HAPPY NEW YEAR!~~

Hope you have a  HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEARS!! 2011 here we come!!

Well I played a bit with one of my xmas gifts, yepper another kitchen gadget!! LOL A mini donut maker and they are baked NOT FRIED!! so healthy at that!  I whipped up a batch of my favo red velvet cake and tried some in this cool new toy.

Hubby will be home from work early today so thought they would make a nice little snack for him.

I made a quick vanilla glaze and topped them with a bit of crystal red sugar.  OK so they so are not the ones you are used to buying at all!! but they are good and oh so cute to eat!  Not full of grease and calories either!

Cute!

We have decided to stay in tonight at home and ring in the new year with the boys!  I so hate having to leave them alone, especially this time of year it becomes increasingly difficult to leave the house since I am home more and they really love having mommy home with them.  I take them to do errands with me, or when I go out to get mail or do chores someone goes with me and we play and oh their favo thing to do is we all take a nap on the couch!!  They really do get happy!!  they play and get vocal and climb on the couch near me and get comfy cozy and they are out!!   Thank goodness we have an extra large couch and the ends recline so there is plenty of room.  They get happy when daddy comes home and we all go to sleep together at night too!!  about 10 min of playin around and tossing blankets and making their beds in their blankets.

AHHHHHH so much fun!! love these guys!!

So have a happy happy happy new year and I will be back with more in 2011!! (seems so strange to say that)

Thanks for all the nice comments in 2010 and for the support here and at our farm we surely couldnt do this without all our great customers!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

50 degrees!!

It is already 38 degrees and they are predicting in the 50s today!! crazy mi weather we are havin this december!!   I really hope we get all the snow in jan/feb then more like spring march april may !! yeah right!!

I know I am dreamin

Here are a few pics from xmas at my inlaws house!  We had alot of fun!! 

Hubby's Grandpa Bill with Carissa the youngest member in the family.

Family pic, for once someone is NOT doing anything crazy!! ususally someone is looking away or being silly or for another example while my inlaws were remodeling their home they had one shade up and one shade down on the windows in back of us, or they had the windows covered with sheets before they put up their new curtains, just little things like that!! kind of disappointing that this looks pretty normal!! LOL

My sleepy little guys on the couch next to me!  Barney still has to lay somewhere on Buster!

AND here we have GRANDMA JAN!!  Being silly!!

someone gave her this great santa hat bra for xmas and she walked in wearin it for us!  She is a kidder and we love her very much!!  I told her she needed jingle bells on the pompoms!!  LOL  next year I think all girls should wear santa hats (on their heads) for our family pic.  And they guys should wear antlers but I am about positive that wont be happening!!  We are just missing the "boys" in our family pic. 
So I am off to work on a magazine submission I have been playin around with the deadline is jan 7 and that is fast approaching!!  I will share it when I can with yall!!  Hard to think about summer stuff when we are in the start of winter. but you have to be ahead of the game and ready when they need to get them on time to print! 
Have a happy happy thurs and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! hope it is a joy for yall and be safe!!!
HUGS
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

santa video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddVZOK_9UUI
Ok I have been doin a happy happy HAPPY dance all day long and have to share the reason why!!  I was sent this you tube video last winter and my dear friend MIKE and I played this at work so much we could do this word and action for action!! We laughed so much and he loved this video as much as I did and do!!  Finally finding it today and watching it brought back so many nice memories of Mike (who passed away just before Thanksgiving this fall) and our crazy wild days at work. This is my absolute favo of all time and now I am saving it forever!  Mike was the Santa and I was the white reindeer in our little skits at work in his office and at the desk. 
FUN FUN FUN!! I hope yall enjoy it!~
I will be back tomorrow!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Christmas pics

WOW!!  I sure hope yall had as wonderful of a Christmas as we have had!!   We still have to have xmas with my parents and brother which is tonight and  is gonna be wonderful too.  

So here is a gift I made for my sil it was their xmas card so I took it apart and made a framed page for them.  Using my super great Martha Stewart snowflake punch I added the flakes topped with a clear gem in the center of each one.  The snowman is so cute he was cut out from a piece of My Minds Eye paper, oh and the backround paper is from the glitter christmas pack by MY MINDS EYE from last year.   I added the 2010 foam stickers and also sprinkled just a bit of diamond glitter to it. 

