Saturday, March 31, 2012

DARN MOSQUITOES!

Such a busy time of the year...at home and at work.

I hope everyone is having beautiful weather....it has been absolutely gorgeous here in West TN. Oh how I wish it could stay like this all the time...I love all of the beautiful mixed colors of God's creations.


Even all of the little country critters....except for those "Pesky Little Mosquitoes".


I think I know who loves critters more than I do......
Hubby did some research and found a non-chemical bug killer
 (for the pesky ones) called....
"Mosquito Barrier"
which we will be ordering.....here is the link if you are in need of it too....

I don't care what time of the day it is these "Pesky Mosquitoes" are attacking me .....and I don't like it especially when I am shooting photos!
"Sweetness"
God Bless
&
Be Safe

~Linda~


Thursday, March 22, 2012

Yummy Yummy.....Good for The Tummy.....not really but it sure does taste good.....

Birthday celebration at work....
once a month we celebrate the birthdays for that month in the office.
We order lunch....usually pizza, I normally bring my lunch cause I can't eat regular pizza, and I bake the cake. We did order a pizza with a white sauce (Alfredo Sauce) and it was pretty good....you might want to try this sometime if you like Alfredo Sauce. Now at home I make pizza usually every Friday night and I use Cream Cheese for the base on my side of the pizza and use pizza sauce on hubby's side of the pizza.

We had 2 birthdays in March so we celebrated them yesterday and I made this wonderful chocolate cake.......if I have to say so myself.

Best-Ever Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake
It was a "Big" hit at work......but chocolate always is.

What You Need
(recipe found at kraftrecipes.com)

8 oz. BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided

1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix - I used chocolate fudge cake mix

1pkg.  (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding - I used instant chocolate 
fudge pudding

4 eggs

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream - Any kind will do

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (Do not thaw.)

2 Tbsp. PLANTERS Sliced Almonds

Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F.
CHOP 2 oz. chocolate. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil and water in large bowl with mixer until blended. Stir in chopped chocolate. Pour into 2 (9-inch) round pans sprayed with cooking spray.
BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min. Loosen cakes from sides of pans. Invert onto wire racks; gently remove pans. Cool cakes completely.
MICROWAVE COOL WHIP and remaining chocolate in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after 1 min. Let stand 15 min. to thicken.  While making this I thought it was not going to turn out right...but it did!
STACK cake layers on plate, filling and frosting with COOL WHIP mixture. Sprinkle with nuts. Be sure and put the cake in the refrigerator...the icing gets a little stiff and kind of like fudge....it will not be real sweet...which is the way I like it.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Variation
Prepare using 1 pkg. (1.4 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Pudding, BREAKSTONE'S Reduced Fat or KNUDSEN Light Sour Cream and COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping.
Make Ahead
The fudge-like texture of this cake improves when it is stored overnight in the refrigerator.
How to Store
Keep refrigerated.

This cake will go good with Vanilla Ice Cream or just with a good cup of coffee. It is a very moist and light cake.

God Bless
&
Be Safe


~Linda~

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A Little Cleaning Up....

The weather has been very nice so we got out and started cleaning up.....first of all we have so many leaves to rake out of our several flower beds.....which last year I started combining as much together as I could. Just can't seem to find enough time to get it all done these days......but last weekend we did have some helpers....and they were terrific!

Caleb helping Grandpa shovel leaves and acorns......acorns were everywhere...we have very messy squirrels!
Working so hard you can tell Caleb is putting all he's got into it.....but boy did he sleep good that night.
Then the ride...
not a hay ride...
but a "leaf" ride...lol
They had a blast helping Grandpa!
And of course there was lots of play time....

Kelby caught this lizard...it was pretty feisty at first...after about 10 minutes Kelby had him tamed...played with him forever before letting him go.
 


God Bless
&
Be Safe


~Linda~


Monday, March 19, 2012

40th ANNIVERSARY....Ruby

This is a beautiful Ruby & Diamond ring....it is very lovely and something to dream about and no hubby did not give this to me, way too expensive, I would be afraid to wear it anywhere.

My sweet hubby did get me a ruby necklace with matching earrings which I will cherish forever.

