Yum - Yum - Yummy

 Wishing you all a very happy and sweet Monday. For this Monday's post I wanted to share with you all a most delicious recipe from Na-Da Farms Life with Anne Marie   The recipe is Strawberry-Banana Bread and boy Oh boy is it out of  this world yummy!!!.  My family loved it and Gary said (you can make this one again babe! with a mouth full :)

(You can click on Na-Da-Farm above and print the recipe) This recipe is from the Na-Da Farm Kitchen.  Ann Marie shared her recipe on her blog and when I saw and read the recipe I knew I had to try and bake one. I am not the best cook, but this was fun and easy to bake and it sure was a hit with the family.

 This was the first time I baked in my new oven. I had so much fun baking this recipe, so on with the ingredients and away we go. Start by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees

 Grease 2 - 9x5x3 inch loaf pans, set aside ..I used Crisco to grease mine

 Add 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda (oops forgot to snap a photo of the baking soda, but then you all know what baking soda looks like, silly me)
1/2 teaspoon finely ground sea salt

 Add the dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk all together

 4 eggs

 Beat eggs with whisk, and pour into another bowl
 Add 2 cups sugar to eggs

 I love this little sticker

 1 cup mashed ripe bananas

 Add bananas to eggs and sugar (the wet ingredients)

 1/2 cup cooking oil (vegetable oil - sunflower oil - canola oil) I used canola oil

 Add oil to eggs, bananas and sugar

 Wash and slice 3 cups of fresh strawberry's

Now add the strawberries to eggs, sugar, bananas and oil (wet ingredients)

 Now add the bowl of wet ingredients (eggs, sugar, oil, bananas and strawberries) into the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt)

 Chop 2 cups pecans or walnuts ( I used pecans)

 Stir in chopped nuts

 Now pour batter into loaf baking pans

 and put into oven to bake for 60 minutes and let the good yummy smell of home made strawberry-banana bread fill your home with sweet deliciousness 
 So while the bread was in the oven baking I washed the dishes

 Worked on a quilt I'm sewing,  and soon the hour had passed  and the bread was ready to take out of the oven

 Let the bread rest in the pans for 15 minutes then remove and cool on rack

 Can you smell them...so so so good.....

Slice yourself a warm piece of bread and enjoy!!! I cut  two pieces and shared one with Gary...

~A little thought to leave you with this week~

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it" - Danny Kaye

~Sewing & Crocheting~

 Happy Monday to you all.
Thank you all  for the wonderful comments on Gary and I new retro appliances we really are enjoying them.
Did you all have a heat wave like we did over the weekend?. We had over 100 degree weather and our air conditioner pooped out! I'm melting......
Anyway I wanted to share with you a fun and easy quilt I made for my niece Amber, she is having a boy next month. I love bright colors for babies and the pinwheel block seems to be so colorful and happy for a little one. I also like to use primary colors. Amber's theme for her nursery is owls as you will see.

 Look close and you will see owls quilted on the blanket.
 A closer look.

 The back of the quilt all happy little owls with their big eyes just staring at ya...

 I used orange fabric for the binding.

 I always make a softy blanket its crib size and easy to take along for baby to sleep on or play on for the babies.

 I love the turquoise blue fabric both sides are wonderfully soft and so cozy for babies to cuddle up with, Mommy too.

 I saw a pattern for crochet diaper covers and I thought how fun are these! so I whipped up a few for our new nephew. I made a few different sizes so Amber can check out the sizes as he grows..

 Another quick crochet project is this little lavender pillow I made for my grand-daughter, I enjoy crocheting while I'm watching TV. I found this  pattern and the pillow below
 in the Goose Berry Patch Farmhouse Crochet book.

This afghan I made for a dear friend in the theme colors of our local football team the Oakland Raiders...So these are a few of  the projects I have completed lately. So tell me what have you been making to keep your little hands busy?

