Thoughts Of Texas

Texas is vast. 

Texas is diverse. 

Texas is unique. 

Texas is beautiful. 

Texas is resilient. 

Texas has roots. 

 Texas strong!
God Bless Texas. 

Katie

September 3, 2017 is a Day Of Prayer In Texas.
Join me in praying for all affected by this crisis.
Please join me in praying for those impacted in Louisiana as well.
I spent many summers there and it is equally special. 

Early Fall Decorating

I've started seeing the emergence of the pumpkin out on the internet. 

Nope!
It's way too early for pumpkins in my humble opinion.  

Orange is just not my favorite. Those rusts, corals, and other warm tones will have to wait.
Even then, I can only take those colors in small doses. 

You may remember that it was all about the lemon at our house this summer.

I just adored that bright and cheerful motif but all the lemons have been put away in my fruit tote. 

I almost typed "our" fruit tote but let's be clear, Bill doesn't care about fruit decor.

Usually, I'll pull out some of my apple collection but I wasn't in the mood for that this year. 

My retirement from teaching played a factor in that, I think.  

 

My daughter did some paintings of pears during high school so I decided to sprinkle the pear motif around the downstairs.

This didn't take a lot of thought or work. I simply picked up the lemons and replaced them with pears.

The "wooden" pear came from Hobby Lobby. It's actually resin.
Recycled glass bottles hold baby's breath. Faux greens rest in galvanized pails.

The draped pears on the mantel came from Hobby Lobby as well.

 

Some cute, tiny pears were found at Hobby Lobby several years ago.

A felt pear on a black, woolen ground was cut from a vintage skirt. It's a favorite element in the decor. 

Other faux pears were found at Tuesday Morning. They still have something similar - FYI.

The realistic looking wooden pear on the shelf was found at the thrift store.
Someone had just donated their complete fruit collection.
 I resisted the urge to augment my burgeoning stash and I only picked up what was in the baggie with this pear.

Vintage, printed images grace my favorite picture frames. 

A ceramic pear adorns the dish cabinet in the dining room.
I love finding discarded hobby ceramics at the thrift store.
I've had this little one for several years.

That is it for me.
It feels a little ridiculous to worry about fall decor with all that is going on with the flooding in Houston and in other parts of Texas and Louisiana.
Horrific.
 Considering the enormity of the situation, it's amazing that there hasn't been more loss of life.
I continue to pray for our neighbors to the south. I just cannot imagine.
Please consider how you might give to the relief effort.
Charity Navigator can help you make an informed decision.
Have a blessed day.
I hope you are well, warm, safe and dry.
Katie

Linking with these parties,
Essence of Home 

Prayers For Texas

Hi all, 

I'm just checking in. 

I want to let you know that we are fine. We are 400 miles from the Texas coast. 

The beautiful, Texas coast that is being hammered by Harvey. 

So we are sending our thoughts and prayers to those in the path of the hurricane. 

The rain from this event is supposed to be catastrophic.

Flooding is an acute danger once the winds die down. 

Be safe, Texans! 

Thanks for joining me in prayer.

Katie

Update: The storm has finally moved out of our area, away from the coast of Texas and Louisiana.
It is horrific.
Please consider how you might help.

Decorator Warehouse/ Christmas 2017

Bill and I have been watching "Parts Unknown" with Anthony Bourdain. 

He had an episode about the Philippines and how they start to decorate for Christmas on September 1st. 

I thought we should move because I just love Christmas. 

Decorator Warehouse is reportedly the biggest Christmas store in Texas. 

It has just reopened for the 2017 Christmas season. 

It is always a thrill to see the new over the top displays.  

The new displays this year did not disappoint. 

There is a huge Stanta's workshop display when you enter the store. 

Mrs. Clause is handing out sweet treats. 

Santa is working on something in the workshop. 

The truck that was new last year was moved up to the front of the store. 

They have created a gas station vignette complete with a vintage gas pump. 

How cute it this? 

A display for Farmhouse decor begins on the back of the workshop. 

Adorable. 

I love the chicken feeders filled with owls. 

The most original and unique tree has to be the one filled with lanterns. 

Precious. 

The sweet shoppe display is adorable. 

You have got to check it out if you have a kitchen tree filled with sweet and gingerbread. 

This little antique  car is just too adorable. I think it's new this year.

A lot of elf legs for sticking out of your tree.
This singing reindeer takes the cake. 

If you come to Arlington, be sure to check out Decorator Warehouse.  

It's amazing. 

Katie 

A Sweet Sunday

Happy Sunday! 

I hope that you found time to reflect and worship this weekend. 

The Halloween and fall stuff is out. 

Halloween makes me think about candy! 

I spied a bag of candy corn at Walmart and suddenly it had jumped into my cart.  

I grabbed the two other ingredients to make homemade Butterfingers. 

Doesn't that sound delicious? 

I love Butterfingers. 

I've reduced quite a bit of my sugar consumption in the last year but an occasional sweet treat still happens every once in a while. 

This sounded perfect. 

The recipe calls for 

candy corn

peanut butter 

chocolate chips

The candy corn was melted in the microwave for less than a minute. 

 The peanut butter was added and blended.  

The ratio of peanut butter to candy corn was about 1 to 3. 

I didn't measure. I was too excited. 

Form the candy into logs. Work quickly because this turns into stone if you don't move fast enough. 

They were dipped into Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips once they were cool.  

Aren't they pretty? 

I let them cool on a drying rack near some flowers and whimsically sprinkled chocolate chips and candy corn. 

I'm a blogger. We do that. 

 So, what are my thoughts about this process? 

The taste is almost like a Butterfinger. 

The consistency is not like a Butterfinger- not at all. 

These harden into the consistency of a Tootsie Roll. 

They aren't flakey like the real deal.

I tried them in the freezer and they became firm enough to break a tooth. 

I tried them in the fridge - same thing. 

If they were left to soften, the chocolate got sweaty with condensation. 

This recipe is a fail in my opinion. "No offense" to the blogger that has 45k repins. 

It's not a fail on her end.

I looked at several copy cat recipes. 

I only found one blogger that mentioned the consistency - thank you. 

I found a blogger that made them from scratch - candy thermometer - kind of scratch. Impressed! 

I found one blogger making a healthy version. I hope that worked out for her.

There has been a lot of talk about sugar and the link to obesity. 

I believe that I was addicted to sugar. 

The value in making sweets from scratch at home, lies in the ability to control sugar intake but also artificial flavors and colors. 

That isn't present in this recipe because the candy corn contains artificial colors, corn syrup and some sort of shellack that coats the candy.

If I'm getting all of that, I might as well go for the real thing.  

The cost of the ingredients was also more than just getting a snack sized bag of them at the store. 

The craving wasn't satisfied. 

A half of a bag of candy corn only made 6 candies. 

It was a bit of a mess. 

I could have broken a tooth which would have upset my dentist. 

I'm not a fan of this idea so I'm off to get a real Butterfinger. 

That is all for me. 

Savor something sweet! 

Katie