Happy Thanksgiving

I'm taking a little blog break over Thanksgiving; busyness and projects are calling my name!  I have Thanksgiving day off ad will have a houseful of people here.
I have so much to be thankful for, including each of you. Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving! 

Friday Funny

Cooking Thursday

I'm sharing a family favorite today.  I feel like I say this a lot, but it's easy to make and is so good!  You can make this, put it in the oven and have it on the table in an hour (if your chicken is already cooked and cubed). Easy and good is my favorite type of recipe, so of course it's what I share with you.  :)

White Chicken Enchiladas

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 ounce can of diced green chilies, with juice
3/4 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
2 cups shredded, cheddar cheese, divided
10 large flour tortillas
1/3 cup milk

Melt butter; add onion and saute. Stir in garlic powder, green chilies, sour cream and soup. Remove 3/4 cup of sauce and set aside. Add chicken and 1/2 cup of cheese. Fill tortillas with chicken mix and roll up. Place in greased 9X13 pan, seam side down.
Add milk and 1/2 cup cheese to remaining sauce. Pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese over top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Serve with green onions, sour cream and salsa if desired.
*I make this with minced onion and skip the butter and sauteing the onion, I also use low fat sour cream and skim milk to keep the calories down and it still tastes great!

Wordless Wednesday

Ask, Ask, Ask

My friend Terri at Your Friend From Florida recently had a post that consisted of questions, and her answers.  I thought the questions and answers were interesting and a good way to get to know a blogger better, so I'm going to list her questions here with my answers.


1 - Did you have an accident last year?  No  
2 - Do you have any famous relatives? None that I can think of 
3 - Did you ever have a kiss under the moonlight? Yes, I have! 
4 - Have you ever been jealous? I'm afraid so...
5 - How can you prove your love to someone? I don't think you can, they just have to trust 
6 - What are you thinking right now? nothing deep, just answers to these questions.   :) 
7 - Have you ever sacrificed something important to you for someone you love?  Yes 
8 - Can you live without internet? I could, but I would have a hard time 
9 - Have you been so emotional that you can’t find words to explain how you feel? Yes 
10 - Did you ever badmouth someone? I'm ashamed to say yes... 
11 - What do you prefer, jeans or skirt?  No question - jeans! 
12 - Do you have trust issues? No, if anything I trust too easily 
13 - What's something that you made all on your own and are incredibly proud of? I don't know about the incredibly proud part, but I enjoy doing online photo books.
14 - Who’s the person who first comes to your mind when someone mentions “love”? Bob 
15 - Who was the last person you hugged?  Bob 
16 - Do you believe in the phrase “If it’s meant to be, it will be”? I believe God has a plan for our lives, but He also gives us free will. 
17 - Do people praise you for your looks? My sweet hubby does!  
18 - Do you believe in destiny? I believe in God's plans 
19 - Have you ever thought “I already found my soulmate”? Yes 
20 - Do you like nicknames that are from your name? My real name is Maribeth, but I've always been called Mari, so yes. 
21 - Could you ever be a vegan? No, even vegetarian would be a stretch. 
22 - Do you currently have bruises on your body? No 
23 - What should you be doing right now? Nothing besides what I am doing!
24 - I read in a magazine that shoulder pads are coming back. Are you happy to hear this or do you not find them to be very attractive? No - some things should never come back in style! 
25 - Did you ever feel like you’re not good enough? When I was younger I felt that sometimes, but I don't really feel that anymore.  I think as we get older we are more forgiving of ourselves.

Hope you enjoyed the questions and answers and maybe answered along with me!

Sister's Shopping Day!

Every year my 2 sisters and I plan a shopping day early in November, to get some Christmas shopping done.  We start on Friday morning and shop all day, then stay in a hotel at night and make a few stops before heading back home.  It's something we all look forward too; we have a great time together and get a lot done!

