Honey It Was Cold Outside

 

The day we went to get a tree it was in the teens, we were all freezing but I should have asked for my oldest daughters camera so I can take a picture of her that day. It was fun experience except it was freezing. All of the trees look perfect when you are cold :o)

 

The hymn we chose for our garland is called A Baby is Born in Bethlehem. At hymns.me.uk you can find many hymns. BTW I couldn't fit the whole hymn on the tree. I am wondering your ideas about your trees this year. Do you go with a different theme every year? Do you add something new? Please let me know :)

A Babe is born in Bethlehem
Christmas Hymn & Carol Lyrics

A Babe is born in Bethlehem, Bethlehem,
Therefore rejoice Jerusalem,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Within a manger He doth lie, He doth lie,
Whose throne is set above the sky.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Stillness was all the manger round, manger round,
The creature its Creator found.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The wise men came, led by the star, by the star,
Gold, myrrh, and incense brought from far.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

His mother is the virgin mild, virgin mild,
And He the Father’s only Child.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The serpent’s wound He beareth not, beareth not,
Yet takes our blood, and shares our lot,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Our human flesh He enters in, enters in,
But bears no single taint of sin.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

To fallen man Himself He bowed, self He bowed,
That He might lift us up to God.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

On this most blessèd Jubilee, Jubilee,
All glory be, O God, to Thee.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

O Holy Three, we Thee adore, Thee adore,
This day, henceforth, forevermore.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Our 2010 Tree

 We got a real tree this year which is a first in a long time. The last real tree was a hatchery for spiders, thousands of them. My girls are terrified of spiders so we went the artificial route for a many year.

A few days ago I was visiting a craft blog, I thought it was Living with Lindsay but can't find the post,  and was inspired by her inspiration of Pottery Barn's garland. I really liked the idea, so I decided to find a beautiful Christmas Hymn to use for our tree. I'll get another picture soon of the whole tree but wanted to share the idea. I used 8.5 X 11 paper that was antique looking. I printed the hymn on to the paper, 3 lines per sheet in landscape, thanks to Publisher and then cut them out using Pfisher scrolly scissors. Taped them together in the back and place the garland on the tree. :)

Our Tree with Christmas Hymn Garland

Style

It is fun to see they styles your preteens like  :)

Gifts

C. Marie gave me my 2010 garden to treasure every time I am in the kitchen and I am in the kitchen a-l-o-t!

Where are your Christmas Cards This Year?

Are your cards:
on the table,
in the car,
on your desk,
in the mail,
or
delivered?

This year was sweet, I added senior pictures of my oldest daughter. I'm glad to have about 8 years before senior pictures are added with the Christmas cards  again :)

Lights

When I drive through town I see so many beautiful and expensive looking decorations. When you are on a tight budget outside decorations fall to the bottom of the list. But...
with a few strings of old icicle lights we now have a little festive glitter to be a part of our neighbors hoorah. Our 9 year old was absolutely thrilled to see them :)

Ricotta Cookies

 

We found this yummy cookie in a Family Circle Magazine a few years ago.

MAKES: 6 1/2 dozen cookies. PREP: 10 minutes REFRIGERATE: overnight. BAKE: at 350 for 10 min.

4 c all-purpose flour

2 t baking powder

1t baking soda

1t salt

1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/2 c granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 t vanilla extract

1 container (15 ounces) part-skim ricotta

GLAZE:

2 c confectioners sugar sifted

3T orange juice

Colored sprinkles (optional)

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl.

2. Beat butter and sugar on medium spped in a large bowl until fluffy, 3 minutes; beat in eggs, vanilla and ricotta.

3.Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat baking sheets with cooking spray.

5. Shape level tablespoons of the dough into balls. Place at least 1" apart on cookie sheets.

6. Bake for 10 minutes or until bottoms are lightly brown. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Transfer cookies to wire rack; let cool.

7. GLAZE: Meanwhile, <-- LOL when you are rotating trays in oven with your 3 hands,,, the recipe really says "meanwhile... Just make the glaze when you REALLY do have a meanwhile... enjoy making your cookies, they will not leave you b/c they are not glazed, lolz. Stir sugar and juice in small bowl until smooth and good glazing consistency. If too thick, add a lil juice to thin. Spoon glaze over each cookie. Garnish with sprinkles if desired. Let stand until hardened.

Old Fashioned Tool Box

I thought for sure a tool box that looked as if it had a little grease in it would not do well with paint. But with a hot sunny day in one hand and a bucket of soapy water in the other, I gave it a good scrubbing. It dried in the sun for 2 days, was primed and painted, and passed the test.

