Homesteader's Heart

Because some of you might not know me well enough!

2012-01-27T07:52:00.001-05:00

I was over at my dear friend Lisa’s blog and decided that this would be fun to do. I haven’t done anything like this in a LONG time and I’ve gained a few more friends and thought you’d LOVE to know more about me. You do right? Of course you do. So here you go.

The ABC’s about ME!

Age: – Old enough to have fun and young enough to remember!

Bed size: King! See Height!

Chore you dislike: I don’t really enjoy vacuuming.

Dogs: None at this time.

Essential start to your day: Coffee, Bible, Working Out. Makes for a good day!

Favorite color: Red

Gold or silver: Gold!

Height: 5 foot 12 inches

Instruments you play(ed): Piano, very poorly. I want to take lessons again.

Job title: Wonder Woman (Because I’m constantly wondering how I get anything done!)

Kids: 3 BEAUTIFUL children.

Live: The Sunshine State: Florida!

Mom’s name: I like to call her Momther!

Nicknames: When I was a teenager I was called, Amazon Woman, Too Tall, Stretch, Berlygirl. My hubby calls me Babe.

Overnight hospital stays: I’m thankful to say that I’ve only had to stay in the hospital when I gave birth.

Pet Peeves: Rude people, impatient drivers, talking during a movie, people not being on time and many more I’m sure.

Quote from a movie: “In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies.” Name that movie!

Righty or Lefty: Righty

Siblings: 2 older brothers and an older sister

Time you wake up: I usually wake up around 5:45 am.

Underwear: Essential part of my wardrobe.

Vegetables you don’t like: Eggplant. YUCK!

What makes you run late: I don’t generally run late. I’m pretty good at timing things. Check my peeves.LOL!

X-Rays you’ve had: None, thank the Lord.

Yummy food you make: If you asked my family, they would probably say that my homemade pizza is their favorite dish I make.

Zoo animal favorite: Giraffe

If you decide to do this let me know so I can come check it out!

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY FRIENDS!

I’m Sorry My Daughter!

2012-01-25T07:01:00.001-05:00

Since I really had nothing to write about I decided to go back and look at some old pictures files. By old I mean a few months ago. Half the time I take pictures for something to blog about then completely forget about them. It happens more often than I want to admit. So basically if a picture is in a folder, it’s fair game.

My daughter has the same camera we do so when she takes pictures, they get dumped into the same folders as ours. This could be dangerous……for her. As I was virtually thumbing through the photos I stumbled across one that just cracked me up.

First let me say that my daughter is an EXCELLENT photographer (and I love her very very much). But she does have a weak spot. I loved the idea of this photo but there is a slight problem…….

Do you see it? It’s like an I Spy of sorts.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not very hip these days and in order to give her the benefit of the doubt I looked up the word “craty”. It doesn’t exist.

The End!

Mantel Makeover!

2012-01-23T15:33:00.001-05:00

Warning the word “mantel” is used without abandonment in this post. If you are allergic to the word mantel please be advised to stay away. You’ve been warned.

When I started writing this post I was on the phone with my BFF and as I was writing the post title I asked her how to spell mantel. I spelled it mantel, she spelled it mantle. So she looked it up in the dictionary and you can in fact spell it either way. Who knew? Just thought I share that little tid bit of information.

I haven’t been crazy about what I had on our mantel since we moved here a year ago. I’d never had a mantel to play with so I really didn’t know what I wanted it to look like. Back up to a few days ago I remembered that I still had some old windows from my grandparents home in Maine that I hadn’t used for anything yet and this stemmed the mantel makeover.

This is what I was working with. An old window and a bare mantel.

So I (mostly my hubby) took this old window, sanded it down a little, cleaned it off, wiped the glass and then put a clear coat on it to seal it.

It is now the main focus of the mantel.

Since Spring will be here before we know it (it’s 80 here today, don’t be jealous) I thought I’d try some Spring decor’ on it. I love the fact that I’ll be able to change up the wreath in the middle of the window depending on the seasons or holiday. For this picture I chose just a plain grapevine wreath with a vintage hankie tied around it.

I placed some previously spray painted vases on there with some fake flowers and Voila’, my Spring mantel.

But that decor’ was so two days ago and since Valentine’s is just around the corner I had to change it up already.

