{ Friday Favorites - #5 }

If you have something special you would like to show, if you have a trinket which has a special meaning for you or maybe something you have just found and own or would like to have. It could be anything, a trinket, a book, a new cookware set, a necklace, a photograph, a project you're working on or finished....anything that you love and would like to show us all.

Take a photo, or two, or three...post it on your blog and come back and link up using Mr Linky.

Please only include links directly to your post and only those pertaining to Friday Favorites. Anything not related WILL be removed.

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Today's treasure is very near and dear to my heart, for many reasons.
When we lived in Idaho there was a store we absolutely loved visiting and shopping it, it was called Quilted Bear and the minute we stepped through those doors it was like being transported to a big warehouse of crafts, wood crafts, needle crafts, the scent of candles, rows and rows of scrapbook materials and bits and bobbles here and there.

On one of our visits, I came across this tiny little shelves with personalized mugs, any name you could think of and I knew I had to grab one.

I got one for each of our names in the family.

Now if you're one of my friends or have been reading my blog for a while, you will probably be wondering why the names Jennifer and Alexandra are on there too.

Those two little mugs are for the two babies I miscarried, it was the names we had picked out for them and it means the world to me to be able to have these tiny little mugs, as a daily reminder, not that I need one.

Miscarriage is something you never forget, it's something you never quite get over, it just gets easier to deal with as time goes by, it doesn't erase the pain, it doesn't take away the grief, but it does help you move on  with each day.

So as you can see, they may be tiny, but these little mugs and the little shelf hold a very special place in my heart, they are one of the things I would grab if I had to run out the door.

Kindle Fire and boy is it HOT *snort*

So dorky, but I couldn't resist.

I'm going to show you and tell you all about my new Kindle Fire, but before I do let me explain why I got one because you know I don't just make it a habit of spending money for no reason.

Remember my husband bought me a Kindle Touch about a month ago, it was the first week of January and I fell in love with it, I took it with me everywhere, I read it constantly, I just loved it THAT much and thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Here it is.......

Isn't it pretty? Oh I love it.

And then last week Wednesday, I was in the middle of reading a book when suddenly, blink blink blink, Kindle start graphic, blink some more and then KINDLE NEEDS TO BE REPAIRED!

WHAT?!?!?!? Why? I didn't drop it, I didn't bump it, if anything I was more careful with this Kindle than I am with myself, I bump into stuff all the time but that Kindle had it's own little imaginary bubble around it. So why was this happening?

I got in touch with Amazon Customer Service and was told that this Kindle is defective and needs to be replaced, but here's the kicker, it's bad enough that it's but a month old, but I would have to take it back to the Walmart my husband bought it at and get it replaced there. THAT is not going to happen, first because Walmart only has a 15 day return policy on items like these and second because we didn't have the receipt anymore or the original box.

Unbelievable! So here I sat with a non working Kindle, I honestly wanted to cry, I can't believe how fast I fell in love with it. What to do???

Well I'm trying to get Amazon to help me out somehow, this is their product and if I remember correctly it comes with a 1 year Warranty for defects etc.

But seeing how sad I was and how much I loved my Kindle, my hubby decided to surprise me with a new one, but instead of the same Kindle Touch he just went for the one with the bells and whistles and got me the Kindle Fire.

OH.MY.WORD!

Here, let me show you.......my good ol' blog on the Kindle, so pretty isn't it?

Right after I charged it up, I registered it through Amazon and was surprised to see that I have a full month free Amazon Prime trial.  Ooohhhh :)

I spent quite a bit of time just staring at it and trying to figure out where to go first, what to try first, what to touch, it's much like a new toy that you want to play with really bad but are so worried that you'll accidentally break it?  LOL

One of the cool things about is it the fact that it looks like an Ipod, even the way it is set up.  First thing I did was check out the Apps I could get, so many free ones to choose from and really inexpensive ones to purchase as well.  My first download however was this game for my Nicholas, he's been talking about it for a few days, it's called Where's my Water?

Collect as many ducks as you can in the game and Disney, with the help of Disney's Friends for Change and the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, will make a donation to Conservation International.

The goal of Conservation International is to protect and restore ecosystems and provide freshwater benefits to help more than 500 million people and 126,000 species. For more information about Conservation International, click here.

By helping Swampy connect water to his shower, you can help connect water to animals in real life.

