Author Archives: Ellen

They Survived!

 

Two solid weeks without watering and these plants survived. Amazing. They are a little brown around the edges but I was expecting them to be completely withered up under the Southern California Sun!

I did bring a silk unwiltable plant for my front porch just in case all my other plants had died. I bought this at Goodwill in Washington for $5.95.

So how’s your Monday and week shaping up? I forgot that this week is going to be another busy one for me because my daughter is arriving today. I leave at 9:00 this morning to go pick her and her boyfriend up at Long Beach Airport. Tomorrow they are going to Disneyland and some of my family will be meeting up with them there, too. I’ve decided to finally meet up with the Disneyland crew, too. It will be a reapplying sunblock day for me. Have a great week everyone.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Seattle To Camarillo in 17 Hours!

 

We waved goodbye to the Space Needle about 5:30 AM on Saturday morning and continued south through Washington, Oregon and California. We only stopped for gas, 2 fast food drive through windows, and rest areas to change drivers. While I drove Dear tried to sleep and while Dear drove I tried to sleep so that we both could make it through without falling asleep at the wheel.

Along the way I enjoyed the bridges in Washington and Oregon.

I waved to Flower when we were driving in Oregon. I waved to Kathy B. when we got close to Sacramento. I waved to Willow when we drove down the grade into Camarillo, California at 10:30 PM.

 

This photo was taken driving from Oregon into California. Saturday was a hot day from Washington to California. The range we traveled through in the heat of the day was from 98 to 108 degrees.

 

Mt. Shasta in Northern California

We were happy and thankful to God for sustaining us on our trip and for the fact that we were not exhausted. I so appreciate your prayers for us on this journey. We had a refreshing rest Saturday night and were ready to re-unite with our friends on Sunday at church who we haven’t seen for 6 weeks.

We retrieved our mail and there was a package for me. Whoohoo! Melissa at Melissa’s Cozy Teacup sent me the teapot I won on her blog a while back.

Melissa also sent me all these great individual tea-bags to enjoy. Thank you Melissa I love the decorative Tea Pot and I’m looking forward to sharing my tea with friends.

 

Have a wonderful week everyone. I’m off to the airport Monday morning to pick up my daughter and her boyfriend who are flying down from Seattle to spend 5 days in L.A. to take in Disneyland, Magic Mountain and the Beach!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Shine Thou Upon Us Lord ~ Hymn

 

Shine Thou Upon Us Lord

Shine Thou upon us, Lord, true Light of men, today,
And through the written Word Thy very self display,
That so from hearts which burn with gazing on Thy face
Thy little ones may learn the wonders of Thy grace.

Breathe Thou upon us, Lord, Thy Spirit’s living flame,
That so with one accord our lips may tell Thy Name.
Give Thou the hearing ear, fix Thou the wandering thought,
That those we teach may hear the great things Thou hast wrought.

Speak Thou for us, O Lord, in all we say of Thee;
According to Thy Word let all our teaching be,
That so Thy lambs may know their own true Shepherd’s voice,
Where’er He leads them go, and in His love rejoice.

Live Thou within us, Lord, Thy mind and will be ours;
Be Thou beloved, adored, and served with all our powers,
That so our lives may teach Thy children what Thou art,
And plead, by more than speech, for Thee with every heart.

words by John Ellerton, 1889

Fruit Pizza

 

I found this simple recipe for Fruit Pizza on Bernideen’s Tea Blog and decided to make it for a get-together we were invited to. I’ll give you the original recipe and also give you some options that I decided to try.

 

The mix, the sticky dough in the pan, the baked dough and the cool whip with pudding mixed in…

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Yellow Cake Mix
1/4 Cup Water
2 eggs
1/4 Cup butter
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup chopped nuts
I large carton of Cool Whip
Assorted Fruit pieces

Mix together cake mix, water, eggs, butter, sugar and nuts until stiff. I think because my cake mix was a variety with pudding in it the dough was sticky and not real stiff but it was still spreadable. Spread into a buttered and floured pan. You can use 2 round pans or I used a large rectangular pan. I also sprayed the pan with the baking spray with flour in it. (lazy) Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes but watch carefully because it might bake faster and you want it to be golden brown not dark brown :0)

Cool completely and then spread with coolwhip and cover with fruit of your choice. I used blueberries, blackberries, and peaches that were frozen and peaches that were fresh.

