Church Activities

This week we have several events going on at church all on the same day! On Sunday we will celebrate our churches 55th anniversary, have a wedding shower and a goodbye party for a church member at the same potluck lunch!

I do the decorating and set up for events so it has been a little busy getting everything ready. For our churches anniversary we always decorate with a fall theme. For the wedding shower their colors were peach, blue and green. So to decorate for this joint event I will do all the tables but the one for the new Mr. and Mrs. in fall decorations. And the one for the newlyweds and the gift table will be peach. They should blend together well and yet honor the two separate occasions.

For the goodbye party there will not be special decorations but we will present her with a gift and spend time making her feel special too ~smile~

For  the goodbye gift I found this pretty picture at a Christian store and we had everyone sign the back for her. She is an elderly lady who is moving away to an apartment near her family. I thought this would go well with whatever decor she has and is not something that will take up room in her apartment.

Here is a look at some of the things I made for the shower portion.

I will post pictures of the church set up tomorrow.

Happy Friday!
Blessings,
Liisa

Buttertart Squares

I made these squares this week for Ladies Bible Study and they were a big hit so I thought I would share the recipe. ~smile~

I found the recipe in my cookbook - The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals. It is such a wonderful cookbook and I use it all the time. The recipes come from ladies all over. I love these kinds of cookbooks the best because they are sent in by real women, who make these things all the time and I haven't had one fail yet. That is why I  really like Gooseberry Patch too as I mentioned before.

Here is a link to this cookbook I found on Amazon.ca .

Buttertart Squares

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

2 tbsp. flour

1/2 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups raisins

2 eggs, beaten

4 tbsp. cream

 

Mix together flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup butter. Press into a 9x13 pan.

Mix together all remaining ingredients and spread over crust.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes. (If you use a glass pan, lower baking temperatures to 350 degrees)

Enjoy!

 

Happy Thursday!
Blessings,
Liisa

 

Peppers - Using Up Garden Goodies

My Nanny taught me that you can save peppers in the freezer. All I do is chop them up and toss them in a zipper freezer bag. They are only good for cooking after this but it is so convenient to have them there and ready to toss into a recipe. This is also good when you have some peppers ready but not enough to make a batch of salsa etc.Or if you bought a few and are not going to be able to use them all up before they spoil. I just add them in still frozen i only takes a minute for them to defrost while cooking and it keeps them from getting soggy. I use them in omelets, fried rice, stews and soups...really anywhere you would use a pepper in a cooked recipe.

This technique also works great for jalapenos which is wonderful as they often ripen much sooner than the bell peppers which can be a pain if you are making salsa.

One of the best things to use up a few peppers at once is Stuffed Roast Pepper Soup. Oh my -it is so yummy! It is also a perfect use of frozen peppers you just toss them in and they work great.  Here is the recipe ...

Stuffed Roast Pepper Soup

2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion diced
6 cups of water
8 beef bouillon cubes
2 28oz. cans diced tomatoes with liquid
2 cups cooked rice
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 green, yellow or sweet red peppers chopped

In a large pot cook ground beef and onion until browned, drain.
Add the rest of the ingredients except peppers and stir well.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 1 hour.
Add peppers and cook uncovered for 15 minutes or until tender.

Makes - 14-16 servings. 4 quarts.

Enjoy!

Happy Wednesday!
Blessings,
Liisa

Fall Decorating

The first thing I do when decorating for different seasons is to put everything out on my dining room table - so here is a picture of what that looked like. Someone may have a small addiction to fall items. *wink*

Here are a few pictures of what my decorating looks like this year....

 
This is a corner in my living room. I love how that quilted wall hanging looks. I used the second one on my counter top. Here is a closer view of the table.

I made the picture last year and I think the squirrel looks quite cute there near the light.

This is the top of my china cabinet in the dining room. The 2 pumpkins are actually covered dishes.

This is the side table also in the dining room. I found that So Very Blessed sign last year on clearance at Hobby Lobby. It was 90% off. It was meant for thanksgiving I think but I leave it there all year. It makes me smile. God is so very good and I am blessed beyond what I could ever imagine.

