~In the Garden~

Hello everyone! I'm glad to hear there is an interest in "Show and Tell Friday." Some of you mentioned not knowing about Mr. Linky. Since I'm awful at explaining things, I'll show you instead!

My friend, Sandra uses a Mr. Linky for her "Slow Cooking Thursday." Click on the link, scroll down to the bottom of her post and you will see a box for typing in your name and the link of your post. On Friday, everyone will be able to click on your link and see your "Show and Tell." Very easy!

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday. My friend, Anita sent me some some of her flower seeds all the way from Germany!


She made the prettiest little card holders for them too...


Here is what she sent: Columbine (2 varieties), Marigolds, White Marigolds, Sunflowers, Hollyhocks, Honestly, Cosmos, Love-in-a-mist and Pumpkins. Thank you, for your thoughtful gift, Anita!!


So, where are we going to plant all of these seeds?? Anita's package arrived just in time. Last week I had a small corner of the backyard dug up for planting flowers.

Here is a "before" picture with all of our winter bird feeders still out...


Here it is now. We kept the birdbath and added two stepping stones. This will be Grace's garden to take care of.


Benjamin has a spot for the Sunflowers he grows every year.


Emily is very excited about her new garden. It is actually my old compost box. I'm a composting failure, please don't yell at me. ;0) Emily is going to grow peas, carrots, radishes and four o'clocks.


As you can see, we will be very busy this week!



I'll be back soon though. Until then, I'll be in the garden!

Picture from www.art.com.

Show & Tell and Cookies

How is that for a title. ;0) Clarice mentioned the blue and white tea set on the top of my fridge so I thought I would get it down to show you.


I found it at a resale shop a few years ago. I can't remember the exact price but I know it was around $10.00. It was handmade by a lady named "Barb" because she has scratched her name on the bottom of each piece. I used it for several months but stopped for a few reasons. The first one being that the spout leaks when you pour the tea. I will give it another try though, maybe it's not as bad as I remember it.


It came with these 6 little cups but they don't have handles so they get *very* hot. I think I will keep them out though and let the girls and Benjamin use them for cold drinks.


The last part of the set is this pretty scalloped dish. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be used for but I keep teabags in it!


I also want to share with you a new cookie recipe that I got from my friend, Amber. If you like banana bread and chocolate, then you will love these cookies!


Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies

1/3 C. butter, softened
1/2 C. sugar
1 egg
1/2 C. mashed ripe banana
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 C. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. baking soda
1 C. semisweet chocolate chips

In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, banana and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto baking sheets coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks.

You may want to double the recipe, they go quickly! Thank you for the recipe, Amber!


Speaking of show and tell, I had an idea. Sometimes I come across something I want to post about but it's small - a special book, a childhood item, a new find, etc. What if I figured out how to use Mr. Linky and every Friday we could have "show and tell" time? We could share a picture(s) and the story behind our item. Would you be interested in something like this??

A Craft Filled Day

"The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day."
-The Cat in the Hat

Friday was wet and rainy, so we decided to get out some craft supplies. We had a "petal people" kit and some pressed pansies to work with.


In the past for pressed flowers, I have used paper towel between phone book pages but the flowers tend to stick to the paper towel. The cheapest flower press was $15.00 at Michaels but I found a paper refill package for $2.99. I put the flowers between the paper and cardboard layers and then put several heavy books on top of it. The books worked as a substitute press. In two weeks our flowers were ready...






We made 8 petal people. The yellow one is mine...


Emily's doll...


I love how Grace made her doll with glasses! Benjamin wasn't too interested in these crafts so he ate crackers and watched a movie. Two of his favorite things to do!


With our leftover supplies we made three petal babies. A walnut half makes a perfect cradle.


I got the idea for this next craft from a back issue of Victoria magazine. Heidi Garnello makes amazing pictures of flower fairies from pressed flowers. The pansies become skirts or dresses and the bodies and faces are painted on.

It was much harder than I thought it would be!




Grace's Victorian lady is playing croquet!


Four hours went by so we took the rest of the pansies and made a mini wreath picture from them.


I have a huge to-do list for this weekend. I still don't have our winter vs. summer clothes sorted and if I don't get that done I think I will
scream! ;0) We have a missionary staying with us for a few days next week so I need to get Benjamin's closet cleaned out. The garage is a mess and our toliet is leaking!! Thank goodness for leftover Easter candy!

