BEST BAKE SALE RECIPES

Easy, cheap, & best sellers, too!

GRANDMA'S EASY COCONUT MACAROONS
1 (16 oz.) bag coconut flakes
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. almond or coconut extract
Cherries for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix coconut flakes, condensed milk and almond extract together in a large bowl. Mix until blended and the milk is absorbed. Drop the mixture from spoon on ungreased pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until bottom of cookie turns light brown. Cool on rack. Put on 1/2 slice cherry if desired. These cookies stay soft and chewy.

RICE CRISPY TREATS 
1 or 2 bags miniature marshmallows
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups Kellogg's Rice Crispy Cereal
Melt butter in a saucepan. Add marshmallows. Stir until mixture becomes difficult to stir any more. Mix in the Rice Crispy Cereal and stir until hot. Butter a pan (a square pan like a brownie pan) and spread mixture evenly in the pan. Allow to cool and cut into squares.

FLOURLESS PEANUTBUTTER COOKIES
1 CUP Peanutbutter
1 EGG
1 CUP Sugar.
mix together, Scoop with a Teaspoon and form into a ball bake these on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 10 minutes. cool.

Meet my Campaign!

21 days left to reach my goal!

The Toothbrush Fence!

There is a fence in New Zealand, referenced in Flight of the Concords, made with toothbrushes!


-source unknown

The fence, created by Laird McGillicuddy Graeme Cairns in Te Pahu, New Zealand, is a real thing. He’s wired the toothbrushes on a fence as a rival to another infamous fence located in Cardrona Valley, New Zealand, made with bras. Cairns believes that just a few hundred more toothbrushes would attract tourists from all over the world to witness his fence.

He had his own hoard of used toothbrushes, and got the idea to use them on his fence. Soon after, others donated their used toothbrushes to the fence, and the fence has become Cairns' claim to fame. With so many positive reviews on his fence, he began accepting used toothbrushes from around the world! So, even you can have your toothbrush hanging from his fence. Just mail the used toothbrush to the following address:

The Toothbrush Bucket 294 Limeworks Loop Road Te Pahu, R D 5 Hamilton New Zealand.

Random Dump Spots En Masse

Today, we have an eclectic mix of embarrassing dump spots that currently live throughout the house.



An assortment of jewelry I've been akin to wearing lately, my e-cig charger, essential oils, frames with projects awaiting them, a notebook and earbuds. Oh, and your guess is as good as mine as to how long that coffee mug has been there…blech.



There's a little sprig of basil on top of the dog crate…remains of a printing/paper craft project…and a hammer? Dunno how that got there…



Future sewing projects (note to self: you must remove the fabric from the sewing machine in order to actually DO the projects).



What remains of my canopy bed after Dutch pulled it down. I'm still going back and forth with the bedroom colors and after changing my sheets and duvet from a deep purple to a calm light blue…I think I still have an attachment to the blue. So now I have all these curtains…*sigh*



This has been my "office" for the last few days: sitting on the edge of my bed and using this giant hassock as a surface…the phone, camera charger, some books on natural magic, and my, uhm…"happy bottle"…Tobi's Kindle and mp3 player have been placed here as a sacrifice to his groundation as well.



AND his laptop…



THUNDERCATS, HOOOOOOOOO! Do you remember them?



Yes, this is all completely random indeed. Blonde hair dye? I haven't made up my mind yet. Power tools and fishing line…and a prescription bottle. Right next to the oats…seems legit.



Ironically, the table that usually holds many of my prior dumping zones, is free and clear, save for nail polish remover and a box cutter...I like to think the blue glass belongs there. :)

While this is something I'm very ashamed of, I would like to share that just days prior to this posting, my home was spotless (except for the pile of Dutch-murdered bed canopy), as I had a guest...and also, even since photographing and typing up this blog, some of these "dump spots" have either moved or been removed...I really am a homebody.

EYE CANDY from a loved one!

I'm pretty sure by now, most of my reader(s?) are aware that I'm an artist of sorts. So, when a family member who has made a HUGE influence on my talents and pursuing them showcases her own mother's work, I feel inclined to advertise.

I refrain from advertising on this blog for many reasons, so, let's just perceive this as a promotion and a "sharing" of beauty, if you will...instead of an advertisement.

