Hurry up Spring!

I'm bored with inside. Can we please get Winter over with already! Made this while watching TV last night. A gift to myself. I'll wear this when Clay deploys to Afghanistan.



It's really all silver. Must be the lighting since I didn't use a flash. Hmmm.

Photo of the Week

Lake Texoma

PSU Gorilla

Another cold day

Ran some errands and made dinner for the pastor's family. I needed a new blush brush and didn't realize it matched my sweater until I got home.



Here are my new socks to go with my sweater.



Exciting, huh?

So ready for spring!

The snow from last week is finally melting.



I am ready to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring.



I'm ready to get outside to work in the yard and get my tomatoes planted.



Maybe Sophie would be motivated to spend more time awake. She LOVES being outside.

Online Albums

I'm getting around to uploading photos to my online albums. Look for more in the days to come.

I selected some garden photos from 2008 and uploaded.

I'm seeing a pattern

I'm finally going through pictures to upload to my online albums. I'm starting with some from the garden. We have lived in our home a little over four years now and have worked on the gardens a little each year. Some were successful and some were not. It's hard to change climates and know how plants will do.

In going through the pictures I found several like this. Good help is hard to find!

Molting Cicada

As I've been going through my photos to post to my online albums I came across these I took last year of a Cicada molting.





Here is some information on them.

Traveling Kansas - Coronado Heights

We added this stop to our trip on the way home. I'm so glad we did. Breath-taking views from many angles.

Here is a link with more information. And a link to a few photos.

I love my guys

Discoverer of Pluto

We ran across this historical marker on a stop in Burdett, KS.

Photo of the Week

Traveling Kansas - Abilene

One of our stops was the Heritage Center of Dickinson County to see the C. W. Parker Carousel. He was a partner with Con T. Kennedy. On my other blog I blogged about the unusual memorial at Riverdale Cemetery [where my precious Mama and family rests].

Here are just a few pictures from that stop.

New Cookbooks

2 new additions:

Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook
Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader

I subscribe to Taste of Home magazine. This book features a lot of yummy recipes in a healthier version. It also contains good information at the front of the book on dieting, food choices, daily calories, portion sizes and more. My copy also included a free year subscription to the Healthy Cooking magazine. I already subscribe.

The Mitford book is interesting because it takes food mentioned in the author, Jan Karon, books and brings them to recipe life! How fun. A lot of them are southern dishes and so that grabbed my attention. It interested me enough that I'm going to the library and check out a few of her books to read.

Clayton deploying

Clayton has been notified that he will deploy to Afghanistan mid April to mid May. This scares me and this is where my faith must be stronger than my fear.

.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Valentine Flowers

Yellow roses are my favorite. Not traditional for Valentine's Day but I'd rather have yellow roses any day.

Thank you, Barry!

Photo of the Week

Looking West from my front yard.
Looks like the sky was on fire.

A new pair of socks

I had a nice surprise in the mail today. A pair of socks and pin cushion from my sister-in-law, Karen, along with a sweet card. I love neat socks! It made my day!

Yes, another bread post

I am enjoying baking bread from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Who knew it could be fun to watch a blob of dough transform into a tasty looking loaf of bread. I'm still working on the "cloaking" process which affects how the bread looks when baked. I'm making progress since my first loaf.

Home Library - Cookbooks

I am in the process of making an inventory of our home library. I started with my cookbooks. The categories are: Book, booklet, magazine, pamphlet & spiral. I've been thinking of taking each one and making at least one new dish from it.

The ones listed as a magazine are not the typical monthly subscription magazines but special items from the likes of Better Homes & Gardens and Betty Crocker. I do subscribe to several cooking magazines.

A lot of the spiral books are church cookbooks and some of my most used!

