All Decorated

Before Decorations

After Decorations

I love little houses and I had the opportunity to buy 4 more.  Here is one..two little bay windows and the colored lights around the porch.  Just too cute!

The village tea room

I have them on top of the fireplace along with the church I made eons ago. 

I am very happy with the way it turned out this year. 

Very Large Wreath

One Day a nice cub scout came to my door selling (to order) live wreaths and greenery for Christmas.

I thought how nice the smell of pine would be in the house so I bought the largest wreath they had.
It said 48 inches for $41.00 and I thought that would be fine, 48 inches around.  My windows are large and I wanted to hang it in the dining room window.  I forgot about it until the other night we came home from somewhere and I could see a large dark object on my porch.  Oh it must be the wreath, my goodness it's big.  It's so big, I can't hang it inside! 

I think they meant at least 48 inches across.  It is very lovely with a red bow and pine cones. 

I have hung it on my front window.  It was either that or hang it on the side of the garage.  My husband wondered if they brought it in a semi!

Here it is. It's a lovely wreath, just a bit larger than I bargained on. 

From my studio room.  It casts a shadow.  People don't have a problem seeing it from the road.
Note to self.....next year...buy smaller. 

Happy Milestone Birthday

November 24th was Sam's 21st birthday.  He always wants pumpkin pie in place of cake.  We were at his beck and call, Applebees, watching movies, going to Walmart.  He was funny that he had his ID out and ready to show when he order his celebration Long Island Ice Tea.  We celebrated with him at our bar in the basement.  It seems as if he had a fun day.

His Aunt Ellen and Cousin Allie stopped by to give him birthday wishes also. 

21 years went by so fast.....XOXOXOXO from your family.

Book Review-A Walk to Remember

This was the first book that I downloaded on my Ipad from our library.  How easy this was to do and all I have to do to return it is hit a button.  If I don't do that it will automatically delete after 21 days.  It's a great thing to have.

Like all Nicholas Sparks books it was a very entertaining quick read, that the reader can relate to.  Of course there are always parts that put a lump in your heart because of what the characters are going through. 

The main topic of the story is that there are two main characters Landon and Jamie.  The setting is of course North Carolina Coast and the two are 17 years old in their senior year of high school.  Landon doesn't take too many things seriously and just drifts along not putting his best foot forward in anything, but doesn't do badly either, mediocre would best describe his actions.

His father works in Washington as a Congressman so he is gone a good part of the time, but when he does come back he wants Landon to run for class President.  He begrudgingly does it and wins because the other two candidates were not quite a popular as Landon. 
Landon finds that he should have a date to a dance and every girl he asks already has a date.  He ends up asking Jamie who is the preachers daughter.  She dresses very plainly and always carrys around a bible and her classmates view her as odd, but Landon has known her for a long time.

Through a chain of events he comes to know Jamie and ends up falling in love with her.  These events become an awakening for Landon and shapes him for his adulthood.  
I recommend this book whole heartedly.
Click here for Nicholas Sparks official site about this book. 

 

Morning Birds

There have been a couple of mornings while driving to work that I would see leafless trees full of blackbirds .  It was a neat site but I would never have my camera or if I would have stopped they would have flown off.  I decided to sketch it so I could keep the memory. 

Back

We are back from our Thanksgiving in Detroit, I have a few pictures to share.  This is Jefferson Avenue the sculpture in the middle is a fist.  It represents Joe Louis the fighter. 

Our hotel is across the street from the entrance to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.  Now we have not made it over to Canada but it amazes me that one can drive underneath the Detroit River. 

We drove to Belle Isle to see what there was over there.  What a great view of the city of Detroit.  On the left is the GM Building. 

Jefferson Avenue all lite up at night.  In the background are the lights of the Ambassador Bridge.

Kevin and myself

While on Belle Isle it was so windy and cold and overcast.  Looking down the river the sun came out and shined on the freighter coming from the Canadian side. 

Magnificent Fountain on Belle Isle.