Black or White

So this summer

 I painted a few projects over the summer that I'll begin to share. As you can see I wasn't sure what color I wanted this table, but in the end I am glad I went with Charcoal Grey. Alot of the pieces I show that I have redone were either in our house when we moved here or put out in a neighbor's garbage. You can see the wood is split on the coffee tabletop in the white painted photo. It's not noticeable when it is painted the dark color.

Simply Cake

A family favorite. Yellow cake with chocolate pudding and cool whip, with Coca Cola :) It's pretty neat how you can please your family with simple homemade recipes. This was a favorite of my husband's growing up and now is a favorite in our family.

BHG Yellow Cake

Ingredients

• 2-1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 2-1/2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 2/3  cup  butter or margarine
• 1-3/4  cups  sugar
• 1-1/2  teaspoons  vanilla
• 2    eggs
• 1-1/4  cups  milk

Directions

1. Grease and lightly flour two 8x1-1/2-inch or 9x1-1/2-inch round baking pans or grease one 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set pan(s) aside. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter or margarine with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 1 minute after each. Add dry mixture and milk alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just till combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).
3. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool layer cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove layer cakes from pans. Cool thoroughly on racks. Or, place 13x9-inch cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly. Frost with desired frosting. Makes 12 servings.

All that extra lotion

 It drives me a little crazy to have a bottle of lotion that cost about $8 on sale and not be able to use it all. For years I have been cutting the bottle to get to the bottom but have keep it in a container. I guess I never found a pretty container b/c inconvenience led me to figure something out.

 As you can see I have cut the middle section out of bottle, cut the straw accordingly and rejoined the top and bottom to have a mini bottle of lotion.

New Rose Bush Blooms 3 Times

I was happy to buy one of my first rose bushes this year. Not an expensive one though. I didn't expect much this year, in fact I figured it wouldn't bloom until next year. I was very surprised that it bloomed three times. What a golden beauty!

Ruby Red Corn

We had a crazy garden this year. We bought Ruby Red corn and it was gorgeous. The stalks were reddish topped with red silks.
I should have planted yellow corn with it to make the corn sweeter, but I must say it was sweet and yummy without crossbreeding. For some reason we did get 1 yellow ear.

When it was cooked it lost it's red color. It was a fun colorful treat. We hung a few ears to dry and used stalks for decorations too.

For the Love of the Great Pumpkine

I was on a pumpkin kick this autumn and made treat bags to look like...

pumpkins <3

Pie, Pumpkin Pie

When you have sugar pumpkins you make  puree. When you have puree you make...

Pie <3

Sugar Pumpkins Galore

We grew a few pumkins and had a harvest of a little over 20. To say the least it has made a good amount of puree for pie.

 Picture courtesy of my daughter.

Vanity Chair Redo

This chair was picked up at a yard sale and was hunter green with a plastic brown seat cushion. Both the wooden seat base and the metal of the chair were in great shape which made this redo very easy.

For this project I used white spray paint, a piece of upolstry fabric, but any fabric would do because the chair is used lightly. I looked high and low for a good price on the cushion and ended up finding it at Wal-mart. I bought a package of 2 foam cushions, 15" x 17" x 1" for under $7. I've had the ribbon of beads so the make over cost was just for the foam cushion :)

Making Cards

These 3 cards are from a panel of stickers from the dollar store. I just added blocks of the purple to add color. These pictures do not do the cards justice. Those black & white stickers are really pretty. They came like this, they were not embellished :)

Alot of the paper we use is from theme books of paper and the stickers are either on sale or from dollar stores :)

Blank Cards

Today the girls and I made a few blank cards.

 I was looking at quilts on blogs today and was inspired by what I saw. The thing I like about homemade cards is that they are inexpensive to make and are unique.

The great thing about making cards is that there aren't any rules :)

If you watch for sales, you will find paper, cut outs, tablets of paper, and envelops on sale. We do not buy sets of cut cards and envelopes, we buy card stock and invitation envelopes and cut paper to size :)

Beloved Gretchen

She will be missed greatly. She was with us for 10 years and with a lot of health issues, but nothing stopped her from being lovable and kind and eager to please us. We are sad but thankful we had her for as long as we did. We had to put her down on July 15 after she couldn't walk anymore for a few days. This was causing other issues and because of her age they couldn't do anything for her.
The drs said that after 8 years with large dogs everyday may be their last. But isn't it true of all of us. We aren't promised tomorrow anymore than a pet is.

