we love it like this

It was 80 degrees here yesterday, and we grilled fajitas for dinner. Outside.

Today it was 30 degrees. And with that, some sleet and snow, as observed here:



Everytime we have any snow, we always take pictures, because snow is so rare for us in Texas. The pictures look the same every year, but oh well, it's fun taking them, lol!

Here's what was going on inside...




Some hot chocolate. With chocolate whipped cream, of course.

And on it's way into the oven, some broccoli cornbread:



here is is out of the oven:



Here's the recipe, it's soooo easy...yes, Joann, you can do it!

1 (10 oz) package frozen broccoli cuts, thawed
1 (8.5 oz) package cornbread mix (I use Jiffy)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted (i always use real butter)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
3 large eggs, beaten slightly
1 medium onion, chopped finely

Press thawed broccoli cuts between paper towels to remove excess moisture. Combine with cornbread mix and all other ingredients just until moistened. Mixture will be thick. Pour into greased 8 inch square pan. Bake at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Let cool slightly before cutting into squares.
9 servings


In my stitching world, this just back from the framers:




It's Strawberry Blonde by Carriage House Samplings. I stitched it on the suggested 40 ct. Lakeside linen with NPI silks. Made a mistake along the bottom border, but I don't think anyone will ever know!

This is what I stitched for my ornament exchange partner. She received it Tuesday :)





And now I am stalking my mailman for my exchange package. All that was in my mailbox today was some snow! Brrr!

Oh, almost forgot....
the weekly puppy shot:




OH.....ASTRO!! We are ready for you to come home to us!!!

thankful for

Visitation Rights!!

It's Astro Dazzle!! He's 4 weeks old now and gets to come home with us in just two more weeks!!


here are some of Astro's litter mates:








This one is the runt and we call him Yoda, lol! He's too cute!


Of course we're thankful for family and good health and all that jazz too, but it's not every holiday season that one is blessed with some Puppy Love!

can't help myself

I know, another Pug picture....what can I say?!

Tell me this is not one spoiled pug pup! In his kennel, one of his favorite spots, he got a little chilled (we had ferocious winds today and a low temp. at least by Texas standards), so his mom wrapped him up.




You can probably tell, he really had a hard time coping.



Sorry, but this is the sweetest dog on the face of the earth and one can't help but love him to bits!(this coming from a cat person, mind you!)

OK, well, something stitching related, this was posted once before on my old blog, but with Thanksgiving arriving soon, here it is again:



Thankful Sheep, a kit from Shepherd's Bush. Fun stitch!

little finish

This one has been in my stash forever and I pulled it out early last month to try and finish it up before Halloween. Riiiiight! A bit late, but it'll be all ready for next year anyway....

Scared Silly by Birds of a Feather:



Stitched on 36 ct. Sparrow over 2 with one strand WDW thread. A fun stitch!

This is completely off topic, but oh how I love James Blunt! I watched him on Ellen today and bawled when he sang "Goodbye my Lover"...that song does it to me every time! We've had his album "Back to Bedlam" for some time now and love it.

kiss this

love that



aaaccckkkk!




coming to our house for the holidays:

random things

Everyone around here is sickly. It started with youngest daughter, moved to son and then to oldest daughter and husband. So far I've escaped but feel it lurking...hard to explain but things are a bit fuzzy and sore and just plain ol' yucky. Just praying it doesn't hit me full force until after work on Tuesday because that's a night that I can't miss. Meanwhile, I've made a few runs to the store for medicines, cough drops and kleenex and made some taco soup for dinner and sprayed Lysol on everything but the peoples and fur-babies.



Speaking of furbabies...we're quite possibly getting a new addition on December 5th, a Pug puppy who will be 6 weeks old on that day and ready for adoption. He's got all of his papers and will be quite expensive, at least for us, we've never paid very much for any of our precious pets, at least not at first, in the long run, thousands, of course. Anyway...we've been talking to Scooby and gearing him up for a little brother...so far he's all over the idea.



In October we went to the State Fair of Texas.


It was 94 degrees that day which is the hottest it's ever been when we've gone before. We passed out fairly often but the times in between were A-OK.

A few highlights for you.

Each year they have a "Butter Sculpture". It is OH so exciting, so much so that it actually makes the local news, the process of carving whatever it is they carve out of the huge chunk of butter. Do they do this in other state fairs or it is just a stupid Texas trick? (We have lots of those here, btw, and they usually always make NATIONAL news, just to show the rest of the world how dumb we all are, but I digress).

This years sculpture:





In case you can't make out what it is, it's Marilyn Monroe, naturally. We never could figure out who the guy standing beside her was, guess it was supposed to be her co-star in the movie that the scene is from...can't think of the name of the movie, sorry. Oh, Some Like It Hot? Yeah, that's probably it.

This picture made me smile:

That kitty and his owner deserved that blue ribbon for that pose, don't you think?

Two more that I loved:


sigh...I miss my kitty....

Well, no recent stitching pictures to share...got a new camera and haven't figured it out quite yet. So here's one of something I stitched several years ago.

It's a design by Twisted Threads and the whole bottom part is done over one, as is the lettering, and the acorn top is done in satin stitches. It's my husbands favorite fall thing that I bring out each year.

I'll be back soon with more pictures of recent finishing.

Happy Fall Y'all!