Hello March

 

Happy Homemaker In Texas

 Good Morning and Welcome to my weekly event.  

I link with Sandra.  She started this fun party and provides the prompts ...

The weather . . . 

Texas keeps you guessing on the weather.  We had snow for a week which is unusual then we have had Sun and then rain. 

But it is warming up. Yea!

On the breakfast plate...

Pancakes sound yummy.  And a couple pieces of Bacon.  

Easier and faster than Pancakes.  I just put Bacon and Hash Brown Patties in the oven then work on my post for 20 minutes.  Pop the Has Browns in an iron skillet with a bit of the Bacon drippings.  Put Eggs in another skillet and in just a couple minutes breakfast ist is done.

How I am feeling... It was a long rough week.  I am glad for the weekend.   I was super busy and didn't have much time for posting.

Something fun for me ...

I still put this on my post even though I haven't had any 'Me'...If I get a chance I want to go to the library and to Half Price Books 

On the reading pile ...

Reading this one now.  The second one I have read from this series.  It is an Inspirational Romance.

New to me Author

The To Do list...  

Oh that list.  It seems to get longer instead of shorter.

I really didn't get anything marked off last week. 

Well except getting Cowboy to Dr. Appointment and Dental.

And now we have a huge round of Dental appointments.

They won't do knee surgery till he has two teeth pulled, one capped and cleaning.  

I bought more seeds.  I hope to start some seeds in the greenhouse this week.

I didn't bring in my front porch pots during the blizzard so I need to buy a few plants. The porch always looks better with some pretty plants. 

 My Airplane plant and Ivy's froze so the green house is really sad looking. 

I'll be searching for some bargains to pretty it up.

Next week on the blog ...

Please come for Tea 

Join us for a Tea Party Tuesday  to Thursday.  Link your Tea Party Tablescapes and Tea Party posts.  Feel free to link archived posts.  I have alot of Author friends just finding the blog world that will love to see your posts!

My 'Ta Da' moment... 

Getting through the week

On the menu ... 

Monday 

Cajun Shrimp Pasta, Salad and Crusty Bread

Tuesday 

It's that day. 🌮's are great after a Salad day.  Using up that Lettuce. 

Wednesday 

Need a new Ground Beef revipe 

Thursday 

Oven Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and Green Beans 

Friday 

Kielbasa, Fried Potatoes and Cabbage 

It's a Potato week.  I have a big ole bag to use up!

On the t.v. 

We watched this movie last night.

In the studio... 

Today Saturday I have 2 Pink Junk Journal pages to finish and get in the mail tomorrow!  

And I have Happy Mail to get into the mail too.

I have no real new  plans other than my March daily.  I am going to do an on line study of Women of the Bible and use the daily Scripture for my March Daily.  

I also hope to go to the library this week.  I bought a Map if the U.S. to hang on the wall.  I want to print the covers of the books for my On The Road stops. 

From the camera....

Memories are fun.  He's 12 now. 

Scripture Devo...

This month I am following this plan.  There is a FB group also.  The Diligent Woman website has videos also.  

Thanks for coming over and spending part of your day with me.  

Have a wonderful week! 

 

 

Good Morning

 

Good Morning

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Linking with the 

Wordless Parties. 

Menu Monday

 Hello and Welcome to my late afternoon post.

I love sharing my menu plans and talking about meal planning. 

I typically plan my menu on Saturdays when I write my Happy Homemaker post. 

I haven't been writing down my menu only posting it on my blog.

But for March I want to put it in my journal and make a copy for the refrigerator.

I am using a planner I bought marked down.  I covered the dates with stickers.  I still need to change the year.

I wanted to share this photo because it has my Altered Book Daily.   This book holds my January, February and March Dailys.  I haven't even started March yet.  In my daily I write scripture and notes and prayers.  It is Junk Journal style so I can keep memories in it also. 

I enjoyed February but I am looking forward to March.  

But we have one more week of February Menus.

Here's what I am planning for the week . . .

Monday 

Pan Fried Pork Cutlets, Southern Style Green Beans and Fried Potatoes and Onions 

Tuesday

Mixed Dry Beans with Ham and Cornbread 

Wednesday

Mom's (his) Fried Rice and an Egg Roll if they have some at the store and I need Carrots too. Haven't found any on my 3 trys.

Thursday 

Dr. Appointment day either we will eat out or 

I'll bake Potatoes 

Friday 

Whatever I find at the Mexican Market  

Soon I'll be putting Cabbage on my menu.  It 

survived the snow and actually loved it! 

I am waiting for Spring so I can add fresh things from my garden. 

Are you ready for Spring?

Have A Great Week!

 

Hot Apple Cider a recipe from Heritage Heist by Dianne Ascroft

 

My character Lois Stone in the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries loves hot apple cider. She can get lost in the heady scent of cinnamon and the sweet taste of the drink. So I’d like to share the recipe with you today. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as Lois does.

