wine bottle bags

  These wine bottle bags are made from the legs of little girls blue jeans.  They turned out so nice!  They will be listed in my eBay store soon, along with a bunch more that are in progress!

New Year

  After having only one day off this last weekend I am ready for the New Years weekend to get here.  Mostly because it will be a 3 day weekend for me.  Yay!  Also we will be celebrating Christmas late because Jolene and her husband spent Christmas with his side of the family.  So we postponed  our celebration until New Years weekend. 
  Since Gil is still home for another week yet.  He leaves on January 4 to go back out to California.  He will be starting his basic infantry training at Camp Pendelton.  Sad face!  Oh well I shouldn't complain because he got to be home for a whole month.  The reason being, he got recruiters assistant.  Which meant that he got to be here for a month instead of the 10 days new Marines usually get after boot-camp.  Happy face!
  So any way two more days of getting up at five thirty am, then I can sleep in for 3 days in a row. :)

Key Lime Fudge Recipe

  The best gift I received this year at work was a recipe!  I love Key Lime Pie, so when a co-worker offered to share her recipe for Key Lime Fudge, I accepted the offer.  Not only did she give me a copy of the recipe, she also gave me some Fudge too!!  It was a refreshing change form the usual chocolate fudge. 
  I don't have any pictures to share because I haven't made any yet.  I am going to spend the New Years weekend with my daughter, and we plan to try the recipe together!  Since she does not like chocolate, I thought this would be a great recipe to share with her!
                                    Key Lime Fudge
  3 cups white baking pieces
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp finely shredded lime peel
2 tsp bottled Key lime juice (or regular lime juice)
1 cup chopped Macadamia nuts (toast if desired)
  Line a 9x9x2 pan with foil (butter foil & set aside)
Melt baking pieces in milk until smooth, stir in lime peel, lime juice & nuts.  Pour into foil lined pan.  Chill for 2 hours or until firm.  Enjoy!

peppermint crunch cookies

  If you love peppermint you will love these cookies!  They are crunchy on the outside while chewy on the inside. 
  2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup sweetened grated coconut
1 1/2 cups Andes peppermint crunch baking chips
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Cream butter, brown sugar and white sugar until fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla extract.  Add baking soda, salt and then flour.  Mix completely.  Stir in oats, coconut, and Andes peppermint crunch baking chips.
  Measure out 2Tbs. for large or 1 Tbs. for small cookies.  Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet two inches apart.  press lightly.  Bake for 20 minutes for large cookies or 12-15 minutes for small cookies.  Do not over bake.  Remove from the cookie sheet and cool on wire rack.  Yield approx.; 24 large cookies.

Christmas Tree

  Finally felt up to decorating the ole Christmas Tree this afternoon.  I had been sick since returning from Gil's Graduation.  Maybe I'm finally giving this nasty bug the boot!  Yay!!  Dug all of the Christmas decorations out of  the shed today.  Also my solar snowman lights too.  Had a hard time getting them charged today as the sun payed tag with the clouds all day.  However they are all working so they must have charged enough!!  They are so cute, I love them :)
  The only thing that didn't get put up were the outside lights.  So tomorrow we will have to work on getting those put up too.  Also have to get my Christmas presents finished for my hubby's bosses, as their Christmas party is on Tuesday the fourteenth!  Only three days away, yikes!  Time to get them finished before I run out of time!   Also need to make a new Tree skirt because I can't find mine anywhere!

Graduation Day

 The first words Gil said to me after the graduation ceremony were "Lets go"  He just wanted off base!!

Starbucks never tasted sooo good!!!

                                           Gil's first Real food  in 3 months, poor guy I made him wait
                                           until I took the pic to enjoy his first sip!

Road Trip

  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!!  We are leaving tomorrow morning for San Diego Ca.  Where we will finally get to see Gil, after 3 very long months.  We are going to make the trip in two days, because it takes 17 hours of driving time to get there.  Bet I don't sleep a wink tonight, didn't sleep very good last night because I wanted today to hurry up and be over with!  LOL I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve!!
  The drive will be a long one but we are looking forward to it anyway!  We have not taken this route before to Ca.  usually we go to the northern part instead of the southern part of Ca.
  Hopefully the weather will not be to terrible for driving, which is one reason we are going south first and then across the lower part of Arizona and Nevada.

