I never used to be into blue and white plates, and then I saw some of the beautiful blue and white displays around blogland and fell in love with them. I began collecting them here and there at Marshalls and yard sales and today I put a small display up over my buffet.  The chalkboard was made for me by my sweetheart, the curlicues and flourishes were done by Victoria,the curlicue queen.  I printed the words out in different fonts and used chalk markers for our family rules board. The lighting was horrible by the time I got all the plates on the wall today, so I apologise for the blurry photo, but I just couldn't wait to show you. I love it.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was the best! Friday off from work, Victoria home from school for the weekend, a little sewing, and sunshine and lots of cuddling and some movies. It doesn't get any better. Now another work week begins, but it sounds like I may have a snow day or two mid week. Eight to ten inches is the forecast. Batten down the hatches, have you had enough snow yet?

Well it's been an interesting week. Last night the main computer came down with a nasty virus and had to be taken to the doctor. Ugh, why must people make those things? I'll be without it for 4 days which puts a crimp in my homework since I need a program on the computer to do it. Stink!

Of course all of my photos are on that computer, not the laptop which I am using now. So I went to Country Living and looked up white kitchens because we have finally screwed up our courage and begun the process of painting the kitchen cabinets white.

And I have to tell you I'm so geeked because when it's finished my kitchen is going to look just. like. this one.

 Oooh, or this one!

But you know how I love red, so maybe it'll look like this. Oh I just can't wait!

So today we went to the hardware store and chose our paint, Benjamin Moore Snowfall White, (pretty!) and we got up to the counter and people, it was $47 a gallon! Holy cats, am I jaded from furnishing my house from the side of the road or is that a lot for a gallon of paint!?  In the scheme of things it's a "cheap" way to freshen up, but that's a new record for us. We looked at each other and started laughing, Earl said "how much?"  He thought he heard them wrong. We laughed all the way to the car.

Lets just hope it doesn't take more than a gallon!

I can only say, refer to the pictures above.  I think it's going to be worth it.

Sunday

Sundays pretty much belong to this girl. My eldest. My sweetheart. My clone. They call her Kathy Jr. :>) Her real name is Lauren. She works afternoons and evenings, I work morning and early afternoon, so the rest of the week it's hard to get together.

 Today, we spent some quality time in the kitchen. It must be quality time when you bake cookies right? What higher goal than a batch of sweet sugar cookies wih pink frosting and sprinkles?

yup, Sundays are hers.
 
I ♥ you daughter.

Yesterday when I got home from work there was a package waiting for me from a friend. You know the kind, a blog friend:>)  Anita has a wonderful devotional blog and it has been my pleasure to get to know her a little bit better through it. What I didn't know was that she makes these beautiful lotions and soaps!

  These are all her lemongrass and sage scent and it is divine. Light and fresh and pretty. I can't wait to try the soap. I actually started to unwrap it this morning but made myself stop so I could get a photo.

 Along with the lovely soap and lotions came two of the most adorable cards, (well, three actually, but one was written to me:>) Anita designs these herself, aren't they pretty? This sweet cherry pie card has a front edge that is cut out around the shape of the pie.

On the cookie card she stacked the cut out cookies so they are 3-D. They're making me hungry. The inside of the cards are just as cute as the outside, with sweet sentiments and graphics.

This one says, "I love cookies, and you!" 

Thank you Anita! I love everything ♥
I encourage you to visit Anitas Blog, In a Quiet Light and say hello.

Down the Primrose Path

It is becoming tradition that every January I find some reason to go to Home Depot just in time for their .79 primroses. Pure serendipity I assure you. This time Earl and I were looking at new kitchen faucets, since ours leaks and is at least 15 years old. As we were leaving he saw the display and bought me a few.

Me + primroses = ♥

These little flowers always seem like a fresh start to the year to me. New ideas blooming and growing. I see lots of people choosing their word of the year and I have been giving it lots of thought, but I can't seem to settle on just one.  I have a new semester beginning this week, taking just one class and hoping to spend the rest of the time concentrating on building some dreams this year. I have lots of work ahead of me to make those dreams come true.  So I have my work cut out for me, but it's work that I love so it shouldn't be too hard to motivate myself. On the home front I need to get organized, purge the house of things that I don't love anymore, and I have finally decided to begin painting those darn kitchen cabinets. I don't have a huge kitchen so it shouldn't be that hard right? (Please say it won't be too hard!) and of course I have lots of sewing and designing ahead of me.  One thing the doldrums of January/ February should be good for is concentrating on some big projects.  So wish me luck! I also hope to be able to spend a little more time posting and visiting, yay! Seems like I've been MIA far too long. What are you going to do with the next two months?

Home Made Marshmallows

Today we take Victoria back to school. I'm going to miss my girl! To make her return a little sweeter, we made home made marshmallows last night. First time ever and I thought they would be difficult. They are SO easy! I used this recipe, and just a note, she says to grease the pan, then line it with saran wrap. Line it first then grease it or your mallows will stick to the wrap!

 Like I said, the recipe is super easy. No candy thermometer involved. Boil the syrup for a minute, add to the gelatin and water and whip on high for 12 minutes.

 At this point it is like thick marshmallow cream, but get it in the pan fast because it stiffens even more pretty quickly!

 We started out tossing them in powdered sugar, but we didn't have enough and Earl suggested we try cocoa. With the sugar in the marshmallows it isn't bitter at all! Just delicious.

And what did we do with our home made marshmallows? Packaged them up with hot cocoa and candy cane stirring sticks for a sweet new years treat for the girls on her floor! 

♥ Love ♥