My Mom's Recipes...Tried and True

Going through my mom's things was difficult at times, but there are many things I'll cherish...including many of her recipes.  I'm sharing a few of her favorites here, written in her beautiful handwriting. Some were favorites passed on by other friends and relatives.

  I will definitely be making these time and time again, and I can totally recommend them!

(Click on picture to make it bigger.)

Sherrie's Vinegar and Oil Dressing

Chinese Chicken Wings

Troy Aikman's Chocolate Cherry Cake

I'm participating today in Thursday Favorite Things, hosted by Katherine's Corner!

Thursday Favorite Things: Eye Shadow Palettes

OK...anyone who knows me knows that I am a make-up junkie!

I'm not going to go into the pros and cons of wearing make-up, how much is too much, etc.  I only know that as a "woman of a certain age," looking my best inevitably involves applying a little paint to the old barn, if you know what I mean.

As he sometimes does on my December birthday, my husband gifted me this year with Estee Lauder's Blockbuster gift with purchase.

It was a make-up lover's dream.  Among the stand-outs: the eye shadow palette.  The colors are absolutely lovely, go on beautifully, and fulfill just about any eye-shadow needs a make-up lover could have.

Here's a closer look:

I am absolutely loving this palette.  Here's me wearing a few of the colors (click to make the picture larger):

On my lid: Estee Lauder Ivy Envy, Satin
In my crease: Estee Lauder Lavish Mink, Matte
Under my eyebrows: Nude Fresco, Satin

While this palette is no longer available,  you can buy the individual colors at your Estee Lauder counter.  Which is what I plan to do with the Lavish Mink color.  It's exactly the deep, dark shade I love in a brown eye shadow.

Are you a cosmetics junkie too?  I'd love to hear about your favorite palettes and products!

I'm taking part today in Katherine's Corner's Thursday Favorite Things blog hop!

Thursday Favorite Things: I love big fat magazines

No, this isn't a real magazine, but isn't it funny?

Ah, yes.  It's that time of year when magazines like Vogue and InStyle trot out their biggest issue of the year--the much-anticipated and revered September issue.

These are the issues that are roughly the size of the Sears Roebuck catalogues of my childhood.  And I love 'em!

My love affair with magazines

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My love affair with magazines actually began when I was a little girl and my parents were missionaries in Beirut, Lebanon.

My mom subscribed to several children's magazines for us, including Jack & Jill, Calling All Girls (later titled Young Miss and then YM), and a small Christian magazine I loved called Young Pilot.

When we returned to the states in 1967, I was just about to enter puberty, and was already beginning an avid interest in fashion and beauty (although I looked a mess.  The junior high years were NOT kind to me!)

Seventeen magazine was 50 cents then, and I remember cleaning the kitchen for my newly-married sister in exchange for a copy of the magazine!

I think at one point my mom even let me subscribe to Ingenue, and I bought Teen  Magazine with whatever pocket money I could earn or plead for.

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I still love magazines, but....

What is it about fashion magazines that I love so much?

Some may complain that they're mostly ads, but that's one of the main things I love about them?  I look at every ad.  I love the slick pages with the gorgeous ladies and handsome men, and sometimes I don't even notice what product they're touting.

Here's the deal, though.  For a person on a budget, magazines aren't a terrific investment.

They're expensive.  And honestly, after I read whatever articles I want to read, I'm pretty much done with them.  Then you have the problem of whether to store them, try to give them away or junk them.

Not only that, but you can get most of the info online.

So I try to avoid the temptation at the grocery store register to buy another magazine.

I content myself with a subscription to InStyle Magazine.  Not only do I get the glossy ads, but there are fashions I would actually wear (as opposed to the high-fashion couture which is often more than slightly bizarre), and the magazine remains politically neutral--a trait I value.

There are even practical articles about skin care, hair, decorating tips and recipes.

And you can bet I'm looking forward to that September issue, which should be arriving any day now.  The bigger and fatter, the better!

P.S. Note that both these vintage magazine covers feature the beautiful Colleen Corby.  She was a top print model during my childhood.

Join me for Thursday Favorite Things, hosted by Katherine's Corner!

It's National Cereal Day! What's YOUR favorite cereal?

Today is National Cereal Day...and this is one holiday I can really get behind. I love cereal!

