Hello Sunshines!

SO BLESSED.  Ya'll, my family is so very blessed.  I looked back at the past few months and where we are today and I'm so THANKFUL it seems we are all on the upswing. Katie's surgery is healing nicely, I'm feeling better thanks to medicine, Mom is doing better and Dad received a good report from his scan for his bladder cancer.  SO SO SO Thankful. Thank you, Lord!

In my job, we work super hard and crazy late hours for a time, then we have down time and we all try to take off to get the OT off the books. Then it starts all over again (which, for me will be September - mid November). Thankfully, I had all this OT so I've barely touched my sick leave. Since the DR appts are tapering off, I took off a few days to just play with my 2-yr-old niece, Macy. Such a joy! I feel like I miss out on so much of her growing up when I'm working the long hours so I really appreciate the time I get with her.

This week we visited with my bestie, Donna, at her work. Surprised her! (maybe not the best decision, oops!). We played on the playground and enjoyed lunch at Cracker Barrel. She loved it all, loved the people, the playing.

As we were leaving Donna's work, we were on the second floor walking down the stairs and Macy yells, "Hello People!!" She is a social child!

I loved her shadow with her pigtail.  We are horrible at fixing her curly baby-fine hair and are usually baffled about what to do with it.  Her babysitter started pigtails, so this was my attempt to copy it.  I love it!

This was a BIG KID slide, she was higher than 6 ft in the air. And she did NOT want to go down that slide. But after a while she warmed up and decided she loved it, as long as she could hold mine and MawMaw's hands. Did I mention it was a spiral slide so the hand holding thing could only go so far... hahaha.  I enjoyed SO MUCH seeing her expand her comfort zone and be brave. Little by little she would conquer more things on the playground.

My mom finally broke down and got a smart phone - an Iphone - and is learning how to take photos and send text messages.  One day Katie and I were out playing and Mom sent this picture to her.  How sweet is this?! Hmmm... Dad might just find this in a picture frame for Christmas. Daddy can get this girl to sleep better than anyone.

Oh! and I made one more awesome supper last night and wanted to share the recipes with you, but I think I left them at home.  So YUMMY and from a diabetic cook book! with a few tweaks.

Cottage Cheese Baked Potatoes
4 large baking potatoes, baked for an hour in the oven.  Cut them in half and scoop out, leaving a small amount of potato and the peel (make boats, basically).  Put the boats back in the oven to crisp up (I forgot this part). Take 2 cups of cottage cheese, 2 tbps. of onion powder, some garlic powder, salt and pepper and whip it up but good. Put back into the boats and reheat them in the oven so that everything is warm and toasty.  I put Parmesan in the mix but will not do that again because I don't think you need to - just sprinkle some on top.  Everyone really liked these.

I also made Deviled Eggs (which I don't eat but they are pretty easy to make).  Baked onion rings. and some baked brie with honey, pecans and apples to dip. MAN it was tasty.

Ok, so I've rambled enough I think.  :)  Talk to ya'll again soon!

A Little More Kitten

Look what Katie found!
I want one with my name!!

Welcome Back! Hope your weekend was fabulous. I've been burning up my comp time and taking days off from work, so I'm all confused as to what day it is... today is my Monday.

So what happened over the weekend? Well, a lot of shopping. Mom is finally feeling a bit better (she's battling the shingles) so we went shopping after work on Friday. And again on Saturday. I'm so glad she's feeling better. She said this is the worst pain she's felt in her life. 60+ folks, get your shingles shot! :)

Sunday, we missed church AGAIN. I'm really missing church, the learning and the people. We have all been so sick and haven't made it in a while, but next week I'M GOING. Anyway, we missed this week for a family reunion.

I totally ripped this pic off from All Recipes,
but click here for the yummiest recipe.

I made squash casserole and hummingbird cake. I have the BEST recipe for squash casserole - everyone L.O.V.E.S. it. I do add garlic and Perfect Pinch to mine. And the hummingbird cake was very moist and tasty, too! Here is the recipe for it - the only change I make is to sub half the oil for applesauce.  While I'm on the subject of food, let me recommend the All Recipes app for your phone. I'll whip out my phone in the grocery store and make sure I'm getting all the ingredients I need while I'm there.  Love it.

Being cute and adorable is a tough job, so Macy was knocked out on the way home from the family reunion.  She wanted to play with the big kids so bad but they weren't interested.  But she really did have fun and ate so good! I told AH (Sweet Niece #1) we had a family reunion on Sunday and she really perked up.  "Food!" she said! Ha!!! Definitely plenty of food at a Southern Family Reunion.

