Vintage Cracker Jacks Celluloid Prize Earrings

I am in the process of collecting these adorable vintage Cracker Jack celluloid prizes and creating pretty Little earrings. I have already posted them for sale at my sweetlaraine.etsy.com shop.

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend !

Laraine

Waiting For Spring While Taking Pain Killers

I have to admit.....I only supervised the spring cleaning of my yard. I did not cut down any trees or drag dead trees out of the ground. The only thing that changed was the using of a different weight of wire from dead soft to half hard in making my jewelry.

I am at a loss to explain why when I woke up one morning about a week ago and I could not raise either arm above shoulder height. I did a little research on the web and started using naproxen sodium instead of acetaminophen. I got marginal relief but finally I had to go see my Doctor.

As If having car problems ($50.00 mobile mechanic and new valve ) and having to make a trip to San Antonio to help my daughter and having my car looked at this month, ($120.00 in gas $60.00 each way for fill up ) having my dryer fixed ($70.00 ) sounded like I was drying bowling balls, I now have to go for MRI's and XRays and a Specialist to figure what going on with my old shoulder joints. Oh yes...I woke up this morning with a sty on my right eye lid. THANKS !!!

Thankfully I got a shot of steroids in the rump and some wonderful new pain killers. The pills makes me sleepy and totally kills my appetite so I may drop a few pounds.

Have a great day......think I'll go take a nap

Laraine

Making Pretty Things For sweetlaraine.etsy.com

I recently finished several pretty pieces of jewelry to add to my sweetlaraine shop on etsy. I am working with a new wire that instead of being dead soft is half hard. The pain in my shoulders and neck might be caused by the added strength it takes to wrap the wire. In any case....I think I will go to see the doctor early next month.

I am very pleased with the result of this creative session. I may try to purchase a darker color wire next time I go to town. I like the silver look but also like the darker tarnished brass look.

I am also working on several pairs of earrings using vintage cracker jacks charms as the dangle. It is getting harder and harder to find these little celluloid charms.
Lucky for me....I have all the time in the world.

Have a great and productive day !

Laraine

Getting Things Cleaned Up For Spring

Spent the major portion of last week getting the yard cleaned up and ready for spring planting. Thank God I had the help of my neighbors because I really don't have the strength to dig up dead trees etc. etc. The only mistake made was that someone thought a crepe Myrtle tree was a bush and cut it down to about 12 inches. It should come back slowly but a 5 years of growth was removed.

I am looking forward to going to Lowes and purchasing some new trees. My vegetable garden this year will be planted in containers.

I was wondering why my arms were hurting, and looking at the yard, I think I have figured out why.

Have a great day !

Laraine

Words to Live By

Try to live by these words a little bit each day!

Have a great one !

Laraine

Tuscan Chicken and Broccoli

When the weather gets cold, I love to make something hearty in my slow cooker. I saw a wonderful recipe for Tuscan chicken and Artichokes at www.recipe.com. Since I could not find any frozen artichokes at my local store I substituted frozen broccoli.

You will need

one package of frozen broccoli
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped.
1 package of chicken thighs. ( mine were boneless and I cut them in half )
1 tsp of Mediterranean seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
2 fresh green zucchini
1 package of yellow zucchini.............I like zucchini
1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes ( if more than a cup use them all up )
chopped parsley
2 cups of broth ( I used beef broth because I was out of chicken broth )

Layer the frozen broccoli, onion, garlic, frozen yellow zucchini in slow cooker. Top with cut up chicken and broth. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.
Add tomatoes sliced green zucchini and cover and cook for another half hour or until the veggies are cooked.

Serve in a large soup bowl with french bread on the side.

Very Yummy!!

Have a great day!!!

Laraine

That Two Tier Rattan Pie Plate That Went to Dara's House

This is what that two tier rattan pie plate looks like when Dara makes and decorates cake pops. YUM ! YUM !