This is from the Punchbowl website:


Cereal is the most popular breakfast food in America, but that wasn’t always the case. Up until the 1860s, most people ate eggs, bacon, and sausage every morning. Cereal emerged as a healthier alternative at the end of the 19th century.

The invention of one of the most famous brands of cereal was an accident. In 1877, two brothers named John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg were experimenting with food made with boiled wheat. They left a batch out overnight and returned to find it stale. Instead of throwing it away, they rolled it out and discovered that each wheat berry formed its own flake. They tried the same process with corn, and created the first dry breakfast cereal, which we now know as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes!

Today, 49% of Americans start their day with a bowl of cereal. Wholegrain cereals are an excellent source of fiber, iron, and B vitamins. Celebrate National Cereal Day with a bowlful of your favorite brand!

When Cereal is TOO Yummy


 When my kids were growing up, I had to walk a fine line when it came to cereal purchases.  If I got something really good--like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, or even Lucky Charms--well, I would be lucky to see those boxes of cereal survive until breakfast the next morning.



On the other hand, if I got something that was really good for them, like Cheerios or Raisin Bran,--or really cheap, like Corn Flakes--the boxes would go untouched for weeks.

So I had to get something that was good for them and tasted OK, but not so delicious that they felt that had to raid the box during distinctly NON-breakfast times of day.

Better to get something like Life or even Honey-Nut Cheerios.  Something that tasted good, but not so good that it wouldn't stay around a while.

And OK, I admit it.  I've been known to reach for a cereal box when it isn't breakfast time.  And when you've eaten all the cereal in your bowl, and there's still a sizable amount of milk left, of COURSE you have to put more cereal in the bowl, right?



As for my favorite cereals, I think I'd have to say Grape-Nuts Flakes and Grape Nuts are at the top of the list, followed closely Kashi GoLean Crunch.  And in cold weather, I do enjoy oatmeal.

So, what's YOUR favorite cereal?  Or do you usually just bypass cereal altogether?

I'd love to know.

And I leave you with a chuckle..from College Humor.com, this from "If Boring Cereals Had Mascots":






I'm linking up with Katherine's Corner today for Thursday Favorite Things! Click on the icon for more info:

Photo credits:

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Paradise for a Bookworm

I missed "Oh, How Pinteresting" this week. So this week, I'm just going to take part in Thursday Favorite Things by sharing some lovely images to do with one of my favorite subjects: books/reading.

If you're a book and reading lover too, please do let me know in my comments! I'd love to hear from you.

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"My Eldest Daughter, Suzanne with Milk and Book" by Carl Larsson, 1904

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I'm participating today in Thursday Favorite Things hosted by Katherine's Corner 

I need this book.

Have you ever tried to locate a book from your childhood or youth?  One that you had lost, or lost track of, or never even owned...but for whatever reason, you really wanted a copy again?

I have.  And I tracked down at least two, with very good results.

I've blogged before about finding  copies of two of my childhood favorites, Red Knights from Hy 
Brasil and Auntie Robbo.

That's one of the marvelous things about the Internet.  An obscure book that you thought was lost to you forever can be found on sites from abebooks to alibris to Amazon (Probably eBay? I haven't tried that yet.)

I also found a beloved book for my mom.

Carol Plays Summer Stock

Well, the other day something made me think about this book.   I think it was the unusual first names in the book--there was a character named Orchid and one named Remember.

I'm not even sure how this book came into my possession.  Honestly, I think it might have been a library book my older sister never returned. But I read it, and loved it, even at probably 10 or 12 years old.

And as I still do with books I really love, I read it repeatedly.

The book is available on Amazon.  And I was able to find some interesting information about its author, Helen Dore Boylston, on Wikipedia.

I found this description on Goodreads:

Her apprenticeship at Phyllis Marlowe's Repertory Theater behind her, green-eyed Carol Page now faces her first real job as second ingénue at the Richards Village Theater, Winasset, Maine. Along with her go her former classmate Julia Gregg and clever young Mike Horodinsky - Julia as apprentice, Mike as assistant stage manager.

In a rambling old house by the sea, Carol, Julia, and Mike live with the other members of the Richards Theater. Here their days are filled with learning parts, attending rehearsals, painting scenery, and absorbing as much as possible about the business of a summer theater; nights are filled with the excitement of performance. Here, too, Carol learns what it means to combat such forces as townsfolk who frown on the stage as evil, and Maine fog and rain which seem intent on keeping away an audience. She learns how to meet discouragement and how to cope with a girl named Orchid, a professional member of the cast whose training gives her an advantage over Carol and whose glamour is as effective as her technique.