Joining in with the following blog parties;

Mary-Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday





Susan-Between Naps on the Porch metamorphosis Monday



Shannon-Cozy home Your Cozy Home Party Tuesday



Kim-Savvy Southern Style WOW us Wednesday



Bunny Jean -Bunny Jean Decor and More Bunny Hob Wednesday



Cindy- My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday



Courtney- French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday



Sherry-The Charm of Home Home Sweet Home Party Fridays

~Buttercup Yellow 50's Style Appliances~

 Good Morning and Happy Monday to you all.
 Gary and I have been working on our kitchen for over two years now, just when we think we are almost done "Well" we find something else  that catches our eye and we just have to have it. As it was with out new "Buttercup  Yellow 50's Style Retro Appliances" from "Big Chill" 
Do any of you watch the  Rachel Ray Cooking Show, well that is where I first saw the Big Chill refrigerator and fell in love with it, then I saw an add in one of my magazines advertising the Big Chill appliances and showed it to Gary he too was in love with the vintage look of these colorful appliances.
He made a call to the manufacture and ordered the refrigerator, dishwasher and stove.
There are many pretty colors to choose from, and you all know how much I love red and my family couldn't believe I didn't buy the red but the buttercup yellow just swept me off my feet! It's such a happy color.
I tried to capture the true color for you but the light in my kitchen kept changing today. I hope you can see how pretty the yellow really is.

 The dishwasher has stainless steel inside and the controls are hidden on the top of the door.

 I love how round the top of the refrigerator door is. Its just as cute as can be, I want to hug it all the time.

 Even our kids fell in the love with the appliances....

 But I must tell you my favorite is the gas stove...Its amazing and so pretty! The color is actually brighter it looks to lite in this photo. I think the stove makes my cooking taste better hehehe!

 This is a truer color of the Buttercup Yellow.

 We had to wait almost two months to receive the appliances but it was worth the wait.

Paul who is my daughter Desire' boyfriend has been working on the crown molding thoughout the house, he is also installing all new molding around all the doors throughout our home. Here's a little peek at the work that has been going on. We still have to paint all the trim and I will  show you how it turns out just as soon as we get it all painted.

I want to thank all my friends that left me a note or sent me a personal note through email with condolences for my beautiful sister. Words can't express how you have touched my heart, I wish I could hug each and everyone of you and tell you thank you in person.
 Your sweetness and kind words have helped me during this time of sorrow. Gary and I are trying to stay busy. My sister will always be a huge part of our lifes, although she is living in heaven now she will forever live in my heart...I miss her everyday.

This week I'm joining in with the blog parties;

Mary-Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday




Susan-Between Naps on the Porch metamorphosis Monday



Shannon-Cozy home Your Cozy Home Party Tuesday



Kim-Savvy Southern Style WOW us Wednesday



Bunny Jean -Bunny Jean Decor and More Bunny Hob Wednesday



Cindy- My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday



Courtney- French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday



Sherry-The Charm of Home Home Sweet Home Party Fridays




 Have a sweet week and God bless,

~My Sister My Friend~

 My dear friends, this is the hardest post I will ever write.It has taken me two weeks to sit in front of the computer to write to tell you what has happen. Gary and I arrived home from Kauai on May 12Th. Gary had  elective surgery for carpel tunnel on Thursday May 17th.
 My sister Margo is my big sister (I am the middle child and then we have a brother), Margo was also having elective surgery on Friday May 18th.
I called her on Thursday night to say I love you and I would be thinking of her and would call her Friday in the evening when she arrived home.
Gary and I received a phone call from our brother n law David on Friday evening saying that there has been complication's and Margo had been admitted to ICU. Things continually
 worsened and she was put on complete life support all within hours after surgery. WE my Mom, Dad, Brother, Gary and I drove to the hospital almost two hours away. I (we) could not believe what was happening (how could this be happening and why)
A few hours later my sister's  two daughters and Son n Law arrived, they live over four hours away. Soon many family members started arriving at the hospital.
My dearest sister passed away early Sunday morning on May 20, at 2:44am....I  can not begin to express how sad I am. Margo was so many things to our family, wife, daughter, mother, sister, auntie, grandmother, cousin, niece and a best friend. Our lives will never be the same.
We have been blessed to have had her in our lives and I know one day we will be together again. But for now, I will miss her every day of my life.  I know that many of you have lost a dear loved one also, and so I know you know how we are feeling...I would like to share a few photo's with you of my sister and tell  you a little bit about this amazing sister I have.  
 Margo had a singing voice of an angle and loved to sing with Gary. During one of our shows we sponsored Margo and Gary sang theit rendishion of Sony and Cher's I've got you Babe. It was such a fun number and a great show...

