Catching up..

I'm not sure where to start really- it's been so long since I've posted! Just been keeping busy- Little Man turned 6 a couple of weeks ago-

I just realized his cake was upside down.. lol

He and I took a trip to the park the other day with my friend Mandy- didn't get any of him playing because he was all over the place- but got some nice shots around the park!

There were squirrels everywhere! Mandy and I were sitting on some risers near a gazebo, watching David play, and the squirrels were scurrying around - I wasn't really this close to this one above, but I think the one below thought we had some food-

He was only a couple of steps down from us.

Here is my progress on Summer House as of this past week-

 I didn't make much progress on At Home w/Jane last weekend, but have made a bit this weekend.  I will post progress tomorrow or Monday. 

Tomorrow is Easter- one of my favorite holidays! What a joyful one! Celebrating that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, to save us!  Tomorrow is the Easter breakfast at church, the egg hunt for the kids, and of course the worship service.  :) I made this lovely coffee cake for tomorrow. 

 My mom used to make this quite a bit, and I love it.  Made with things you already have in your pantry, on the top is a mixture of flour, brown sugar, butter/margarine and cinnamon- when you bake it, it oozes down in to the cake itself and it is just delicious! I'm not sure where the recipe came from, so hopefully I'm not infringing any copyrights if I post it.  Here it is if you're interested! 

Ingredients for cake: (for 8x8x2 baking pan, double for 9x13 pan)

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp melted shortening (or oil)

1 cup sifted enriched flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

for topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp melted butter/margarine

1/2 cup chopped nuts (if desired)

Combine sugar, egg, milk, and shortening(or oil)

Add flour sifted with baking powder and salt. Mix well and pour into paper-lined (or greased and floured) baking pan.

Sprinkle with cinnamon/brown sugar/flour/margarine mixture.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 min.

Enjoy!

And Happy Easter to you and yours!

a bunch of great giveaways!

And they're all on one site! Tangerinedream73 is having them on her blog.  <--- click there.  And good luck!

Oh, and my mystery flowers? (see previous post) I am pretty sure the are weeds. :P Corn speedwell to be exact. Guess I will be doing some pulling later today!

How does my garden grow?

I went out to the garden today and there were so many nice surprises! Look at how big my phlox is(are?) getting!

We have another strawberry blossom-had two but I think the birds got to one. >:(

And the seeds I got from Target are growing, as well as what I think are my alyssum

Argh- blogger keeps turning my pictures sideways all of a sudden! I keep trying to re-upload them and blogger is turning them. :P  My lavender seems to be off to a good start too- hopefully it will do better this year than the last- the summer heat fried it last year.

I did a quick project yesterday and the day before- a good friend of mine from church's mother passed away (who was also a friend of mine) so I stitched her this little card. She is a stitcher also. :)

Let's see if blogger will keep this one right side up!

It was out of the Sept. issue of the UK mag Quick and Easy Cross Stitch- not sure what year because it says September 144 on the cover?! It has copyright 2006 on the inside so maybe that's what year it was. I attached the design with just brads- I figured that way if she wanted to take it off the card and use it as a bookmark or do something else with it, she could.  It was stitched on linen with DMC threads.

Oh, I almost forgot- does anyone know what this plant is?

It has been popping up in almost all of my pots- I thought it was one of my flowers but now I'm not so sure, as those small buds aren't getting any bigger. I know the larger plants are strawberries, but wasn't sure if I should pull these others or wait a little longer. Thanks for any input!

On the stitching agenda tonight is "I" again, so I better get off of here and get stitching! Hope everyone is having a great week!

I ♥ Michael's grab bags!

David decided today he wanted me to buy him some addition/subtraction flash cards(Lightning McQueen of course) at Michael's- I could hardly turn that down! So off we went.. and of course I had to look around.. they had a few grab bags for 2.00 and after trying to see what was inside, I picked one.. look at the great goodies I got!

I have been wanting some flowers like those, to put in a pretty vase or hanging thing of some sort..I don't have a Cricut of any sort so if anyone wants the Cricut cake tools- post a comment with your email address- I will email you and get your address and mail them to you. I only have one so first post first serve!  I also got this pretty bird-

I have been eyeing these for a while but couldn't justify spending even a few dollars on a knick knack(and one I really don't have room for.. lol) but they were 60% off, so how could I resist?

I checked on my garden today when I got home and look what I found-

My phlox have started to open! I was so excited- I love these flowers..I'm seeing many buds on my others too, so hopefully with the warmer weather we've been having they will open soon.

I just finished watching "The Lord of the Rings-Return of the King." I have been re-watching these movies the past week or two; I just love them.  Even though I know what is going to happen, there is still a sigh of relief when the one ring goes under the fiery lava. lol I am always stunned by the beautiful scenery and the special effects in the movies as well.. they are just amazing and so lifelike!

