CHRISTMAS ....

Faith to believe.

A light shines in a dark world.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

Celebrating the Savior.

 Emerson reading the Christmas story before we open presents.

Addilyn

Hanging ornaments from the story on the tree.

A child is born......  Children Tell the story

Cleaning.... Decorating ......  Preparing food....

 buying gifts..... making gifts...wrapping gifts... 

It is exhausting.... but I do it all because it is important.

I am taking time to pass the story of love to the next generation.

Open the gift of Love.

Receive the gift of Salvation.

Thank you God for the gift of your Son

Jesus 

Merry Christmas

Janita

   

Apple Goodie Recipe

God Bless Apples!    You make my Autumn days complete.

You might enjoy more autumn delights here

APPLE GOODIE   Perfect for 2-4 people

3-4 cups Apples pealed and sliced
(Jonagold are good to use. 3 1/2 cups is about perfect )
                            1 cup =  approximately 1large apple
                                                                         
3/4 cup of sugar....... (I use 1/2 cup and it is plenty sweet)*
1 Tablespoon of flour
Cinnamon sprinkled over apples to suit you.

Place sliced apples in your  Greased 9X9 baking dish or a mixing bowl.  Sprinkle apples with desired amount of cinnamon. Mix sugar and flour in a small bowl until combined.  Pour over apples and gently mix.   Pour into Greased baking dish if you have chosen to mix ingredients in a bowl.

TOPPING
1/2 cup Brown Sugar (  I use 1/3 cup) *
Remember the ice-cream is coming later  :)

1/2 cup flour.....  all purpose white or whole wheat
            (I like Whole Wheat * if I have it on hand)

1/8 teaspoon Soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal
 or Quick oats if you don't have Old Fashioned

1/4 cup Butter

Mix dry ingredients together.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender.  Sprinkle over apples and pat down lightly.   Bake 350 degrees 45- 50 minutes.  It will be done when it starts to look bubbly.  Test with a fork to make sure your apples are soft.  4 cups of apples may need a longer baking time.

Call a friend....  Serve warm with Ice cream.

Enjoy.   Eat any leftovers for Breakfast :)
Pretend you are eating a granola bar with fruit!


*You can usually cut the sugar in any recipe by 1/3 without noticing any difference in the recipe.

*Whole wheat flour should be stored in the refrigerator to preserve the Vitamin E contained in the flour.

The Best of Home

Serve those you love....

APPLE GOODIE 

more than once in the last three months.

You will find the recipe here

Look for the good....

Counting my blessings.....

I Married a Country Boy.

Appreciate the past.....

Old Ironing boards.

Create welcome....

Pumpkins, leaves, sticks....

Pretty things all in a row. 

Share the bounty.

Everyday

      Keep Counting.......

 

Make it cozy.....

Enjoy The slow process of Gathering

everyday treasures.

Be Thankful.....

Everyday may not be good

 but there is something good

in everyday.  

God dwells in a Thankful Heart.

 Be Blessed by...

Little Boys who already love football.

He can say very few words but
football is one of them.

He loves balls.

(click to enlarge)

enjoy the simple life...

Thrifting my way to Beautiful.

Do one thing every day to bless your home. 

Sometimes I am so slow at getting projects done, 

it drives me crazy but

if I realize

Life is a journey not a destination

I can enjoy

The slow process of  making a home......

I bought this dresser for my sewing room many moons ago.

And it has been relaxing in the garage.

My husband wanted his garage back 

for manly things like snowblowers and cars

Imagine that :)

sooooooo........

with winter here  :(

I brought this in the house to paint it..... 

thinking the kitchen was the best place to finish the job

we plopped it down right in the middle of the room.

Well now missy, guess what?

Thinking outside of the box....

Thinking I'm crazy ....

But I think I like it here!

IN THE KITCHEN  :)

Who would have thought a dresser in my itty bitty

kitchen would look so good?

I didn't intend to leave it here.

But in a room that I don't particularly love

I love this!

I love the height of it to set my computer on 

if I am making a recipe I have found on-line.

I think we could circle around it and chat:)

Endless Possibilities for the drawers....

You see the vision right :)?

Bless you.

Add some personality...

Little bit of Pie for me......

 Little bit of Football for him.... 

 Making everybody happy. 

Pleasantly surprised how little things make me so happy. 

This snowman has been broken for years.

Now he is fixed

with sticks! 

Home grown STICKS!

Every home needs sticks :)

with sweater pumpkins on the side.

tutorial can be found here.

Celebrate every milestone...

Birthday boys turning ONE!

Risk  trying something new...

RED :) lessons learned.