 Margo with her husband David and their first grandson. She was so happy..

 Margo with her husband David at their grandson Jackson's baptism.
My sister has two grandsons, Jackson 5 and Logan 2 1/2 and one grandson on the way due in July. My niece Amber is the Mommy of the three boys.
A dear sweet cousin  Daniel wrote  to Amber to tell her this:
   I'm so sorry about your mom, sweetheart! I'm sure this must be a very difficult time for you, especially with a new little one on the way! Whatever you do, though, don't you, for one second, think that she's going to miss out on her new grandbaby... she's not! In fact, she's getting to play with him first. When my first son, Gabriel, was first born, he looked a lot like my Grandma Enriquez. My mom told me it was because she was the last one to kiss him on his way down from Heaven... and I believe it! So, when your new bundle of joy arrives into this world, kiss that baby and smile. Your mom's lips were there first.

I just cried and cried when I read this, Daniel had post this on facebook. 

 My sister had many accomplishment's, she was in the U.S Army and served during the Vietnam War. Graduated with a AA, BA and then received her Master's in Education all the while working full time. She was also an quality control engineer.
Margo and David also flipped several properties, there was nothing she wouldn't take on, she would read and watch a video and say "I can do it" and so she did, Margo also spoke Spanish and would like to  tell me (Si Sa Puede) Margo loved to decorated and studied interior design, I told my niece
 instead of fluffing pillows Mom is now fluffing clouds in heaven. she was an excellent seamstress and would design her own clothing, amazing jackets and suits.
Margo loved to travel overseas visiting many  countries in Europe,  as well as within the the United Sates. While in Ireland she even kissed the Blarney Stone.
We would antique together and always see who would find the first three legged tea cup...or embroidered pillow case... Margo had a heart of gold, she supported children in Africa for over 20 years. she worked as a home stagger for awhile until she decided to open up her own business called "2 Paws Up Doggy Daycare and Boarding" located in San Jose CA.
Margo built the facility from the ground up. It was her dream to have a safe and happy place for the  fur babies to stay while their parents were away at work or vacation.
Below I added a few photo's of inside "2 Paws Up". It is the hope and dream's of David Margo's husband and her employees to keep 2 Paws Up running. This was a new business that just opened I think In Nov. of 2011.

 http://www.youtube.com/user/2PawsUpDogDaycare  The boxer in the video is Rufus he is Margo and David's Dog.

                                                      Margo Joyce Lopez Goldberg
                                                     August 19, 1954 - May 20, 2012

Written also by Cousin Daniel...remembering how truly blessed Margo was! When she went home to the Lord, she did so having lived an incredibly full life. She had a wonderful family, surrounded by her ...   amazing children and beautiful grandchildren; she had a beautiful home that she could be proud of; she even managed to get her own business started! In other words: she was a success! All of the great and wonderful things we all hope to achieve in life, she had the courage, determination, and dedication to ACTUALLY ACHIEVE IT! For those of us whose lives she touched in her time here, we can all be proud of that. Now, it's up to those she left behind to try to follow her example. Live the best life you can, don't settle for less than your dreams, regret nothing, and above all else, be full... full of life, full of joy, and full of love! I can think of no better way to honor her memory than that....

I love my sister with all my heart and will miss her all the days of my life...If you have a sister or brother please tell  them how much you love them...because one day you might not have the chance...