Happy New Year!



Good Monday morning!  A very brisk 29 degrees in SW Virginia this morning! 

I de-Christmased my house this weekend.  What a job!  Sure is a lot more fun going up then taking it down.  But it's done and the house is all spic and span. 

Would you believe that I have been working on Easter crafts this weekend?  I do plan to make a couple of Valentines things but I was in the mood to crochet and decided to make some bunny peeps from a pattern I found on Pinterest.  I made 4 of them but only got one totally put together.  I'll take a photo when I get the other 3 finished.  They turned out so cute.

Do you have an New Year's resolutions?  I don't make resolutions but I have picked a "word" for the year.  It is COMPASSION.  I think if we had more compassion for each other this world would be in a much better place, don't you agree?

Oh and about that new header, January is the birthday month for me and my sister!  

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  Wow, what a whirlwind of Christmas it was...It just seemed to fly by.  Our tradition is to go to my Dad's house of Christmas Eve with my sister and her family.  We had so. much. food.  My sister, my niece and I both love to cook and Christmas is the perfect time to pull out all the stops.

We are a "snacky" kind of family, so we have lots of food to snack on during the afternoon and evening.  Olive balls, cherry cheesecake cheeseball with vanilla wafers, sugar cookies, cream cheese mints and chocolate chip cookies.

A veggie tray, olive stuffed celery (a must at all of our get togethers, and Bugles and Bugle dip.  Never heard of Bugle dip?  It's my grandma's recipe.  It's just a block of softened cream cheese, about 1 tablespoon of minced onion, 2 tablespoons of mayo, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.  Mix and refrigerate a couple of hours before serving.  Delicious!  We also had ham, green beans, potatoes, cinnamon apples, mac-n-cheese, etc.. 

Dad's tree.

My niece is very color co-ordinated.  I gave her the aqua Club aluminum dutch oven that she has been wanting.  She loves vintage cookware.

She also loves this "vintage" ugly dinnerware with butterflies on it.  I remember looking at that set when I was first engaged in the 1970's.  I had gold appliances in our home and thought it might match.  I ended up going with something else.  Between me and her mom, we were able to find almost the entire set.

My niece is also quite the seamstress and made me and her mom these adorable aprons!

"I want a new box grater"  That's all my sister would say when you asked her what she wanted for Christmas!  I found this teeny-tiny one at a cooking specialty store and knew I had to get it for her!  I also got her the full size one too!

Yngwie, who is all about fishing, was very happy with his new reel! 

This is a particularly great photo of me and my Dad!  LOL!!!  He is also making "bunny ears" over my head.  Wonder where I get my warped sense of humor??  I am so blessed to still have my Dad with me.

Hope everyone enjoys this last weekend of 2012.  I tell you I am looking forward to the New Year.  I will be taking the rest of my Christmas stuff down this weekend and trying to get my house back in order. 

Blessings

Linda



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I will see you after Christmas!

Blessings

Linda

Christmas Traditions

Good Wednesday morning all!  It is sunny and bright in SW Virginia today and we are expecting to be in the low 60's.  This is NOT Christmas weather, but it will be arriving soon and we are not expected to get out of the 30's on Friday!

I love Christmas traditions!  There are just some things that have to be done every year at Christmas or it doesn't feel like Christmas.  One of those things is making sugar cookies!

I use the Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie recipe in my Pillsbury cookbook.  They are the best!  I also use royal icing to decorate them with,  They are so much fun to bake and decorate.

These guys did not help much but they supervised.

When I was little, we used to go to my Grandma Scruggs' on Christmas afternoon.  This is a photo of me and my cousins from 1965.  I am in the purple corduroy outfit.  My grandma made mine purple and my cousins Carol and Kay got blue ones.  I loved that outfit and wore it until it was way too small.  As I look it this photo I realize that 4 of my cousins have passed on, way too soon.

How happy I was the year I got a "stereo" for Christmas!  My Dad worked for G.E. for 43 years and all our electronics would come from the employee store.  My mom worked as a seamstress at a mill that made pajamas and the ones that I have on (I am the oldest) were also favorites.  My poor sisters robe is too small.  I hope she got a new one that year!

