Blue “HEAVEN'”

Blue, white and yellow is my favorite color combination and I’m always drawn to it. Here are some photos of some of my favorite things that are blue.

A Favorite decorative soup tureen

A thrifted framed print

My favorite oil paints…see the blue, yellow and white theme

A woven blue placemat

One of my favorite blue and white Fostoria glass baskets

Blue Haven Progression China by Noritake…I started my collection in 1970

Blue, white and yellow biscotti canister in the background…it probably came from Sam’s or Costco

Blueberries

I Love homemade blueberry muffins…mmm…

INGREDIENTS

1 cup milk 1 egg 1/3 cup vegetable oil 2 cups self rising flour 3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, stir together milk, egg, and oil. Add flour, sugar, and blueberries; gently mix the batter with only a few strokes. Be careful with the blueberries, not breaking them open. Spoon batter into cups. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until evenly brown…don’t overcook or they will be dry. Serve hot.

http://http://www.colorquiz.com/

This is a site that quizzes you on your choice of colors and gives you a psychological profile of yourself…fun, but I wouldn’t take it seriously at all…

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Prepping for the “Foodie Friday”, it’s not all glamour…..

 

Here are my novice preparations for the Foodie Friday….Ms. Gollum makes this look so easy, it aint so yall, took me way too much time, but it sure was fun.

It all began with baking a lemon pound cake…

Lemon Cake
Adapted from ”Barefoot Contessa Parties!” by Ina Garten
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted.
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 1/2-by-4 1/4-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter and 2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, and lemon zest.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly between pans, smooth tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.
4. Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves.
5. When cakes are done, let them cool 10 minutes. Invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon lemon syrup over cakes. Let cakes cool completely.
6. For glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar and remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cakes, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides. If you like rum, you can add about a 1/4 cup to the sugar, lemon syrup. I use a bundt pan instead of 2 loaf pans but that is up to you. Also I use a wooden skewer to poke holes in the cake all over, this helps the syrup absorb all thru the cake.

Ok…that much was good…

Now Zoe is anticipating the crumbs…

Now, I’m off to clean the table, it also serves as my art studio…I got a little messy but enjoyed painting yesterday…

This is what I painted…its painted on a thrifted silver tray and is done in oils…

Now I’m off to look for props for my pix…gotta look everywhere…birds on the bathroom cabinet???

No, let’s see what else, maybe a vintage glass peanut jar…no…don’t think so…

…well the green glass would look good with my lemons as props and I could use this green glass with it????

…mmmm, still doesn’t seem right…I’ll keep looking…oops, I got distracted… that’s my very favorite Windsor and Newton oil paints…boy I luv them a lot…

…still distracted…loving me these paintbrushes…

This could be why this blog is taking me so long, I keep getting distracted by things I luv…ok, now I’m focused…Blue Haven China…that’ll do it…luv me some Blue Haven and thanks to my Hubby I have lots of it…

gotta get it together…where’s the cake??? Now I have to experiment with the light coming in from the window…

geeze…looks like night, not the middle of the day here…

another try…

Ok, it’s getting closer…gotta tweak it….

I hope you’ve enjoyed helping me to get this post together…I’m hungry, aren’t you?

Outdoor Wednesday—not the ordinary

I’m going to participate in Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamers site. I think we’re all dreaming of some beautiful spring and summer weather now but I’d like to show pictures of our recent ice storm. Our area is trying to become a National Disaster Area in order to get some help recovering from this storm. In all the horror of this ice storm there was so much beauty.

 

 

The Love of A Puppy

This is the story of my little Morkie, Zoe.  A Morkie, aka a Yorktese, is a cross of a Maltese and a Yorkie. I prefer Morkie since it reminds me of the old TV series, Mork and Mindy. (I don’t know why but I always think of this cute show when I hear Morkie.)

Here she is at just a few days old…

Here she is the day we brought her home at about six weeks…

This is a picture of her first meal at our home…

Zoe…now

Zoe and her best bud “Buddy”

Zoe is a little dog who actually smiles at you…her eyes light up and her little pink tongue goes into overdrive….that little girl loves to give some kisses to us…

Now here she is needing a good haircut…she has some serious “bangs in her eyes going on”…

She has brought such happiness and emotional support to me and has enriched my life so much. There is much evidence that dogs actually bring so much to our lives such as this Wikipedia article…

Emotional support animal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_support_animal

An emotional support animal (ESA) is one who provides therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are not specially trained to ameliorate disability as psychiatric service dogs are. They require only as much training as an ordinary pet requires in order to live peacefully among humans without being a nuisance or a danger to others.

Several scientific studies have shown the health benefits of pet ownership.^[1] Simple petting can lower a person's blood pressure or reduce stress levels.

In the U.S., two federal laws grant special rights to some owners of emotional support animals.

The Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) establishes a procedure for modifying "no pets" policies in most types of housing to permit a person with a disability or a person who is elderly to keep a pet for emotional support. The qualified applicant sends a written request of reasonable accommodation to the landlord along with a letter from a physician.^{[2] [3]} If the landlord refuses the request for accommodation, a complaint can be filed with the department of Housing and Urban Development or with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In housing that allows pets but charges supplemental rent or deposits for them, some jurisdictions and individual companies will waive these fee for ESAs.

The Air Carrier Access Act establishes a procedure for modifying pet policies on aircraft to permit a person with a disability to travel with a prescribed emotional support animal so long as they have appropriate documentation and the animal is not a danger to others and does not interfere with others (through unwanted attention, barking, inappropriate toileting, etc.).

A Valentine Centerpiece and Tablesetting

Happy Valentine Day

Please join us for a Valentine Celebration...just a quiet one!!!

Gorgeous porcelain roses

A Happy Redbird Candleholder

A floating pink rose candle....shhhhh...not glowing yet...

Imported crystal

Floral china and a silver charger

The floating rose candle is glowing now

A happy red tablecloth

This china is a Homer Loughlin pattern but I haven't determined which one.

See the hearts in the lace overlay tablecloth

Lots of glass marbles to reflect the candlelight

Shiny silver to reflect the light

Red, white and silver

Reflections of a red rose and the glow of a rose candle in the silver

Heart shaped silver tray

I thought it would be fun to participate in Cindy's (My Romantic Home) Valentine Centerpiece Event. Everything I used was thrifted except my crystal and my porcelain roses. The crystal was bought by my husband when he was in the military in Japan and has recently come to live at "Thoughtfully Blended Hearts". Those beautiful roses were a gift to me from my son "Expert Tool Guy", when my brother passed away last year. Purchasing thrifted silver pieces has been a fun hobby recently, I've found a lot of pieces and the most expensive piece cost $12.50. I'll show them to you in some future posts. Some of these pieces made my Valentine Centerpiece a "shining" example of how much fun thrift shop purchases can be. I bought both of the tablecloths this week and the red and white checked one was a whole $2.99. The lacy overlay cost $1.99. Both of them will be used with lots of other combinations of linens in the future. We live in a small Southern town and shopping isn't the greatest but we "make do" a lot of times. I'm sure some roses will show up this weekend to fill my new thrifted silver vase...maybe............................. Thanks so much for visiting "Thoughtfully Blended Hearts"