HaPpy HaLLoWeEn..;)

Here's wishing you all a very safe and Happy HaLLowEeN!!! enjoy your day everyone.;)

I WoN A GiVeAwAy, PiZZa, & HaLLoWeeN!!

Good Saturday morning!!! Yesterday was a glorious beautiful fall day..so I went grocery shopping..was gone for 3-1/2 hours so got home unloaded my car as quick as I could and went back out to rake up more leaves..they are almost gone..the next door neighbor that was in question in the last post was on a little step ladder with his rake trying to get the leaves off his roof..had he not burned his bridge with us..he could have borrowed one of our 3 ladders and used anything he liked to get rid of his leaves...Anyway I won a wonderful giveaway on our prim pals forum a while back for naming their crow...his name is now Edgar Allen Crow..;) and I got my winnings on thursday from Holli and the prim pals staff..I love this..

here is where I put that sweet little pillow. it says Prim hearts are strongest when life starts to unravel..I love that saying..

Here is where I put the little Primitive collector towel..

I love this..it added so much to this..;) the crow soap is in my bathroom in my box on the back of the toilet..the chocolate sign may be a gift for someone.;) Thank you Holli and the prim pals staff I love these wonderful prim goodies..:)

well after raking up leaves and putting away groceries..I decided to make pizza...I use my bread recipe..and I will tell you this is the best pizza I have ever made hands down..better then any store bought pizza...I put on tomato sauce, a little oregano seasoning..some olive oil, then I added baby pepperoni, steak strips and chicken strips (they had them in the lunchmeat area) I was looking or canadian bacon and found these and thought I would give them a shot..oh I am so buying more..steak is so good on these pizza's..I also added roasted red peppers from a jar, portabello mushrooms from the can, artichoke hearts from a jar, onion powder, garlic powder, hot pepper flakes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil..This one was baked on my large stone.

the second pizza was baked in my deep dish pan..this is before the cheese..I baked it at 350 for 15 minutes and then put the cheese on and baked for 5 more minutes.. This is going to be dinner tomorrow night when the little trick or treaters come knocking.;) I did let the dough rise for the 25 minutes..but dinner was done in 1 hour and 20 minutes from start to finish..not bad eh?

with the cheese..Britt if you are reading this..get the fixings you like and we will make pizza together for you to take home and eat..;)

speaking of Britt this is she and her handsome husband and beautiful little boy Landon..they are our next door neighbors and this is how they look normally..well last night they went to a command halloween party and stopped by so I could take pictures of them in their costumes..;) you are in for a treat..they made my whole evening.;)

This is Travis..(his nick name though is Bubba) and he fit the bill last night..he had on his daisy dukes..and his mullet and billy bob teeth..and he "penned" in a tattoo with the red neck flag and cheveron..I made him pose like this.. don't he look purty.;)

this is Travis again with is pretty friend Mullen (they are on the same sub together).he had his teeth blacked out and he had his "mom" tattoo penned on..;) two peas in a pod.;)

here is Travis' sexy wife Brittany..er Marilyn Monroe..I love her costume..she had the false eyelashes and looked so good..:)

I was trying to get her to pose like the air was blowing up her dress..

This is more like it..;) they looked so cute and I am so glad they stopped by for me to take their photos..hope they had a great time last night..can't wait to hear all about it.;)

Well that is it for me today..gotta go and tidy up the house for the day..Hubby has Tucker at work today..he is wearing his "jester" collar for halloween..we don't think his devil costume fits any more..gotta get my halloween baggies done up today..had to stop by walmart and get more candy..will share those bags tomorrow.. have a wonderful weekend everyone..and have a fun and safe halloween.;) can't wait to see your halloween photos.:)

GoT LeAveS? And EtSy...;)

WoW I can't believe its thursday already..where did the time go..Monday I got a nasty cold and stayed put and sewed my towels..tuesday I did some more sewing and stayed put..(the weather was rainy and blustery both days) but yesterday was glorious!!! so I went outside and decided to tackle all the leaves that fell yet again..this time though most of them are gone!!! still have probably one more session with the yard and we are done for the season..Well as some of you know by now I don't have any maples in my front yard and my front yard gets dumped on pretty heavily..so I emailed the neighbors of these said trees asking them nicely if they would take care of the mess their trees make of my yard..well I got no answer from 2 of those said neighbors but tuesday night one neighbor came over to discuss the leaf situation to which he said: is there an RCW that says I need to take care of these leaves? and we told him no..it is a neighborly thing to take care of his leaves..well he didn't think they were his..if you look at the 4th photo down you will see me on the corner of our property (the blue ranger in view) my driveway is covered with his 5 maple trees that he claims are not his leaves..because there are other maples along this road across the street etc.. (photo above is before)

This was taken after I spent 2 hours blowing them out..I even do across the street as I hate the mess and they get slippery too.

