First Watercolors! I just started a watercolor class, and the flower on the right is my very first attempt, painting a black-eyed susan vine that I photographed in my yard. I changed it a bit, as I did the card by Judy Buswell that I attempted on the left. I absolutely LOVE this new medium. I have always dreamed of being able to paint the vibrant and the transparent hues, the wild frenzy of blooms, and the tranquil softness of flowers.

Hibiscus says Summer!

I caught a glimpse of the back of this gorgeous flower this morning int he early light. Isn't it something? What a miracle these tropical beauties are, even from behind. Something to contemplate in silence and wonder,......

Sandbox Time!

Here is the centerpiece I made for a baby shower I had a couple weeks ago for my friend, Heather. She is expecting her second baby, who will also be her second boy, so I decided on a sandbox theme, because I own a sandcastle Bundt cake pan. You know how you wake up with an idea in the middle of the night? This was one of those. I made a banana cake, because it turns out so very moist. The sandbox was very easy:

Go to the home improvements store, and have them cut 3" high X 6' long pieces of wood into the desired sizes. I made mine 20X 30". I just nailed them together, then I cut a black trash bag to fit inside and go up the sides a bit, and used strapping tape or masking tape to tape it all the way around. I then filled mine with a 50# bag of playsand, for sandboxes, which I also bought at the home improvements store. I bought the sand toys at Wal-Mart, Target and JoAnn. I put the cake on an overturned 9X9" cake pan that I put brown craft paper over. Done! And it cost about $10 or $12.

Easter Blessings,......

Another happy Easter day wish to all, and here is another view of my very simple eggs from many years ago. Pretty amazing how royal icing will hold up! I did learn how to make both sweet peas and roses in my one cake decorating class from back then, but for some reason I only put silk or plastic flowers on these eggs.

Panorama Eggs--

Here is the view inside one of my eggs. I put in a tiny oval mirror, to look like a little pond. The creatures are plastic, I have no idea where I found them. I had so much fun making these eggs. Our next door neighbor lady when I was a kid, was very creative, and a great baker. She made these. She had this very oversized magazine (from the south) that had lovely photos of eggs, and instructions. I asked for a copy. I wish I knew of Mrs. Billie Martin was still out there somewhere, to show her how long I have hung onto these eggs!

Happy Easter!

Hope it is full of relaxation and love for all!

Here are two of the 4 sugar panorama eggs I made when I was 15 (33 years ago!). I have been carefully moving them from house to house in the same old cardboard box, all this time. I took one cake decorating class, and went a bit crazy making things! I do wish I had photos of all of the cakes I made.

SALE!!!!!!!!!!!! I just reduced the price of my snowflakes in my shop to $10 each, from $12- it's the end of winter sale! Time to shop for decorating and for gifts for next December!
Go to: SeasonsOfJoy.Etsy.com
Thanks,
and Happy Shopping!

Up close and personal- I love the macro setting on my camera! Burgundy ones are from out front, pink are outside my kitchen eating area- if i took off the screen, I could pick them!

One set of my hollyhocks, in the front yard, facing east. Seond one from the right has 2 blooms of burgundy now! More pics to come as they all open.

Nancy's Old-fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup

Makes a BIG crock-pot full!

Ingredients:

16 cups canned chicken broth

rotisserie chicken, all skinned, boned, and cut-up, OR: 4 raw, boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2C chopped onion

4 or more sliced carrots

3 --4 sliced celery stalks

2 Tbsp. butter

1 C or 8 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

8 oz. dried pasta, or 1 pkg. frozen noddles

other veggies are optional

Combine broth & veggies, and chicken. In stock pot- simmer for hours. In crock pot- turn to high until raw chicken is cooked, then take it out and cut it into chunks, return it to soup.

After veggies are tender and chicken is cooked:

Melt butter in a skillet over med-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute until they are beginning to brown (about 5 minutes). Stir in lemon juice (if you don't have this, do not worry about it).

Add mushrooms to soup, stir in uncooked noodles. Cook until noodles are done. If soup gets too thick, add another can of broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. YUM! Can keep this simmering in crock pot on warm for a long, long, time!

Enjoy anytime- but especially on a cold, cloudy day, with a good book, or good buddy!

Happy April!

I am starting to make these gingerbread houses, and have listed one so far on my Etsy shop. These are such fun to make- and they have given me a new reason to look at homes, as I gather ideas as I am driving places and see interesting achitecture. So far these have just come from my imagination, there are not houses like these in Arizona, at least not close to my house!

I also made just a few crosses, for Easter, and for Christmas, or really they could be displayed anytime!

