Pumpkin cake

I don't often make layer cakes.

I'm signed up for emails from Kraft and happened across this recipe this week. I had leftover pumpkin in the fridge needing to be used so I decided to give it a whirl.

So far, so good. The layers aren't sliding. I was kinda worried. But notice all my crumbs on the cake plate. Sigh. Presentation is not my strong suit. I didn't actually notice them at the time-only now in my picture.

Complete with caramel topping and toasted pecans.

It was yummy. I thought the caramel was barely noticeable, which makes it unneccesary in my opinion. I'd rather slap some more of the filling on top as frosting. Of course, I could eat the filling with a spoon. It's hard to go wrong when cream cheese and Cool Whip are involved. (Yes, I enjoy whatever that chemical mixture named Cool Whip is.)

My changes to their recipe were minor: I didn't have a yellow cake mix so I subbed a white one. I added extra pumpkin in place of much of the oil (I know, I know-like reducing the oil really makes much difference in this case), and I used light cream cheese.

One more post

wrung out of that little field trip last week.

This is almost the rest of the purchase. I didn't bother trying to fit the last item into the picture. It was on their clearance table and was a set of decorated tiles the thickness of a tile trivet. There wasn't a price on them so when I found an employee, I asked if he could find out how much they were. He looked them over, grabbed a price gun, slapped a sticker on them, and handed them back to me with the question "How's that?" I glanced down to see the price he had given them. 50 cents. I definitely was taking them home with me. Julianne may use them in a mosaic project but, if not, they will work as hot pads for the table.

I bought these pins just because the girls and I thought they were cute. I don't wear pins very often but they're fun once in a while.

The snowman thing in the background is a pot holder that fits over a pan handle. We use them with our cast iron cookware. This one is longer than the ones I already have but it should still work for the job. And it's just so much cuter than the hot pepper ones we currently use. I'll enjoy using it this winter but I'm guessing Clarence is likely to stick with the hot peppers if he cooks. Ya think?

An award and those sweatshirts-again

My thanks to Mrs. Rabe for honoring me with this award.

I'm not sure what the rules are for this award so I'm going to give it to one blog and call it good.

If you've never clicked on The Parson's Wife over on my blog list, take a minute to go check her blog out. I started reading her blog long before I started blogging. She used to frequent a homeschooling message board that I visited regularly, which is how I knew of her. She's a woman of many talents. She has shared some great trash-to-treasure projects, which I always like to see. But when she posts a recipe-oh, my. I love her pictures and presentation. She already has a plan for her holiday baking posted-I'm hoping she keeps us all updated and shares at least some of her recipes. (Hint, hint!) ;-)

Now to completely change topics:

When Allison got the mail today, it included a Hallmark flyer. Allison was checking over the mail as she carried it and was laughing when she handed it to me. I wondered what was so funny and she pointed out our new matching sweatshirts on the back of the Hallmark ad.

It makes the $5 deal we got seem even better. If you can't read the print in the picture, to buy it at Hallmark the shirts are $23.99 each OR you can get them for $14.99 each with a store purchase.

Just in case there's a woman left in the state who missed getting one at Crazy Mountain last week.

Next on the list

of items we got at Crazy Mountain's sale last Friday is matching snowman sweatshirts.



Yep, we all three will match. If we wear them at the same time, that is.

I love snowmen and these sweatshirts were $5 each. My friend ended up going later in the day and she will be able to match us as well. Then there were a couple ladies from church when we were there who got them, too. For $5, none of us could resist.

And that's not all! I can drag one more blog post out of this. ;-)

Trying to post every day

leads to a lot of boring posts. I'm sorry.

In the search for something to blog about, I could only come up with this for today.

The girls and I went to a warehouse sale on Friday at a place called Crazy Mountain Imports. A lot of the stuff we see at our local Hallmark store comes from them. They sell a wide assortment of things and the warehouse sale has a bit of everything. The timing is right because they hold their sale on a weekend right around opening day of deer season. It makes a great destination for deer hunting widows.

I went to look for inexpensive candles. I've gotten some nice candles for incredible prices in the past but this year I thought the candle prices weren't as great and I didn't find any scents I just had to have.

We came home instead with this candle warmer. They have them every year. I always look at them but decide against getting one. This year I caved. They have so many different designs that it gets hard to choose. There are two sizes-this size, which holds a large jar candle, and a votive holder size. The small ones were $3.00 and the large ones were $8.00 or 2/$10.00. Every time I see a cute one in the Hallmark store (for ~$25), I kick myself for passing these up and tell myself I'll get one next time. But I never have. Until now.

I picked up a hazelnut creme candle and have been happily melting it all weekend.

We bought a couple other things but I think I'll save those for the next time I can't think of anything to blog about. Like tomorrow.

Improvement

Belle is steadily improving. He moves a little more each day and has started to eat on his own. We are still force feeding him some diluted food but he is picking at his regular food again. He seems less dehydrated when we check him, too. He also started cleaning himself, which he wasn't doing a couple days ago. His bladder issues seem to be significantly better as well, which is a big relief. We are all so thankful that he seems to be doing so much better. We think he may have decided to be a house cat once again.

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Join me in praying for Miss Paula and all the people affected by the California fires. She is requesting prayer for the victims, as well as the firemen and first responders. She is dealing with smoke and ash but says the fire shouldn't reach her. It is so hard for me to imagine living through something like that but I am praying for all those who have to experience it.

A beautiful gift!

I was the lucky winner of a drawing celebrating Mrs. Rabe's 500th post.

The package arrived today during lunch-it's a good thing the girls and I stayed home after all. I would hate to think all this loveliness would have been sitting outside in the rain/snow mix we had falling all afternoon.

She sent the beautiful cup and saucer, along with the PG Tips tea she showed on her blog. But then she threw in a few other surprises...a cute autumn tea towel, some pretty floral memo pads, and a box of Good Earth tea which I thought particularly thoughtful and nice.

When I left my comment on her giveaway post, I told her that Good Earth is my favorite tea. It isn't available anywhere I've checked in my local area so I pick it up when we go to some of our homeschool activities. That makes this an even more special treat. I've only tried the Sweet and Spicy variety (this one is sweet & spicy cinnamon and orange) so I'm looking forward to tasting this kind, too.

Thank you so much Mrs. Rabe!

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Update on Belle:

More IV fluid this morning. There is small improvement we see in a couple areas. He is slightly more active and his urine isn't bloody (sorry!). The vet gave us pain meds to give him for three days. She's ordering another med on Monday (that she's out of right now) which is supposed to help with bladder spasms. We are continuing to force feed him every two hours. He still doesn't like it. Hopefully, we'll continue to see improvement throughout the rest of the weekend.