There are Simply....

...not enough hours in the day. After dropping the children off at school this morning, I came home and exercised for 1/2 hour (seems to be all I can fit in). Then I worked on our Craft and Cookie sale for our church that will be held next month. After that, I headed out for lunch with friends (boy do I love 2-1/2 hours lunches)!! Then came home and attended to some personal business, did laundry, made dinner, ran our oldest son to one of his activities, came home and started bath water for our younger son, discovered a "Behavior Contract" in our older son's backpack (lovely) and sat down to discuss it with my husband, and then went back to pick our son up. It's now around 8:30 p.m. and I'm exhausted and yawning! That long lunch must have really tired me out!! I hope your home was more "peaceful" than mine today!!

Halloween Cupcakes

We have a Halloween party to attend tonight for children with disabilities and our family volunteered to bring cupcakes. These were plain old cupcakes out of the box, and then I used Wilton's Buttercream frosting (idea taken from "The Sparrow's Nest" blog) to finish up. I also used both orange and black edible glitter to make them a little nicer. Cupcakes are one of my favorite things to make and I enjoy decorating them so much!! Have a blessed weekend!!

Country Breakfast Casserole

I pulled this recipe from over at allrecipes.com--one of my favorite websites!! I did modify some of the quantity of the ingredients. Breakfast casseroles are so wonderful!! This is very easy to make and tastes delicious!!

Country Breakfast Casserole

1 lb. of breakfast sausage
1/8 cup of onion (add enough onion for your taste)
1-1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (or your choosing)
5 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons milk
3/4 package (2.64 ounce) country gravy mix
5 slices bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons melted butter (I think I used a little more)
paprika to taste

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 11 x 8 inch baking dish. (I have none that size so I used a 9 x 13.)

Brown the sausage and drain the grease. Mix the onion and sausage together and spread over bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle cheese on top. Whisk the eggs, water, milk, and gravy mix and pour over the cheese and sausage. Take your bread cubes and put evenly over the top. I then drizzled the melted butter over the bread. I did not use any paprika.

Cover with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes in the oven or until done. I took the tin foil off after the 40 minutes and baked an additional 5-7 minutes so the bread would get crispy. Enjoy!!

We Are Very Fortunate!!

This is the view as we walk out our back garage door. The colors in the Maple tree are just glorious!! I can also see the Pine tree (to the left) and the Maple out of our kitchen window. We are very blessed to live where we live. Thinking about all of the individuals who are suffering now out on the West Coast who have lost everything and all of those who live in poverty having only the bare necessities makes me realize how fortunate we are to live where we do. There is color all over our yard, from the mum garden (I should post another picture now that all of the plants are in full bloom) to the small pumpkin patch to the trees. Please say a prayer for those who have been forced to evacuate in California that they are safe and may return to their homes soon. Blessings.

Coleus

I snapped this picture of this beautiful Coleus while we were in Branson. The color was absolutely gorgeous!! I haven't planted Coleus at our home in years--think we're more of perennial people than annual people. There are many different colors of this plant, and they are quite beautiful. If you like planting annuals, try the Coleus. The color is amazing!! Have a blessed day!

Homemade Soaps

...I believe this is an indulgence!! When we were in Silver Dollar City and Branson, I had the opportunity to buy some homemade soaps. The one in front is Honeysuckle (it smells great), while the two in back are Eucalyptus and Lime--they both smell wonderful also. This is a skill that I would like to learn--that of making homemade soap. The thought of using lye somehow bothers me. In the meantime, I will just have to make due with the wonderful homemade soaps that others make.

If any of you have purchased homemade soaps via the web, please point me to their website. I'd be interested in buying some more. Have a blessed day!!

Table Rock Lake

Every morning while on vacation, we tried to hike along the rocky shore line. We usually walked out onto the docks to take in the stunning view across the lake. It is so pretty there!! It makes you not want to leave. Our sons try to skip stones on the water and look for little shells. Imagine my surprise when walking along the natural rocks and coming across a retaining stone (the kind I use at home in our landscaping--ugh!!). I actually thought for a moment about picking it up and bringing it back with us!? The trees had not quite turned their glorious color yet, but were just beginning as we needed to pack up and head home. Have a wonderful weekend!!