 Steve and I have been married 40 years today....we are sweethearts from our childhood....we were girlfriend & boyfriend at the age of 8 & 9....isn't that sweet! We married at a young age of 17 & 18....we did a lot of growing together while raising 2 wonderful children, now we have 2 wonderful grandsons.
 Just Babe's but in Love!

I can not believe time has flown by like it has and I hope we have another 40 years together...let's see.....that will put us at 97 & 98.....Wow...I hope the next 40 years slow down a bit. It probably will seem slower because at 97 & 98 I imagine we will be moving a lot slower.

40 Years Later......
I think we have changed a bit.


God Bless
&
Be Safe

~Linda~

Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Sweet Sounds of Country Living.....

 What a way to start a morning...... 

Sitting with the front door open just as the sun is coming up, with a cool breeze flowing through the screen door....sweet silence except the for the wonderful birds singing....sweet music to my ears. 
 We have a busy weekend ahead.....projects to work on....plan to get some blogging done this weekend....I am so behind in reading your sweet blogs.

I will grab the camera and get some shots sometime during the weekend...hope you can do the same.


Happy St. Patrick's Day!
St. Patrick’s Day is a Christian festival celebrating the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. In 1903, Saint Patrick’s Day became an official public holiday in Ireland.

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend!

God Bless
&
Be  Safe

~Linda~

Saturday, March 10, 2012

In Memory Of........
Carl E. Toy
My post today is in memory of my oldest brother....
March 10, 1951 - July 9, 1999

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and Carl when we were little squirts.
I do miss him dearly...he would have been 61 years young today!
1959 about to go into church

Carl on his tricycle
Carl was a very laid back and kind person....he never met a stranger and he loved life so much.
So many good memories growing up....our baby brother on Carl's shoulders and yes that is me on the ground.
Another one of my favorite pictures....can you see my little cowgirl boots...
Carl retired from the Navy in 1997 then God decided he needed another Angel in heaven in July of 1999.
I miss him dearly....he was always a brother I could count on if I needed anything or just to sit and talk.
Oh how I wish he were here today.....I really need to have a long talk with him.....my heart is heavy.
Happy Birthday Big Brother!

Hope you enjoyed my little road down memory lane.
Have a wonderful and productive weekend!

God Bless
Be Safe

~Linda~

Monday, March 5, 2012

Our New Kitchen Gadget.......

The hubby and I Love P-O-P-C-O-R-N.......we need to be growing our own, especially as much as we eat of it these days. We wanted a good Air Popcorn Popper....much healthier way to fix popcorn since we do eat so much of it. Hubby did some research...he is real good at this....and found that the Presto Air Popper is rated #1...so I go on a hunt for one in our area....let me tell you it was a hunt. I could have ordered one from any store on the Internet and almost did but I decided to try one more store........


 Years ago I popped it in an old pot on top of the stove then I received one of those popcorn poppers with a hand crank that you use on top of the stove, it did a pretty good job...we just wore it out. Hubby started eating microwave popcorn...I really don't care for this kind.....I know I'm weird.....anyway 
 we get more self conscious of our health the "older" we get so no more microwave popcorn...."stuff" in it that we choose not to consume.
 For you Popcorn Lovers....Do you eat regular popcorn or do you eat microwave popcorn. 
 I love these popcorn bowls I found at Dollar Tree, I even got some small ones for the grand-kids when they come over.....they love popcorn too. 

If you eat regular popcorn do you grow your own and how do you pop it? 

Have a great and wonderful Monday.....hope you are having a little Spring in your part of God's country!

God Bless
&
Be Safe

~Linda~

Friday, March 2, 2012

MARCH IS HERE......YEAH!

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day.....Sunshine and 70 degrees.....my kind of weather!

Today is a different story...even though it will get to the upper 70's ....it is suppose to storm.....some severe. :0(

Great weekend ahead...Sunny and in the 60's and working on house projects that desperately need to get finished. Hope your weekend is great and productive as well. I will take time out to go for walks and shoot some photos.....this really energizes me when I can get out with my camera and shoot photos of God's beautiful creations!

God is so good....I am so glad to be alive and well...I pray each day for each and everyone....I know that somewhere someone is sick, hurting, discouraged, having hard times in their lives....whatever their need is help me pray to lift them up to our "Great God" for their needs.


God Bless
&
Be Safe

~Linda~