Happy April Fool's Day- early!
I guess that's bad etiquette, isn't it?
In my case, it's good to be early! It is a beautiful spring day in AZ, and the snowflakes are getting made here, little by little. I am actually working on litle houses, soon to be in my Etsy shop. I have to kind of drop all my house duties to work on my craft, or I never get to it.

I did actually read a fantastic couple of books last week- both by Sandra Byrd. Book one is called Let Them Eat Cake, and book two is Bon Appetite. I just LOVED these books! They are about a young woman named Lexi, and her relationships along her quest to finding her path in life, in her career, home, and her spiritual life. It is so rewarding, like watching a wonderful "chick flick" movie, but you get to create the details of the scenes yourself, in your imagination!

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels like SPRING!!!!
Here are a bunch of spring flowers to make your day happy! This hibiscus warms my patio, off the family room, the bush is almost my height (5'8"), and it likes to peek over the wall, and shine it's big, bold, red flowers over at people walking on the sidewalk below. I think it is wanting fame, because the community mailboxes are just down the walk next to the house behind me, and people always walk by on their way to retrieve their mail. Or, it is just nosey, and wants to see who is coming by!

I hunt for these babies every spring! I either want them to be striped, like these, or red with white edges. I have hanging pots on my front porch, by the columns on both sides of the front door, and I fill them with petunias every year. I also have a pot right by my garage, so I see them smiling at me as I pull my car in.

Ruffled, trailing petunias, I only have one pot of these. I was at a nursery, and these yelled at me, they yelled,"Delores!" She is my dear friend, she says she is my "oldest" friend, because she is in her 70's- all I know is she is a dearie, and my gardening, coffee, crafting, baking, Mary Englebreit stuff, cherries, cottage-style, etc., etc., BUDDY! So, I had to take some of these home and make her a pot, and then I knew she would want to know where mine were, so I had to make ME a pot, too. Sure enough, she asked, "And where are YOURS?"

Here are some Johnny-jump-ups I have in pots all around on my front and back porches. I tend to make single-flower-filled pots, rather than mixed ones. But I have many different kinds of pots of flowers, mostly in the reds, whites, and purples.

Happy SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It sure feels like spring here in Arizona, it's 80 degrees, and the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and my Kristen and her friend Vanessa are in the hot tub- it is Spring Break! She sure could use a break from all the homework she has had, but unfortunately, she will have to do some at the end of break. Right now the vacation is the thing, with tropical drinks with umbrellas, they are in heaven, those 2 beautiful girls, relaxing and sharing "girl talk".
I just saw a butterfly land on one of my hollyhocks, which are growing more humongous every day- the leaves, that is. They look like Jack could climb right up them as his beanstalk, because the flower stalks have just begun to push out of the middle, too. I know that it will be awhile before they bloom, though, as I took pictures of the deep burgundy ruffled ones last year, and it was into April before they bloomed. These mostly are single, multicolor ones, I believe, my friend Kristin gave me a HUGE bag of seeds from her mom's garden last year. It is fun knowing that they are from a friend, not all impersonal, from a seed packet, you know? I have several beds around the yard where they are planted. I even dropped a few right under my big kitchen picture window, and they have grown just as big there, in the unimproved soil, as the others in the beds. It is great to see them right under the window!

Seasons Of Joy is here!
Yes, I have the shop open, at:
SeasonsOfJoy.Etsy.com
Please come and visit, and enjoy the cool winter snow!
Nancy

February 28th, 2009
Whew, what fun today, but man, it is TOO HOT HERE! It is only February, and it was 88 degrees today, I think! Kristen and I went to see "Confessions Of a Shopaholic" today, it was darling! Then we shopped the mall (appropo, don't you think?), and she got some cute bright colored tennies, and some tops in the same colors.

Austin got his learning permit for driving a couple days ago, and how could that be? He is also taller than me now.

Looking for time to do more snowflakes, and to stockpile the baked ones, making them mostly, before it gets too hot, I may be too late! Can you believe it? I planted some petunias (I found red/white striped, and purple/white striped, LOVE them), and also some Violas, or as I call them, Johnny Jump-ups.

That's all for now!

Recipe for Choco-coconut Bars

2 cello pkgs. from a box of graham crackers( puree to crumbs)
3/4 C. melted butter
1/4 tsp. salt (optional)

1 C. chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli)
2 C. sweetened flaked coconut
1 3/4 C sweetened condensed milk

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13X 9" pan with heavy-duty foil, and Pam it. It is easier to cut them if you can remeove this whole thing from the pan this way, but you can also just Pam the pan itself.
Mix the first 3 ingredients, press into pan.
Sprinkle the choco chips and coconut over this, drizzle the milk over top.
Bake about 25-30 minutes, turn pan around halfway through to get even browning. Bake till lightly browned all over. Let cool completely on a rack, or just sneak a little bite while warm from a corner! (shh! I won't tell!)
To cut with the foil: when cool, use the foil edges to lift whole pan of bars out, set on a cutting board. Pull edges of foil away, and now you can cut these with a Pam'ed knife, in full lines across, with a long knife!
Picture of bars is at bottom of this page- I am still learning how to get my photos in the right places!

