Wednesday, January 27, 2010

*Garden Charms*







I've been creating these "things" and wasn't sure what to call them. When I talked about them to my husband I called them "hangy thingys" (not a great name) .... He came up with a few ideas for names that were completely ridiculous (he meant to be ridiculous) so yesterday I was thinking about what to call them and I came up with *garden charms*. I'm still not completely satisfied with that, but it's the best I can do. (If anyone has suggestions please leave a comment!!) I had to call them something because I plan to make some more and take them to a couple of nurseries around town to see if they can sell them for me. I think they'll sell. At least my friend, Julie, said she thought they would... but she's my friend so maybe she's a little biased.


Anyway.... I think they would be cute hanging from a tree, from a porch, in a window, maybe even as a fan pull.... the possibilities are endless! Okay, maybe not endless.




I just love them and enjoy making them. I want to keep about half of them for myself, but I'm not :O)




{Getting a good picture of the charms hanging was not going well. Some things are just difficult to photograph. I decided to take a close up shot too for more detail}




































































































{The backdrop for the "hanging" pictures is my front door... it's shabby chic}

{hey.. wait a minute... let me see if I can find a picture of my front door... I know I have one somewhere in my files...}


..............found it!


Thursday, January 21, 2010

In My Kitchen






Have a wonderful day~

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Wishing for Spring~*~


It's been so cold and dreary. I'm SO ready for Spring!
I thought I'd post some pictures from my last 2 springs. Maybe it will make me feel better (or worse.)


This picture was taken around May of '09. Everything is so GREEN. This is my front porch. When I walk out there now, it looks pretty pitiful and dreary.






















Back yard . . .
I'm hoping to do a lot of work to the back yard this spring. I'd like to put in some raised flower beds and plant flowers for cutting and some veggies and I want to try to grow some strawberries...yum.

















Bathing suit time is always a little scary, ok, a lot scary!









Fruit salad.... yum~




































































~painted toenails with cutesy flowers
{notice my flip flop tan line :O) }













~baby kittens... maybe we'll have some more this spring...
i hope so!!











~another cutie

























wild flowers I picked while taking a walk on our land

















































... can't wait to take my shoes off and enjoy the green grass
of
spring!


Friday, January 15, 2010

Praline-Apple Bread

I made this today. YUM. It's from a Southern Living Magazine.
Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided
1 8 oz. container sour cream
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped, peeled Granny Smith apples
Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 1/2 cup pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 6 to 8 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring after 4 minutes.
2. Beat sour cream and next 3 ingred. at low speed with an electric mixer 2 min or until blended.
3. Stir together flour and next 3 ingred. Add to sour cream mixture, beating just until blended. Stir in apples and 1/2 cup roasted pecans. Spoon batter into greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chopped pecans; lightly press pecans into batter.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. After 50 minutes cover with foil to prevent excessive browning. Cool in pan or a wire rack 10 min; remove from pan to wire rack.
5. Bring butter and brown sugar to a boil in a heavy sauce pan over med heat, stirring constantly; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, and spoon over top of bread; let cool about 1 hour.
~hope you like!