A Christmas giveaway - the Winner

And the winner is......NancyJo.  I had my granddaughter pick a number between 1-5 since there were 5 comments. She chose number 4.
I will get your book out to you tomorrow morning! Thanks for playing everyone and and I wish you all a most Merry and blessed Christmas!



I have a friend who wrote this great book called "Christmas in the Kennel ".  It is wonderful for children or anyone who loves animals.  I got a copy to have for my grandchildren.
 I thought it would be a great time to give a copy away. So if you are interested just leave  a comment here on my blog and you'll be entered.  What could be simpler than that?
You can find this book on Amazon. I just found out they lowered the price just  in time for gift giving.
I will only have this open until the 16th as I want to get it to the lucky winner in time for Christmas.
Thanks and Good luck!

Finished the Pantry organization.

Here are a few pictures of the end result of my organizing.

Sorry if they are a little blurry. Used my tablet instead of my camera.
Spent some time on Pinterest, a lot of time actually, to get some ideas on what would work best for me.
It feels so good to have everything sorted and clean and organized.  Always much happier when I can get a handle on clutter. It is an ongoing battle but hopefully this start will help me prevail.
Of course, once I get one room done it always prompts to pick another and start.  I feel like I had a productive day.
Going to go rest as I seem to be battling the start of something.  Always begins with a sore throat. So, I'm off to get some lemon and honey tea.

Cleaning and organizing

  It's that time of year again to start cleaning deep down.  I've decided my pantry needs some major cleanout.  Too many things in there. The pantry is quite a large space, at least until it starts getting filled with things.
  It measures 12 ft. X 7 ft. It is 8 ft at high at its low side. Due to it being part of the addition the ceiling slants upward.
  We keep a small refrigerator in there to use for the loads of eggs our hens give us in the summer to sell.  There are also two small chest freezers. One is mine and one my dad brought with him when he moved in. Both are fairly full.  Then there are these fantastic shelves my son made me that go from floor to ceiling on the low end. There are also wire shelves on one wall above the veggie bin and trash/recycle bins.  Under those shelves I have pegboard holding my cast iron pans.  Just inside the doorway which is double door width, but no doors, is a small ladder hanging with my pots, and things.  Wire shelves on the wall above the freezers.
 For the most part things are organized. Shelves have small bins holding things that are not used as often.  Top shelves hold big items, dehydrator, stockpots, paper towels and dishes and vases.  Everything else needs to be sorted and straightened. I found some nice glass jars and chalkboard labels. I also use Tupperware for a few things.  The things that are not put in those containers such as spaghetti sauce jars and packets of things and cans are being reorganized this weekend.  I found some plastic bins for just this purpose.
So that is my plan, but we shall see how it goes. I will try to post pictures once I am done.

Anyone else feeling the fall cleaning bug??

More fun in my mailbox

I have been busy doing my Fall cleaning/ cleaning out.
So my week has been busy. Not getting to post as much as I'd like.

More fun came in my mailbox this week.  I have been addicted to reading Tasha Tudor books.   Will spend some time with a cup of tea and these books this evening.

Have a great day!

Interesting baking day

Thought it would be a great idea to get ahead on some baking for the freezer. So, since my granddaughter spent the night we planned to get some cookies made.
 We managed to get everything put together. Though we had a measurement issue with the baking soda so we had to save what we could and start over.  Just a minor setback but should have given me a clue.  We get the batter mixed up, preheated the oven and loaded up the first pan. That batch didn't come out very well. Cookies sort ran into each other. Added a little flour so the second batch was much better.  Unfortunately halfway through the baking I heard this loud buzzing sound. Looked over at the stove and saw smoke coming through the top burner. Shut the oven off and opened the door and saw the heating element was on fire. So I grabbed the sheet of cookies out and shut the door.  Didn't see anything happening so I opened it back up to find the element had burnt up.
I am grateful it didn't start a fire and hoping once the element is replaced it will be as good as new. I ended up transferring the half done cookies to the little toaster oven to finish. Put the rest of the batter in the fridge till another time.
That was enough excitement for my day.
How was your day?

Apples and more apples

Went out this morning and stopped by a farm a couple miles from our house to pick up these beautiful Stayman apples.
Using up some others I got from them earlier this month to make applesauce.  Loaded up the crockpot this morning and headed down to the basement to get some jars.  We all love homemade applesauce and I use it in my baked goods to make them nice and moist.

Some wonderful mail today

Some fun mail today. Just love Tasha Tudor and finally found a nice copy of Pumpkin Moonshine.  The flowers came from one of our egg customers and I thought they look pretty in the watering can. That came from my dad a couple years ago with mini daffodils in it.