Soft 'n comfy, Pink 'n practical, Rosebuds 'n cookies, it must be PINK SATURDAY!

For the first time in a while, I had to sit back and make a list of pink goodies that I would share with you this week and then it hit me - I was sitting on one of my pinkies and had overlooked it for months! I'll never forget when I bought this piece of furniture, so totally impractical but one of those things that I wanted and couldn't forget. It is so comfy and I ♥ the high back because if I happen to want to snooze, my head is supported "just right".
Here's another of my favorite goodies. It usually sits to the side of the my chair and footstool if I am working on a project. I found this on eBay several months' back and fell in ♥ all of the darling pink rosebuds; not to mention that it is very roomy and can hold literally oodles of yarn. The lid/top closes with Velcro to keep pet hair out and the side handles are so handy when I want to move it from room to room.Isn't this little footstool sweet? It sits in front of the chair you just saw and both are in a corner of my dining room. Believe me, I don't plunk my tootsies on this unless I know my socks are clean☺
Ending this week's pinkies is my dogs' cookie jar. Each time the poochies come in from outside they sit by this jar at the end of the kitchen counter waiting for something yummy magically appear. I keep very small, puppy-size treats inside so Scout and Freyja aren't disappointed.

Now that you've seen my pink-a-licious Saturday offerings, you need to visit Beverly at HOW SWEET THE SOUND. There are dozens of blogs listed that are waiting for your Pink Saturday visit!

Easy Peasy Buttery Raspberry or Blueberry Crisp with a hint of Cinnamon

This topping is crumbly but still chewy, pleasantly sweet, the oats add a great texture, and it melts just a little during baking to make a delicious gooey layer with the fruit underneath. But the true star of this show is the raspberries, of course; their zing is the perfect balance to the sweet topping. As always, I like to add just a smidge of cinnamon...my favorite little something-something.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces of raspberries, fresh or frozen (you may substitute blueberries, equally yummy)
  
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spread the raspberries evenly over an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Sprinkle a little granulated sugar (about 1/4 cup) over the top now if you'd like to add a bit of sweetness to the berries.

3. In separate mixing bowl, melt the butter, then mix in the vanilla extract.

4. Mix in the brown sugar, until smooth, creaming it.

5. Add the oats and blend.

6. Slowly add the flour, a little at a time. The mixture will start to get crumbly.

7. Once it is well blended, crumble the mixture over the raspberries in the pan. You want the topping to fall fairly evenly over the berries, but gaps here and there are perfectly fine.

8. Bake for 25 minutes or until the topping is crispy and slightly browned, and the berries are bubbling.

9. Serve. Great with vanilla ice cream or a little whipped cream. I am sinful and pour a bit of half and half into my bowl...YUM!

Fresh Peach Cobbler with Layered Lattice Pecan Crust

Ingredients

• 12 to 15 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced (about 16 cups)*
• 3 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 (15-ounce) packages refrigerated pie crusts
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream
  

Combine first 4 ingredients in a Dutch oven, and let stand 10 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Bring peach mixture to a boil; reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat; add vanilla and butter, stirring until butter melts.

Unfold 2 pie crusts. Sprinkle 1/4 cup pecans and 2 tablespoons sugar evenly over 1 pie crust; top with other pie crust. Roll to a 12-inch circle, gently pressing pecans into pastry. Cut into 1 1/2-inch strips. Repeat with remaining pie crusts, pecans, and sugar.

Spoon half of peach mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Arrange half of pastry strips in a lattice design over top of peach mixture.

Bake at 475° for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Spoon remaining peach mixture over baked pastry. Top with remaining pastry strips in a lattice design. Bake 15 to 18 more minutes. Serve warm or cold with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

*2 (20-ounce) packages frozen peaches may be substituted. Reduce sugar to 2 cups, flour to 3 tablespoons, and nutmeg to 1/4 teaspoon.

I've made this same recipe with apples in the fall but substitute cinnamon for the nutmeg. Delicious!

Do what ya gotta do when ya gotta do it cuz life is worth living! A public service announcement...

Well, today, here it is, the dreaded one day of the year when I voluntarily eat no food. To add insult to injury, I have to take laxatives in the afternoon so I can spend the next 10-12 hours blowing out my colon so my doctor can have a little peek-a-boo in the darkest of my dark places tomorrow morning.

I hate this, I honestly and truly hate this procedure. Well, not the procedure but the prep the night before. I just hate it. How much do I hate it? About three months before my yearly lookie-see I begin to dread that little letter that will come in the mail from Dr. Rechner. I keep hoping that her staff will forget me or the mailman will be sick that day or my mailbox will blow away (fat chance that will happen, it's built into my door). They don't and it doesn't and the letter arrives. I open it with one eye closed thinking that maybe it was meant for someone else...but it's not. It has my name on it...sigh.

OK, I still have some time, I tell myself and do the best I can to not think about what is gonna happen...colon blow to the max! No food (other than delightful liquids and things that used to be liquids), drinking icky-poopie tasting laxative-laden Gatorade, no sleep cuz I'm sitting on the toilet until five in the morning and then, no water the following day until after that little camera makes it all the way up to my tonsils snapping pictures a mile a minute and taking samples of my dark interior - a little like mining for precious minerals at the center of the earth - or, possibly coal mining, I can't decide☺

About a week before my happy day, I get really crabby. Crabby about each and every thing that crosses my path. There is nothing that can make me smile because in the back of my mind I know what is looming in my future and I HATE IT. I HONESTLY AND TRULY AND 100% HATE IT. I don't like depriving myself of food. I don't like drinking what should be flushed down the toilet so I can produce what is flushed down the toilet. I don't like not having anything to drink in the morning after I brush my teeth. I don't like being thirsty! I HATE EACH AND EVERY LITTLE NUANCE ABOUT THIS PROCEDURE!

This morning the big prep day is here and I can't avoid it. I'll drink that crap (sorry about the pun) and I'll spend all evening and night and part of tomorrow morning blowing out each and every little teeny, tiny speck of anything that went into my system since I was cuddled in my mother's womb. Tomorrow morning I'll brush my teeth (don't swallow any water or the goblins will get me) and I'll march into the hospital for my annual poopie-roto-rooter.

After it's all over, I'll wake up in my room and will ask for applesauce and a diet Coke - the same request every year. And then, well, and then I'll settle back and smile. I'll know that I did one of the most important things a person can do for their health and their life and for their family.

I get my yearly mammogram like clockwork and now I am of the age where the "lookie see" is on my agenda, too. Do I like both of these procedures? Heck NO. Do I have them done? Heck YES! I do them so I will live long enough to watch my grandchildren graduate from high school, so I can dance at their weddings, so I don't have to lay in a hospital bed with my children watching me die a miserable death...all because I was too chicken or too lazy to do what was necessary to avoid two of the most treatable cancers - if caught early - and that's the key, folks - IF CAUGHT EARLY.

So, if you've been putting off your yearly boobie squash or don't want to blow out your colon so a camera can take a photo where the sun doesn't shine, GET UP FROM YOUR COMPUTER AND CALL YOUR DOCTOR. The life you save WILL be your own!