This is what it looks like right now.

What do you think? Cute? Scary? Too much? Not enough. Talk to me.

I’m still critiquing it, so it may change a little but for now I think it screams Valentine’s Day. Not to mention it makes me smile.

Have a lovely day my friends!

Blogging Encouragement!

2012-01-19T06:35:00.001-05:00

My dearest friend Lisa over at Stop and Smell the Chocolates has put a lot of time and effort into this series.

She broke it down into bite size pieces for you and you can check it out by clicking on the button above.

We all go through slumps in our blogging so if you are in need of some blogging encouragement, I’d check it out.

There isn’t a whole lot I can add to what she’s already said but here are a few things that I think are important to remember.

1. Don’t compare your blog to another. It’s unhealthy. We are all different and will write different, have different tastes, have different talents etc. You can’t compare apples to oranges. I’ve got news for you. Not everyone is going to like you and that’s okay. Be comfortable in your own skin.

2. Enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it it will reflect in your writing and people won’t want to read it therefore leading you to discouragement. Blogging isn’t for everyone.

3. Give in order to receive. We all love comments. We are naturally interactive and love hearing feedback. But remember, people are reading even if they don’t comment. I’ve had people out of the blue tell me what a blessing my blog is to them and I’ve never heard from them again, but that one comment meant the world to me. So make sure that you take a little time to leave comments around the blogosphere and be an encouragement to someone because you know how good it feels yourself.

4. The Niche’. I’ve yet to find mine. Yes, after 5 years of blogging I’m still nicheless. I’m a wearer of many hats and you never really know what you’re going to get on my blog and that’s okay. It reflects me and after all, you’re here because of me right? *wink*

Well that’s all I’m going to say on the subject. If you have time and really need some in depth encouragement make sure you check out Lisa’s series and if you yourself have an encouraging post, she is having a link up today. Come join in. The more encouragement the better!

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY FRIENDS!

I Use My Kids as a Cover Up!

2012-01-17T06:36:00.001-05:00

One of these days I may become an adult that enjoys sitting and watching the news, reading the newspaper, keeping up with current events. But not today and probably not tomorrow.

When the showers are done and it’s time to settle down for the night I don’t turn on the news or (insert popular night time drama here) no, we watch shows like this.

This show cracks me up. Some how it feeds on my “keen” sense of humor and I find myself laughing at every episode (and secretly wanting a pet platypus).

With our newly acquired Netflix for the Wifi we’ve managed to watch almost all 78 episodes in about 2 months. Yeeup!

Then there’s this one.

This show feeds on the fact that deep down I may have wanted to be a scientist or maybe just a genius. But I usually end up feeling like Carl, the chubby fella on the right with glasses who doesn’t know what’s going on half the time but as long as he’s got food he’s up for anything.

I’m not sure how I’m going to explain this kind of behavior when the kids are grown and gone but for now, my kids are my cover up. Shhhh!

This post brought to you by parents who just want to be a Toys R’ Us kid.

Have a FUNTASTIC day my friends!

The Ugly Cake!

2012-01-12T07:09:00.001-05:00

The other day was my super duper hubbalicious’s birthday!

I had posted on my FB page that I was going to reuse some candles. Candles that don’t even match.

These candles.

(My hubby said I had the numbers messed up! In your dreams baby!)

Most of the people who commented about my candle “frugalness” were on my side. I only had one opposition that said I really should have gotten him matching candles. My hubby didn’t seem to mind. In fact they were the perfect candles for the perfect cake.

And by perfect, I mean perfectly ugly. It was probably THE ugliest cake I have ever made in my life. It was a GF Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting. (Which has nothing to do with its ugliness, I just thought you’d like to know.)

Don’t be jealous!

Watch as the 4 sinks slowly into the frosting.

Hurry honey blow out the candles before the 4 completely disappears!! Blow, blow now!

The Happy Birthday song seemed to take forever as I watched the 4 slowly start to lean to one side.

But it all ended well. The candles still blew out like new ones, my hubby still turned a year older regardless of the ugly cake and my family had a full, happy belly when the night was over.

Life is good!

Have you ever had a cake fail before? In terms of either looks OR taste OR both! Do tell.

Hiding Shelving Ugliness!