James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Phillipians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling

Teepee Trellis

This picture is from a few years ago. The idea is to grow pole beans or morning glory up the teepee and have a child play in the teepee. This spot was too shady, so our plants didn't grow well. But I thought I'd post it anyway, because I would like to try it in the future. We bought 9' plastic-coated metal faux bamboo rods for project because they will last forever :) Glad we did that because this picture is 7 years old!

Garden

 

We planted Roma Tomatoes late this year, so we will have a late harvest.

Sunflower that came up from a rogue seed from last years harvest.

This is actually asparagus. I've had this plant for a few years too close to pine tree. A few weeks ago I transplanted it into the garden. It is doing well. There is actually an asparagus shoot on it but it is too small for a mouse :)

Corn and Watermelon. It is planted like this with the 3 Sister's Crop in mind. I am thinking we should waited til we bought some squash instead, b/c the watermelon will easily overtake the corn.

 

This is a yellow tomato that is still green.

It's been a long time since I have blogged. Thanks for taking a look over here :) I've had these garden pictures up for a few days before I had a chance to add words. Thanks for your comment "Hobbit". Great job trying to identifying the asparagus. The picture isn't that good or close for being able to see what it is.

Our garden is a little bit of square foot gardening and a little bit of "lets see what happens". 

We decided to get a soaker hose to add to our old soaker hose and it is working like a dream. It's been very hot and very dry, so the hose was a great thing in keeping the garden hydrated with out running out there a few times a day. 

Chicken & Stewed Tomatoes

My girls and I enjoyed watching the Food Revolution and trying to make food from the show. We didn't have the right ingredients for a certain recipe; I don't even remember what it was exactly. But ours was yumo! I really like this recipe b/c you can very easily substitute an ingredient for something else.

My 8 year old had a great time cutting vegetables with me! I've got to do this more often!

Olive Oil
about 4 Chicken Breasts (boneless/skinless if possible)
3 Cloves of Garlic
Small Onion
1 Bell Pepper
Mushrooms
15-oz can Stewed Tomatoes
4-oz can Tomato Paste

1. Brown Chicken in olive (or grill) just a few minutes to give golden brown. Set aside

2. Saute garlic, onion, then pepper, & mushrooms.

3. Drain oil & put previous & rest of ingredients in a frying pan with lid. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Serve over rice or noodles :)

From one heart to another

A friend gave me a bleeding heart plant last year and the sad thing is that I had thought that I had killed it. What a surprise to see this pretty coming up this year. I thanked my neighbor for the plant. My girls and I have never had a plant like this. We are enjoying seeing how the little hearts grow and change every day.

Wreath Upcycled

I found a new blog I love. She has a tutorial for this pretty wreath. If you have time check out her blog :)
Search: "Living with Lindsay" paper wreath

School is almost out for my girls,,, one more month.
This is my second year home schooling. I've learned so many things about being a mom. It's a huge blessing to be home with them. My oldest will be a senior in high school next school year; which means we'll be visiting colleges this summer. Where has the time gone? What are your plans for the summer?

Erasers

This eraser is super easy to make. We took 4 squares of felt that were about 4" X 4" and sewed them down the middle on the sewing machine and then we folded it in half. Lastly, with quilting thread we made some "X"'s. We use the white board alot for school and only have one store bought eraser. I thought we'd take the frugal way and make a few since we have plenty of felt :)

Here's my lil artist taking the real pictures :)

Eggs

I love farm eggs. Before I started getting eggs from a farm I didn't see the point. I couldn't have been more wrong. They look beautiful compared to store bought eggs outside and inside. A farm egg has a beautiful bright yellow color. It will make a store egg look sickly by comparison :)

Tea anyone?

Join me for some tea... :)

Seems like the world is right to have some snow. It's funny to hear people complain about it because it has been a few years since we had any accumulation.

I have correspondance on my mind. I heard from a few people through Christmas cards. And so January is usually when I write back to them. I think it is great when we can keep in touch, even if only once a year.

Winter in the Northeast

If anyone asked 20 years ago what a typical winter would be in the northeast, you would have been answered by lots of snow, at least that is how I remember it. But for the last 5 years we've had little snow here in Northeastern PA. Except for this year. Yay!! I've missed the snow. It's what I remember when I was a kid.

My childhood was filled with many ups and downs, lots of uncertainty; but the snow was always there every winter. I always loved going outside right after a snow storm. It was always so quiet and clean. The first movie Narnia reminds me of this... can you imagine if you walked into this wood and you pushed through the branches a little farther that you'd stumble upon a new world? Ok Maybe not :)