Photo-a-Day Challenge ~ Week 2

Continuing with Kati's photo challenge...a photo-a-day...

day 8: sky
Gray. Day after day after day.
(And gray has been my mood this week. I am craving sunshine.)

day 9: entrance

I wasn't satisfied with this shot of my back door entrance,
but it was too cold to go back out and take another. At least, I thought so.
I do love this entrance though. On the other side of this door is my favorite place in the world.
Home.

day 10: self portrait

Oh dear.
(I'd like to have a word with the gal who designed this challenge.)

day 11: something new
I am thrilled with this "something new"!
This gorgeous scherenschnitte was made by my super-talented-artist friend Kim.
Beginning in October, Kim wrote an inspiring blog series called 31 Days to Take Joy!
She created an actual papercutting to serve as the artwork for her series button, and then she framed it and gave it away to a lucky winner...ME!
While I choose from the many places where I think it would be beautiful, it sits here on a cabinet in my kitchen as part of a Valentine's vignette.

day 12: in your cup
A mocha. Oh yeah.
Gotta have something to brighten up these gray days.
And I have learned to make my own, without going to Starbucks thank you.
(Starbucks' mochas are better, of course, but this one is not bad and costs a lot less.)

day 13: red
My chair.
Love red.
Love my chair.

day 14: heart
Homemade heart on a homemade cabinet.
Home is where the heart is.

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

But whether or not you are celebrating with a sweetheart today, this...
this is the greatest love of all:

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, 
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Oh, what love!

"Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"

Slow Cooker Tuesday ~ Week 6: Chocolate Fondue

Want something a little fun and fancy (and easy!) for Valentine's Day? Chocolate fondue might be your answer! We tested this out for you on Saturday evening. Because we're noble like that. And we think you'll like this chocolaty treat as much as we did! 

I simply assembled three ingredients in my Little Dipper crockpot, plugged it in, and went my way. An hour later, Bekah opened the lid and reported that it didn't look right. Uh-oh. But when I stirred it, it began to look smoother, so I popped the lid back on and left it for another twenty minutes or so. 

Meanwhile, I prepared a platter of things that would be good slathered in chocolate. (Really now, is there anything that wouldn't be good slathered in chocolate?) I used strawberries, chunks of banana, and cubes of pound cake, but you could also use shortbread, orange slices, pitted cherries, pineapple chunks... 

I poured some of the fondue into a bowl, and the four of us stood around the island, fondue forks in hand, and dipped to our heart's content. (Or basically until the platter was empty. But our hearts were content.) 

Here's the easy-peasy recipe...

Recipe found ~here~ Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips 1/2 cup whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract    Directions: Place chocolate chips in the crockpot. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Cover and cook on LOW for 60 - 90 minutes. Stir until smooth.  Serve with fresh fruit or cubes of pound cake.

You don't have fondue forks? No problem! You can use bamboo skewers, or even cocktail picks. (In the picture above, you can see that I had inserted some cocktail picks before I remembered my fondue forks.)
You don't have a Little Dipper crockpot? No problem! You can place an oven safe dish inside your larger crock pot.
You don't like chocolate? Can't help you there!  

By the way, if you have leftover fondue (which you will unless you're serving more than four), it is fine just drizzled over a slice your leftover pound cake and consumed along with a cup of tea while watching Downton Abbey the next evening. Just saying...

Do you have a go-to Valentine dessert? (Does it involve chocolate?)

Photo-a-Day Challenge ~ Week 1

My daughter Kati is doing a photo-a-day challenge during the month of February...and I decided to join her! Although I am using her prompts to take a photo every day, I am going to lump mine together each Friday and post a week's worth at a time. 

day 1: your view today

In my view last Saturday, Ron was preparing to install a television set in our bedroom. After years of one television only (intentionally so), we have decided to create a small sitting area for just the two of us. Now to clean off and rearrange this bookshelf...

day 2: words

I love the words of Charles Wesley!  He wrote so many beautiful hymns.
This is the one we're currently learning in Morning Time.

day 3: hands
The hand of my sweetheart, helping me with the dishes.
(He doesn't mind washing, but hates drying. Fine with me!)

day 4: a stranger
This was the biggest challenge so far. Take a picture of a stranger?  Ack!
I kind of skirted around this one by snapping a pic of this couple holding hands.

day 5: 10 am
Bekah is practicing piano, playing the hauntingly beautiful melody of "You Are My Hiding Place."
(You can't see me singing the words.)

day 6: dinner
After a day out of town, we came home to Chicken Tortilla Soup, hot and ready in the slow cooker. Yum!

day 7: button

Or a bunch of buttons...collected in a jar...

Also linking to Kati's Photo Friday...