Thanksgiving picture of Platoon 2147

  OMG!!!  I was so excited upon receiving a call from one of my son's friends father, when he told me that if I wanted to see my son to go to this website, click on this,this,ect.  Then he said if you can't pick him out call me back and I will tell you which row he is in.  LOL!  I had NO trouble picking him out, although I must say that he has certainly changed!
  I am so very proud of him!  This is the first time I have seen him in almost three months!  Granted it was just a video that showed the whole platoon, but that video was priceless to me!!  Even though he isn't with us this Thanksgiving I feel much better having a recent picture of him!
  He finished the crucible yesterday sometime.  I pray that he did great, but won't know until December 2 when we see him in the flesh for the first time in three very long months!  He is set to graduate on the 3rd of December.
I can't wait to see him in his uniform!!!  Also can't wait to give him a BIG FAT HUG!!! :)

Biscotti

  So just wondering if anyone has a few good biscotti recipes they would be willing to share?

Apple Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffins

  OMG!  These muffins are to die for!  You have to try them!

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar (I used 1 1/2 cups brown)
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I used fresh)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used fresh maple syrup)
• 2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple
•   (I omitted the Streusel topping)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
   
   My pictures didn't turn out so great, the lighting in my kitchen leaves something to be desired, but you get the idea!
   

Mini Blueberry Belgian Waffles

  This is what we had for dinner tonight!  Mini Blueberry Waffles with homemade peach butter, Yummy!  Do you ever have breakfast for dinner at your house?
  We do because we go to work at different times so can't have breakfast together during the week.  Also it is nice after a long day to make a quick and easy dinner!
  Waffle Recipe
4 eggs separated        2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk                 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 cups flour               1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine(melted)                           
1teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Beat egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until light.  Add cooled melted butter, milk and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking powder and salt, beat well.  In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, gently fold into the batter.  Bake in a Belgian Waffle maker, and serve.
  Note: This recipe didn't call for the Blueberry's, I just added them myself (1 cup)!

Fabric covered journals & Travel size pillowcases

  So today is my daughters Birthday!  Happy Birthday Sweetie!!  Here are a few pics of some of the things I made her for her Special Day! 
  The first one is three fabric journals, the second and third are travel size pillows.

Cell phone

  When my cell phone rang last night I checked the number because I didn't recognize it.  Usually I don't answer if I don't know the number, because it is usually a telemarketer.  For some reason I had the feeling that I should go ahead and answer the phone, which I did.
  The voice on the other end said "MOM", OMG!!!  It was my son who is still in boot camp for another 3 weeks!  I have been sooooo worried about him because we had not received a letter from him for about 6 weeks!!  Major BIG Sigh of relief!
  He is doing fine, has just been extremely busy and hadn't had time to write.  Needless to say that call made my whole month! : )

Crocheted Netbook case/bag

   Here is my latest project!  I made the red and blue one first and then made the purple/multicolored one.  Which is my favorite!  Both were made using 2 different skeins of yarn, so they have plenty of cushion for added protection!  Since I am far from being an expert at crocheting, I just used a simple single crochet stitch to make both of these. 
  They turned out pretty good for not following a pattern!  Although I probably should have taken the pictures on my white craft table, because the colors didn't show up as well as I would have liked.
  Thinking about making some of these to sell in my eBay store!

crocheted hair scrunchie

  Here is my latest project!  As soon as I have a few more of these made they will be listed in my eBay store!

Moving day in Denver, Colorado

  So its a little cloudy here this morning.  The temp is around 50 degrees.  It looks like its going to be a good day to move my daughter!  Yesterday we went and played around and went shopping, today we have to get to work.  Yes work, she lives on the second floor, and she is moving to another second floor apartment! 

