Lacey

Here's Lacey helping me feed the neighbor's fish.

Cow Creamers

Blogathon topic #3 is to discuss Decorating With Tea Items. So, this is the week that I get to talk about my mother's cow creamer collection! She has collected them since I was a kid. Mom bought her first ones at a gift shop on Pelee Island in Canada in the 60's where we had a summer cottage. Since then, I have grown up constantly searching for cow creamers; gift shops, antique stores, garage sales, etc.

It has been a fun family hobby. We were always on "The Hunt". We always had something to look for when we wanted to give Mom a gift. Her collection eventually grew to over 250 creamers. It got to the point, that Mom sometimes even ended up with duplicates. She had so many that we forgot what she already had.

I don't have a final count or pictures of the collection. Mom entered into a giving away stage and divided it among the family members. I live in a different state so was not present when she did and no final photos were taken of it. I do know that she had 8 cases of them and each case held about 30 cows. She had them in her china cabinet too.

I now own about 40 of them. I have not yet figured out how to display them in my home. Here a few pictures of how Mom had them in her house. The pictures don't really do them justice. The cows were always present, so I never thought to take pictures of just her display cases.

Another Prom

Even though he is now a college freshman, Kenny still managed to make it to the prom this year. A group of his friends from church went together and one of the girls asked him to be her date.

Isn't he handsome?

I took a picture of the flowers for his date. I thought they were pretty.

Caffeine

Do you know how much caffeine is in that cup of your favorite beverage? I discovered this on the side of a tea box. I found it interesting that there is caffeine in decaf tea.

My Son the Warhawk

I was surfing the website for my son's college. During the process, I was quite surprised to find this picture of him. They even had a nice write up about him.

Gracious Hospitalitea Blog-a-thon, Week 2

This week the topic was to discuss Teas In Literature. I have always found it interesting to read about any study relating to tea. The most recent one that I found was in the Winter 2008 Edition of HealthSmart Today. The article was titled "Nine Ways to Naturally Lower Cholesterol". I was pleased to see that step #8 was Drink Tea. It stated: "Many studies show that drinking tea (green or black) reduces the risk of heart attack. But it wasn't clear why until recently, when Chinese researchers showed that it reduces chlesterol. They gave 220 people with high cholesterol either a placebo or an exract of green tea. Four months later, the tea group's cholesterol had dropped 11 percent. It said that if you like tea, drink it instead of coffee, or drink iced tea with meals."

A Dog Show

I went to the dog show in Tennessee on Saturday with Jenna. I am pleased to announce that she took Best of Breed! I had her picture taken and will post it as soon as it arrives. I hope it came out nice. It is not easy to take a nice show picture. The group judge, James Noe, did not spend much time on Jenna, but I was happy to see that he gave the Swedish Valhund a Group Four. That breed is even harder to find then the Cardigan. I entered Jenna on Sunday too, but I forgot that it was Easter. I was very tempted to go back because I felt that she could win Best of Breed the second day too, but I didn't. I have to remind myself of priorities. :-)

The show site.

Jenna gets a little grooming before ring time. I knew I was only going to be there for one day, so I didn't bother trying to get grooming space in the building.

Rush studies his first dog show. He is still too young to show, but I brought him along so he could sample the experience.

I did not have anyone ring side to take pictures of us, but I did snap one of the arena. I think it must have been lunch time because it looks like most of the rings are pretty empty.

Happy Easter!

I am not going to say what year this was taken in, but you can see from the sign in the background that we were still living in Florida. Now that my boys are older, they much prefer to find the green stuff in their eggs as opposed to candy. :o)

Jenna

I entered Jenna in a dog show this weekend. As the weekend approached, I waivered back and forth on it. Do I really want or feel like going? As usual, Cardigans pulled an 8:00 A.M. ring time, which means I will have to get up at 4:30 A.M. to be there on time. My boys are on Spring Break this week. I took some time off from work to be with them. It is nice sleeping in and not having a schedule to keep. However, I played with my camera this afternoon and took pictures of the puppies. In the process, I snapped this picture of Jenna. While looking at the photos, I realized that she is looking quite nice. So, after not doing much of any thing all day, I suddenly found myself bathing and grooming Jenna at 9:00 at night. We will see if my hunch was right.

May I Ask . . .

What are you doing to my garden?

The Perfect Tea Sandwich

Surfing the Net has revealed more interesting tea information. Here is a link to the T-Cozy. It shows how to make the perfect Cucumber Sandwich for a tea. It is not as simple as I thought it to be.

