The Celebration Giveaway Winner

As the snow continues to fall heavily (ugh!) I thought it might be a nice time to announce the winner of my Celebration Giveaway. We had this week off from school/work for Winter Recess & I can't believe how quickly it flew by.

Anyway, I had my trusty assistant (who got braces on his teeth this week) draw a name for me.



He pulled out none other than...

Ana from A Petite Cottage!

Congratulations sweet Ana! If you would please email your address to me, I will send your package out to you.

Thank you everyone for entering my giveaway & I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. (hopefully yours will not include snow!)

For the love of reading

I love books, I love to read. I have often wished for a library & have many times thought of how I can make a library at home.

We do have an extra bedroom that is currently being used as an office & "scrap" room. When I say scrap, I mean scrapbook. I was once an avid scrapper. Nowadays, not so much. My husband is always quick to say, "you can have a library if you want to get rid of your scrap crap."

My former obsession hobby is taking up lots of prime real estate in this office as is the expensive custom countertop I ordered to run the length of the room so I'd have lots of space to scrap upon. Let's not forget the massive industrial shelving holding all the albums too.

Until I can figure out whether to scrap or not to scrap, I guess my library is on hold. I can only dream...


Source Unknown


from House Beautiful


from House Beautiful


from BHG


from BHG

I'd even take a cozy reading nook. This one is perfection:


from John Wallace Bernecke Designs

Do you have a library in your home?

If you haven't entered my Celebration Giveaway yet, click here.

White Fever

Every year around this time, I get White Fever.



White Fever is not a good fever. (Certainly not like Beiber Fever.)
It's a fever from seeing too much white & too much white is never a good thing, especially for those of us who are lovers of color.

Each year I search for a cure, but there isn't one available. However, I find that I can ease my symptoms a bit.







See, like an icy cold popsicle when you have a 103 degree fever...this soothes!







Aah yes, I think I'm feeling better already.

Versatile Blogger

This past weekend, I received the Versatile Blogger award from Donna @ An Anglo in Quebec. Thank you so much Donna!

I'm supposed to tell you 7 random facts about myself. I don't know that I can come up with 7 exciting facts about myself, but I'll try. Hopefully I won't bore you. You may know some of these things about me already, but here goes.

1. I have never owned a pet in my entire life. Not even a goldfish or hamster. Nothing.
2. I never could decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still don't know now.
3. I'm terrified of frogs. Creepy, hoppy thingys...yuck.
4. When I was younger, I used to write down what I wore each day so that I wouldn't wear it again too soon. I had such a huge wardrobe, I could go a couple of months without a repeat.
5. I cry every time I see the Rockettes perform at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
6. I love to cook & bake.
7. I married my high school sweetheart.

Now I'm supposed to pick a bunch of bloggers to hand this award off to, however, with so many having award free blogs, I'm going to be a rebel & not hand it off to anyone specific. Each of you is deserving so should you feel that you want to take on the task, go ahead & consider yourself nominated by me. How's that for breaking the rules this morning? ;-)

Have a wonderful day and don't forget to enter my Celebration Giveaway!

St. Valentine or just Valentine?

I've been thinking lately (oh no). When I was in grade school in the 70s (yes, I can't believe I just admitted that) I remember decorations from Valentine's Day specifically stating St. Valentine's Day on them. Does anyone remember this?

So I was just curious....when did we change from St. Valentine's Day to just Valentine's Day?

If we dropped the St. part from Valentine's Day over the years because it may have been offensive to some, then why do we still say St. Patrick's Day and not just Patrick's Day?

Something to ponder I guess. Am I being weird? Don't answer that.

Anyway, since this is the day of love, Valentine's Day or St. Valentine's Day, (whichever you prefer),


may it be a happy one & filled with lots of love for each of you. XOXO

Don't forget about my Celebration Giveaway, see here.

Let's celebrate & a giveaway

Up until a week or two ago, my blog had about 80 something followers. I decided at the time that when I finally hit 100 followers, I would have a giveaway to celebrate.

Well, that day has finally come!

Of course, I must give thanks to all of you wonderful ladies for joining me, both old & new. I also must give thanks to Debbie from Debbiedoos for having a Newbie Blog Party which enabled so many new friends to find my blog. Thank you!

I would like to celebrate with a cupcake, so here is one for you:



Of course, if you're going to have a cupcake, you've got to have a pretty pedestal dish to display it on, right?



If you would like be entered to win this faux cupcake & pedestal dish,



just leave me a comment on this post. Let's see, I guess I need some rules...

--Leave a comment on this post for 1 entry.
--If you follow me, I will give you a 2nd entry, just let me know you are a follower.
--I will most likely draw a winner (I doubt I'll be able to figure out that random thingy to do it for me!)
--Winner will be drawn on or around February 25th.
--US or Canada bloggers only.

That's it then. Thank you & good luck!

Containing the Cookies

Do you have a special cookie jar?

I have two cookie jars.

My husband was always a baseball player from Little League right through college, so I fell in love with this baseball bear cookie jar when I saw it. My sister bought it for me well before I was married. (That's 18 years, so I'd say it's a least 20 years old.) I do not store cookies in him because he's not air-tight and little hands would most likely have broken him long ago.



Then I have this one, from Pier One, which does have an air-tight seal. I wouldn't say you could leave cookies in it for days & days, it's not that air-tight, but cookies would never last in my house for days & days so it's not a problem.



Have you ever surfed the web for cookie jars? Oh my goodness! I only searched Amazon & let me tell you, if I had to pick one, I couldn't do it. There are so many choices, I had no idea!

Here are some that caught my eye...


I love Dr. Seuss. Isn't this amazing?



How about I Love Lucy's oven?



A sweet cupcake cookie jar? Yes, please.



And now onto some more practical options...

How cute is this personalized one?



Just because this one might not have the bells & whistles of the others, I find it no less appealing.



Inquiring minds want to know...when you bake up batches of heaven from the oven, where do you store them?

Sweet Nigella

If you've been around here awhile or know me at all, you will know that I have a crazy love of cookbooks. I love to buy them, I love to use them, I even love to read them...just like novels.

A week after Christmas, my daughter & I were at Barnes & Noble. I saw Nigella Lawson's cookbook, Nigella Kitchen, for 50% off. I love to watch Nigella. There's just something about her...maybe her British accent, maybe how eloquently she speaks of the food...I don't know...I just love her.

Anyway, I picked up her book, scanned through it & talked myself out of buying it. Several days later? Total regret. Why didn't I just buy it? It was 50% off for Pete's sake!

The following week, my daughter & I went to Barnes & Noble again. (Book lovers, the two of us.) As we were browsing, I came across her cookbook once again, fortunately still 50% off, & I quickly grabbed it.

Can I just tell you how much I love this cookbook? Honestly, I think this one is a keeper. It is filled with normal recipes with mostly normal ingredients and lots of great photos. I highly recommend it.

So, do you have any favorite cookbooks that you'd like to share with this cookbook crazed girl?