Friday's Fave Five #251

It's Friday - thank goodness!  Time to list 5 of my favorite blessings of the week.  Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is running this gathering, so head over and read more blessings.  :)

1. The neatest thing happened to me yesterday on the way to a doctor appointment.  Flipping through the radio channels I happened on the song "You're My Best Friend" by Queen and started singing along.  My beloved's beautiful face came to mind and I had the biggest smile - just a fun moment.  Then I pulled up to a stoplight and a big, bright butterfly flew past the window and it became a take my breath away moment.  I have noticed in the past few years that many times, just when I need it most (even if I didn't realize I needed it), the Lord will send a butterfly flitting past and it's always such a heartwarming moment.  I was telling this story to Keith last night and I told him it was one of those perfect moments in life that you truly want to wrap up and put in a box so that you can take it out and experience it time and time again.  God is so awesome!

2. Last Saturday I went to a crop for the first time in months and had such a fabulous time!  It was great to talk and laugh with friends and to come away from the day with a renewed excitement for paper crafts.  I managed to take one picture that day, just of the general area in front of me:

3. Tuesday was Grandparents Day at Brooklyn's school and Keith and I were fortunate enough to be able to go.  We all had breakfast together, toured the school with her and checked out the book fair (they are brilliant for scheduling the book fair when Grandparents Day was going on.  Coincidence?  I think not!).  She is getting to be more and more fun and we enjoy every single minute we get to spend with her.  And let me add too that we are so thankful that she still wants us to come!  :)

4. Good times....  One day after work we decided that a cherry limeade sounded good, so off to Sonic we went.  Beau was especially pleased when the sweet sound of his favorite words rang out - "Dogs get to go!!"

5. I stopped at Central Market on the way home from a doctor appointment and found a "new to me" kind of apple - Sweetango.  The sign said they were from Minnesota, so that grabbed me right off the bat.  The sign further said that they were juicy, sweet, with just a hint of fall seasonings.  I have a thing for offbeat apple varieties, so I bought two.  While they were quite tasty I would have a hard time saying they were so good as to warrant the higher price.  But if I have to splurge on something, really an apple isn't too bad... right?  ;)

Wishing all a very blessed week! 


Deep Thoughts:  

{Favorite Products} SweetBaby Cuticle Oil

This is a totally different kind of post for me, but I get so much good product information from blogs that I wanted to give back.  And once in a while you run across something that impresses you so much you really do have to share.

Let me start off by saying this is not a sponsored post.  In fact, the owner of this Etsy shop has no idea I'm doing this.  I will though give a shout out to ChitChatNails blog as her review is what led me to ordering this product.

I don't know if it's getting older, my body chemistry or what my hands come in contact with on a daily basis, but my cuticles dry out horribly.  I've tried a lot of products - and most do work - but for one reason or another I haven't found The One yet.

When I read the review on this cuticle oil it was kind of a light bulb moment.  A roller ball for cuticle oil - why has nobody done this before?  SweetBabybyDonna at Etsy does and it's wonderful!  I use the roller applicator on my cuticles and then rub it in with my fingers.  There is no lingering greasy feel and I love that.

I ordered the Caribbean Coconut because I seriously love all things coconut.  What a wonderful, light fragrance!  It was just enough to be fun and not enough to knock you over.

The cost with shipping was $12 and the applicator is a little bit bigger than the average lip balm container.  I thought it would last me a long time, but I'm finding I love how it feels and have been putting it on several times a day so maybe not.  Either way, I'm sure this will be my new 'go to' cuticle oil.

Hope this helps you to have pretty cuticles!

Deep Thoughts:  "God has you in the palm of His hand.  He has never once failed before and the good news is, He is not about to start now."

52CCT Challenge - Christmas Tree Card

So exciting to feel creative and play with my hobbies in the evenings again!

This week the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Blog is having a Color Challenge - use Red, White and Kraft on your card.  I love this color combination, so it was a lot of fun for me.

I went with an 'oldie but goodie' for this card and love how it turned out, even if the photo isn't worth a hoot!  (maybe I'll take a new picture tomorrow during the daylight)

Anyway...  I used the Cuttlebug Christmas Tree embossing folder, so this was a pretty fast card to make and is so pretty.  The tree has Candy Cane Stickles sprinkled throughout for added sparkle.  Cardstock is white, kraft and Regal Red - all from Stampin' Up - and I used pop dots on the red/white layer.

Deep Thoughts:  "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!  How richly God has decked thee!

