Happy 7th Birthday...

...to Louis a/k/a Mr. Cupcake!!!

Oatmeal Cookies

Hey, y’all! I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is next week...and that Christmas is right around the corner! This year has gone by incredibly fast, don’t you think? Wasn’t it just Christmas a few months ago?

I made Oatmeal Cookies a few days ago...

My beloved Kitchen Aid is vintage and inherited from Darrin’s Grandmother. I don’t know what I’d do without it!

Have y’all tried Reynold’s Pan Lining Paper? It has foil on one side and parchment paper on the other. I really like it. I usually use parchment paper on my cookie sheets but I was out of it when I made these cookies. I used the Pan Lining Paper and couldn’t tell any difference. I’ve used it in baking pans to cook a couple of main dishes, too. This will definitely be something I keep in my kitchen all the time. (Reynold’s is not paying me to endorse their product!)

I only used half the dough...this half will go in the freezer. I usually roll the dough into balls, freeze it on cookie sheets, then put all the dough balls in a bag. It’s really easy to take out however many you want to thaw & bake. I just didn’t have time to do that the other day.

And here are the cookies. Some of them look burnt on the bottom but they’re not...it’s just a shadow! Here’s the recipe...

OATMEAL COOKIES (printer friendly version)

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned)

1 cup raisins (optional)

Cream butter, brown sugar & white sugar together. Beat in eggs. Stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon & salt. Stir into butter mixture. Mix in oats. Mix in raisins.

Drop by teaspoons onto greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until done. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes approximately 4 dozen.

Veterans Day 2011

Because of You, Unknown Soldier

By Courtney Tanabe

Because of you, I am here

Because of you, I am able to live freely

Yet I do not know you

And I have not done anything for you

But there you stand, ready to fight

And there you are prepared to die

For me

You've fought before

And you'll fight again

For someone you don't know

So thank you Unknown Soldier

Fighting for me

I'm here because of you

And I owe my future to you

Ravioli Lasagna

Hey, y’all! Well, we got a little dusting of snow but it didn’t stay around long. It does qualify as the first snow of the season, though!

This is what we had for supper last night...Ravioli Lasagna. Cheesy and YUMMY! It’s ridiculously easy to make. It’s also way too much for just the two of us so I always put half of it in the freezer.

We had it with Crusty Cuban Bread that I made in the bread machine. I didn’t take a picture of that. The next time I make it I’ll do that and post the recipe.

RAVIOLI LASAGNA (Printer Friendly Version)

1 lb. cooked ground beef
2 bags frozen ravioli, cheese or beef (I use Louisa brand)
2 jars marinara sauce (I use Newman's Own)
grated Mozzarella cheese
grated Parmesan cheese

Cook ravioli according to package directions and then drain. Mix ground beef & marinara sauce together. Spoon a little of the meat sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Layer ravioli and sauce in dish. Sprinkle Mozzarella & Parmesan cheeses over the top. Cover with foil. Bake at 375° for 30 to 45 minutes.

That’s all there is to it. Hope you enjoy it!

Hooky Love

Hey, y’all! A long, long time ago, for a short period of time,  I used to crochet...then I stopped. A couple of years ago I took up knitting but I never got past dishcloths, scarves & shawls. Why? Because I never quite grasped knitting. I never could figure out how to “read” the stitches. If I made a mistake, I had to just start all over again...unless I used a lifeline. I never could figure out where to rip back to...and then there was the problem of getting it all back on the needle again!

Then all of sudden I started becoming attracted to crochet again. And one day I decided to try it again. OH MY GOSH! It was love...hooky love! I understand crochet. If I make a mistake, I can rip back and go on. It’s just wonderful!

Then I found Lucy’s blog...Attic 24. I saw her Crochet Bag and had to start on it right away. My version is made with Sugar n’ Cream cotton...almost all my remaining dishcloth stash. It’s currently holding my yarn stash.

There is a chance we might get SNOW tonight!!! Anywhere from 1 to 4 inches!!! 

Well, time to take the Ravioli Lasagna out of the oven, watch a little television with Darrin, then settle in with my hook, yarn and the first season dvd of thirtysomething...one of my favorite shows of all time.