Happy Sunday!
It's recipe time! I have decided that since I love to bake so much, my theme for this blog will be baking, and other assorted recipes. Seems only fitting!

Today at this post-Valentine's Day home, we have 3 baked goods. My daughter made a giant chocolate-chip heart-shaped cookie for her cute guy she likes, and usually we do not make traditional recipes of anything around here- it seems that every recipe we make pretty much, has a twist or else is totally different than traditional. So, to make traditional chocolate chip cookies and a big heart out of the dough was just weird. But we also have deep dark chocolate banana cakes in the shape of my mini heart Bundts, and these coconut-chocolate chip graham-bases yummy for the tummy bars, that are a take-off from those "Magic Cookie Bars". I'll take some pictures and see which turn out the best and then post pictures and recipes shortly.

Happy Tuesday!
Yesterday was another "run around" day! My kiddos laugh at me (in a nice way) when I am so very spent at the end of a day, because I make very little sense, complete jibberish seems to be all that is possible for my dialog.

I started a new exercise routine, that is partly why I am so tired! I read an article in one of my piles of almost-totally-unread-not-for-lack-of-desire-to Oprah magazines, about how interval training burns more weight off a person due to building more muscle, etc. It also said that the high intensity intervals were only about 30 seconds long, then 2 minutes of rest, or "regular" paced exercise. I thought,"Hey, I can do 30 seconds at a time of super high intensity stuff", so I gave it a go. Wowsie! Yeah. Uh,..... I had to take today "Off"! My, my, it kicked my you-know-what! Which does need a swift kick! I will try more, I was, by the way, doing aerobic dance, or my version of that. Which is: turn on the satellite TV and find a disco or dance station and start MOVING! Now, I am very glad nobody can see me, it is about 5 A.M. usually, when this is happening, and I just roll out of bed, throw on a headband, t-shirt, and stretchy pants, and go! I in no way ever start to open the blinds! It's dark out, and I wouldn't want to scare anybody!

Today is organizing and catch-up day: address mail, laundry, organize my new business papers, order my supplies, and what i am putting off: calling our internet router's customer service line to get help on how to hook up (and make it WORK) the little wireless card and adapter that i bought yesterday, and that my 15-year old son and computer guru could not seem to do by himself. Bummer. I think I will wait till he gets home from his volleyball team practice after school to ask him to sit with me and actually DO what they tell us. I know what you are thinking,"CHICKEN!" To that I replay a resounding, ... YOU BETCHA!

I will look for an inspirational photo to post for today, althoug it may not be related to anything I have said at all!

Wow, was it ever a "run around" day for me! I woke up earlier than usual, at 4:30, and it has been run, run, run, ever since! You know how those days are? My kiddos are growing so fast, so we had to go find some new jeans and shorts for both of them. Luckily we were successful at Kohl's, our first stop! But it still was multiple trips back and forth to the fitting room, you know how hard it is to find jeans for women, and Kristen is 13, with half a woman's body and half a girl's. She also is blessed (ha-ha) with my side of the family's pear figure, which is not like so many of her stick-figure girlfriends, so that adds another challenge. Luckily, I can take in the waist, which is usually too big (since we have to fit the hips), and then I can shorten them, too. My mom gave me her wonderful "New Home" brand sewing machine several years ago, after I borrowed it more often than she used it! It's not all full of fancy features, it is nice and simple to use, and I am not one to use the embroidery stitches it does offer, anyway.

We grabbed a very late lunch before her date for a birthday party, at the mall. I did go back all the way home, then, after her friend (who is our neighbor) called to say she had no way to get to the party, asking if we could take her. So, I dropped off Austin, and ran the girls back to the mall. Then I ran to the end of a jewelry party I had RSVP'd "yes" to (I want to support my friend in her new business), and then to Home Depot to get a replacement undercabinet light , only to find out they no longer carry the ones we have in the right size! Then to the grocery to get my hubby more ingredients, as he said he wanted to make dinner tonight- homemade spaghetti sauce. I ran that home, then it was time to go get the girls from the party! I just wanted to come home and be in peace and quiet, and lie on the bed for just a few minutes of peace,.......