Have I mentioned here that I have FIVE (1,2,3,4,5!!!) cousins who are expecting right now? I'm spending my nights sewing felt friends as part of my gift.  I'm searching for books to match the animals. Won't that be cute? I found a farm book this weekend to go with all the farm animals.

The last thing I'll bore you with - one of our election workers and I ran into each other at Walgreens (when I was buying my purple reading glasses <3!!) and I wanted this kitty cat Post-It note dispenser.  However, I would not pay $10 for it.  She's one of these guru couponers and she got it for me for $2.50!! SERIOUSLY?! YAYAYAYAY! So happy! I'm gluing a little pink bow to one ear so she'll be a cousin to Hello Kitty (which I adore, yeah, I know I'm old but I still love HK). This cat makes me so very very happy. How could you not just feel warm and fuzzy with this kitten sitting on your desk?

Ok, I'm off to concentrate and be focused.  My lunch break is over for the day.  Have a great week!

A Quarter is Good, Right?

I kept up with the photo a day for almost a quarter of the year, which I thought was pretty good. I'm backing off a pic a day simply bc I was taking boring random pics just to have one and they didn't always have meaning. Maybe I'll get seven pics in a week with meaning but I'll not get disappointed if it doesn't happen.

My work life is really busy right now. They'll be no slowing down for another six to nine weeks. Another reason I'm not on top of the picture taking game :) 

But here is the week I missed - and I'll try to post this week's pics tomorrow. Ed: I did try to publish this about a week ago and just realized it failed. Sorry! Trying again!

Last Wednesday we took Sweet Niece #2 to the Children's Museum to play. It's a very small museum and we ended up in a special story time event, which she was not interested in. But we still had a good time. 

Also, prep time for Easter. This is my Crockpot Mac & Cheese recipe, written in my Susan Branch recipe keeper. 

Friday, more prep for Easter. Carrot raisin salad - diabetic friendly!  

Saturday I went through Clover and got stopped at the light. Snapped this quick pic of the mural of the train. Clover had train tracks  running through the town center at one point. It was named for the Clover patch that formed around the water tower.  Or something along those lines. 

Easter Sunday had three of us sick, Macy's daddy, Macy and me. I kept Macy that morning after finishing my cake!! No cute Easter dress pics, I'm afraid. But we did get out and hunt eggs that afternoon.  The two sisters are so sweet together. Both are such a blessing to our family. 

Last Monday - someone just enjoys making a mess ... 

But she cleans up cute. :)

Headed to Mamaw's house! Bye!!

So there was Easter week. I may go back and do a post on more egg hunt pics but for now, it's time to get ready for work. Y'all have a great week!! 

Foba's Apple Dapple Cake

Don't ask me why I've been busting a gut to make an apple cake, but I have. The first time was a disaster (we aren't going to talk about it...) but yesterday, during our "snow day," I found success!

Finding an apple cake recipe really isn't as easy as I thought, but the one I used is from "Tapestry," a cookbook printed by the Junior Welfare League of Rock Hill, South Carolina.  A girl I worked with gave each of us this book, which I've only used for the Vulture Dip recipe until now. YUM.

I give to you Foba's Apple Dapple Cake.  I gotta tell you, it's pretty tasty.  Here is the recipe for you to try (is it wrong to publish a recipe online? If so, I'm terribly sorry...)

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FOBA'S APPLE DAPPLE CAKE

1.5 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pecans, chopped
3 cups chopped apples
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine

Beat the oil, eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl until well blended.  Beach in the vanilla.  Add the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well.  Fold in the pecans and apples.  Spoon into a greased tube pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Combine the brown sugar, milk and margarine in a saucepan.  Cook over low heat until the mixture is smooth, stirring frequently.  Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Pour the hot glaze over the hot cake.  Let stand for 2 hours.  Remove from the pan.

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I didn't do the pecans because I didn't have them.  Otherwise, I followed it just as it was written and it was mighty yummy in my tummy.  This glaze stuff that you pour over it - holy moly. Yum yum yum.  I had a slice for breakfast this morning - umm umm good.

I must say, if you had any way of getting your hands on this cookbook, I would recommend it, however, I think it's pretty much sold out.  You need it for the vulture dip recipe alone - THAT is some GOOD STUFF.