Badger Game Day!

I love fall and everything that it brings. A cool morning, sunshine, and football! Although I don't like it when they play night games, cuts into my sleep. As you get older, your bed time seems to get closer to dinner time and dinner time gets closer to lunch time...and on it goes.  People get a laugh when I tell them that Bryan and I eat supper at 3:30 in the afternoon! Well, we only eat 2 meals a day. So sometimes when we eat at 3:30, buy 6:30 I think it should be about bedtime. And now it will be dark at 4.

I made this card to enter into a challenge at The Spotted Chick. http://thespottedchick.blogspot.com/ She does such cute cards. I really enjoy seeing all she makes.

This is my krafty card, hoping it makes me a "Krafty Chick!"

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Joan

A beautiful fall day

It was such a great day today. Thanks to mother nature for heating my house for me today with her sunshine!

I also got in the mail information on my Compassion Child. My best friend, who just happens to be my sister-in-law, (I know, how lucky am I) has set me up with a child to correspond with. Her name is Stephany and she lives in Ecuador. I am so looking forward to getting to know this child.

Also, my friend Mary at http://www.cardztv.blogspot.com asked me if I would post my granola recipe. Like I said, it is very basic, so you could add whatever you like. I had some in my yogurt today. Yum!

4 cups oats

1 cup nuts

1/4 c brown sugar

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup water

1 cup raisins

Mix all together (except any dried fruit you are going to add) and put on a cookie sheet. Spread out. Bake at 300 for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Then add any dried fruit you would like.  Store in air-tight containers. I baked mine on parchment paper so it came off the cookie sheet really easy. If you try it, let me know how you like it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great today!

Joan

Sunday...again!

Can't believe that it has been a week since I posted. Hope everyone had a good week.

I thought I would give up soda, but woke up this morning, headache and crabby so I had a soda and a calm feeling came over me. It was an Ahhhhh moment. I guess maybe I will just cut back on my soda drinking. I also have been having a craving for granola. I was at the grocery store and could not believe the price. I thought to myself, it can't be that hard to make. So I looked around online and found some recipes that sounded really good, some not so much. I took bits and pieces from different recipes and made some this morning. Mmmmm. It is so good. I put it in jars, and then had a little left. I put a little milk on it and it was a great treat. I love it in my yogurt. And by making it myself, I can put in it what I like. This batch was pretty basic until I knew if I liked it. But, with this as a base, I can add different things.

I hope you all have a great day.

Packer Sunday!

Happy Sunday!

I woke up with a really bad headache, so have spent most of the morning in silence. Well...silence until Bryan got home from coffee singing the Subway $5.00 foot long jingle.

I have always been someone who clips coupons. But never gave them much thought, if I remembered to take them to the store, great if not, no big deal. Well that all changed after Bryan's stroke. I really had to learn how to budget and stretch our food dollar. I am getting better (still feel confused at times) but I am learning so much. How to look at the deals and use my coupons to my advantage. One of the resources that have really helped me is http://midwestcouponclippers.net This web page is full of information. You really need to check it out. They also have a face book page http://www.facebook.com/WisconsinCouponClippers

Here is how I worked coupons for our supper on Friday night. Wisconsin Coupon Clippers put up a like for a coupon for $2.00 off a DiGirino pizza. We usually have pizza on Friday nights after a day of volunteering. I also had a coupon from Fresh Express for $1.00 of a bag of lettuce.

I went to the grocery store, and DiGirino pizza were on sale for $5.59, the bag of lettuce was on sale for $1.19. So, with my coupons I got the pizza for $3.59 and the lettuce for 19 cents! I was pretty proud of myself! I like the challenge of getting the best deal I can!

Hope you all have a great today!

Stop back again.

Joan 

FRIDAY~

Hope everyone is having a good fall. I have been trying to keep busy. Have the garden all cleaned. The final tomatoes are in the kitchen to get ripe. I have a bowl of cherry tomatoes that are getting there. Sure is nice to grab some for a healthy snack. Of course, they are sitting right next to the bowl of Butterfinger candy bars! But life is full of choices! And I figure if I eat 5 cherry tomatoes and 1 candy bar they will cancel each other out!?

I took today off from volunteering. The last 3 weeks have been very challenging for me. I understand no one likes to be in the hospital, and there are not there for fun. But the past 3 weeks I have had some of the most unhappy, ungrateful just plain rude patients! I don't get paid enough, WAIT, I don't get paid anything to have to deal with that. I try not to take it personal, come on who would not want to spend some time with me!? I can usually deal with the crabby one's because the nice one's make it all worth while. But last week, not one patient was happy. And I had a full folder of 8 patients to see. So I have been in an ugly mood all week. Even though our weather has been awesome (except for the last couple days) I love fall and everything about it. I just could not shake my ugliness!

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!

Joan

Challenge at Outlawz

The Twisted Thursday Challenge at http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com/ was to use the colors, red, green and yellow. This is the card I made for that challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great today!

Joan

Apple Pie Muffins....yummy

Have a fun morning playing BINGO (the crafty way!) over at http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com I had mentioned that I made some Apple Pie Muffins and promised I would post the recipe here. They are really good.

As you can see from the second picture...my husband stole one!

Apple Pie Muffins

2 1/4 cups self rising flour (or regular flour with 1 t baking soda and 1/2 t salt

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk ( I usually don't have on hand so I make my own using 1 cup milk plus 1 T vinegar)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 1/2 cups diced apples

Topping

1/2 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 t cinnamon

2 T butter, melted

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, baking soda and salt. (or the self-rising flour)

Beat in the egg, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla and brown sugar until well combined. Stir in the diced apples. Stir just until everything is blended. Spoon into the prepared muffin tins. Filling the cups to the top.

In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when lightly pressed.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you come back soon.

Have a great day!

Joan

The Outlawz 1000 Member Party!

From
Monday, October 3, 2011, 12:01 AM EST
until
Sunday, October 9, 2011, 11:59 PM EST

We are celebrating The Outlaws 1000 members! Prizes worth $ 800.00!! Let's play!
Aren't you a member yet? That's not too late to join.

At The Outlaws we have challenges every day of the week. Check it out!

WHEW...I have been on a card making roll!

I lost my interest in making cards after my mom passed away. She and I were awesome pen pals, and I enjoyed so much getting her cards and letters. After she passed when I had to make a card for someone it sure felt like a chore. But the last few weeks, it has brought me comfort again.

Another one of the blogs that I love is http://disguisedasagrownup.blogspot.com/. She has some great images that are usually free for the first 24 hours. She has a smarty-ass attitude. I got this image from her and made this card for a coffee buddy of Bryan's. 

This second card is for my brother. My second attempt at a center panel card.

And finally, this last card is for my Aunt who will turn 88!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you come back again!

Have a great day!

Joan

Happy National Card Making Day!

One of the blogs that I LOVE is http://createwithtlc-createwithtlc.blogspot.com/. You really need to RUN over and check it out. She has some amazing stuff on there for cards. She does a lot of freebies, which I REALLY appreciate! She is having a blog hop today and this is the card I made for it. This was one of her freebies!

Today is National Card Making Day, so I hope to spend most of my day making cards!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you come back!

Joan