Wordless Wednesday

I saw this while apple picking a few weeks ago and thought it was cute.

Beckett says: "Go away Momma; I is sleeping!"

Tuesdays At The Table - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hap, Hap, Happy Tuesday!!

Welcome to all the new contributors! I'm thrilled to see all the new "faces" and recipes. You know how to make a girl feel good. :-) I encourage you all to visit other recipe contributors. You all share such wonderful recipes that I want everyone possible to see them!

This week I'm sharing muffins that I discovered in A Taste of Home's bake sale magazine. I've seen a few different pumpkin muffins, so I sincerely apologize if you've seen this recipe before.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 eggs
2 cups flour
1 can (15 oz.) solid pack pumpkin
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag (12 oz) chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat eggs, pumpkin and oil until smooth. Combine dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture. Mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes. Let cool 5-10 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

What's cooking in your kitchen this week? And have you entered my latest giveaway? If not, click here!

Musical Monday - Great Day To Be Alive

Happy Monday! I hope you all had fabulous weekends!

My weekend was pretty good. :-) Made a batch of cake pops, spent Saturday night at Kirstren's Halloween party (I went as a nurse, in case you were wondering.) and Sunday was relaxing and indulging in my newest Facebook obsession - Sorority Life.

I'm going country on you and sharing Travis Tritt's "Great Day To Be Alive". The song is almost a decade old, but makes me smile every time I hear it.

Something else that makes me laugh?! That would be last weeks' group Hustle on DWTS! Check it out... especially the wigs on the guys. :-)

Have you entered my last giveaway of the month? No?!?! Enter here, and enjoy your day!

The FINAL Breast Cancer Awareness Month GIVEAWAY!

Are you all getting tired of me giving stuff away? TOUGH! I love doing it. :-) However, we're coming to a close on Breast Cancer Awareness month.

To be serious for a second - please do your monthly check and get mammograms when appropriate. Early detection is key. Mmmmkay?! I care about you all and want you around for a LONG, LONG time.

Without further ado, here's the booty up for grabs this time. (BTW, there will be two winners)

Our first place winner will get:

Korres Body Butter Trio

Clip Magnets

Pink Ribbon Wine Glass

The other winner gets:

A Pink/Stainless Steel water bottle

BOTH winners get:

Burt's Bees Shimmer & Glimmer Set

Eye Pillow (first place winner gets first choice of black or pink)

A scarf made by moi (Again, first place winner gets to choose.)!

Here are the rules:
You get ONE entry for commenting on this post.
You get ONE entry for following my blog.
You get ONE entry for following me on Twitter.
You get ONE entry for Tweeting about my giveaway.
You get ONE entry for blogging about my giveaway or putting it on your sidebar.

Please tell me what to give you credit for; I want you all to get the right amount of entries.
Entries/comments need to be in by midnight EST on Friday, October 3oth and the winner will be announced on Saturday the 31st.

A Pupperific Winner!

That's right we have our winner for the doggie-centric giveaway....

The adorable Amy from Just Add Walter and her furbaby Gracie are our winner! Email me your address, missy. :-) And of course go here and then let me know what fabric color, rhinestone color and size little Gracie would like!

Be on the look-out for my last Breast Cancer awareness month giveaway tonight or early tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

Carmella wants to know....

You talkin' to me?!?!

Tuesdays At The Table - Cake Pops

Welcome to another yummy Tuesday, gang!

I've recently started reading the lovely Lis' blog. She introduced me (and all her other readers) to cake pops. I was in awe, I was intregued! I just HAD to try this myself! Lis of Lis Loves got her recipe from Bakerella and I, of course, need to give them credit for my little trip to cake pop land. :-) I hope I do them proud (or at least nothing cringe-worthy!).

Cake Pops

1 boxed cake mix (9x13)

1 can of frosting

1-2 bags of Wilton melting chocolates

Lollipop sticks

Wax paper

Make your cake of choice following the box directions. Allow to cool for a few hours.

Crumble into as fine as crumbs as you can get. (I used a both hand crumbling and fork fluffing/shredding). Mix in your frosting (I only used about 3/4 of the can. Remember, you can always add more; taking some out isn't going to happen.) Refrigerate for an hour or two until it firms up.

Roll balls into about 1" circles and place on wax paper. (I admittedly didn't follow directions and just piled them on a plastic plate. Refrigerate again for a few minutes.

Melt a little chocolate and dip the stick into it before putting a stick in each cake pop. You got it... refrigerate!

Melt the rest of your chocolate and gently swirl the cake balls in and tap the excess off. Use a Styrofoam block and let them harden standing up.

FYI... I used yellow cake and milk chocolate frosting.

What's cooking in your kitchen this week?

Musical Monday - Let It Snow

Happy Monday, fabulous ladies!

I can't believe that it's snowed twice this weekend!! This is nuts. There were a few flakes on Friday night, then about an inch or so (or more in come places) on Sunday. Un-freaking-believable!!