When my husband cooks, he loves to jam to 70's and 80's music, which is usually fine, but no peace and quiet for me, as our bedroom is right next to the kitchen/family room. I still laid down, and when I looked up, I saw how incredibly dusty the ceiling fan blades are! Ug! Not relaxing! Oh, well, so it goes, another sign of my "job security", a job for Monday,....or maybe Tuesday,...
I am finding that this is relaxing, to blog my thoughts, and having tried many times to journal, by handwriting, I found that I only wrote in those after the holidays! This is much easier, and my hand does not get tired.

Ooops! My husband just created a mini-flood in the kitchen- he was filling the pot for the pasta water, and went to do another thing,..... and the pot was on the counter, and it overflowed all over the floor! No worries! I grabbed a couple fo our big old rag towels, he mopped it up, and then I asked him to just use his feet to shimmy it all over the kitchen floor- now my kitchen floor is mopped, and NOT by me!

Okay, time for a nice, homemade dinner, and a movie, perhaps, and now that my daughter is well (after her cold Monday-Wednesday) she can do the last night of her dish week, when I have done all the prior ones! Let's hope so, anyway!

Oh, and my friend who has the new jewelry business, she has an Etsy shop- go check it out:
DeCorazondesigns.Etsy.com
She sold a lot at her show today, so she will be adding more soon, she only has maybe 6 things in her Etsy shop presently. Alma is a very sweet and creative person!

And, since people have been asking, I am starting my Etsy shop with my handmade snowflakes, and I will be adding other things, too! I hope to be set up in the next 2 weeks!

Yummy Lemon Oat Squares

My dear friend Delores was kind to share a basket of her fresh-from-the-tree Meyer lemons- in fact, she let me come hand-pick them! I first made a wonderful lemon pound cake, and now I made these lucious newer, and healthier, (yes, I said healthier) version of lemon bars. I love crumbly bar cookies, so this is the perfect meeting of a soft, tangy lemon center, and a crispy, crumbly, oaty crunble, top and bottom. I found this recipe in my King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook.
Lemon Oat Squares (Makes a 13"X9" pan)

Crust:
1 stick butter, softened
1 C. packed light or dark brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 C. old-fashioned oats
2/3 C. old-fashioned oats, ground for 30 seconds in a food processor
3/4 C. whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. orange juice

Filling:
1 can (14-15 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1-2 Tbsp. finely grated lemon zest
1/2 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease (or cooking spray) a 13"x 9" pan.

Crust:
Beat butter, suagr, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl till smooth. Add the rest of the crust ingredients, and mix only until combined and crumbly. Sprinkle half of crust into pan, pat in firmly to make a smooth layer.
Filling:
Whisk all three ingredients together till smooth, and thickened. Spread filling over crust evenly, then sprinkle with remaining crust mixture.
Bake:
Bake at 350, about 35-40 minutes, or until they are a light, golden brown. Set on a rack to cool, but after about 10 minutes, run a knife around the outside edge to loosen from pan. Refrigerate, covered, before cutting and serving.

Nutrition info:
4g. whole grain, 140 cal., 6g fat, 2g protein, 5g complex carbs, 16g sugar, 18mg. cholesterol


My kids are going to LOVE these! I know they still have that lucious sweetened condensed milk, and brown sugar, but hey! What about that whole grain stuff- the whole wheat flour and 2 ways that old-fashioned oats are in there? Then there's the fruit- lemon and orange, right? It is (for sure) healthier than cheesecake, pecan pie, flourless chocolate cake, etc., etc.

This Whole Grain Baking cookbook from King Arthur Flour has some really delicious recipes. Go to their website and see all the wonderful recipes and baking supplies they have! I do not work for them, but I am an avid baker, and I just saw a demonstration class by a traveling team of theirs (they are from Vermont, and were loving our sun and warm days), and I have renewed my interest in their products. I'd LOVE to visit their store in Vermont, in the Autumn, of course, but that one will have to wait awhile. For now, I'll just bake delicious things, and dream of those maple and oak leaves, red barns, and rolling hills,.............

Have a great, baking day!!!!

Winter in Arizona

Hi! Here we go! My blogspot is officially here!
This is the launch of a new part of my life, my new business will be on ETSY.COM very soon, and it is an exciting time! Thanks for visiting, I will be adding features very soon!

Right now, it is winter in Arizona, and my front porch thermometer reads,... 96.6 degrees! Holy cow! Is the sun shining on it?

Yes was the answer to my own question. I took it out of the sun, and went out to the BACK porch with my instant-read meat thermometer- it is 81 degrees in the shade! Still pretty warm for February 4th! But this is winter in ARIZONA! The petunias are blooming beautifully, as are the hibiscus. My hollyhocks are growing huge leaves, getting ready for their skyscraper spikes of flowers to bust out soon!
Welcome to my blog! I promise to make it more exciting, soon!