A most holy Christmas to all!

May your day be filled with peace and love!

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

The rush is on...

Getting decorations down from the attic....

Trying to find the Christmas lights....

Shopping.........

Having too much fun!

Priceless!

I'm getting ready.............

Are you?

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

Counting our blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I hope your Thanksgiving is a very happy one. I hope you will be with the ones you love, and if you can't, that love will fill your hearts.

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

My Goodness!

This is one of my favorite "old" cook books.................As you can see, it is well used...

Copyright 1963.........

My favorite recipe from this book is this one:


Banana Bread...............

I've made many variations of this recipe...............

By adding other ingredients to it.........

I doubled this recipe and added tiny little pieces of 2 fresh apples, old-fashioned rolled oats, and some spices to it.......

You still get the moistness of the banana and the flavor is enhanced by the apple and spices........

I'm so glad the recipe made three loaves, it is so delicious........

With all my enhancements, it may even be good for you!

The recipe is:

Banana Bread

This is the basic recipe:

2 C. sifted all-purpose flour

1 t. soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 C. butter or margarine

1 C. sugar

2 eggs

1 C. (2 medium sized) mashed bananas
1/3 C. milk (I use skim milk)

1 t. lemon juice or vinegar

1/2 C. nuts (optional)

Oven 350 degrees

Sift flour with soda and salt. Cream butter. Gradually add sugar, creaming well. Add eggs and bananas; blend thoroughly. Combine milk and lemon juice. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Grease bottom of 9 x 5 x 3 inch pan. Pour in batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes, until bread springs back when lightly touched in center. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.


To make this a spiced variation, add

1/8 C. molasses

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/8 t. ginger

1/2 C. raisins

1/2 C. walnuts

I've also lowered the sugar to 3/4 C. and I have mixed it with half brown sugar. This gives a nice flavor.

I have used 1/2 C. white flour, 1 C. wheat flour, and 1/2 C. old fashioned oatmeal. This gives a nutty texture. When using the wheat flour, use 1/2 C. milk. The wheat flour needs more moisture than white flour.

I've substituted the butter with Olivio margarine in the tubs. This has no trans fats or hydrogenated fats in it.

I have also made a white glaze to ice it with. I make this with powdered sugar and enough milk to make it pourable, and just drizzle it over the loaf.

Just use your imagination, this recipe can be adapted to any of your ideas. I have tried many dried fruits, cranberries, blueberries, etc., and any kind of nuts, and it all works. I want to try dried pineapple next, I think that will be spectacular!

So experiment and enjoy the process, you may come up with something even better!

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

A Fabulous Giveaway!

Paula over at Castle and Cottage is having a fabulous giveaway. She is giving a $40.00 Gift Certificate to her Etsy shop. All you have to do is become a follower, leave a comment and tell her your favorite decorating color for Christmas. You'll get an extra entry if you announce her giveaway on your blog.

The drawing is going to be held on November 14 at noon.

So, go on over there and enter! Her blog is full of beautiful decorating ideas!

And please tell her that Jean sent you!

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

Happy Veteran's Day!

My sincere appreciation to all those veterans who mean so much to our country. Thank you!

Fruits of the Season.....

Take some apples from the orchard.........

Cut them up into pieces and cook them for about 5 minutes.........

Use this gadget. It's called a Foley Food Mill. It separates the skins from the fruit. It makes instant applesauce.
Here is what it looks like..............

Here is the finished product............

I'll tuck it away and we'll have it this winter. Yum, so good!

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

All Better!!!!

This is my sweet little Dusty and I wanted to let everyone know that he is all healed and back to normal. He had a nice bath today and looks so nice and clean and he smells so sweet again. It's 4 1/2 weeks since the surgery on his tail and he is acting like his old self again. Thank heavens!

He had a rough time of it and I'm so glad he's feeling better now. I wanted to take that pain away from him. I want to thank everyone for their concern and for sending all the good wishes for my little buddy. He wants to say "Thanks" to all of you for asking about him. And NO he does not share the remote, especially when "Animal Planet" is on!

