{ Five Senses Saturday }

It's a quiet relaxing Saturday, just the perfect setting to really hone in on my senses and jot down what is going on around me.

::Hear::

Credit:  Richard Scarry

- The washer running, I think the load is unbalanced because it's clunking loud
- Crunching of chips as hubby and son munch on some nachos
- Disney channel on the TV
- Nerina Pallot "This will be our year" playing on my Spotify
- Curt and Jasmine talking about time, does it exist, does it not, the universe etc.

::See::

- My placemats hanging on the kitchen bench, drying
- My Kindle charging next to my laptop
- My nail polish sitting on the counter, I couldn't find it earlier, just did
- Lola resting on the couch
- Jasmine sitting at the dining table, drawing

::touch::

- the candle I shared with you yesterday
- the eye ointment that we have to apply to Lola's eye
- soft bread dough as I knead it
- cold, wet laundry as I move it from the washer to the dryer
- the softness of my mink blanket on the bed

::taste::

- Almond and Orange Tart...it took me back to Portugal
- Roast beef, caramelized onions and horseradish sliders
- ice cold water with a wedge of lemon
- nachos we had for lunch
- orange chicken and rice

::smell::

- orange rind
- honeysuckle body wash from Cath Kidston
- someone grilling food in the neighborhood
- onions as I chopped them for the nachos
- laundry detergent loaded into the washer

Housekeeping, Cooking, Sewing

I've often said that I love books of all genres, but I can't help but find myself drawn to housekeeping books written in the 1800's or early 1900's.

When I got my Kindle a few weeks ago, as all new Kindle owners do, I searched the internet and download a bunch of free books, pretty much anything I could get my hands on.  But as the time has gone by I've started removing some and being kind of picky with what I download, and it's not even something I'm doing consciously when I'm looking for new books, I just find that when I go into my Kindle, I'm starting to notice a pattern.

Yep, lots of cute books on homemaking and sewing and all sorts of things like that, but they're not just manuals on these subjects, they include stories and cute little snippets here and there.

So, I thought it would be fun to share those links with you, in case any of my readers are drawn to the same kind of books and would like them for their Kindle OR to read online.

A Little Housekeeping Book for a Little Girl  (just select the kind of download you want from the list)

A Little Cookbook for a Little Girl

A Little Sewing Book for a Little Girl

A Little Candy Book for a Little Girl

 

A Little Preserving Book for a Little Girl   (read online or download PDF or epub file, on the right side of the page under the little gear icon)


Saturday Mornings - a little girl's experiments and discoveries, or How Margaret learned to keep house

Sewing - (scroll down to bottom to download)

Little Lessons for Little Housekeepers

 
Daily Living   

a manual designed to simplify the work of the housekeeper; being a practical cook book adapted to families of moderate and small means, introducing food principles, marketing, cooking and serving ... furnishing menus and recipes for 365 consecutive days
by Nellie E. Ewart ...published 1908

Nellie's Housekeeping

Daisy's Work

Violet's Idol

Rosalie's Pet

If you enjoy Joanna Mathews, you can follow this link to see many more of her series.  I plan on downloading all the Bessie ones too, actually, I plan on downloading every single one I can get my hands on.....I may be a grown women but these are still my favorite kind of books to read  :)

To get you started with some, check out Joanna Hooe Mathews page on Open Library, there's quite a few there to download :) 

Little House on the Prairie (you KNOW I had to go there lol)

Mrs Beeton's Household Management

These are just a few to get your started, as I find more, I will share with you.  Again, these books are ones that I find interesting and have been downloading to my Kindle, they are merely suggestions :)

{ Friday Favorites - #3 }

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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I love candles.  All shapes and sizes, colors, scents etc.   I use them almost daily whether to release a wonderful scent through the house or just to give it a beautiful glow, but you'll always find a bunch sitting around.

Something else I love is the Renaissance Fair that we go to every year, so last year while walking around and looking at all the little stalls/shops, we came across a candlemaker.  I usually get candles from the Fair but they are from another little store, this one....oh my.

These were all hand crafted candles and at first I thought, there is NO way that is a candle, just no way.

Let me show you the stunning candle I picked up, I have burned it ONCE that's it, but I think I'll pick up another when we go back next month :)

I honestly thought it was a plastic container FOR the candle, I didn't know that it was the candle itself.

The intricate design was definitely one of the most eye catching I've seen, and to think that it was all done by hand

As you can see, I've burned it but once, I just didn't want to see it all burn down, but that was also when I thought we would be out of this base this year and not able to return and get another candle.....hopefully the candle maker is still there so I can get at least one more :)

Beautiful handcrafted candle.  I just can't wrap my mind around the amount of work it took to get it made, it looks so perfect doesn't it?

So anyway, that is one of my favorite things to share with you this Friday.  Can't wait to see what you all have to share too :)

{ Cooking Thursday }

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

Just made these the other night, they were a huge hit :)   This recipe comes from Deep South Dish :)

Roast Beef, Caramelized Onions and Horseradish Sliders

3 to 4 pound beef chuck roast (or other braising roast)
1 cup of water
One envelope of dry onion soup mix
One envelope of dry Italian dressing mix
One envelope of dry brown gravy mix
1 (8 ounce) jar of Pace Original Mild Picante Sauce

Instructions
Whisk together the water with ingredients from all 3 of the envelopes. Pour about 1/4 cup of the liquid on the bottom of the crockpot, place the roast on top. Don’t be tempted to season the roast. There is plenty of salt and other seasonings in these envelopes.

Pour the remaining liquid mixture all over the top and all around the roast. Pour the jar of picante sauce on top of the roast, cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high 4 to 5 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter the insides of dinner rolls and toast, butter side down, on a baking sheet in the oven just until warmed through and browned on the bottoms.  Meanwhile in a skillet, caramelize a sliced onion in a tablespoon of canola oil and one tablespoon of butter. (I omitted both and just used my non stick pan, I didn’t want the extra fat)

Use a fork to shred the meat. Place a scoop of beef on the bottom half of dinner rolls, then top with caramelized onion, and some finely shredded Swiss cheese.

All I did after this step, was to add a little horseradish sauce and then put the tops back on and popped the sliders into the oven just to melt the cheese.

{ Yarn Along }

What a day it's been for me.  Our little pug Lola seems to have hurt her eye somehow, we are not sure what happened because we didn't see her hit it anywhere or anything hit it, but she now has a Corneal Ulcer.

It is so heartbreaking, I don't care what anyone says, if you have pets and you love them as much as we do ours, you understand that they become a part of the family, they are like your children, so seeing any of them in pain or uncomfortable is just heart wrenching.

She's been to the vet, she is now on medicated eye ointment and has to be seen again in 7 days, the vet feels that by then it should be healed.  So I'm praying and hoping and asking YOU to please pray too that her eye heals, I know it may seem like a weird request, but we love this little one so much :)

But on to today's Yarn Along, which is going up really late, but hey, better late than never right?

I finished the Crochet Hook Case but the first one was a bit of a mess, like I said last week, the pattern was a little hard to follow so the first try was trial and error.

I decided to make another one and this time it went by a lot faster and a lot smoother.

Didn't really know if these 3 colors would work well, but figured I would just give it a try anyway and I'm glad I did, I like them :)

The vintage buttons I got from Cath Kidston seemed like the perfect accessory for this little case

As for what I'm reading, well nothing, finished my last book and am trying to decide what to read.

So, that's what I've been working on, what have you been making?