Kittens, cat beds, Easter bunnies, it's PINK SATURDAY!

What can anyone say about PINK SATURDAY other than it's pink, and fun and that I have enough pink stuff in my house to participate for the next thirty years or so!

I live in a 100 year old Edwardian home. As a result, I have radiators and hot water heat, YUM! Once you've had that type of heat you will never, ever want anything else to heat your home. The plus for me is that all of my radiators are original and are extremely ornate...a work of art in themselves. But I'll save that for another blog entry. Today I am showing you how I tie baskets to my radiators, fill them with blankies and invite my kitties for a little spa treatment. I swear, those kitty-cattys of mine love to bubble and steam in their little, heated beds every chance they get. The filled basket you see here is in my dining room and is used by all of the girls. I guess Forrest (black kitty) thinks that I fixed this one up way too feminine and girly for a guy of his regal charm!

My next goodie is a little early to show to you but I think it is just too sweet and precious to keep hidden for much longer. I found this adorable pink bunny garland the other day at Big Lots! and fell in love. In fact, I grabbed all of the pink that they had on the rack (I'm really stingy about pink stuff). I'm not positive where I'll use it yet for decoration but just knowing that I have it makes me happy and that's all that counts, at least to me, hehehe! Each strand is nine feet, and I have several, so I may be looking at pink bunnies in quite a few of the rooms of my home. I just love Easter. Not only for its true intent, but for the added fun of the baby animals and pastel colors.

Lastly, and pulling up the rear is Rosemary's cuddle donut bed. It sits on the dining room chair closest to the kitchen so she can catch a snooze and still be near her mommy. I'll see her lift her head every now and then, barely open an eye to check if I'm still where she saw me last and then drift off to kitty dreams once more. Other than my dogs, Rosemary needs to know where I am every minute of the day. She follows me like a puppy and when I sit down she feels that she MUST be in my lap. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't...especially when I am eating or knitting or taking a bath, or working on the laptop, or putting on my shoes. The rest of the time, if you see me, you see Rosemary. She was found in a ditch at about the age of 2.5 weeks and brought into our shelter. As a volunteer at the shelter I was there a lot and spied a little calico kitten with a huge meow that wanted a LOT of attention. From that day on, whenever I would go to the shelter to volunteer, I'd take Rosemary out of her cage and carry her around in my sweater pocket. She bonded to me like the dickens and I fell in love...hard. When I finally decided to adopt her, we were a mutual admiration society with two members. As a baby she'd ride around on my shoulder as I did the dishes, swept the floor, made beds, etc. The things that I did with a lot of movement, like vacuuming, she referred to sit on the sofa and watch. She's not afraid of loud noises, loves company and is the light of my life.

Don't forget to take a jog over to Beverly's at HOW SWEET THE SOUND, our hostess. She has many, many more people who have signed up for this fun day. Go for it. Even if you like blue, pink is just as good and maybe even better!

Whip up a batch of Forgotten Cookies to melt away the winter blues

Yesterday I shared with you my thoughts about all of the white that I see around me, not only in the winter, but the summer, too. I mentioned the Forgotten Cookies that I made for my sons as an after school treat. Today, I would like to share with you the recipe for this easy and very low-fat cookie. Light and crunchy, they are perfect with a cup of tea. Very versatile, you can add a variety of ingredients (chocolate, nuts, coconut, crushed peppermint) or colors so they will fit in with just about any winter holiday.

With it being so close to Valentine's Day, all you have to do is add a bit of red food coloring for a tiny, pink cookie. I've also added green coloring and mint chocolate chips for St. Patrick's Day. During the Christmas holidays I color them red and green by using food coloring in the batter or I will leave them white and just sprinkle colored sugar on the tiny tops before baking. There was always the "what to do" with the egg yolks. Most times I'd just cook them up for a treat to add to my dogs' food. Just throwing them away didn't seem right. After all, it was food and my mother taught me to never waste anything and that everything could be useful if you just thought about it long enough.

Almond-flavored Forgotten Cookies are popular throughout Europe. Most likely, these cookies began as macarons de Nancy in France, where they sometimes contain chocolate. Italians call the same cookies amaretti and make them with bitter almonds. Hazelnuts, and sometimes cocoa or cinnamon and lemon peel, are used in similar German haselnuss ballchen or makronen. Also related, Swedish valnot maranger contain walnuts. So do Austrian makronen-schnitten which are formed with channels and filled with apricot jam.

