Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

With the Fall weather here, it was the perfect time to make one of my families favorite muffin recipes. My #1 is not a friend of pumpkin, but he does like these. Right now, the stores are carrying cranberries so I always like to stock up on them so I have them all year.

I'm pretty bad, I don't lightly beat the eggs or put all the dry ingredients together and sift. I just throw everything together except for the cranberries, and they turn out pretty good.

My cranberries are usually frozen so when I take them out of the freezer I like to use my wonderful chopper from Tupperware. No more cutting up cranberries with a knife!

After you've put everything together in the mixer and blended it I like to fold in the chopped cranberries. I do this because I don't want my muffins to turn red from the juice.

This is an easy, yummy recipe. I hope you and your family will enjoy it also.

Cranberry Muffins

2 slightly beaten eggs
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1 c. solid pack pumpkin
2-1/4 c. flour
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. chopped cranberries
Spoon batter into greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Makes 2 dozen.
Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by!

I remember how fun it was when Jonathan was little and we would go to the pumpkin patch and find that perfect pumpkin. Or at least I would suggest the perfect pumpkin for him and he would pick a different one. Anyway, he would come home happy and we would have the smallest yet wonderful pumpkin on our front porch.

Now he is sixteen and we don't go to the pumpkin patch or play in the hay but what kid doesn't like to carve out a pumpkin. So, Sunday we told him he could invite some friends over and we'd go to the grocery store and they could pick out their pumpkins. I think they picked out some of the biggest ones they could find. It was well worth it though. As they had a good time carving pumpkins and eating pizza.

I didn't do a whole lot of shopping this week-end but here are a few finds I found. Boy, looking at these pictures I guess I need to give credit to my #1 as it looks like he is the one that found most of these finds. He's getting pretty good!

Here is a bunch of old sheet music and some vintage Halloween.

This is a wonderful old print, it is actually quite large but alas it did have water damage. But, I loved it!

I think my most favorite find was this old book that I found for a $1.00. It was published in the 1800's and has the most wonderful black and white tiny pictures. The binding is coming off as well as the pages, but it's perfect for crafting.

I guess that just shows that we each have our own ideas on perfect as my son would look at this book and wonder why I would buy something so old and falling apart. Neither of us wrong just different.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It's been so nice to be off work this week. I've been able to get a lot of crafting done for the Monticello Christmas Show. It is a beautiful show and everyone does such a nice job displaying their vintage Christmas items.

I took a trip over to the shop today, as it has been a little while since I've been there. I had to check out one of my favorite booths, Annie, Fannie and Abigail. Diane and Donna occupy this space, they are sisters and twins to boot! I'm never really sure which one I'm talking to, as they are identical. Anyway, they supply their booth with the most fabulous items. These gals are loaded with talent and it is very apparent when looking at their space. Be sure to click on the images to enlarge them.

Well, I'm off, I've got to do some more crafting. Busy, busy, busy!

Finds of the day!

Well, I had today off so I was able to hit a few estate sales. I didn't get an early start, but that was fine. I hadn't signed up for any estate sales so I thought I could just leisurely walk in, not feeling stressed to look at everything so fast.

At the first sale I went to I found a huge bag of vintage barkcloth curtains. They were in the basement in a large plastic bag. I couldn't believe no one had bought them yet. They were so heavy I ended up dragging them to the car. Where is my #1 when I need him? Oh yeah, working so I can support my habit! I came away with about six large curtain panels with valences for a whopping $15.00.

I also found these sweet vintage cards for .75 cents.

At the next sale, I found a fun 1940's dress plus a few other little things.

I also got a chance to hit a few Goodwills when I was out today. Here are a few Goodwill finds.

I love these silver cups with writing on them. This one reads,"Mary Mini Mug, Fondest Love, Ken 1982". This sweet weather vain was a fun find from last week.

This was also a fun find, a silver basket. This particular one has roses around the edges as well as the handle. I love the tarnished look so it will stay that way.

And last, a Rachel Ashwell Quilt, perfect for these cold evenings!

Tomorrow looks like a good day for estate shopping so we will see what other treasures we can uncover! Have a great evening!

I Spy

Today at school, I grabbed a couple of "I Spy" books for the kids to look at. They enjoy going through these books and picking out different things for another child to look for. There are some children that will read the words and try to find the items in the book. And others that like to make up their own game of "I Spy". I have to admit that I enjoy these books also and I am a big fan of the computer games that ask you to find different objects in each scene.

Here are the pages that caught my attention. As you can see, everything on these pages are of vintage collectible items. I love to look at pictures and see all the old items that I've never seen before. It just sparks my imagination. It also gives me great ideas of things that are still out there for me to find.

Ok, now if you are just itching to play the game. Here are the items you need to find in the first two pictures.

A schoolhouse, three camels, a bell, a lighthouse, a swan, and a basket that fell. Next, there's a paintbrush, a drum, an upside-down block, a calendar card, and a grandfather clock.

But wait the fun continues!

Can you find the lion and eight other cats, a shell from the ocean, a fish who wears hats. How about a horse that rocks and a horse that rolls. And last, a button with a square and one without holes?

These books would definitely have been some of my favorites when I was a child. What were your favorite books as a child?

This has been a busy week-end! My sister and her kids came to Portland to celebrate our mother's 70th birthday. We planned a big party with family. My mother is a twin so we celebrated with her sister as well as cousins etc...

I didn't take a real good picture of "the sisters" together, sorry Mom! The picture below is of my parents with all their grandchildren. These grandkids have the best grandparents, but of course I think I have the best parents!

Here is my beautiful niece, who is pregnant with her 1st little baby (it's a girl!). My sister's first grandbaby! Boy, is my sister getting old! That was for you Bren!

And last but never least is another pretty niece, Arielle. Arielle has just started her first blog. She is a character, she keeps us all laughing. Be sure to check out her blog, it's called Hillbilly House, it's great fun! It's always exciting to get comments on your blog so I'm sure she would enjoy knowing you took the time to read it.

A Field Trip

Wow! What a busy week this has been. My son just started his on-line school. This is so new to us and it's going to take time to get into the swing of things. It sounds like a lot of work but I think he will learn so much. I'd like to say he loves Math, English etc...but he doesn't. His favorite class so far is Digital Photography. I hope he learns a lot so he can teach his mother!

Today, I went on a school field trip. Our class went to the Oregon Zoo where our little baby elephant "Samudra" is a main attraction. We had heard there were lines and it was taking about and hour and a half to see him but today was perfect. We got right up to the look-out spot and enjoyed watching him play. He is so cute!I just had to share some baby pictures.

I'm sorry but is there anything more cute than a baby? He was so sweet running around and trying to master stepping up on a platform.