All I was asking was for him to take care of the driveway and that corner below..

he flat refused as he just didn't think they were his..oh and get this...he said my outdoor cat was a nuisance because he sits on their chair and puts cat hair on it..oh and he blamed us for his cat getting out of their house because my cat was peeking in the window at his cat and the window was open and the screen wasn't on tight and apparently the kittys were both hissing and carrying on and his cat got out and was gone for 48 hours..He said I couldn't control my cat like he can't control the leaves that fall into my yard..so needless to say guess who got to spend time out front doing everyones yard work? if you guessed me, you'd be right.. I have already spent 5 hours of my time taking care of everyones crap..have been doing it for 16 years..this guy and his wife have only been living her for a year next month and have never had to deal with this stuff..they hire out their yard work..(they are in their late 20's-early 30's) so they have no idea what hard work is..Call me old school but I was raised to respect others and their propertys..and he just didn't want to listen to what we had to say..kept asking if there was some RCW law about the leaves..we told him it was just respecting our neighbors that if this was our tree dumping into his yard..we would have taken care of it..or have the trees removed..(they have 5 maples)

Here is the after shot..no more tracking this into our house...you can see his maples next to our trailer..

ah it felt so good to get rid of the leaves..you can see we are surrounded by them..

This is the said neighbors back yard..now mind you they have the smallest lot on our block..we call it a postage stamp sized lot..their back yard ends where our backyard starts. their back yard consists of bark and fake/faux lawn..you know that astro turf stuff...but they have 2 huge maples that are wrecking havoc of their back yard..and they have their work cut out for them as this is their first year living here..I wonder how fast this will get old for them every year and if they will see my point of view.. well I blew the leaves right back into their yard..they gave me permission to do so..(I was going to do that anyway)..

so that was my drama for tuesday...I tell you the young folks of today have no work ethic. and want everything handed to them..(my opinion of course)..and I know some of you will agree with me on this..when I approached them this summer about taking care of the leaves and weeds they thought I was joking..if you seen their yard you would flip..the previous owner was anal like I am about her yard..unfortunately this couple is not..and their yard looks abandoned..their yard is/was gorgeous before they let it go..if you buy a property..why would you let it go? if you don't like yard work..get a condo..yards take work..period..I do enjoy getting out in my yard and planting and doing my veggie garden..I don't however like doing work that isn't mine to begin with..but no one in this neighborhood gets that.I also took care of the back yard (not shown)..mowed and raked..it looks so much better..I do love a tidy yard and house..(its how I roll)...:).okay off my soap box now..if you are still with me..thanks for letting me get this off my chest..;) After a hard days work..hubby brought us home thai food..and I will tell you it was so good and the fact that I didn't need to cook was icing on the cake..;)

I did get some sewing done and finished these cute little prairie ditty bags..they are currently listed on my etsy site..

I love the way they turned out..going to make Michelles crow curtains today and hopefully get them mailed off next week..Michelle thank you for being so understanding and I got your comment on how to make them..Thanks for letting me know..I hope you all have a great thursday.. I am feeling much better..took some Zicam Pills.(you suck on them) till they dissolve..and oh my gosh they really work..:) have a great day everyone.:)

MaKing SeAm BinDinG, BreaD, CiNNamoN RoLLs & ToWeLs

Good Afternoon Everyone!!! Hope you all had a great weekend..we are getting rainy blustery weather..and if you seen our yard you would see why..(will share tomorrow)..looks like a cyclone came through our yard and dumped every single leaf in our yard..It was nasty outside yesterday so I stayed in and sewed..got 2 more projects to go..Michelle yours is next on the list for those crow curtains..will be working on them as soon as I am done here..;) yesterday I made seam binding..I love this little gadget that I got at Joanns last year for my christmas..since my machine won't do the decorative stitches..I had to figure out how to cover the raw edges..so made seem binding..This is so much fun to do if you know how to fold the fabric so its on the bias etc..my friend showed me how to fold it on a piece of paper and I pull it out and refer to it..