2012-01-10T06:48:00.001-05:00

Let me back story real quick. Seriously, real quick.

Once upon a time we moved into a home that had a dishwasher, it broke, we didn’t replace it, hubby put in shelves instead, I’m happy about it because now I have more storage.

The End!

The shelves have been built for a couple of months now and for those two months I was looking at this. Nice huh?

But since my motto for this year is “Git er’ done!”, I figured it was time to do what I’ve been talking about doing since the shelves were put in. So I raided my fabric supply and made this.

I took a lot of corners but in the end I think it came out cute.

I’m in instant results kind of girl, so projects need to be quick. And although this one probably won’t ever get into Better Homes & Garden magazine, it’s working for me.

HAVE A CRAFTY FUN KIND OF DAY!

P,S, I’m giving away a Gooseberry Patch book if you’re interested.

Gooseberry Patch “Fresh from the Farmstand” Giveaway! (WINNER ANNOUNCED)

2012-01-08T07:05:00.002-05:00

The winner of the Gooseberry Patch book is Tammy who said her favorite breakfast was a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on toast w/mayonnaise. Yummy!!

Congratulations Tammy! I'll be emailing you soon!

Once again I have been blessed to review another yet to be released Gooseberry Patch book.

“Fresh from the FARMSTAND”

This cookbook is probably one of my favorites so far. Why? Because it’s chock full of recipes that involve using all sorts of veggies. Yay! Unfortunately with it being Winter a lot of the produce in the recipes are out of season but I have TONS of recipes marked to try.

Wait, that doesn’t mean I didn’t find a couple of recipes to try now. I picked a couple of breakfast recipes, because it’s my favorite meal of the day. I’ll show it to you in a second.

But first let me rave about the wonderful recipes in this book. If you ever wondered how you were going to use all that garden produce well then you’ll want to have this book handy.

Just look at the contents:

Freshly Gathered Breakfasts

Market-Basket Soups & Breads

Garden-Fresh Sides & Salads

Farmstand Feasts

Summer’s Best Appetizers

Berry Best Desserts

This is just in time for all those resolutions about eating more veggies this year!

Here’s the recipe I’m going to share with you today over at my cooking blog.

Savory Egg Bake!

Doesn’t is just look yummy?

Now that I got your stomach growling and your mouth watering, I bet you’d like to know how to win this fantabulous book.

Please read carefully so you enter properly. I’m not making it hard.

Entry Rules:
1. Tell me what your favorite breakfast food is.
Extra Entries:
2. “Like” Gooseberry Patch on FB.
3. Blog, tweet or share on FB about this giveaway.
PLEASE leave a separate comment for each entry.
Technical Stuff: Gooseberry Patch provided me with 2 copies of the book. One to review and keep and one to bless one of you with. All opinions are my own.
This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada only.
It ends Jan. 15, 2012 @ 12:00 pm EST.

HAVE A FANTABULOUS DAY!

Better Late Than Never! The Family Picture!

2012-01-06T08:10:00.001-05:00

The regulars here know that every year my family and I take our annual family photo. Usually we take it before Christmas so I can send it out with the Christmas cards. Well not only did the pictures not happen, neither did the Christmas cards. *sigh* But alas, the other day we found ourselves all cleaned up at the same time and decided that it was the perfect opportunity to take our pictures. In reality I think I just told everyone to go put on a clean shirt and meet me by the fireplace. It’s all kind of fuzzy right now.

Everything always starts out fine and dandy. There are always some faux paus, (like not moving the couch out of the way) but nothing major.

Little man had a moment here!

Me and my beloved! Ignore the fact that I have no shoes on and 2 week old nail polish.

My beautiful children.

Or should I say crazy children? I don’t know where they get this stuff.

My hubby thought it would be “neat” if we all wore our hats. You know, to look a little more countrified. Aren’t we somethin’?

And usually right about now things start to go downhill and we end up with pictures like this.

I think this is my personal favorite!

Please send a self addressed envelope if you’d like an autographed picture. LOL!

Welcome to my world!

More my speed!

2012-01-04T12:21:00.001-05:00

I’ve enjoyed looking at everyone’s book lists for this year. It’s very inspiring. I think I even made my own list last year and may have actually crossed off a whole book.

