VALENTINE CHEER

Yesterday I worked in the kitchen on a little

Valentine display in the armoire.  It was fun to
get out the Sadler Valentine teapot I found in Colorado last year right before we moved to Missouri.

The fireplace mantle also got decorated.

It has been overcast, cold and dreary and
less I forget damp
which I knew would be the norm 

 in Missouri in the winter.

It was snowing too but melted 

before it hit the ground.

I figured Valentine decorations would really brighten up the day!  Do you decorate for Valentines Day?

AN OLD FRAME LOOKS BETTER

I was so pleased to find a simple old 8 x 10

frame

yesterday at an antique mall:

I had recently purchased a Tasha Tudor book

on Esty.  I actually already had a copy of this book 

so I was ordering another to cut it up and do some fun crafting. 

  I decided to use the page that featured each month as a seasonal item in my kitchen.  

When I saw the cover of the one

I ordered, I knew I needed to switch and  cut up the book

 I already had as it was not as old. The one

 I got in the mail had a more charming cover(1979):

IN CELEBRATION OF WHEN THINGS "WORK"

I don't know about you but sometimes we

 can really jump

up and down and celebrate when

 things work "normal"!

The simple things of life are so taken for granted until

something goes kaputs!  Is there such a word?  I've heard

that all my life but had no idea how to spell it so
I just looked it up.

Anyway, when you move there is a lot of stuff to change

and several year back I renewed my domain name but

never looked at the file in a long time, never notified them

of changes, etc when I moved.  Needless to say, this

week I wasted volumes of time trying to get things

straightened out and am very happy that my blog

was back up after 48 hours of vanishing.  

Shall we celebrate? With a cup of tea?  Absolutely!

I love it when things work!  Have a great day

and I hope you don't forget things like I do!

CELEBRATING THE VICTORIA SERIES

Many of us watched "Victoria" on PBS last Sunday night and wasn't it wonderful!  What an amazing challenge for an 18 year old girl to experience and live.  I am excited to see what this Sunday night holds. 

In honor of Queen Victoria I set up a little
tea time at one of the tables down in the
 "tea room" with my
Lemon Cream Cheese Scones.
Click here for the recipe!

I made this banner a few years back after
 participating in a
Victoria Day Card exchange:

I have a few cups and saucers

 that are special keepsakes!

I hope you have time for a cup

 of tea and a scone!

These scones are made with

 ingredients
in your kitchen!

RASPBERRY LEMON MUFFINS

With freezing rain and ice coming this weekend,  it

seemed like a good time to bake some muffins.

The lavender shawl on the back right

 of the sofa was handwoven for me

 from my daughter in law as a Christmas

 gift.  She has a loom and is enjoying 

learning to make things.

As you can see, I set us a table up by the window which overlooks the back yard so we can enjoy the view.  We have been told it will be raining later and then turn into what

 they call here an "ice storm". This is new to me so we shall see but I can tell you
the market was absolutely crazy as

 people were stocking up on food.

I got some raspberries when I was at the market that were perfect for the muffins.

  Here is the recipe below - first turn

 your oven on at 375 degrees and

grease a large sized muffin tin that holds

 12.  I sprayed with cooking spray and did not use the papers and they came out fine.

Ingredients:  2 cups regular flour,
1/2 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 
16 oz lemon yogurt, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 3 eggs,
 grated lemon rind from 1 lemon, 
16 oz pkg of fresh raspberries and
additional 2 Tb flour to coat 
them.

Crumble topping ingredients: 2 Tb flour, 
3 Tb sugar
and 1 Tb chopped butter

This recipe originally came from at 2003 
Southern Living Magazine.  Mix all the dry ingredients,
oil and lemon rind and add eggs.  Now, 
stir in the yogurt.  In a small bowl, 
coat the raspberries (chopped half) with 2 Tb of flour
 and then stir them into the batter.  Put spoonfuls in
the muffin tin filling 2/3 full or slightly more.  The
 crumble mix goes on top and this should be about 12 muffins.
Bake 20-25 minutes (mine took 22 min)

DEVONSHIRE by Johnson Brothers

Now that the New Year has begun,  I thought it  would be fun to change up my kitchen armoire with my Devonshire transferware.  I know it doesn't look like an armoire now but it used to have doors on it and looks nothing like it's former self.

I got my first pieces of this pattern back in the early 90's in Houston, Texas.  Later, I found some in Colorado and see it every once in a while.  I am still looking for a teapot but not at the $300-400 price I saw at replacements.

Here is the armoire as I call it:

That's a Sadler teapot on the cake stand.

I hope your New Year is off to a great start!

2016 YEAR IN REVIEW

Let's take a look back in time:

January 2016

We moved to Missouri in 2016 but this

 photo was taken January 4th while

 still in Colorado.  On the 29th we

 planned to close on our Missouri

 home so my husband  drove the first

 truck load from Colorado to Missouri

 and I drove one of our cars.

February

After staying in Missouri for a week we

headed back to Colorado to pack up more

items and finish getting our home ready to

put it up for sale. It was weird having

furniture set up in 2 houses.  We decided

to leave this deer mount in Colorado:

March:

Time rolled by as we continued to pack

 and my husband did most of that - he 

is a good packer.  We had professionals

 load both of our truck loads and so we 

were ready to leave Colorado on March

 17 and our house went on the market

 that day.   We left early and drove 

straight through and the next day we

started unloading.  It was so weird 

having green grass and seeing this Forsythia in bloom on the 

side of the house.

I loved the new location for my armoire right

in the kitchen.  It was chipped up a bit

but my husband said "hey, it doesn't matter,

it's shabby chic - remember"!

April: 

During this entire summer I worked 

very hard digging and working 

on flower gardens.  It was hard

on the knees for sure!

May:

I had to admit that starting from scratch

with gardening was really a challenge.

June:

In June I set up what

I called a sunset tea on

my front walk.

July:

Yes, I was finally getting some

flowers for bouquets too!

On this day in August (below)I set

up a "Tea In The Garden" but later

we dug up that wisteria and moved

the trelis to the other side of the yard.

August:

September:

This month brought the arrival of a

fence for our yard - at least the sides

and later we had them do the back too.

October:

We added an arbor to our yard in October!

November was a time for wonderful

smells in the kitchen and Lynn Bean's

Orange Cranberry Bread

December was finally here and

It was time to share our nativity

for Christmas in Missouri:

Well - now I caught that up 

so I need to do 2017!