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

~Through the kitchen window-In Springtime~

"On the first day of spring, whenever that may be, any day of March, April or May, the sky is swept clear of cloud and rain and winter murk, the morning sun shines in through the kitchen window and there is a little warmth in it.

Start to spring clean, very early."

This is a quote for a sweet book called "Through the Kitchen Window" by Susan Hill. I did some spring cleaning in my kitchen last week.

I dusted my canisters and made sure they were full.


Here is the rest of Susan's quote...

"Turn out the cupboards. Sweep to the back, cleaning all the debris of spilled rice and sugar and currants and dead ants; rub away the sticky round rings of jam and marmalade. Throw out half-empty packets and half-full jars with lost lids, and dented cans and unlabeled bottles. Rip off the dirty shelf papers. Brush cobwebs from corners.

Soon, everything smells of hot soapy water, and woodwork drying slowly in the sun and the spring breeze blowing through the open door."

Along with spring cleaning, I also got out some of my special things to display. They had been put away around the holidays and I had forgotten about them.

This shelf holds a special plate and server that was a birthday gift from my mom. In the front are our mini creamers. We have a cow, elephant and bunny so far.


My friend, Julieann recently asked what we have on the top of our refrigerators. I have various tea things and a pitcher. They were all found at resale stores over the years.


I completely rearranged my sideboard last week. Here is the "before" from this past Christmas...


I tried to overcome my symmetrical issues by making things uneven. :0)


I've been wanting to do "Art Study" with the girls and Benjamin so I framed the first picture we will be looking at. Dried roses are in the silver dish and there is a Mourning Dove nest under the glass.


Various tea books and jars of apple butter are on the left.


After cleaning, I brought in some of my Asparagus fern and Columbine to enjoy in the house.


Lastly, I want to show you an idea I read about in an old Victoria magazine. I see teacup saucers that are missing their cups in antique stores quite often. They can be used as saucers for other glasses too.


If you have been spring cleaning, be sure to reward yourself with a special treat!


Thank you for looking at the pictures of my springtime kitchen!

~Easy Entertaining~

Hello everyone! Thank you for your comments about our Easter, my new blog header and the well-wishes for Emily. Her bruise has changed from pink/ purple to black, but is shrinking in size. We went to Home Depot yesterday and the salesman said, "I have one question for you....did you win?" I told him the bed won!!

I had a few question in the comments so I thought I would answer them here...

Rebecca, I found the lamb cake mold at a store called "Party City." It's made by Wilton and it was $10.99. I bought it several years ago so if they don't sell it anymore, Ebay might have it.

I was also asked how I did Grace and Emily's hair. First, I put it up in a pony tail. Then I twisted it tightly and at the same time looped it around like a cinnamon run, against their head. I used lots of bobby pins and hairspray! I added the ribbon last.

Oh, and yes, we ate the cake. :0)

Last night we had some friends over for a mission's meeting. Phillip is in charge of the mission's committee at our church so we will need to get together every quarter.

I wanted to share with you my quick and easy menu. Mondays are always busy with school work, laundry and catching up after the weekend. This week was especially busy after Easter. Lots of plastic grass to vacuum up. ;0)

I set everything up buffet style.


I made chicken salad sandwiches on rolls and croissants. I used canned chicken, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and a little garlic powder.


The only thing I had to do for the veggie tray was slice up the green pepper.


I wanted to serve grapes but they were $2.50 per lb. Strawberries were $1.77 a carton so I went with those.


I put the snack-y type foods on the table.


For drinks I served soda, ice tea, lemonade and water. I made unsweetened tea but set out some sugar, a sugar substitute and slices of lemon.


Since it was an evening party, I also made a pot of coffee. Everything was set up for easy self-serve.


For extra seating I brought in our patio furniture and extra kitchen chairs.


I also put my patio couch cushion (which I covered with a blanket) on the fireplace.


Pepperidge Farm cookies were on sale so that was dessert.


I put them, along with leftover Easter candy in the living room, to munch on during the meeting.

It took less than 1 hour to set everything up and clean-up was nice and easy too. I hope I have given you some ideas for simple entertaining! I would love to hear your easy entertaining ideas and tips.


Grace wanted me to mention that the wild bunny living in our yard has had a name change...it's "Carrot" now. I discovered he's been eating my Lamb's Ear plant so I'm rethinking this whole "cute bunny in the garden" thing!

I hope your week is going well and I'll talk to you soon!