So much vintage to see in this photo, the year I got my Chrissy doll!  I loved that doll and still have her!  I also see a Spirograph, Lincoln logs, a jewelry box, and a leather purse that had tassels.  I carried that thing forever!  That lamp!!    Poor Dad looks like he didn't get very much sleep. 

He probably didn't!  Another of our traditions was that Grandma and Grandpa would spend the night with us on Christmas Eve on one condition.  Grandpa said he would only stay if I would get up at 5:00 a.m. and make the coffee.  He was only kidding, but I didn't know and and I set my alarm for 5:00 and when it rang, up I jumped and went into the kitchen and started the coffee.  I was 5 years old!  But I knew how the percolator worked. (Don't you miss the sound of coffee perking?)  When Grandpa smelled the coffee he got up and came into the kitchen and I would sit on his lap and he would tell me stories until the others would get up.  This became a tradition every year until I got married, except I got too big to sit on his lap!  That is a memory that I cherish in my heart.  How I miss him...

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Blessings

Linda



Never Forget



Happy Valentines Jackpot!!!

Whoo Hoo, doing my Happy Friday Dance!  I have a busy weekend planned and can't wait to get on with it!  Such a fun time of year!

I have been teasing y'all for a couple of posts about the "Jackpot" that I hit at an estate sale the other weekend.    Well here it is!

Mega vintage Valentines!  I got an entire box, almost 100 valentines!  It wasn't priced and I approached the fellow with the pricing gun with concealed excitement and asked how much.  He took one look and said "Looks like a bunch of junk paper to me, how about $1.00?"  I said that works for me and was jumping up and down with joy!

I mean they really should belong to me... Here's why:

Look at the name on those adorable envelopes..LINDA.. see they were meant to be mine!

When did they quit making such cute valentines?

Look at this envelope!  A pixie on it! 

Here's one that wasn't used!

Love this one!

Paper doll valentines!  I've never seen these before..

So many!!!

Of course this one is my favorite.. A majorette..like me!

So many of them were signed like this... They just put numbers for letters of the alphabet and you figured out who they were from!  It must have been quite the trend as 1/2 of them were signed like this!

I almost got this little box of goodies for $1.00  I am a sucker for little boxes of goodies!

A Beatles trading card

Tiny little books and a JFK postcard

Some cute little plastic animals

And these 3 beautiful Christmas corsages! 

Right after Christmas I will be scanning the Valentines and uploading them to Flickr so that we can all use them for our Valentine crafting!!  I can't wait to get started!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Blessings

Linda

More Pixies!!

Good Tuesday Morning!!  Bright and sunny today in SW Virginia after a drizzly, dark Monday, I'll take it!

Week before last I did something I do only about twice a year.  I took two days off from work, consecutively.  Amazing, right??  I spent Friday going to 3 estate sales!  I was in heaven!  I was able to grab these two little pixies at one of the sales. 

(ugh, sorry for the lousy photo)

Some estate sale shoppers can be kinda nasty.  When I picked up this pixie this lady who was also standing at the table just looking at the vintage Christmas stuff said "I was going to pick that up", and then took her arm and swooped almost all of the stuff that was on the table into a bag!  I told her, no problem she could have it but she huffed and puffed and left! 

Then I found 1/2 the stuff she had swooped up laying in a pile at the door where she had gone though it and didn't buy it all! 

At another sale I found these darling deer, by the way I don't collect deer, but have managed to "acquire" about 15 of them.  That's not collecting, right?

Look at those sweet eyes!

Love his bell and polka dots...

Ok, this isn't a Christmas troll but isn't it just adorable???  Couldn't resist this at the estate sale! 

I will share my favorite find in a different post.  Let's just say I hit the jackpot!!!

This sunday afternoon I made my husbands very favorite cookie.. Peanut Butter Criss Crosses.  I jazzed them up a little for the holidays by putting some colored sprinkles on them. 