you wind the fabric strips (this is going to be 1/2 binding) so I cut the fabric in 1-1/2- 2 inches thick.you then wind it on the bobbin and put it through that metal portion..(you let the machine heat up as it will Iron this binding as it feeds it out the other end...it will give you a green light when its heated up..that little box on the left side is the heat/iron..

and here is it all iron and ready to go..

the underside to show you that it is creased..:) you can use any fabric to make seam binding..you will see it on the towels I finished below.;)if any one wants to learn how to make the binding let me know and I will post photos to show you how to fold your fabric..just let me know.:)

I made bread and cinnamon rolls on sunday to take to our friends house for dessert..we had so much fun..playing phase 10..if you have never played it you should..it is addicting and lots of fun..Next morning I woke up to a nasty cold..so tomorrow I am going to the doctors..my nose is so plugged..anyway back to my post..I love making this bread.it is so easy..and there is no waiting for it to rise, punch down, let rise, and punch down..you don't have to do any of this..and you get bread in 1 hour..but its all in the safs yeast and the liquid lecithin..so if you enjoy making bread or cinnamon rolls or a savery bread..this recipe is for you..it helps if you have a kitchen aid mixer too..cause you have to mix this for 5 minutes..if you are doing it by hand it takes 10 minutes..you can find the supplys on pantry secrets web site or on amazon too..

so this was sundays cinnamon rolls..it makes 2 big rolls..I used store bought cream cheese frosting..I took 2 to our next door neighbors and 4 to our friends house..

last night I made shrimp bisque soup and I made one loaf of bread and 6 cinnamon rolls and they were done exactly when the soup was done..it worked out perfectly ..tomorrow I am making pizza..

This batch turned out so well.. I think I got the water ratio right this time as it turned out perfectly..;)

here are the cinnamon rolls I made last night..I added the cinnamon chips to these ..you can add them to the bread and make cinnamon bread and have "french toast"..;) the possibilities are endless.;)

here they are frosted up..:)they don't look so pretty..but they are so yummy.;)

here is what I made yesterday..this was a special order from a gal that's sister purchased one and she loved it..so she had to have one..here is the seam binding that I made..

I just finished up these two towels this morning..I used some really cute cross stitch designs from my blogging friend and OFG friend named Denise of pioneer loft. I just got 2 more of her wonderful designs yesterday..christmas ones..)

These are my fall/thanksgiving towels..I will be posting these on etsy when I am done here..you can see better photos on my etsy if you are interested...Well that is it for me..going to go and sew and get some stuff done..I hope you all have a wonderful week..:) looks like we are going to get rained on for halloween..so will see how many trick or treaters we get..and we are getting snow in our mountains too..my little sister in Utah said they got snow in their mountains too..this is early..;) hows the weather in your neck of the woods? take care.:)

LoOK WhOsE NiFty..CaUsE He'S 50!!!

I just want to take this time to tell my hubby Happy Birthday today!!! He turned the big 5-0 today!!! He is at work today with his Tucker..so here is my tribute to Mike.;) this photo above was when we were dating way back in 1984..what a stud he was..;) we were married on new years eve of 1985..He has served proudly in the military from the time he was 17 till he retired at age 47..

here are some cute photos of him when he was about 7 months old or so and the bottom left was in 5th grade I believe, his mom in the middle when she was 17 and him in 6th grade..he had the long hair too..that was all gone when he joined the marine corp at the tender age of 17..

These are just some of the things I love about him..He loves his babys..thats Sillie Millie hanging off his back like a parrot..she loves doing this..:)

chilling with his Stanley Steemer..

a boy and his dog..oh my gosh does he love this dog...and Tucker loves!!! him..

the day we got our new girls from Petsmart..Gracie on the left andMillie on the right...

resting by the fire with our Emma..she was about 3 weeks old or so when we got her from a friend who found her abandoned.;) sadly we only had her a year before she was attacked and killed by a dog..I miss this little girl.;) she was a lover.;)

enjoying a quiet moment with his Sunny bunny...she loves her daddy and loves to nurse to this day on his neck...she is sitting her with me as I type this..she is becoming a mama's girl..Mike is a wonderful provider and has always made sure we are well cared for and made sure we are safe and happy..I hope you enjoy your day today and you have many more wonderful birthdays ahead...Thanks for the wonderful memories you have given me...I Love you and thank you for taking such great care of me and our babies.;)