We were out all day and checked into the hotel around 8pm Here's our room, with our packages filling the beds.  We spend some time sorting packages, marking things off our list and re-packing.  Then we enjoy the evening, with lots of talking and laughter!


On Saturday we head back home and after getting some routine things done there, I like to get some wrapping done.

I do some stocking gifts for everyone, so when I start wrapping gifts, I get out lunch bags and put everyone's names on them.  Then as I wrap the stocking stuffers I can put them in the correct bag and keep them that way until the decorations are up and I can put them in the stockings.

Here's part of my gifts, ready to put under the tree in a few weeks.
I'm almost done shopping, just a few more loose ends to tie up.  It was a very productive weekend!

Winner!

Last week I reviewed a children's book 'Where Jesus Slept' and offered a copy to one of my readers.
There were 15 comments, but 2 asked not to be entered, so that left 13.  I entered 13 into the random number generator and got:

#3!
The third comment was from Arlene of Nanaland.  Arlene, I think your grandkids will like this one!  I'll send your address into the publisher so they can send the book to you.

On another note, I'm off on a shopping trip with my sisters Friday and Saturday, so I won't be checking in with you.  We'll be getting lots of Christmas shopping done, along with having a great time together!  I'll tell you more about that next week.

Cooking Thursday

I made breakfast for supper the other night.  I made some blueberry muffins to go with it and thought I should share this recipe with you.  I love old recipes that have stood the test of time and this is one of them. It's the recipe my mom used when I still lived at home and that's been a lot of years!
It's almost as quick to stir up as a mix and it tastes so much better!

Mom's Blueberry Muffins
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup fresh blueberries (I used frozen and they turned out fine)
Beat egg slightly with fork.
Stir in milk and oil.
Add salt, baking powder, sugar and flour.
Stir in blueberries.
Bake 20-15 minutes at 400 degrees until they test done.
Makes 12 muffins

Wordless Wednesday

Living Room re-do

We did a mini remodel on our living room in the last few months.  Last year we got a new couch and love seat, and planned to get new chairs later.  We ordered our chairs before we went on vacation this Fall and had the living room painted while we were gone.  The walls were tan, and we painted them something called Revere Pewter, which is a gray with a hint of tan.

 Here's the love seat.  The pictures over it are old family pictures of our parents and their families.  The big one in the middle is the ship that brought Bob's great grand parents over from the Netherlands, and a copy of where they signed in on Ellis Island.

 

Here's the couch.  I got new curtains from Ikea and Bob made the white side table for me.

 These are our new chairs.  They even recline but don't look like it!

Here's the other wall that isn't done yet.  The arched mirror needs to go up, but needs something to go with it along with that white B.

Here's the whole room looking in from the entry.  It's cozy and comfortable!  We would like to get rid of the carpet and put in wood flooring, but that will have to wait.

This is another project I just finished.  It's in the hallway.  It's an old window we got at a flea market.  I love old, chippy things so this was perfect for putting in pictures of us and the kids.
I'm happy to have the living room almost done, but there are always other projects just waiting!

Finally Fall!

It's been a most unusual Fall in our area and many others.  The weather has been much warmer than usual, and that has kept the leaves from changing until recently.  In the last week, there has been a lot of color showing up and it has been just beautiful!  It's such a blessing to enjoy the seasons colors and not have it be cold and rainy!
Here's what it's looking like in our area:

Some spots still have a lot of green.

 I love the splashes of red.

 This is the Grand River which is about a mile from our home.

 We are seeing a lot of yellow this year.

More golden yellow!

The farmers are still at work getting the corn in.

 Isn't the orange pretty against the blue sky?

 This is our road, our house is just past the pine tree on the left.

This beautiful maple is in our side yard.

This beech tree is across the street from our house.

This is the view from our living room window,

and this is our view into our back yard.

Isn't God an amazing artist?  I'm blessed to know that God has set in his plans, these changes of season.  I'm thankful too, that as things change around me, I can be assured that God does not change!

“While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter,

and day and night shall not cease.”

