Just a favor I ask of you....

I just wanted to ask my followers to visit one more blog... take a moment of your day to say Hello and give a virtual hug to a friend of mine from Facebook. We have never met face to face... and probably never will.. I have always enjoyed her sense of humor and been thankful for her 'chicken advice' ... and now she is losing her husband to emphysema...  she started this blog this week to help herself cope with the dramatic changes she is going through... If you have a moment, just stop in and say hello... share experiences if you have them.. just give some encouragement to a stranger... You will feel better and I know she will too ...

Click this link:
 http://watchingmylovedie.wordpress.com/

Silent Sunday

Time Flies!!

So, I had a blog post ready to go on Monday but evidently I never finished it and posted it! It's been one of those weeks!
I don't know if I've mentioned it (hahaha! YES I HAVE)  but I seriously LOVE my job at Obsessions!  It's not even 'work'... well it IS.. especially when I'm having to pack up and account for a trunk show of GORGEOUS stones... see? Even the paperwork is fun!!
I am working on a few projects, mostly getting things ready to teach at the shop next month :) We are doing a 'Back to Basics' course over the next few months to teach some basic stitching and I have a few patterns to teach that go along with the initial stitching class. Should be great fun and introduce some new ideas to our students!!
The sun is shining a bit longer every day and I can't tell you how happy this makes me!!
LOVE this picture I found online:

I'm so excited to start working in the garden!! I layered cardboard scraps under my compost this winter and it honestly looks like I won't even be using the noisy, smelly, noisy, noisy, noisy tiller this year! Did I mention it's kind of noisy? The first few years I felt I HAD to use it, good old Carolina red clay takes some time to get to a workable stage... but I have really decent soil this year! Thank you to my chickens :D

They have really made such a difference in the garden plot! Great fertilizers and great job of keeping the soil nice and loose! I highly recommend them! :D  Although I do think they will not be quite so pleased when I have to keep them OUT of their favorite digging spots.

What are your garden plans this year? Going all out and doing a huge garden or just containers on the back porch? Trying any new veggies?

Silent Sunday

It's been a few days...

.. since I've posted here! I've just been outside as much as possible enjoying the lovely weather we have been having... and I've also been working! YAY ME!  I don't know if I've mentioned it yet... but I LOVE my job! I really do!! Just too much fun to call it work. :D

This will just be a quick post since it's getting late and I need some sleep!!   

We have had two days this week of gorgeous sun and 60* weather! I absolutely LOVE it!! I am so ready for Spring and to be done with Winter!! Even though we have had a mild winter this season, I'm tired of the dark and gloomy days and the cold. I don't like cold. 
I can't wait to start working in my garden again! I long for the sweet taste of fresh baby greens and watching the little sprouts poke through the dirt and be continually amazed how a tiny seed can make such delicious food!!!
This is an older picture, but I did see this little guy poking his head out of the roots of the maple tree by our driveway :) Daffodils always make me happy!

Well, I gotta crash for the night, so I'll leave you with a few pictures of my late, lamented bulb garden which the chickens decided would make a nicer dust bath....

Silent Sunday

I have decided that Sunday's will be my 'Silent Sunday' post. No 'talking' just a beautiful picture that moved me that particular Sunday. I hope you enjoy.

Baking and baking and baking.. and some butter

Happy Friday blog-friends!!!

I had today off! YAY ME! Last night with great aspirations I made a 'to do' list.. this included waking up early, getting on the elliptical for 20 minutes and taking Guinness for a much needed walk...  it also included working on the Beading Babes Challenge since we have extra time added before reveal.