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

I have been cleaning out my attic and I find that I had some beautiful items packed away. Admittedly, lots of stuff went to my favorite charity, Salvation Army, but some items I decided were too good to give away. So, I have added lots and lots of stuff to my Etsy shop, Sweet Girly Things.

Here is a little preview of some of the items that I have listed:

Lots of beautiful decorating pieces, all reasonably priced to move them fast. Any of these pieces would make beautiful holiday gifts for a loved one. So, hop on over to Sweet Girly Things and check out all the great things that I have listed.

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

Stop over to visit Sara at Sara's Sweet Surprise. She is having a fabulous Giveaway!

Go over to enter and check this out!

I really want to win this!

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

Update-Getting Better.........

Dusty had his stitches taken out today. He is doing pretty good. He is off the pain medication, but still has to take the antibiotics for 4 more days. He is eating, drinking water, and going to the bathroom now. He still has some soreness because when he walks, he holds his back end over to the side and stops to grab his tail. I think it'll just take some time for him to get all better. For now, he's 100% more comfortable than he has been for the last two weeks. We're getting there. Thank you, everyone, for your sweet comments and concern for Dusty. We love him so much and it's very hard to see him in pain and not feeling well. We are happy to see the little signs that he is on the mend. For instance, he slept on my bed last night and we played "lick and tickle" this morning. It's our way of saying, "Good morning". So, for now, we just need to be patient and before we know it, he'll be good as new.
'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

A trying time........

Our sweet little doggie, Dusty, has had an operation on his tail. He had a cyst that had gotten bigger over the last six months. So, it was time to take it out. He was not happy about that! We had him at home for one week and he needed constant attention day and night. The poor baby would not eat, drink water, or go to the bathroom. He would sit and stare at the wall for hours. I called the vet and she said that we should bring him in. So, once she saw how he was acting, she suggested that he stay there. That was Friday morning and she said they would evaluate him that day and decide if he could come home. She called later and said they wanted to keep him for the weekend and that on Monday they would decide if he should come home or not. We are missing him so much! He is supposed to get the stitches out on Thursday and may have to stay until then. He wants to get at his tail so bad! He has to wear this collar to keep him from reaching it. So, we can't wait until he is all better and he can resume his normal life and we can do the same! I'll keep you posted on his condition.....

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

And the winner is....................

Ta-daa......(Drum roll, please)...........

And the winner is:

Wendy at The Cozy Yellow House.

Congratulations, Wendy, thank you for participating!

Stop over and visit Wendy, she has a wonderful blog that I thoroughly enjoy visiting.



Thank you to all of you that entered my 100th post giveaway. This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed all the sweet comments that I received. Your friendships mean so much to me. I enjoy visiting and reading all your blogs. They are all so interesting and I love the photos and reading about all your adventures. So, come back and visit me often and keep me updated on your latest news and happenings. This is what blogland is all about and I am very happy to be a part of it! Here's to many more posts and my next Giveaway!

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

A Celebration~~~My 100th Post!

It's time, sweeties. I am going to show you what I put in the big Giveaway for my 100th post celebration! It has taken me a long time to get to this point on Blogger, but to me it has been worth the trip. I have met so many nice, helpful, and friendly people in my venture and I hope that I will make many more friends in the future.

Because of my love of vintage items, and because I have noticed that vintage is very popular with so many of my fellow bloggers, I have chosen some items from my own personal collection of such items (my stash). I have also included some items that look vintage, but are not.

Now let me show you all the goodies~~


This is one half of what you will receive:


A package of bobby pins~~

A package of barrettes~~(I love the pink and blue)~~

An unused powder puff~~anyone remember these?

Ivory soap!! 99 44/100% pure~~ (This is not old but looks like it is)

A pair of ladies dress gloves~~

The next collection is this: (the other half of the giveaway)~~

Two Little Golden Books and one Wonder Book~~

A rose sachet that smells wonderful! (and looks old)!!

