I have been a bit surprised that people don’t know about baked oatmeal. On Pinterest, there are a number of baked oatmeal recipes with “Amish” in the title.
Author: Marylou
Sourdough Pizza Crust
Ever since I got back from Italy, I’ve been pursuing homemade pizza recipes. I’ve watched YT videos and found Gemma at Bigger Bolder Baking. She has a really good non-sourdough pizza crust recipe but I wanted to make a sourdough version because … Continue reading “Sourdough Pizza Crust”
Capitola, an Unusual Heroine
I was introduced to a duo of novels by E.D.E.N. Southworth years ago. In case you’re wondering, her name is not Eden but Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte. Sure enough, E.D.E.N. fits on the cover a book much better. Nevitte is her maiden name, Southworth her married name. She has an interesting history and made a living for herself and her two children after her husband abandoned her, by writing. Continue reading “Capitola, an Unusual Heroine”
White Christmas
It seems like every year we barely manage to get Christmas decorations up. We certainly don’t get every room decorated. In fact, we barely get the living room and dining room a little decorated. This year I had a little more time and wanted to change things up a little. I often use the same decorations from year to year. But this year I was more into Pinterest. 🙂 And lots of fun to things to make!! I also didn’t want to buy any more than I had to. So armed with a woods, paint in a can, and lots of gold glitter, I made a white Christmas.
This was from an idea that I had pinned last year and never got to making. My tree is not shaped as nicely as theirs. 🙁 Note to self: Next time check out the shape better before using a whole can of spray on an odd shaped one.
I may have used my fair share of glitter this year. I’m pretty sure I’ll find it corners for a while after it’s cleaned up.
This 3D star was fairly easy to make, considering I have a program to easily customize stars and print them. I didn’t know where my embossing tool was. If I could’ve used it, the star would’ve looked a little less worn. I glued 2 together and used glue and glitter to cover the seams.
Pine cones from my back yard, some white paint and a little gold glitter.
The snowflakes were made from coffee filters, a trick I learned from Clarita. It is much easier to cut than paper.
I starched and ironed them to make the flat.
I got my design ideas from this Pin
We don’t have a fireplace, which is sad for 4 months of the year, but I like to use the top of my sister’s piano as a mantel.
The NOEL idea was from this pin
The N comes from a pallet my mom cut down for me. The O is from grapevine. The E was a particle board letter from Hobby Lobby that I wrapped with jute string. Do you say “jute”or “jute string.” I apparently don’t know. The L is also from Hobby Lobby. I think it was 50% off. I am delighted that Savannah finally has a HL!! Plus, we’ll have another one just a 45-minute drive from here before long.
These were lots of fun to make!
The stars were a lot easier to make than the 3D stars I made last year.
The link for the 3D stars, the ball ornaments and the flat ornaments.
I use a heavy cardstock. Everything hold its shape better than regular paper.
And goodness, my walls are not 2 different shades of green. Lighting. It makes a big difference.
I have this house and church for a while. Many years, actually. I think Wally World used to sell them. They were made to be painted but I thought they were so pretty like they were.
I love verse on this chalkboard printable from here. It’s why we celebrate!
My sister made these balls from grapevine.
So, wow. What did I do before Pinterest? I’m guess a whole lot more searching!
Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, filled with peace and joy amongst the busyness.
Weekend Trip + Callaway Gardens
It’s time to shake the dust off of this blog! A lot has happened since I last blogged but I’ll blog later about those life-altering things.
This past weekend my Mom, sister and I decided to take a trip to see another sister and family. We had a long, lovely weekend with them! They own/run a deli and I’ve never been there over open hours so we left Friday in time to eat lunch there. Yum and yum!
We enjoyed the brilliant fall colors on the way up. The south had a dry fall, as well as early cold temperatures. These 2 combined to make a more-colorful-than-normal fall foliage. At my sister’s place, they had 2 trees that we oohed and ahhed over! We don’t have that brilliant color in our corner of the state.
On Saturday we ladies headed to Callaway Gardens. The fall foliage was past it’s peak here as well but there were still spots of color. The weather was sunny and cool and we were glad for extra layers. Our first point of interest was the Birds of Prey show. They brought out 2 owls and 2 hawks. The handlers had them fly over the audience throughout most of the show. It was interesting and fun as ducked out of the way.
Would you say he had his eye on me?
He actually had his eye on the handler behind us who was putting out meat scraps for him, but …. his flight path took him right over my niece and I and twice the tip of his wings brushed the top of my head.
This is a Great Horned Owl.
They also had a Barred Owl:
He looked a bit less intimidating and mostly sleepy.
There was a Red-Tailed Hawk:
We walked to the chapel in the woods just in time to hear the organ music that is played Saturday and Sunday afternoons. There is a big pipe organ and the player did it justice. The music rang throughout the park.
The stained glass from the inside:
Dogwoods in stained glass.
The organ pipes.
My niece’s friend works there and was able to spend an hour with us. She took a picture of our crew.
Lovely backlighting
More of the park:
And in case you’ve been wondering what an armadillo looks like, here is one that was rooting around beside the path.
He was so tame I could’ve petted him. I could hardly get him distracted enough to get a picture without his head buried in leaves.
A beautiful camelia.
The horticultural center, where-in were tropical greenhouses as well as arid ones.
This is a Full Moon Maple and if I lived in the right growing zone, which I don’t (boo-hoo), I would plant a couple of them. The leaves had varying shades of red, orange and yellow.
There is also a butterfly house. You can see cocoons, some nearly ready to hatch, some in the process of hatching, and freshly hatched butterflies waiting to be released into the very warm and humid atmosphere of the tropical butterfly house.
One more pretty fall scene from up the road from my sisters’ house.
I didn’t take any pictures of the delicious food we had all weekend! We ate at a southern home-cooking restaurant at the edge of the park on Saturday and they had the cheesiest mac and cheese ever!!!! Way delicious!! Sunday night my sister made a Laosian noodle soup that my stomach is still begging for!
Happy Fall, Y’all! Well, I guess it’s more like winter. Tonight the temps are dipping into the 20s here in south Georgia. Brrr.