Natural Beauty

I drove over to bring my daughter home from college for the weekend - about an hour away. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Here are some pics I took as I neared the school - I was actually driving as I stuck the camera out the window and snapped these. I didn't expect them to turn out at all, but they do capture the beauty to some degree :)

What I Love About my Home

There is a party over at Karla's Cottage. She has asked what we love about our homes. Recently I posted about some of the "corners" around my home that I love. You can see that here. I love the comfy feel of my home, it's small & cozy, yet often filled with special friends.

I absolutely LOVE plants and have many of them.

This old hoosier cabinet (below) is a favorite. Right now it stands in the basement, but someday... in a few years... when my daughter's bedroom is turned into "my little world," I would like to move it there.

I especially love the views around my house. We are surrounded by woods & actually live in a National Forest. We are high on a hill and surrounded by gorgeous autumn color!! The picture with the flag is the view from my front door.

Currently, I am NOT loving my bedroom. It has been a "catch all" for way too long. But even as I type my husband is in town picking up some paint!! :o) Hopefully soon I can post some before & after pics of a "NEW" bedroom!!!

We have a winner!!!!

My husband picked a name for me (after I typed out the names) and the winner of my Autumn Bliss Giveaway is....

Julia - you can visit her blog here.

Congratulations and I hope you enjoy your Cinnamon & Cider soap and the extra goodies I'm gathering together to send your way!! :)

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments!!!!

And, guess what...I have never entered for a Giveaway before, but I did this week and I WON!!! And not just any old giveaway, either, but one from the wonderful Leesiebella at Sugar*Sugar!!!!

I am soooo excited!!! I'll post pictures when it comes!

Art in the Square

This past weekend I participated in a neat show - Art in the Square. I've been a vendor there for the past 4 or 5 years. It's a fun show and the weather is always perfect ~ crisp, cool, autumny!! Plenty of kettle korn & caramel apples...Yum!!! This year my booth was right next to the Kettle Korn & guess what? They always give their neighbors a bag!!!!!

Don't forget to leave a comment for the Give~Away. (See previous post) The winner will be drawn on Sunday, Sept. 23

Autumn Bliss & A Giveaway!!

Fall is definitely in the air here in Northern Wisconsin. Today's high was in the 50s and I see that the low overnight will be 35!!!! I had better get my plants inside. They've been basking in the warmth on the deck enjoying the extra warm weather we had been having lately. That's Wisconsin for you ~ a heat wave and frost all within one week.

Fall is a time of year that causes me to take stock and review life. Our life runs from school year to school year, so this is the time to go over schedules, routines, etc. and regroup, reorganize and hopefully revive!!! I am going through a season of SIMPLIFYING ~ cleaning, purging, tossing and getting control over those spaces that seem to get overlooked.

As promised, this is my post for Autumn Bliss hosted by Clarice at Storybook Woods. I'd like to share with you a wonderful recipe for Pumpkin Bread.


1 c. canned pumpkin

1 c. plus 2 T sugar, divided

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar

4 egg whites, divided
1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. canola oil

2 c. flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Neufchatel cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a nonstick 9 x 5 loaf pan; set aside. Mix pumpkin, 1 cup sugar, the brown sugar, 3 of the egg whites, milk and oil in large bowl. Add flour, baking powder, pie spice and salt; stir just until moistened. Set aside. Beat Neufchatel cheese, remaining 2 T sugar, and the remaining egg white with wire whisk until well blended.

Spoon half of the pumpkin batter into prepared pan; spoon Neufchatel cheese mixture evenly over the batter. Cover with remaining pumpkin batter.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 5 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Run knife or thin spatula around edges of pan to loosen bread; cool in pan on wire rack 10 min. Remove bread from pan to wire rack; cool completely.

Delicious!!!

I also wanted to share this picture with you:

Last year as I was packing up after a "Colorama" craft show, this tiny leaf floated down onto my table. It is so perfectly cute, I had to keep it!!!

And last, but not least ~ I made a batch of Cinnamon & Cider soap this week. It smells great!! The perfect autumn scent!! I would like to share this with you, so leave a comment and I will pick a name on Sunday, Sept. 23 (the first day of Autumn). The winner will receive a bar of Cinnamon & Cider soap along with a few other surprise goodies!! Your chances of winning are pretty high, as my blog traffic is quite light :)

Autumn Bliss

Summer is officially over, as school began this week. I enjoy getting back into the "normal" routine of everyday homeschooling.

Northern Wisconsin autumns are beautiful and I am looking forward to the changing leaves and the crisp autumn mornings. I'm not sure what this year will bring as we had such a dry year and the trees are all a bit stressed!

I decided to join in on Clarice's Autumn Bliss week over at Storybook Woods. Each participant will be posting autumn ideas - recipes, poems, crafts, etc. I'm looking forward to lots of neat ideas and will be posting something here sometime next week.