Three painted vintage clothes pins that I added decals to~~

Two pkgs. of Seam Binding, one Bias Tape, and four partial pkgs. of Rick Rack Braid~~

And a pair of beautiful ceramic birds~~

They each have the original labels~~

I forgot to take a picture of the ladies handkerchief in the first picture. It is very soft cotton with a hand crocheted pink edging.

And it seems that I also forgot to take a picture of the pair of candle holders that you see in the second collection picture. They are new and have very pretty pink roses on them.

So there you have it! All these great vintage items can be yours, if you enter the drawing for them. The deadline to get your entries in will be Sept. 27, 2009 at midnight. I will draw the lucky winner's name on Sept. 28, 2009 at 9:00 AM DST.

There are three easy ways that you can get entered into this giveaway.

1. Leave me a comment on this post.

2. If you want another entry, become a follower. I would love to get to know you!

All of my followers will automatically be entered.

3. You can get still another entry by posting about my Giveaway on your blog. You must put a link back to my blog and then leave me another comment telling me that you did.

So, you can get three entries by doing all three of the above.

Also, you don't have to have a blog to win--just leave me a comment with an email address or some way to get in touch with you if you win!

Thanks so much for your visits and leaving your comments. It means so much to me!

So, spread the word and get your entries in. Good luck to all of you!


'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

Just checkin' in........

Yes, I'm still alive! I've been gardening and working. I've started replacing the rest of the bushes in the front foundation planting. Some of those have been in there for 39 years, at least. Some were put in after that. They are all overgrown!! I don't have any pictures, been too busy to take them. I have one more huge Rhododendren left, so I will take a picture of that one. The others are gone, so it's too late for them. I replaced some last summer and I have been wanting to get to the rest, and the time has finally come! I am still trying to visit all my blogging friends that left such sweet comments on my Rooster blog, so please bear with me. I need more hours in my day, but I will get there eventually. This is my 95th post, so I will be having my 100th post giveaway soon. I'll be showing what I will be giving away very soon. Stop back often. 'Til next time, Love ya, Jean

My Roosters......

Here are my roosters:


This one was handmade by me. I used a piece of pine wood. I woodburned the outline and then I painted inside that with watered down acrylic paint. It looks like watercolor as the wood shows through a little. I sealed it with acrylic spray. I was going to put a little red wood strip around the outside edge and never got around to it. Maybe someday I will do that. This is a carved rooster and chicken that I want to show you. They usually sit up on a shelf in my kitchen, but I thought I would bring them down so you could get a closer look at them. These are handmade. Not by me, but by someone that was very good at carving wood. The rooster and chicken are made from a piece of (I think) a maple branch. They are amazing to look at and I wonder where the artist learned to do this.

This is the base of the chicken....it's legs are set into another piece of maple branch.

The chicken's face and comb is not as elaborate as the rooster's.

This is a forked branch, which makes up the body and the tail.

Look at how the tail is made. It is the branch with many cuts down into it and then spead out somehow to make it look fuller.

A closeup of the cute little face........

Overall view of the pair.....(on my old washer) Lol

Another view.......

On the bottom of the rooster it says: (handwritten in ink) "The Hayloft 1987 Jim Longest Guitar picker". So, obviously, it was a souvenier. I found him at the Salvation Army about 8 years ago. I found the chicken at a yard sale, in a box on the ground, a few years later. There was a bunch of other stuff thrown in the box with it. I couldn't believe my eyes! I couldn't believe that they matched and I was amazed that I found the pair of them in two different places, and a few years apart. I quess they were just meant to be mine. If anyone has any information on this craft, please let me know, I'd be interested to learn more about these.



I don't use this as a cutting board, there's too much work in it to risk messing it up......

I do love it and I think I will put that border on it and hang it in my kitchen.



I want to say thank you to Barb at Bella Vista for hosting this Rooster Party. There are so many bloggers who want to show you their roosters, so go and check them all out. The list will be up for a week, so check back often and see them all.

'Til next time, Love ya, Jean