The pictures on the table are of my son and the other is of me at a cottage our family used to own when I was growing up. My hubby said he was tired of only seeing pictures of himself and our son and I needed to put out some of me. I told him I was the one home all day and I liked looking at my men not me but he insisted so that is the pic I came up with. Hee!Hee!

My son gave me the lantern for Christmas 2 years ago and it is one of my most favorite things, you can fill it with seasonal things or other items with or without the candle.

This is the small table in our front entry way. There is a mirror hanging over it. Please excuse the green tape - we are getting ready to do some much needed painting in there. The lantern has tiny lights woven around the pumpkins but it looked weird in the picture to turn it on. I bought it at Value Village and it was jammed tight with fall things and leaves it was hideous!! I guess that is why it was only $2.99 ~smile~ It was a great deal I just popped the lid off, emptied it a put in 3 little pumpkins and a few leaves and I love how it looks now.

The basket is one I came across second hand years ago. I put an old plastic bowl upside down in it to fill up some space and put in plastic gourds and pumpkins, leaves and some balls that I made. For some I took Styrofoam balls and "quilted" them by pressing little pieces of fabric into them and others I wrapped with some twine. Now if I could only keep the cats out of it!

This is the peninsula in the kitchen. I added a few leaves to the made over bird cage planter. I placed a smaller cylinder full of acorns I collected and a candle inside of the large one that I added a pip ring to.
The coppery little pumpkin is from Dollar Tree last year.


So there you have it some of my fall decorating. There is more but this post is already quite long so I will spare you! LOL!

Happy Tuesday!
Blessings,
Liisa

New Fall Decor Items

I thought since it was a chilly, rainy fall type day I would share my new fall decor items. I love love love fall! I look forward to it all year, and decorate my house for fall almost as much as for Christmas.
I got just a couple of new things this year - I was trying to be good - there are so many super cute things out there!

First I found these beautiful quilted fall wall hangings at a second hand store. They are so pretty!

I picked up this sweet little squirrel at Hobby Lobby. I love squirrels yes I know I am likely the only one but they are so cute! A friend of ours said they were reeking such havoc on his gardens he was tempted to get out a paint ball gun! Yikes! I told him if I saw multi colored squirrels I would know what happened.  Thankfully he was kidding and would never do something so awful to the poor little things.

This was also a Hobby Lobby find. It  was just so pretty I had to have it even though the gold doesn't really go with my country style decor. I ended up putting it in the washroom with a sprig of golden toned berries and a faded metal bird and it looks quite nice.

Finally my Mum gave me this beautiful twisted metal pumpkin candle holder. I added a Pip candle ring and a battery operated candle and I love how it looks on our coffee table. You don't get the full idea of what it looks like in the picture though.

So that is it - see I said I was being good this year....well I may have also grabbed a wooden pumpkin from Dollarama last time I was in too but it was so cute and only $1.25. So how could I pass that up. ~smile~

So, Happy Fall Shopping! I would love to see what others have found this year. ~smile~
Blessings,
Liisa

Greek Salad - Using Up Garden Goodies

We have been eating this super yummy salad almost everyday! It is so good! It is also a great way to use up garden goodies. In this one I used red onion, various tomatoes, a green pepper and these round yellow cucumbers.

I am not sure what this variety is because they were given to us, but they are quite nice if a little seedy, as you can see in the picture. There is almost a faint lemon flavor to them that goes well in this salad.
I also added feta cheese, black olives and a dash of Greek dressing.

This salad is a great way to use up an abundance of cherry tomatoes since they are just the perfect flavor and size for this.

So good...hmmm... perhaps we will have this for dinner tonight too! ~smile~

Happy Monday!
Blessings,
Liisa

Wax Melts

I LOVE wax melts! I love to have my home smelling wonderful and I cannot burn candles unless I am right near it watching as one of our cats already had his tail on fire once! *YIKES!* He wandered by one my mother in law had on her coffee table and his tail brushed it flinging melted wax on her blanket on the couch. She was yelling about the wax ruining her blanket and I had to say can we put out the cat first? He was still sauntering around with his tail aflame! Good thing he has very long fur - he was completely unharmed although startled by us chasing him down to put out the fire!

ANYWAY, this is about wax melts not flaming cats. ~smile~ I was blessed a couple of years ago to find my Rustic Star Scentsy warmer at a yard sale for $3 -Yay for yard sales! It works so well and I love the style, it goes perfectly with my main floor decor. Here is a better picture of it...

