There's A Monkey In My Mailbox!

Good day, sunshine!  The ice and fog is gone and its place is beautiful blue sky and sunshine.  I ventured out to the mailbox and what did I find?  A package from Barb!  Barb's blog is one I've been following I think forever.  She is another person that I think of as 'the perfect grandma' and I try to learn grandma'isms from her. 

And here's what the package contained:

My very own Barb original sock monkey!  She makes these little guys and is setting up a shop and she actually had a drawing that I WON!  Could've knocked me over with a feather!

And look at this face!  Absolutely darling.  Right now he's sitting on a dresser in the spare bedroom that we keep Miss B's toys in.  I'm not sure if this will remain "his spot" or not, but I do think I want him in this room so that when B is here she can love on him.

He sat in the entryway for a bit on my antique sewing machine cabinet, but I'm not so sure the Raggedy Annes enjoyed having him around.  ;)

Regardless of where he ends up I know he'll enjoy it here.  Because once Brooklyn gets to love on him and carry him around by the tail...or arm...or wherever and he starts to look a little raggedy himself, then he'll know that there is no place like home.

Barb, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

ps - see the shadows around sock monkey in the last picture?  They are caused by the natural light coming in the front door!  I do love me some sunshine!   :)

Monthly Dishcloth KAL and Brooklyn's Hat

Winter has shown up in North Texas.  I started to call it a winter wonderland, but to me that implies huge fluffy snowflakes and a Norman Rockwell type of setting.  Instead we got ice and school closings. 

I used to think I'd really like living "up north" where hot flashes would help keep me warm.  But this week I've become somewhat of a troll and have not left my house since Sunday...literally.  Even the mailbox, all of perhaps 30 feet down the sidewalk, is just too far to walk when it's this cold.  The closest I've gotten to being outside is when I open the backdoor to let Joe out to do his bizness.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be back in the 50's again, so my little world will thaw out again.  And maybe Joe and I will take a walk outside instead of him watching me on the treadmill.

In the meantime, here's some knitting to share.  As I got the dishcloths out to do the photo shoot I saw that I had inadvertantly used two colors that go quite nicely together.  The solid aqua cloth is the first one we did in January and the ice skate seems very fitting today.  The varigated cloth is the mid-month pattern and I really like the pattern

Both of these use the I Love This Cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby.  It's the first time I've actually knit with this yarn and I really loved it.  It's much softer than the Sugar n Creme that I usually use and seems to have more give to it.  This equates to less hand and finger fatigue while knitting.  It costs a bit more at $2.99 a skein when not on sale, but they do have the 40% off coupons so I feel like I can indulge.

I'm showing these pictures of Brooklyn's new hat...even though I didn't knit it for her.  One of the girls at work knit it and since the time I taught her to knit she has taken to it like a duck to water.  She's also been dubbed the hat queen because she has knit so many hats and rarely uses a pattern.

It doesn't show up very well, but this hat kind of has a slouch to it and is just darling.  And I still can't get over seeing Miss B walking around like this.

Now it's time to find my flannel jammies, turn on the electric blanket and grab a cup of hot tea!

"The little things are infinitely the most important" - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

TWD: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

Success!  Today's TWD recipe is Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread, chosen by Sherry Trifle.  Unfortunately it is terribly overcast outside and I wasn't able to get a natural light photo, so the photos taken in the evening will have to do.

Preparing this recipe had me trying many things for the first time.  I've never used, nor even purchased, fresh ginger and in fact I even had to google how to go about chopping it.  The next step was mixing the chopped ginger in a very small amount of sugar and setting it aside.  The aroma was wonderful.

I've also not used bittersweet chocolate much and this cake has it both chopped and melted, then again in the frosting on top.

The house smelled fabulous while this was cooking.  It did come out with dried edges just as Dorie had said.  But following her guidelines I just cut the edges off and we served it that way.

I will confess that instead of the ginger infused whipped cream that the recipe shows we used Redi Whip.  And I served this the night that Lynne' came by the house for dinner, so I had an extra person to give me an opinion.  We all three really liked this cake, but for the most part agreed we don't need to have it again.  If this makes any sense at all, the flavor was rather sophisticated.  A person could close their eyes while taking a bite and swear they were having dessert at a swanky restaurant.  And really, we're not swanky people.  ;)  But it truly is delicious and is so rich that a small piece definitely would suffice.

I'm very glad to have tried this recipe.

Valentine's Day Centerpiece

Welcome to my Valentine table!  This year I've jumped into the holiday table with both feet (not to be taken literally....).  I was wishing that I had done more of this when the kids were young, but then I remembered that we probably couldn't have afforded it at that time.  Not that we are dollar wealthy now, but since it's just the two of us it is easier.

I saw this little guy when I ran to Hobby Lobby looking for something else.  They had their seasonal items on sale and this little Love Bug struck my fancy.  Looking around a bit I found the ceramic heart dish to set him in, but he looked a little bare and lonely sitting there.