 

Instead of using straight cool whip I mixed the cool whip with a box of instant vanilla pudding to make it stiffer. Next time I think I’ll first make the pudding according to the package instructions and fold it into the cool whip or whip cream and see how that works…

 

You can make this look a lot prettier and arrange the fruit more creatively. Enjoy the possibilities…

 

Thanks Bernideen for this fun, easy recipe!

I auto posted this for Saturday morning because Dear and I got up bright and early to hit the road from Seattle to Camarillo today. I’ll be brain dead for at least a couple days after we arrive late Saturday night. Hope you all have wonderful summer weekend!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

 

Dragon Hunt ~ Tolkien and Lewis

I only had to go as far as my bookcases in the livingroom to find these next Dragons I’m posting for my third installment and Melli’s 6th day of Dragon Hunt. Illustrations from books by two of my favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

Smaug the Golden ~ “One of the greatest Dragons of Middle-earth during the Third Age, a royal beast of great lineage and cunning whose first recorded appearance in the Annals of the Age was in the year 2770, when he came flaming out of the North to capture, sack and occupy the Dwarf-kingdom of Erebor east of Mirkwood. The attack was so successful that most of the Dwarves unfortunate enough to be caught inside the Lonely Mountain on that day were exterminated – and for good measure Smaug aslo destroyed the nearby Mannish town of Dale. After completing these labours, the Dragon crawled inside the Mountain and there gathered all the wealth of both Erebor and Dale into one vast heap, upon which he lay in contented slumber for nearly two full centuries.” (taken from The Tolkien Companion ~ J.E.A. Tyler)

 

This is from the cover of our hard bound copy of Farmer Giles of Ham ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

We also have a paperback of this same book.

 

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ~ by C.S. Lewis from The Chronicles of Narnia Series.

For more Dragon Hunt click over to Melli’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

My Blog Finally Has Some Color!!

Anyone notice anything new when you clicked over to The Happy Wonderer today? Yippee! Karen from Amusing Blog Designs helped a girl out and gave me the color and space I’ve desired for quite a long time. I’m going to post a larger collage right here just to enjoy the wonder of it all. Thank You Karen ~ It was great working with you! Oh and Lana G! gifted me the re-design for my birthday or something like that.

 

So have a little dessert and enjoy the flowers with me as I celebrate. Blessings…

Dragon Hunt Continued ~

Dragon Hunt with Melli

We were at our friends home and I spotted this guy among the toys strewn about the floor by the children playing. He cooperated for a photo shoot and my second Dragon for Melli’s Dragon Hunt was captured!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Vintage Thingees Thursday ~ The 2nd

It’s time again for Vintage Thingies Thursdays at Confessions of An Apron Queen!

 

I’m not sure if these vintage pot holders/hot pads are from Dear’s mother Verna or Dear’s Great, Great Aunt Emma. Either way they qualify for vintage…

 

 

Click on the link above to see more Vintage Thingies around the blogs…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Fun with Friends and Family

 

We have had some fun and fulfilling days this week with family and friends. Yesterday we headed to Dave and Jody’s house in Edmonds overlooking the Sound for swimming and food.

 

I had a little stroll about Jody’s garden and watched the bees enjoying it.

Finn charmed us with his cuteness. At one point in the evening, when no one was watching, Finn went into the bathroom and had fun with lots of toilet paper and grandmother’s lipstick!

We met and held sweet little Josee (pronounced JoeZay). She is 2 weeks old.

We also met for the first time, sweet Juliet, who is 4 weeks old and Josee’s cousin.

As if with all this sweetness we needed the desserts I brought (Recipes to follow soon)

Creamy Cheesecake and

Fruit Pizza (thanks Bernideen for the recipe) The recipe will make 2 round medium size pizza’s. I chose to do 1 large rectangular one.

Dave and Jody served Soft Fish Tacos made with barbecued Tilapia (Yummy) and Jan brought fruit. We always eat well when we get together.

 

The Sun going down beyond the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Penninsula. Thank you Dave and Jody for another wonderful time in your company!

Besides all this fun the guys have been busy, busy, working on our continuing basement project. I love it when my 3 guys are together working, laughing and just hanging out…

Dear and Dan assembling the new wheelbarrow they needed for mixing cement.

 

Josh mixing up the cement…

Dear and Dan pouring the cement down into cinder blocks with limited access.

Time flies when you’re having fun.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.