· 100 Best Chicken Recipes [BHG], Magazine
· 50 Game Day Tips, Pamphlet
· 50 Holiday Cookies [Food Network], Pamphlet
· 7 D's Family Reunion Cookbook, Spiral
· A Taste of America, Book
· All Time Favorite Best Brand Recipes, Booklet
· Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Book
· Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving , Magazine
· Ball Blue Book to Preserving, Magazine
· Bean, Beans, Booklet
· Best Ever Casseroles, Book
· Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles…, Book
· Betty Crocker's New Cookbook. Everything you need…, Book
· Between the Acts, Book
· Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes [BHG], Book
· Bisquick Budget Meals, Magazine
· Calling All Cooks Best of the Best, Spiral
· Campbells Deliciously Easy Recipes, Spiral
· Campbells Fabulous One Dish Recipes, Spiral
· Campbells No Time To Cook Recipes, Spiral
· Campbells Simply Delicious Recipes, Book
· Canning & Preserving [BHG], Book
· Casseroles and Slow Cooker Meals - Betty Crocker, Booklet
· Comstock, Makin' Easy Recipes, Booklet
· Culinary Arts Institute Cookbook, Book
· Desperation Dinners!, Book
· Electric Bread, Book
· ESA Unbearably Good Recipes, Spiral
· Essence of Kansas Taste Three, Book
· Family Favorites - Hidden Valley Ranch, Booklet
· Favorite Recipes from Valley View UMC, Spiral
· Fix It & Forget It , Book
· Good Things for Entertaining, Booklet
· Great Pies You Can Bake, Spiral
· Harmony in Cuisine, Spiral
· Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Book
· Heavenly Delights - 1st Church Naz, Spiral
· Hometown Recipes, Booklet
· Jeanne's Kitchen Charts, Booklet
· Making Meals in Minutes, Booklet
· Mitchell UMC Cookbook, Spiral
· More ESA Unbearably Good Recipes, Spiral
· New Cook Book [BHG], Book
· New Covenant's Creations, Spiral
· Not Just Beans, Spiral
· Pillsbury 2007 Annual Recipes, Book
· Pillsbury 2008 Annual Recipes, Book
· Prize Winning Beef, Booklet
· Prize Winning Ground Beef, Booklet
· Prize Winning Vegetable Dishes, Booklet
· Recipes to Remember - Olathe Bible Church, Spiral
· Sauce, Book
· Soccer Mom Short Cuts [Ragu], Booklet
· Soups, Stews & Chilies, Magazine
· Southern Living 1993 Annual Recipes, Book
· Southern Living Cookbook, Booklet
· Taste of Home 2008 Annual Recipes, Book
· Taste of Home 2009 Annual Recipes, Book
· Taste of Home Brand Name Cookbook 2006, Magazine
· Taste of Home Brand Name Cookbook 2007, Magazine
· Taste of Home Brand Name Cookbook 2008, Magazine
· Taste of Home Christmas Cookies, Booklet
· Taste of Home Church Supper, Magazine
· Taste of Home Potluck, Magazine
· Taste of Home What's For Dinner?, Booklet
· The Bread Machine Cookbook VI, Book
· The Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking, Book
· The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Book
· The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, Book
· The Great Big Butter Cookbook, Book
· The Great Salsa Book, Book
· The Lady & Sons, Spiral
· The Magic of Jelly, Book
· The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Book
· The Southern Living Cookbook, Book
· The Taste of Home Baking Book, Book
· The Warkentin Family Cookbook, Booklet
· Ultimate Casseroles [BHG], Magazine
· WCR Favorite Recipes, Spiral

Sidney & Sophie Conversing

I want to go outside!


Are you stupid? [silly question].
It's like 20 degrees out there.
I'm staying right here until lunch.

Vermont Cheddar Bread

I forgot to cut the bread tops half way through the rest period. They turned out okay anyway. I took them to a family dinner and it went fast.

Get the yummy details here!

Drip Beef for Super Bowl

The peppers added to the aroma that filled the house as this cooked all day.
I served with small rolls from the deli, provolone cheese and spicy mustard.

Here is where you can find all the yummy details!

Friday night by the fire

Today was a long day. Clayton left this morning for Ft. Campbell, KY. He's almost there and has checked in with us through out the day. I miss him already. Hopefully I'll get to see him when I go home to Georgia in the Spring.

It's still cold and last weekends snow is still hanging around. So, we built a fire and relaxed this evening, playing with the Wii and surfing online.

Sophie loves to snuggle - as you can see. She is such a spoiled diva!

I have Vermont Cheddar Bread resting on the counter. I can't wait to bake some tomorrow. I'm taking a broccoli and rice casserole and homemade breads to a family dinner on Sunday. This bread is from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Easy, fun, yum!

Photo of the Week

Taken on I35 in Oklahoma at 75 miles per hour. [No, I wasn't driving].

Handwriting

Clay and I had a good chuckle over his handwriting. He was 7 at the time we gave this book to Barry for Father's Day. He commented on his improved writing but I disagree - his writing is worse. Hee, hee!

Kitchen reading this week

This is what I've been drooling over this past week. I've had The Pioneer Woman Cooks for a few months [I pre-ordered it]. The others I have purchased in the last few weeks. The "butter" one was discounted at Hastings and how can a book entitled The Great Big Butter Cookbook not make you curious.

The Magic of Jelly is interesting and can offer inspiration to try new things in the kitchen.

I've had a couple of posts on the bread already. The master recipes are SO EASY! I've been making smaller loaves which are perfect to slice and make homemade garlic bread for spaghetti night. YUM!

Frozen Fog

Color in black and white. That is how these photos appear. It's more beautiful than the snow because it creates a white winter wonderland.