But ANYWAY, here it is:

Hardwick, VT's White Water Gallery Presents:
Looking Back: Hardwick in the 1950's
Paintings by Hazel Hall Rochester (1918 – 1988) who is fondly remembered for her paintings which focus on subjects in and around Hardwick in a former time but which are still very evident in the 21st. century. And in the photo gallery, a car show by N. Wasco
Opening Reception: Sunday, June 3rd. from 4 till 7pm.
Show runs through Sunday, July 8th @ White Water Gallery, 5 River Street, East Hardwick, VT.
Gallery Hours: every Sunday from 11-3 or by appointment
For information call: 802-563-2037

And also, a link to the White Water Gallery's blog:

CLICK ME!

Here's a preview:

-source

ENJOY!

Chair modification!

I have these kitchen chairs, right? They are from a set that I've had for...EVER. They've been taken apart, re-assembled, packed away in storage, moved four or five times from one home to the next, and they have taken a beating. My son has left his mark upon the cushions many times, and I, too, have spilled food stuffs on them repeatedly. The original cushions were a very light beige, so it was bound to happen that they'd show their age at some point.

Below, a picture of the original chair is on the right.

I re-upholstered all of them, in two different styles, to brighten up my kitchen and give these sturdy old-timers some new life.

Would you believe the upholstering fabrics are pillowcases from the thrift store? Yeah! I'm not sure I'm happy with the blue fabric on red, but when I tried the green fabric on red it looked far too "Christmas-y".

Then there's the mess I made with the spray paint...*sigh*...which my landlady refuses to let me live down. This is kind of annoying, because the red grass will grow out and she'll mow it, and I protected the rocks with cardboard, and only some of the paint made it on about thirty pebbles in the driveway. She tells me I'm going to "pay for those rocks"...so I just kicked them around, but I couldn't resist taking a picture to share here, first...LOL!

Yeah, I can hardly see the yellow either...oh well.

Random...not so random....

It has come to my attention that I am incapable of being an active part in many of the projects regarding Climate Change that I would like to be. This is all due to my limited income. Yes. I am on a fixed, limited income...otherwise known as Disability. I receive this Federally-funded income due to my diagnoses, both physical, as well as emotional...BUT - I don't let it stop me from taking part in activism where I see fit. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia last year. The first doctor I went to insisted it was Lyme disease, but I couldn't accept it - due to the fact that I had never had the onset symptoms of it, such as a tick bite with a red ring around it, and spirochetes in the bloodstream that would indefinitely diagnose me properly, as well as Flu-like symptoms, irregular heartbeat, eye inflammation, and temporary paralysis of one side of your face (Bell's palsy). Finally, I saw a specialist who diagnosed me correctly (at least to my current knowledge) with Fibro. As devastating as this news was, I was also undergoing severe symptoms of mental illness. I had already been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after the attempted murder from my son's father (if you REALLY wanna know that story, I'm going to have to hear a LOT of requests for it via messages to this post, as it is an EXTREMELY difficult story to write about and re-live), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, Panic attacks (another fun story, oh the joy!), and the most recent diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Don't get your panties in a bunch, as BPD is in no way connected or affiliated with Multiple Personality Disorder, otherwise known as Schizophrenia. BPD can most easily be explained as a a person who has an emotional volume knob which is ALWAYS turned to the HIGHEST output, whereas most people's "emotional volume knobs" are turned to just the right amount of hearing level...not too loud, nor too quiet. People without BPD have "balanced" emotional levels. People like me, living with BPD, are constantly dealing with emotions that are "turned up" to the highest degree. We have the unfortunate gift of feeling every emotion to the highest degree. When someone is hurting, we feel their pain immensely, and cannot understand how others can be immune to the pain. When a discriminatory political view is made public, we cannot separate purselves from teh immense emotion that it may be disgustingly wrong, or inarguably correct! Those who suffer (and yes, suffer is the most accurate description of the disorder) from BPD are constantly conflicted with uncontrollable emotions and feelings that are so intense...it's almost as though we will just DIE if we cannot find a fix to the problems we see as painful to any other humans. It's the same as if it were painful to an animal...or even a laboratory rat...we cannot simply detach our emotions from situations as others can so easily do. It is not only our REASON for living, our motivator and inspiration, but also our bane and anguish to our lives. We feel more pain than many, and happiness comes at the same price: as soon as we realize the repercussions of said happiness, we are filled with pure sorrow and taken over with sadness, much to our demise. It is a most debilitating disease, as we have no control over our feelings and emotions, and live basically at the will of all who have the ability to influence us with sentiment and passion. We are the weak, but we are also the ones who make differences inthe world, based on our strength of emotions... You have now been informed...do NOT take advantage of us.