A few pics of some of the cookie trays we delivered this week.

Dressed nice and festive!!

Here is a Westfahl/Herp family pic!!  we took the pics late at night next year we are gonna take em early!!  so we all look fresh and ready!!

This was a glass block lamp I made my mil and for some reason only have the one pic of it!~! URGGGGGGGGG!! not sure what I was doin!!   I printed one of the signs I painted out after shrinking it down and added some scrap papers and flakes and glitter to it.  For a punch of color I wrapped red gingham homespun around the edges of the lamp. 

2 of my tuckered out boys.  Buster and Barney always lay together on the couch and look so cute!! 

Barney just has to touch his big brother! LOL  Bubba was on my recliner on the heating pad snoozin!  and snoring! I absolutely adore this little putz house!! all decked out for xmas! Maybe this winter I might just work on making a few of these for gifts.  I bought some of the ornie houses after the holidays last year and still havent done anything with them so maybe this winter!!  I want to cut out the windows and add xmas lights so they light up.  This one is just too dang sweet and was made by Melissa Philips !!

The boys had a blast opening their presents!!  Santa brought them lots of toys and treats!!

Buster opening presents  Buster has taught the other boys how to open them too as he is quite an experienced present opener!!  He started doin it the first year we got him when he was just 8 weeeks old and loves to open all of them!! 

Bubba checkin out one of the toys he opened

Barney enjoyed it too!! he has learned how to open them and quickly moves onto hte next one!! LOL

He loves his new gorilla which has squeakers all thru the arms, legs and it's body!   Love seeing them happy and having fun!!

I am off to cook some things to take to my parents tonight.

Have a wonderful night!!

HUGS

Darlene

 ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

homemade christmas

WOW tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!  We celebrate tomorrow at my inlaws house and have a big ol party!!  We exchange gifts and this year like all the others LOL I have a little surprise for my sweet sister in law!! ROFL!!   One year she wrapped up a huge box, yes she probably needed 2 rolls of wrapping for this box and inside was all papers rolled up and a pkg of toilet paper.   We all laughed as he unwrapped box after box and dug thru all the wadded up papers.  SOOOOOOOOOO we have gotten her each xmas with various gags.  This year being no exception!!!  I wont go into all the details right now as she may read this before tomorrow but it will be fun for her!! 
So I made most of my xmas gifts and this was an order for a dear friends father.  Make the rest of your life the best of your life is the quote on it and I just love it!! so made him one also for his house!!

I made this super soft chocolate thumbprints and filled them after baking with some homemade chocolate ganache then top with a bit of holiday "bling" the xmas sprinkles.

I tried a new recipe from my newest better homes and gardens cookie holiday book and they were a bit hit with hubby!! He ate almost all of the first batch of them so I had to triple the next batch.   Love the cane shape, the only alteration I made to thier recipe was to eliminate the peppermint exratc (we dont do minty things here ) and used pure vanilla extract instead. and added some red sanding sugar before baking for "bling"

You mix in a few drops of red food color and very lightly incorproate into your dough so you get a marble effect. 

With a filled pastry bag fitted with a large large (number 21 tip worked good) pipe out the dough unchilled into canes. 

With that same recipe I made some round rosettes topped wtih sanding sugar and holiday nonparielles. 

AND here are my boys with SANTA!! to wish yall a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!~    LOL my favo pic of them with Santa.  The only one that they are all looking straight ahead and Buster is smiling of cource!! he LOVES his picture to be taken!!  Barney the baby isnt quite sure why his mommy is across the room and not holding him!! and Bubba was trying to stretch to see daddy who was around the doorway watching~  Oh they are my sunshine on a cloudy day kids!!!

I do hope yall have a blessed holiday~!~  And please dont forget to remember all the fine young men and women who are sacrifising their holiday at home with famly to ensure our safety and our country overseas in the military and also please try to give a little something to your local shelters.  I wish so I could tale all the unwanted strays home and give them a happy happy life they so deserve!!!  One day when I get that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow I am opening a shelter rescue here at home for animals!! promise that!!

