What a difference a day makes.................

Last Monday I got to be home ALL day!!  I didn't even walk outside the house!  What a rare treat!  When contemplating what to do, I decided to do a project I hadn't gotten to.  Back in Oct. when I went to Boise to visit my BFF Judy, I purchased enough fabric to make new pillow covers.  I have deep red silk covers on the pillows on the couch and love seat right now.  I wanted something with fall colors in it.  I chose a striped fabric with orange, brown, red and green - perfect!  My intent was to make them to go along with my fall decor' - that didn't happen. At first I thought I might as well wait because I knew I would be putting Christmas decor' up this week - but I needed to get them done sometime!

I dug out the ol' faithful sewing machine, turned on the Christmas music and began.

 Here is the before...............................

Here is the after..............................

My neighbor came over and showed me fabric she had that she wanted to make pillows with, so we quick made 4 for her................her fabric was a brown floral and looked awesome with my stripes - but I let her keep them!

I just made them envelope style so I could change them easily!  That's 8 pillow covers in one day! Oh, and I made a small runner for my table with the leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I reflect on the last seven months.  The hills and the valleys - and I am grateful!  Not just for answered prayers and miracles, but I am more thankful that God NEVER left our side.  He was there walking beside us, giving us peace, wisdom, provision of a place to stay, friends who were a blessing, Dr's who were very good at what they do, and reminding us of HIS Sovereignty. It has been 7 months and 2 days since Nathan's accident, and he is doing GREAT!  He is working out daily at the gym, he is only 5 pounds down from the day of the accident.  His muscle mass is building and he looks awesome!  He still has a prominent limp and a couple fingers on his right hand that don't work so great - but this all pales in comparison to the fact that he is ALIVE!  Thank you, sincerely, for praying for us and following his story.  I know God has great things planned for him!

Last night we sat down at the table as a complete FAMILY.  All 5 of us!  Brandon had made it over the pass and was home.  When we sat down I just kept grinning - my family thought I was nuts - but I was absolutely giddy!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  Today - enjoy your families, and be thankful for the fact that God never leaves our sides!           

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THINGS

Yesterday Max and I were having a chat about overindulgence this holiday season.  So we both weighed in................................

We both decided we could have some self-control.................we chatted about how uncomfortable it is to lounge around in the evening with all that fat just hanging around your middle..............
One of my BFF's has decided to start walking daily - she is unwavering in her decision - she doesn't miss a day - not even in the horrid pouring rain!  I am so proud of her!!  Max and I decided we need to join the band wagon.  Max has more determination than me - I wouldn't go out this morning, but he stuck to his guns and headed out..................(can't you just hear the theme from Rocky inserted here?!)  

 If you go by percentage of body weight to lose - I win hands down!  I need to lose about 5% of my body weight and Max needs to lose about 10%. I need to open the pantry less and move more, Max needs to quit licking the floor.  Pretty basic for both of us!

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Last year my friend Tami over at The Lady In The Stone House  gave me the recipe to make bars like the Cranberry Bliss Bars that Starbucks sells this time of year!

Cranberry Bliss Bars *Starbucks Copycat

Bars:
1 cup butter (2 sticks very soft, almost melted)
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons orange extract or vanilla extract ( I used vanilla)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 cup craisins
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Frosting: (Recipe notes that you could use store bought if in a rush)
3 oz. cream cheese
2 T. butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. orange extract (or vanilla)

Topping:
1/3 cup craisins, chopped
1-2 T. grated orange rind
1/3 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. canola oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9X13 pan with parchment paper or use a non-stick spray.
2. BARS: With an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugars for 3-5 minutes until fluffy; blend in the eggs and extract. Add flour, baking powder and ginger, beat briefly. Add the cranberries and chips and stir.
3. Spread the thick batter in pan and bake for 27-29 minutes until edges are light brown and skewer comes out clean. Let cool completely. *check at 25 minutes, mine were a bit over done at 27 minutes.
4. FROSTING: Blend cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add extract and sugar and beat until fluffy and spreadable. Spread evenly over bars.5. GARNISH: Use a zester to remove rind from an orange. Chop 1/3 cup craisins coarsely. Sprinkle this garnish over the bars.
6. DRIZZLE: Mix white chocolate chips and oil in bowl. Microwave 60% power for 1 minute. Stir until melted. Use a fork to drizzle bars with white chocolate. *I always use a small freezer ziploc bag for this and snip a corner and then drizzle.
7. Allow one hour for chocolate to set before cutting. I cut mine into triangles like Starbucks.

