Happy New Year!!!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year. May this new year bring you much happiness and good health. May all your needs be met by God, spiritually, physically and financially. Minus not too much sadness.

Thanks to all of you that followed along with me this past year. It's been fun posting about cards, food, flowers, gardens and ideas. Sometimes it is hard to come up with something to write, so I found that posting once a week was a bit easier for me. Didn't feel under bondage to produce a post when there was nothing to talk about. I just may do that again, so fear not, if you do not see me on a regular basis. I do visit many of you everyday, sorry I don't always comment on a daily basis.

But, maybe 2018 will be different. I like the new year, it's a new slate and a new beginning. Not going to make any resolutions here....because they are soooo hard to keep. And, there again, I don't want to put myself under bondage again, it's just too hard to live up to the expectations that I place on myself. Trying to do things that are just too hard to attain.

Live each day to the best of my ability, is all I can do. I tried to do better at everything, but that only led to a few bleeding ulcers over the years.....one of them, I almost died from. So, it takes me a long time to learn a lesson...but I eventually get it and hopefully am not too late learning it.

One thing I will do though....is draw closer to God. Read his word everyday.....that is doable, even if it's just a verse or two or a chapter. Being thankful for all HE does in my life and how HE shows Himself real in my daily life. Day in and day out. Yep, that's what I need to do.

As I type this post....the Green Bay Packers are playing the Detroit Lions. Packers are losing 11-35, the game is almost over. Whew, no more games till next season. Hopefully things will be better and Aaron Rogers will be back to play.

Well, I still have the Chicago Blackhawks to root for, hopefully they will be contenders for the Stanley Cup. NASCAR starts up again 2/18/18 so we have that to look forward to also.

Well, time to close this post for the year. You all have a great night and a Happy New Year. Keep looking up ~ better days are coming.
Cheers ~ Louise

Prime Rib Roast for Christmas Day

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed your day with or without family and friends around you. Ours was very quiet, JP and I and Kylie.....we like it like that though, so I am not complaining. 

Christmas Eve, we missed Church because our car was leaking antifreeze....way too much. So we stayed home and had church on TV. We like Jimmy Swaggart Ministries and there is church every Sunday, Sunday Evening and Wednesday. If you ever want to check out the services, go to www.jsm.org Swaggart Ministries is on 24/7.

Christmas Eve, I was wrapping a few gifts to put under the tree....I am still a child at heart and like to have a few presents under the tree. Christmas day we had breakfast, an egg and sausage casserole, which was yummy. Then we opened presents, JP got a pair of work pants, a bottle of Mystery Marvel Oil, a neck pillow, a can of pop-corn, a promise ticket for a new pair of shoes and six dollars in quarter for apple juice at work. I got a Chicago Blackhawk beanie hat, a large blue Pyrex watercolor casserole dish, (you can see part of the dish in the 3 pictures I cooked the roast in). I too, got a promise ticket for a new spring-form pan for cheese cake and a few other recipes I have found using a spring-form pan.

So here you see, my plate of goodness....can you see how juicy the meat looks, gosh it was delicious. Potatoes, asparagus, the meat and gravy. Salad and relish tray.

Here I have the meat sitting in my new blue Watercolor Pyrex dish. I let it sit on the counter for about 45 minutes so it got to room temperature. Will cook more evenly and the meat won't be tough.

Here is the meat covered in the spread of: 7 cloves of garlic minced, 1 cup of butter (I used 1/2 cup), 1 T. rosemary, 1 T thyme, 1 T pepper and 1 T salt. (double spices if your roast is bigger) Mix altogether and spread over the roast and on the sides and bottom. Bake 500 degrees for 5 minutes per lb. then turn off the oven and let the roast sit in the oven for 2 hours.....do not peek. 

Here is the Prime Rib roast all cooked up. It wasn't quite done here. (I heard the meat still mooing) So I stuck it back in the oven for another 10 minutes at 450 degrees, took it out and let it rest for 15 minutes....Yup....a perfect cooked piece of meat. No mooing was heard.

I cooked up some potatoes, thinking I would do mashed potatoes. But changed my mind and fried them, some oil and salt was all I used.

JP's plate of goodness. As you can see, he was already cutting his meat into chunks, he didn't put his vegies on the plate.....FIRST the meat and potatoes!!!

So there you have it....our Christmas dinner. We were blessed with this meal, as JP received money from the people he works for. That was so nice of them. I sent them a Thank You card.

Time to close this post....maybe one more for this year on Sunday, the 31st. Until then, have a great day and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Christmas Day is Right Around the Corner

Hi there everyone......whoever you are???? Are you ready for the big day???? I guess I am....I owe a few cards to people I did not send to, I will make some "Happy New Year" cards for them. Have a few gifts to wrap for JP and myself. But I can do that tomorrow....no rush!

