Cherished Item 3

Today I've chosen this little salt and pepper shaker set to show you. It was found among the items for the auction. I'm pretty sure it is old because it has actual cork for stoppers and some of the cork is chipped away. They are my favorite color and called out my name from the depths of their dark cardboard enclosure.

The "P" has a couple of chips on it's foot, but still hold lots of life in my book. Please ignore my very outdated counter tops. They will be one of the first things to go when I win the lottery! (just kidding, I don't even play)

Yesterday was a wonderful day at home. I was in full housewife mode, trying to conquer my mountain of laundry, changing bed sheets and even a little baking. I made these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. They are SO good. Here's the recipe and I left out the walnuts because I didn't have any. I'll try to include all of the ingredients the first time, this time :-)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 c. margarine, room temp

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. nutmeg

3 c. oats (I used quick cook)

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream margarine with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir flour with baking soda, salt and spices; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Stir in oats. Fold in chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-9 minutes for a chewy cookie and 10-11 for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet. Remove to wire rack. 5 dozen cookies.

Today I'm off to Thing 1's school for Thanksgiving dinner. Yum, yum ;)

Cherished Items 1 & 2

This is the first item I have to show from my new goodies. It's probably no surprise that I chose a chicken candy dish. I'm not sure how old it is or what it is called. I've seen lots of these chicken dishes, but never one this color. Is it mercury glass?

The next item is the table runner or dresser scarf underneath it.

It's just perfectly stitched and made for me.

I think they will fit in nicely.

Time, Time, Time!

Where has the time gone?! Last time I blogged it was Halloween and now it seems it is nearly Thanksgiving. What's going on in your worlds lately? I've not been checking in with you in my absence. I've been working like a mad woman these past two weeks. We've had an employee gone on vacation, so I've been commuting to the flower shop. It's about a 40 mile commute that takes about 50 minutes. It's been nice getting away, as country life seems quite confining sometimes. You may think it would be the opposite, but I'm weird that way. However, I am glad our employee will be back Monday. My house is suffering. I've been hitting the hay at 9:00 or 9:30 most nights and haven't had much use for house work.

I have today off. We've asked a customer-friend of ours to fill in. We're having an auction here at the ranch and some out-of-town family is coming and things will be bustling here at the ranch tomorrow. The auction is the estate of my hubby's grandparents, who are still living but are now living in a retirement/nursing home. There are lots of things I'll be photographing to show you in the coming posts. We were able to choose things we didn't want to get sold and I've found some lovely things that make me smile. I hope you all have a great weekend. Stay warm and dry! A cold front is supposed to come through tonight and make for a chilly, possibly wet auction day tomorrow.

Candy, Pizza and Sunsets

Whoa, what a weekend. If it was anything like mine, it was gone in a blink of an eye, fast and furious. Friday night we carved our spooky pumpkins.

We had a beautiful night to go trick-or-treating Saturday night. We went into town a little too early, but it made for some fun pictures while the light was still bright enough. We had a funky witch and a disco dancer this year. They came up with their own costumes and did pretty well I think. My oldest seemed to really have fun but I think her trick-or-treating days may be numbered as several friends are no longer doing it........

They got loads of candy and we were only out for an hour or so. They always have to sort the candy and categorize it. Thing 2 is delirious with candy excitement!

Thing 1 is obviously distracted by a good book.

We finished the night off with a jack-0-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's.

Last night we had the most beautiful sunset that I thought I'd share.

We are blessed with gorgeous hills behind our house and we get some great sunsets. I'm going to try to get better at photographing them. They are just so brilliantly colored.

I hope your weekend was a fun and spooky one. Now on to Thanksgiving, right? Whew!

Bottle it Up

Every year, as many of you do, we head to the pumpkin patch in October. We're lucky to have one quite near. It has a hay bale maze, petting zoo, spooky trail, tree house, mini train rides and our personal favorite, the hedge apple launch.

"What are they aiming at?" one may ask.

Well, how would you like to be breaking your back, minding your own business, working in the fields when POW! you took a hedge ball right in the keester! Believe me, these ladies must be used to it.

It's a pretty typical pumpkin patch, nothing out of the ordinary, but each year it sure is a special time together as a family. It just wouldn't be fall for our family if we didn't make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.

When we got home we built a fire outside and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. When we'd had our fill and were getting chilly, we came inside and snuggled up to watch the 4th Harry Potter movie. It was such a relaxing and cozy day. I wish we could bottle up these days and pour them out when needed. I hope YOU had a great weekend too.

You Know a Book is Good When........

(Pictures of our family ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas. They don't really have anything to do with today's post, so I thought an explanation was in order)

Sometimes a book is so good that you never want it to end. Rarely does this happen for me, but when it does, I am consumed by the book and read it even faster, thus bringing the book to an even speedier close. Luckily, the book referenced is in a series, the "Little House on the Prairie" series, and I can draw out the story's conclusion with another book. I'm reading these to my girls. Tuesday night we started "By the Shores of Silver Lake". Last night we read the chapter about Jack. Jack is Laura's old bulldog, and he's been with her every step of the way, literally. By the second to last page, tears were streaming down my face and both girls faces and I had to hand the book over to my red-faced husband to finish the chapter. Real tears are always a sign of a good book. If you've not heard of or read the Little House on the Prairie series, I'd highly recommend it, just keep a tissue box handy come book #5.

Strange Times

Funky chickens...

Spooky Pumpkins...

Boo!!