2 new additions!!

Well today was my birthday and oh what a wonderful day it was!!!   I took my brother out for lunch and we did some shopping then spent the afternoon with my sweet mommy getting 2 little 7 week old puppies!! If you remember back in feb she lost her buddy Axel and has been without any dogs since.  I cant remember a time without at least a couple of dogs around from the time my brother and I were born there were always dogs in our home filling our home with the pitter patter of puppy paws or giving us those special doggie kisses or just laying near us being our faithful pal!!
These 2 captured our hearts the minute we seen them.  They are boxer/lab mix just like my Buster Brown, one is even blonde the other is black with a bit of that boxer white stripe on her neck, and both are little girls.  Buster met them outside and played today so cute!! he always loves everything and everyone!!  I am so excited and this will also hopefully help him loose a bit of weight. 

Not sure of the names just yet but my mom liked Abby for the blonde one?  I will say she looks just like My Buster did when he was that size, she is a love bug, loves to cuddle, be held and just loved on!!  I held them the way home and both laid on my lap and fell asleep together. 

The little black one was the runt of the liter and oh just look at that little face!!it melts your heart!!  

they are just little cutie pies!!

Isnt she a doll!! 

And this one I think is gonna be full of the dickens!!  She is the explorer and full of spirit!!  Oh what fun!!  It has been a couple of years since we had the pitter patter of puppy paws around it is very welcomed!!  My dad wasnt too thrilled with getting 2 but when he got home from work tonight we laid the 2 babies on the couch right next to him, well the blonde one stretched right out alongside of him and was fast asleep, the black one laid on his pillow next to him!!  I THINK  HE IS SMITTEN with them already!!  And even though they said they arent gonna sleep on their bed!!HA NOT I can see them being curled up on the bed next to my mom and dad by the end of the week!!!  LOL

Hope yall had a great day and I will be back soon!!

Tomorrow is BRONSON WINTER MARKET kalamazoo!!

HUGS

Darlene

 **LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY**and SIMPLY~~CREATE SOMETHING EACH DAY!!

Snowy Saturday!

Hey yall!!  Here are a few things I made for markets last week.  Apple crisp with some of our apples we have had in my parents basement this winter. 

Nice and thick cinnamony crisp topping.  When they came out of the oven I drizzeled some cinnamon maple syrup ontop of each one. 

Pumpkin spice muffins almost ready to come out of oven. 

Mushrooms, eggplant, onions, peppers roasting for the calzones

Filling for my pot pies, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, green beans, peas, corn, and lots of herbs. 

Calzone ready to be folded

ready for baking

YUMMY they smell so good!!  My roasted veggie calzones

And this is what it was like outside thurs am!!  We went to bed on wed with green grass and a bit of rain, and woke up to a winter wonderland!! huge snowflakes comin down made it so absolutely gorgeous outside!!

looking down the drive towards the pasture

down the driveway by the farmstand those bushes along the right side of the drive were just hanging down so heavy with wet snow caked on them

Thought this was pretty!!  snow covered branches.  So it was all about winter the last couple of days round here!  That is ok just as long as it is over by march I am fine with snow now!! LOL

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Be back soon!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

paintin and bakin day

Hey Yall~~   Geezeeeee for some reason I have been gettin up way before I really need to so with all the extra hours this week I have been paintin in the early mornin and then bakin in the afternoon!   And of cource I did up more snowmen signs.  I so want to make them into xmas cards to send out but really need to get a different program for doin that on our puter.  *(on my xmas wish list) LOL 

This guy is reaching for the best snowflake around!****

I love that dark barn red against the blue backround it really stands out nice!

Still have to finish them but will try to work on them tonight or early tomorrow am since we have market csa drops tomorrow and then Bronson Winter Market on friday and a show on sat!! WHEWW~~ busy week.  As of right now I am definetly plannin on takin a nice long nap with my boys on Sunday!

decided to do non xmas thing.  This along with another one will be on a shutter! 

Another snowman this one I wanted to have him holdin somethin other than a wreath, so a tree in a pot and a bowl of gingers works. 

And this old metal coffee pot has been sittin in my studio for about a year now.  It was time to do something with it.  I am thinkin of stuffin it full of pines and a battery candle light and lots of glitter!! 

Here's the babka that I showed you the other day, these I filled with cinnamon and raisins. 

 FYI when bakin raisin bread I do NOT put any raisins on top of the bread anymore as in the convection oven the heat is intense and it really burnt the little guys that were ontop and they actually flew off of the bread!! LOOK OUR FLYIN RAISINS!! LOL   Susan told me once she made some puff pastry dough for baklava and topped a cheesecake with it and the layers were flyin around the oven like crazy!! 

These babkas are filled with a buttery streusel and a bit ontop

AND>>>>>>>>>> here is my favo of the day!!  I started out makin bread pudding then added orange zest and juice and chopped up fresh cranberries, and some pieces of walnuts!!   I did make a very nice creamy cinnamon sauce and added just a touch of cardamom to it to top it!!   We had to sample one and ours Susan mixed in a bit of brandy into the sauce!! WOW!! what a nice kick!!  It really made a wonderful addition! 

more cinnamon raisin babka.   I did add cinnamon sugar to the tops and misted them for a nice crispy top. 

And I made some more orange coconut macaroons.   they really arent 1/2 as good if they arent dipped in choc!!  and drizzled ontop a bit more.

YUMMY!!

So that is all I have to share at the moment!  I am off to the kitchen to make pierogi and some herbed biscuit loaves and cookies today! 

Hope yall have a wonderful wed!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Altered day

Well I found this great picture of my hubbys grandmother while diggin thru old photos looking for one to scrap on.  This one jumped out at me and yelled  "pick me"  LOL I love doing vintage items and this was perfect.

Long ago I bought a bunch of these plain wood signs for a dollar store wanting to make something well that didnt happen and until now. they have been layin in a drawer in my studio ever since.  I painted, sanded, antiqued the wood then used an old doilley she gave for the backround on it.  The pic is matted on a beautiful piece of some vintagey fabric looking paper, I love the black photo corners on this too.  Had them in a drawer also so I did use up some of my stash on this project.  I also made a bunch of coffee stained hang tags last year so used one of those, and the stamps I had and havent used in quite awhile but they are old typewriter key ones and fit this primitively perfect!  A couple of light pink millinary flowers and a tiny sprig of dried sweet annie oh and a pearly hat pin tied this all together!!

I am going to give it to her for mothers day.

Yesterday was all about baking and getting things ready for markets this week.  I made up a batch of my espresso cookies, my cranberry lemon pecan cookies, some of my apple oatmeal cookies, and worked on a new cookie of the week which I will post about tomorrow! And thanks to a great customer who had the idea of mking my caramel coconut delights even better I will be making those today.  Her idea was to use a dollop of chocolate ganache' on them then the caramel and coconut mixture.  I think that will be perfect!!   They are my version of the girl scout somoas.  I will post pics of those when I get home tonight.    I also made up my mixes for apple oat bread, triple berry muffins with a country crumb topping, and my peach cobblers.  Today will be a busy day so will talk to ya soon!! Have a blessed day!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

ALLEGAN MI MARKET THIS THURS 11-1 and BRONSON WINTER MARKET FRIDAY in
KALAMAZOO MI 10.30-2

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~