Newest addition to my strawberry collection

My new bowl and tray set in place on the hutch for now.  Notice my McCoy salt & pepper shakers behind them.

 One really fun thing about having a collection of any sort is that when people know you collect a certain thing, they will gift you with items for your collection when they run across them.  I have been given some amazing items for my strawberry collection in this way.  (If you have not seen them, click on "strawberries" or "collections" in the label cloud at right to see more.)

It was in just such a way that I acquired this most recent item -- a lovely strawberry themed tray and bowl set.  I would think that the bowls would work nicely for dips and one could spread crackers on the tray -- or use the bowls for fruit dips and surround with bite-sized fruits.  Another thought would be to use the bowls for candies or relishes.  My friend Ruth found this set on a bargain-shopping expedition with some other mutual friends and decided it had to be mine!  Isn't she a thoughtful and generous friend? 

Just the tray -- notice it has a few strawberry blossoms on it as well.

Just the bowls

Bowls and tray together -- I love them!!!

Hope this look at my colorful new strawberry set has brightened your day! One thing about collecting strawberries -- their brilliant colors light up even dreary rainy days like this one.

Weekly goals for week beginning 5/27/2012

How did Monday roll around again so soon?  Goal-setting time again!  Here are mine:

*  Add to the last part of Sunday School lesson 8 to make it useable for this Sunday.
*  Finish study of Sunday School lesson 9
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for some small gifts and some felt food
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 5, the living room/Zone 1, the porch/entry/dining area.
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

And here's how last week went:

*  Continue study of Sunday School lesson 9 -- worked on this but did not complete it.
*  Limit sugar -- did pretty well with this until the weekend.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for some small gifts and some felt food -- did quite well with this but didn't accomplish all I'd hoped to.
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times -- I actually managed to exercise 6 times, so DONE!
*  Keep up a good water intake  -- did well enough with this to call it DONE!
*  Get to bed by 9:30 pm each night -- nope, it was 10 pm or later each night.
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- started well, but only managed to post 3 times.
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 4, the master bedroom.  -- did pretty well with this, but didn't accomplish all of the missions or do all that I had hoped to.
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE! and it is helping so much.

So all in all, it wasn't a perfect week.  But I'm thrilled with the progress, especially in the areas of planning and exercise.  Looking forward to a better week this week!

Memorial Day

Image from VintageHolidayCrafts.com

I would like to wish all of my readers a blessed Memorial Day.  For many, it is a long weekend and a time of enjoying friends, family and the outdoors.  From what I have read of history, this day got its start after the Civil War in April 1866 when a small group of young women decorated the graves of their lost loved ones at a cemetery near Columbus, Mississippi.  Both Union and Confederate soldiers who died at the Battle of Shiloh are buried here, and these young women, after tending the graves of the Confederate soldiers, walked over and scattered magnolia blossoms on the Union graves as well.  News of their compassionate act spread quickly and soon Decoration Day, as it was then called, became an important American holiday.  Today, Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday in May, is a day to honor all who have fought in America's wars.  Here in New England, we often take some time on this day to visit our cemeteries,  taking plants or silk flowers, or even a jar of lilacs. to decorate the graves of our loved ones.  Mr. T and I will probably be doing just that later on,

So enjoy the day with your family and friends, with parades, picnics, cookouts, or whatever you may be doing, but take a moment sometime today, and remember the brave men and women who gave their all so that we could be free.  And don't forget to pray for those equally brave men and women who are serving our country in difficult places right now. 

A patriotic pie -- Red, White & Blueberry Pie

(Photo by Taste of Home)

 I have been making this pie for special summer occasions for many, many years and have posted the recipe before, but with Memorial Day coming up I thought I would share it again.  Here is the link to one of my past posts of the recipe:  Red, White, and Blueberry Pie.  I originally found the recipe in Taste of Home magazine, years and years ago.


I've tried making this with frozen berries.  The frozen raspberries work perfectly, which is great because they are much less costly than fresh ones.  But frozen blueberries don't work as well, so I prefer to use the fresh blueberries for this. Hope your family enjoys this pie if you give it a try!

A sweet treat -- Cinnamon Roll Cookie Bars

Photo by Blissful Whimsy

 Here is a delicious recipe which I recently tried for a church potluck dessert:  Cinnamon Roll Cookie Bars.  I made these with a gluten free yellow cake mix as the author suggests at the end of her post.  They came out very good!  The only thing I changed was to use only about 2 to 3 teaspoons of cinnamon rather than the 1 and 1/2 tablespoons called for.  I thought I wanted my cinnamon flavor just a bit less intense.  It was cinnamon-y enough for me with that amount. 

These bars are very easy to make and have delightful flavor for just a small amount of effort.  Hope your family enjoys these bars if you try them!

Another fabulous Gooseberry Patch giveaway at Faithfulness Farm!

(Photo by Faithfulness Farm)

Yes, Gail, over at Faithfulness Farm, is doing another fabulous giveaway of a new Gooseberry Patch book -- The Harvest Table.  Gail is one of Gooseberry Patch's early bird reviewers, so she shares recipes and reviews on this post and will be sharing a few more on an upcoming post.  Gail is actually giving away 2 copies of The Harvest Table -- which looks fantastic!  -- and each book will be accompanied by a beautiful Faithfulness Farm apron and tea towel set.  You will want to check out this giveaway, so head over there right away -- Harvest Table Giveaway!

Goals for week beginning 5/20/2012

Here are my major goals for this week:

*  Continue study of Sunday School lesson 9
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for some small gifts and some felt food
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 4, the master bedroom.
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

And here's how things went with last week's goals:

*  Continue study of Sunday School lesson 9 -- made progress on this but didn't complete it.
*  Limit sugar -- did okay, but could do much better.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for some small gifts and some felt food -- completed some felt food, but didn't accomplish all I would have liked to.
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times -- exercised 5 times, so DONE! 
*  Keep up a good water intake -- DONE!
*  Get to bed by 9:30 pm each night -- accomplished this probably more than half of the time.
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- DONE!
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 3, the bathroom -- I managed these nearly every day, so I am calling this  DONE!  (Plus Kelly also assigned guest room missions, and I got some of those done too.)
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

The time schedule is really helping me to accomplish more of my goals.  I am so thankful for the Lord bringing this to my mind and helping to live each day more effectively for His glory.