changes and adjustments

Yes,  There is a budget truck outside my home!!!!

My Baby boy married his precious bride and they are packing up to move to Kansas....

It is a beautiful snowy day for packing ...

and He had his best man, best friend here to help.

His sister's boyfriend also helped......

And His Daddy Helped.

They even packed Goofy, and Ribbety....

did I mention  my child is sentimental?????

But!!!!  Because of all this help.....

It did not take long to clean out his room....

and Break my heart!

But.... We raise our children for this time in their lives....

And love it when it happens......

But it can still hurt...

and create such mixed emotions....

But I can truly say,

I am so proud of my boy!

Love,

Catrina

last minute home made gift!!

This past fall, our craft group made wreaths out of scraps of fabric..

I needed a quick, but a nice Christmas Present.... 

and I thought about how simple these wreaths were...

So I chose to make a 'winter one' for my inlaws....

as they had a 'Christmas One'  but nothing else.

 I chose to use netting, instead of ribbon and fabric.

And a clearance winter ribbon....

I used a roll of netting, as it made it easier to cut rectangles.

With this netting, I used the same techinique as in the original post...

where you put the ends of the netting through the loop.

After putting on all the netting....

I added the blue ribbon.

To continue with the winter theme...

I added glittered, white styrofoam balls...

These, I just glued on with a hot glue gun...

I also added two winter 'picks' to continue with my theme.

All of this took me about 3 hours from start to finish.

It is work, but it is a simple, easy to make, And, it looks like a hard to make gift!

I would love to hear what your ideas are

for this type of wreath, but for the different seasons.

And, 

Remember....

in the busyness of this season...

Don't forget why we are celebrating .

Love,

Catrina

Apple Butter it Is!

I told you I would teach you how to make apple butter,

and I bet you were wondering if I really would do it,

so here it is, in time to make Christmas gifts.......

Now, when I did my apple butter,  I had two bushels of apples.

I know you are thinking;  I would never want to do that many apples.....

but!  You don't have too.  You can use this method with a smaller amount of apples...

To Begin:

Go through your apples, 

remove the bad and wash the good......

then cut in half and place in something to cook....

I used a roaster, but if you are making a smaller batch.... use a crock pot.....

You could even bake them in a roaster in the oven. 

Let the apples cook for a while.... like hours......

they need to be soft and mushy.....

honestly.... mine cooked for days! 

It wasn't because I needed to let them cook that long..

I was too busy to stop and finish the process..... 

After they cooked,  I squashed them through a sieve.....

but if you are making a smaller batch to try....

peel and core your apples before you cook them.....

then use a mixer and blend them up that way....

The sieve is to separate the pulp from the seeds, skins, and core....

It is amazing how much apple pulp you have and how little waste you have....

This is my waste for the whole roaster of apples........

You then put the apple pulp back into the roaster, or crock pot to let it cook down...

You add alot of brown sugar and even more cinnamon.....

You could add a touch of cloves or ginger...

whatever is your personal taste....

Let it cook down until it reaches the consistency you like....

We like ours really thick......

Once you complete that you can ladle your butter into clean jars.....

It lasts a very long time in the refrigerator....

If you are interested in canning them,

let me know and I will post  how to do that.

I was able to can about 24 quart jars.... 

Did I mention, my family LOVES apple butter.

Love,

Catrina

Sometimes,  life becomes too much....

It isn't one particular thing, but it can be many things that add up....

like,  new carpet ....

so all the furniture is everywhere.......

And stuff moved into my living space.......

And into the garage.......

Also, children at different cross roads in their lives....

A Wedding coming up....

my husband out of town for a week.....

and my private list goes on.

All of  this creates pressure for this mama.

All of this together can cause me to lose my....

Joy

So, how do I get it back????

It is just like this cup of coffee, 

it is something I always need to start my day ....

Beginning with the Word, and adding encouraging

and uplifting material to go with it....

And making myself focus on what is important,

Not what is going on around me....

What is sure and true,

Not what is confusing and leads to  panic....

By Focusing on

My Faith, my Family, and my Friends.

I cannot stop the turmoil...

I cannot change some aspects of life....

But I can change what I do with it....

By Keeping my focus, and Keeping my perspective...

How about you?

Love

Catrina

I'ma gettin' ready

A month from today, I want it all ready!!!

Because;  a month from tomorrow is my son's wedding.

He and his precious bride-to-be, Shelby.  Just love that girl!!!

We are going to be serving Cheesecakes for the reception.

Five different flavors, and 20 cheesecakes total.......

So to make the 'cake' table elegant, I wanted to use clear platter and....

I wanted different level serving platters,

yet, did not want to put in a lot of money.

Ta- Da!!!!!

 All six of these serving platters cost me less than twenty-dollars,  total!

I will share with you my secret..... but shhhhhh, don't tell anyone.....

I went to our glass outlet and purchase 8 platters for $1.00 each.

And then purchased 6 different bases from $1.00 to $3.00.

They were vases, margarita glasses, and candle holders.....

I used E-6000 glue, as I find it holds glass really well.

 I glued the base to the platters......

another base.....

As you can see, they still need to be cleaned!!!!

But what an easy, cheap, yet beautiful display for multiple layers....

As time approaches closer to the special day,

I will continue sharing my 'treats'.

Enjoy, and may your Christmas Season be blessed.

Love,

Catrina

It is that that time of year again.

Yep!  Time to carve the pumpkins.

Every year the kids ask me to roast the pumpkin seeds.

I never do it, because I do not like roasted pumpkin seeds.

I do not like the taste,  I do not like the texture and

I do not like the amount of work required to roast them.

Welllllll......  this year I decided to do something different.....

So... after the kids carved the pumpkins,

I took the seeds......

Yep!!  I took the slimey seeds and divided them from the stringy pulp.

And, I decided to deep fry them....

They needed to fry as long as they needed to bake, which seemed like forever.

But really,  it was only about 20 minutes or so....

They became a golden brown; sounds good, doesn't it?

They were then drained to remove as much of the grease as possible,

and then I freely poured on the cinnamon and sugar....

Yeah Baby!!!!!

And how do you think they tasted????

AWFUL!!!

So, I still do not like pumpkin seeds.....

But I love carved pumpkins....

What do you do with your pumpkins seeds????

Should I do something different to  make them taste better????

I would love to hear your ideas.

Love,

Catrina