Reading just doesn’t happen to much right now. If I read in the middle of the day (like there’s time), I get tired. When I go to bed, I read, but I’m already tired and end up falling asleep after about 2 pages. (I’m getting old!)

So I devised a list that is probably a little more my speed right now. Feel free to be inspired and copy it for yourself!

My Doable Reading List for 2012

The Sunday Comics

A blog post of everyone who comments on THIS post.

Bible

The instruction manual to my new toy. (More on that later!)

Country Living Magazine

Ingredient lists

Recipes

Maybe one or two of the 100’s of e-books that I have downloaded.

So there you have it. I’m all about keep it real this year.

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

New Year, New Motto!

2012-01-03T07:01:00.001-05:00

All over the web you see people making goals and lists of resolutions and such. People are also coming up with words to focus on for the year. Well not to be out done I thought I’d come up with my own motto for this year. It didn’t take me long to think of it either.

So without further ado this years motto is…(drum roll please)…….

“Git er’ done!”

Most of you know that I am probably the world’s worse procrastinator. If I can do it later I usually will. But on the flip side, when I do commit to doing something, nothing short of a good cup of coffee will keep me from accomplishing it.

Yesterday was one of those days. I set my mind to declutter and organize my craft room/office and it got done. And MAN it felt good. Things that have been sitting in the corner gathering dust are GONE baby! For a whole year I just put it off, saving it for another day. Ugh! But I’m seriously going to try to do better this year. It’s the year of Gettin’ er done! I think I’ll make a plaque. Yes, yes I will!

So what about you? Do you have a word, phrase or motto you’re focusing on this year? Do tell!

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

Goals- Fitness- Who’s with me?

2012-01-02T05:57:00.001-05:00

Over the next few posts I’m going to be sharing some of my goals for the year with you. I hope to inspire you to make some for yourself. I’ll also try to offer some solutions to help with these goals. You might be able to benefit from it, so stay tuned.

This first particular goal is something that I’m carrying over from last year. At the end of September of last year I got really serious about my health. I almost completely eliminated sugar from my diet and have already lost 10lbs. I upped my exercise and am feeling pretty good. I haven’t reached my target weight/pant size yet so I’m pressing on and thought maybe you’d like to join me.

First you have to own a Wii, because this goal of mine involves a program that you “play”on the Wii. So if you don’t have a Wii console you are excused from the rest of this post. If you have a Wii and are even slightly interested please read on.

Ever since I quit the gym I started using the Wii Active Series as my source of exercise.

I started out with this one. Which I love!

But for Christmas I got this one.

The first one is based around a tropical location and the second one is based in a dessert oasis. What I love about them both is that the workout is never the same. It’s different each day so I don’t get bored. LOVE THAT! They are both really good but you’re going to need the Active 2 if you want to participate in what I have in mind.

The Active 2 comes with a thumb drive that reads information off the computer through Wifi. I am able to start a private fitness group where we can track each others progress and keep each other encouraged. Every time you do a workout it charts your calorie burn, your heart rate etc. It even comes with a heart rate monitor. I’m really enjoying it. Check it out for yourself before you decide anything.

I’ll work out the technical details later but first I wanted to see if anyone is even interested in joining me. If you already have a Wii the price of the Active 2 is not much. It’s under $20.00.

So I’m throwing this out there. Who wants to join me?

If you want in, then use this week to purchase the Active 2 and we can get going first thing next week. I can then give you our Team Name and password for you to join.

HAVE A SUPER FANTASTIC DAY MY FRIENDS!

The Annual Gingerbread House Demolition!

2011-12-31T15:18:00.001-05:00

We get almost as excited about demolishing our gingerbread houses after Christmas as we do making them. Do we have issues? Yes, yes we do.

Each year we try to destroy them in a different way. In the past we’ve shot them with bb guns and rifles, blown them up with fire crackers and shattered them with tomahawks.

This year we decided to run them over with RC Cars. Oh yes we did!

We set up the gingerbread houses in our driveway and the rest is history. We even took 3 angles of video (because the word overkill is not in our vocabulary) but we haven’t condensed it yet so pictures will have to do.

My BFF was in charge of most of the photography and she got some great shots.

I thought it would be beneficial to put it in slideshow form. Look for some commentary above some of the pictures. Make sure you watch it from the beginning.

Enjoy!

