Monday Musings.

Good Monday Morning.

1. Is anyone else having a hard time getting up and getting things going? I am. I can't decide if it is because of the long holiday weekend or because I have so much to do that I don't know where to begin.

2. I am trying to get it together but it is a slow go this time.

3. And now we have Christmas coming. I have to go and buy a tree this year. We got rid of the one that we have had for the last 14 years.

4. Yes, I said 14 years:-)

5. I asked Caden if he would decorate the tree this year and he said yes.

6. The next day, he said no. Boo!

7. Gary is on vacation in two weeks and I have to be ready for him to finish up around the house. It will be the last time that he will be home for any length of time. New year means much work and no honey do time.

8. I am thinking that next year will be our big Christmas where we invite everyone to come here and spend the holidays with us. I just can't do it this year.

9. I think I am exempt:)

10. I can tell you that I don't want one thing this year for Christmas. Moving twice in 8 months will do that to you. SO much stuff and I am tired of stuff.

11. The house is coming along. I hope to have pictures taken of some of the things that I have finished.....which is not much:(

12. Don't you know that this is the reason for this rambling long post? I got nothin for y'all:)

I shall go now and get dressed and head out to buy a tree. WOO HOO! Fun fun:)

Here a picture of me and Gary in Oregon on Cannon Beach. I will be dreaming that I am there today.

Happy Monday!

Mel

Thankful.

I wanted to share with you what I received today.

It was a letter from my sweet hubby. This is what it said.

My Thankful List:

I'm thankful for the little funny faces you make when you don't even realize that you are making them.

I'm thankful for glimpses of you when you never know that I am looking.

I'm thankful for the little noises you make when you like or dislike something.

I'm thankful for the contentment in your eyes.

I'm thankful for the joy that a simple book or good cup of coffee brings you.

I'm thankful that you are comfortable being you.

I'm thankful for the pride that you take in your family and your home.

I'm thankful for your love for your family and your acceptance of mine.

I'm thankful for you being my rock--my one sure thing.

I'm thankful for you always supporting me and never wavering in that support.

I'm thankful for you giving me my son and loving, teaching, and nurturing him to be the great man that I know he will become.

Most of all, I'm thankful that you made a decision 19 years ago to share your life with me, to help me become a better man, and to walk beside me as we chased our dreams and made memories.

So you see, I don't need a day on the calendar to celebrate what I'm thankful for because I'm thankful every day that I have someone that still takes my breath away and that I'm still falling in love with after 19 years.

I love you with all my heart and soul.

Gary

Yes girls, that man is mine and I am SO lucky to have him. I told y'all he was a keeper;-)

Melanie

Linking to Southern in my Heart and I know that it isn't a craft or holiday decor but I thought it was so sweet and spoke volumes about the man I married:-) Thanks for letting me share it with all of y'all.

Italian Cream Cake

This is a wonderful cake. It is beautiful and taste delicious! I will tell you that it is a lot of work but believe me, it is worth it. The CSI Project is hosting a contest and this week is holiday baking. I love this cake so much that I thought that it would be fun to enter it.

Here is the recipe.

You'll need to start this cake a day ahead because the Fresh Orange Curd must chill for 8 hours.
Yield: Makes 12 to 16 servings
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Fresh Orange Curd
3 cups Pecan-Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted
Glazed Pecan Halves

Preparation:
Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla; beat until blended.
Combine flour and soda; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in 1 cup flaked coconut.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.
Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
Spread 3/4 cup chilled Fresh Orange Curd between layers; spread remaining Fresh Orange Curd on top of cake. (The Fresh Orange Curd layer on top of cake will be very thick.) If desired, loosely cover cake, and chill 8 hours. (Chilling the cake with the curd between the layers helps keep the layers in place and makes it much easier to spread the frosting.) Spread 3 cups Pecan-Cream Cheese Frosting on sides of cake, reserving remaining frosting for another use. Sprinkle 1/2 cup toasted coconut over top of cake, if desired. Arrange Glazed Pecan Halves around top edge of cake, if desired. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Note: Cake may be frosted with Pecan-Cream Cheese Frosting immediately after adding the Fresh Orange Curd, but the cake layers will not be as steady.