Recipe for Hot Apple Cider

Ingredients

6 cups apple cider

¼ cup real maple syrup

2 cinnamon sticks

6 whole cloves

6 whole allspice berries

1 orange peel, cut into strips

1 lemon peel, cut into strips

Method

Pour the apple cider and maple syrup into a large stainless steel saucepan.

Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries, orange peel and lemon peel in the centre of a washed square of cheesecloth; fold up the sides of the cheesecloth to enclose the bundle, then tie it up with a length of kitchen string. Drop the spice bundle into the cider mixture.

Place the saucepan over moderate heat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cider is very hot but not boiling. 

Remove the cider from the heat. Discard the spice bundle. Ladle the cider into big cups or mugs, adding a fresh cinnamon stick to each serving if desired.

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Happy Trails Have A Good Week

 

Faith, Rope , and Love by Wendy Heuvel

 

About the book

Welcome to Valentine’s Day in Banford, where snow is drifting, love is in the air, and murder is rediscovered...

Cassie Bridgestone isn’t ready for Valentine’s Day – not with a recent breakup stinging her heart, and the alluring Daniel tempting her to move on.

So, when Cassie and Daniel stumble across the skeleton of a woman murdered in the sixties, Cassie can’t resist diving into the mystery to discover where love went wrong all those years ago. What better way to keep her mind off love in the present?

But things prove difficult as Cassie deals with a haunted house, faded memories, and suspects who are no longer alive.

Yet, someone is determined to keep the past buried and forgotten. Can Cassie bring the truth into the open before she suffers the same fate?

Revisit the cozy village of Banford with the fourth book in the Faith and Foils Cozy Mystery Series by Wendy Heuvel.

And I thought 

What a charming read.  I give Author Wendy Heuvel a big round of applause and an addy easy 5 stars.

Faith, Rope and Love is a great Cozy Mystery but it is much more.

Author Wendy Heuvel gives the reader a charming town and Characters that are  Believers and  model thier lives' after Christ.

I have not had the chance to read the previous books but I can see that Wendy has taken the main character Cassie along some crazy twisty turning Cozy roads through the previous books.

Cassie is growing and learning a few tools of the sleuthing trade.  And getting her love life on track.  

The whimsical cover does a great job of giving the reader a sneak peek of the plot.  It was fun looking at it again after reading the book. 

I really enjoyed Faith,Rope and Love and have the three previous books on my Wish list.

I received a complimentary copy.

My review will be posted in retail sites and Good Reads.

Buy the book 

Available for Pre-order on 

Amazon

 Click Here

Meet the Author 

WENDY HEUVEL solved the Rubik's Cube when she was eight, but now can't remember why she went into the next room. Canadian by birth, Dutch by blood, and British by heart, she resides on 26 acres with her husband, kids (Things 1, 2, 3, &4), three floofy kitties, and monster dog. She's passionate about Christian mission work, travelling, birding, and eating potatoes.

Happy Homemaker In Texas

 

Good Morning and Welcome to Happy Homemaker in Texas where we are thawing out  and getting things back to normal.  

At least we are trying

We have power and water but we are still on a Boil Water Order. 

That has been the biggest challenge for me.  We never lost power so we have been warm.

 But unable to shower or wash clothes.  Washing dishes is the biggest challenge.  You all know how I cook.  And that hasn't changed.  

We are not in a position to buy paper goods or bottled water so I have to boil the water. 

The other challenge is finding food.  We went to the store 3 times for Chicken. We finally found some yesterday.  

Well that's what going on my Mantra has been . . .

 And now time for Happy Homemaker

The weather . . . 

Well we are expecting a heat wave!  

Outside my window. . .

Patches of ❄️ Snow and puddles from the melting.  

What I am wearing. . .

Leggings and a camo.  The Cowboy keeps the house warm.  I have socks, and a long sleeve T-shirt by my coat and boots ready for the next romp. 

The To Do List . . .

Wow it's a long one!

. Sweep and clean up hearth

.Sweep front porch our son in law brought us firewood.  It was on one of the rainy days so it sat on the porch a few days.

. The green house is a mess.  I need to sweep and get the floor clean.  We go through the greenhouse to go outside.

.We planned to store the Santa's and The Christmas Moose collection in our Master closet which is huge I hope to get all the 

Santa's back into boxes and on to the shelves.  We will store Mooses on top.

. Dr. Appointment and go to Mexican Market.

.I do not have a pantry.  I have three cabinets that hold food. I need to clean out and organize them. 

1 holds Pasta, canned soup, Applesauce and Peanut Butter and crackers. I plan to clean it and organize this week. 

#2 holds canned Veggies, canned Chili, extra sauces and Dressings.  It isn't the stove so I keep S&P and Olive Oil and Sprays there too.

The last #3 is where I store Tea, Cake, Muffin mixes, Pancake Mixes, Bisquick and other things or baking.  

#3 will be a major job! 

. I need to mail my Junk Journal SWAPs and Happy Mail SWAP.  

