Once In A Blue Moon & A Cute Camper

Happy New Year Friends. Well, it happens every 19 years. Two full moons in one month, hence once in a blue moon. The first full moon of this month was on Dec. 2nd and was also called the Full Cold Moon. Tonight's full moon is called Full Long Nights moon. What a night to have the full moon on, New Year's Eve!! Enough goes on tonite without the full moon. So, use caution if traveling about. Here in Hellertown, PA we had snow this a.m. And boy did it come down for a couple of hours, caught everyone off guard I'm sure. Hopefully the roads will be in good shape for traveling tonight.

Cute idea for retail space

This link is for all my retail friends, it shows you how to have extra space for all the country and primitives items that you carry.

retro cottage chic

All you need now is a camper. It really is too cute.

Les & I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!!

A Visit With The Sisters

Well, I gave in. I went to New Jersey. I picked up my sister Irene who lives about 20 minutes from me and we met up with our sister Marge in Franklin Park, NJ. Where we visted with our oldest sister Joan who resides in a nursing home. Marge, Irene and myself see each other every couple of months (sometimes longer) but for me it has been years since I saw my oldest sister. We are a family of five, four girls, one boy. My brother was the missing link yesterday, he is not in the best of health and I think it would have been too much for him. I actually don't have very health siblings. Marge and myself are the healthy ones out of the bunch. But, enough of that. Our sister visit was good, we sat and talk about family, parents, kids, etc. Had lunch and doughnuts and coffee with our sister Joan before heading back to PA. And I'm glad that I gave in and went, as my siblings are all older then me, and one nevers knows how long anyone of us has here on Earth. I'm off this week from work, taking my unused vacation days. I really didn't do much today, but I'm tired. Tomorrow we will be checking out our weekly auction, I let you know what we find. Have a good evening.

A Magical Night

With tonight being Christmas Eve magical things can occur-one of which is the Lithuanian folklore belief that animals can speak. Anyone still possessing a barn that contains farm animals can- if they're very quiet and careful-sneak up to it at midnight and hear their livestock discussing their master; just as the animals in the stable on the first Christmas night discussed the arrival of the Great Master. Beekeepers can-if they put their ear to the hive hear their bees inside humming Christmas carols. And of course your pets can speak tonight as well and understand anything said to them. So be very careful what you say and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Baking and Shoveling

Yes, that is what I did this weekend. And, thankfully it was more baking then shoveling. Here is Williams Township, PA we got 8 inches of snow and yes, the snow blower was already to go, not like two weeks ago when we did it all by shovel. But, while the snow was falling yesterday I got into baking. Not sure how much more I will do, as there is only two of us and how much can we eat. Or should I say how much should we eat. But, on to the baking, I made Peanut Blossoms and Hungarian Coffe Cake. The Peanut Blossoms were a requested from Les and the coffee cake I thought would be nice to have with a cup of tea and a cold and blustery night (like tonight). I thought that I would post the receipe for the Peanut Blossoms first and then post the coffee cake receipe in a day or so along with information on my on-line store. So, here goes, it is so easy.

1 14ounce can of condensed milk, NOT evaporated
3/4 to 1 cup of Peanut Butter (I use one cup)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of Bisquick Baking Mix
1 bag of Hershey Kisses, milk or dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350. In large mixer bowl beat milk, peanut butter, egg and vanilla until smooth. Add biscuit mix, mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour. After the dough has chilled, shape into 1 inch balls, place 2 inches apart on a ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, no longer. Immediately after taking from oven, press a milk or dark chocolate, Hershey Kiss into the center of each cookie. Enjoy!! Time for a tea and cookie break.

If it's Tuesday, It Must Be Auction Day

That's where we were today, at a auction. Tuesday's are my day off and we attend a auction just about every Tuesday to replenish our stock for Black Duck Antiques. We got some neat stuff, a couple of benches (for those of you who have front/back porches), a primitive garden sieve, a make do medicine cabinet (needs a good cleaning) some advertising tins (tea, soap, etc) a piece of Wedgewood, which is not something I normally buy, but for some reason I can sell a piece here and there. Today's piece cost $3.00, can't go wrong there. And my favorite from today's haul are 12 pieces of handmade (in Germany) winter ornaments. They are made out of some type metal (heavier then tin) and painted. There are trees, sleds with horses, a few people and a snowman. The set will most likely go to one of our shows next year. Oh yeah and a pantry box, which has been repaired, but it's got some age to it and I will most likely keep that for my self. Well, its been a long day of sitting and we may head to another auction tomorrow, but we will need to see what the weather will bring, our weather weenies are calling for another 1-3 inches of snow before turning to rain!! We will see. Have a good evening

Is Your Snowblower Ready?

Ours isn't. It's buried behind many, many items. Who knew that we could use it after Saturday's snow. This was to be a 1-3 incher. Our last measurement was over 5 inches. Getting back to the snowblower, here is a bit of trivia, it was invented in 1925 by a man in Quebec, it uses a pumplike system of impellers to break up the snow and force it through its stack and out of its path. Some say, that it flies harmlessly into another jurisdiction. All of the pictures that are posted were taken by Les this morning before the neighborhood started to movc around and before the snow started dropping off the trees. We will be going out shortly to clear off the cars and do a bit of shoveling. And if the sun stays out, I will be hanging out the holiday flags and maybe get some pictures of them as well. Have a great Sunday.

Looking down the hill from our mailbox. Isn't it beautiful?

Front of the Duck Hilton and our workshop. Star will soon be changed to a wreath.

Red bow on a small piece of iron fence.

The fence was to be inventory for Black Duck Antiques, you see how far it got.

