Yes! It's Under 100 Degrees!

Just popping in to say "Hi" to everyone.

I don't know about you guys but once October hits, the end of the year is right around the corner. We get so busy that it seems like there is something every weekend!

All of the Fall and Harvest decor is up and we are looking forward to Trick-or-Treaters, my birthday, and then the big day of feasting! Yay! The time between October 1st and Jan 1st is my favorite time of year. I am looking forward to making apple butter, and Thanksgiving dinner! Then of course there is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! I hope you are all are anticipating as much as I am. I can't wait to see your homes and ideas.

3 of 101 Things To Do With A Cake Mix

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Bars

• 1 chocolate chip or yellow cake mix (I used yellow)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup chunky peanut butter (I used creamy)
• 1 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together cake mix, eggs, and oil. Mix in peanut butter. Stir in chocolate chips. Pat the mixture into a 9x13-inch pan.

Bake 14-17 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let me tell ya! I took these to work and they were gone in like... 5 minutes. They were yummy!

Enjoy!

Kikusui- Made in Japan

Today will be my first Blue Monday. I am linking up with Sally at her blog SmilingSally. If you would like to see other lovely blues then head on over. Thank you Sally!

Has any one heard of Kikusui? I am very interested
in knowing a little more about the company. I went on to
Replacements.Com and they didn't have anything like this pattern or any history on the company.

I was in a Junk store...I mean a JUNK store...not an antique store...and I was just about ready to leave, when I spied this set on a back shelf. They were marked $9.00 for the set. Then on the creamer there was a sticker that said $2.oo for the set and on the sugar bowl a sticker that said $1.00. Soooo, not willing to pay $3.00 for the set, I asked the toupee-d man if that meant it was $1.00 for the set? He looked at me and said "Ya! Shooor! Cash?"
He was kinda funny in an odd way....He kept trying to get me to buy some nasty old fishing hooks...like I said...odd.

So that is my major bargain....I think?
The creamer has a couple of hairline cracks,
but doesn't leak. I think that they are probably
from the '50's.
I just love them.

Happy Anniversary To Us!

Hey you guys! It's been a busy week. Today is my Mama's birthday!
Happy Birthday to her! She is a sweet and giving Christian lady.
I love her very much!

Earlier this week my Sweet Husband and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary. I know that is not very long compared to some of you, but it has been a wonderful 5 years for us. We have seen some tough times and some really wonderful times.
He always makes me laugh! That's why I thought I would share this picture of us at our wedding. It's my favorite. I think that we look like we are having such a good time. We were!

Happy Anniversary Big G! I love you more than I ever thought possible.
Your my Sweetheart and my Best Friend.

2 of 101 Things To Do With Cake Mix

Well here is number 2.... These Lemon bars are tasty. I took them to a church function and they were gone lickety split. Also, just for fun, I created a button on my side bar. Just click on the Baked with love! button and all the cake mix recipes will pop up.

Lemon Squares

• 1 lemon caked mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, and oil.

Mixture will be stiff.

Spread the mixture evenly into a greased 9x13 inch pan.
Bake 13-15 minutes until slightly golden on top.

Cool, then sprinkle powdered sugar over the squares.

Pappadeaux

A couple of weeks ago my handsome older brother celebrated his 48 b-day!
Holy Crap! Do you know how old that makes me?!
Double Holy Crap!! Not as old as him! :)
As is the long standing tradition in our family, the birthday boy (or girl) chooses the dinner locale. He chose one of my favorites.... Pappadeaux !

I just love the ambiance and of course the food is to die for! (I'm an eater you know!)
I did take a bunch of pictures of the inside but they were all full of people. I hate putting pictures of folks on the internet with out their permission. Beside the point.
Any way! The restaurant looks like it was built decades ago. I think it's only about 20 years old, though. The service is ALWAYS wonderful, and while everything is very high quality, it is unpretentious.

The patio is huge and houses small jazz bands on the weekends and holidays.

Other than the fact that at 8:00 at night it's 99 degrees,
you forget your in the desert or on the I-17.