We had a great time as usual.  The Lions lost in overtime, but they were so close to winning. 
It was by far the best game we had seen. 

Book Review-Thank God Ahead of Time

 

I first became aware of Solanus Casey while on a family visit to Detroit.  My husband read about St. Bonaventure's Monastery and we decided to visit it and learn it's history.  It was an interesting experience and quite spiritual. 

Solanus Casey was born in Wisconsin on November 25, 1870 with the given name of Bernard into a very large, Irish Catholic family. 

In his early adulthood he held various jobs but then felt the calling to go into the priesthood. 

Solanus had some problems with his studies especially the learning of German.  He eventually made it through and became a priest but the superiors did not give him the ability to listen to confessions and gave him the job of porter. They did not think he was smart enough. This entailed essentially taking care of the door into the church. Speaking with people and listening to them.  He cared very much for people especially the poor.  It just evolved that people were drawn to him and he was a very patient man.  He would pray for them and oftentimes  peoples problems would get better, be solved or go away. 

Solanus Casey is the only American born man who is going through the process of canonizations.  There are 4 stages, Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed and Saint, he is at the Venerable stage.  It is a long process.  A Saint is a person who has patterned their life after Jesus.  They are very kind, and selfless. They live very simple lives with almost no possessions.  They are very prayerful and holy and they have to have had miracles performed.  Through a very holy bond Solanus Casey had followers and have many proclaim that after they had spoken with Solanus Casey their problems got better.  

This book was a very enjoyable read and was for the most part an easy read.  When the author got into the theology explanations it was deeper and harder to understand.

 

We visit the Solanus Casey Center once a year or it is called making a pilgrimage to a place where a holy person was at.     

Random offerings

Is this called "riding shotgun"?

The flash woke him and he had to start cleaning up.

Cute Light bulb

Cute Candlestick

I just can't get the faces to line up

I felt someone staring at me and I located her , this is with flash

And without flash

Stonewall likes looking out the window while I work on the clothes in the dryer

Really enjoying the morning sun

Then he decides to sit beside me during breakfast

Now he is embarrassed because the camera is on him

I get up and he takes my seat, wondering what is in my bowl

Gets a little taste of milk before being shoo'd away

Hope you enjoy your random offerings today too.

Terrific Taco Pie

This is really good and easy. 
 Take frozen pie shells and bake them for half the time is calls for.
Then take a large can of refried beans and spread half on each pie crust covering the inside completely. 
Cook two pounds of ground beef till no pink is showing.
Add to the cooked meat two packages of taco seasoning and the amount of water that is called for on the package. ( I use a little less so that the meat is not too wet inside the shell)
Spread over the refried beans and bake again until the crust is nicely browned. 
Take out of the oven and put cheese, crushed Doritos chips, lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced black olives, sour cream, etc.  Whatever you like.

On top of the right pie is finely diced black olives...( I think it looks like caviar...yuck!)
We have one plain and one with all the extras because someone in the house has simple tastes. 

Enjoy!
 

Muffin Pan Meatloaf

I picked this idea up from pinterest.  This is a texas size muffin pan that I have filled each hole 3/4 full.  On top I put brown sugar and ketchup.

This cut the baking time in half and each loaf is just the right size for eating.  They come out of the pan very easily also.  Along with it we had tastfully simple beer bread. 

I used the meatloaf recipe out of my old stand by Betty Crocker cookbook.  I got this for a high school graduation gift many years ago. 

Here is the recipe.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2 pounds lean ground beef
3 slices bread torn into small pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 beaten egg
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp each, pepper, celery salt, garlic salt, dry mustard and ground sage.
1 T Worcestershire sauce

Mix all together and put into muffin pan.
On top put 1 tablespoon brown sugar and some ketchup spread over the top.

 Bake for 35 minutes.

Very, very good.

 

Da Life

If you buy treats for your cats you should give these a try.  I have never had the cats so crazy about treats before I tried these.  It must be the catnip that does it for them.