Have a good night!

Happy Halloween!

It Sure Is Dusty In Here!!!

 

Hey, y’all! I can hardly believe it’s been almost 8 months since the last time I posted!! A few weeks ago I was actually thinking about hitting the Delete key for this blog. Then last Saturday I got my usual weekly email from SiteMeter showing my stats. I’ve just been deleting it because obviously there was nothing to see! Well, something told me to open it...and...it showed that I had all these visitors...and I couldn’t figure out why.

Pinterest...that’s why. Someone pinned my “Make Your Own Silhouette Mats” post and other people were coming to read it! So, I took it as some sort of sign...and here I am.

I’ve belonged to Pinterest for quite some time but have avoided using it because I could see that it could possibly become addicting! But, as you can see by the “follow me” button over there on the left, I caved!

So, here I am with my blog all redecorated...oh, and a new name, too!

Above is a cute little piece I made to hang in my kitchen. Nothing fancy...I just cut it on my Silhouette from yellow card stock and stuck it in an old frame that I painted white.

 

Here it is hanging in the kitchen. This is the view from the kitchen, through the side entry and into the living room. Notice “thyme” under the clock...cut from black vinyl.

Be back soon...really...not 8 months from now!

Please Excuse My Absence

Hey, y’all! Sorry for being MIA...the flu bug came visiting at our house. We started coming down with it at almost the end of February and are just now starting to feel like our old selves. And this was a “mild” case! One of our kitties, Rufus, was also under the weather with a stomach bug and had to go to the vet. Oh, joy! 

I know I’m going to be absolutely thrilled to able to clean my house and get caught up around here! I am so ready to be back to normal.

See you soon!

Card Sketch Book

Hey, y’all! I need a vacation to a warm beach somewhere. It’s snowing here again. We’re supposed to get somewhere between 1 to 5 inches according to who you believe. Then they said something about freezing rain on Monday.

Our printer went out a couple of days ago. I just thought it was just out of ink. Darrin stopped on his way home from work and bought new ink cartridges. I put them in...it printed a couple of pages and just stopped. Nothing we did made it print again. So we bought a new one. I had no idea how much the price of printers has gone down!! We ended up with a spiffy HP all-in-one. I LOVE it!

The other day Kristina Werner posted a video on her blog with instructions to make a card sketch book. She even has the pages in PDF format to download. Kristina said to staple the book together but I had a brilliant thought and decided to sew it together. Not so brilliant. I realized the cover is soon going to tear off. Next time I’ll follow the directions!

See how rough looking the top of it is from sewing it together? Oh well, at least I used my sewing machine. The poor thing has been neglected for a long time.

Here’s the inside. Very cool. Thank you, Kristina!

Well, that’s all I have for y’all today. Have a good Friday!

Make Your Own Silhouette Mats

Hey, y’all! I hope everyone had a good weekend. Our weather was very spring-like...we even had thunderstorms last night. But, snow is on the way for tomorrow.

On to the subject of this post. I love, love, love my Silhouette. But their mats are not as good as Cricut mats, in my opinion. And, my gosh, the price is a little much, too. (Sorry, Silhouette America!)

I stumbled upon a couple forum posts about how people make their own mats so I thought I’d give it a try. I bought two 12 x 24 inch Cricut mats from Joann on sale for $13.49 and simply cut them down.

The pictures are not the best. I cannot wait for the photography class to start!

Sorry for the glare from my work light. These are the original 12 x 24 inch Cricut mats.

I marked the Cricut mat with the width-wise measurement from the Silhouette mat and cut the excess off with a pair of scissors.

Then I put masking tape down one edge. I did this so the sticky from the mat wouldn’t transfer to the Silhouette roller. Does it work?

Yes, it does!

It worked like a charm!

I left one mat at the full 24-inch length...in case I decide to cut something really long. I cut the other mat in half. So, for a little over $13.49 I got 3 new, good quality mats...in two different sizes. Two 13.5 x 8.9-inch mats from the Silhouette store would have cost $24.99!

It’s a good thing as Martha would say!