This is a special place for my husband and I. We have celebrated every
New Year's eve here for about 12 years.

Our Rehearsal Dinner was here as well.

Look at the dessert! Enough banana pudding for 3 people.
Of course I could finish this, so they
gave me a lid to the jar!

How cute is that?!

Handsome Brother's Birthday pie. Chocolate Pecan!
UUMMMMM.....YUM!

Hope you enjoyed Pappadeaux! We always do!

TableScape Thursday and Hearty Beef Stew

It's Tablescape Thursday .... Make sure you go to Susan's blog
Between Naps on the Porch!

It was stormy and cool here in Phoenix this weekend. What a break!
So that put me in the mood for fall.

I used my Susan Winget bowls and saucers with my Johnson Brothers Asiatic Pheasant plates. Aren't they French-ee!

I just pulled some of my Fall stuff for the centerpiece.

Ummmm! Smells good! What's for dinner?

Beef Stew and Beer Biscuits

• 4 celery stalks, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1-inch thick rounds
• 4 red potatoes, chopped into large dice
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 (1-pound) chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can less sodium beef broth.
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• Beer Biscuits, recipe follows

Directions

In a 6-quart slow cooker combine the celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, thyme and beef. In a large bowl, stir together all the remaining ingredients and pour over the beef and vegetables in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 5 hours. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with Beer Biscuits.

Beer Biscuits:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose baking mix, recipe follows
• 2 tablespoons sugar.
• 1 cup beer

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients with a whisk until just combined. Using 2 spoons divide dough into 4 even mounds and put on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Magic Eraser

Has anyone out there tried this wonderful new product?

I did for the first time this weekend. It was particularly useful on the textured handles of the appliances. Ours are white and they are just next to impossible to keep clean looking. The Magic Eraser cleaned them up lickety split!
We also have furbabies that love to rub their wiskers on the corners of the walls and trim. It turns black and it usually requires scrubbing. These wipe them clean. Of course I had to try it on other stuff.... Doors, inside of the microwave, and the counters.... all just a wipe, no scubbing.

Make sure you read the instructions and recommendations. It is not for stainless, chrome and other shiney finishes.

Gone With The Wind ...A Book Review and a Party!

It's all about celebrating a wonderful story written in 1936
and made into a movie in 1939.

If you love the movie.... You must read the book!

Gone With The Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
It has so much more to it in terms of politics and culture at the time of the Civil War. I think that it is one of my all time favorite reads. 959 pages of drama, humor, romance, history, and many, many reminders of where we were not too long ago.

Scarlett's story begins just as the Civil War is beginning. A child raised on old fashioned traditions, class values and spoiled rotten. You struggle with her as she battles to obtain the unobtainable and learns that she can conquer hunger and poverty by breaking all the rules. After the war ends, we watch as the south realizes that the battle has just begun with the reconstruction and the rebuilding of an entire new way of life. Scarlett learns that she always wants what she doesn't have and can't get. Then just as she realizes she has what she wants... she loses it.

Margaret Mitchell develops the characters so richly and deeply that you come to understand the goodness in them even though they were the "Old Guard" of the South. These were the plantation owners who got rich off the backs of slaves and their own hard work, but passed only the wealth and slaves on to the next generation. Pampered and spoiled, this generation was allowed to feel as if they were like the Gods and Blue Bloods of the upper classes in Europe. If for nothing else, you should read it as a reminder of our history. Even when considering the entire context, it is as racially offensive, class biased and gender prejudiced as the reality of the South was at that time. It is a true picture of where we were.

As Margret Mitchel says in an interview later, after the book has become a huge success, it really is about gumption. Those who have it and those who don't.

A thoroughly lovely read! I can honestly recommend this book!

Okay ... Now it is time to finish your tea and start getting ready for the ball at Nikki's Scarlett Rose Garden.

We have so much to celebrate.

Make sure you tighten up your corsets.

Heat up the curling irons and powder your noses!

We'll be dancing late into the night!

We can always sleep in tomorrow!

Thank you Nikki! I had a ball!