As you see from my previous post, I finished The Secret Garden today-I had seen the movie but never read the book. I am so glad I read it! While the movie is quite good, it doesn't do the book justice. If you like the movie and have never read the book, I highly recommend it, especially now in the spring. :)

Well, that's about it for now- going to go work on Jane some more before bed. :)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I LOVED this book! I had already seen the movie but the book was so much better(which is how it usually is.) It made me want to get out in my garden and stay outside all day..it made me smile, it made me cry. Definitely a good book to read in the spring!




View all my reviews

a Jane update

Going to work on Summer House tonight!  Today was pretty good for a Monday, it's been busy but I'm finally relaxing a bit, watching Morning Glory.  So far it's pretty good!  Short and sweet today.. gonna go stitch and watch the movie. :)

Nature walk

Well, sort of.. David and I took a walk to the 'cardboard dumpster' today- we aren't allowed to throw cardboard in the regular trash- and David asked if we could take a walk.  So we did and of course I took my camera and saw quite a few natural beauties on our little block. And I took a couple of David too of course.

Does anyone know what these berries are?

Also spent sometime in the backyard- David blew a few bubbles, and drew with the sidewalk chalk. I noticed while we were out there that my violets have germinated into the grass!

To bad they will get mown down when the mowers start mowing.  Also found other pretties in the grass..

and look how my viola have grown!

and here again is my miniature gardener. :)

He loves to help in the garden!

Will have a stitchy photo soon- off to work on Jane again! :)

A quick blog before bed..

Here are some photos I've been meaning to post.. one or two of them may also be seen on my photo blog. First, this past week's progress on Brooke's Books Summer House-

Finally moving past the ground floor to the front yard- yea!

Last weekend we had some beautiful weather- Hanna had a friend over so I took David to the park for some quality mom and son time(and to keep him out of the girls' hair.) Some of the trees are starting to bloom in the park-

and of course David got some play time in as well-

The next night was the night of the 'super moon!' Try as I might I cannot get a good night time shot with my Canon- if I set it to night shot it uses flash and doesn't look too great and if I do an 'auto' shot it doesn't look much better.  But here is the moon anyway- if compared to my prior moon shots you can tell it was quite a bit brighter!

I finished a fairly good book the other day- The Death List by Paul Johnston.  I had gotten this book free from a book service and it was pretty good.  Some of it was quite graphic, and the beginning was a little slow going.. it picked up in the middle and then I didn't want to put it down.  From what I've read on goodreads though, the sequel is just as graphic and I didn't care for that much, so I think I will not be reading it.  Now I'm reading Hurricane by Karen Harper, which I thought maybe I had read, but now that I am reading it, realize I haven't.  So far it's very good.  I've always liked Karen Harper's suspense novels.

Well, I must get to bed..thanks for hanging in with me when my posts are few and far between!

Progress on I

This is my progress as of yesterday- it's the weekend now so I will be working on Jane.. lately I'm feeling like the slowest stitcher ever! In fact I need to get off here and get a few stitches in. :)

The 5th Horseman by James Patterson


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another great intallment in the Women's Murder Club series. As usual I couldn't put it down. There was only one tiny detail that bugged me- there was a patient in the hospital who was 5 years old and his parents left him there alone overnight. Really? I have a 5-year-old and he would be so scared if I left him alone in a hospital overnight- and who would do that really? I know it's trivial but it just bothered me.




View all my reviews

A book review and Jane Austen progress

Where The Road Ends by Tara Taylor Quinn


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A good page-turner- but seems like the plot was semi-stolen from a movie that shall remain nameless.. read it and you will see what I mean.




View all my reviews


Here is my lastest progress on "At Home with Jane Austen"-

and a tree I took a picture of the other day- I love seeing all the buds and blooms as the trees get ready for spring!

Timeline by Michael Crichton


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If there was a 4 1/2 stars, that's what I would give this book.. the only reason I don't give it a five is I was anxious for the story to get going at the beginning- but I guess that's because I'm not a "science person", and the beginning was a lot about physics and quantam this and that. As I read, the pace picked up and up until I didn't want to put it down. Would definitely recommend to anyone who likes a good thriller.




View all my reviews

 
Stitchy update coming soon!

I know I know..

It's been awhile between blogs again- I'm sorry.. time gets away from me.  I had another Premier Designs jewelry party for my friend Emily last weekend.. ladies even if you don't usually support the home-based businesses like Premier and Pampered Chef, etc.. I highly recommend having a Premier Designs jewelry party.  Their jewelry is reasonably priced, made in the USA, and they have a great hostess program. The company is also founded on the Biblical principal.  Not only do you get 30% of your party in free jewelry, there are added bonuses where you can earn even more.  I earned $363 in free jewelry at this party! I was/am so excited. There are so many things I want out of their catalog and got a bunch of the things on my wish list.

That aside, I have been stitching a bit, trying to make more time for it.  Made a wee bit of progress on "I"-

and am hoping to squeeze in a little time on Jane tonight, and hopefully tomorrow too, so I will show you  my progress after the weekend.

The weather has been very nice lately- last weekend David and I went outside to check on the plants and see how they were doing- I did a little weeding and David wanted to do the watering.