FRESH ORANGE CURD
You can substitute reconstituted orange juice for fresh; however, squeezing navel oranges only takes about 15 minutes and can make all the difference in this cake's fresh flavor.
Yield: Makes about 3 cups
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups fresh orange juice (about 4 pounds navel oranges)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
Combine sugar and cornstarch in a 3-quart saucepan; gradually whisk in fresh orange juice. Whisk in lightly beaten eggs. Bring to a boil (5 to 6 minutes) over medium heat, whisking constantly.
Cook, whisking constantly, 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture reaches a pudding-like thickness. Remove from heat, and whisk in butter and grated orange rind. Cover, placing plastic wrap directly on curd, and chill 8 hours.

Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes about 4 cups
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Preparation
Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Beat at high speed until smooth; stir in pecans.

Glazed Pecans

Combine pecan halves and corn syrup, stirring to coat pecans. Line a 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil; coat with cooking spray. Arrange pecan halves in an even layer in pan.

Bake at 350° for 12 minutes; stir using a rubber spatula. Bake 8 more minutes. Remove from oven, and stir; arrange in an even layer on wax paper, and let cool completely.

I got this recipe out of Southern Living Magazine.

I know that this cake is a lot of work, but you will be glad that you made it.

Make, Eat, and Enjoy!

Melanie

Linking to these parties:

Tempt Your Tummy Mouth Watering Mondays

Tasty Tuesday Made by you Mondays

Tuesdays at the Table Amaze Me Mondays

Saturday Fun Day.

A couple of Saturdays ago, CSX had a family fun day. It was held at the rail yard and all the workers were invited. This is something that they do occasionally for the employees.

This get together came at a time where Gary had been working about 30 days straight and Caden and I hadn't seen him much. I decided that the only way to get Gary out of the office and be able to see him for a couple of hours was to take Caden and go.

They had a bouncy thing, a cotton candy machine, a face painter, and a climbing wall. It was really geared toward small children but it was nice.

They had hot dogs, hamburgers, bbq chicken, and sides.

After we ate, they were playing bingo and I wanted to play. Of course Caden didn't but after a round or two, he came on board:)

Then we toured an old caboose and headed home.

It was a nice day that we had as a family.

Hope y'all are having a good week.

Melanie

The Next Iron Chef.

Tonight is the finale! I can't wait. This season of The Next Iron Chef has been really good. I am Team Forgione all the way. For some reason, Canora rubs me the wrong way. He is an excellent chef but seems to be a little fake. Who knows, maybe he is that way in real life.

I can't wait to see what they have to cook and who will be the winner.

Will any of you be watching?

Melanie

We have a winner!

Denise @ Den's Daily Life!

Send me your addy and I will ship it out next week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Melanie

Help!

ETA: Working on posting some other pictures of the black chairs in place of the couch.

Hello everyone! I am desperate for some help. I am going to show you some photos of our great room and ask for some advice.

This room is long and not square. We just bought furniture last August before we moved to Cincinnati and I am really trying not to have to buy anything else.

That's my problem.

In all the photos you will see a bunch of junk and I am embarrassed for y'all to see it but we just moved in and it is still a mess. So forgive the vacuum cleaner, the Uggs, the ladder....you get the picture.

So here we go.

This is the long wall. Gary wants to put the couch on that wall and buy a love seat. It would look best but I don't want to spend the money. We had the couch there and this morning I moved it around. This is what it looks like now.

With the room being long, it just isn't working right. Nothing is coming together the way it should.

I like walking in and seeing this.

If we bought a love seat, you would still see the sofa table when you came in but that is what I am trying to NOT do. Buy another piece of furniture.

