neighbor AJ, and had ourselves a fun ‘wine and cheese tasting party’

 

Well, last Friday (actually it was the Friday before that!) I decided we would start a ‘cocktail of the week’ night. Of course it has to be Friday . . . . the end of the week, start of the weekend – what’s not to celebrate!  I thought I would surprise Cheryl and make a cocktail she had mentioned recently – A Bellini!

If you had asked me a few weeks ago what a Bellini is, I probably couldn’t have told you! For those like me, it’s very similar to a Mimosa (or Bucks Fizz as we call them in England), instead of orange juice and champagne it is Peach puree and champagne, and not just any champagne, a real Bellini is made with Prosecco, which is actually an Italian sparkling wine.  I found a simple recipe on Foodnetwork, you simply puree a can of peaches in heavy syrup and mix that with your Prosecco.  That’s not my picture up above because I forgot to take a photo of the ones I made.

Cheryl was nicely surprised and we decided we’d take turns and surprise each other each week (time allowing) with a different cocktail to try. Last week we didn’t really have time as we were busy getting ready for the craft fair – but this week? Hmmm, well I’ll just have to wait and see.

What about you? Do you have a favorite cocktail you like to have now and then? Tried any good ones lately? I know there are many fun ones to make for the Holiday season and I can’t wait to try a few.

Cheers!

 

Denise

Over the river . . .

  . . . and through the woods,

to Grandmother’s house we go!

Or so the song goes – but alas, we won’t be going to Grandmother’s house this Thanksgiving, and grandmother won’t be coming to ours :-(  My inlaws are in California at the minute and will be there during thanksgiving too. Last year (and the year before last) while they were away we celebrated Thanksgiving with our neighbors (my best friend Cheryl and her family). Cheryl’s mom and dad live a few doors away from us on the corner of our cul-de-sac. They have kindly invited us to have dinner with them the past two years. 

We love to do this and spend the day with them, but one thing Jason and I both miss is ‘the leftovers’! You know, the next day (or dare I say, even later that same night) making up another yummy plate of mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, gravy etc – it’s just so yummy :-)  So, this year I’ve decided I’m making Thanksgiving dinner even if it is for just us 3!  and we’ll probably pop over to our neighbors  for dessert time.  Remember it’s Kristen’s birthday that day too so it will be nice to just stay home and celebrate her too.

Yesterday I started playing around with the dining room table, to get it ready for next week. I always do this well in advance so I can see how things will look and if I need to purchase anything. I try my best to use what I have on hand and keep the purchases to a minimum. As much as I’d love to buy seasonal dishes and centerpieces I know it’s just not cost effective right now and Jason wouldn’t be too happy either!  So, using what I had here’s what I ended up with  . . .

here’s a view taken while I’m standing on the stairs looking down.

I didn’t bother with a tablecloth this year, I like the look of the wood and that is just a simple ‘paper’ runner I bought at Hobby Lobby last week. 

What do you think of the plates? Yes, they’re paper too! It’s a great way (cheaper alternative) to get that season look but not have to pay for the china that only gets used once a year! I’m sure we’ll still eat off ‘real’ plates but I liked using these just for the festive look. You can do the same with a Christmas table setting too!

I created a centerpiece just by using a cake stand, some silk flowers I have, votive candles and a few tangerines from the fridge – I love the splash of orange color!

And of course I had to take some shots later at night with the candles lit . . .

So, what about you? Have you set your table yet?  I’m sure Susan over at BNOTP will be having her usual Thursday Tablescape post this week. It’s been a while since I joined in but I think I will this week, and I’ll be sure to check out all the other great table settings too :-)

Have a wonderful day

hugs

Denise

Happy Monday!

Good Monday morning to you all. The sun is shining, the air is chilly, it’s really Fall here in Texas and we’re just 10 days away from Thanksgiving 2010!  Today is actually the day Kristen was due 10 years ago, it’s also Nan’s birthday (that’s Jason’s  Dad’s Mom!) but as you all know my little ‘Butterball’ decided she wasn’t fully cooked on that date and decided to wait another 10 days before she made her entrance!  Now that the craft fair is over I can start getting the house ready for her birthday and Thanksgiving dinner, that’s what I’ll be busy doing today and the rest of this week. 

But before I do that I promised I’d share pictures of the fair last Saturday. I always get concerned about the weather when we’re doing an outdoor market. The temps on Friday were 77 but for Saturday the high was only going to be about 68 and partly cloudy. Well, it was pretty chilly for most of the morning, but thankfully the sun shone brightly and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky all day :-)

This is the ‘old’ courthouse that was right opposite our booth – look at the color of that gorgeous sky!

Here’s our booth finally set up.  I’d worked all day Thursday and Friday in my garage trying to arrange things so we had an idea of how things would look. We were selling some of Cheryl’s mom’s seasonal wreaths and basket arrangements, as you can see on the left. We won’t always have these so we’ll be rearranging things a little for the next fair.

 

  Not only did we have the lovely view of the courthouse across the street, but this gorgeous booth was set up right in front of us too!

It was a really fun day and we did ok with sales . . . not ‘great’ , but ok is fine by us ;-)  Jason surprised me by showing up with Kristen for a little while. I hadn’t asked if he’d bring her over because I knew he would be working, but they did come and it really put a smile on my face.  Next month they are having a Christmas fair which we won’t be doing, but Cheryl and I want to take the kids along to it and be the ‘shopper’ instead of the ‘seller’ ;-)  We’ll start back up with craft markets and fairs next year in the spring time.

In the mean time I will be trying to list my goods on Etsy. And it’s back to knitting too – I have a few orders to make this week, so with that and housework I’m sure to be kept busy (as usual) :-)

Have a wonderful start to your week. Are you all getting ready for Thanksgiving? What are your plans? Going to see family or having family come see you? 

hugs

Denise