He is determined to help as much as he can, he is so cute :)

Since we're both under the weather, he has been spending lots of time relaxing on my bed, he just reads his books or watches TV, or last night, he asked if he could play the game for a bit.  Problem was I had to wrestle my Kindle Fire from him afterwards LOL   Both kids have now decided they would love one of their own for their birthday's coming up in April....hmmmmm we'll see :)

But back to the Kindle Fire and all it has, or all that I've found so far cause it has a lot of things.

I love how good the quality of the videos are.

Here is the Home page on the Kindle, it shows in big all the items I've read or played or messed with recently.

Of course I love that the books are all in color whereas the Kindle Touch everything was black and white and didn't have a lit up screen either, I couldn't read at night unless I had the light on.

Under the documents tab are some of the PDF books that I have on the Kindle, plus any documents I may have either transferred from the computer through the USB port or sent to my Kindle email account.

Here is the Apps page....did you notice that the Fire comes with QuickOffice....YES!

Also included is the Audible App.....audio books, yes please :)

One of the best things for me right now????  I can make my grocery list in Word and then email it to my Kindle....my grocery list ON my Kindle.  *sigh*   Now of course there is no way for me to check off the items as I grab them, but I don't care about that, I just love that I can have it on my Kindle, and with that comes the possibility of list making or anything else I may want that is Word specific.

BTW though, the Fire does have Notepad and Color Notes Apps for free that you can download :)

Netflix....I love this Fire so much.  I know some have mentioned how it doesn't have much storage and that watching videos can drain that fast etc, but I will tell you right now that the reason I have this Kindle is primarily for reading, that's it, I just look at all these other things as an added bonus.

Will I watch videos on Netflix, of course, but it won't be a daily thing when I can do the same on my laptop on a bigger screen.  I DO think all these add ons will come in handy when we are traveling or away from home :)

Connections Academy on the Fire.  Oh Lordy, it just gets better and better, my kids are able to log in and actually do their lessons on it :)

And Study Island, many schools use Study Island, we do as well, and again it works great :)

So, what do I think of the Kindle Fire???

I think I am in love.  I couldn't have asked for a better little gadget, as much as I loved my Touch this one really does put it to shame.

Only thing I've noticed so far that I don't like too much is that the battery life is nowhere near as long as the Touch, but I can do with that, just have to charge it more than I did the other, small price to pay for such a great little gadget. :)

{ Cooking Thursday }

Morning everyone :)  Hope you're all having a great week so far.

Here is today's Cooking Thursday.

If you want to use the picture, just click here for the original.

Cream Cheese Danish


2 tube of Crescent seamless dough sheet
1 box (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons flour
Strawberry Jam
1/2 cup powdered sugar
milk (just add enough to make the consistency you like)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Open up the tubes of crescent dough and lay them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I can usually fit both on one sheet to bake but when I’m first getting them assembled, I do one on the sheet and another on a different sheet of parchment paper on the counter.

In a bowl mix the cream cheese, the sugar, the vanilla extract and the flour. Then take about 3/4 of the filling and spoon onto the middle of the dough. Spread nicely, but keep it all in the middle.

Take the remaining cream cheese filling and do the same with the other sheet of dough. This one won’t have too much because we’re adding fruit or jam

Grab whatever fruit you want to use, I would recommend the Lucky Leaf Pie Fillings which are really good. But this time I am using Strawberry Jam. Spoon some onto the cream cheese and spread it over.

Then take a knife and make slit, about a half inch wide at a slant, all the way up the sides, then all you’re going to do is take them and cross them over each other, kind of braiding.

Fit both the Danish into the cookie sheet. I just grab the second one by the parchment paper and place it on the cookie sheet next to the other, you can cut the excess paper off.

Bake them for about 20 to 30 minutes until the dough is done and nice and brown. Remove from oven and let it cook completely.

In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and the milk. You can add a little dash of vanilla extract or even maple, and then drizzle over the cooled danish. Enjoy


If you don’t want to wait until completely cool, go ahead and drizzle the icing on it now, it will get a nice shiny glaze

{ Yarn Along }

I love Wednesdays, not only because they mean the middle of the week for me and closer to the weekend, but because it means Yarn Along and I can share with you what I've made or what I'm currently working on.

Don't forget to head over to Ginny's blog to join in or to see what she's working on :)

So before I show you what I'm working on now, let me give you a little Ta-Dah moment with my Daisy Square Pillow.  It turned out amazing, I'm SO happy with it :)

*sigh* it was so simple to make and I can't get over how adorable it looks, it just makes me so happy when I look at it :)

So there you have it, all finished and placed next to my other crochet pillow, the Blooming Flower :)

But now onto today's Yarn Along.