Handcrafted Christmas Ornaments

  I have been making these ornaments for almost as long as my son is old!  They are very time consuming, but turn out so beautiful, they are worth every second it takes to make them!  In the past I sold them only at craft fairs, but now I sell them in my eBay store too.  It is hard to part with them but I know that I can't keep them all!
  So I settle for keeping my favorites, which decorate my own tree every year! :)  What do you think? All comments are appreciated!

Cappuccino Muffin recipe

  MMM the smell of Cappuccino muffins is wafting through the house.  Making it hard to wait for them to finish baking!  These muffins are great for breakfast or anytime! :)

Cappuccino Muffins
2 cups flour (I use whole wheat pastry)
3/4 cup sugar (I use brown instead of white)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used toffee)
In a mixing bowl combine all of the dry ingredients, in a separate bowl combine milk,and the instant coffee together until the coffee is dissolved. Add the butter,egg and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips.
  Fill muffin cups or papers 2/3 full.  Bake at 375 degrees for 17-20 minuets or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to finish cooling.
 

Crazy weeds!

  Check out these crazy cool weeds we found on our property this afternoon.  The picture doesn't really show the detail  as well as I had hoped.  The tops of the weeds are a little fuzzy circle!   We also gathered up pine cones to use for fall decorating!

Darth Vader Netbook case

  Here is the Netbook case that I made for my son-in-law this morning .  I was talking to my mom on the phone at the same time.  Which I might add didn't work very well at all!  After making two that turned out totally wrong I finally got it right!  LOL!  Next time I will not be trying to talk and figure out a new project at the same time!  However it did turn out great after all the mess-ups!  

pizza dough recipe

  1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
  1 package (.25 -ounce) dry active-yeast
  2 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or flour of your choice)
  1 teaspoon sugar
  1 teaspoon salt
  2 tablespoons sunflower oil (or oil of your choice)
Place water in a small bowl and stir in yeast.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  In a large bowl,whisk together 2 1/2 cups of flour,sugar and salt.  Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture and sunflower oil.  Stir until dough comes together and forms a ball.  Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 5 minutes,adding as much of the remaining 1/4 cup flour as needed.  Form into a disk and pace in a bowl that has been lightly coated with sunflower oil.  Turn disk over and cover bowl with press-n-seal (plastic wrap)  Allow to rise for 2 hours in a warm place.
  Punch dough down and remove from bowl.  Roll out (or hand toss) into the desired diameter.  Top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake!
Makes 8 servings
Prep-Time 10 minutes
Rise 2 hours

Weekends Rock!

  Well here it is Friday again!  Today was a beautiful fall day.  The temp was up in the sixty's,which was very nice.  Came home at lunch and opened the curtains so that the house would warm up this afternoon! 
  Hopefully I will be able to spend time sewing this weekend :)
  Have a wonderful weekend!

Fresh Baked Whole Wheat Bread & other goodies too!

  Sunday was a baking day!  And it was a perfect day for it to,windy and cold.  I started out the day with some Pumpkin muffins with a praline topping!  Very yummy indeed!  Although they turned out quite dense the flavor is perfect.  So this recipe definitely calls for some tweaking the next time!
  Next came the pie pumpkins that had to be baked so the pulp could be frozen for future pumpkin pies!  Since my son won't be here for Thanksgiving this year,some had to be preserved. So that when he graduates from Boot Camp and comes home there will be pumpkin for his Favorite kind of pie. :)
  Then came the Whole Wheat Bread.  One of my favorites!  There's nothing quite like a slice of home made bread hot from the oven.  And bread is so expensive these days,at least for the good,or healthy loafs.  I added some honey and also some sunflower seeds.  Absolutely delicious!  
  Then after dinner was done came the Oatmeal raisin cookies,my favorite cookie.  I have been searching high and low for a recipe that comes out chewy.  This is the closest one yet!  Since moving here to Colorado my Oatmeal cookies have all turned out hard and crunchy.  Which I Don't like at all!  But I'm getting close.
  If anyone has a recipe they would like to share I would be happy to give it a whirl!  Whew!!!  What a day.

