If I knew you were coming I'd've baked a cake

Talk about a blast from the past!  Daddy always sang this to me when I was a little girl.  Oh, this is just the cutest song I've heard in a long time.  If you're under fifty-five, you might not want to click on this.  You will just roll your eyes.  ~ jan

message-in-a-cookie-cutters from williams-sonoma

Isn't this just the best idea ever?  This was in my Williams Sonoma Catalog for the month of February.  I looked at these online, and they show this picture, but they say,  New, Exclusive, but not available. If you are interested I would call them direct, maybe they are available only through the catalog or in the stores.  I know, you want the number, here it is - 877.812.6235

  The item number is #28-1401132, and they're $19.95. 

I love the idea that you can customize them to say anything you want.  Does this look like something that bebe Abby and Grammie needs?  That's what I'm thinkin'...
 
~ Jan

Create personalized cookies for Valentine’s Day, birthdays and other notable occasions using our cutters in scalloped-rectangle, heart and star shapes. Customize the cutters by sliding in letters or premade words to form a name or message. When you press the cutter into the dough, your lettering is imprinted on the cookie. The set includes three cutters, seven premade words (Welcome, Happy, Birthday, Holidays, Thank You, From, I Love You), three sets of alphabet letters (plus extras of vowels and other commonly used letters) and a dishwasher-safe mesh bag for easy cleaning and storing. Hand-wash. 3 3/4"–4 1/4" wide. A Williams-Sonoma exclusive.

Ivana Trump in her underwear....

Lord have mercy, why would this woman do this at sixty years old?  OMG, is that Spanx high rise panties we're seeing.  And panty hose?  And I'm not even going to talk about the camel toe.  OMG, is anybody else as appalled as me?

Cast Iron Cookware

I was on another blogsite yesterday, they were talking about the Lodge 5 quart cast iron dutch oven.  You can buy it on Amazon for $26.99 with free shipping.  Great reviews on it, except it's preseasoned, and some people think they didn't do it well, but that's no biggie, you can always reseason it.  Here's the link, if anybody is interested.

I'm a huge fan of anything cast iron, and Lodge products are really good...

It’s a narsty day, and I’m in a narsty mood….

And how is your day going????  It’s raining in Heavensville, more rain predicted through the weekend, so that’s not helping Miss Merry Sunshine here.

I was making breakfast, reached up in the pantry for my sugar free syrup, dropped a bottle of dark Karo Syrup, splat on the stone floor.  Yep, they still make the bottles out of glass, did you know that?  Hell yes, it broke.  And it was a full bottle, too.  There was gooey syrup everywhere.

Thank goodness for hubby.  It took him forever to get that sticky mess up.  And just now, I’m drinking my morning coffee, yep, spilled it on my desktop.

And Mollie had to be dried with a towel after her morning foray into the wilds of the soggy yard, she was one wet little pooch!

And it’s only 11am.  Oh joy, can’t wait for the rest of the day to unfold…

Let’s take a little vacation today…

Thanks to Seana for this adorable video….

Sunday Dinners….

In our family we have breakfast, lunch and dinner, except  on Sunday when the noon meal becomes dinner.  I’ve always loved it, too.  Just something about Sunday morning in the kitchen.  But now hubby works on Sunday, there is no family at home, so my “dinner”  is a soup and a salad “lunch.”  And even that is scaled back because I took a walk on the wild side and had a sesame seed bagel at with my coffee at Donut Bank this morning. Grrrr!  And all the time I was eating that damn bagel, I was watching all the other people scarfing down donuts, cinnamon rolls, long johns, muffins, all the good stuff. ROARRRRRRRR

But I remember when Sunday dinner was a big production, fried chicken, meat loaf,  roast beef, wonderful veggies in butter sauce, hot bread, killer desserts.  Oh, those were the days.  We just ate and enjoyed it.  Didn’t really think about the fat or the cholesterol, just enjoyed the meal.

Now that my brain is always conscious of what I’m eating, even when it’s bad, I don’t have that freedom that I once did, and I miss it. 

So tonight, I’m having Sunday “supper.”  I got some scallops at the store for hubby, salmon for me, a little garlic whole wheat pasta, a big salad, and voila, Sunday supper.  Not quite the same as pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits, along with a warm piece of pie. :o(

Is it worth it?  All this healthy eating?  Sometimes, I wonder, girlfriends, sometimes I seriously do. 

~ jan, feeling deprived ~

Here’s what I did today….

Time to get back to scrapbooking, now that I’ve got this adorable little granddaughter.  This was so much fun to do…  If you want to see details, click on it, it enlarges…

Elements  used to build this page by Lori Davison

I was watching Today this morning…

Bobbi Brown was  doing makeovers and she had a little trick that I thought I would share.  But before I do, I want you all to know that there is a fine line between dewy and greasy.