 Dogs and Cats count on us to take good care of them and God entrusts us with their lives!!  and they really give alot of unconditional love in return for nothing!!

Candy cane spritz cookies

3/4 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

red food coloring

(white chocolate and crushed peppermint candies)

preheat oven to 375 degrees, in lg mixing bowl cream butter for 30 seconds, mix in sugar and  baking powder.  Beat until well combined.  Beat in egg and extract.  Mix in flour.

Divide dough in 1/2 add 3 drops of red food coloring to dough mixing only enough to marble the dough.  Fill a fitted pastry bag with dough (I used the large #21 star tip) pipe out candy canes or just straight lines if you prefer onto  cookie sheet.   Bake for 8-9 minutes until golden on edges.

Dip each end into melted white chocolate and sprinkle with candy cane pieces.  (I didnt do this on mine

Makes about 60 cookies. 

Have a great night!~ Talk more this weekend!!

HUGS

Darlene and "the boys"

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Christmas week

My goodness it is almost here!!  5 days until Christmas!! 
It was a difficult weekend for me as I sure miss my little shadow Fred.  Hubby and I burried him under a big pine tree in the yard where he can watch everything goin on.  He loved to sit and just watch people come and go to the farmstand and he sat and watched the birds, never bothered any of them either.  So he is probably layin around kitty heaven enjoyin everything roud him.

My mom and I went to a fiber/yarn store and bought some great different kinds of wool and fibers to make a couple of scarves for gifts and a couple for sale.   This one is called Dark Espresso bean.   IT has some alpaca wool, the smokey grey color, some awesome dark brown/ivory and black fun fringey kind of yarn, some bamboo fiber yarn, and some great wool white and grey yarns all mixed in.  This one is FOR SALE!!   $22.00 plus travel expenses, it is a long long one for wrapping and it is so soft and cozy it will be sure to keep your neck nice and warm not to mention quite fashionable!!   Long fringes have been stitched in at the bottoms, 77 in long from fringe to fringe, the fringeys are 10in long.  This is also 8 inwide all handcrocheted in different stitches for a fun one of a kind scarf.

Meet Lizzy

Lizzie our newest addtion who is just a kitten was left on our doorstep a couple of weeks ago is really being more of a little lover than ever.  She was right by Fred that mornin and really clung to him as if to know something bad was happening to him.  We came home one night and heard cryin and low and behold there was a little black kitten on our porch who was friendly and same as Fred walked in the house when I opened to door and quickly became one of the family!!  She is very very affectionate and so sweet!!

AND>>>>>>>>>>> here are some pics from the house I told yall about nearby.   LOOK at the house in backround from the snowman!! IT shows just how tall he is and quite impressive!!   They have xmas music playing around and it just makes ya smile!! and say WOW!!

Love the little caroling snowmen!!

The next pics are some I quickly snapped at our sale the other night in Douglas at Everyday People's Cafe!!  We had so much fun and really enjoyed all the friends we havent seeen in awhile stop on by and chit chat!!

Wendy a new friend of mine! yes!! that is a squirrel on her back!! LOL She's quite a gal!! 

My friend Ruth and I had to split a table which is fine by me she and I did quite a few shows together this fall and I really enjoy being with her!!  She makes and sells homemade ALL natural herbal products!! awesome awesome balms, and herbal tea mixes.  I can say I have used her healing balm, her cold care balm and her sore muscle balm now and they really really make a difference!! But i LOVE LOVE LOVE the sweet sleep balm infused with lavender for one herb!!  Love to cuddle in bed and smell lavender!

some more pics of items that were available for purchase.

Lovin these recycled wool mittens!! so nice and warm!!

So that is about it for today I have to get busy and finish making the orders and then get to making up the cookie trays to deliver this week.

I will take lots of pics of everything I am doing as I am makin a couple of gifts for family that are new and uinque and fun.   The boys are gettin excited to as we told them we met SANTA this past weekend and told him they have all been very good and he is gonna bring lots of presents for them in only 5 days!! WOO HOO!! and it is suppossed to start snowing tomorrrow!!**** yeah!~ hope so!!

Have a wonderful monday!!

HUGS

Darlene

  ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~