Good Breakfast!

We are expecting some more bad weather over the next couple of days. Mostly some snow then changing to freezing rain. It's been so cold outside. As soon as you open the door, the cold air just bites at you. I am a cold weather lover but this snow has been extreme even for me! Every week we have some kind of weather system moving in.

This morning we started our day with some good old fashioned grits. Yes, even us Northerners like it~~I do anyway! My kids love it more than oatmeal. I feel good sending them off with such a good solid breakfast. I have always wanted to try them as part of a main meal. I see Paula Deen makes shrimp and grits. Lord knows I cut that recipe out years ago but still haven't made it. It's on my list!

My husband started talking about planting this Spring and for a few minutes I was lost in thought about it! Although it's months away, he enjoys flowers and plants and is always thinking of our outside gardens. I miss my hydrangeas and peonys and roses. I made so many bouquets of dried hydrangeas to put around my house last Summer. It looked beautiful. I want to continue drying more flowers for decoration and craft use. One of my favorite bushes we have is a miniature lilac. It's a small bush that is so aromatic. We liked it so much I now have five of them on the property. We get them at our favorite nursery in Jamesport, Gabrielsons. Have a great day! Spring is coming!

Recipe for Kielbasa & Red Potatoes

Kielbasa & Red Potatoes


1 whole kielbasa sliced into "coins"
as many red potatoes as you think you'd like, quartered
1 large onion sliced

Put all that into a casserole dish

Combine 1 cup of white wine, 3/4 cup of honey mustard, 2 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar---mix together well. Pour over potatoes, onions & kielbasa

Bake @ 400 degrees for 55 minutes
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I prepare the sauce to my own taste. If you like it sweeter, add more brown sugar or if you prefer it to be tart, add more mustard. It was delicious!

Old Man Winter Has Visited And Decided To Stay!

We woke up to an additional 16.5 inches of snow today. We are so buried! It's both amazing and beautiful. My plan for today is some more cooking and crafting. Yesterday I cooked up a storm. I made a breaded chicken, red skin potato salad, a delicious kielbasa and potato dish (they loved it!) and another family favorite, hot milk cake. Hot milk cake is a recipe from my Grandmother Margaret although I don't believe it's actually "Hers". I only have ever had it from her, my Mom and now I make it quite often. It's the best cake to have with a nice cold glass of milk or a cup of coffee!It's also a good base cake for cupcakes, strawberry shortcake or layer cake if you don't want to use a box mix. This is also a cake I send to special people~~like a wonderful customer my husband has who always calls upon him when there is work to be done to her home. Mrs.P ~~love her. She's hot milk cake worthy! Today I'm making a Taco Bake casserole. We'll see how that one comes out. I have made a variation of this many times. I just found this recipe in Kraft Food & Family. They have a magazine and a GREAT website.

As planned, I organized my country decorating magazines by season so, maybe later, I will have myself a nice piece of hot milk cake, a big cup of coffee and enjoy a SPRING issue! Yes, the key word there is SPRING! I also have been repurposing some of my older crafts into new ones. BUT before I get to all the fun stuff, it's shoveling for me!

Hot Milk Cake

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 stick of margarine or butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 heaping tsp of baking powder

Beat eggs well, add sugar one cup at a time. Add vanilla. Mix well. Add flour one cup at a time. Beat till smooth. The dough will be thick.
In a saucepan bring to a boil the stick of margarine or butter and milk. DO NOT WALK AWAY. Once it boils, pour into flour mixture and blend well. Add baking powder. Beat till well blended. Pour into greased cake pan. Baking time is approximately 1 hour.

The Snow is Falling!

Oh, little Bootsie! I'm sure the birds can see you! You aren't a very good stalker! Maybe because your belly is full or your turning into a lazy boy.

A Good Day for Cocoa!

Good Morning! We woke up to temperatures of eight degrees but I see it has risen slightly~~to thirteen degrees! Wind chills make it feel far less than zero! I think I'll be staying in today! Maybe I'll open up these little containers I got for Christmas that are filled with hot chocolate. Aren't they adorable? The colors are right from the 50's, you know that 50's red and turquoise. I love them. I'm thinking what to fill them with when I do use up all the cocoa. I might fill one up with white snow "diamond dust" which will make it sparkly and pretty. I just think they're adorable.

Stay warm!

Two more little prim stitched pictures done. Now to find frames to fit 'em! Love the simple things! I may not lead that "simple" of a life but in many ways I do compared to others. Plus the word gratefulenss takes on a whole new meaning in these tough economic times!
I have a whole list of things I'd like to accomplish today ~besides cleaning and straightening and general housekeeping~~organize my country decorating magazines by season, take some photographs around the house, prepare beef enchiladas AND weed out two of my kitchen cabinets that have become catch alls! And who am I kidding? I'll have some shoveling to do!

More Snow Predicted Tonight & Tomorrow

Sledding in Mattituck! What a hill!

He Won't Be Melting Anytime Soon!

Yesterday was a super fun day. We took the kids for a ride out to Mattituck. That is a beautiful, old fashioned town further out on our North Fork of Long Island. We were in search of a new hill for sleigh riding, and we found a great one! The best one yet. We spent a good part of the afternoon enjoying the cold air and outdoors! Today it is VERY cold here again and the temps won't be climbing up for a while according to the weathermen! Thank goodness Bill now has some indoor work!

Has anyone ever made button/spool dolls? I have couple and have been studying them. Their bodies are made of wooden buttons and spools and are then dressed and decorated. I'm going to get the rest of the materials I need and give them a try. I think it's all about tying them together tight enough! I have a very cute Raggedy Anne and Andy. I also started two more retro button pictures this time with prim brown and tan buttons. I'll show you when it's complete. My crafts aren't great but I sure enjoy doing them!

