Giveaway Winner

Hi guys, I must apologize for not announcing the winner to my giveaway on Saturday as I had originally intended. I bought some new herbs and plants for the garden and was out there a lot with Jason, I totally forgot about getting on here and posting! So, without further ado..... The Winner IS:

CarolM

Congratulations Carol, I'll be contacting you with the information about how to download your free software. Thanks to everyone that entered. I'll be back later today with a 'weekend catchup' post.

"Evacuate - Get Out Now!"

Those were the chilling words I heard yesterday when a policeman came knocking on my door!!!!!! After just telling you about the wildfires raging around here yesterday,  you still never think it's going to happen to you. I actually saw flashing lights in the cul-de-sac first and was just getting up to 'investigate' when I saw a policeman coming to my front door. "You need to evacuate now, there's a structure fire right behind you" he said. I didn't hesitate, I went calmly up stairs, grabbed the fire safe we have all our documents in, got Boo's leash and my purse and got in my van and pulled out of the garage. The fact that I couldn't smell smoke, or hear sirens was probably what helped keep me a little calm, although I must admit I was still shaking a little.

It hadn't really sunk in what the policeman said, the 'structure' part that is, so for some reason I thought the fire was something to do with construction (they're still building in our neighborhood, but not directly behind us), whatever it was, I did as I was told and got out of there. Now the question "where to go?"  I was about to leave the house in a little while to take Boo to the groomers, so my plan of action was, take him there as planned (just an hour earlyr) and see if they would take him, then go and get Kristen from school (wasn't sure when we would be allowed back in the neighborhood, and I just wanted her with me) then call Jason. Just as I was leaving Petsmart, Cheryl (my neighbor) called my cell, she was at home and the fire she explained was in the house right behind me!! It was out by this time, so it was safe to go back home. I decided to leave Kristen in school and just headed home.   This is the house that sits right behind me  . . . . .

and this is what I saw when I got home (from upstairs in my game room) . . . . 

 :-(

Devastating!!!  and SO sad. News is that the owners weren't home and a neighbor had called the fire department, and last night Cheryl had been told that all the pets had perished! :-(  This morning though, I've seen on a local newspaper Facebook page that the pets got out? I am SO hoping that is the case.  The cause is possibly a dryer (so the FB page said). It's so hard to think this can happen to any one of us, any day?  A few months ago the house just across from our cul-de-sac was on fire when it was hit by lightening (that was probably the last time we had rain here too, it was a really bad storm that night). The couple living there have had to move out for at least 6mths, because the house was 'fried'! All the wiring in the walls had to be replaced. The whole roof was taken off and replaced too, they still aren't back home in it. We can see the workman are still there every day, removing sheet rock etc.

Makes you realize that we shouldn't take anything for granted, every day is a GIFT.

It's that time . . .

Don't forget to enter my scrapbooking giveaway! Click on the banner below

Many of you may have heard of the awful fires raging through Texas right now. The main one is in Bastrop which is only about an hour south of us. But over the weekend there was one very close to home, just  10 minutes along the road to be exact, near our local library! The fire destroyed 11 homes, and damaged 9 others (you can read about it HERE), but what is so sad is that they are suspecting arson, 2 young guys and 2 girls, ages 15-16 :(  What are these kids thinking?!!!!

 This picture above was on a friend's FB page, this is in Bastrop, TX. The fire is 20 miles wide, and 6 miles deep, 100's of homes have been destroyed. We so desperately need rain here.I'm praying!

Despite the drought we are still experiencing and the high afternoon temps (still in the 90's) it has been a lot cooler here in the mornings for the past  few days - I would go so far as to say there was a chill in the air! :-) The lows have started to drop in to the low 60's and it feels WONDERFUL! Which brings me to my title, time for . . . .  Fall Decorating of course!  I am joining Kristen again this week for her 'Share Your Creations' party. I had a little trip to Michael's today and bought some new fall garlands. I also dragged out my Rubbermaid filled with Fall decor. As usual I'm trying to decorate on a budget (we are still trying to be frugal and pay off my van). Let me show you what I've been creating today. . . .  

Here'

So, I bought a new garland and when I got home I just placed it on the burlap runner - then I stepped back and thought hmmm, I rather like it :-) So, there it is staying (for now). You'll also see that I have one chair cover on (waiting for the others that I ordered from Walmart) and I bought some sunflower clips from Michaels and tried one on the back of the chair. I'm thinking I might like to get some twine and create something around the top of the chair with the flower and some other greenery?

Here's another look at the garland from another angle, AND do you see the curtains :-) I added them the other day, bought them months ago at Ikea (you can read about my ongoing dining room Redo HERE).

 

Once I get the other chair covers, the room will be complete for now. I decided not to buy a new chandelier just yet (after sending the other one back), it's just too pricey right now. It's looking rather Fall'ish and cozy, don't you think?