Peanut Butter Criss Cross Cookies

1 cup butter (no substitutes)

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 2/3 cup flour (self rising)

2/3 cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

extra sugar for rolling

Cream butter, gradually add sugars, beating well at medium speed of an electric mixer.  Add eggs, mixing well.

Add flour to creamed mixture and beat until smooth.  Stir in peanut butter and vanilla.

Chill dough for at least one hour.

Shape dough into 1" ball then roll in granulated sugar.  Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and take the tines of a fork and press a criss cross pattern on cookie.  Sprinkle with jimmies, colored sugar, etc..  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from sheet and cool on racks.

YUM!

Blessings

Linda

 

How much is that doggy (and kitty) in the window??

When I was little I loved getting packages where the package itself was just as fun as whatever was inside.  A friend of my mom's always made the outside of the package special by making little scenes on top, or putting small toys or candies taped to the outside.  I loved getting packages from her...

So for the "littles" on my Christmas list this year, I decided to do the same.  I found this pattern at an estate sale and knew I was going to have to make a couple of these for Christmas gifts.

Aren't they the cutest??

So this past week I have been busy, cutting and sewing and stuffing and swearing.

Some of the parts were a little fiddly, but I wasn't going to give up and I am so pleased with the result.

I used the stuffed animals as package toppers for the "littles" gifts! 

A blue polka dot dog with red and white polka dot ears that can't wait for a little 2 year old boy to give him kisses.

The red and white polka dot dog with black and white gingham ears is looking forward to spending some quality time with a 4 month old little boy.  (I will tell his mom to either cut the tongue off or hang on to this puppy until he is old enough not to chew it off!)

A pretty yellow kitty for a precious 2 year old girl.. 

Hello polka dot kitty, hope you enjoy your new home with my sweet 6 year old great neice.

And until Christmas I will enjoy this menagerie under my Christmas tree!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Blessings

Linda



Recreating Better Homes and Gardens 1953

Good Saturday afternoon!  It is bright and sunny and warm in SW Virginia today.  

When I was little, I used to love to pull my mother's 1953 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook out and look at the pages!  (Yep, I was a weird kid!).  I remember asking her if she would make me all of the candy on the candy page.  She took one look, laughed and said NO WAY!  I really don't think my mom ever made anything out of this cookbook.  She didn't like to cook and made the same things each week.  Though she was a good cook.  Just not very adventurous.   I also remember showing the pages to my Grandma and Aunt Clara, both who looked at them and laughed and said NO WAY!   I finally took the pages out of the cookbook and pasted them in a scrapbook I had in my room.  Of course, that is long gone.  I have my mom's cookbook and several years ago I found another one just like it at an auction and was thrilled to see the candy pages in there.

 You see why I like this page.  Isn't it magical and beautiful?

So I was telling Yngwie about how I wanted someone to make me all the candy on the page and he said, why don't you try it yourself?  Why indeed???  So I set to work at 8:30 this morning and by 1:30 this afternoon this is what I had..

 Pretty close!!!  I didn't make the cherry trees because the candied cherries were very expensive and we don't like them.  I substituted red Christmas balls in Santa cups.  

 Petit Fours- I know why you never see these any more, they are the devil to make!  What a mess!  Popcorn balls.  Mine didn't want to hold together very well so I wrapped them in plastic wrap.  I think there is a problem with my candy thermometer and even though I boiled my sugar to temperature, it never would harden up properly.  Fondant stuffed dates, marshmallow-nut puffs and divinity.  Just like the photo I used candy store fillers, candy cremes, gum drops and ribbon candy.

 My vintage tablecloth and 1950's Santa and sleight centerpiece complete the look.  Do you see those little Santa figures in the background?  They are supposed to spell NOEL but I purposely spelled LEON to see how long it would take my family to spot it.  It's been up three weeks and they haven't noticed it yet!  LOL!

What a fun day I had recreating 1953!

I took yesterday off from work and hit three estate sales!  I got some great items.  Photos to come later!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Blessings

Linda