Farm Fresh Eggs

Isn't this pretty? I think in the back of my mind I've always thought of farm raised brown eggs as being the best, though I admit that I haven't had the chance to try them.

But we are blessed to have several Farmers Markets in our area and have had fun visiting them this summer. One booth we found had farm fresh eggs, so I reached into the bottom of my purse and pulled out the $3.49 for one dozen. Crazy? Perhaps. But I was ready to try it and see for myself.

The next day I made scrambled eggs for breakfast and had high hopes. And yes they were very, very good. I found a couple of things pretty interesting about them, including the fact that the shell seemed to be thicker and stronger than the eggs we get in the store. And the yellow seemed much brighter.

Would I buy them again? Not very likely for $3.49 a dozen when I can get a dozen for a dollar at the grocery. Except that for a few moments during that one breakfast I felt a small spark of kinship with my kin from years past. And how do you really put a price on that?

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake

We had such a fun family weekend! James and Loni went to the lake with some friends of theirs, so we got to keep Miss Brooklyn for the weekend. Her fun started with a pillow fight of sorts with her Aunt Lynne'



Every chance she got she would go outside with whoever happened to be headed that way. This little girl loves outside. Right now she had a grand time saying airplane and pointing everytime one went by...and when conditions are just right here in DFW we see a LOT of airplanes! Then she would kind of shrug and say "where'd it go?" I finally got her to saying airport after this happened several times.

Sunday we all headed to my aunt and uncle's house for a sort of mini-reunion. My mom, brother and sister-in-law all came to town for the weekend and off we all went. My cousin from Oregon and his wife and 7 month old baby Rita had come to town and everybody wanted to see them. Rita was a doll and had her first swim in a pool. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of pictures as I left the memory card from my camera at home on my desk - DOH!

Brooklyn had a BLAST in the pool! The photo above shows her Aunt Lynne' lifting her up while she's sitting in the floatey. "I'm jumping maw-maw" she'd call across the pool. So sweet! We even got her to jump off the side of the pool into my arms - of course while wearing a life jacket. She really is a bit of a daredevil.

For lunch we had wonderful brisket and pasta salad and so much more. I had been seeing recipes for snickerdoodle cakes around the internet, so printed off one of them. Sunday morning was busy running around, so my sister-in-law Michele made the cake for us to bring. I am here to tell you this cake was a huge hit! Of course when we showed up it was still warm from being pulled out of the oven, but the next morning I had a slice with my coffee and it was still delicious.

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake
(adapted from Dozen Flours)


2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 325F. Spray Bundt pan with Pam, then dust with sugar and cinnamon mixture. Save the remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat butter on medium speed for one full minute. Add sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl and add the brown sugar, mixing until it looks light brown and uniform in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 1 full minute. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream; beat well.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Spread the rest of the batter into the pan and sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top (mix up more sugar and cinnamon mixture if necessary).

Bake in preheated oven for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely (Note: We let it cool for about 10 minutes, then inverted onto a serving platter and covered loosely with foil to transport to the lunch.

See more great recipes at the Tasty Tuesday Food Parade and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Tell Your Family You Love Them

Sometimes things happen that make you stop in your tracks for a minute and ponder the things in your life. For me it all happened this week.

We've been kind of on a whirlwind at home the last many weeks what with Lynne' moving back home, going on vacation, Brooklyn's birthday, family reunion fun this weekend, etc. I've started to notice some dissatisfaction in my thinking, particularly in my house. Not the house itself, but the things I've been wanting to do with it.

Then a few days ago a very dear blogger friend posted that she wouldn't be around much as her son had been tragically killed in a car accident. The three of us at home have talked about this and prayed for her family. The natural order of life is that you should never have to bury your children.

Last night after doing the dishes I went to lay on the bed for a few minutes and Lynne' came in to chat with me. We talked about the state of the nation, healthcare, etc. Then we started talking about things that needed to be done around the house in preparation for family coming to town and Brooklyn staying this weekend with us. We laughed about how much organizing I need to do. I told Lynne' that I never want my tombstone to read "she had a clean house", but rather I would like to be remembered as always being there for my family.