If you are going to strip off old broken veneer....

strip it all off every drawer, SAND LIKE CRAZY

then SAND IT SOME MORE

take a break and SAND SOME MORE... 

maybe even put a wood sealer on it

 and PRIME IT. 

I have one drawer of a different shade

 because I got tired of the process.

I cut some corners....

it is finished but

It leaves a bit to be desired.

OH WELL......  it is not going anywhere.

It matches all the other imperfect things in my house.

Imperfect people living with

The beauty of imperfection.

 But on a happy note....

 I'm  saying goodbye to irons falling off my ironing board!

and I have a few less things on the floor of my sewing room. 

Create something beautiful...

Sewing room update....

Creative minds

 at work continually leads to

Unending array of Works in Progress.

We have a house full of girls and

Girls.Need.PINK

Find reasons to be  together....

Together time is the best time.

Look for Beauty everywhere....

White Pitchers from the thrift store

filled with wild raspberry seed pods

from the bike trail. 

Living everyday with a Thankful Heart.

Blessings to you and your family.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Janita

Simply Delightful

Home is feeling cozy .

The fireplace has be turned on as needed.

Goodies have come from the oven.

 I couldn't be sad if I tried.

This is my FAVORITE time of year.

It is official....  

One Large Orange Goodwill Sweater 

will make 4 pumpkins.

tutorial can be found here

 Whimsical-  sleeve #1

More in control- sleeve#2

Sweet Sweater Pumpkin

Yum- Yum! 

It all started here

sweater tutorial can be found here

My 3 sweet little Real pumpkins are a JOY.

 Everyone is Growing up so. 

Our littlest grandson will turn ONE year old  next week!

Clayton

Annual Pumpkin Photos

Emerson and Harley

Addilyn Grace

I am probably the only one with tulips in their Fall decorating.

My family is use to me having tulips out year round.

This room has had some furniture rearranging which I am loving!

This is the view from my chair :) 

In a Totally BROWN room color is good.

This room needs a paint revival. 

One dresser is out of the garage!!!!!

This project has dragged on and on for a few years. 

Because when I don't know what I'm  doing...

I procrastinate..... can you relate?

I had some veneer issues along the way.

It is now painted RED! 

That is a leap over the edge for me.

I think it is good.

White is easy... picking paint color is hard for me.

I have done very little sewing in the last few weeks. 

 Having a new dresser in my sewing room should make up for that.

I did finish some embroidery on a project.

When it is finished it will be

Simply Delightful :)

No peeking until Dec 25.

Hope your November is filled with everything YUM -YUM!

Janita

follow me on Bloglovin here

The sweet and sour of life...

Last week was hard.

We had to say good-bye to two people in our lives.

Last week was beautiful.

It seemed like the most beautiful day to go to heaven.

I hope I fly away to heaven in Autumn. 

Last week was sweet.

My dearest friend came for supper.

I love old friends.

For us, there is always

 some distance between visits.

It makes the reunion all the sweeter.

I wish Life were all sweet.

But in this world there will be sorrow. 

Creating beauty around me helps lift the sorrow.

I helped a friend decorate a couple of weeks ago.

She shared some of her garden goodies.

The leaf plate has found a happy home.

I transformed some coasters in to something more appealing to me.

The leaf has danced right off the plate behind the bear.

The before......  fabric is kind of ho hum...

This little coaster makes me a little dizzy....  

but it is happy here.  

The coasters are stuffed with some crushed cinnamon and cloves.

I just made a pattern from a leaf in the yard.

Fused it on with some Heat N Bond lite

 and did some primitive stitching around the edge.

Zig-Zagged over some twine  for the stem.(first step)

I used some old shirts to remake the tops of the coasters.

Makes me happy.  

Even in sorrow......God is still good.

I made another sweater pumpkin :)

It all started here

(The stem might be too much over the top)

It was a long sleeve on that sweater!

My daughter called it Whimsical. 

I guess it will stay for now.

That is the beauty of creativity. 

You can express yourself any way you want. 

She  fits in with my other sweet pumpkins.

Emmy and Addilyn.

I try to make the house fun for my grandkids.

 The joy and blessings of Grandchildren always lift my spirits.

The best therapy when my spirit is low...

 piece my way to 

A finished quilt top.

I started this in April of this year.

.... just started with some inspiration from here and there. 

It is my own design I didn't follow a specific pattern.

Where would I be without my sewing machine????

The rhythm of the machine soothes my soul.

 This quilt started with a layer cake of

Sweetwater's fabric line

"Mama Said Sew"

 I needed a little bit of extra yardage to make it all work.

Now to get it quilted :)

Teach me to number my days..... 

Life is short.

Make it beautiful.

A special welcome to all those visiting from the Quilting Gallery 

I invite you to follow along on Bloglovin

Janita