These delicate clouds of meringue are drop cookies, the easiest type of cookie you can make. First, beat egg whites with sugar and fold in ground nuts. Then, simply drop the batter from a spoon or push it through a pastry bag or a food-storage bag onto cookie sheets. Instead of the usual kind of cookie baking, bake Meringue Kisses in a very low oven, turn off the heat and “forget” the cookies while they finish drying in the cooling oven. If possible, make Forgotten Cookies on a dry day. If it’s humid, the cookies can absorb moisture from the air, flatten out and lose their crispness. These are very versatile cookies!

Forgotten Cookies or Meringue Kisses Makes about 60 cookies
	•	4 egg whites
	•	1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
	•	1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar OR 3/4 cup granulated sugar
	•	2 cups (8 oz.) ground almonds and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In large mixing bowl at high speed, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating constantly until whites are glossy and stand in stiff peaks. Add vanilla. (If using granulated sugar, rub just a bit of meringue between thumb and forefinger to feel if sugar has dissolved.) Gently fold in almonds. Drop by tablespoonful or pipe through pastry tube or food-storage bag onto lightly greased or lined (foil or waxed, brown or parchment paper) baking sheets.

Bake in preheated 225° F oven until firm, about 1 hour. Turn off oven. Let stand in oven with door closed until cool, dry and crisp, at least 1 additional hour, preferably overnight, which is best. Store in tightly sealed container with waxed paper between layers. (If stored cookies lose crispness, warm in preheated 200° F oven about 15 to 20 minutes.)

To make variations:

Use amounts listed for 1 batch of cookies. To make 2 variations at a time, divide meringue mixture equally between 2 bowls. Beat or fold 1/2 the ingredient amounts listed for a variation into 1 of the bowls and 1/2 the ingredient amounts listed for a second variation into the second bowl. For all variations, omit ground almonds.

Brandy Alexander – Beat in 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon brandy extract.

Cherry/Almond – Fold in 1 cup chopped, drained maraschino cherries and 1 cup chopped almonds.

Chocolate – Beat in 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Citrus – Beat in 2 tablespoons grated orange peel, 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract and a few drops yellow food coloring.

Mint/Chocolate Chip – Beat in 1/2 teaspoon mint extract and a few drops green food coloring. Fold in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels.

Rocky Road – Beat in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Fold in 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels and 1 cup chopped nuts.

Wrapping my heart and home in white...not cold and colorless after all

For those of you who aren't aware, my home is less than a mile from the Canadian border. Winter is rough around here with current temperatures running anywhere from below zero to about plus five, as it is this afternoon.

A couple of days ago, I bundled up and braved the cold to run some long put-off errands. I remember that as I was walking to the garage it struck me that my whole world has been white for months. The roof of my home and my neighbors' is piled high with white. Of course, all of the yards are blanketed in white where just a few months ago you could see green lawns and a profusion of flower plantings in every color of the rainbow. I thought to myself that white certainly was a cold and unfriendly color as I pulled the collar of my coat up around my cold ears.

That evening, all tucked into my warm home and covered with my favorite blanket, Camille, my white kitty, jumped onto the sofa to snuggle with me as she does most times when the twinkle of day turns into the dark quiet of night. Camille certainly isn't cold. In fact, she is all soft and cuddly and warm and cozy. As I was thinking about her and enjoying the warmth of her body, I realized that what I initially thought was a cold color, really wasn't so cold after all and that white could not only be warm, it could also be very pretty and...useful.

My mind drifted off to remember the snow-white Forgotten Cookies that I would bake often for my boys. Those little goodies with their lighter-than-air texture, piled high on a plate looking like tiny clouds, were a favorite in my then filled nest. I can still see my sons walking through the back door piling books on the kitchen table after school. Next they'd fill a glass to the brim with milk (another white blessing) just before grabbing as many of the cookies as their hands could carry.

I warmed myself by traveling back to hot summer days when my perennial Sweet Peas would wind in and out of the backyard fence. Their velvety texture and pristine beauty is always remarkable. Each fall the lovely blossoms fade and die leaving in their wake a profusion of seed pods. Basket in hand I carefully collect my fall bounty in order to gift friends and family with the bounty left behind by the memory of summer and the promise of spring to come.

Just this afternoon a package arrived with its contents wrapped carefully in crisp, white tissue paper. Ordinarily, the tissue would be placed aside quickly in order for me to admire my goodies. Not today. I really looked at the tissue with its numerous creases and folds. The tissue reminded me a little of whipping cream or maybe an iceberg, both lovely in their own right.

Sitting here at my kitchen table, I see the sun streaming through the white lace curtains in my dining room leaving intricate patterns to dance on the walls, table, chairs and floor. A little bit of decoration added by Mother Nature to an already lovely room.

Tucked away in a corner of my living room there sits a sweet and soft feather tree exactly where I placed it just before the holidays. For one reason or another, I can't bear to pack it away. So, there it is, looking adorable, bringing a smile to my face each and every time I pass by.

