January is a blah month for me. I really have a hard time focusing and accomplishing anything. I did however decide to do something that I had been putting off which was to order some more tea. This time it is from Atlantic Spice and the three kinds are Ambrosia, Tropicana and Peach Passion. I really look forward to sharing these with friends. I have been wanting a copy of Marmee Dear's Homemaker's Treasury and ordered one for myself. She has a special going on until February 6th. They are $22 with free shipping. I will write review for it after it arrives.
I have had several lovely tea time visits with Tim's Mom. We viewed The Shop Around the Corner which is a vintage Jimmy Stewart movie. Leslie told me that it was the basis for You've Got Mail which I really like with the exception of some situations and language (we have a filter for this).
Sunday nights one can find me watching The Jane Austin Collection on PBS. I love Jane Austin and it has really been wonderful to see these many new versions of her work. This next Sunday will be a movie about her life and I look forward to viewing it.
Our family viewed Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House with Cary Grant this past week and found it alot of fun. Of course anything With Mr. Grant has been a hit at our house. One of my favorites is I was a Male War Bride. This is a clever, cheerful vintage film with that produces lots of laughs.
Well, those are a few of my blues chasers. Perhaps you will enjoy them too.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
New Teas and Winter Blahs
Monday, January 28, 2008
Breakfast Casserole- Recipe Monday
7 eggs beaten
2 cups of milk
1 cup grated cheese
6 slices of white bread, cubed and no crusts
1 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 dab mustard
1 pound sausage, cooked, crumbled and drained
Monday, January 21, 2008
Hashbrown Casserole- Recipe Monday
2 pounds frozen hashbrowns
1/2 cup melted butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups crushed cornflakes 1/4 cup melted butter
Defrost the hashbrowns and combine with 1/2 cup butter, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, onion, cheese, salt and pepper. Place in a 3 quart casserole dish that has been greased. Saute the cornflakes in the butter until golden brown and then sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
About Little Women Home Companion
Little Women Home Companion was a magazine that my daughter and I created together during her middle school years. It was for mothers and daughters and included recipes, craft ideas, poetry, and links to wonderful sites that we found online during that time (check these carefully now for it has been several years). There was a section about nature study that I had observed, fiction stories that my daughter wrote, a summary about the current chapter that we were reading in Little Women and more. It has a little of a Victorian flair to it and I really miss the time we spent working on the magazine together. Hopefully someday we can begin working on it again. You can find the link for it under labels in the sidebar. When we first created it there were pictures of many of the projects but we have not been able to find them or upload them. I hope you enjoy what was so special to us.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Mom's Double Delight Chocolate Muffins
I thought I would have daily themes for my blog and this is the beginning with Recipe Mondays. The recipe for today is my husband's favorite muffin.1 stick of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar (plus some to sprinkle on top)
1 cup of sour cream
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups of plain all purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup pecans (opt.)
Mix together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, sour cream and chocolate. Add to it the flour, salt, baking soda, chocolate chips and pecans. Mix just until everything is well combined. Put the mixture into a well greased, giant muffin pan ( the one that makes 6 muffins). Sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from muffin tin immediately and let cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Learning With Friends
About once a month there is a group of women that I know that meet for dinner and share what they have learned about Charlotte Mason and her method of education. Last night I had the opportunity to visit with these ladies and discuss chapter 4 of School Education by Charlotte Mason. I really need to read this chapter once again and give it more thought.
Some of the ideas that mentioned in this chapter are :
Children should be free in their play
Personal initiative in work
Children must stand or fall by their own efforts
Boys and girls are generally dutiful
Children should choose their own friends
Should be free to spend their own pocket money
Should form their own opinions and
Spontaneity
I will address some of what I have learned in a future post but I really enjoyed sharing with the other ladies in the group.
Back Home Again
It has been fun going back and forth between my other blog and this one. Both have little things that I enjoy on them but I will have to say that the ability to make my blog a little more unique has won out....so I will be here from now on with the journal of my days and thoughts that I have. It is nice to be back home and I am really looking forward to posting more often. See you soon....
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
A New Year
I found this sweet little poster online. I really like the print...in fact I have one hanging in our home. My dear daughter drew her own version for me when she was little and I need to frame it too. So here is my list of things I would like to accomplish this new year....
*Declutter and organize our home
*I have a cleaning plan and I need to just do it!!!
*Stay on task with my little one's schoolwork
*Plan for and stick with our budget
*Have a large project and small project to accomplish each month....I actually need to write them down and plan them into my planner
My thoughts are:
*an apron a month I already have a few I have made so I want to include these and add a few more
*Finish a couple of rag quilts that I begun a few years ago
*Finish a cross-stitch project that has been ongoing forever.... I do not care as much for cross-stitch since it is harder for me to see as clearly now
* Finish a few more little folk type houses for our mantle
*make some little ornament projects that I found on the internet
*make some purses
I also want to schedule in some books that I want to get read and start a new Bible study plan and schedule times to have tea with dear friends.
These are just a few of my thoughts...