I don't know if it is still available or not  - I tried to find a link for it but could only find the small plug in one.
As far as the actual wax melts themselves I have tried so many from many different companies over the years. So I thought I would tell you about a few of my favorites and maybe a few I would never buy again.
My favorite of all time is Autumn Wreath by Yankee candle. It is a seasonal scent sadly - I would use it all year the smell is just so wonderful. It really makes you feel like fall. Here is a link to the American Yankee Candle Site on the Autumn Wreath Page. Here are their scent notes for Autumn Wreath ...
Fragrance Notes:
Top: Green Leaf, Apple
Mid: Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg
Base: Woody Notes, Vanilla
Top note is the initial impression of the fragrance, middle note is the main body of the scent and base is its final impression.
So perfect for Fall!

I really like the Better Homes and Gardens wax melts you can get at American Walmarts. I have never seen that brand in Canada so I stock up when we are there. They are $2 a package which has 8 cubes. I find them to be of high quality. The scents are great, there is a huge variety and they really spread the scent through the whole house and it smells like it does in the package. It is frustrating when you buy a wax melt that smells great in the package and when you burn it it either doesn't smell at all or it smells totally different.
As you will see in the picture above I love the smell of apples all year. It makes me feel all happy. ~smile~. So the Fresh Orchard Apples is a favorite, Farm Apple Pumpkin is nice, the Butterscotch Maple and Spiced Pumpkin Pie smell really good too.... too good as I am always hungry when I burn those!

The Apple Strudel one in the pic is a soy one I got at a craft show....yes more apples *wink* I find the soy ones I have tried smell nice but they don't work nearly as well as the others.

The big pack of Herbal Melts on the bottom is really nice. It came from Bass Pro Shops and smells beautiful. The scent is Walk in the Woods. These melts for sure last the longest scent wise of any I have tried. They come in various scents. Here is a link to them at Bass Pro.com .

There is one in the picture on the top right that I would absolutely never buy again and that is The Colonial Candle Apple Orchard. In face I wouldn't buy any of Colonial Candles melts again. This one had virtually no scent at all when I burned it and when I tried to get the melted wax out of the burner it was all soft and gummy. I had to scrap it out with a knife and fight it off the knife too. The it still left a gummy residue all over the bowl! I had to wipe it out several times with paper towels to try and get it all out! Bleh!

That just leaves the one cream colored one at the bottom. A really cute shop near us sells wax melts loose like this. The only trouble with that is that I forget what scent I bought and there is no label, so next time I have to smell them all to find the one I had and liked. But hey there are way worse ways to spend an afternoon! LOL!

So that is my wax melt collection and my thoughts on them. ~smile~

Happy Wednesday!
Blessings,
Liisa

Fresh Salsa - Using Up Garden Goodies

As I mentioned before we have been blessed with all kinds of garden goodies from friends and now our own garden is producing like crazy so I thought I would share in a few posts some of the ways I use up all our produce before it goes bad.

One of the first things I do is make Fresh Salsa. It is so good and just tastes like summer. ~smile~

First I chop up some tomatoes in small pieces. This is a great use for all those cherry tomatoes and they taste so good in this. mmm.... This will be the bulk of the salsa so put in as many as you like to reach the batch size you need.
Then I add in some diced onion (red is best but any kind works). Depending on the size of the batch I will use half to a whole onion. Smaller the pieces the better.
I put in 2 diced jalapenos - pieces as small as possible. The jalapenos are why there are gloves in this picture. If I don't wear them I will inevitably touch my eye with jalapeno juice on my fingers. I don't like it too hot but if you do add more or leave in the seeds.
I also add in about 4 cloves of minced garlic.
That's it just stir and refrigerate for a bit for the flavors to blend and enjoy.
You can also and a bit of lime juice if you like.
 This keeps in the fridge for just about 2 days then it gets too soggy.

                            So fresh and so good - good for you too! It couldn't be easier!
                                   (The yellow in my salsa is yellow tomatoes ~smile~)

Happy Tuesday!
Blessings,
Liisa

Sermon Notes

This past Sunday we went with our son and his girlfriend to their church. It was a wonderful time and t was so nice to worship together. I thought I would share a couple of notes I took during the sermon as they were really encouraging to me.

