Magazine Love

I guess you can say I am a magazine person. With all the different interests I have, I could spend a fortune in magazines with their beautiful glossy photos and interesting articles.

For the last two months, I’ve been picking up a new magazine while at Wal-Mart. I’m not really a Wal-Mart gal, but I do find myself in there about once a week, it seems. There’s a little magazine at the check-out area that costs less than $3.00 called “All You”. 

These magazines are chock FULL of coupons! I mean some really, really great coupons! In this month’s issue, you’ll find a coupon for BOGO free Sally Hansen Nail Polish Pens. These run about $6 each – what a great bargain! You’ll also find a BOGO free Rimmel Nail Polish AND $3.00 off any 2 Neutrogena products. Coupons are not just limited to health and beauty aids, either. There are coupons for ketchup, toothpaste, and snacks  – just to name a few.

This is not even mentioning the fact that this is a fun magazine with lots of interesting articles and recipes. Just make sure you read through it before you start clipping coupons…or else you might just clip part of something you want to read!!

Favorite Clothes

I was looking through some photos and started reminiscing about myself as a little girl and the clothes I wore.

Here are two of my favorite pieces of clothing from when I was a little girl in the 70s. The first one is a black velvet dress that had white trim. I felt like such a little princess in this:

This is my Kindergarten photo. I’m wearing a little red, blue, yellow and white top with white cuffs and collar and a red jumper with a sweet little butterfly on the center pocket. (Bear in mind, I eventually found a great beautician who could correctly cut and style very thick, naturally curly hair.) If only I were smiling (looks like I was close):

What about you? What were your favorite pieces of clothing as a child?

Thank You + Garden Beginnings

Thank you all so very much for the wonderfully kind comments and private emails. My heart is touched by your concern and your prayers for my mother.  I’ve shed many a tear by your words – overwhelmingly happy tears. She’s doing ok so far and really just waiting for her appointments. In the meantime, she has a positive outlook and is in really good spirits. Her first visit regarding her back is coming up soon. I’ll keep you posted and thank you so much my dear and wonderful friends.

Before all of the issues with Mama’s health came to be, Charles and I had been working diligently on our very first garden. Last weekend, he tilled the area (and ended up with some horrible blisters!) and I had taken some pictures of the before and after.

Here’s the area in our back yard before:

and after:

I’m not sure if this looks large to you or not but this garden has 19 rows! Already planted in it are onions, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, and pole beans (green beans).  Still to be planted are cucumbers, corn, peanuts, peas, tomatoes and okra. WHEW!

Plus we have this little second garden:

Inside this are strawberries and I think I’ll also have some herbs there. It’s just off our patio so things would be easy to harvest from there.

We can hardly wait not only to grow things but to share them with our neighbors, friends and family. I can’t wait until I want a salad and I just go to the back yard to make one!

Bananas – Yes and No

When I was growing up, my parents owned a country grocery store. It was a larger one than most in that area and my brother and I spent many of our early years there. With vendors and delivery men coming in all the time, they would grow fond of my brother and me and would give us little cakes or candies upon their visit. How sweet of them to do that for a couple of little children.

One of the delivery men for one of the bread companies was especially sweet and would give me a little banana cake. I don’t remember seeing them anymore but they had a light layer of banana frosting over a banana cake. To this day, I don’t like bananas. I never have. But give me some banana bread or those cakes the bread man would bring and I loved it! Strange isn’t it? How you like something that contains something you don’t like. I’ve tried to like bananas and tried to eat them, but I think it’s the texture of them I don’t like. At any rate, that brings me to what I wanted to share with you…a lovely and simple personal recipe for Banana Nut Bread. This recipe makes one loaf, but you can just double it if you want to make two.

Banana Nut Bread

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 bananas
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 1/2 c. chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease/spray loaf pan. Cream sugar and butter together. Add egg and vanilla. Stir well. In another bowl, mash the bananas and add flour, salt, baking powder and nuts.  Stir banana mixture with sugar mixture and pour into loaf pan. Cook for 1 hour.  

This recipe reminds me of that little cake I was given as a child. Thank you, sir, for your kindness. It has not been forgotten.

Stopping and Thinking

This morning, I was bundling up to go to the mailbox in the freezing rain and sleet and I had one of those crystallizing moments. You know the ones that stop you dead in your tracks? I realized how very lucky I am.

I grew up with the best family in the world. My parents are the epitomy of love. They would give me everything they had, if I needed it. I am incredibly thankful to them and my life is so blessed to have been born to these loving people! My brother is always there if I need him, always caring, so funny and a true friend!

With Charles, I found the love of my life! There were so many toads to reach this prince! He’s so incredible and never ceases to amaze me with his love for me. It’s scary to think of the different things we could have done before we met that would have caused our paths to never cross. But, alas, that was not in God’s plan. Thank you God for bringing this wonderful man to me!

I have several very good, special wonderful friends in my life whom I’m also very thankful for, including the brilliant and talented ladies whom I have met on the world wide web. Lovely ladies who inspire, encourage, care and share. Your comments to me on this blog and in emails and private conversations are not unappreciated – I love them each and every one. Thank you wonderful friends – you are appreciated more than you could ever, ever know.

What brought it all on? Yesterday, I made scones (using this recipe I blogged about before, sans the egg/milk topping and the raisins) and thought about having one this morning. I imagined I would heat it just a tad and use a little butter on it. Then I had the moment – the world stood still just briefly while I took it all in. The warmth, the happiness…of everything in my life.

Who knew a scone could do all that?