A Few Thoughts About Goals and Being Good to Ourselves

These vibrant flowers 

were for my birthday 

from a good friend of mine.

They are so beautiful! 

Such brilliant, cheerful colors.

And they are lasting so long.

This year I have dreams

that are re-surfacing and I'm finding 

myself on a journey back to me.

Feeling stronger and more confident. 

Finding it easier to focus. After so many years

of feeling like I was losing ground,

it's a relief to have direction.

 There a few things that I have learned.
One is that there is always hope.
No matter how small a thing it seems,
do something that keeps me moving toward
where I want to be.

Another is that not one person is without
challenges in their life. 
No one has an easy time of it
all the time.

One more is that it takes
a lot of devotion and hard work
to get where I want to go. 
Though we need to work hard, I'm learning
to not be too obsessive and to take
lots of mini breaks. 

And honey... 
one thing is sure.
If we give up, 
we will NEVER
get there. 
So we persevere.

This was the most delicious red velvet 

cake that my daughter made me. 

And I had been craving cake thick with frosting.

Is there any other kind? 

I wanted to get a picture of a slice 

but never did.

My two daughters and their families

surprised me with a late evening party.

It was so sweet of them! Handmade cards

and sweet gifts. 

So far, getting older has been good

to me. I try to exercise, a lot and eat lots of

healthy foods and keep my stress down. 

There are some things that 

I don't like about my appearance but I 

have decided to embrace all of me

and really work on loving myself. 

And being very good to me. 

I don't hold to the "hard road"

mindset anymore. Life has enough

bumps in the road

without inviting them! ;)

So let's laugh a lot and create

as many happy moments for ourselves 

and others that we can! 

How do you create happy moments?

Think lots of positive thoughts

and keep on the sunny side.

  These past couple of weeks 

have been a busy time

helping my daughter pack and move 

and helping with her sweet girls as

she started a new job. 

I'm glad that I started my valentines early

and I was still working on them

at the last minute! 

I love making them and get caught up in

the details. Here they are waiting 

for the finishing touches.

 Maybe I can squeeze in a post of close ups before the month is over. 

I have a favorite sugar cookie recipe

and I always use half wheat flour.

I try to make our treats a little healthier.

Did you know that you can substitute oil with

applesauce and it keeps your baked goods moist?

A little trick to save calories and make your baking a bit more healthy.

I baked these to take to the local

people where we play music on Wednesday

nights. They are so supportive and it's nice to 

give a little something back to them.

 We had a huge snow storm come through

last weekend. If you follow me on IG, you already know and have seen these.

With a foot of snow, the mountain was covered in

this frosty white blanket.  The birds were wanting to eat. I bought extra seed to make sure that they had plenty.

I hope your February has been delightful. It will be gone in a few days and March will bringing

with it many thoughts of spring!

Have a lovely week and thank 

you for your visit.

Big Hugs,
Tamara X

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

Hello and how are you?

I hope that you had a meaningful

and super-fun holiday with your family

and friends.

It can be a good time to teach our children

and grandchildren

the true meaning of Independence Day.

A much as I enjoy the magic of fireworks,

the community parade and family gatherings

with games and food, I want the history and those that

gave and those that now give so much to be remembered.

If you've never seen the mini series, John Adams,

and you're interested in history, you may want to

watch it.

A while ago, I shared some photos of my homemade bread

with the promise of sharing the recipe...

so here it is.

I use to make bread by hand but as our family grew

to 11 members, I decided to buy a Bosch Universal Machine.

That was more than 20 years ago and I still enjoy making bread

and so I still use it to mix and knead my bread.

A warm slice of homemade bread spread with butter

and dripping with molasses is near the top of 

my favorite things list.

The recipe is as follows and makes 4 loaves.

Add to the machine mixing bowl

or a large stainless bowl.

If you're mixing by hand, you will 

probably want to cut the recipe in half.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 C milk (heated for 1min 45 secs)

2 C hot water (not too!)

2 T yeast

2 T dough enhancer (totally optional)

I never used this back in the day ;)

1 T salt

mix well

Then add:

1/2 C honey/sugar/ or molasses

1/2 C melted butter

2 C unbleached flour

and then slowly begin to add whole wheat flour

until the bowl sides begin to mix clean or until your dough isn't too sticky. You want it just a little sticky or 

it will be too dry!

(I grind my own wheat so whatever brand you like)

After you're done kneading, divide dough and 

shape into loaves and drop into 

generously greased loaf pans..

I let my dough rise until it's close to 
being double is size... or for about 20 minutes, covered 

with a tea towel atop a stove with the oven 

pre-heated. That extra added warmth helps 

it to rise. 

After it's risen to double it's size, place in a 

325-350 degree oven.

My oven is a bit hot so I bake my bread at 325.

You can have some fun with your dough. 

You can twist it or make pull apart bread or make 

tiny loaves for the kids or grandkids! 

The giggles were here the last time I 

baked so they filled some heart pans

 to take home to their mommy.

Now comes the anticipation of smelling 

that deliciousness

as it comes floating out from the

 oven door and into the kitchen!

MMMmm....

Oh, I have happy memories of when my mom used to 

make homemade rolls to go with

the big pot of beans that she made!

I think that was my dad's favorite meal.

