Church Window Cookies

Well...Christmas is two weeks away and all I've done for the holidays is put a wreath on the front door and set up my ceramic light up Christmas tree...that's all I probably will do. Now, don't think I am a Grinch, I just don't think that going all out and decorating only to leave a couple days before Christmas and not returning until after the New Year is really that smart. I don't want to spend the effort dragging everything out of the attic, setting it up, leaving a week later, risking the orange fury (Fizzgig, the cat) knocking everything over, only to come home and put it all away.  BUT, that doesn't mean I can't make Christmas treats to eat and share with friends and neighbors!

I love Christmas because, you can mix sugar with more sugar and cover that with more sugar and not feel guilty because, it is CHRISTMAS!!!  I was reading through some of my friends' facebook posts the other day and one of them talked about how that had made church windows. I totally forgot about those delicious chocolatey-marshmallow morsels! I was on a mission to make them after that! I got out my recipe collection and dug out Church Windows. I then planned to go to the store to get the ingredients, but I got hit with a cold...after a few days of coughs, sniffles, and a wicked headache, I finally made it to the grocery store!

 You'll need a stick of butter, a bag of the muti-colored marshmallows, 16 oz of milk chocolate chips, 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla(not pictured), and two cups of shredded coconuts

 Melt the butter and the chips on the stove in a large saucepan on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

 While chocolate in melting, sprinkle half the coconut on a large cookie sheet. 

 Now, I love coconut! I could eat coconut 24/7 and be happy forever! So, I may have added a little extra coconut!

 Once the chocolate and butter have melted and combined, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

 Fold in the marshmallows until combined.

 Plop the mixture on to the cookie sheet and form into a log. Now, ideally, you should make two logs, but I was feeling a little lazy...Sprinkle the rest of the coconut on your church windows.

 Don't they look delicious?!?! Put the cookie sheet in the fridge until firm, at least an hour. Then slice the log into cookies!

Perfection!

Once you slice them, they kinda look like little stained glass windows! 

I hope you enjoy them! The husband and I sure do! If you want, add walnuts to them when you fold in the marshmallows. They make such a nice addition to your holiday baking and they are something different for your cookie swap! 

These days are sure getting cold and I'm loving the snowfall! And so is Waffles!

 She found this football in the park on our walk one day and brought it home with her...silly girl!

 The snow falling on the tree between out house and the neighbor's.

I like to be out in the snow, but really love building a fire and staying warm inside. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a even happier new year! Hopefully, I'll blog right after the New Year about our holiday traveling adventures!

August, September, October and the beginning of November!

Has it been three months...yup! My bad...I got to tell you, I was in a funk and I would think about blogging but never did...I have lots to fill you in on, though! Be excited!

My last post was about how I was going to Iowa and Arizona for a little vacay...well, it didn't happen the way it was planned...*Sigh* Two days before my vacation, you know the one I had been planning to go on for a year, I got a phone call. My dad was in a horrible car accident. He wasn't paying attention and was T-boned by a semi. He broke his back and his pride, but was okay. Good thing I had planned on being in Iowa for a week before heading to Arizona so I could be with my family and help out my mom. After getting to Iowa, my mom informed me that there was no way she could go to Arizona because she needed to be there to help my dad once he was released from the hospital. He'd need help putting on his brace, someone to spot him when he'd stand up and use his walker, someone to run errands for him, i.e. pick up medication, buy food, etc. She told me to go ahead and go to Arizona and enjoy myself. I wanted to, I really did! I love visiting my family and I so wanted to go back to Arizona...but I knew it meant more to my mom to go. She hasn't been to Arizona in probably 15 years and I know she wanted to be able to see her family and her old hometown. So, I told her to pack her bags and I would stay and help my dad. It was nice to be able to spend sometime with my dad, my family, my friends in Iowa and I'm trying not to dwell on the fact I didn't get to go to Arizona...someday I will!

I got to take care of my mom's garden while she was away! Which gave me a gardening fix since I couldn't take care of mine.

These beauties are from my mom's Johnathan apple tree.

My mom always has the cutest gardens!

 Her cherry tomatoes were in full harvest! I probably picked a bowl or two everyday!

I was able to shoot a picture of one of the apple eating culprits! I think it is a grosbeak?
 

I took this at a Farmer's Market I stopped at one day while in Iowa. I just love all the varieties of tomatoes!

