November 28, 2010

November 27, 2010

{ Holiday decos around blogland }

In my travels around this awesome little virtual world of ours known as Blogland, I often come across decorating ideas that I want to incorporate into my home. Well, I thought that if I like them others will too who may not come across them! I'm all for sweet and easy, 
so I thought I'd share some of my finds with you all. 

Snowflake Garland
tutorial at

Cute Chrismas decos made with CD's
tutorial at

Printable Paint Stick Ornaments
tutorial at 

Simple Bell Garland 
tutorial at

That's all for today! I'll post some more as I find them, and don't forget to enter my  

You have til December 15th!

November 26, 2010

{ Holiday Happiness Giveaway }

Whew! Thanksgiving is over and now I can concentrate on Christmas! I refuse to even THINK about until after Turkey Day, lol.

Today is the day that MDH starts hauling in all the totes of Christmas decorations, and I know that I'll be purging a lot of them. This house is so much tinier than our former home, and I know that there is NO WAY I can use it all. Some will go to Goodwill, some will probably go on Ebay,
and a  select few of my very favorites items will go to the lucky winner of my  
Holiday Happiness Giveaway!!!

 
Yep, I'm doing it again! This one will also be a surprise giveaway. Having it be a surprise was so much fun!!!


You can enter THREE times!

1st entry:  Leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite holiday decoration is.
2nd entry: Write a blog post about my giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know!
3rd entry: Put my giveaway button on your sidebar and leave me a comment to let me know!

Please make each entry a separate comment!!!

Deadline is midnight DECEMBER 15th!

Happy Holidays!!!


November 25, 2010

{ Today... }

Before we sat down to dinner...
(Yes, we had turkey, too! It's on the island )



Before the clean-up. Yikes! We're messy!
Must be the champagne ~wink~



I'll leave you with a sweet photo taken early this morning.
I LOVE Flickers!


Hope your day was fun! Ours was!



 

Hope you all are enjoying your Turkey Day...and don't eat too much!!!

November 20, 2010

{Awesome Holiday Magazine - ENJOY! }

You have to see this beautiful magazine! It's an on-line Holiday mag with 172 pages of luscious decorating ideas!!! Absolutely stunning!!!

((click on the picture))

Be sure to check out the archives for MORE lovely issues of the magazine!

November 19, 2010

{ Giveaways in Blogland }

Good morning all! I thought I would list for you some of the great giveaways taking place in Blogland!!! You can find the buttons for these on my sidebar as well.


is giving away a lovely Victorian Christmas stocking. So sweet!!!
Deadline is November 20.
WINNER! AMY of BUNNY ROSE COTTAGE
is having a 1000 follower giveaway of a tote bag and various other awesome items.
Deadline is 'sometime next week'

is having a Christmas Spirit Giveaway.
Lots of great items, including some sweet things from  
Deadline is November22.

is giving away a beautiful Romantic Cottage Sachet Pillow.
Deadline is November 30.
is also giving away a sweet pink Christmas stocking!
Deadline is November 23.


ASH TREE COTTAGE
is giving away a precious mini upholstered chair! Too sweet!


Please take a few minutes to visit these generously wonderful ladies and enter their drawings! And don't forget to stay tuned for MY next giveaway! It will start soon after Thanksgiving!

Smooches to all,


November 18, 2010

{ It's the little things... }

Yes, it's always the smallest things that make me the happiest. MDH and I were out doing our Thanksgiving dinner shopping yesterday and I found the sweetest thing! I LOVE Whitman's Sampler tins...the TINY ones... I use them for everything...pins, buttons whatever. They haven't put out a new pattern for a long while...until now.


 The most PERFECT shade of aqua! I am in love!
(wish I could find this design in the BIG one!)

(remember..clicking on my pics will make them bigger!)


November 17, 2010

My "Just Because" giveaway

As you all know, Jody of Home and Heart won my "Just Because" giveaway on November 1st. I totally forgot to take a photo of the items to share with you! She has posted one, so hop on over and visit and see the pretties that she won!!!

Edited: Here's Jody's photo,,,,,,,,, but hop on over and visit her anyway!!



November 5, 2010

{ Soup }

We didn't have a lot of money when I was a youngster. One of our go-to meals was potato soup. I loved it...still do. Since the weather has changed I have been in soup cooking mode, so the other day we decided on potato soup. I starting thinking of ways to jazz it up a bit, as the soup we usually had was just boiled potatoes and milk. Pretty boring. So I came up with this 'recipe'.

Potato Chowder with Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms and Ham

Peel and chop one medium onion. Place in skillet with one T. olive oil and 1 T. butter.

Cook on med-low till onions are golden brown and caramelized.


Add 1/2 lb. sliced and diced mushrooms.

Saute on med-low till mushrooms have cooked through. They will release their one liquid. Then add cubed, cooked ham. I use a packaged ham steak, as I always have one or two in the freezer.

Continue sauteing until you end up with this...
(This is so yummy just by itself. I couldn't keep my spoon out of it. this mixture, I discovered could be used with many things..beans, rice, whatever, but I decided to go ahead with my original potato plan.)

Peel and dice two to threes potatoes (depending on size), cover with water and boil till fork tender. Drain and put back in pot.


Add the onion-mushroom-ham mixture and cover with milk.


Heat through and serve with crusty rolls and butter. I was so pleased with the flavors that I know I will make it again and again. I might try navy beans next time.

Enjoy!!!
 

November 1, 2010

{ We have a winner... }





Yep, we've chosen my "Just Because" Giveaway winner!!! I had originally planned to use a random number generator, but..what fun is that??? So, I printed out all of the comments, and over my morning coffee I cut them apart, folded them nicely and put them in my favorite dish.
(please forgive the quality of photos. It's rather dark in here today) 


MDH was still sleeping, as he's up all night filling newspaper racks for the local paper. So I got myself dressed and went down to apply for a part-time position at Goodwill ~smile~. Just where I need to work. I'm trying to retire, but it's not working. I need to get out of the house occasionally :-)

OH YEAH! The giveaway! When I got back, I had MDH use his big paw to draw a winner.....




drum roll.......



drum roll......


Congratulations JODY at Home and Heart!!!



Yay!!! Rah Rah!! Ole!

I will send you an email toot sweet so I can get your mailing address!

MANY MANY thanks to all of you sweeties who entered my giveaway. Not to worry, I'll be gathering things for ANOTHER one for the Holidays! I rather like the surprise element..what do you think???