Enjoy . . . → Read More: Enjoy This Day]]>
Gluten free pumpkin pancake with recipe from here.  One egg over easy.

Enjoy this day.

Enjoying the Alice in Wonderland tree.

Over the weekend, I went into . . . → Read More: Gluten Free Pizza and Fur Lined Boots.]]> Good Monday morn, dear readers! Today is a rainy day here. Gray. Cold. But the little Rose Cottage apartment is warm and cozy inside. I am counting all the things this morning that I feel happy about — lots to be thankful about here in America.

Enjoying the Alice in Wonderland tree.

Over the weekend, I went into Target to see about boots that might be on clearance. You know, friends, the department stores are already putting out swimsuits? Yeah. Swimsuits. So, looking for a winter-something, I totally, completely lucked out!

You see, there is a pair of fur-lined boots here at the apartment that I found (looking just about brand new) at G.W. Boutique a year ago, and Michaela and I have literally worn them out. The back part of the sole is coming away from the boot, which exposes the heel of the foot, and what is the point of wearing them? They are similar to the Ugg boots, only an off brand. I just wanted something to replace them with. I do not have to have official anything, especially not fur lined boots.

So I went to Target.  I had just about given up on finding any, when I knelt down to look into the back of a clearance shelf down low, and there they were — just one pair left!! — a pair of size 8, brown, fur lined boots for 10 dollars. I also got a similar pair of fur-lined slipper boots which are perfect for me around the apartment complex during the day, for only 5 dollars. That was a big score!  Something to be happy about.  But let’s talk food, shall we?

I am also happy about a gluten free pizza I made over the weekend. Folks, unless you have gone gluten-free and been without pizza for a long time (a year plus), you just don’t know how much you miss the occasional slice of chewy bread covered in veggies, pepperoni and cheese… Hmmmm. So, I have been looking for websites and have found one that I have tried a couple of things from: Gluten Free Goddess. Everything I have read on her site makes sense. The things I have tried from there have been great. Including the pizza. Mind you, my children could tell the difference in this crust compared to traditional white-flour pizza crust, but I think it was great!

First of all, here is the recipe.

Here is the dough in process.

Hmm.  I am terrible for leaving cabinet doors open when I am cooking.  See all the vitamins?  And mortar and pestle for grinding them up for smoothies?  I digress.

This dough was really easy to work with, and I followed the recipe instructions for wetting my hands and smoothing the dough out on the baking pan.

One thing that was a little tricky to me was that the crust seemed to split around the edges.  But I took a spatula and pushed the dough in around the edges, over and over, smoothing it and making sort of a rim around the edge.  It seemed to work fine.

Finally, my gluten free pizza, all ready to eat.   Yum!!!

One thing I will say is that I might have done well to use a bit more water and work the edge more.  Also, I felt like the dough was too thick in some areas, so I need to spread it more evenly — it’s drier and more dense than what I am used to for pizza crust, you know, back in the good ol’ days when I could eat gluten.  Michaela called it “crumbly” but it was not.  I think she was just not used to the texture.  For moisture’s sake, I added more tomato sauce and toppings to the second one I made.   But overall, this recipe gets a huge thumbs up from me!  I won’t tell you how many slices of pizza I had yesterday.  Oh, okay.  Five!

And while we are talking about eating, and overeating, and loving every bite of it, I may as well show you what I have been hooked on lately.  You may not even be able to tell what this is…

That, friends, is a sweet potato fry, dipped in a mixture of local honey and Newman’s Own Ranch dressing.  There is something about that mix that I LOVE.  I often eat a plate of these fries for lunch.  (Someone roll me to the treadmill.)

Finally, let’s talk crafts.  One of my new millinery pins got lots of compliments over the weekend, as I wore it on my dress all day yesterday!  It prompted the transaction of handing out two business cards.  Some day, my dream is to work only with my crafts — my dolls and accessories — and whatever else I feel like making or growing.  (If I can dream it, I can do it.)

This is not the best picture — fuzzy, flash fades everything, I know, but anyway, in addition to the flower this picture also shows you the latest G.W. find.  A beautiful sweater in excellent shape.  Another 4 dollar score as my other faithfully-goes-with-everything, winter white sweater is just about worn completely out.

Friends, can I squeeze in one more thing?  Just look how sweet Michaela’s game board looks framed?  It is so cheery and bright, I love it!  I think it needs not just a poster frame, but a REAL frame.    Okay.  Well.  That’s all.  Being quiet now. Sort of.  In just a minute more.

I want to close with a comment someone left for me that ended up in spam, and well it should have.  I get hundreds of comments that do go straight to spam.  Read this and you’ll know why:

We are a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with valuable info to paintings on. You have done a formidable task and our entire neighborhood will likely be grateful to you.