The sermon was entitled A song of praise and was based on Pslam 145. He spoke about all the trials David went through and lamented about in the Pslams leading up to this one. He said it is OK to to say I don't understand what is going on and I don't like it but I trust in Your goodness Father. It may not always feel like God is for me but I know it. The feelings will catch up when I live that truth.

Love is evident in acts of restoration. He upholds, provides and lifts us up. He makes more allowance for fallen people than we do. We were on the bottom and He raised us up. He meets needs at the proper time. When we are waiting for Him to do something it may not be the proper time.

I will praise Him even though I do not always understand. We are the reflectors of the glory of God. God's greatness must be declared. Our God is far greater and far more worthy of our praise than any other. It is not enough to contemplate God's glory we must declare it with words and actions.

The very beat of my heart is because of His graciousness. The pastor then told a story of another pastor who preached a sermon and as soon as he said amen at the end his heart stopped and he dropped dead. He said when he listened to that sermon he could hear his chin hit the pulpit as he fell. He never forgot that and how quickly this life can be over.

I will extol you and praise You always - you cannot keep silent about God.

It was a great sermon - these are just a few of the notes that stood out to me. I suffer from chronic pain and have had many surgeries for issues I have and this sermon reminded me that though I may not understand why this is the case (which is ok)... God is always good and He loves me. I will give Him praise and extol Him because without Him I could not have made it through all I have and I certainly could not have done it with the joy in my heart that He gives me. He is everything to me and I love Him more everyday. Trials truly do cause you to lean heavier on Him and draw closer to Him everyday. There is joy in the journey in knowing you do not walk it alone He will never leave you or forsake you. Praise His glorious Name!

Blessings,
Liisa

Girls Day Out

 The other day my son's girlfriend and I went for a girls day out. Our first stop was to Your to Cover in Linwood Ontario about an hour or so from us. This is a skirt shop a lady named Colleen runs out of her home. She is so sweet and sells modest dresses, tops and head coverings as well. I really enjoy going there and I so needed a new skirt! I was blessed to find one with Colleen's help. ~smile~
Here is a link to her face book page - I do not have face book so I am not sure what all is on there but I know even without it you can view her what's new posts etc. and she does ship items now (it is way more fun to go there though *wink*) Note - Her page says Wellesley but she is in Linwood. I guess it wouldn't let her put that for some reason.

 Next we stopped in at Living Waters a Christian Store also in Linwood. They have such wonderful things!! It is so much more than a bookstore though they have alot of those as well. You can order from their catalogue as well as online. Their catalogue has kitchen items and much more as well. Here is the link if you are interested. When we were there I picked up some cards for the church and a goodbye gift for one of our ladies (more on that later) and a copy of Keepers at Home magazine! Yay! I so love this magazine. It is a magazine for ladies and is filled with wonderful articles, advice, recipes and more so much encouragement for us in our roles as women. If you are interested in more information about it here is a picture of their contact info.

From there we decided we better grab some lunch! Off to our favorite restaurant in that area called At the Crossroads which is just south of Elmira. It is a fantastic home cooking buffet. So many yummy things! It also has a huge gift shop with so many wonderful things I am sure I "need", so a dangerous spot for me haha! I made it out with just a really cute little distressed red metal maple leaf to hang on my pantry door for fall.

Our last stop before heading home was to Picard's Peanuts between Elmira and St. Jacob's. We thought we'd grab the men some treats. If you have never been to Picard's you have to go. the make chip nuts in every imaginable flavor, nuts of all kinds and flavors and dried fruits chocolate of all kinds oh just an amazing place. We were glad we ate first and were full! they also have samples of all the nuts and chip nuts so you can try before you buy. Bus tours actually stop there. Here is a link to their site as well.

And that ended our day out as we had to dash back because Shaina had to work at 3. She works at a senior's home. She is a sweet heart and all the seniors love her.

Our only snag was we did not have as much time as we thought we would as they are doing road work all over our area and we kept running into closed roads and detours. Thankfully we only hit one on our way back and Shania was not late for work!

Just thought I would share our adventure.
Happy Saturday!
Blessings,
Liisa