JP received some money as a Christmas gift from the people he works with....that was a pleasant surprise. SO.....I was able to buy a 4lb Boneless Rib Roast (prime rib). I am so looking forward to making that on Christmas. I will take pictures and tell you how I made it.....very simple directions. The roast will cook in the oven at 500 degrees for 5-7 minutes then rest for two hours with the oven off. Guess it depends if I want it medium or rare. I'd like it pink.....but not mooing!!!

Made some "Peanut Brittle" and "Healthy No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars" tonight. There's a lot of sugar involved in these recipes. Here's a picture of the Brittle. No picture of the "Healthy No Bake Crunch Bars"

 The Peanut Brittle wasn't too hard to make. It's made in the microwave, poured on a cookie sheet, cooled and broken into pieces. Was fun to make. Going to give some to the Pastor tomorrow along with some Healthy Crunch Bars. He's a truck driver, so he likes lots of goodies in his lunch box. As does JP when he is at work.

 I made this Apple Pie a couple of days ago.....there is only one piece left....pies don't last long around here.

 Thought I would show you my little village. I added three new things to it this year. The background, the 2 new fences and if you can see it, a snowman water tower to the right of the church. I usually leave my village up till mid-January. It takes me all day to put it up and then all day to take it down. Below the village, is my manger scene....that's about 30 years old now.

Here's my little Christmas tree. I added some purple sparkly feathers....got them at Walmart. I think I will try and get some more, hopefully there will be some left for 50% off. I probably will leave my tree up till Valentine's Day....make it all red, lights, ornaments, beads and of course the elf stays. I usually put it in the corner, where my village sits right now.

Well, I guess I'll close here. Bad news, The Green Bay Packers lost 13 to 0 and the Chicago Blackhawks lost 4-1. Not a good night for both teams. So keep looking up, better days are coming.

Cheers ~ Louise

4 More Days!!!

Hi there everyone. Hope you are all enjoying this Christmas season. It's 4 more days till the big day!!! I am mostly done with everything. There's a few things I want to get. JP needs a new pair of shoes for work. But I need him to come with me to the store to try them on and buy them. He is not one for shopping. So after Christmas, and the big rush to return things is over, we'll go find him another pair of shoes for work.

I want to get a "Spring-form" pan.....so I guess that will happen after Christmas too. I am looking forward to making a few things in it, like a CHEESECAKE!!! I have an apple cake recipe that uses the spring-form pan, so I am looking forward to getting this pan.

In the picture below, is what I bought for ME....a Chicago Blackhawk beanie hat. I will wrap it and tag it from JP and Kylie. Their shopping is done!!!

This will keep my head warm during the winter months. My summer hat will be another Chicago Blackhawk hat also. Maybe something like this. 

Or maybe this one, I like that gold Chicago Blackhawk....pretty! Maybe I shall have to invest in both of them?

By the time summer comes, my hair will be long and I can wear a pony tail and stick it through the back of the hat. That was my style this past summer....was fine with me....a very easy style to take care of.

JP is also getting a large tin of pop-corn. He also wanted $$$ to buy apple juice at work, so I will give him a bunch of quarters to use for the machine so he can get "his apple juice addiction." Oh and I bought him a bottle of "Miracle Marvel Oil" for the car. He will be happy with that.

I want to make a special meal for Christmas....but I have to wait to see if we have enough money after paying bills. Maybe Sunday after church we will stop at Festival foods and buy a "Boneless Rib Roast" I saw a recipe on Facebook that made my mouth water.....I want to make it for Christmas!!! I told JP that the menu for Christmas will be prime rib, asparagus, maybe corn, and potatoes and some kind of dessert. BUT....it depends on how much money is in the check book. If not enough, we'll have to get a cheap steak (poor us) and mushrooms. Actually, that sounds good too.

I am making an apple pie tonight....I doubt it will last till Christmas...I guess by then, if it did last, it would be pretty old by then. My pies don't get very old when JP lives in the house!!!!

I am starting to make cards for Hospice, I have till January 26th before our next meeting. Least I can take my time to make them and not be rushed. I found a new technique using coffee filters. It's called "Tie-dye" using brushes or stamps. I saw a couple of different ways to do this....it should be fun trying to make and duplicate the technique.