He got his big birthday present back in September when we went to Cabalas..but I couldn't resist these two shirts..he is wearing the one above today at work..;) I love this one.;)

and he loves the duke...so had to have this one too..I got these at the gift show yesterday;)

okay yesterday my friend Sarah and I and her two cute little kids went to the gift show in Tacoma..I must say for the price we paid for parking, getting into the show..this show is not worth going to in my opinion..while I got some nice things for me..there are 650 booths of nothing but jewelery..oh more then 1/2 seemed like it was jewelery.. the rest was made in china stuff, and or imported from some where..the craft part that I really wanted to see was almost non-existance..and was all cutesy country stuff with alot of snowmen made out of chenille and they all looked the same...saw a lot of repeated stuff..and not one Primitive item there..so needless to say I bought nothing crafty...huge disappointment in my book..and probably will never go back..it has been like 6 years since the last time..and its the same stuff..

we happened upon a booth called Willow house..they do home partys..has anyone ever heard of this? I am going to have a book party for them..so if anyone wants to order just put my name Gina Cooper as the hostess or send me your order and I will pass this onto Heather..I haven't looked in the books yet..but will be doing so today..for booking the party with them..they gave me a little treat bag (above photo) of a christmas bell. a box of tiramisu cake mix and two great cook books..I will share a recipe at the end of the post..I was thumbing through the cake mix one last night and found that I want to try them all.;)

I got some prim tissue paper.(the only thing prim in this whole show)..the black is black and tan..I love tissue papers as I always get nice things wrapped and wonder where you all are getting them..their website is called wrapped all up..they are out of california.

Sarah and I got some blue cheese dressing powder..you add 2 tsps to this along with butter milk and mayonaise and you have blue cheese dressing..they gave us a sample..it was tasty..we also got a cheese mill..it was buy one get one free..so $11.00 and we each had one..it grates everything..she even did hard boiled eggs..I am so going to use this when I make our salads..

okay these were handmade..I got each of our kittys a cat nip toy to put in their stockings and Tucker got his squeeze toy too..so I have their christmas taken care of.;) I also got 3 new bra's..yes you heard me right..they had a booth for bra's and under garments called Joyful bodies..and I got fitted for a bra and they put these little smiley stickers on your boobs with your old bra on over your shirt..then the fit you for a bra and have you put on your shirt and see where those stickers are..well lets just say my stickers were way off...so I got 3 new bra's and I am "perky" again...for the 1st time in years..cause these suckers have flown south...(the deep south mind you) and they needed some help..I was also wearing the wrong sized bra..it felt so good I wore it out through the rest of the show..and I am having a show for the founder I think she is...Her name is Joy on November 16th..she is flying from chicago for another show..so she is coming to my house to do this show..

Well when we got home yesterday there was a wonderful package in the mail for me..from my good pal Shirley!! of wolf spirits..she lives in Oregon and she found me blogging and the rest is history..she is a wonderful gal and I just love her to pieces..she sent me this little care package..just because...I love love everything you sent me..I hope I have this right..that these are hot pads..I love the sunflower design...and I love the halloween buttons...must make some dolls...and use these..

and she sent me this wonderful friendship quilt..that is going to go in my bedroom and hang on my amoire with the other quilts..this will hang on the door..you can see the kitty fabric and puppy fabric..and the rest all looks vintage..cause she knows I love vintage..Thank you so much for thinking of me Shirley..you made my day...:) well we had some winds on thursday and the yard looks like a tornado went through it..we have leaves everywhere..so if its nice this monday..we are blowing them out of here..today is cool and a bit rainy..looks like it is trying to get nice out..hope that is does..looks like 56 and some rain..and looks like breezy and rainy tomorrow..so next week we might take care of those leaves..hopefully more will fall..so we can be done with them once and for all.;) well that is it for me today..I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and stay toasty or cool wherever you are..;)

Apple Spice Cake

1 (18.25 -ounce) package spice cake mix without pudding (we tested with Duncan Hines)

4 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup apple juice

1 (3.4-ounce) package of butterscotch instant pudding mix

brown sugar frosting

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until blended. Pour batter into a greased and floured 13x9 inch pan.

bake at 350* for 35 to 38 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool cake completely in a pan on a wire rack. Spread cake with cooled brown sugar frosting. yield 12 servings.

Brown Sugar Frosting

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

combine first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium high heat; bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly.. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool completely. (Frosting is thin and pourable and is more like a glaze then traditional swirled frosting). Yield 1-1/4 cups..:) enjoy!!! :>)