"Make It New Monday"...on a Thursday

A few years ago, I was in a little downtown boutique that had some darling hand-painted wooden picture frames. The cut-outs for the frames were asymmetrical and the colors were cheery.  Some were polka dot, some striped, some stars, some lettered. The prices were not so darling, and I wasn't really looking for such a thing, but I filed the idea away.  

When I saw this frame on clearance at Target a couple of years ago, I thought of the frames from the boutique. I wondered if I could take this one and make it over. In case you can't see the price in the photo below, the cost was $2.48! I thought it was worth a try. 

But the frame sat on a shelf in my laundry room for a l-o-n-g time.

Then my friend Joanne began a new monthly blog feature in which she would take something and "make it new." So last week, I pulled that frame off of the shelf and ~voila!~ I made it new!

Here's what I did...

1) I lightly sanded the frame to rough up the surface a bit.

2) I painted the frame with several (4?) coats of white acrylic craft paint.

3) I used painter's tape to make some stripes, then painted between the tape with a bright aqua acrylic.

4) After giving it a couple of hours to dry, I Bekah carefully removed the tape.

5) I wanted to add some buttons to give it some interest, but my buttons were either too small or not the color I wanted.

6) While I was washing my hair, Bekah came up with a button design and we glued it on.

So for $2.48 and some craft supplies already in my stash, I have a new frame for Bekah's room!

Do like to make things new? Adapt a recipe to meet your family's preferences? Remake old clothing into something snazzy? Rework an idea to make it your own? Then maybe you'd like to pop over to Joanne's the first Monday of each month...to get some inspiration or to link up your own project! (And this month, she's offering a giveaway to a commenter!)  

Such Sweetness!

When my daughter-in-law Sarah sent me this picture, my heart melted.

Peter (3), Nora (5), Eve (6)

At first, I thought that the children were at church, dressed in their Sunday best. But then I realized that this was at their home, sitting on a bench that their daddy had not yet built when we visited last May. 

So why were they dressed up?

"She's been waiting for this day for about 9 months. When the three kids came down for the morning they were all dressed up, seeing that this was a very important day."   ~Ryan (Nora's Daddy)

Can you feel the excitement?!

It was a very special day indeed...this day that Honora Jean turned five! 

It was a day of presents,

including a boy doll who was "born in Maine" and a new pink dress.

It was also the day that big sister Eve (6) could finally present Nora with

the beautiful doll that Eve made herself!

(Eve had shared her secret with me via email, but we kept it hush-hush.)

Isn't this a wonderful first sewing project? I think Eve has promise as a seamstress! 

It was a day for a special birthday meal

and "Birthday Cake" ice cream cones!

(And that ice cream cone is not nearly as sweet as her smile!)

Do you want to know another exciting thing for Nora?

At her house, age five means no more naps!

It was a "very important day" indeed.

(And I am melting faster than the Birthday Cake ice cream cone.)

Slow Cooker Tuesday ~ Week 5 {Cashew Chicken}

Don't you love it when you've been inside much of the week because of the weather and your errands have piled up and when you finally do get out you have lots of places to go and you're gone all afternoon but a lovely hint-of-Asia chicken dish is waiting for you at home? I love that!

This was the dish, courtesy of my friend Jill who always has new and exciting recipes up her sleeve!

Ingredients: 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken (tenders, breasts, or thighs) 3 stalks celery, diagonally sliced 1 onion, cut in half and thinly sliced 1 4-oz. can sliced mushrooms (or sliced fresh mushrooms) 1/2 cup soy sauce 4 tablespoons rice vinegar 4 tablespoons ketchup 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 3/4 cup cashews  Directions: Place chicken in slow cooker.  On top of chicken, place celery, onion, and mushrooms. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in small bowl. Mix and pour over chicken and veggies.  Cover. Cook on Low 3-4 hours for smaller pieces of chicken, 5-6 hours for breasts. Add cashews and stir.  Serve over rice.  NOTES: ~ Jill used frozen chicken breasts and used the longer cooking time, and I did the same.  ~ I substituted 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger for the fresh ginger. ~ You can substitute other nuts for cashews.  ~ Double the sauce ingredients if you like lots of sauce over the rice.

This recipe was a hit at our table with everyone asking to have it again! (That makes for a happy cook!)

Do you have a friend like Jill...someone you can turn to for some recipe inspiration?

Sunday Snapshots: Before the Game

We were invited to Brian and Kristin's house again this Sunday. Brian wanted to be at home in plenty of time to watch the Super Bowl, so we went to them. 

Brian is such a good sport (pun intended) about sports. He married into a family of non sports fans. We don't "have a team" or know who the players are. The only time we get really revved up over sports is when a big sports event preempts our beloved Jeopardy. (Boo hiss.) So when Brian wants to watch a game, we are more than willing to accommodate his wishes. 

Poor us, huh? Let me show you how we suffered today...

Oh, how we suffered.

And the smiles never left our faces.