I also made a start on some decor in the living room. I'm keeping the mantel rather simple with just another garland and a candle (I put corn in the base, like I'd seen on some pins on Pinterest). It's funny how the poppies take on an orange glow once I added the leaves, instead of the bright red I usually see :-)

My favorite Yankee Candle was burning as I was decorating. I love this 'Harvest' scent!

Judy will recognize these two little characters :-) I won them in a giveaway she had last Fall. I had them on the top of the fridge last year, but I think they look cute sitting on the stairs here.  

And lastly, something I was 'creating' in the kitchen yesterday - pear jam using the pears from our trees :-)  I also made pear sauce the other day (just like apple sauce but I used the pears and blended it til smooth).  They both taste sweet and yummy!

So, what have you been creating this week? Visit Kristen to see other great creations. 

PW Time - low carb!

 

Hi guys, it's time for another PW recipe :-) I wasn't sure what to make from the book this week but then it came to me rather quickly when I was thinking of what to do for dinner last Friday night.  I think I've mentioned that I'm watching my carb intake right now, and this week Jason got on board with me and is following a low carb diet too - super happy about that. 

I decided I would do a nice steak for dinner on Friday night, Cheryl had grilled some the weekend before and topped them with Gorgonzola, we had a simple spinach salad with it and it was delicious. And all very low carb (Cheryl is following low carb too).  I wasn't intending to do anything from the cookbook that night, thought I might try the biscuits or something over the weekend, but then it came to me. . . . Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce!!!

Earlier this week I'd been browsing Ree's cooking blog and came across this recipe - Grilled Ribeye Steak with Onion and Blue Cheese Sauce

 (photo courtesy of The Pioneer Woman)

I even read her other post about how to grill a steak, which you can see HERE.  It all looked very simple enough, and I remembered that she had a similar recipe in her cookbook. I didn't have blue cheese in, but I did have some whiskey, so here's my Ribeye with whiskey cream sauce, 

 I have to say that I was cooking this after 9pm when I'd had one or two glasses of wine (ok, so it might have been three!), so I didn't get many pictures. But as I said, so simple to do.

 While I was grilling my steaks 'the Ree way' I sauted some onion in a pan with a little butter, then added in a little whiskey and cream - that was it! To be honest, I don't think I even measured anything! I poured my sauce over the steak , rather than sitting the steak on top like PW does - cos that's just how I like it :-) 

Verdict: DELICIOUS! We both loved it.  And the great thing is, this is very very low carb. In fact the only carbs in it are in the onion! I would definitely do it again, but I think I'd like to try her onion and blue cheese sauce too.

Scrapbooking Fun and a GIVEAWAY!

When Kristen was young, actually, before she was even born, I used to scrapbook. It was something I was introduced to by a new friend/neighbor, when I first moved to the States over 12 years ago. I went along with her to a friend's house who was hosting a Creative Memories Party. I was instantly hooked. Then along came Kristen and I had tons and tons of baby photos to play with and create wonderful scrapbooks. I made one of her first year, one of her second year, I made a Christmas family album, a school album, then moved on to creating vacation albums too. I loved it. At one point I even became a Creative Memories consultant and hosted parties myself!

But then, we moved to Texas, and I didn't find any friends that scrapbooked, so I eventually put my supplies away and didn't make any more albums. And that's how it's been for the last 6 years. Until just recently!

Just recently I was contacted by a lovely lady from a company called My Memories. It's an online scrapbooking company. I've heard of digital scrapbooking software actually tried it once I think a few years ago, but couldn't really get the hang of it and just didn't seem interested in it. The lovely lady, Liz, asked if I would like to try their scrapbook software and host a giveaway for it on my blog. Well, I'm here writing about it, so you know what my answer to that was  :-) (keep reading for how to win your own copy of My Memories Suite version 2).

I've been playing with the software all week. I have to say when it comes to new software I'm usually pretty, urmmm, 'not smart', for want of a better word. I have to take things slowly and if I can't figure something out in the first 5 minutes, I usually get pretty angry. Thankfully, that didn't happen with this software. I found it pretty easy to create my first page . . .

As you can see I picked some photos I took last year when Kristen was learning to horse ride. There are lots of premade pages to choose from but also lots of embellishments to add too. This page already had the side paper on it and where to place the photos and text, and a green box for the Title. All I added was the little blue flowers and a paperclip (just to give it my personal touch!) :-) Scrapbooking the 'old way', I could be sitting for hours thinking of how I would arrange my page,s then once I decided I'd have to cut out my paper, and crop my photos . . . . oh my gosh, I had none of that to do here. It was so quick and easy. 

I made another page with the photos from Kristen's first day of school last week. . . . and it doesn't always just have to be an album page, you can create calendars and videos, make a dvd and add music, cards, posters and lots more.