So, folks, somewhere there is a gaggle of volunteers and an entire neighborhood grateful to me.  Wow.

Enjoy this day!

Do you ever cry in your sleep?  I did last night.  It woke me up.  Ah, do not think I am sad, but just understand that sometimes in my dreams I can see what might have been.  It is so real, I could touch it.  But I know, even in my dreams, that it did . . . → Read More: Gifts From A Garden]]> Dear Friends,

Do you ever cry in your sleep?  I did last night.  It woke me up.  Ah, do not think I am sad, but just understand that sometimes in my dreams I can see what might have been.  It is so real, I could touch it.  But I know, even in my dreams, that it did not work out that way.  So I dry my tears and go back to sleep.  It mostly involves my children and a few other dreams that I had for homelife and hearth.

My garden.  I cannot say I have cried in dreams over my garden, but I guess my garden will always live in my heart.  I also know that God’s creation of fertile North Carolina earth is beautiful where ever it is, and I can plant a garden somewhere new someday.  Still I miss my garden and the time I spent poking around in the soil and breathing in the beautiful smell of pure dirt.

So it is that I am appreciating a wonderful gift today.  A gift from a friend’s garden.  ‘Twas a basketful of harvested herbs, representing another’s work, dreams, and time spent outside laboring away in one of the most beautiful little gardens ever.   My children and I will sit down with this mass of thyme and a mass of dried dill.  We will strip the leaves and get lost in the smell of a garden again.

When my dear friend handed me the basket, it was so much more than dried herbs.  It was a sharing of her own hard work.  It was an “I’m sorry that things did not go like you wanted them to.”  It was a hug.  It was faith and hope.  She offered me to come putter around in her potting shed any time I want to.  It was friendship.

Drying tears.  Drying herbs.

Thankfully I kept the beautiful little glass spice jars with their perfect cork tops, purchased last year for a co-op about medicine in Colonial times.

The pretty “medicine tool box.”

Medicine.    And pretty medicine containers . (I spent hours on those steps.  )

Anyway, will be sure and show you the finished product and share some fun pictures of the storing!

Now, as promised, I put a few more ALICE ornaments on THE ALICE TREE to finish up CHAPTER 4.

Nearly bedtime (or way past).  Long day spent working, shuttling kids, doing paperwork, making pins and cooking.  Tired?  Yes.  Content?  Very.

Yesterday we read Chapter 5.  Today we will read Chapter 6.  So stay tuned for the next ornaments to go on THE ALICE TREE.

John Tenniel ornament.

Enjoy this day!  It will be another busy day here, but I am trying to just pursue JOY.  Here’s to JOY.

One joy dispels a hundred cares. ~oriental proverb

Joys are our wings; sorrows our spurs.  ~Richter

Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn,
and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.  ~John Steinbeck

Here’s also to change.

Is there a list of horrible bloggers?  Am I at the top of that list?  Oh my!  I say I am going to do better and then I disappear off the face of the earth, or so it would seem.

I am trying to decide which little ‘shroom face will most get me off the . . . → Read More: What A Fortnight!]]> My Dear Friends,

Is there a list of horrible bloggers?  Am I at the top of that list?  Oh my!  I say I am going to do better and then I disappear off the face of the earth, or so it would seem.

I am trying to decide which little ‘shroom face will most get me off the hook.  Is it the tired mushroom in the front?  The sleepy one who is worn completely out and has done too much?  Is that me?  Will you forgive me, if I look so tired?

Or is that me in the back, sort of hiding under the beard of Old Man Mushroom, scared that I have totally blown my blog by being absent for TWO WEEKS!?  Which is it?   

Ahh, well, I think we are all still happy members of The Standing and Staring Club.  Are we?  (Please say yes.)

As you can see, I have been busy, busy, busy making mushrooms from clay, with their funny and sweet and sleepy and most serious faces!!

Some were for gifts, some for selling, and some sit sweetly on my kitchen counter, making me smile while I am steaming my vegetables and talking to John and Michaela.

And just to show you how busy I have been, here is me going not slo-mo but fast-mo across Rose Cottage, in my hurry to keep everything done! 

Actually, I wanted to share this picture because you can see the red and white afgan in the back of the room, which I pull out for Christmas only, because it was handmade by my late maternal grandma, Jewel, who I miss so much!  It makes me think of her to see this bright red and white gracing my couch.

Yes, busy time of year it is and busy time of my life it is.  On a sad note, but a note of update (since those things are necessary), I have been gone from the old house for 9 months now.  Does it seems so?  No.  Not to me either.  And my legal separation papers are signed.  And life seems to be moving on for me, and for the carpenter, in different directions.  I won’t discuss the carpenter here.  No.  It would not be fair.  But some things must be so.  I hope my update is not offensive to anyone.  I know many of us have different beliefs and different guidelines…  Friends we all are, and you deserve an update from time to time.