I flew back home about three weeks after I got there. It was so very nice to get back home and into my routine again. I do miss my family and friends very much, but I do love being home. I miss Iowa on almost a daily basis but I just look at pictures like these to make me feel better!

Once I got back home, I had a lot to do with my garden. My tomatoes were just coming up ripe, my potato plants were dying down and ready for me to dig up the bounty. I had a few ears of corn, a 4 1/2 ft tall basil plant, and a bunch of carrots to pull.

 To preserve my basil. I bought a few ice cube trays and cut the basil up into each well and then filled them with olive oil. This winter I can use a cube or two here and there while cooking.

 My beautiful carrots! They were delicious! I cooked a few in a batch of beef stew and ate the rest raw.

 I had sooooooo many tomatoes! The picture above is a batch of salsa I made. I also canned three batches of pasta sauce. We make a lot of pasta dishes so it made the most sense to make more pasta sauce. We usually only use salsa in cock pot taco meals, which I probably make once a month or so.

 I harvested about 40lb of potatoes out of my garden! I towel dried/brushed them and then stored them in a single layer in my pantry drawers for a week. After that, I put them in a wicker basket with a layer of newspaper between each layer. I had so much garden surplus that my neighbors sure benefited from it!

I had some fails with my garden. My zucchini and pepper plants both decided not to really produce anything worth eating and my poor pumpkin plants got sick and didn't make it. But, there is always next year! With it now being November, my garden is all done and now lays bare until next Spring. We plan on adding a few more raised beds and trying out some new vegetables. 

With September came the beginning of Fall. My favorite! I think my porch looked very cute this year. Now that it has begun to get cold, rainy/snowy, and just nasty out some days, it doesn't look this nice. But it did for a hot minute!

 

 At the end of September, the hubby and I celebrated my birthday! I'm 29...I'm not really sad that this is the last year of my twenties, but I don't feel like I'm that old. I still feel like turning 21 was a year or two back, but thank God it's not! I was so immature and crazy as a young adult and so glad of where I'm at! 

My beautiful birthday cake from my husband. German Chocolate, of course! My favorite!

October 20th was our first anniversary! It is so crazy that it has been a full year since we said, "I do." I think I love him more now than I did when I married him. we spent the weekend at a B&B in Maine. It was so fun! I will do a post about that soon, because I took a ton of pictures and I feel like it warrants its own post! 

Before I go, there is one more thing. After I got home from Iowa, we adopted a dog! YAY! We have been talking about it forever and a year and decided that now is the time and found our new fur baby! 

We named her Waffles and I love her! She is so very smart and such a love bug! She is a Rottweiler-German Shepherd mix.

She has kept me very busy! We are currently taking her to beginner dog training classes. She is doing so well! She has mastered sit, come, down, watch me, leave it, take it, and drop it. She is about there with her loose leash walking, like 95% there. Our big problem area is sitting for a greeting. She has a major case of the wiggly butt and wants to jump. Usually after correcting her once she does it. We'll get there!

I'm going to sign off now and hopefully do our anniversary weekend post in the next week!

Mid July

Here I am! This summer is in a hurry, isn't it? I feel like just yesterday was the Fourth of July and now I'm staring the end of July in the face! I'm getting pumped for the beginning of August, though. I will be traveling back to Iowa to visit my newborn niece! She was born on the Fourth of July (How cool is that?!?!)! After a week in Iowa, my mama and I will be traveling to Arizona for 10 days with her siblings, visiting her hometown and various other spots, like the Grand Canyon! When I was little we went to the Grand Canyon, but I don't remember much, so I'm excited to see it as an adult. Yay!

So, here's a little update on what I've been up to for the past few weeks!

I painted our kitchen. It was quite a job and really hot the day when I tackled it, but it turned out beautiful! I'm in love with it! 

Here's the before...

And the after!

I kept the stairs yellow but changed shade to compliment the green.

My rose bushes bloomed and were so stunning! 

My tomato plants are out of control! 

And are filling up with tomatoes!

My zucchini are blooming...

As well as my pumpkins!

And I do have one fail....I lost my broccoli to earwigs...They have completely destroyed them!

I'm not going to lie, I probably won't post again until after my Arizona trip! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and I can't wait to share my trip pictures with you next month!

June is flying by!

Here I am! Every time I post I tell myself I need to be more consistent with my posts, but now it's been almost three weeks...