John Deer Tractor Bag/purse

  Today has been a very productive day,at least in my sewing room it was!  LOL! Can't say it was anywhere else around the house.  Made a nice John Deer bag,that can be used for a shopping bag,or a purse!  It is lined and has two pockets on the inside.  One on the back inside and one on the side inside.  Both pockets are from blue jeans.  One is from a adult size pair of jeans and the other one is from a child's pair of jeans.
  Also made another bag from a Blue jean Mini-Skirt.  This bag is also lined,but it only has one pocket.  Which is on the inside at the back.  Next  on the agenda were two Eeyore fleece pillows,which are finished except for sewing closed the opening used for stuffing them.  And lastly three sets of kitchen hand towels are embellished and ready to be listed on eBay!  Wow what a day!
                                                   

Bling Blinging!

LOL!  Well after spending most of the afternoon stocking Glitter Ornaments at work I am definitely Blinging!  With glitter that is,from head to toe.  Now I sparkle like a diamond :)  And this is just the beginning, because we are a long way off from Christmas yet!
 The only draw back is that after a while all that glitter starts to itch.  Oh well I guess that comes with the territory!

Fall walks

  Well no cooking tonight.  Just lots of yummy leftovers!  However A nice after dinner walk was definitely the ticket!  I just love all of the fall colors,and the sunset was exceptionally pretty tonight! 

Baked Chicken,Long grain & wild rice

  That's whats for dinner!  At least at our house it is. :)  So the pie was delicious as always!  And such a treat at this time of year.  Dinner tonight was also primo.  Not the fair of Emeril,but great home cooking just the same!  So with the left over juice from the blackberries I made some muffins this evening.  Not quite the same as making the muffins with whole blackberries.  However they turned out pretty good.  :)  But then,I have a habit of twisting recipes to my own taste and liking!
  It is raining here this evening.  Which means if it doesn't continue through the night there will most likely be frost on the windshield in the morning.  Time to pull out the scraper.

Blackberry cream pie

  Here it is fresh from the oven!  Another beautiful hot, berry and cream pie!  Can't wait to slice a piece and sink my teeth into it.
9 in. pie - 1 pie crust
4- cups blackberrys
2/3 cup sugar
4 Tbl. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream
  Mix all ingredients in a medium size bowl.  Pour into a 9 inch pie shell/crust.  Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on a rack until pie dish feels cool to touch.
  You can use a store bought pie shell or make your own (which I do).
   Pie crust
1 1/4 cup flour
2 Tbl cold butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 ice water
  In processor or bowl mix flour,salt,butter,and shortening,until crumbs are pea size.  Then add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time,until dough forms a ball.  Remove and roll out to desired size,then place in pie pan.

Taste of Fall

Well its been a while since I had some time to post!  We have been busy getting all of the usual fall chores done.  This weekend we have been putting plastic on the windows.  As the mornings and evenings have been quite chilly as of late.  We have had frost 3 out of 5 mornings this last week.  Brrrr winter is around the corner.  When the work is done today it will be time to make some cookies!  
  Since it is pumpkin season I am thinking pumpkin,macadamia,spice cookies or as I like to call them PMS cookies! :)  If time permits there will also be a blackberry and cream pie!  This summer blackberry's were canned for this reason!  This pie never lasts long around here!
  Hope everyone is enjoying the wonderful fall colors and harvest!

sew,sew,sew

Finally had some time to spend in my sewing room today! Yay! :)  Worked on embellishing some hand towels that have been sitting in the fabric closet for some time now.  Was able to complete 6 of them in between doing the laundry and other weekend house work.  Also took pictures of things that I need to get listed in my eBay store.  So all in all today was a very productive day!

TGIF!!!

  Thank God and our troops for our Independence and Freedom :)  This is a great place to live!
Received a letter from boot camp!!! Made my whole week! :)  It seems like a whole lot longer than 25 days since he left.  He is having fun (believe it or not!) enjoying the martial arts training,and the obstacle courses!  So now I won't worry quite so much about him!
  

