Old Fashioned Strawberry Cake

Oh goodness, I have been walking down memory lane, will you walk with me? Let's celebrate this Fourth of July like we used to, homemade ice cream, sparklers, maybe even a cap gun and oh anxiously anticipating the Fireworks in Town after the sun sets. Lets have just one slice of  strawberry cake before we venture out... the kind just like Mom used to make. Oh remember these cakes, the ones that tasted just as sweet as a sugar cookie and if you were lucky you could eat the batter straight from the striped mixing bowl, as soon as the cake pans were filled. And oh the fluffy, swirly frosting made with butter and powdered sugar and just maybe if we were lucky we got to lick the spoon, or maybe stick a finger in the bowl when Mom wasn't looking. One of the very best things about this recipe is the no nonsense list of ingredients, and just so you will know-My oldest daughter told me "Mom, this tastes just like a cake Grandma would make." Grab a patriotic candle or two just f

Dresses and More

Happy Friday Lovely Ladies! Well, you won't believe this, well you might, this was suppose to be a sponsored post. Yes indeed, a sweet little deal where I was going to do a review and then there were some perks for you and I. I was envisioning you using the coupon to  purchase a casual and feminine dress or top maybe in a soft tropical floral or stunning solid, and then wearing your new outfit out to dinner... Well, the coupon for you all, just didn't seem like much of a deal to me, so I wrote back to the company and said hey, I am ready to move forward but the coupon you are offering is going to need to be for a bit more, if you are sincerely interested in this post. Well, as you can tell by the looks of things, they weren't interested in increasing the perks. So, here I am with my Friday picks for you and they are dresses and more. There is a reason I chose dresses-comfort and style. Comfort ladies in this hot Texas heat, or wherever you might live. We are all in the midd

DIY- Patriotic Summer Wreath

You all know that I live in Texas and I am just a little bit proud of the Lone Star State. Did you know that our super size state is synonymous with Football, Longhorns (with horns that can extend 7 feet!) We make a State Fair Worthy Chili with a heap of heat and I mean heat-blazing heat, with a long burn. Here in Texas we do the two step, Love Willie Nelson and the gang, and enjoy a Friday night on the patio with some Tex Mex. As I was designing this wreath I wanted to incorporate a little natural, some patriotism and a symbol of our State, which you might think would be cowboy boots, but in our household it's jalapenos. Seems we add jalapenos to just about everything now, salads, mashed potatoes and even grits. I did not used to be like this, but after all of these years of living here, I crave some spice and heat and myself. So when I found these precious bright red jalapenos from Hobby Lobby-I snapped them up quicker than a wink. I am thinking that you could add some symbol whi

They Call It Home Part 4

This month has flown by and here we are nearing the end of June, I am happy to share with you the makeover and final chapter in our series  They Call It Home , where Amanda and Preston share their favorite part of their remodel on their beloved home in the Sacramento Valley. I think one of the best feelings in any experience is to look back at where you came from and savor in the beauty of where you are now. I want you to bask in the triumphant glory of a kitchen that no longer has green linoleum floor with me. But to bring you to that point, you really have to take a look back at what the kitchen was when we moved in. ..... Green linoleum  Knotty pine, Formica counter tops, scratched up sink, poor lighting and a broken electric stove top . .. More knotty pine...  Over the period of 6 months, we painted away the knotty pine on the cabinets,  wainscoting, and doors. We refinished our kitchen table from a white paint turned yellow (the polyurethane's fault!!) to a  beautiful dark woo

Aging With Style Detours

We began the Aging With Style  Series back in January, and it has been awhile since I did a post on this topic. Some things popped into my mind and heart as I was driving back from Oklahoma yesterday afternoon, after spending a few days with our youngest daughter and our granddaughter- Molly. Naturally,  I just have to share them with you. These thoughts popped into my mind as I was forced to take a detour home because of mudslides along I35 from Oklahoma to Texas. My altered route took me along 287 - a route which I had never been on, in fact my GPS annoyingly kept recalculating and wanting me to make U Turns and go back to the familiar route that both of us knew. At one point I told my GPS to be quiet, that we couldn't go that way because the highway was closed. Finally she gave in, and accepted that we had taken a detour and should make the best of it. Detours-we have all had them, we fight them, they are uncomfortable, unfamiliar, unwanted. We have to recalculate-our plans, ou

They Call It Home Part 3

This has been a true labor of love for Amanda and Preston as they transform their mid-century home into a cozy cottage and haven for Wyatt and themselves. If you are just joining this series, here are the links to the two previous posts- They Call It Home Part 1 ,  They Call It Home Part 2 . Last week we saw how the sweet couple transformed the outside of their treasured home  and this week Amanda shares with us some of their inside living spaces. The hours of labor we have poured into our house not only served to restore the home,  but  also our  marriage.  Before moving to California, Preston had to be away from Wyatt and I for 6 months to train  for his  new job.  We had survived a year long deployment and months of being away for various training's in  the Army before,  but  something about this most recent time apart was more challenging. That first night in our house when we slept on the floor, I got a great view of the baseboards. Staring at them in the wee hours of the morn