Fairy Garden with Bunnies

I have seen so many amazingly beautiful and intricate Fairy Gardens around the internet and love looking at them.  But honestly none has spoken to me quite like the one I saw at Debbie-Dabble (click on her name to go and see).  You know how sometimes you see something and it's not that you want to duplicate, but it sparks an idea and you run with it based on what you saw?  What I saw in her fairy garden was a great amount of fun to be had for Brooklyn and I.

This is what I ended up with, total cost about five dollars by repurposing some things I already had.  To start with, this pot never did get any perky posies this year, so rather than leave it looking like a ghost town I snagged it for this project.

I went to the local Goodwill and found a box of with Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, the fence and a small pot of posies.  That's when I decided my theme would be bunnies.

This shows off the little ceramic potted posies - too cute!  I also found a set of two bunnies, this little girl is one of them.

My original plan was to buy a few succulents to plant in this garden since they are so low maintenance.  But when Keith and I visited our favorite nursery we discovered the succulents were $5.99 each!  Instead I picked up two petunias at the mark down price of only .99 cents.  It's still hot in Texas, so they should last for a little bit.  And I'll just replace them in the spring.

And here's the little boy!  Then I found the little wooden house that has a nice hinged roof.  I think that Brooklyn will enjoy putting things in there.

The boy is sitting on a bed of shells and you might have noticed some behind the little girl above.  The thrift store had a brand new bag of shells for quite cheap.

I also wanted a little pond, so I sacrificed the half cup measure that I got in a set at Dollar Tree one year at Thanksgiving (since I knew there would be so many of us cooking in the kitchen at the same time I bought an extra set!).  Keith cut off the handle, then filed it smooth so that Brooklyn wouldn't hurt herself on the sharp plastic edge.  I thought it would be cute to put shells at the bottom of the pond, but once I added water the silly things floated!  Ah well, I suspect we'll still have fun with it.  And I don't plan on leaving water in it - I'll just add water when we're ready to play.

This was really a lot of fun to put together and now I can't wait for Brooklyn to come over and play with me!  :)

Deep Thoughts:  "Grandmas are just antique little girls!"


Linking to:  Friday Flair Link Party, Cottage Garden Party, Home Sweet Home, Simple and Sweet Fridays, Thrifty Things Friday

Pineapple Angel Food Cake

The Newlyweds are home from their honeymoon and they came over to show pictures and share stories from their wonderful trip.  We had a really nice evening and even shared cooking dinner together and that was just wonderful.  We made a Sesame Noodle with Chicken meal that I found on Pinterest, but honestly it was just ok and I won't be sharing the link or recipe.  

But I do like to have a dessert on hand when people come over and since our daughter is lactose intolerant I have a Pinterest board at the ready with recipes to try.  And this one was a winner!

If you've spent any time at all on Pinterest - or now on Facebook with all the recipes that are shared - you have surely seen this recipe for Pineapple Angel Food Cake.  Nothing I had linked back to an actual site, so I can't give credit for this.  But it was GOOD!  And easy!  And relatively good, or at least not as bad, for you!

The Ingredients:

Yes that's it - just an angel food cake mix (the notes on the pin said it must be the "one step" angel food cake mix) and a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple.

I didn't even get my mixer out - just used a wooden spoon to stir it.  It had a very light and airy batter.  This would be a great cake to make with kids since it mixes so easily.

It did sink down a bit in the middle, but that didn't affect the flavor at all.  While it was baking I kept thinking that the house had that 'fair smell' to it of very sweet funnel cakes (though it didn't taste at all like a funnel cake).

 Mmmmm.......    :)

We served it with a dollop of Cool Whip because I seem to remember 'back in the day' that their jingle was something about Cool Whip Non-Dairy Whipped Topping.  However, below their list of ingredients it says in bold letters:  CONTAINS MILK.  Lynne' decided it would be best not to test out the theory so had hers without.

This was a really good, light, summery sort of cake since it uses the angel food cake mix.  And since I'm a big fan of pineapple I really enjoyed it.

PINEAPPLE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

1 Angel Food Cake Mix (Betty Crocker works great)

20 ounce can of crushed pineapple

In a bowl mix together the cake mix and entire contents of pineapple can - I used a wooden spoon.  Pour into a 13x9 pan sprayed with nonstick coating and bake for 30 minutes at 350*.

Shared with:  Brag About It #20, The Scoop, Inspire Me Tuesday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Tuesdays at Our Home, Weekly Homemaking Party