To quote my friend Stina from work: "It's official. Winter beat up fall, stole her lunch money and her place in line." I love her!!

I have a love/hate relationship with snow. It's pretty. It's fun to play in. But dang it, it's a pain in the keister to shovel most of the time and driving in it is never a joy. What are your thoughts on snow?

I've decided to go with my impromptu little theme - and share Dean Martin's version of Let it Snow.

Other than the anomalous weather, this weekend has been pretty good. I ran some errands, did a little cleaning and made a trip to Michael's. I am ADDICTED to buying yarn! Yes, I know I'm weird. Does anyone else lose control of their budget when in a craft store?!?!

Apple Picking (aka A Day With The Fam)

It just occured to me that I didn't tell you about the fun of last Monday!

I, *gasp*, took a day off (hard to believe - I know) and went out with my mom, Kirstren, her mom and her little boy. We all piled into my Tahoe, stopped for coffee and voyaged out to Stow, MA. Our destination? Honey Pot Hill Orchard!

We had a blast apple picking! Hay ride around the orchard, lots of great apples to be had, good weather and all around fun with the family.

We went for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory afterwards. Yum, yum!!

Then my aunt wanted to look at puppies. Our family is dog lovers (Shocker, I know!! Considering how many pictures you've seen of Meadow, Beckett and Carmella... heeheehee) so a trip through the pet store isn't anything to raise alarm flags.

My lovely aunt has two dogs (wire fox terriers, I believe). She had recently seen a cute little rat terrier and wanted to see an example of another one. She was uh-uh, not gonna happen, no way-no how, interested in adding another dog to her house.

You know what comes next, right? She saw a tiny little face and just fell in love! After being held and played with by all five of us for over an hour - it was time to sign the paperwork and bring the little punkin' home.

Meet Shadow!! Isn't he a cutie?!?! So far, he is not a barker - instead he is my aunt's little cuddle bug. Quite outside the terrier "norm".

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

If you haven't entered my new giveaway (aka the doggie giveaway), enter here.

It's *GASP* Another GIVEAWAY!

I know! I wasn't supposed to post my next giveaway until Friday. But I got a little excited!

This giveaway is for the pups...but still focuses on Cancer Awareness Month; kinda. Honestly, I had a bit of trouble finding good stuff for the pups. So, this is pretty much pink stuff for the puppers. I get an "A" for effort though; right?!?!

Let's see what we've got, shall we?

Robbie Dawg peppermint bark biscuits... Minty fresh dog kisses; YAY!

A set of doggie hand towels. Wipe your paws, ladies!

A pink and brown throw to keep everyone warm...

A paws and ribbons collar!

Note on the collar: I haven't bought it yet. You all have different size dogs and different senses of style. When you win, I'll direct you to this site to customize your collar and I'll jump in and pay.
You know I'd find something with the breast cancer ribbon on it!

Here are the rules:

You get ONE entry for commenting on this post.
You get ONE entry for following my blog.
You get ONE entry for following me on Twitter.
You get ONE entry for Tweeting about my giveaway.
You get ONE entry for blogging about my giveaway or putting it on your sidebar.Please tell me what to give you credit for; I want you all to get the right amount of entries.

Entries/comments need to be in by midnight EST on Tuesday, October 20th and the winner will be announced on Wednesday the 21st.

We Have A Winner!!

So sorry for the delay in announcing my contest winner. This week has been OUT OF CONTROL!

The fabulous Sonya is our winner! Email me your address, missy. :-)

Be on the look-out for my second giveaway later tonight or early tomorrow (depending on how impatient I get!)

I promise a longer post soon too...

Tuesdays At The Table - Apple Cake & Apple Chips

Monday was a great day with the family. I took a vacation day - a major success all unto itself, and went apple picking with Kirstren, her son, her mom and my mom. We had a BLAST!!

That means that I get to experiment more with apples. Woohoo! I have two recipes for you. One a success (apple cake) and one a fail; majorly (apple chips). Why am I sharing my fail?!?! Well because A. I can't believe that something so easy and touted by Rachel Ray kicked my butt, B. For any hints that you may have on trying again (I WILL try again; I'm stubborn like that) and C. Because we all know that everything we try isn't going to come out perfect.

Apple Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups (about 6 apples) finely diced apples
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butter (melted)
2 eggs

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add apples, nuts, butter and eggs. Beat until combined. This will be a very thick batter. Put in greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for an hour.

Apple chips

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 large apples


Preheat the oven to 250°. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Using a serrated knife or mandolin, thinly slice the apples crosswise, discarding the seeds and both ends. Arrange in a single layer on parchment-paper-lined baking sheets; sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

Bake the apple slices, turning every half hour, until dry, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove and transfer to racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

The winner of the pink kitchen products will be revealed Tuesday night & look for another giveaway late in the week.

Musical Monday - Orange Sky

Hi gang. It's been a challenging weekend.

I've been to Ft. Drum and back...
I've laughed and cried...
Breathed a sigh of relief over seeing one of my soldiers return. Battered; bruised; in need of healing - but HERE....
Had my heart break just a little over seeing how hard the road ahead for him is going to be.