It was 3 RC cars against 7 gingerbread houses and in the end I think the RC cars won. What do you think?

Life is never dull!

Happy New Year Everybody!

Farewell to Friday Funnies!

2011-12-30T19:55:00.001-05:00

Well I think that Friday Funnies has run it’s race and is finally coming to an end. Over the past few months participation has been very low and comments even lower. It’s a lot of work to keep it up each week so I think I’m calling it quits.

Does this mean I’m never going to post anything funny on my blog? Uh, no way! Life is funny but now it will be more random, when you least expect it. You won’t even see it coming. Ha! And I hope you don’t stop posting funny things on your blog either.

It’s been a fun 3 years but it’s time to say good bye to this meme!

Thanks to all who have joined in the Friday Funnies fun and spread some giggles over these last few years. I know you’ve given me plenty. You know you can always go back in the archives and see them again. I do that every once in awhile and it’s great fun.

BIG GIANORMOUS HUGS TO YOU ALL!

3 Kids 4 Pictures!

2011-12-29T11:20:00.001-05:00

Just for fun I told each one of my children to take my camera and take 4 pictures of whatever they wanted, inside or outside. (Excluding their mother who may or may not be wearing penguin printed lounge pants.) Here are the pictures from youngest to oldest.

My 6 year old son took these 4 pictures. It says a lot about his personality. He loves to help his Daddy in the garden, not to mention eat and he LOVES to play sports.

Here are the next set of pictures taken by my 9 year old son. He loves to collect things. Right now it’s coins and stamps. I’m thinking the flower represents his tender side.

And last but certainly not least, here are my 18 year old daughter’s 4 pictures. My daughter loves all things pink and pretty. Outdoor photography is her specialty. That’s probably why she went outside for her last 3 pictures.

I love the diversity in each and everyone of my kids. They are all unique in character and tastes.

Why don’t you give this a try? It’s fun. If you end up doing this with your kids let me know. I want to see what they come up with!

HAVE A FANTABULOUS DAY MY FRIENDS!

Getting Back On Schedule!

2011-12-28T05:51:00.001-05:00

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. I admit I felt a little spoiled this year from my whole family. They each gave me such thoughtful gifts.

Speaking of gifts, this is what happens to the wrapping paper once the gifts have all been unwrapped.

We put all the wrapping paper in a pile and then it’s go time.

And then my floor looks something like this when it’s all said and done.

I don’t think a bunch of gift bags would have been near as much fun!

I think I’m ready to get back to some normalcy. We are starting up school again the first of the year and I need to get my house back in order and that means putting away all the Christmas things. It does come down quicker than it goes up, so that’s good.

New Years Eve I’m sure I’ll be sound asleep way before midnight. Call it OAD (old age disease) or call it having to get up at 4:45am, either way I’m sure the new year will be ushered in whether my eyelids are open or closed. But if you’re doing something super cool, do tell. I’ll just live vicariously through you!

HAVE A GREAT DAY MY FRIENDS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-24T06:51:00.001-05:00

I had hoped to have our family picture taken by now but for one reason or another it didn’t happen yet. Who would have thought that us being cleaned up and ready at the same time would be so difficult? Maybe next year.

In the meantime I’m going to spend a few days just enjoying the family and chillin’ out. I’ll be back later next week.

It is my hope that you have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

God bless you all!

Tell em’ Linus!

2011-12-22T05:31:00.001-05:00

I’m actually very surprised that they still let this play each year. But I am so glad they do. Millions of people don’t even realize they are hearing the Word of God.

Don’t let us ever forget what Christmas is REALLY about.

Have a GLORIOUS day my friends!

I have a favorite word!

2011-12-20T09:17:00.001-05:00

Can you guess what it is?

I’ll give you a hint.

It’s small in stature but it makes up for it’s small size in it’s meaning. Sometimes people try to steal it from me. I try desperately to hold on to it. Though I will give it freely.

Not everybody has it. They refuse to grasp hold of it. They are jealous of those who get it.

It is powerful enough to bring you out of the dumps, you just have to remember where you might have misplaced it.

It’s a treasure in it’s own right. When you find it, share it, and may it come back ten fold.

Psalm 16:11
You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Psalm 89:15
How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance.

Proverbs 15:13
A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.

Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

ANY GUESSES?