So I thought about moving my chairs from the kitchen into the great room. They would be beautiful to see when you came in because they have a pretty back to them and some great fabric. I could then move the sofa table to the foyer wall. We don't have anything to put on that wall either:(

I would have to buy another rug though and there wouldn't be anything in the kitchen. So my question for all of you is do I buy a love seat and move the couch back to the long wall? OR do I move the chairs from the kitchen into the great room and buy a new rug?

I have a couple of options.

1. is buy a love seat and move the couch onto the long wall.
2. is move the chairs from the kitchen into the great room and buy a new rug.
3. is just leave it has I have showed y'all and wait on the love seat or just decorate around the long wall.

Thoughts?

And here is a little peak at the black dining room. I am going to have to redecorate it and have some roman shades made for the windows. I am thinking a yummy fabric for those. We get the afternoon sun and it will fade my furniture so they are a must. I will show you the room whenever I get the light changed out and get it decorated. Some thought is going to have to go into that room too. ;-)

But for now, here it is.

So help a girl out! I'm ready to hear all your thoughts. Bring it on.

Mel

I Fly.

The hubby is a daredevil. He will bungy jump, free fall, and now he did a simulation of jumping out of a plane.

Caden did it too.

Just for the record, I told Gary that he could sky dive (the real kind) but Caden could not:)

We found a place outside of San Francisco and off we went.

Here they are getting ready to go in the tunnel. They are both very excited.

In the tunnel waiting for their turn. I think Caden might be getting a little nervous at this point.

Here's Caden fixing to 'jump' in.

He's very happy at this point.

He's going on his own at this point.

This is right before the instructor takes him up really high in the tunnel. They add much more air in the tunnel at over a hundred miles an hour and it takes them up and drops them.

There he is going up in the tunnel.

Here is Gary's turn. He had just 'jumped' in.

Gary didn't get to go as high up as Caden did but they both loved it and said that they would do it again. Of course Gary would jump out of a real plane if he could find one.

Maybe that would be a really good birthday present for him:)

Have a great Monday.

Melanie

Giveaway Time!

It's giveaway time.

I want to thank all you girls (and Odie;-) for all of your love and support during this move. It has made me feel so much better when I would get in the bed at night and read your emails. I received comments and private emails from you girls that just made me smile.

THAT is why I love blogging. All the friendships that I have made.

To thank you all, I am going to have a few giveaways. Everything that I will be giving away is something that has come from my home. Everything will be washed and ready to go to someone else's home where it can be loved there. I will also be listing some things to sell but I won't be able to do that until next week because my house still looks like this.

;-)

So, for the first giveaway, I have a rooster pitcher with a salt & pepper set.

This set has moved to 5 houses with me and sat on my counter in 2 of those houses.

There is a slight chip in the beak but other than that, it is in great condition.

It has beautiful colors in it and I think it is adorable.

So if you would like to enter this giveaway, just leave me a comment to let me know that you are a follower. For a second chance to enter, blog about the giveaway and leave a separate comment to let me know. For a third chance to enter, tweet about the giveaway and leave another comment. I will pick a winner next Friday and announce the winner on Saturday.

I won't be answering any of your comments in this post. If I have not emailed you back this week, please know that I have read every comment and appreciate them all. I have had no computer time this week but at night I have tried to email everyone back. I know that y'all will forgive me if I didn't. I was busy looking for the dryer receipt:) Hee Hee!

I just want to say again THANK YOU for all of your support! It really has been a blessing to me to have all of you sending me some blog love.

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Melanie

Unpacked!

All 220 boxes are unpacked!

We've lived here a week.

Some stuff went to the dump and the rest went upstairs to the bonus room. But, the boxes are unpacked. Gary is very happy about that. He seems to like all the boxes unpacked even if it means stuff sitting all around. We kinda differ about that system but it's okay.

The painter is finished. He is coming back at the end of the week to re stain my front door and paint the garage doors. He has two places at the top of the stairs to finish up but he will need some help with that. BUT he is all finished with the house. So today I will be cleaning up and we will move all the furniture back and place it where it is suppose to be. I don't have a picture yet but I will say the black dining room is to die for;-) Pictures will be coming soon.