This guys camps in front of the pantry door just hoping some will fall out when we go through the door. 

A patch of sunshine and a good friend to share it with, what a life!

Baseball Season is Over

Score:  Detroit 3   San Francisco 4
Here it is my 500th post
If my life weren't so full, I would have a give-away
but I will save it for my 525th post

This isn't sad...well maybe a little, it would have been nice.
But as I always say....it is what it is.
Be Proud Detroit Tigers
Only two teams get to the World Series....and you were one of them.
You brought the Hawkins House and the city of Detroit a lot of pleasure this year.
We were with you all the way.
We love you!
How many days till spring training?

 

Game 3 World Series

Score:  Detroit 0  San Francisco 2
Needless to say the Hawkins House is feeling trepidation at the outcome of the World Series.
This is Anibal Sanchez, the pitcher for Game 3
He did very well and only in the second inning he was on shaky ground and two runs were made.
Detroit needs to get their bats turned on.
It's do or die tonight......we are hoping it doesn't end.
Either way, we will be there cheering them on.
GO GET EM TIGERS! LET'S GET SOME RUNS!
I hope they heard me.......

Surprised

While walking around cleaning up the dead plants for winter I was very pleased and surprised to find this blooming California poppy.
I grew this from seed and just kept watering it all the hot summer just keeping it alive.

When it gets cool, poppys like to start having the leaves come up  again.  I had not been behind the garage lately so I didn't know it was happening.  So so beautiful.   

Game Two of the World Series

Score:  Detroit 0  San Francisco 2
Got this picture from the Detroit Free Press this morning.
Doug Fister threw a great game last night even with a ball bouncing off his head into center field.
He is tough....that ball was just hit off the bat and hit his head, bounced way into the air and ended up in center field.  The only thing that happened to Doug....his hat was a little crooked. 
He came back in and threw a total of 110 pitches and held them to 0 runs. 
San Francisco got two late innings runs to beat the Tigers.
They are coming home for game 3 saturday.
It will be nice to have them home.
San Francisco should pack their long underware, they will be getting a chilly reception.
Go Get Em Tigers!

Game One

I took this from the Detroit Free Press this morning.
This is Justin Verlander-he didn't have his best outing... but it happens.
Score:  Detroit 3  San Francisco 8
We got the game one jitters out of the way.  San Francisco had home field advantage and they played fantastic as they should in front of their people.
Tonight-Game 2
Go Get Em Tigers!

Papercrafting & Quilting Books

I picked this quilt magazine up this weekend.  The article that caught my eye was about the 1st annual AQS or American Quilters Society show in Grand Rapids Michigan.  This is just a little more than two hours north of me. 

This magazine I thought was great because it has so many usable techniques in it for scrapbooking.

Lots of Good Ideas in this magazine and it is published approximately 30 miles south of here in Berne, Indiana.

I saw this picture on Pinterest and have always loved Birch Trees and Cardinals.  I found the book on Amazon and bought it. 

I have not had time to make things right now and these books help me to dream.
Thanks for dreaming with me!

Decorating

Orange color to greet people in the foyer.

I finally settled on a combination that I liked for the wall above the beside table. 
So many favorites, picture of my 3 most favorite guys, a needlepoint picture that says "Your Most Important Work Will Be  Done Within the Walls of Your Home". This was given to me when Sam was born.  A wooden box that Kevin made.  A cardinal bookmark that my sweet niece Angie gave to me.  A painting of a poppy field in Assisi that my dear friend Theresa brought back from her pilgrimage.

This ginko leaf came from Pewabic Pottery in Detroit.  I love Ginko leaves and there is a big tree at work that is shedding it's leaves for the year.  I have picked a few up and drying them to use for a picture.

This great wrought iron tree I picked up at Pottery Barn.  It actually is a serving piece.  It holds three clear bowls for dip, or candy or whatever.  It was too neat to store away.  It's appropriate on top of the corner hutch with the wooden pumpkins. 
Happy Fall to All!