The light bulb moment came when I saw the bag of Hershey kisses.  Because really who wouldn't want to sit in a sea of chocolate?

The whole thing brings a smile to my face each time I see the table.  And because of the items being on sale it ended up being a low cost option for a holiday centerpiece.  Unless I have to keep replacing the kisses!  :)

CFBA - The Red Siren

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Red Siren by Tyndall - Barbour Publishing, Inc
(January 2009)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
M. L. (MARYLU) TYNDALL grew up on the beaches of South Florida loving the sea and the warm tropics. But despite the beauty around her, she always felt an ache in her soul--a longing for something more.

After college, she married and moved to California where she had two children and settled into a job at a local computer company. Although she had done everything the world expected, she was still miserable. She hated her job and her marriage was falling apart.

Still searching for purpose, adventure and true love, she spent her late twenties and early thirties doing all the things the world told her would make her happy, and after years, her children suffered, her second marriage suffered, and she was still miserable.

One day, she picked up her old Bible, dusted it off, and began to read. Somewhere in the middle, God opened her hardened heart to see that He was real, that He still loved her, and that He had a purpose for her life, if she'd only give her heart to Him completely.

Her current releases in the Legacy of The Kings Pirates series include:The Restitution, The Reliance, and The Redemption and The Falcon And The Sparrow

ABOUT THE BOOK
Lady Faith Westcott has turned her back on God and on man. Having witnessed the hypocrisy in the Church of England, her older sister's abuse at the hand of her husband, and her own mother's untimely death in childbirth, Faith has determined never to marry and to gain enough wealth so she and her two sisters will never have to depend on man or God again.

To that end, though a lady by day, she becomes a pirate by night and begins her sordid career off Portsmouth when she attacks and plunders a merchant ship commanded by the young Dajon Waite. Humiliated at being defeated by a pirate and a woman no less, Dajon returns home without cargo and ship, and his father expels him from the family merchant business.

After a brief sojourn into debased society, Dajon rejoins the Royal Navy, where he finds comfort in the strict rules and redemption through his service to others. Three years later, he is sent to the frontier outpost of Charles Town, South Carolina to deal with the pirate problem. There, he connects with his mentor and old friend, Admiral Westcott, who has just arrived with his three daughters.

Much to Dajon's utter dismay, Admiral Westcott, who is being called away to Spain, asks Dajon to be temporary guardian of his three lovely daughters. One of the ladies seems familiar to him, a striking redhead who immediately sends his heart thumping.

Faith recognizes Captain Waite as the buffoon whose ship she plundered off Portsmouth. Yet, he appears no longer the fool, but instead a tall, handsome and commanding naval officer. Despite her immediate attraction to him, she labels him the enemy, but sparks are guaranteed to fly during the next few months when independent, headstrong and rebellious Faith falls in love with God-fearing honorable, rule-following Dajon-especially when Faith continues her pirating off the Carolina coast while her father is away.

Will Dajon catch her? And what will this man of honor and duty do when he does?

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Red Siren, go HERE

MY REVIEW:
I haven't read a good pirate adventure romance in years.  In fact, I think the last one was back in the day when my favorite books featured a woman on the cover with the back of her hand against her forehead, a torn bodice and a dashingly handsome pirate standing behind her.  The Red Siren put a new spin on the classic pirate romance. 

When Faith Westcott saw the abusive marriage her oldest sister was thrust into she made a vow to protect her two younger sisters and herself from ending up with the same fate.  She hardened her heart towards God turned to piracy in order to make and save enough money for them to live on.

What she didn't count on was Dajon Waite coming into her life a second time.  A captain in the British Royal Navy, Dajon was also a Christian man determined to clear the waters of pirates, particularly a red headed beauty that he'd fallen victim to a few years back.

The interaction between Faith, Dajon and her sisters made for a fun read.  The main character is a classicly stubborn female who doesn't take advice from most people.  I truly enjoyed reading about the adventures on the high seas and think that many people love the romance and mystery that surrounded the ships long ago.

The only real "complaint" I have is the cover.  The photo is of a cute as a button young girl and it's a little difficult to believe that by day she is this lovely and by night a captain that could command the respect of her pirate crew.  But once I got past this I found the book to be very enjoyable.

Father/Daughter Goofballs

Such a nice picture of Keith and Lynne'.  She had some insurance papers to fill out for work and brought them over for our opinion.  Just so happened that Keith had made a big pot of chili and I had made a cake for dessert.  We also had made plans to watch Kung Fu Panda tonight, so it turned into a nice family evening.  And why must all the children's cartoon movies feature the death of one of the characters???  I will never understand that.  Anyway....

Moments before this idyllic picture it was quite a different place at the house.  These two together get so goofy and I had a hard time getting them to settle down for a picture.  This is how we started out.....

Good times....and my cheeks are still sore from laughing!