I have to watch him though as sometimes he gets carried away.. also saw that my viola are perking up nicely- this one plant anyway-

The others haven't started blooming yet.  From the looks of things our strawberry plant germinated into a lot of the other pots.. I left some but pulled some too so they wouldn't choke out what was in the pots. We'll see how it goes.

Progress on "I"

It seems like I am moving so slowly on my stitching projects lately- it's so frustrating! I know it's just that I have too many hobbies and not enough spare time.  It doesn't make it less frustrating though! Here is my progress on the I from the Stitcher's Alphabet-

I had an insurance class today out of town- the drive is so nice- even though it's two lanes almost the whole way, it's through lots of rural area and nice scenery.  Not all of it's pretty yet- there is still alot of brown trees and grass- but I did see some trees budding and lots of this-

I think it's thistle but I'm not sure? I don't think heather grows around here. :) Anyway they were nice bright spots in all the brown fields. I would've gotten a better picture but there wasn't many places to pull over.

Just a reminder if you are interested in signing up for swagbucks(free stuff, no strings attached!), see my post here. There is a special code in that post that will get you and additional 50 swagbucks if you sign up and use the code by the 28th at 11:59 pm EST.  The sign up link is in that post also. :)

Well, off to bed- sorry I haven't posted more- like I said stitching progress has been slow.. hopefully I can find more time (or just manage it better) and get something accomplished!

Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I was a bit skeptical about this book-whether I would like it or not- as it deals with abused children and depending on how graphic it was, wasn't sure I could handle it. Well thankfully it wasn't too graphic, and let's just say I could've read it in one day if I hadn't had to go to bed. I didn't want to put it down; I had to know what happened next.  While it was a very sad story, it was riveting.. and there was a twist at the end I did NOT see coming. I would've given this book 5 stars but I was a little disappointed in the ending, though it was realistic.


View all my reviews

Will be back later tonight with stitching etc!

Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Very good mystery! While not a book I couldn't put down, it was very good and kept me guessing. Many surprises and unexpected twists and turns. The ending was suspenseful but rather abrupt.




View all my reviews

Very good book! If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes you will like this book.

I know, this isn't a stitchy post.. will have one soon!

It's Swagbucks birthday- now is the time to sign up!

A month or so ago I posted about swagbucks.com - a great site to win free stuff, no strings attached, including gift cards for Starbucks, Amazon, and so many more, as well as other great items- MP3 downloads, things for kids, games and accessories for game systems as well as the game systems themselves.  Well Swagbucks' 3rd birthday is this week, and they have given me to offer my blog readers to earn an extra 50 swagbucks when you sign up here.  They already give you a nice amount of swagbucks for signing up, and this will be in addition to those.  The code is 3rdBirthday149, and it is case sensitive.  It is also only for people signing up for the first time, and will expire at 11:59 pm on Feb. 28th. The site also has a coupon section where you can print coupons from your computer, and when you redeem them you get 10 swagbucks for each coupon redeemed( it does take 8-12 weeks, but free is free, right?) I really hope you'll try it out- sign up, search for anything via swagbucks.com or search.swagbucks.com (make sure you're signed in) and you'll start winning swagbucks! I generally win 3 or 4 times a day for searching, and you can search for anything.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email me- a link to my email is in my blog profile.  Have fun! A stitchy post will follow soon! (That's the hunky Swag Guy aka TSG, above. ;) )

Progress on Summer House, and a facebook question

I am making slow progress on this, but it is progress!

Question for my fellow facebook users- my mom got locked out of her account because she messed up her password too many times.  (It was saved and when my dad updated her computer she lost it.) Now she can't get in no matter what she tries. Anyone had this happen? Is there anything that can be done,short of creating a new account? It seems like contacting facebook is next to impossible- you can email them but may not ever get an answer, and they have no contact phone number.  Just throwing it out there, any help would be much appreciated!

OK, going to get off here soon and stitch on my "I" in the Stitcher's Alphabet! :)

I can now show you..

the ornament I made for my friend for Christmas..well.. it was sent a bit later than that.. lol

The most progress I've been making on stitching is on a gift for my mom, so I can't show you yet.  And my other progress is slow going.. although I did give in and start something new- The Sampler Girl's "At Home with Jane Austen".  This picture's on my photo-a-day blog, but I'll put it here, just in case you don't check that one. :)

I know it's not much- but I was tired that night. lol

Well, just got the news- two-hour delay for school tomorrow! :) Wonder if they'll end up calling off school- I kind of want them to, but I kind of don't..

Gosh, I kept thinking of stuff to blog about when I couldn't get to a computer and now I can't remember what it was.. argh.. more later! lol

Awsome Barnes & Noble deal- especially if you are a swagbucks member!

Today only(I think) get a t$20 Barnes & Noble gift card for $10!! AND earn 315 swagbucks!! Not signed up? Click my link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/austenfan


It's free, and you earn FREE stuff! How great is that? And usually through their shop & earn sites you don't earn swagbucks for gift card purchases, so this is a wonderful opportunity to build your swagbucks balance.
 
Will post some stitching photos soon-have a great night!