This morning before work we actually chatted about it again. Lynne' agreed wholeheartedly that she'd much rather have a mom that enjoyed life and being with her than to be overly concerned with the house.

I went to Debby's blog and saw that she had posted about her son's funeral being tomorrow. He's a very handsome young man and again my heart aches for her. Her closing statement was:

"If you have kids, dishes can wait, hobbies can wait, sleep can wait. If they call, if come over, that's all that matters at that moment."

My grandmother always said "It's not odd, it's God". Really there is no such thing as a coincidence. I called Lynne' at work to read Debby's words to her and she said "You know mom, that is so true. We never really know how much time we have with anybody".

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Now by no means am I advocating that we never clean the house, but the events of this week have shown me clearly that there are things way more important. I am hoping to always have my family and friends around and that they will be more of a focus than what my house looks like. Our time together is short on this earth and we should enjoy each other to the fullest.

AMEN!

You Capture - Black & White

I found out about the You Capture photography challenge via Twitter (did I mention I'm a little addicted to that time stealer?). And way back at the beginning of this blog I mentioned several times my desire to be a world famous photographer (not to be taken literally). But what I would really like to do is to learn how to take and process photos more to their advantage. Don't be surprised to hear about the new class I'll soon be taking...

In the meantime, I might try a few challenges. If nothing else, it allows me to show off the most precious granddaughter ever. :)



The photo was taken just a few minutes before we were able to go in to her birthday party and start running and jumping. Note the darling bows in her ponytails, the bows that didn't want to stay in once she was running around. :)

And how cute is wearing a tutu when you turn two years old???

I decided to play around a little more in Photoshop and add the pink back to her tutu. Do you see her little sneakers peaking out from underneath the tutu? She is such a doll baby. :)

If you'd like to see more photo entries or perhaps get all the details and join in, head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Cream of Coconut Cake

This is the cake that mom brought for 4th of July this year. I really think this will be one of my 'go to' cakes now - it's that good. Only real problem is that so many people don't care for coconut. Ah well, just leaves more for the rest of us. ;)


Cream of Coconut Cake
recipe from my mom :)

1 package white cake mix
3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cream of coconut
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons flaked coconut


Preheat oven to 350 - grease and flour 9x13 pan.

Combine the cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, cream of coconut and sour cream. Mix well for 4 minutes, then pour batter into pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cake cool, then frost with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle flaked coconut on top.

Frosting: Combine softened cream cheese, vanilla, milk and powdered sugar. Mix until smooth and


Do you want more recipes? Check out the Tasty Tuesday Parade of Food.

Stamp Club Projects

Friday night was Stamp Club and in addition to loving our demonstrator and enjoying the projects, we always have a nice time together as friends. Without fail we head to IHOP after our projects are finished for food and fellowship.

This last Friday was a good sized group and interestingly enough we all were grandmas to little ones. And the laughter...my word the laughter. I have not laughed like that in the longest time. The kind where you have to hold your side, there are tears streaming down your face and your cheeks start to hurt. What a blessing friends are.

And how much fun to share the love of our grands. Even a little matchmaking was done that evening. Now we only have to wait about twenty years or so to see if any of it comes true.


Cute projects too. This little 'purse' was originally sized to fit a post it note pad, but our demonstrater resized it to fit a package of gum. The stamps are from the 'Good Friend' set.

The front flap lifts up to show the good friend sentiment. This one my daughter claimed as soon as she saw it Friday night. She's excited to give it to one of her friends and can you even imagine how good that makes me feel? I love that she wants to gift her friends.

Our second project was a card using the 'On Your Birthday' set. This will have to be one I order at some point simply because it has some of the best birthday sayings ever...and many of them!

But wait....there's more!

Can you believe the inside of this card? There are two flaps on the long horizontal yellow piece that will hold a gift card. I first took the picture holding a credit card, then realized how not a good idea it was to post my credit card number on my blog. Yeah, I'm smart that way. :)

This is a new die that Stampin Up has come out with called Pop-Up Look Here. I really, really love this and think it adds so much to the inside of this card.

All cardstock is from the new Stampin Up catalog. And I love all the new colors.