Mini vacation at Grand Lake

Just returned home from a Mini vacation at Grand Lake OK.  Went for some R&R!  Got exactly that!!  Sat around and enjoyed the resort,lake,and the surrounding area!  It is a great place to fish too,according to my husband.

Soldiers Angels website

This website was in a link posted at the bottom of a message that I received from a customer on ebay.  If you would like to help out our soldiers you should check it out,especially if you are a sewer or crafter!
http://www.soldiersangels.org/

Zucchini Bread

Love zucchini Bread?  I do!  Have been baking batches of it all day!  10 loafs so far,well minus the 2 that I gave away.  Soon my freezer will be overflowing with all of the wonderful things that I have made from the produce that came from my garden! :)

Go Vikings!!!

Its the first game of the regular season!  The vikings are playing the Saints.  Hope that the Vikings are winners!!

Happy Birthday

Today was my birthday,yay! Happy Birthday to me!  Just thought that since no one remembered to tell me that I would say it to myself.

off to Boot Camp

Dropped my son off at the recruiters office on Monday evening .  I received a 15 second phone call last night to let me know that he had arrived at Camp Pendleton  safely. So now I will try to be patient while waiting for a letter from him. 

recipe for Blueberry Lemon Bread

 The bread turned out great!  So as promised here is the recipe.
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar                                     
3 Tbl lemon juice,fresh or bottled
2eggs  
1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 cup all purpose & 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbl lemon zest
1/2 cup nuts of your choice (optional)
1 cup Blueberries
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees,grease a loaf pan and set aside.
Mix together the melted butter,sugar,lemon juice and eggs, set aside.  In another bowl mix together the flour,baking powder,and salt,combine dry ingredients and milk alternately into the first mixture.  Fold in the lemon zest,blueberries,and nuts.  Pour into prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 60-70 minutes,insert a toothpick into the center,if it comes out clean it is done.  Remove form oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes,after 10 minutes remove bread from pan and let cool completely.
If you want you can drizzle a lemon and powder sugar glaze over the bread.
Glaze:
2 Tbl lemon juice      
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar(depending on how thin or thick you want the glaze)
Mix together in a small bowl,then drizzle on top of blueberry lemon bread.
Enjoy!       

Blueberry Lemon bread

Been taking a break from canning this week.  Will get back to it sometime next week.  It is starting to feel like fall here.  Which makes me happy,because I love everything about fall!  Anyway since it has been cooling off  in the evening I have been starting to use the oven again!
 So this evening I am going to try a new recipe that I found.  If it turns out good a new recipe will follow!  Wish me luck.

salsa

Just finished canning a batch of salsa!  Now waiting for the canner to cool off enough to take the jars out and see the finished product.  Time to take a break from the kitchen for a few.

Peach Butter recipe

For this recipe you will need:
6 pint size canning jars,lids,and rings
4 to 4 1/2 pounds of peaches
4 cups of sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (to your taste)                                                                                   
1/2 teaspoon each,ground cloves and nutmeg           
To prepare pulp; wash and blanch peaches.  Put peaches in cold water.  Peel,pit and slice peaches.  Combine peaches and 1/2 cup water in a large sauce pot.  Simmer until peaches are soft.  Puree using a food processor or food mill, being careful not to liquefy.
To make Butter:
Combine peach pulp,spices,and sugar in a large sauce pot.  Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon.  As mixture thickens stir to frequently to prevent sticking.  Ladle hot peach butter into hot jars,leaving 1/4 -inch head space.  Remove air bubbles by sliding a plastic bubble remover,or a butter knife.  Place the caps on the jars and hand tighten.  Process in a water bath canner, or a pressure canner as directed for your altitude.
Enjoy!
CeLynn

Palisade Peach Festival

Went to the Peach Festival in Palisade Co. yesterday!  Brought home a beautiful box full of ripe,juicy peaches!  Helped my daughter can most of her box,made a peach cobbler,and a peach/blackberry cobbler too!  Everyone loved them both.  There is only about three bites left,LOL!
CeLynn