a first snow

We're having our first snow tonight!

Little Maria is gathering snowflakes.

My plants and flowers were brought indoors.

I potted my geraniums which still have lots of buds

and they will be on my windowsill at school until next spring.

The children will cheer in April when the buds return.

...in the meantime...

I just told my 5th graders yesterday that we would read

"A Really Good Snowman"

when it snows and the snow sticks...

So far, it's sticking!

This book was written and illustrated by one of my former students
Daniel Mahoney.
{Oh did he love to draw and still does today!} 

*

Enjoy your weather in Austin, Jason.

 What's it like at your place?

 Whatever the weather, 

I wish you JOY
and a happy weekend!

Love,

Lots of Apples a Day!

baskets and bowls of apples from our yard

I'm taking three at a time to school each day.
and

serving up apple crisp on a routine basis.

How about this idea that I found on Pinterest?
an apple pie in an apple!

Source: testadoprovadoeaprovado.blogspot.com via Maria on Pinterest

These apple cupcakes are adorable.

but no real apples needed...

just smiles that say

thank you!

Source: lefrufrublog.blogspot.com via Maria on Pinterest

Actually,
I could make them with an apple cake recipe!
Gotta use up our apples!

I'm visiting my dad this weekend.

A sister's weekend with our Dad.

I'll be bringing him

a bag of apples

for sure!

Happy Weekend Everyone!
Wishing you sunshine
especially in your
heart.
♥

Happy Day of Baking

What can put a smile on my face fast?

Why baking, of course!

My countertop was put on Friday afternoon.

...On Saturday...

I made

apple walnut muffins

oatmeal and raisin cookies

and smaller versions of my special

Swedish tea rings.

{We ate one for Sunday breakfast and five more tea rings are in the freezer}

Flour was everywhere

I loved it!

Oh Yea!

Maria's baking again!

Have a JOY-Filled week dear ♥'s

Wishing you sunshine and smiles no matter the weather.

God's sweetest graces always,

Laundry soap Grandma's way!

Recipe found the modern way!

{Pinterest}

I have been enjoying Pinterest for a few months now.

If you haven't been there, OH...

you will love it and revisit it often! 

Here are some of my pins.

It's a very organized way to save your bookmarked webpages 

with an accompanying photograph from the website.

I used it to find inspiration for my kitchen

and now, I'm finding more wonderful things for home and school.

This weekend, I decided to try this simple laundry soap recipe

that I repinned from Yvonne's Pinterest page.

{such simple ingredients}

After grating the Fels-Naptha soap and mixing all the rest of the ingredients

{I used a large soup pot lined with a plastic bag}

the kitchen smelled so fresh!

It looks like this when it's all mixed:

 

This recipe is found at

Being Creative to Keep My Sanity

A big thanks to all for the Pinterest Fun!

and to Koralee, for inviting me to join Pinterest.

...and to Claudette for making the laundry soap first :o)

*

 Things are progressing with our kitchen.

I'm very slowly putting things away...

...trying to store only the things that I know I'll use and 

put the rest in the old cabinets that will be hung in the basement someday.

We hope to have the counter top and sink installed by next week.

'Til then, we are using a tiny sink that is down stairs.

The sun was spectacular this weekend and will be for another day.

I can't help but smile!

Wishing you all a lovely week!

 

Reset

Sometimes I just

know

I need to hit the "reset" buttons.

Our kitchen project has kept us busy and focused on details.

- - -

Important details,

but

not the kind that measure a life.

When hours are spent discussing the trim over the refrigerator cabinet...

it becomes clear that we need to press

"Alt - Ctrl - Delete"

and

R E S E T

ourselves ~ to see with clarity

what's really important.

It was time to get out of the kitchen and head outside.

We drove to Schoharie and spent the morning at

Guernsey's Schoharie Nursery cleaning out debris from the flood waters of

Hurricane Irene.  I can't believe the amount of stuff we piled along the curb.

It was a cold, damp, rainy day ~ but we ended our work with an amazing hot meal cooked by a Christian Motorcycle Club. {The volunteers that help the volunteers}

There are some wonderful people in this world!

~
A Big Thank You to Grace Fellowship Church

for the many trips they have organized to Schoharie, NY.

I'm sure the residents of Schoharie appreciate this greatly,

but it also gives others {like me} an opportunity to

reset.

Wishing you a wonderful new week,

another new and fresh start!

♥

"Finally, brothers and sisters,

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable

—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things."

Philippians 4:8

What We've been up to... {a Kitchen redo}

Lots of memories here ~ sweet ones of family,

Amanda baking with me to procrastinate just about anything else we had to do ,

Sarah {my niece} and Rachael taking turns SITTING in the bottom drawer,

Jason and his buddy, Glen, making mac and cheese {almost every day}

Muffin hiding from thunderstorms under the sink,

cookie dough and mile high apples for pies.

I remember when the kitchen was not opened to the dining room
and we took the wall half way down!

--- loved getting a peninsula---

always - always dishtowels in multiple locations!

It worked hard for us for 25 years, but the bottom cabinets really needed to be replaced.

They look okay from a distance, but up close ~ different story!

... and so the work began...

I did a lot of packing up and cleaning up...

and came home from work each afternoon to new surprises of how much Chris got done during the day.

Off with the school clothes and on came my "construction dust" clothes.

We've been working until midnight.

I'm always so amazed at how brave Chris is as he measures and cuts

sheet rock, adds new outlets, plans for extra lighting...

Everything he does is just right!

Saturday morning, we looked out over our kitchen space and said,

"Thank Heavens we're on time!"

The installer was on time too ~ 8:00am bright and early.

Here's a peek at the top cabinets.

I put a tea set on the shelves just for fun.

We kept the soffits; lots of wiring runs through them and 

I discovered that everything you change adds a lot more $$$ to the project...

so we changed very little.  We were very disciplined at reminding ourselves that

we just needed to replace tired old cabinets.

...some crown molding will dress up the dated soffits...

we hope :o)

There are still some things that need to be done.

{finishing work, counter tops, and resetting the appliances}

{I'll be without a kitchen sink for a while, hopefully not too long!}

 *

Thanks for visiting and catching up with me!

I'll keep you posted on the progress and do my best to catch up with everyone.

Have a wonderful new week dear friends and family!

 I pray that God bless you always

as you all are such

blessings to me!

Maria

ps.

Pinterest and GardenWeb's kitchen forum are such valuable resources

for gathering ideas and information.

I also thank everyone out there from whom I received great advice! 

a heart for you ♥

I will give them a heart to know me,

that I am the LORD.

They will be my people, and I will be their God,

for they will return to me with all their heart.

 Jeremiah 24:7

Giving thanks for all my blessings

...for the love of the One who made me...

and for

my husband

my family

home

work

play

and always,

you, dear friends

{near and far, but always close in heart}