Following in Lucy's footsteps, I am crocheting a cover for an empty tissue box which is going to be turned into a holder for my Basil pot. :) I have a couple other boxes around that I'm going to do the same for with different color combinations and they will all be placed on my windowsill with my herbs.

As for what I'm currently reading, after my Kindle went Kapoot the other day :(  and while I wait to get a new one, I'm enjoying looking through some of my older books, like this one called A Garden Supper Tonight.

 I think what I love the most about this book is that it's divided into months and Seasons.  Most of the recipes shared have been printed as they were found or either passed down from generation to generation, so you'll see a lot of pinch of this, and a handful of that.  I LOVE it, it's how I learned how to cook, there was no measuring just eyeballing :)

So that's what I'm reading and that is what I'm crocheting :)

Period Drama TV Series

Over the years I can say that I have watched hundreds of Period Drama series and movies and I thought that it would be a good idea to have a running list of what I've watched or am watching, just to see all the great shows :)

I am so extremely fascinated with anything Edwardian, Victorian, Pioneer, Colonial etc.  So I'm dividing this list, and adding documentaries which I have watched over the years and think any period fan will enjoy.  


Titles including ***  can be watched on Netflix.

You can easily find this list up on the linkbar anytime you visit :)

#

1066 The Battle for Middle Earth (1066)

A
Anne of Green Gables (new modernized version coming to CBC Canada)
Anne of Green Gables
Aristocrats
Anne of Avonlea
A Harlot's Progress
A Town like Alice
A Place to Call Home
And then there were none
Alias Grace

B
Berkeley Square

Bramwell

Bomb Girls (Series)
Beowulf
Britannia
Banished
Bleak House

C
Christy
Cranford

Call the Midwife

Casualty 1900's
City of Vice
Cousin Bette
Courage, New Hampshire
Close to the Enemy
Charles II - The Power and the Passion
Charite

D
Downton Abbey
Dr Quinn Medicine Woman
Dancing on the Edge (1930's)
Defiance (1940's)
Duchess of Duke Street
Dracula
Doctor Thorne
Dickensian
Dark Angel
Decline and Fall
Daniel Deronda
Desperate Romantics

E
Endeavour

F

The Forsyte Saga

Foyle's War

Father Brown (About a Roman Catholic Priest who solves crimes)
Five Mile Creek
Fleming:  The Man who would be Bond
Frontier

G
Garrow's Law
Gosford
Greayre - A Woman of Substance
Gran Hotel (Considered the Downton Abbey of Spain...this one is in Spanish)
Gunpowder

H
Home Fires
Hetty Feather
Howards End

I
Island at War
In Plain Sight

J
Jamaica Inn
Jericho
Jamestown

K
Knightfall

L
Lark Rise to Candleford
Little House on the Prairie
Little House Miniseries
Little Men
Land Girls
Lightfields 


M
Murdoch Mysteries
Mr. Selfridge (Series)
Mercy Street
My Mother and other strangers
Medici:  Masters of Florence

N
North and South


O
Outlander (series)


P
Parade's End
Peaky Blinders
Poldark

Q


R
Road to Avonlea
Return to Cranford
Ripper Street 
Reign
Rillington Place
Roots

S
Sarah Plain and Tall
Spies of Warsaw (Set around 1914)
Servants


T
The Cazalets
The Pillars of the Earth
Titanic Julian Fellowes
Titanic Blood and Steel
The Three Musketeers 

The Grand
The Paradise (Series)
The Village (Series)
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
The Aristocrats
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
The Pallisers
The Barchester Chronicles
The White Queen (Series)
The Musketeers (Series)
The Spies of Warsaw (Series)
The Crimson Field
The Mill
The Collection
The Hollow Crown
Turn
The Crown
Texas Rising
Jekyll and Hide
The Durrells
Tutankhamun
The Moonstone
The White Princess
The Halcyon
Taboo
The Son
The Last Kingdom
The Miniaturist
The Alienist
The Last Post
The Duchess of Duke Street
The Ladies' Paradise (Italian with English Subtitles)
The Buccaneers
Troy:  Fall of a City
The Cook of Castamar (*** Netflix)

 

U
Upstairs Downstairs
Underground

V
Victoria
Versailles

W
Wind at my back
War and Remembrance (World War II)
Wives and Daughters
When Calls the Heart (Based on Janette Oke's Canadian West book series)
Wolf Hall

X


Y