Do you have a favorite word?

HAVE A GREAT DAY MY FRIENDS!!

Christmas Party 2011!

2011-12-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

Well another party has come and gone, but not before it left it’s imprint in my mind. But before the imprint fades and starts looking like laundry I want to document the event here at the ol’ blog. Feel free to humor me and come along for the ride.

Well I’m sure the first question on everybody’s mind is, “What did she wear?”, right?

Since it was close to 80 that day I opted for the outfit that would be the least hot and it was this one. I was warm for most of the night, even with the air on but that’s usually the case because I’m so busy.

We like to play games at our parties. You’re never obligated to play but it’s usually worth the effort in the end. (If you win that is.)

Here I’m sitting down with the gals to ask them questions for the Marriage Game.

While their men waited patiently outside.

Then it was the girls turn to wait while I asked the men some questions.

We then bring them back together to answer said questions and it cracks me up every time. The answers, the facial expressions, the counseling afterwards. But we won’t go there will we?

Let’s move on to the gift exchange. Always a fun time. Here is everyone opening and exchanging gifts.

What’s my BFF doing here? Kathy, care to explain?

I actually ended up with this. You can’t see it very well, but he’s holding up a metal hanging sign that says JOY. My favorite word. Little did I know when I took it from my BFF who took it from him that she was going to give it to me anyway. Hey, I just wanted to make sure I got it. What?

What a wonderful wonderful time. We just love to pass the blessings on that we receive from the Lord. But it doesn’t come without a price….

…..this was me when it was all said and done. Aren’t I just lovely?

Okay, retake. SMILE!

Oh there’s my beautiful daughter!

My beautiful BFF!

And I’m throwing this picture in there to show you that we don’t always take the perfect picture. In fact these are more likely the common occurrence.

I guess I’ll leave you with that. I’m pretty sure you’ll be left with a smile on your face.
Have a super lovely day!

P.S. I’m having a giveaway that ends Wednesday. Click here to enter.

Friday Funnies!

2011-12-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday Everyone!

I sure hope you are having a fun time this Christmas season. Our family has been able to do some really fun things together the last couple of weeks.

Are you ready for a seasonal giggle today? Would you like to join in the fun? Well link up your family friendly funny up below. It can be a funny picture, video, joke etc.

NOW LET’S SPREAD SOME FUNNY!

Okay, this one CRACKED ME UP!

And here’s a quick joke for you!

Christmas Eve Service

Just as I began my Christmas Eve service, the electricity in the church failed. The ushers and I found some candles and placed them around the sanctuary. Then I reentered the pulpit, shuffled my notes, and muttered, "Now, where was I?"

A tired voice called out, "Right near the end!"

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY EVERYONE!

Rush Hour Recipes! GIVEAWAY!!! (Winner Announced)

2011-12-14T11:16:00.002-05:00

The winner is Elizabeth from Simple Pleasures. Congratulations Elizabeth!

Are you ready to win another fabulous Gooseberry Patch Cookbook?

Well here’s your chance. The latest book they gave me to review is called

RUSH HOUR RECIPES!

This book is chock full of quick and easy dinners. We all have those days when we are running around busy but still want to make a good meal for our family, right? Well this book will help you get a meal on the table in no time flat.

Take a look at the Contents:

5-Ingredient Favorites

One-Dish Dinners

Slow Cookers to the Rescue

Soup’s On!

Make-A-Meal Sides

Speedy Potluck & Party Foods

Sounds GREAT doesn’t it?

I’ve made a few dishes in it already and here is one of the family favorites.

Tomato & Chicken Penne

(click the name to go to the recipe)

There is definitely something in here for everyone.

So I’m sure you’d like to know how to win this, wouldn’t you?

Well I’m going to try to make it easy but pay attention because I want everyone to have a fair chance.

1. Leave a comment and tell me your favorite comfort food?

2. Follow Gooseberry Patch on Facebook or their blog.

3. Tweet or Share on FB.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Contest ends December 21, 2011 @ 12:00 pm EST.

Technical stuff: Gooseberry Patch provided me with a free copy of Rush Hour Recipes and one to share with you. This giveaway is limited to the U.S. and Canada.

Please note that I will not be shipping this before Christmas. The post office is CRAZY and I love you, but obviously not enough. LOL!

HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!

The Gingerbread House Results are In! You have spoken!

2011-12-12T06:42:00.001-05:00

But I think I’ll recap the night first.

As always there is LOTS of candy. And you’ll be happy to know that I didn’t eat one morsel.

We all started with gingerbread kits. It just makes life a “little'” easier.

Once again our BFF’s joined us in the fun. And I’d say Mr. Mike brought some of the fun with him. LOL!

Yup! He pretty much had us in stitches.

But then we had to get down to “serious” business and start decorating and building our homes.

Our BFF’s busy decorating.

Here are their finished houses. I didn’t want to post them on the original post and get everyone confused. But they are definitely worth showing.

Everyone was very hard at work. Even Stormie! She made it her job to recycle the cardboard boxes. Good girl!

But in the end a fun time was had by all and we proudly displayed our houses. Can you spot your favorite and who built it?

Well I’m proud to say that my daughter FINALLY won a competition and she was EXTREMELY happy about it. Way to go precious!

I’ll leave you with this!

Have a FANTABULOUS day my friends and thank you to all who voted!

HUGS!

If for some reason you didn’t see the voting post with all the houses on it, go here to check it out.

Gingerbread House Competition 2011: You Vote!

2011-12-09T07:37:00.001-05:00

We interrupt Friday Funnies to bring you this years annual Gingerbread House Competition. A lot of you have been here through the years and have seen the fun that we have doing this every year. This year was no different. Our BFF’s joined us again and we had lots of fun. I’ll post about the whole “experience” at a later date. This post is all about voting.

I can’t go into any detail about any of the entries because I don’t want to give anything away. So I’ll let the gingerbread houses speak for themselves.

Feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Starting in no particular order we have:

HOUSE # 1: The Sugar Lodge

HOUSE # 2: The Holly Jolly

HOUSE # 3: The Candy House

HOUSE # 4: The Sugar Rush Inn

HOUSE # 5: Peppermint Ridge

Well there you have it. Just leave your vote for your favorite in the comment section and remember we do this for fun so no feelings will be hurt.

I’ll keep this post up until Monday and reveal the “winner”. Then I’ll post about the night and all it’s craziness!

Have a lovely day my friends!

Decking the Halls! The Trees!

2011-12-07T06:25:00.001-05:00

First off, “WOW” on all the comments about my outfits. Thank you. So far it looks like outfit #4 is in the lead. After I posted it, I looked back at last year to see what I wore and I wore the top part of #8 and the bottoms of #4, so needless to say I won’t be wearing that this year. I love the way some of you went ahead and mismatched the clothing. But enough about that.

This post was getting long so I broke it down for you . We’ll just talk trees today.

For a split second I seriously thought about leaving our tree like this and decorating it. BUT, I didn’t and it did finally come together. We’ve had the same tree for 14 years and finally let it go. We bought this one on clearance after Christmas last year and we thought since we have high ceilings why not go 9 foot? Hmm..We really didn’t think that one through. Needing the step ladder to decorate wasn’t much fun.

Look carefully. What’s missing? I’ll let you ponder that one.

I bought this ceramic tree at a garage sale for $5.00. I’ve always wanted one and I know some day I’ll get my grandmother’s but until now, this one will do just fine. Doesn’t it look like the snowmen are decorating it? My Mom got me those. She knows my love of snowmen.

This is MY tree. You might remember it from last year. No one gets to help with this tree. I made the ornaments, I put them on. It’s mine. Let’s move on.

This is why I have my own tree. Ha! Ha! The youngest started helping with the decorating about 4 years ago. And things like this started happening.

Here is 2007.

How about 2008?

2009? Any better?

2010?

Well this was the scene in 2010 so I was a bit distracted to notice any faux paus on the tree. We moved in Dec. 1st of last year!

So what about this year you ask? You did ask right?

Well I have to be honest. I think he’s getting a little better. In my close inspection of the tree, this is about the worst I found.

There definitely isn’t as many candy canes per square inch any more. So I’d say he’s slowly improving. But he’s still not touching my tree. Ha! Ha!

Well I hope you enjoyed my “little” tree post. Come back to see more of the inside this week!

HAVE A LOVELY DAY MY FRIENDS!

To see more fabulous trees click the picture below.