So, I guess it is time to close here....no telling when I will be back. If I don't come back before Christmas....Let me just wish you a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your family and friends. Remember too, that we are celebrating Jesus's birth.....JESUS is the reason for this season. Have a great time and keep looking up....better days are coming!! Cheers ~ Louise

Nine More Days - A Christmas Party and Cards

Hi there everyone, hope you are having a good weekend. I thought it was time to end my silence....just seems there is not time for blogging plus I don't have that much happening lately. Finally got my cards done and the last of them are going out tomorrow. Three of the cards needed letters so that took a little bit longer to get done. One letter was too a friend I've know since a Junior in High School. The second letter was to a friend I worked with in a beauty shop in Ladysmith, gosh that will be 40 years ago. The 3rd letter to my Step-cousin to let him know his uncle, my step father died last May. Thought he would like to know. We'll see, if he responds. I know there were some hard feelings between him and my step father that were never resolved.

I needed to make 7 more cards and ended up using the Christmas cards I made at Betty's this past Wednesday and last month, except for the "church window card and Three Kings and pink poinsettias" the church window didn't have a verse in it and I was too lazy to go find one. The Three Kings card, I kind of liked. 

So the following pictures of cards are what I made at Betty's. We had a little Christmas party along with the card making and exchanged little gifts and cards we made. We also brought something to eat. This is what I brought.

 Ham roll ups with cream cheese, spinach and dried cranberries. They turned out really good. I got the recipe off facebook. Seemed easy enough, may just make them again. 

 A closer look at those ham rolls. Next time I will use turkey, that is actually what the recipe called for. I am always changing something when I cook.

 This side of the platter are deviled eggs and black olives.....so good!!!

 This was a cute snowman....this one was calling Biz's name, so I HAD to send him to her....she likes snowmen!!

 This card, I decided to keep, probably would have gotten the royal squish going through the mail. Anyways....I liked it.

 Liked this card also, but for some reason, I did not add a Christmas verse....forgot.

This card got sent.....I like those deer. I must look for some "deer die-cuts." They are always good for a masculine card.

So there is 9 days left till Christmas. I ordered a Chicago Blackhawk hat....one of these days I will get a jersey, but they are over $100.00 not quite in my budget. I want to get a "spring-form pan" so I can make cheese cakes, I have seen a few other recipes where a spring-form pan was used. I had a few, but they were old and rusty, so I got rid of them and never replaced them. So, I think I will go to the "Whire Wisk" sometime and buy one, not unless I see one at Walmart at a decent price. We'll see.

So the hat and "spring-form pan" are gifts from JP. I will get JP some new shoes for work and a homemade coupon with a bunch of quarters on it so he can buy his apple juices at work, which he said were really good.

Well, I suppose I will close for now, you all have a good week and keep looking up.....better days are coming.
Cheers ~ Louise

Prepping for Christmas

Hi there everyone. Been Missing in Action lately. Christmas is right around the corner. Just have to decorate the tree.....well, it's a little table top tree. Probably have had 15 years or more....but I manage to decorate it differently every year. Last year it was red, white and blue......this year maybe red and white lights then it will be good for Valentine's Day.

 This is a picture of my little tree from last year.....

 Above a picture of my village and manger scene from 2016. My village changes from year to year, because I place the houses in different places. This year I bought a scenery picture for the back ground, a snowman water tower and new fencing for the village. I like to buy something new every year. I will wait till after Christmas to get some 1/2 price stuff for the village. Gosh, I think I have had that manger scene for at least 25 years.....wow!

 In this picture above is the birthday card I made for my 3 year old great niece.....she is into Minnie Mouse. I saw a few Minnie Mouse cards on the Internet, this is what I came up with.

Thought I would add a few jars of my canned tomatoes. I had a bumper crop of tomatoes this summer. I dried tomatoes, froze tomatoes, canned tomatoes, ate tomatoes, made soup, sauce, BLT's. Yep, we had a tomato good year. I think this winter I will buy a couple bags of dried beans and can those also. I love my Power Pressure XL because it does so many things. Last night I made spare ribs, gosh they were good, cooked them in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes then under the broiler for 3 minutes.....sooooooooooo gooooooood!

So tonight, I will decorate my little tree and make some Christmas cards....just a little bit behind here. Don't know why, just don't feel like putting myself under more stress. I told JP all he was getting for Christmas was a $3.00 (maybe $5) gift certificate filled with quarters so he can buy a few apple juices at his work place. I gave him 3 Christian work books that I found while cleaning a file cabinet and gave those to him. I had the intentions of going through them myself, but never got "A Round To It." Maybe I will look for something that he can open on Christmas Day. He told me to go find myself something and use his SS check. Well, that won't be till after the 20th. So I better start thinking now......I am thinking of getting one of those "SodaStreams" so I can make seltzer water. JP goes through a lot of seltzer and I like it too. Will have to look into that. I really need a new radio that has better reception. I like to listen to Sean Hannity and Mark Levine and all I am hearing is a bunch of static.....uge, that drives me nuts!!!

Well, time to close here....thought I would post something before it got too late into the month of December. You all have a good night and keep looking up ~ better days are coming!!!!
Cheers ~ Louise