You're probably going to laugh at me; but something about an Army base just feels like home to me. It's likely because I grew up in a military family; but I feel like I belong.

This week's song is a favorite of JC's and mine (and a few of my honorary brothers too). It's an amazing song and I cry almost every time I hear it.

A huge thank you to all of you. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! So many of you have emailed your thoughts and experiences with PTSD, offered encouragement and most importantly - prayer! I can't say enough about the power of prayer. All of our soldiers need our prayers and I encourage you to keep them on your prayer list.

Much love. (And back to my usual lighthearted posts tomorrow! If you want in on my giveaway - this is your last chance. :-)

Easily Amused...

Yep, that's me. I'm not too hard to entertain.

I was feeling a little stressed yesterday, so I went shopping on Sephora.com. Do I remember what I bought? NOPE!! It'll be a surprise when it arrives. Today, I arrived home to a surprise... this quarter's BeautyFix package. Woohoo!! So much good stuff! Are any of you BeautyFix members? I'd love to compare notes. :-)

Carmella got a fur-cut yesterday. What did I do to the poor thing before she went? This....

But doesn't she look adorable now? (Ignore the less than pleased expression. She doesn't like the G-R-O-O-M-E-R!)


And, finally... a commercial that I find amusing for absolutely no reason at all.

Have you entered my giveaway yet? If not, click here. :-)

When Things Go "BOOM"

Sorry...this isn't one of my light cheery posts. Cute and happy are scheduled for tomorrow; I promise.

A recent conversation with JC went like this:

JC: I'm OK.
Me: Umm...
JC: Before I tell you this; I'm OK.
Me: Just tell me, damn it.
JC: Our truck blew up.
Me: Oh, F*@K!!

No matter how hard you pray, it's almost inevitable that something is going to go wrong. They don't call it "war" just for shits and giggles.

So, here's the deal. JC wasn't in the truck. He was covering someones leave and didn't go out on a mission with his usual crew. They drove over an IED and their MRAP blew up. If they had been in another vehicle; I don't think they all would have survived.

The men in their truck are all OK; depending on your definition of "ok". However, one of them flew home (not home home; Ft. Drum home) after being diagnosed with PTSD earlier this week. [Another got sent to Ft. Bragg for burns sustained in the explosion.] Saturday morning I'll be going up to see him. I love these guys. They.are.family. Yep, it's a long drive up there and back; but I'd do it for each of them ANYTIME.

If any of you have advice or suggestions on how I can best help someone with PTSD, I'm all ears. I'd like to hear anything you have to say. All I can think to do for him is to BE THERE. Just be there and listen.

And, I leave you with a request. Hug your family extra tight tonight...mmkay?

Tuesdays At The Table - Apple Blueberry Crisp & A GIVEAWAY!

Hola, girlies! I hope you are all having a fabulous week! Many of you heard from Andrea that I'm taking over TATT permanently. She's an amazing woman and I thank her for trusting me with her weekly meme. :-) She is going to make a terrific mom!!

Like a good girl, I'm giving you a few pictures from my baking this week. You asked; I listened!

Also, both in celebration of taking over TATT & recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month - I'm doing a few giveaways. The first one is pink kitchen items. Look for other giveaways later in the month.

Apple Blueberry Crisp

Filling:

8-10 medium apples - peeled, cored and sliced

2 cups of blueberries

1/2 cup brown sugar

6 tablespoons of flour

3 tablespoons of butter, melted

3 tablespoons of orange juice

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Topping:

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 cup of flour

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 lb (2 sticks) of butter - cut into pieces and slightly softened

1 1/2 cups of oats

1 cup of pecans - chopped

Place sliced apples in a large bowl, add all other filling ingredients (except blueberries) and fold gently until apples are well covered. Layer evenly in a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Spread blueberries over the top.

In a small bowl, place all ingredients (except chopped pecans) and use folks to cut in the butter until it is pea sized. Stir in chopped pecans.

Spread topping over filling evenly and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. *Note this will seem like a lot of topping but is absorbed by the filling during the baking process*

Before...

And after...

What's cooking in your kitchen?

On to the giveaway! Here are a few things that I rounded up for you:

KitchenAid prep bowls

KitchenAid tongs

KitchenAid 1 cup grating set (sensing a theme?!?!)

KitchenAid basting brush

Cuisinart vegetable peeler (Sorry! Couldn't find a KitchenAid one.)

Here are the rules:

You get ONE entry for linking up and contributing a recipe.

You get ONE entry for commenting on this post.

You get ONE entry for following my blog.

You get ONE entry for following me on Twitter.

You get ONE entry for Tweeting about my giveaway.

You get ONE entry for blogging about my giveaway or putting it on your sidebar.
Please tell me what to give you credit for; I want you all to get the right amount of entries.

Entries/comments need to be in by midnight EST on Monday, October 12th and the winner will be announced on Tuesday the 13th. Good luck!!