And  

.Do something fun for 'Me'

On the menu . . .

Not sure how my menu will turn out.  We only have Ground Beef and Pork Cutlets and  a bit of Ham in the freezer.

Monday 

Pan Fried Pork Cutlets, Southern Style Green Beans and Fried Potatoes and Onions 

Tuesday

Mixed Dry Beans with Ham and Cornbread 

Wednesday

Mom's (his) Fried Rice and an Egg Roll if they have some at the store and I need Carrots too. Haven't found any on my 3 trys.

Thursday 

Dr. Appointment day either we will eat out or 

I'll bake Potatoes 

Friday 

Whatever I find at the Mexican Market 

In the studio . . . 

I got the sweetest mail on Friday.  We had no mail all week.  And no trash pick up. 

A FB friend that I send prayer pockets to did a Live Junk Journal/Women of the Bible study for Feb.  She kindly sent me all the printables because she knows I can't print! 

So sweet.  This week I will be gathering a few supplies to send her as a Thank you!

I joined a new group that was doing  a Journal A Long for February. 

On My Reading Pile . . . 

I'll be finishing up for tours and Release days for the next couple weeks.  

On the Road @  My Reading Journeys . . . 

Finished up Hanging out with Debra Parmley in Tennessee. 

The next stop will be. . .

In a couple weeks. 

On the t.v.

We watched this movie last night.  I had never seen it.  It was really good!

For myself this week 

I will . . . 

Go to Half Price Books and look for Gardening books and books with pictures I can use in my junk Journals.

And maybe I will go to the library.

From the camera . . .  

Waiting on for spring.  A hot from last spring.

Scripture/Devo . . .

Thanks for stopping by 

Have a great week 

Linking at the parties 

Now on Mondays

 

Have A Good Day

 

Meet A Character -Julienne LaMere Heroine of Resort to Murder Mysteries

 

Character Guest Post: Julienne LaMere, heroine of Resort to Murder mysteries

Hello there, this is my first guest post. Thank you so much for having me on your blog! I must say I’m surprised to be given such freedom. What if a character went wild in their post, dissed the writer, told all the little town secrets that would spoil a future story? Don’t worry, I couldn’t bring myself to do that.  

I guess you would like to know more about me? To really understand me, I should start with the event that shaped my life the most. My mother died when I was only thirteen. Well, two months before I turned thirteen. She had breast cancer and had the mastectomy surgery and then it was a year of treatments and medications. She wasn’t the same mom I had grown up with, and yet she was. It was a battle everyday for her to even get up some days. One in every eight women is diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I get my mammogram every year because of my mother and walk in the Susan G Komen Race in honor of my mom. At home, I always have an extra place setting at the dinner table in honor of my mother. Something my father started.

My father grieved and dealt with depression for months. When he came out of it, he poured himself into me. He was probably trying to make up for my loss or keep his sanity. He made sure I was involved in school activities and helped me with homework. My Aunt Regina stepped in to provide the womanly influence and I love her dearly for that. As I got older and started dating, dad became nearly obsessed with seeing me married to a man who could financially secure my future. I wanted a career in resort management so I could see the world. Not long ago, I got dad to confess that he wants grandkids now and since I’m an only child he has high expectations. I think I’m too much like my dad, we are both headstrong.

I’m not into having children. I never played with baby dolls or felt those stirrings, even a teensy bit. I had to put my foot down with both my father and my former boyfriend. Speaking of Brandon, he is the best friend of my cousin Loring since high school. He treated my career dreams like a childish fantasy and expected me to stay in town and have his babies. Four children and a wife to share the load were his idea of heaven, but my idea of hell on earth. We broke up the night he proposed and laid out his plan for my future.  

That’s when Mason, my new neighbor at the time, swooped in for his chance with me. I’ll be honest, I nicknamed Mason Bond Jr. because he was a casa nova. If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m not into dating a lot and I shied away from Mason. But he made his intentions clear when he claimed he wasn’t a playboy anymore but was ready for a quality relationship. 

So I have worked hard at the five-star Colorado Springs Resort. I started as a Customer Relations Agent at the reception desk and worked my way up to a management training program. It is my dream to work managing resorts around the world so I can travel and experience the cultures and history of the world. Mason understands and respects that. He says he can take photographs anywhere in the world and pursue that dream while I pursue mine. My dad is still trying to adjust.

That is pretty much the story of Julienne LaMere in a nutshell. Nothing special, just a girl with a dream and a boyfriend I still pinch myself over. Oh, and occasionally a murder happens at the resort and I help reveal who dunnit!  

Visit the tour 

To read reviews,guest post and interviews visit the Great Escapes Tour. Click Here 

Buy the book 

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Good Morning... Am I Really Still in Texas?

 It is still really cold for us.

But the sun has been out and things are slowly getting back to normal.

The internet is really slow.  I didn't get my post yesterday live till after 8:00 p.m. 

And so this morning I leave you with this sweet image . . .