I must say, one of the little material things I miss most from the old house is my rustic spice cabinet which had quite the story of love behind it.  I am sure you remember the old spice cabinet (referenced in linked post as my most favorite thing). 

Yeah, there is is.  Still bolted to the wall.  Not mine anymore.

Alas, I got in the mood to make another rustic sort of space for my spices, and a recent trip to The Scrap Exchange gave me all I needed.

Between a vintage dresser drawer, discarded heavy cardboard boxes, and a wooden box with one drawer missing, I ended up with a spicy storage unit to sit on my kitchen counter.  I love it!

The drawer itself has personality plus!  The decoupaged boxes sit inside, all bright and cheery, holding my ever growing spice collection.

I mean, I had to start from scratch with the spices because the carpenter has the spices that were (are) in the old cabinet as well.  (Well, I did take my large bottle of vanilla extract.)

Every new thing, every new-to-me old thrifted thing, every day — it all becomes a part of Rose Cottage and me and my children and seems to take us one more step from the sadness that was a huge part of my life. 

Paper, paper, paper and more paper.  Love paper!  Yes I do!

I ended up making about 150 gift tags.  It feels so good just to look at them!  I love the sweet Victorian children in their nightgowns holding lanterns or candles, the old homeplaces surrounded by farm and snow, the deer in the woods, and the Victorian couples!  I love it all!

It’s so much fun to hand someone a stack of 10 or 15 gift tags, just because.

Yesterday I gave some to my mom and my aunt.  Today I passed some on to a dear friend. 

As well, the little clay man I made not too long ago, was dressed and given a tray of flowers, and his story came together as it happened.  He is American, but has a Japanese grandfather.  (Can anyone say Grandfather’s Journey? The lovely book by Allen Say.)  Anyway, this little man just made me think of Japan.  He has a lovely Japanese garden and grows the most lovely flowers to place in his simplistic home.  His wife loves them!  The only thing, I want him to have two names: an American name and a Japanese name.  What in the world will they be? 

He’s my new favorite.  At least for now.  Seems every time I make one of these dolls, that’s what happens.

Yeah, the more this little man came together, the more it reminded me of the lovely story, Grandfather’s Journey, and the times I read it to my children.  It was one of our Five In A  Row books we used in homeschooling.

Oh.  I really have to go.  Work calls.  And so does so much else!

Let me say in closing that I am still have way too much fun with clothes!  I go into G.W. Boutique several times a week and usually find a new dress.  It’s a habit I can afford.  Actually, since Michaela and I can share clothes, we have both had so much fun with this!  She wears the new dresses too and we both think it’s just the best thing!

I hope your day is wonderful!  Until next time…

Enjoy this day!  Take joy!

Ingredients

1/2 cup sifted coconut flour 1 cup natural peanut butter 1-1/2 cups brown sugar 4 eggs 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp salt

Mix together peanut butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt.  Stir in coconut flour.  Batter will not be thick.  Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie . . . → Read More: Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies]]> Tried this recipe and they were good!  I’ve had a request to share it, so here goes!

Ingredients

1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
1 cup natural peanut butter
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together peanut butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt.  Stir in coconut flour.  Batter will not be thick.  Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 14 minutes.  Cool and remove from cookie sheet!

Yum!

There was a bountiful harvest this morning, fresh from The Tame Little Garden.

Now.  I could tell a big fib and say I grew the bananas and the strawberries in my office, but I bet someone would see right through that.   So I’m gonna stick to the truth and tell  you that I grew only . . . → Read More: Fresh From The Tame Little Garden]]> My Dear Friends,

There was a bountiful harvest this morning, fresh from The Tame Little Garden.

Now.  I could tell a big fib and say I grew the bananas and the strawberries in my office, but I bet someone would see right through that.   So I’m gonna stick to the truth and tell  you that I grew only the chives.

Yes, the chives came with me from the old garden, The Little Wild Garden, a little garden that has a lot of me in it–a lot of my sweat, dreams and some of my heart.  And many creatures that I encouraged to take up residence there.  These chives started as babes, were separated and planted in pots, ready to sell at the farmer’s market, but that’s a thing of the past.  Now, I have two pots of chives in my bright office window. 

Did you know that chives belong to the onion genus, or Allium?  The “hot” smelling oil in these plants contains sulphur, which is a good germ fighter.  Chives have not traditionally been used as heavily medicinally as onions and garlic, simply because they do not have as much of this oil.  Still, it’s there, and in The Tame Little Garden, chives are my sulphur-rich herbs.