My Favorite Teacup(s)

I don't have one favorite teacup and saucer because I actually have 12. I inherited the Royal Albert Flowers of the Month from my mother. I love this collection. I grew up studying them. When my mother started asking what each of her children wanted from her, this is was the first thing that I picked. I can't say that I like one month better then the rest. My favorite actually changes, depending on what time of the year it is. Right now my favorite is January which has snowdrops on it. I will most likely have a different favorite next month. The only thing I don't like about this set is that I have to "pinch" the teacup to hold it. I prefer being able to insert my whole finger. As a result, I only admire these pieces. I never use them. I have the whole collection proudly displayed in the china cabinet in my dining room.

Gracious Hospital-i-Tea

I'm will be joining the Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blogathon. It looks like a lot of fun with such interesting topics! Since this is my year for learning about the "Wonderful World of Tea", I think this will provide much insight. Check back here later. I will post my first entry.

The themes are:

March 16 - March 23: Teacup-a-Story
March 23 - March 29: Litera-Tea
March 30 - April 5: Decor-a-Tea
April 6 - April 12: Stitches-for-Tea
April 13 - April 19: Dressed-to-a-Tea
April 20 - April 26: The-Sweet-and-Savory-of-Yummy
April 27 - May 3: The White, Green, Black, and Herb of Tea
May 4 - May 10: Set the Table, Tea is On!
May 11 - May 17: Tea Room Ventures and Venues

May 18 - May 24: The Pouring Teapot
May 25 - May 31: A Teatime Drawing

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Turkey Treats

I haven't been able to locate the pictures of the Turkey Cookies that I made, but I did find some similar examples on the internet. These are a few ideas of what they can look like:

Here are instructions for making the Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies. These turkeys are made with chocolate and caramel bodies, striped chocolate cookie feathers, and candy corn beaks. They are wonderful treats for kids to make as place settings for the holiday table.

Ingredients:

(Makes 12 cookies)

12 chocolate stars

12 caramels

12 scalloped chocolate-frosted cookies

12 pieces candy corn
To make each turkey, place chocolate star, point side up, on work surface. Place one caramel on waxed paper in microwave, microwave on HIGH for about 10 seconds (turning over once) or just until slightly softened. Place softened caramel on tip of chocolate star, pressing down so they stick together. To make the tail, press chocolate cookie, striped side facing forward, firmly against the soft caramel to stand upright. Press candy corn on top of caramel to resemble turkey's head.

Mice Treats

I am feeling nostalgic today. My kids are getting older and I am starting to miss all the fun things I did with them. I loved being a stay home mom. I loved being the room mother, going on field trips, class parties, etc. I used to make treats and bring them to school. I have had fun looking at all the different tea blogs. Look what I found on one of them, Christmas Mice Treats. They reminded me of the Thanksgiving turkeys that I made one year and brought to class. They used a chocolate striped cookie for the tail and a caramel cube for the body. I will have to find the picture of them to post.

Merry Christmas Mice:
24 double-stuffed Oreos
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons shortening24 red maraschino cherries with stems, well drained
24 chocolate kisses
48 sliced almonds
1 small tube green decorative icing gel
1 small tube red decorative icing gel

Carefully twist cookies apart; set aside the halves with cream filling. Save plain halves for another use. In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Holding each cherry by the stem, dip in melted chocolate, then press onto the bottom of a chocolate kiss. Place on the cream filling of cookie, with cherry stem extending beyond cookie edge. For ears, place slivered almonds between the cherry and kiss. Refrigerate until set. With green gel, pipe holly leaves on the cream. With red gel , pipe holly berries between leaves and pipe eyes on each chocolate kiss. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

This recipe, as well as the photo, are from the Taste of Home web site. You can find tons of great recipes there.

Snowdrops

While blog browsing, I came across these wonderful photos. I love snowdrops. They always remind that spring is just around the corner. My mother used to grow bunches of them in Ohio when I was a kid. I thought they were wild flowers because she had them planted everywhere. I remember that one year I picked a huge bouquet of them and proudly presented them to her. That was when she clued me in on the fact that they were not meant to be picked.

Rush

I am blessed to be surrounded by such cuteness.

Twinings Lady Grey

I have tried quite a few teas by now. Some tea has been cheap and some of the loose leaf has been on the expensive side. Right now, Twinings Lady Grey is the one that I reach for the most. I probably have bought a 1/2 dozen boxes and have not grown tired of this tea yet.

Dixie Pups at 20 Weeks

Lacey

Rush

Spring is Just Around the Corner

Snowy mornings . . .

. . . . and sunny afternoons.

Rooibos Sweetheart Blend

I have discovered another favorite tea. It is called Rooibos Sweetheart Blend by SBS Teas. It is described as a chocolate lover's delight and I agree with the desciption. It has tiny candy hearts, almond pieces, cocoa bits, vanilla and is quite fragrant. It also suggests that it is great over ice too. Sounds like something great for me to try this summer.

DMS Baseball