Yesterday, we ran across this.

This is a broken drawer (or is it draw?) on Gary's Nana's sewing machine. We had it refinished when we lived in Georgia. I am thinking of using it as an end table. I am not going to fix it until the claims people come out and look at everything. Our stuff really got damaged with this move. I am regretting the decision to use Suddath. They were suggested by some other railroad workers that had just moved but I have not had good luck with them. I am thinking that it is the guys that they use here in SC that has been the problem.

Anyway, my dryer is not fixed yet either. The repair guy couldn't get out here until Monday and he said that it was a burned up part. I told him him that it was just a year old and he said that if it was under a year, it would be under warranty. So off I went to find the receipt. If you can believe it, I found the receipt in all of the mess and guess what the date was? November 8th and it was November 8th! Praise God that it was under warranty! He will be back at the end of the week or early next week to fix it. Until then, I am washing clothes today at home and then going to the Laundromat to dry everything.

Always something, isn't it?

So today I will be cleaning and doing laundry. Thank goodness for Gary being at home. He has really pushed me and helped me out. Hoping that by the end of the week, I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I am going to have a few giveaways in the next couple of weeks. I want to thank you all for your love and support during this trying time that we have been through. I am also going to list a few things and you girls can decide if you would like to purchase anything. I will wait and do that this weekend.

So check back soon. A thank you is coming.

Have a good Wednesday,

Melanie

In a funk.

That's how I feel. I am in a funk. I guess the last year has just hit me. For the last week, I have felt like doing nothing but sitting in the recliner. There is stuff everywhere and I just don't seem to care.

I don't do good with messes.

I usually am all gun hoe to get everything put up and in its place but for some reason, this time, I am not. I guess it could be that I have just unpack and decorated a house not even a year ago. I think that that is the main reason.

Gary is on vacation this week so he will keep me busy and on task. The first thing we had to decide was where to put the furniture in the family room. The room is long and wide instead of square.

We are thinking that the couch should go on the long wall. I normally wouldn't put a couch on a wall but I think that this is the only place for it. It will require buying a love seat and I don't want to do that but Gary says that it will look the best.

Here is a shot that shows the pretty molding. Oh how I love the molding in this house.

Here are the two rugs that we were trying to decide upon. The red rug is not that big but it was in the family room in KY. and I bought the green one for our master bedroom but never lived there long enough to finish decorating it.

Here is a view of both of them down and we went with the green one. It has more color and is bigger so it just looks better.

A glimpse at the box that was built for the tv. I will show you a better picture when I get the room finished.

Furniture and junk just sitting in the middle of the room:(

Caden doing what he does best.

I kid, I kid.

Okay, so maybe I'm not kidding:) You can see that I put the buffet on the smaller wall and you can see more stuff sitting everywhere.

Here is a shot of my office right now! I know a lot of you thought that I had already finished the office here but that was a post done just to enter a contest. LOL! I am not THAT good at unpacking. This is what it looks like after Gary brings in box after box and wants them unpacked. I just sit stuff everywhere. (he is trying to get all the boxes out of the garage)

So as you can see, the house is a disaster just as the move has been. I think that is another reason for the funk. All I can see is the mess, all the stuff that has to be sold or given away, the claims that have to be filed, and all of that on TOP of Christmas coming. I can't even go there.

But on Friday night, after Gary got off from work, he brought me this.

And these.

So I had a snack before I went to bed.

That boy is a keeper, I tell ya:)

I don't have a picture of the dining room yet. The painter is coming back today to repaint it and finish up. I pray that he gets done today. We also have the people coming to look at the dryer. I really hope that it gets fixed today as well. I had to get the company to pay for laundry service last Thursday but now it is all piled up again.

We are really busy and trying to get everything done so it will be a busy week for us. Wish us luck.

Melanie