So here’s the trick.  After all your makeup is on, including blush, you put on lip gloss, then take your finger and put a “dab” of lip gloss on your cheeks to give them a dewy look.

“Dab” is the keyword here, girlfriends.  A little dab will do ya… I tried it, of course, I got too much, and it was, well, shall we say, “a wee bit greasy.”

It’s a great trick though, once you get the hang of it.

Give it a try, and yep, it’s okay to laugh at the thought of me with greasy cheeks.  And if I run into some of you with “dewy” cheeks, I won’t say a word.

~ jan 

A girl can dream….

I’ve always been a fan of Currier & Ives.  Another lifetime ago,  I had their seasonal prints hanging in my library.  They’re long gone now, and it’s a shame, because I would hang them again. 

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t show a winter scene, it’s because I’m sick of cold and snow and ice underfoot.  I’m longing for budding trees, rides on Milly with the dogs, sipping my morning coffee by the babbling creek.  So this is my little treat for you all today, a look at summer’s long past, the way life used to be…

January

Carlene sent me this today.  It’s perfect…

Every year I embrace the stillness that follows the holidays with open arms and mittened hands.  The reflective calm is therapy for my soul.  It’s almost as though nature casts a spell upon crystallized days; white snow seems to absorb all sound and lays an immaculate blanket upon the earth’s imperfections.  The smoky aroma of charred logs is married with the fragrance of candle wax and pine.  Jack Frost dabs intricate masterpieces upon our windowpanes.

This a time to savor the fruits of our fall labors when those nesting instincts overtook us last October, a time for rest – to wallow in cashmere throws with a good book, to sip raspberry cocoa and languor in a steamy tub  of rejuvenating bath salts.  Rather than a “holiday let down”, January should be perceived as a pampering respite.

So as you wrap your chilled fingers around a piping hot mug of mocha, ponder the curly steam that arises from it and breathe deeply.  This is a time for you.

I wish for you only good things this upcoming year.  May you find many winter comforts.

Your daily dose of cuteness, with sound…

Isn't our our Abby  just about the cutest little baby, ever?  Well, except for all of your grandchildren, of course…

 

 

The song is “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts

Oh, is this good, ladies…

The family was coming this weekend. I wanted to make chocolate cake, but didn’t have a great recipe, and Veronica told me the Hershey Chocolate Cake was really good.

So I went online, found the recipe for Hershey’s Perfectly Perfect Chocolate cake, made it and it was hands down, the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made, ever!  Everybody loved it, Deanna so much that she wants it for her birthday next month!

If you haven’t made this, it’s just amazing, 3/4 cup cocoa in the cake and in the frosting, so it’s really chocolaty, really moist, just like the recipe says, it’s PERFECT!  I owe you for this one, V!

I put it on Jan Can Cook so we’ll always have it – link to it here>>

How sweet is this?

My buddy, V came to see Abby.  That’s pure joy you’re seeing on her face. 

There is nothing quite like seeing your friends with your grandchild.  It’s pretty amazing…

Need a laugh?

This woman is absolutely hysterical! Deanna has seen her speak before, she’s a huge fan, me, too! Oh she’s funny…

 

Your daily dose of cuteness…

Why email was invented

Thanks for the giggle, C.  This is so funny!!!

 

Why do we want to eat so much when it’s cold????????????

Now that we’re in the deep freeze, all I can think about is food?  I’m starved all the time.  What is it about cold weather that makes you want to eat?  Even the M&M’s are extra hungry.  They have their little bodies parked in front of the fireplace all day long.  They just lay there, gnawing on their Texas Toothpicks.

I made lima beans tonight in the pressure cooker, and my version of healthy cornbread – a box of Jiffy mix, a can of cream style corn and an egg white, stir, put in a 9” skillet, sprayed with Pam and bake at 425 until golden.

It’s really yummy, really moist, not quite a spoonbread, just a moist cornbread.

My one and only New Years resolution was to start doing my Yoga workout every morning.  Have I started it yet, of course not!  But I will, I’m really gonna do this!  Well, I am!!!

This really wasn’t that hard, mindless, actually…

LAST NAME GAME…. It’s harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter OF YOUR LAST NAME to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up. You can’t use your name for the boy/girl question.
ONE-WORD ANSWERS ONLY!

1. What is your last name?……………………………… C*****
2. A 4-Letter Word:………………………………………………Card
3. A Girl’s Name:…………………………………………………Caroline
4. A Boy’s name:…………………………………………………….. Curt
5. An occupation:…………………………………Chef
6. Color:…………………………………………………………Chartreuse
7. Something you wear:………………………………………Coat
8. A beverage:……………………………………………Coke (Diet)
9. A food:…………………………………………………………Corn
10. Something found in the bathroom:……………Comb
11. A Place:…………………………………………………Caracas
12. Animal:……………………………………………………… Cougar