Sunday, October 25, 2009

Just A Quick Note

Wow!!! We've reached 125 posts. It doesn't seem like we've been blogging that long and I know we're not very faithful, but I do try. So we'll have to celebrate somehow.
The Vintage Market was fabulous and I had a blast. I did get a few treasures so that knocked a little hole in my profit area. I got a rug which is really great but sadly too small for the area. I'll use it this winter until I can purchase a larger rug for the dining room. Then I'll have to find a new home for it. Isn't that sad? LOL. I made some new friends and I'll be sure to post pictures later. Right now I have a pie in the oven and dinner to get on the table.
Hope you all had a fantastic weekend also!!!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Deluxe Strawberry Shortcake Recipe















Okay, I promised a recipe and here it is. This was wonderful. We still have strawberries here where we live at decent prices even though it's fall. The coast has them pretty much all year long. This was really quick and easy.
Deluxe Strawberry Shortcake
1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
1 package cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
8 ounce carton of whipped topping
3 cups chopped fresh strawberries
In a large mixing bowl, combine the first six ingredients; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Place one cake on a serving plate; top with half of the cream cheese mixture and strawberries. Repeat layers. Store in refrigerator. 12 servings.
I deviated a little bit. I didn't put the cool whip and cream cheese together. I layered the cream cheese and sugar, then the cool whip topped with strawberries. But it did occur to me that you could do the filling layer and leave the strawberries off to pour over the top once served. Anyway you serve it, it was good. Enjoy!
Also for some great recipes try Joni's site.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Cooler Weather at last my friends, cooler weather at last

This California girl is so over the hot summer months and has been enjoying these two past days of cooler weather. I've been so busy that all I want to do when I get home is just sit on the computer and play my games. Mindless games that waste time and require no thought. Last week at work was just ... difficult. You wonder about humanity when you see what the next generation is doing and you question where the direction of that humanity is headed. So enough about business let's have some fun.
I have been busy, busy decorating for fall. I love fall. It's my favorite season. I suppose you could say we don't get a true fall here. We do get some color but not for awhile yet. I suppose it's more that long sigh after all the summer heat before fog season starts. I really shouldn't complain because our winters are very short and very mild. So.... After doing much thought this past year about my seasonal decorating efforts I decided that it was time to scale way back. I only decorated the front room buffet area and the china hutch. I used to take everything down and redo the whole main living areas of the house. But between work, homeschooling and various other activities (read here cooking, cleaning, laundry, taxi service, etc., etc.) I didn't have time and it felt more like a burden than a pleasure. It was taking a month or longer to get it all done and then it was time to move onto winter. Besides hubby and the kids could have cared less. The kids used to get excited when they were smaller, but not anymore. So I do this just for me. I actually got done in two days and I felt so great. I thought it might annoy me that the rest of the house didn't flow or match, but it doesn't and I'm just pleased with it. Here are my fall efforts.

This old salt glazed crock is a family piece.



Some pictures I took in the morning and some in the evening with ambient light. Did I get that right, the kind of light I used?
So after cleaning one evening I thought our little sitting area off of the kitchen looked really nice in the lamplight and I took a few pictures of that.
without flash
with flash
The other project is the on going arbor. Seth has all the cross members up and will do the support members next.
Here's the carpenter and his creation.
Last but not least I've been busy chasing this little guy around. Monday he went to the vet and got a little procedure. I'm sure he didn't think it was little. More life altering if you know what I mean. :-) He's doing great. Little goober figured out how to get the collar down far enough to lick and chew at himself. So forget the collar. He's doing great and acts like nothing happened.
So I've been busy and I haven't been visiting. I promise to get around to all my pals and leave a little message. I'll try to post a recipe tomorrow of one we had a couple of weeks ago. Sorry this is long but that's what happens when you get behind, you have to cram.
Signs that you don't blog often enough: You forget your password. :-)