A Good Craftin' Day

Today my husband promised to get down a few boxes for me that I have stored away that have some crafting supplies inside. I know I have a package of buttons that are cat faces! I bought them several years ago. I also have some odds and ends and some folk art paints and homespun. Whatever is in those cartons, I am going to whip up something! It's a gray day and this afternoon they are expecting a "clipper" to pass. That's a fast moving light snow that blows in and blows back out! Hoping for some goodies int hose boxes I may have forgotten about too! Have a great Saturday!

Keeping Warm!

We woke up to a temperature of six degrees today. It hasn't gotten above freezing in over a week. I really don't mind except for when family members out working in this frigid weather.

I wanted to show you our fireplace my husband built back in 2003. He built it in our basement. We have a family room on the first floor but originally just had a basement family room. We use both. Every night we have been enjoying the fire. What I wanted to show you was my mantle. This was my husband's idea, and he is very creative. It's a tree! Actually it's a tree sliced down the middle and cut into a mantle. He then polyurethaned it and voila! A beautiful rustic mantle. He kept the bark on the outside of the one side and polyurethaned that too. That's my Bill.

Hanging below the mantle is an eagle my Dad carved. I love that! My parents had that hanging on their fireplace in their house for many years. My Dad passed away on January 18, 2005. He's always with us though and that's his pipe on top of the mantle.

All is Calm, All is White!

Down came the snow, mostly overnight, blanketing us with almost 15 more inches. My little birds waited hungrily until I was able to get to their feeders and clean the snow that had covered them and fill them again. I put out a disposable aluminum tray to hold more seed so that my ground feeding birds could have their breakfast. Then one by one, my little squirrels found their way and with snow covered noses went digging for anything. When they saw me, they sat upright. They know I always have their peanuts!

My Cozy Corner

Long Island is getting hit with another storm starting tonight and into tomorrow. They were predicting 6-12 inches but now, as of 5 am this morning, the forecast is 12 inches plus! Oh my~~that's a lot of snow. I enjoy it so much but not when it hinders Bill's contracted work and other family members who are traveling for work or working outdoors. Lets hope we'll be able to shovel out by Thursday!

On the bright side, I stocked my kitchen well with some goodies and as I have been reading through old issues of TASTE of HOME magazine and KRAFT FOOD & FAMILY, I found some good comfort food to prepare. Hoping we don't lose power as I have an electric stove!

You can be sure that once the snow is falling at some point in the day I will be in my favorite spot~~my chair in the family room that is comfortable right next to a window that has a "birds eye view" (no pun intended) of my bird feeders! A nice cup of coffee and my country decorating magazines, and I am all set! Everyone needs a special spot to relax and unwind and that's mine. I also enjoy my little front room parlor and everyone time I sit in there I am immediately joined by several cats! Maybe I'll even get some crafting done!~~~in between shoveling duty, that is!

My Lil' Prim Stitchery

Sew...I mean so, (!) I finished a couple of my little stitcheries using those vintage buttons I told you about. It was so fun choosing them for my "garden" of flowers! I hope the photos show the details on the buttons. Super simple, and I think it's so cute! I'll show some others shortly. Have a super Sunday!

My Snowy Friend

My little buddy waited patiently in a tree that is right outside the sliding glass doors of our family room. He knows I would be opening those doors to throw him his peanuts and any cookies we aren't eating anymore. He's such a sweetie! When I did open the doors, he came down from his tree and ran right up to me. He politely sat upright and, with gratefulness in his little face , accepted his daily gifts.

Check out my SNOW! page above~~my birdfeeders with guests, our shed, the pine tree we planted when we moved here in 1994, and more!

The Button Box

This is our button box. I know it's not a box; it's a can. We just always referred to it as the button box! This is a beloved item in our home! For as long as I can remember, this same can has been holding buttons. All of them are from my late Great Aunt who came from Italy as a young girl in the 1920's and worked in the garment district for a clothing factory. As the years passed, she managed her "floor" of this factory and always brought home buttons, material and trimming.

Every child in our family wore our Aunt's handmade pajamas, slips, and summer dresses. If we were no longer wearing a particular piece clothing and it couldn't be passed on, before it was discarded all the buttons came off and were put into this can. When Mom was replacing a button, she went to this can to search for a match. My Aunt would bring home buttons and into the can they went!My kids love this can of buttons because it gave them so much joy playing with it! Caitlin fills up little cups with buttons and pretends she's cooking with them and when Billy was little he used to love to sort them, group them and use his little action figures to dive into the can! All in all, it may just be a can of buttons but it's very special. The buttons are beautiful. I especially love all the red ones! So I went to this can to find just the right buttons for the stitchery I'm doing. The buttons will be my flowers! Not a cluster; just a single button to represent each flower. Whe I finish with my *very* simple project, I'll show you!

I'm starting my list of New Year's resolutions and one is to complete some crafts I have started and a stitchery I started and never finished. It's something I'm sewing on burlap with some vintage buttons. I think you'll like it!

Happy New Year!

2011 is here! It's a new year and a clean slate just waiting for you to make your mark on it. Think of all the things you'd like to achieve, improve, or learn. Think of things you hope for ~~for yourself and for others. Make a list~~mine is in my head~~and it's a long one! There are so many things I'd like to do this year. Some things new and some things old; hobbies or interests that I have let fall to the wayside that I would like to incorporate back into my life. There are new things I would like to try. I have goals I would like to reach. So I will take this ever growing list of intentions and "pick one" to start with and take it from there!

For me, 2011 will be a year of hopefulness, optimism, enthusiasm and healing. I hope it's all you wish it will be!