With all of these white pretties prancing around in my head, I now see that white isn't the cold and chilly color I originally thought a few days ago on my way to the garage. To be sure, I live with a lot of white for a very long time in my neck of the woods. Snow will often appear at the end of October and remain on the ground until sometime around the end of April. But now I have a new appreciation for what some call a colorless color. White is the color of snow and of icebergs, but it also graces my garden in the summer, the coat of a little cat I truly love, my holiday feather tree, lace curtains that produce dancing patterns on dining room walls and of tissue that protects treasures that arrive in boxes from far away.

YUM, pass me some more of those pink marshmallows and a side of African violet, too!

It's PINK SATURDAY, my favorite day of the week! I get to sit at the kitchen table sipping mocha coffee with a mound of whipping cream on top and browse through some of the most lovely blogs on the block...all filled with pinkness, sweetness and delight.

My offerings this week come from my kitchen counter and the window in my dining room. First, I'd like to share with you the fact that my darling African violet is beginning to bloom for me in the midst of the coldest temperatures of the year. It's been below zero each night for the past couple of weeks with highs in the single digits...YIKES! You may wonder why I covered my violet with a bird cage, sorta like a little prison. Well, sadly, it must be done to save her life. You see, my kitty Camille takes a fancy to fresh blooming violets. She'll snack on the blossoms until her tummy won't hold another bud. In order for me to feed the passion I have for African violets, all of my plants are housed in bird cages, especially when they begin to bud. Camille can smell a blooming plant from a mile away and will eat all the babies in a heartbeat. She's merciless and takes no prisoners.

Next in line is my kitchen counter. When I got the Williams-Sonoma basket I didn't have keeping breads warm in mind. I wanted something to hold fresh fruit that was pretty and not made of wicker. I found this gem for a steal on eBay about a year ago and have loved it more each and every time I took a glance at it when in the kitchen. Being someone who loves pink, one day when it was snowing like crazy it dawned on me that those little cakes at Wal-Mart that bear the name "snowballs" would be perfect for my basket in the wintertime. I added them to my list and the rest is history. The next day I was cleaning out a closet and spied the little chicken, plunked her on top and that was that. If you take a good look, you can see the jar on my counter with a pink teddy bear on the side, filled with pink marshmallows. Those marshmallows are older than the hills and most likely taste horrible by now but they're pink and they look cute so they get to stay, hehehe.

I also thought you'd get a kick out of the pink wall phone I have in the area between my kitchen and dining room. It has a 25' cord so I don't feel confined when a friend calls. I love this phone because it has an old-fashioned ring that takes you back to the days when moms wore aprons when they cooked and dads took their lunch to work and didn't eat in a cafeteria.

Pulling up the rear, I took a photo of my faux strawberry sundae. I found that gem at a tag sale about five years ago, long before fake food was in vogue. I don't think you can see it very clearly, but there is a little rosebud on the top that looks like a tiny cherry.

My kitchen is loaded with pink...on the counters, in the drawers, in the cupboards and on the walls. In the coming weeks I'll be sharing all of it with you hoping that you enjoy looking at my goodies as much as I love sharing them with you. Now, I'm off to visit all of the blogs who signed up for PINK SATURDAY. This event is hosted by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. What would us pink gals do without her? Hurry on over...there are oodles of people who are participating and all of them are just wonderful!

Can Romantic Homes Magazine give us too much PINK? Um, maybe, maybe not

Has anyone seen the March issue of Romantic Homes Magazine? I'm the first one to say that the color pink was made just for me. I'm the first one to say that there is pink somewhere in each and every room of my home. I'm the first one to say that when my grand-daughter, Rachel, was born there were little, pink sugar plums dancing in my head 24/7, but come on...what I saw this afternoon when I opened the March issue of this publication that arrived in my mail today pulled me up short. I rubbed my eyes. I held the magazine a little further stretching my arms as far as they would go. I looked really hard to see if maybe, just maybe, the page had been printed askew. Nope, I don't think so. What I saw I believe was meant to look just like what it looked like.

You have to see it in order to believe it but the house exterior is Pepto pink and all I can say about the interior is that, to me, it looks like the inside of a bottle of Pepto Bismol, too...something I don't like even if I'm so sick I can't raise my head off a pillow.

I'm sure that not all of you will agree with me, and that's perfectly OK, but there are shades of pink and there are shades of pink. Me, I tend to lean to the baby-powder hues...soft, subtle, sweet. The couple who owns and built this home is Brooke and Brooks Fleming (I kid you not). They built the house from the ground up, often perplexing their contractor, sending him home with pink dots dancing before his eyes.