I made them for a Mystery Shopping Bus Trip that our church had on Friday (I thought I had taken a picture of them all cut up and in their little papers to serve, but I guess not).  They were a hit!   The only thing I did different this time was that I used a 10x15 jelly roll pan and baked the dough layer about 15-20 min!  They were FABULOUS!!  All the ladies couldn't believe I had made them!!  I got 60 bars out of 2 jelly roll pans.Thanks once again Tami for a wonderful, impressive recipe!  I can always count on you!

Celebrating Dan's 50th

Our friend Dan turned 50 on Oct. 27th, so it only seemed appropriate to celebrate - a couple times :-) (don't you love his "new" hair?)

 

The night of his birthday we went for dinner at U MI, the old Loft restaurant.

 

 Then, this past weekend we headed up to Whistler to stay at Jeff & Kathi's condo for a few days to properly celebrate!  We did a whole lot of nothing!  Relaxing, visiting, eating, reading books, hot tubbing, long walks, etc A perfectly wonderful way to celebrate getting old!! :-)

 Long walk around Lost Lake

 Divinely executed dinners (we have our own private chefs!!)

We gave Dan a chefs jacket, hat and his own personal spice blend!!

 We got him a cookbook for his Big Green Egg -someday I'm going to get one of these - the cooker that is!

 An afternoon stroll down to the village

 A pic with my main squeeze!

 They had a food festival going on called "Cornucopia" so we went down and sampled some food and listened to some good jazz.

They had a Whistler's Iron Chef competition we went to watch.

 

And of course, one can never get enough naps in!

Thanks to Jeff and Kathi for letting us crash at their divinely appointed condo - what a treat! And thanks to Dan, for getting old so we could celebrate!!

Pumpkin Swirl Loaf

Always looking for a new recipe for pumpkin.  I was perusing my favorite cooking blog Mennonite Girls Can Cook, and came across this recipe  Pumpkin Swirl Loaf

They looked very cool in the pan - I took and knife and swirled it through the dough.

We had friends over for coffee that we hadn't visited with for years and we drank latte's and munched on this bread - DELICIOUS!

It was SO good to catch up with Trav and Lisa - such a blessing! 

It was a great weekend.  Jeff and Kathi for dinner and a relaxing visit Friday night.  Saturday I spent ALL day scrapbooking and I got 17 pages done!  It's a good thing because Emily graduates in 2 1/2 years and I just got her caught up through Christmas of her Kindergarten year!  Must keep the momentum going!

Yesterday - church, which is always encouraging, came home relaxed, had coffee with our friends, and then spent the evening relaxing!  Honestly, I was in bed by 8:30 watching tv. I know - pitiful - but boy it felt good!!  Such a relaxing weekend!

A birthday party

Saturday night was my "official" birthday party with the friends!
 A birthday hat and special plate for the birthday girl.........................

Kathi always sets a Classy, gorgeous table!

 (I want to be just like her when I grow up!!)

Nothing like a gorgeous husband...............................

 ...............and awesome best friends!

All of the above make turning older - not quite so painful!

A little Ruffles & Rust

Last weekend I got to join the Grandiflora Girls for a little get away!  We headed down to a show at the Monroe Fairgrounds called Ruffles & Rust!  First we headed to our hotel and donned our outfits (the concept was to mix the theme in your look). 

Val

Colleen

Moi'

Kim

 LaVon

 Jan

 Carrie

Trisha

 Then, we were ready to head to the show........................

The next day we headed to Snohomish to do a little shoppin'!  I had never been there and it was a great place to spend the day! I figured this was an appropriate picture since I had just had a birthday:-)

 We had lunch at a the Oxford Tavern where we had a little ghost flying over our heads during lunch - they were into their Halloween decorations! The food was awesome here!

Nothing like a little get away with my friends!