So, what's new? I've been keeping busy with my gardening and housework. Since my last post I have planted my pumpkins and sunflowers, so that means my garden is all officially planted! YAY!

 Here's my zucchini! It popped up the very next day after my last post!

 Sunflowers! I planted the mammoth 12 foot kind! They sprouted three days after I planted them and are probably about 6 inches now...I have something that is eating them though, some bug, so if anybody has any tips to get them to stop, PLEASE tell me!

 My pumpkins are up! I can't wait to put them on the porch in the fall! 

My out of control potatoes! They are a mess! 

First potato blossom! 

 Tomatoes! They are starting to form some flowers! I'm so excited!

Lettuce, Basil, Onions, and Broccoli! We've been clipping lettuce and using it in salads and wraps the past couple weeks! I love knowing that we grew what we ate!

I am having a few fails with my garden. My sweet corn is not so hot. I'm thinking it's the soil. I planted in the ground instead of a raised bed and I think it's just too sandy. I have a few but I don't know if I'll get anything from them. My bell pepper plant is the oddest thing ever. It has not grown since I transplanted it a month or so ago. It's still the same size, still has it's four leaves...I'm at a loss...it doesn't appear to be dying but it's not doing anything...Finally, my lavender....AHHHH! I had a vision...I'd plant them in front of our picket fence and they'd glow and bloom and it'd be a picture fit for a postcard. I transplanted six and all but one died. So frustrating! Again, I think it's the soil because everything else I've planted there hasn't sprouted...oh, well...you can't win them all!

 

Speaking of flowers, I do have a few wins....

 My Lupine is thriving! 

My Dahlias are very happy and so are my Glads(not pictured)

Well, I'll end it here! Next week I am hoping to repaint our kitchen and butler's pantry so I will try to remember to take some pictures so you all can see! I'm pretty excited about it!

My Dad's visit and garden update

Hello Bloggers! I finally have a moment to write another post! I can't believe it has been two weeks since my last post. Time has really gotten away from me. My Hunny and I were super sick the weekend after my last post...blah! I'm pretty sure we had food poisoning and boy, was that a horrible 48 hours! I've been busy in my garden and backyard since then and was so happy my dad was able to come visit this past week! My dad has been retired now for about two years or so and I think he's finally realized he can go places, aka visit his kids, without the hassle of having a job to schedule around. He flew out here last Friday and I think it was the first time he has flown in about twenty years! He kept calling me and asking me questions about flying...can he bring this in his carry on, when should he be at the airport, how long does it take to get through security...etc. When we picked him up he looked like a little lost lamb among the hustle and bustle of the airport!  I woke up early this morning and hugged him goodbye...I hate not being close to my family! I miss them all the time!

Anyways....

I thought I'd post some pictures of my garden and yard, as well as some from our adventures while my dad was here!

 My potatoes are out of control! I mounded them up right after my last post and they wasted no time popping back through the dirt and growing crazy style!

 My tomatoes! Since I took this picture a few days ago, they have now grown over the first rung of their cages!

 Happy tomato plants!

 My lettuce is in need of some thinning...

 as well as my onions...

 Happy broccoli

 It's hard to see, but the sweet corn is coming in! Since this picture, I've had about 6-8 more sprout!

 My new garden boots! We went to the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine and I snagged these puppies on clearance. They are perfect to slip on, work in the garden and hose off when I'm done.

 The front of the house with some flowers...finally!

 Planted some geraniums for the stairs!

 Up close of one of the front porch hanging baskets!

 I love the bright red color of the geraniums!

An up close of the hanging baskets on the back porch!

The first place my dad wanted to go to was Maine and have seafood. We went to Kennebunkport, Maine and ate some absolutely delicious fried clams and scallops!

 I could live there!

 So Gorgeous!

 And I could live here!

 Lobster traps!

 My dad in front of the Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont

 He looks like he belongs in the olden days!

 This reminds me of our old farm. My mom had an old wagon in the corner of our front yard and planted flowers all around it.

 My dad taking in the beautiful park that is two blocks from my house.

I have a bunch of work in the garden this week and the temperature the next few days is going to be in the 90's...yuck! I need to plant my pumpkins and sunflowers(zucchini went in about a week ago, no sign yet) and put in the rest of my flowers in the flower beds! Wish me luck!

I sure had a blast with my dad this past week and I think he really enjoyed his time here as well! I hope you all enjoyed my pictures and I'll be back to update soon!