Check out this link to Youtube to see more  http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMemoriesSuite

I'm really rather excited now, after all these years and doing nothing with the photos I've taken (other than store them on my computer in folders), I'm really eager to start creating pages and designing albums, so I can get them printed. They'll make great Christmas gifts too. There's also so many other digital paper packs that I can purchase, I'm having a great time browsing them all at My Memories.com

So, would you like to try the  My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software? You could win your own copy - a $40 value by entering my giveaway below.

1 entry - visit MyMemories.Com and tell me what your favorite digital paper pack or layout is. 

extra entry - Like My Memories on Facebook

extra entry - Follow My Memories on Twitter

That's 3 chances to win :-) And if you aren't the lucky winner but want to give digital scrapbooking a try, use this special coupon code STMMMS5368 that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!)

I'll announce a winner on Saturday September10th.

Wine Time!

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday so I thought I'd pop on here this morning and do a wine post :-) Looks like I'm not actually managing to do these every week, so I'll just do them as and when I have something to share with you. This week I bought two new wines to try. Last night I tried this one (of course, with Cheryl - I cannot try a new wine without getting her opinion on it) ;-)

Pine Ridge Wine (you can find their website HERE). This is a Chenin Blanc + Viognier (which I pronounce 'von-yay', but have no idea if that's how you say it!!), the chenin blanc is a sweet wine but this wasn't too sweet because 21% of it is viognier. It has peach and honeysuckle flavors from the Viognier and crisp apple, pear and citrus from the Chenin Blanc. I was surprised that I actually could smell and taste the peach (and yay, I didn't look at the back of the bottle before I tasted). Cheryl got hints of citrus when she tried it.

I picked this wine because the first house we ever bought when we moved to the USA was on Pine Ridge Rd! It brought back sweet memories of my new life in the States.

The other wine I picked (but I haven't tried yet) is this one . . . 

Isn't that a cute label :-)  And of course we're still in 'flip flop weather' here in Texas (and probably will be all the way through to October!) so this will be fun to try next weekend.

I have to share this bottle with you - Cheryl opened it last night to try and I have to say, it's the best Merlot I've ever tried. 

This is a huge discovery for me (I'll definitely buy it again- Cheryl got it  from Costco) because I've never liked Merlot. They've always tasted too dry for me and very 'oaky', and LOL, I've always said it tasted very 'furry'!! But this wine wasn't like that, and get this - I actually tasted 'black cherry' (and not the usual blackberry taste that I get from a Cabinet) and that is what it said on the label :-)  I'm getting pretty good at this wine tasting stuff! Highly recommend this one.

I asked Cheryl last weekend to take a picture of my new dress and shoes - this is from her Iphone so it's not very clear (the shoe pics were totally blurry, so I'll get a photo of them next time). I got the dress at Ross and it was actually a gift from Cheryl because a couple of weeks ago she bought me one from there that she thought I might like (she's an awesome friend like that!) but it turned out too small, so I took it back. Couldn't find the dress in a larger size, so I got this one instead :-) 

 I also have to share with you the pretty cuff I wore with it - Susan will recognize this! I won it in a giveaway at her blog last year some time - it's made from a vintage man's suit and is adorned with beautiful lace and a hand sewn silk rose, and tied with a silk ribbon.

Well, I must be off. Hope you all have a great weekend. I have a giveaway coming soon - if you like scrapbooking or have wanted to try digital scrapbooking, you're gonna love it!

Fall Creations

 The lovely Kristen over at Kristen's Creations is hosting her first 'Share Your Creations' Party today. It's similar to her Show and Sell, but she's changed it up for anyone to share 'anything' they've created (not just what they're selling), although she still has allowed us to share things we've created that we will sell!  I thought I'd join in today and show you a few things I've been creating this week for my Etsy shop.

I popped out to Hobby Lobby earlier this week and decided to buy some 'Fall Yarn'! It's still hot here in TX, but there's still a feeling that Fall is on it's way, perhaps because we're up earlier each morning and I'm getting to feel the cool 70 degree weather before it hit's the 100's later in the day! Whatever it is, it's putting me in the mood for Fall Knitting :-) 

Last year my Pumpkin hat was pretty popular, so I'm listing it again and can do other sizes if needed. Using the same lovely orange yarn, I knit this pretty little girls hat . . .

I think it looks super cute and will be a great addition to any little girl's 'wardrobe'. I've got some cowls to list soon too, like these I had last year - a gorgeous chunky cowl knit in a 'fan and feather' pattern (which looks rather lacy).

I love this oatmeal colored yarn and I've got a chunky pair of fingerless mittens to list in the same yarn - it's just a matter of taking the photos, which I'm hoping to do this weekend. Also to list is another cowl like this . . 

 

and I also have it knitted in a lovely 'Fall' color, a beautiful blend of browns, orange, sienna and burnt umber - it looks gorgeous. After I have a few new things listed for Fall I will get on with my Christmas gift knitting :-) It certainly keeps me busy!