So, alarm clock goes off... snooze... goes off again... snooze.... Finally wake up when the pups start pitching a fit because they have to GO. Sheesh! ;)  Wake up, wander outside... OHMYHEAVENSITSCOLDWHYISITCOLD?!?!?!? Seriously.. it was 60 on Monday, it was 22 when I woke up this morning!! Um.. shock the system much?  I know it IS winter still.. .. but yeah....
After shivering through the morning chores, I came inside still planning to follow my list... sat down with my tea and toast... and said... eh, stuff it.. I'm Baking Today!! :D

Karyn sent me a recipe a few weeks ago from Andrew Thornton's blog  and I have to say.... these are now my absolute FAVORITE brownies!! They are just the perfect balance of sweet and moist without being too sweet the way brownies can sometimes be... and I also have never cared for iced brownies.. but these.. oh the icing is divine!!!!! *faints*

 After the brownies I was still in 'bake mode' so I whipped up this recipe I found on Pinterest this week. I am a HUGE fan of beer bread.. I love it.. I use all different types of beer to see what I like best.. Guinness is a great favorite for when I'm in the mood for a darker bread.. but for a great, light and fluffy and yeasty bread, you can't go wrong with Pabst Blue Ribbon!! But today I only had Busch Ice on hand.. but it still turned out delightful!!! 

AND I also made some butter. Yes, butter. I simply love fresh made butter... and it's so simple to make!!!

Ok.. yes.. I know it's Walmart brand cream.. but I haven't been able to locate a good source of local fresh cream.. there is some sort of approval required to sell it for human consumption in this state but I'm networking and trying to find out a source.. ...
So, all you have to do... get your cream at room temperature... break out the mixer... and let er rip!!!!  This is a few minutes in to the mixing.. my mixer is set on 9 which is close to the highest speed but not quite, you really want to break up the fat globules in the cream....

At this point, we have whipped cream!! It's yummy too but we want butter so keep beating!!!

 Now we are seeing something!! Here you can turn the mixer down to medium as it will start making a mess as the buttermilk separates from the butter.....

 And here is our finished product!! This is from one quart of cream... I think about a pound of butter and maybe 12-16 oz of buttermilk.. I don't drink it but I will probably use it to make pancakes in the morning :)

So there you have my Baking Day! I hope you all got some yummy food inspirations!! Back to beading tomorrow!!! :D  Anyone have any favorite recipes they want to share?

Healthy again!!

Greetings once again fellow bloggers and my little army of followers! :D  I am happy to say I am feeling SO much better!!!
I didn't get much of anything accomplished this weekend .. but I had a good excuse at least! I did teach my class Saturday at Obsessions and had a great time doing it! We had a lady come in the store looking for a paint medium, which we don't have, but Google told her we did ;)  But Thank Google! She asked what we were doing and I showed her the Fringe Cuff that I was going to teach and she asked me to help her pick out beads for it and she took my class! She had NEVER done anything like this before!  
We had a great time in the class and she really enjoyed it and will be coming back again in March! It's times like these that just make me enjoy my 'bead therapy' even more! The other two ladies were just great as well! I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's finished cuffs! This is the cuff I taught:

In other news.. my delightful children, errr.. pups, Guinness and Chito received their Canine Good Citizen certificates this week!! Is it silly to be so proud of this accomplishment?  Yes, these will be framed and hung on the wall.....

I had considered signing Guinness up for a Basic Agility training camp that is coming up in March but the minimum age requirement is 12 months and he will only be 9 months old :( So I am looking for a program nearby later in the year. I really think he would enjoy it as much as I would!!

So, until next time, have a lovely day and go create something beautiful!!!!

The Best Laid Plans.............

 .. of mice and men....   I can't remember the rest of the quote or if that is even how it begins!!

I had fully planned to do a nice bloggy blog post today filled with beads and brownies! But I am sick.

Karyn
sent me this simply lovely sounding brownie recipe that I have been dying to try all week! Friday is my day off so I had planned to do this today. But right now, nothing tastes good, nothing smells good and on top of that I have NO appetite anyway.. So I just didn't feel I would do the brownies justice by baking today.
I spent my morning running a few errands and stopped by Obsessions  to pick up a clasp for my Runway of Pearls bracelet... I think I'm gonna like how this one turns out after all! :D   By the time I finished errands and returned home the meds had completely worn off and I ended up spending most of the afternoon in bed.

Hoping to feel much better by tomorrow as I have a class to teach at 3pm!! Going to go make some hot tea and just relax for the evening.