He was raised down on the farm in the hollows of 

West Virginia. He was the 6th of seven children

and they ate very simply.

I don't have photos of any sliced..

 Bad blogger! AAgghh!

But the next time I bake bread, 

I will take some and post them.

When the bread comes out, it cools for a few minutes

and then gets brushed with butter!

So delicious.

I hope you get a chance to bake some

happiness and share it with someone.

_____________

There are so many other things happening.

I'll save that for another time.

But I will say that this crazy plant lady

FINALLY finished the last 

(we'll see... are we ever done? I think not! ;)

of her planting this morning!

It has been such a joy and lots of work too.

Perennials... herbs.. vegetables....annuals, 

Virginia Creeper and a new bush. 

Photos to come! 

The Gypsy Camp is growing and going through

all kinds of changes.

And then off I go tomorrow

 to the city with three of my daughters

to play. We're going to get a tattoo,

 dress up and go out to eat,

swim, shop and who knows what else!

I can hear the laughing now and of 

course we'll have some 

serious heart to heart talks, too.

I wish you a joyous rest of the week.

And thank you ever so much for coming by.

Tamara XO

How to Decorate and Re-Purpose a Mason Jar... or any Jar

Hello and Happy Friday!

It's a good day for working outside so that's what I did this morning.

I am in watering gear. It's a little early this year by about two to three weeks.

Spring here in the mountains is not the loveliest place but one has much hope 

when you add water and wait on the sun to work it's magic.

 Soon you see green wonders popping up everywhere!

I want to go out every morning to check on them all.

Today I wanted to show you an easy project. If you have mason jars or any 

other kind of jar sitting around, you may not want to get rid of them.

They can easily be used to make a vase or they can be used in place of gift bags

to hold those special items that you want to give to someone!

They can also be used as desk top containers for 

paint brushes, markers, pens, or cooking utensils in the kitchen.

I'm sure you could come up with other uses as well.

Acrylic paint works really well!

Choose your color and then apply two coats as you follow

the directions on the container for drying time. 

If you like the distressed look, take a piece of sand paper and

gently go over the places you would like to distress.

Then comes the fun part of embellishing in any style 

or theme that you want!

You could use sea shells, paper crafting cutouts or paper flowers. 

The possibilities are endless. 

Just have fun being creative! The materials for this 

project are very inexpensive and it's a simple project.
******************


What have you been doing?

Besides, working on cleaning up and de-cluttering, I made 

some whole wheat bread.

I will share my recipe sometime.

 We've had some very beautiful sunrises lately!

 This is over looking our little town in the early morning hours.

Jeff and I have been watching the crown. A very inspirational and interesting

series on Netflix. It's about the life of the current Queen Elizabeth. 

I highly recommend it if you enjoy history.




Thank you so much for coming by.

I appreciate you all so much.

 I wish you a very lovely weekend~

Tamara xo

Steaming, Apple Blueberry Crisp For a Cold Winter's Day

Hello everyone.

I hope you're safe and warm on this winter's day.

I know that there's been a lot of weather 

in the mid-west and east.  

I'd like to start sharing some of my

favorite recipes and ideas about food.

I do love to cook and bake.

And isn't there something so satisfying when

your hands and heart are at work to create  

 delicious, lovely to look at and good for you food.

When I was married, I had no idea that there was

 so much more to serving what we eat

 than just prepping it and getting it on the table! 

Our four boys and five girls gave me 

LOTS of opportunities

to learn creativity, grace and skill. 

And I'm still learning! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, I'd like to share this very easy and delicious

crisp recipe with you.

It's perfect for a last minute throw-together dish

and is easily adjusted to different kinds of fruit.

Fresh or frozen.

Apple Blueberry Crisp

4 C. fresh blueberries

4 C. apples sliced thin

2 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice

 1 & 1/3 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. wheat flour*

1 C. old-fashioned oats*

2/3 C. butter, softened 

2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

*In baking and cooking, I try to use the healthiest 

ingredients possible. You could use white flour and quick

oats if desired.

Heat oven to 375.

Mix apples and blueberries together.

Arrange fruit in an un-greased, 13 by 9 baking dish.

Squeeze the lemon juice over the top.

Mix brown sugar, flour, oats, butter, cinnamon and salt. 

Sprinkle over the top.

Bake until topping is light brown and apples are tender. 

About 30-40 minutes.

You can serve this with ice cream as a dessert or 

topped with whipped cream.

We also eat it for breakfast as a fruit, topped with

vanilla yogurt and sliced almonds.

 I like mine with sliced almonds ANYTIME!

This really is such a quick, simple and delicious dessert!

The crumble on top just melts in your mouth. 

And it's so pretty! All the bubbling blueberry juice.

My husband noticed that the apples had taken on 

a lovely purplish- blue color as 

they baked in the  juice.

He loved this crisp. He complimented it by saying

it just might be the best dessert he'd ever eaten.

Wow.. I was surprised.

It was perfect for a cold winter's afternoon. 

We sat by the wood stove and relished 

in the warmth of hearth and home. 

I hope you've enjoyed coming by today.

I always appreciate your visits and comments.

Thank you and have a wonderful day

Tamara xo

linking up at 

Julie's Lifestyle... Cooking and Crafting with J and J