Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is a family recipe from my husbands Grandma that I've adapted to make my own. Since it's Christmas time I plan to be doing a LOT of cooking (mainly sweets) and I figured I'd post the recipes as I go.

Some people are calling them "little drops of heaven", but, WHATEVER - Monica Friends

I kid, I kid. But I did hear that they were "the best oatmeal cookies ever." So, um, there is that ;)

So, as I turn into crazy Christmas candy/cookie lady, I plan to pass along some of the deliciousness to you.  Enjoy.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3 cups oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts, optional

Mix in order. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Forced Blog Redesign

So this morning I woke up and to my horror I noticed that my background image was GONE on my blog. Completely gone.

(insert whines and cries here)

Recently Google has been making changes to google reader, Gmail and more, and I'm not certain if these changes effected my blog, but for a while it's been acting kinda funny. It was either that, or MORE LIKELY Cox members site problem where I was hosting all my images. Either way, it was time for a fix.

So, I've pretty much spent all day neglecting my kids working on this blog to get it back in shape.

It's still a work in progress, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. I decided to run a test post because my signature seemed to not be working either, (probably has nothing to do with the fact that the image is a "borrowed" image...ahem...) so (fingers crossed)...hoping it works.

My Napkin Rings

Anyone that knows me knows we are not people that try to be overly fancy come party time. We try to maintain a nice relaxed atmosphere in our home, and we ALWAYS want our guests to feel comfortable. It's usually grab the Solo cup, put your name on it with a sharpee and then, get your paper plate and fill it with food.

I'm still pretty much that way, but when it comes to our home, except for Holidays. Come holiday time I like to pull out the nice plates, my mothers fancy cups, and set the table really cute. Sill doesn't mean that I know which fork is the proper salad fork, it just means I like things to look pretty.

This year I decided to add some nice napkins to our collection and do some cute napkin ring holders on my Thanksgiving table.  I got a few comments that they were cute, so I thought I'd share how I made them.

I ran across these on Pinterest (of course) from BHG.com and wanted to make them.

Problem was that it was kinda late into the year to find the acorns and get them in condition in time.

Then I ran across these at Hobby Lobby.

$4.99 at 50% off due to Christmas decor sale that week

I figured they were small enough that they make work in lieu of the acorns.

I didn't have any rings, so I took old paper towel and toilet paper holders and cut them up like so:

Then I spray painted them with Krylon Caramel metallic spray paint.

I got all my fall leaves at Hobby Lobby the Monday before Thanksgiving.  All the fall decor and foliage was 90% off.  It pays to wait till the last minute sometimes.

I cut all the leaves off the vine, so they would be easier to spread and glue like I wanted.

Then I got out my hot glue gun and went to work, gluing down some leaves, some twigs, and some pine cones.

I think they turned out super cute!

For the first few I went ALL the way around with the pine cones, I decided to not do that later.

The best part, they were inexpensive.  All together with my pine cones, leaves and pumpkins, spray paint, plus candles and dollar store vases, I spent less than $30 on all my decorations.

I just spread the rest of the leaves and pine cones on the table.

My spray painted pumpkins looked great against my new dining room walls!