I love that I can grow chives inside.  It’s one herb that will do okay inside.  They do need full sun, so they need a very sunny window, and they like to be used.  Leaf blades can be cut down to about 1 inch from the soil and used in soups, salads, as garnish.  When cold weather arrives, it’s best to put the pots outside and let the foliage be killed back by the frost.  Bring them in again and they’ll come back out.

In other news, a name for my little cottage is still floating around in my mind.  I worked out at the gym again tonight, and last night, so that’s three nights in a row, folks!  What are we going to do with me?  My my my! 

The gym had several people already there when we got there tonight.  Sometimes Michaela and I have the gym quite to ourselves, but then sometimes there’s lot of people there.   Tonight, actually, there was a very pretty, trim, fit, muscular, (did I say pretty?) lady on the treadmill, and she had on real workout clothes.   I was dressed in high-water gray sweats, bright pink Valentine’s day socks, and an assortment of T-shirts and tank tops.  Thank goodness the tanktop was long.  And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.  Except that I was also wearing my running shoes from 1987.   But I did smile.  Yes, you can always wear a smile.  No matter what else you happen to have on.  And just for the record, she had a smile on too.  And so did her male exercise partner.  I didn’t pay much attention to his clothes.  Mostly because I figured if I didn’t pay much attention to his clothes he wouldn’t pay much attention to mine.   At that particular moment, I felt like I’d be more comfortable if I also had a poncho on (for obvious reasons) but that might just attract more attention, so I crossed that thought out of my mind and went on riding on my exercise bike like I was there all the time, and where had they been, by the way. 

Have I ever told you how much I like having a public blog on which to pour out thoughts and ramble on? 

On that note, I shall depart to my bedroom chamber and take up where I left off in my book, which is a secret book until I decide to tell you all about it.

I hope you enjoyed this day.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there by any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on . . . → Read More: Whole Foods and The Little Wild Garden]]> My dear readers, I was thankful for lovely words in my mind upon getting up this morning.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there by any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  (Phil 4:8)

Good for copywork, I think.

Yesterday the weather here was really nice.

I took a walk in The Little Wild Garden.  I admired Faithful, our dogwood, realizing that I have not journaled about her again and that I need to.  Coming soon to a blog near you.

Much to my delight, there were snowdrops in bloom around the goldfish pond.  Aren’t they sweet little flowers!  I wandered over to see if the hellebores showed any signs of blooming.  There is new growth, but no sign of a bloom yet.

The sun was so bright!  The air was warm enough to turn the fountain on for the goldfish.  My goldfish pond does not have a heater, so if it’s too cold (think ice) I can’t turn the pump on to run the water that climbs up through the fountain and runs back down.  I do love that splashing sound.

The birdseed fills the feeder that hangs, of course, from Faithful’s branches.  (Note to self:  Journal soon about your dogwood. )   The birds make me happy while I’m typing.

I consoled myself (over the fact that here it is cold February, which sometimes can get a person down) knowing that there will soon be daffodils in bloom in The Little Wild Garden.  The little neighbor girls will ask if they can have one. 

I’ll say, “Yes, take two.” 

They’ll make us all very happy.

Finally, friends, it is quite the chore keeping enough food for a crowd.  Remind me.  Is six a crowd?  I thought so.

Anyway, I’ve been buying the organic broccoli that’s on sale locally and keeping it cut up for dipping in Newman’s Own Ranch Dressing (I could drink that stuff).  I hate throwing out the broccoli stems, and yet they are rather tough and not as delicious as the crowns for dipping.  I decided to cut them into chunks and then run them through the food processor with some sweet onion.   Used in a recipe I have for broccoli quiche, with venison sausage, oh my did it turn out lovely!  I went ahead and made four of them, because three boys gathered around the table can eat one whole quiche as a “snack.”

Broccoli Quiche – Meant to make one deep dish quiche

Pastry or shell for deep dish pie shell
1 to 1-1/3 cups half and half (I use 2% milk)
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
4 oz swiss cheese, grated
6 eggs, beaten until frothy
1 bunch fresh broccoli — steamed and chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chopped cooked meat (in my case, venison sausage)

Combine all ingredients.  Pour into uncooked pie shell(s).  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. 

Now, I doubled this recipe, using only 12 eggs, 2-2/3 cups of milk, only cheddar cheese (no swiss)–and probably more of it than called for as far as cheese in total, and lots of venison sausage.  It came out fine.  I made four regular pie crust sized quiches (not four deep dish).   The point is, I think this recipe can be altered quite a bit.  You just need to have enough egg (and milk/moisture) to hold whatever else you’re putting in.  Twelve eggs for four regular pie crusts worked out well, but I did have the added moisture of probably a cup and a half of broccoli and sweet onion for two of them. 

Anyway, I am thankful today for food and the fact that I can easily walk, even, to a local fresh market and get good things.

I’m working on my goal to have 10 new things in the shop by the end of the day.

Enjoy this day.