Most of all, Carol and Mike discover the meaning of the theater - its demands, its disappointments, its rewards - and it is with a deeper realization of their love for it that they turn their eyes toward Broadway.

Have you tracked down favorite books?

I'd love to hear the story of how/where you found it! Or just tell me about what favorite book from your past you'd love to find and own.

 Read the story here of how finding this book led me to a true tale of murder in a tiny English village.

I'm linking up with Thursday Favorite Things at Katherine's Corner!

Be Still My Heart: A Tribute to Love & Romance

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Falling in love is like jumping off a really tall building. Your brain tells you it is not a good idea, but your heart tells you, you can fly.

Shakespeare's Sonnet 116--via

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. 

Plato 

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The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. 

Victor Hugo 

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 Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another. 

George Eliot 

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 This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.

C.S. Lewis

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“I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest -- blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine.” 
 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

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"...I found him whom my soul loves; I held on to him and would not let him go..."

Song of Solomon 3:4

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 "And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many."

J.R.R. Tolkien 

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“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” 

Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm linking up with Katherine's Corner for Favorite Things Thursday!

What I'm Loving Right Now

Happy Thursday, all! Today I'm linking up with Katherine's Corner and her Thursday Favorite Things blog hop, to tell you about a few of the things I'm loving right now.

When I went to Texas right after Christmas, I knew one of my favorite destinations would be the Round Rock Outlet Mall...specifically a little shop that sells Lancome at outlet prices.  You especially score if you can find things on clearance that you really want/need, and I did!

One of those things was my Kate Winslet Golden Hat powder from the Lancome shop.

I don't use a lot of powder...too much can be aging...but I like a light dusting just to set my foundation.  I manage to grab the VERY LAST powder at a very low clearance price (I'm thinking maybe 8 dollars?), and it happened to be in a light shade just right for my skin.  I'm loving it!

Brooks Brothers "New York"

While at the mall, my sister Beverly popped into the Brooks Brothers outlet to see if they had any of their fragrance that she loves.  It's called "New York" for women.  She had bought some once at a bargain price and loved it, but she didn't have a Brooks Brothers in her area.


Well, she quickly let us know that the outlet store was selling 1 oz bottles of  the fragrance for 15 dollars! My other sister and I both bought one, and I'm loving it! It's a beautiful scent that doesn't smell like any of the    fragrances I currently have.

Temperatures have been VERY frigid here in northwest Illinois, and I have really been loving my quilted jacket from Old Navy.  I have to say, this is probably the warmest jacket I have ever owned! Also, it's shaped so it doesn't look bulky and unflattering.

I dress it up with a bright plaid scarf in shades of pink, with hot pink gloves.  But you could use just about any color of accessories.

By the way, I think I paid around 25 dollars for mine, but I noticed on the Old Navy website that it's now being clearanced for under 18 dollars!
I may have mentioned before how much I'm loving Tetley Orange and Peach Tea.  I first discovered this tea at Olive Garden, and to my dismay, I can't find it at any store.

So I ordered it online...and I'm loving it!  This smooth tea has an amazing flavor.  I usually have a cup at work and in the evening when I'm craving something fattening.  It's so satisfying and feels like such a treat.

Link up with Katherine's Corner!

Happy Birthday to my Adorable Daughter

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

My beautiful, adorable daughter Elizabeth Ashley is 25 years old today.

She's my baby--my sons are almost 32 and almost 29.

Yes, it does make me feel kind of old--but it seems like just yesterday that  she was born.  They did have ultrasounds in those days :), but we chose not to find out her gender until she was born.

I adored my two boys, and I reassured everyone that I would be perfectly happy to welcome another little guy, but in my heart of hearts, I longed for a daughter.

When I heard the doctors and nurses say "It's a girl!" that was one of the happiest moments of my life!  Finally, lace, ruffles, pink, girly things!

Elizabeth has brought us so much joy in these 25 years.  My constant prayer is that God will continue to guide her life, and that she will continue to put him first.

I love you, Lizzy Boo!

For the first time today, I'm linking up with "Thursday Favorite Things", hosted by Katherine's Corner!