Jam Up and Jelly Tight

Shhhhhh.... don't tell anyone I 'borrowed' this most darling photo from Susan Branch's latest newsletter. I had to, because you just had to see what a cute idea she had for the lid's hat!!

 

Leave The Light On

After these rise, and get cooked, they will be Superman's treat for tonight.

For the second rising, I place them in the 

oven with the light on, cover them with a cute, light dish towel (cute, optional), and that makes them so 

cozy and happy that they rise beautifully.

Hurry and rise! We want to get you in our bellies!

Tea For Two

Back in the day, I would not have friends over unless my house was SPOTLESS.

sillier than silly

While it is nice to have a welcoming home, it's even nicer to have a 

welcoming heart!

So, housework unfinished... 

... a girlfriend and I ignored all else but sinking into the couch for a

peaceful afternoon 

of

chit-chat, pie, and iced tea. Oh My!

It's so much fun to sit and gab. 

Sometimes, as you probably know, 

it's easy to slip into careless chatter.

You know the kind, where our words are

NOT that kind as we mention someone 

who is not sitting cozily with us. Ahem...

Anyhoo...

beware... it just might get back to them, 

and, oh, would, that, hurt!

     Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,        

or curse the rich in your bedroom,
     because a bird of the air may carry your words,
       and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

Ecclesiastes 10:20

Lollygagging Allowed!

And don't you ever forget it!  :)

If you looooove fabric. 

If you looooove giveaways.

Then do not pass go, do not collect $200, just go straight to...

HERE!

Little Delights Make the Heart Merry :)

Looky! What do you see???

Yes! It's my daily planner. 

With. Nothing. On. It!

A far cry from last week's to-do pile up!

I can actually think. 

Imagine!

Such a simple delight for the innard parts!

...He leads me beside the still waters...

But this wasn't the only little delight of this morning.

Nope!

This next one was such a surprise that mirthful giggleness took me over. 

try it !Such Fun! try it

Wanting to take a break from Monday's tasks and pleasures, I decided to make a homemade mocha latte and sit with Jesus for a bit.

Being thirsty, I first filled up my mug with a little plain ol' water, and began to drink. For some reason, my eyes were drawn into the bottom of my favorite autumn mug (instead of looking around like a nursing baby does), and what I saw caused joyful giggles. 


Dots. Dots. Autumn, Fun, Dots!

And my mocha latte did get made and enjoyed, too, thanks to milk, dark chocolate, & instant Taster's Choice (they sent me ~ FREE ~ this cute little sample pack of six of their coffees. Sure makes mail runs exciting!).

This was another little delight in my day. If we look, they are all over the place!

Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

Psalm 147:1

Love That Library!

I love books!

Always have.

Always will!!!

But... these days, you have to own Fort Knox (and actually have it filled with gold bars) to be able to afford to buy any beloved books.

Thus, the library is the place for me!

While sitting in the swirling chair at my computer, even in my pjs, I request books that I see on Amazon, or that friends tell me about, or from magazine reviews. My doctor recommended a series of a "fun read" and our main library had every single one of them... which I loaded into my arms and lugged home. 

Twice now, I have had enough Amazon.com e-gift cards, which I earned from Swagbucks.com, to buy two books for only shipping costs. That was $45 dollars which did not come out of my pocket! Yay for that!!! (See what I mean? Two books, with a whopping cost of almost half of one hundred dollars! Fort Knox, I'm telling ya!)

Anyhoo, I purchased this Christmas book so that I can have my dad read it to me for the rest of my life, and when I die, my kids can hear their grandpa over and over. Coooool! (But not cheap!)

And this is all I have time for; my stacks of library books are waiting to be read!  :)

Not Ready to SAy Goodbye to Summer

No matter what, I am soaking up these last days of summer (even tho my BFF from another town came and decorated my home with all my fall decorations...)

The sun might retire earlier, the temperature of the pool water has dropped, and even though school begins very, very soon.... I'm not ready. Are you?

My BFF in town and her hubby came and had fish tacos with us tonight, and while the boys watched sports, she and I played Scrabble and jumped in and out of the pool.... with the pool light on! Like kids!

Remember those hot summer nights when you and your girlfriend would talk about boys and get wrinkly toes and fingers from being in the water so much?

Summmer....... love it!

What memories do you cherish from childhood summers?

Spicy Bean Salad

You knew it was going to happen!

It does every year!

Fall is scooting summer out the door. 

But summer is not a pushover...

While there's still a straggling amount of veggies in summer's garden, pick them for a Spicy Bean Salad lunch, and tote that and your latest magazine out to the yard and enjoy an end-of-summer picnic!
 
This is quick to make, so don't worry about that; I'm all for hurrying to get outside and drinking in the dregs of summer! 

Here's what you do...

1. Dump 15-oz cans of kidney, black, and cannellini (white kidney) beans into a colander. Rinse and drain them. (No, do not even think of skipping the rinsing. Once you see all the foamy ick you are washing down the drain, you will thank me for this process.) Pour into a darling bowl...mine is red and white polka dots, which was a Christmas gift last year.
2. 
   