Genesis 8:22 

"But You, Oh Lord are the same, and Your years will not come to an end."

Psalm 102:27

Book review and a giveaway!

I've been given the opportunity to review a book and offer a copy to my readers.  It's a children's Christmas book, and although it seems a little early - Christmas will soon be here and you'll enjoy sharing this book with your kids or grandkids.

 Here's the book; written by Norma Lewis and illustrated by Katy Hudson.

It starts off talking about a special baby being born and then says "This is the bed where Jesus slept.  This is the straw that lined the bed where Jesus slept".   It continues to repeat, adding more parts of the Christmas story until it gets to the wise men coming.  The  illustrations are very colorful and cute.

  Our granddaughters enjoyed this book.  They liked the pictures and the repetition of the different parts of the story.  I like the way it tells this most important story in a way kids can understand and enjoy.

The publisher is offering a copy of the book to one of my readers.  I'm sorry, but this one is limited to readers from the United States.  If you would like to be entered into this drawing, just leave a comment, with your name and make sure there is a way for me to get in contact with you if your name is drawn.  I will announce a winner one week from today.


"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the
Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

A Day in my Life

It's November! I missed doing this last month because of our vacation, but today I'll share what I did on the first day of November.
Tuesday was my day off and it's a good thing because I started off the month here:

 Yes, this is the Emergency room.  Monday evening we were sitting at home, when suddenly Bob yelled out.  I thought he head a charlie horse, but no - he had dislocated his shoulder!  He did it once before, quite a few years ago.  This time, he was going to get up and must have pushed off on his arm just wrong, and his shoulder was out.  This was at 8:15. I drove him to the hospital as quickly as I could without making sudden stops or turns because he was in terrible pain!  Unfortunately the ER was very busy and we did a lot of waiting.  Finally, about 11:30 they put him under conscious sedation and put it back in place.  He was put into an immobilizer and they released him about 12:30am.  I took this photo as I was walking to get the car.

 Here he is when we got home at 1am.  They gave him a gown to wear because they had to cut his shirt off.  He went to bed, I was up for a little bit because I can't just go to bed and sleep without a little down time first!

I slept in the next morning, then started some laundry,

then it was time for my morning treadmill walk.  I finished the laundry and cleaned out a few drawers.

 I had to go out and run a bunch of errands, and it was an absolutely beautiful day!  This was a field I passed; the crates are stacked up for the year, and the field is plowed and ready for a winter rest.

Look at my car thermometer - 72 degrees on November 1!  That is unheard of in Michigan.

 It's my birthday this month so I had to go to the Secretary of State to renew my license.  I was next in line and was out in 5 minutes!  That never happens either!

I had to make several other stops - Costco, the grocery store, a little craft and vintage goods place and this orchard where I bought some apples.

This little sign is one of my purchases of the day.  Isn't it cute?  It's perfect for our house - we have both love and shenanigans here.  :)

 When I got home I changed out my welcome that's by our back door.  It was a Fall sign, but since it's November I thought it was time for the turkey to come out!

 I used the apples I bought from the orchard to make a few pies.  One of my guys in the nursing home has had a really rough few weeks and he loves apple pie, so one for him and one for Bob!  Since I usually post a recipe on Thursday, here is the recipe for this pie.  It's so good!

Mom's Apple PieCombine:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Press out any lumps. Ad 6 large tart apples, peeled and sliced. Toss well.
Place unbaked pie crust in 9 inch pie plate. Fill pastry shell with apple mix.
Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Stir together sugar and flour, then cut in better until mixture is crumbly. Spread over filling.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes or until browned.

I ended the day at my ladies Bible study at church.  We are really enjoying this study which shows how we can see Christ in the Old Testament.

It was a really good day, in spite of the rough start.  The weather was perfect, I got a lot done and Bob is doing quite well, other than being sore and achy.  He has to wear the immobilizer for a while and is seeing an orthopedic surgeon next week.

Wordless Wednesday