~ A Little Break ~

"Hi, my name is Pat and I am addicted to reading blogs!"  Do you ever feel like there's just not enough time to read and respond to everyone?  I love checking on my friends and the newbies that I see ~ just lacking the time right now.  I'm on a mission to totally clean my closets and get everything organized.  I started the process a few weeks ago and somehow got side-tracked.


Well, last weekend I found a water leak in the ceiling of the closet in my bedroom.  :-(  We've had so much rain and it found its way in.  I'm on the end of this building and there was a problem on the outside where the shingles had separated from the brick/roof. They fixed that area and now have to flood it to see if it's completely sealed before they replace the ceiling in my closet. Now that means that everything in that closet must come out.  I'm going back through all closets and tossing and donating!  I can't deal with disorganization so will do it now and I just know I'm going to be a happy camper when I'm finished.


I won't be around for a few days but will try my best to check emails!   I hope everything in your world is beautiful and happy.


Oh, and I'll have a giveaway soon!

~ Blog Highlight ~

I'm not sure if you've "met"  Lisa at Simply...This, That and The Other!

If not, I'd love for you to hop over to her blog and read this post about "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly".  It's a wonderful reminder for each of us to focus on living in the moment and cherishing our family and friends.


We never know what might happen tomorrow or in the next moment. Remember to be kind to yourself as well as others!  Will it matter a year from now if our houses are perfect?  Will you even remember?  Several people around me have been experiencing serious health problems and the recent tornadoes have left hundreds homeless. There are always other situations too and Lisa's post touched my heart and is a wonderful reminder for me.  You might feel the same way.


Oh yes, Lisa shares incredibly wonderful recipes and lovely presentations of same!

~ Outside Inside Cake ~

I found this pound cake recipe online, however, I've seen it in blogland too. I tried it first using the German Chocolate Cake Mix and the Coconut Frosting Mix.  Sorry I forgot to make photos of those!

I was telling my granddaughter about it and she was questioning about the frosting being on the "inside" of the cake. ;-)  That's when I started calling it the "Outside Inside Cake".  I did change the recipe a bit ~  I use:

4 eggs
1 c. melted butter (not margarine)
1 c. liquid ~ for the chocolate I used 1/2 c. coffee & 1/2 c. water

Once all that is thoroughly mixed with your electric mixer...scraping the bowl, etc., then add the container of frosting and gently mix it in.  Pour all into a well greased bundt pan and bake @ 350 for 50-60 min, depending on your oven.  Caution: Make sure your bundt pan is large enough to use all the mixture.  I found out the hard way that one of my pans does not!  IF I use that pan again, I will bake part of the batter in a smaller pan or baking dish.

Here's another I tried for the grands for their Spring Break:

I used the same 4 eggs, 1 c./1 stick melted butter and added 1 c. buttermilk.  You can choose to use the liquid you want ~ I just think adding some coffee to chocolate or milk/buttermilk is tastier and adds to the moisture quotient too.

The original recipe did not call for any type of frosting but I did add a drizzle of melted chocolate on the German Chocolate Cake and a bit of vanilla/cream cheese frosting on the other.

I plan to try the Lemon Cake Mix, Lemon Frosting next and add lemon juice and blueberries. :-)  Tons of combinations you could try and it's soooo easy & extremely moist. Your efforts will truly be appreciated!

I'm joining:

~ Easter Treats ~

I hope that everyone had a marvelous and blessed Easter!  Such a special time and always great for family get togethers.  We were going to do steaks on the grill ~ yes, a bit different menu here in Texas!  ;-)  We had heavy thunder storms so that idea had to go. I put the steaks in the freezer for another day.  We did a pork roast, baked potatoes with all the trimmings, roasted veggies, salad and yeast rolls.  For dessert, I made these miniature Coconut Pies and my daughter made a delicious Lemon Pound Cake.  I forgot to take my camera to her house so no photos of the lovely food. 

I have the most difficult time trying to make photographs of food as I'm preparing it ~ just flat forget!  I was ready to walk out the door when I remembered so please don't think this is the final presentation!  Packed for transporting only  ~  LOL

These were made for the grands ~ for them alone!  ;-)

The little marshmallow bunnies were adorable!

Now, it's back to laundry, cleaning, you name it.  I have done a bit of spray painting and planting flowers ~ just not finished yet.  Have a wonder*filled week!

~ Easter Tree ~

A feast for the Easter Bunny: German couple decorate their garden tree with 10,000 painted eggs.

Easter comes but once a year - but one couple have turned it into a lifetime's project.

German pensioners Volker and Christa Kraft have decorated the tree in their back garden in Saalfeld for Easter for more than 40 years.

The tree now drips with more than 9,800 colourful Easter eggs, painted with pastoral scenes and religious icons.

Volker Kraft adds to the 9,800 Easter eggs hanging from the tree in garden of the home he shares with his wife Christa

Each egg must be painstakingly emptied of yolk and whites, to ensure it will not go bad, before they can be hand painted and hung out for all to see.

The easiest way is to pierce two holes in each end of the egg with a hat-pin, then blow out the contents through a straw.

The better equipped can use a syringe pushed through just one hole to extract the gooey gubbins. But be cautious when handling raw eggs - they may carry salmonella.

Symbol of life: Carefully packed and intricately decorated Easter eggs lie waiting to be hung from the Krafts' tree.

The egg is a pagan symbol of rebirth, widely used in spring festivals before its adoption by early Christians as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus.

For followers of Christianity they are symbolic of Christ rising from his tomb two days after his death on the cross.

In ancient times, the Zoroastrians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration, which falls on the spring equinox.

Sculptures in the ruins of Persepolis, their capital, show people carrying eggs to their king for the occasion 2,500 years ago.

Don't tell the Easter Bunny! Heike Lutz, right, visits the Krafts' tree together with her son Anton Lutz.

After their kids moved out of the house, it seemed the Easter Tree would finally catch a break, but grandsons arrived and the Krafts went back to decorating their giant tree. The number of Easter eggs hung by the tree’s branches grew every year,and in 2010 it reached an incredible 9,500 eggs.

Can you imagine preparing all these eggs? Then comes the storage, hanging them, etc.  Such joy this couple brings to all!

Wishing each of you and your loved ones a very blessed Easter!

~ Texas Tornadoes ~

The 3 photos above are from local TV stations.  This is just a sampling of the damage done this afternoon around Arlington, Lancaster, Forney and the path in between. Soooo much loss and damage!  Can you imagine coming home and finding that you had no home left?  Some could  not get into their communities due to downed power lines.  Police have barricaded many areas and 40,000 + are without power.  People are looking for their pets ~ just heartbreaking!  So far, no fatalities reported and that is a true miracle!  I think there were 12 tornadoes dancing around ~ lots of hail and wind damage too.

This is my daughter's car ~

Can't see the back of it in these photos.

Her friend's car ~

And another employee's car ~

All the employee's cars were similarly damaged. They were all safe and all banded together to make sure each person had a way home, etc.  "Things" can be replaced...people cannot.


Oh and I almost forgot!  This is a photo from a TV station that shows 18 wheelers being tossed in the air like potato chips.  Can you imagine the strength of the storm to toss around 2 ton vehicles?

One of the 12 ~

We're all counting our blessings tonight!  Just had high winds, hail and lots of rain here. The sirens kept going off so Forrester and I stayed in the closet.  :-)   


Later, this was in order ~