Deer tracks in our front yard, heading to the Juniper bush. Yummy.

Banana Bread Recipe

Good Evening All, Les thought that it would be nice if I published the Banana Bread Recipe for anyone who would like to give it a try. We all have different versions of our favorite foods and if you are like me, I always want to try something new. I don't always get to do that, but I want to. So, here goes.

Banana Walnut Loaf

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup shortening.
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs.
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed banana.
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix sugar, shortening and eggs, beat until light. Add mashed banana. Sift flour with baking powder, salt and soda. Stir into creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Add walnuts. Pour into a greased 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes or until loaf tests done. Cool on rack, makes 1 loaf.

Now my, only modifications to the above is that I do not put in 1 cup of walnuts, I put in about a 1/2 of cup and if I have more then 1 cup of banana, I put the extra in as well. Enjoy.

Les has been working on my blog all day today, adding things and improving the look. My header picture is our pond, it doesn't look so great this time of year, but we will give you updates. The white house in the back is not ours, its a fairly new house, maybe 4 years old, nice neighbors. Well if you live in the Mid-Atlantic states my guess is that you are getting snow. It has been snowing for about 6 1/2 hours now. The snow is heavy, we even had a mini blackout a while ago. No plowing (I think it caught them off guard) and I noticed that a mini van is stuck across the street from our house. It could not get up the hill, sure how it doesn't get hit if the plows come by. I measured the snow in three places and took the average, 5.33 inches, and this was suppose to be a 1-3 inch with nothing sticking on the roads!! Well, I have few blogs to read and then maybe watch a movie. Have a good evening.

Blogging For Dummies

No,that's not my readers, it's my new book. Actually it's, Google Blogger For Dummies. After reading so many blogs for months now, I decided that I really wanted to improve upon ginnysyard. And not knowing much more then what I post on my blog now Les and I decided it was time to take a trip to the bookstore. Our favorite bookstore, Barnes & Noble. We had no problem in finding the dummies books, but boy I was not expecting the price. $24.99!! I better have a darn good blog when I done reading this book. We have lots to work on over the winter, my blog, our e-store for BlackDuck Antiques, Les' blog, etc. Other then our trip to the bookstore and moving some furniture (inventory for the antiques business) around, we didn't do much. I did go looking for insulated curtains/drapes this a.m. and ended up coming home and ordering them on-line from Country Curtains. I have ordered from them in the past and you my pay a bit more, but you can't beat the quality. Well, I'm going to start to read my book, keep checking back for the new and improved ginnysyard. And if you live in northeast PA, look out for some snow flakes tomorrow.

Heat's On

Here is a picture of our two girls. Dolly (in the background) and Maggie (front). For some reason, this year they have taken to sitting on top of the radiator. They are sisters and both are 6 years old. Maybe they need a little more warmth now that they are getting older. This is a rare occasion that they both are sitting together. Dolly is our timid one, Maggie is the bully, but that night they were being pals and getting along, usually Dolly steers clear of Maggie. I just finished putting a Banana Bread in the oven. It is a recipe from my M-I-L, she got it off of the back of a package of Diamond Walnuts. It's a favorite of ours. And for some reason it only gets made this time of year. When my M-I-L was living she always made two, one was put in the freezer for Christmas morning and we ate that while opening presents. I don't carry on the tradition of making two, but I always have some type of bread or muffin made for us on Christmas morning. I'm taking off tomorrow and I'm thinking of hitting a small mall near us. We don't really do Christmas shopping for each other, but around this time of year I like to go and window shop. Boscov's, one of the anchor department stores at the mall is having sales on insulated curtains/drapes and we could use some of those for the drafty windows. With any luck if the weather is decent this weekend I would like to get outside and do a little decorating, put up some wreaths, garden flags (Christmas ones of course) and I don't know what else just yet. We also need to get some more wood on the porch for the wood stove. Well I left Les watching the timer for the banana bread, but I want to be near by when it goes off. Have a good evening.

Full Cold Moon

Good Evening All, tonite we have the first of two full moons in the month of December. Tonite's is the Full Cold Moon. Strange, the weather weenies say that during the night tonite the temperature will rise, yet it is the Cold Moon. We won't see the moon here in North East PA tonite, do to the rain that started to fall at about 4:00. Les and I started to move some furniture, etc. around today to make room for furniture that did not sell at the Antique Show this past weekend. We need to bring in a blanket chest and a crock bench. Over the next few months we will be listing items for sale on our e-crater store, once it is all set up, I will list the address for you to check out our wares. Well, I have some blogs to read and then it's time to get ready for bed. Have a good evening.

All Done For The Season

We had our last Antique Show for 2009 and we are happy to report that it ended on a profitable and happy note. We will start up again in March 2010. It has been a while since I posted, almost a month to the day and I hope to correct that. I really enjoy reading blogs and hope if I post more, I will pick up readers. December 1st already!! Yikes, I have not started to even decorate, I still have to close up the house for Winter ( pull down storm windows, heavier curtains, etc.) If you remember we live in a old house, not very energy efficient, so what ever we can do to improve that will help. I really don't decorate that much, all of our family lives in other states, most in NJ, but rarely get to come to PA for a visit. You see, I'm the baby of the family which means they are older then me and use that as a excuse, i.e. It's so far to PA, why don't you come to NJ. Hello, last time I checked the mileage was the same and not bad at all. So, you may ask why don't you go to NJ? Well, we really never get a invite, though we are always asking them. Enough about the family. Back to decorating, I think I will do a bit more then usual, but in a Primitive/Country way. But, for now the cats are crying for dinner and I have some work to do. I hope everyone has a good evening.