So, if you, like me, love the color pink, grab the March issue of Romantic Homes Magazine to read the article and meet the owners. You can also bask in all of the home's pinkness. Now, to be fair, the whole interior of the house is not Pepto pink, just the outside and a few rooms inside.

Bella Rose Cottage is the business that Brooke runs out of her home. If you are already in your jammies, or don't want to buy the magazine, hop over to Brooke's web site. Once there you will be able to see this pink house with pink wreaths on the doors and take a virtual stroll through the pink rooms and then browse those that are more subtle in coloration.

Of course, my reaction to this house is a personal call and I'd be horrified if I hurt anyone's feelings with this blog entry of mine, so I apologize if I've stepped on toes. But, as someone who adores the color pink and as someone who can spot pink at a tag sale from 100 feet away, I'll pass this time and stick with my rendition of the color and leave the rest for others to enjoy. See you tomorrow, it's PINK SATURDAY, ya know!

Good(will) things come to those who wait and wait and wait

More than once I've brought something home with me that was missing a part, or wasn't complete, having faith that "good things come to those who wait. I'd have absolute faith that, given enough time, I'd find that part or the missing something-something that I needed to find so I could use my treasured, new-found goodie somewhere in my home.

I love to shop at Goodwill, just love it. I might have only five dollars in my pocket but I can always find a hidden treasure to take home to give new life and to enjoy. That is what happened a few months ago when I spotted this adorable lamp. Only the lamp, no shade, but I was smitten as a kitten with a dish of cream! Little baby-powder-hued balls of cotton yarn filling the base of a ginger jar lamp. Pastels remind me all year long of babies and flowers and cupcakes and kittens and puppies and soft feather-filled pillows. Pastels make me feel happy just looking at them, no matter what form they take or what shade or hue they happen to be.

I also love to have things in my home that are useful and sweet and cute all at the same time. I think that is why my eye caught the lamp on the top shelf in the home section at my local Goodwill store. I wanted that little lamp so bad that I waited for someone to come by so I could ask them to get it down for me. (I'm not too short but I've never been considered to be tall, either.) Once it was in my hands I checked it over for cracks and flaws...none! None! And...only $2.98. That settled the deal for me, yes, it did! I placed it into my cart as gently as I would a baby...feeling mighty fine, yes, I did!

I brought my treasure home and set it where I could see it anytime I wanted to think about what kind of a shade I wanted to find to top off my piece of the cute-lamp-pie. For a few months I looked, and looked, and looked. Not one shade that I found inspired me to plunk down some of my financial wealth (yeah, right) to bring it home. The shades were either the wrong color or the wrong shape or the wrong size. That is, not until yesterday when I was in Big Lots! I wandered over to the furniture department and there it was. I rubbed my eyes and took another look. Nope, I wasn't delusional. It was real and it was gonna be mine, yes, it was coming home with me, no doubt about it. A little, baby blue, 100% cotton shade with adorable, teeny roses along the bottom edge. I knew this was "the" shade I had been looking for and it was a steal! Could life get any better? I don't think so!

I put the shade in my cart and smiled. I finally had the shade that was perfect for my sweet, little yarn lamp. I need to share with you that these past few months I didn't have any particular shade style or color in mind but I'd know when I found it. I know that you, dear reader, know what I mean because all of us have "that feeling" every now and then when we won't settle and play the waiting game until the right goodie comes along.

So, as of yesterday, I have a complete, little lamp. I am happy, happy, happy, except for the fact that now don't know where I'm going to put it. I've been looking here and looking there and wandering around with the little lamp. I set it down and step back. And walk around. And look at it from this angle and that angle but so far, I keep picking it up again and walking into another room looking around for inspiration. This might go on for another couple of months or I might be sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of tea and a light will go off in my head showing me the way and leading me to plunk this cutie pie in the perfect place. A place that I might have walked by 1000s of times and not paid much attention but now...IT IS THE PLACE, a place of importance, one that has the right elements to give my little bargain lamp the exact amount of esteem it so rightly deserves.

But for now, the little lamp is sitting on my dining room table topped with the adorable, blue rose cotton shade looking perfect, just perfect. It may have to stay there for a while but it may not. Something might pop into my head any minute, or maybe not, but I don't care, I found what I wanted...the perfect shade for the lamp and for me.

I am pleased and content...and on the hunt...there is something out there in the world that I need to find because it and I are meant to be! Our paths will cross. I'll pick it up and I'll take it home, and the waiting and imagining and planning will begin once more!

A little p.s., I fell in love with this little lamp shade so much that I went back to the store about bought three more. Not because I need three more, but because I wanted to share them with people who have the same romantic and whimsical side to their personalities as I do. If you'd like one, let me know.