   
3. Chop up a green bell pepper and lots of red, yellow, & orange sweet peppers, and also half a red onion. (I'd show you pictures, but the rest of them went awol...WAH!
4. Add small package of thawed frozen corn. (Kernels, not cob.)
5. In a 32-oz measuring cup, place the following: 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup each wine & balsamic vinegars, 2 TBSP lime juice, 1 TBSP lemon juice, 2 TBSP sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste), 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 1/2 TBSP cumin & pepper, 1/2 tsp chili powder (or more), and if you wish, one dash Tabasco. Stir well, pour half over bean mixture, and taste. Add more dressing to your liking.

 (This is a scanned picture from a few years ago. It's the best I can do.)


Enjoy summer before it takes its nine-month slumber!

The Best Part of Waking Up....

My default setting for arising early is called Superman. Since he has to arise and shine for work five days a week, there is no option for me but to groan and moan and slide out of our nice, cozy, comfy, scrumptious bed. I mean, the least I can do is fix that hard-working man a sumptuous breakfast (or at least place a bowl and spoon on the counter for his cereal).

Superman will often greet me with, "Good morning, Sunshine." But sun-shiny is not how I feel. I mumble back something incomprehenDible, and then pour the water in the coffeemaker. 

Must. Have. Coffee.

Really, I'm coming to the conclusion that I am a BRUNCH girl.

This morning, though, is Saturday!!!!  Yay!perhaps with a different husband ... I might get to be that brunch girl and stretch out of bed around 10ish... but, on summer weekends, Superman still arises early to beat the heat on his bike ride...

I can't win.

So, I join him. While making him a Spanish omelet, I decided to make me a verrrrrry healthy one, too. So, here goes....

~ roasted tomatoes and garlic

~ lightly sauteed (in extra virgin olive oil) green onions

~ one egg, three egg whites (dog gets the extra yolks; it's good for her coat... makes it shine like the sun) and lots of seasonings (a must with egg whites)

~ stir up the eggs as if scrambling them (makes a fluffy omelet), but stop before they clump together (in this picture below, I still had more stirring to do; the eggs need to be less runny than that); turn heat off

~ a little grated Parmesan... mmmmmmmmmmm

~ sprinkle on top

~ top half with two roasted garlic cloves and some of the tomatoes

~ fold over and top with more, if you dare, cuz they arrrre tangy; sprinkle with a bit of parsley ...and more cheese if you phleese

~ cover

... in the meantime, while eggs finish cooking ...

~ slice fruit and avocado and enjoy!

~ don't throw these scraps away yet! scrape off that extra avocado and slather it onto your face while you clean the breakfast mess, then later, wash it off, and voila - enjoy a sunshiny glow all day...it's the vitamin A ya know!

~~~~~You are now ready to greet the day~~~~~~

GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE!  :)

Coffee, no tea, and Thee :)

While Superman rolls away on his morning bike ride, I am sipping coffee and talking to thee. One of my favorite things to do!

(Well, that, and dancing, reading, sewing, riding my bikes, winning at Scrabble, swimming, gardening, driving, yakking with friends (such as YOU), writing... ah... the list is unending! Since Superman says, "You can make a party out of paying bills, even!" you can tell that I love finding the small delights in life. And if I can't find them, I create them, and if I can't do that, then I have friends who help! yayayayay!)

Did you know I love coffee? Fun coffee (think Starbucks), black coffee, it's all the same for me - just gotta have it! In the winter, teas are my friends a lot more than in summer. Green tea is supposed to be very good for you, and white tea, and black tea (which looks brown to me; ever notice that discrepancy?), so every once in a while, I will toss all three bags into one mug and smile at my cleverness. (It is OK to smile at yourself!)

It's not my birthday today, but this ahead-of-its-time fallish weather (there's even yellow leaves on my front porch!) has me thinking of my birthday, and since I needed a mug in which to pour my yummer coffee.... well, I chose it. And my friend Lyn chose it for me last year, and what a wonderful gift, don't you think?

Starbucks is expensive, so today's brew was simply milk, the last few chocolates (58% dark) from the gift shop at Peachy Canyon Winery, and coffeemaker-dripped-coffee on top of more hand-dripped coffee, in hopes of imitating Starbucks' coffee's boldness. It worked!

Oh! And LOOK! A new pen holder for my purse! Every time I pull out this emptied chocolate tin (and, no, I'm not going green---JUST PINK), my BFF getaway with Shannon will be another happy rerun! (See... more delights. They are in every nook and cranny of our lives!)

Find something delightful in your day, and tell me all about it!

A Girly Girl!

Age doesn't matter! 

This girl is going to call herself a girl till I've gone to heaven and my eyes fall on my beloved Jesus' face!

Aprons with ruffles help a woman feel like a girl... that can twirl... and put on dangly, sparkly earrings.... and... and, OH!... it just makes cooking dinner such a delightful occasion!!!

This apron is so cute & fun & ooooLLaLLaLLaaaaaa, and Superman comments every time I wear it (I'm dying if I'm lying lol). What girl could help but tie it on when a husband, whose majority of vocabulary got left on Krypton, actually utters the words she longs to hear - "CUTE."  (He might be talking about the apron, but I am reallly thinking he is talking the whole package, living apron stand (moi) and all!

If I ever find fab as awesome as this apron's, I might make them and sell them, so that the whole world of women (WWW) can twirl and swirl and find joy in being a girl!

A wise girl builds her house...!