Happy Birthday!

For my birthday this weekend, the family went camping near Branson. I love going to the arts & crafts festival held in the fall at Silver Dollar City! Lots of lovely handcrafted wares and oodles of skilled artisans -- coopers, basketweavers, blacksmiths, jewelers, painters, weavers, woodworkers, soapmakers, glassblowers, weavers, chandlers, quilters. You name it! Handcrafted paradise.

Camping in the fall is lovely. The evenings were cold, but we were snug and warm in our tiny teardrop trailer. I discovered crock pot liners and made overnight breakfasts with those, so clean up in the mornings was a snap! Off we went on our adventures for two fun-filled days. Home again, we're tired but happy. Lovely memories made. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Oregano

THREE NEW LIP BUTTERS IN STOCK!

It's been a delicious fall at my place! I'm LOVING three new lip butters I just added to my stash: RED DELICIOUS APPLE, PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE, and BUTTERY TOFFEE CRUNCH. Yes, this makes well over two dozen flavors that I carry; what can I say? I'm crazy for this stuff! I use it all the time. (Well at least I can say my lips are NEVER chapped and dry!) Visit my shop here to see all available flavors. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog ramblings. ;)

RANDOM RAMBLINGS

September! Rough month for me. Nothing major; just threw my back out and cracked a tooth! The latter is very discouraging to me since I don't chew ice or hard candy. Not fair! (pouting here) Can't figure out how it happened. Alas, dental work is in my near future. :) Ah well, I keep telling myself how glad I am to live where dental care is readily available.

October! One of my favorite months. Love the leaves, the weather, the scents, the food. Love getting ready to hibernate for the cold months ahead. Winter may be frosty, but I love the slower pace and the ability to knit and crochet for longer stretches. I can read a book if I so please, watch a chick flick, or play a board game with my family. And since the garden and lawn chores are on hiatus, we do have more time together as a family. Precious weeks and months left with our teenagers; they will be grown up and gone before we know it, I'm told.

Had an interesting surprise on our front porch recently. My husband always hangs several large baskets of impatiens every spring. Seems they somehow reproduced down in the yard, right behind the spirea bushes below the baskets! I'm going to have to take a pic - too funny. I'll be sorry to see them go when the first hard frost settles in.

Besides pouring loads of candles these days, I am playing with new crock pot recipes. I am so glad those babies were invented. If my house burns down, the first thing I will replace after the toilet paper is my beloved crock pot. Off to gather the ingredients for a new recipe for tonight's supper and dream about my next yarn project.

Overnight Apple Pie Oatmeal

OK, I'm on a major crockpot kick lately. Deal with it. Last night I tested a recipe that would enable us to awaken to the delicious smells of a home-cooked breakfast, READY TO EAT. Yeah, bay-bee! I awoke briefly during the night, smelled the deliciousness, drifted back to sleep and DREAMED about eating it. How weird am I?

3 cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
21-oz. can apple pie filling
6 cups water

I spritzed some non-stick cooking spray into the crockpot, then I mixed the first four ingredients (dry stuff). Dumped it all into the crock, then poured in the water and pie filling. Stirred it all up, and popped the lid on. Set the cooker to LOW and let it go overnight, about 8 hours.

In the morning there was some separation, so we stirred it all together before serving. Double delish! This served the four of us amply, with some to spare.

I'm going to try again with all kinds of variations on the pie filling and spices. Peach, berry, cherry ... you name it. Let me know how yours turned out if you try this!

Photo courtesy of my son's Etsy shop. (Thanks, Brent!)

Wordless Wednesday

The Best Gift

How do you show love to those near to you? Words of love and affirmation may do the job adequately, but actions also communicate volumes. Do you quietly make sacrifices on behalf of friends and family? Do you send thoughtful notes or give gifts you know will be cherished? Do you perform acts of service such as doing an unpleasant chore to show you care? Are you affectionate physically? Are you liberal with sincere praise?

We learned early on that our children had distinct preferences in how they wanted to have love communicated to them. Our older child was always making and buying gifts for the family and took great delight in receiving presents. The younger always wanted to give hugs, snuggle, and hold hands; clearly, physical affection meant a great deal to her. Although all the different ways to communicate love are good, I think most people have a primary method to say "I care." For me, the gift of time and a listening ear are priceless. Our hurried society often leaves little time for visiting friends, and I'm as guilty as anyone of being very busy. But a simple phone call to find out how I'm doing or an occasional one-on-one lunch date speak words of love to me. I don't need hours and hours, but a kind ear to hear me sort things out and share what's on my heart is a priceless gift and a rare treat!

What speaks "LOVE" to you? How do you show you care, and how do you like others to demonstrate their love to you?