~land of nod cinnamon buns~

do you have special birthday traditions?

in our home for each child's birthday we have "land of nod" cinnamon buns

it takes 5 minutes to put together this

then off to the land of nod you go and leave them to do their thing

they rise up into this huge pan of buns!!

bake them in the morning and ta-da, yummy cinnamon buns

here's the recipe if you don't already have it~

~"land of nod" cinnamon buns

20 frozen dough rolls (mine come in a pack of 24, i use them all)

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vanilla instant pudding

1-2 tablespoons cinnamon

3/4 cup raisins (optional)

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

Grease a large bundt pan.

Mix brown sugar, vanilla pudding, cinnamon and raisins together.

Layer in pan. Pour melted butter over top.

Cover with a clean, damp dishtowel.

Off to land of nod.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350, bake for 25 mins. Let them sit for 5 mins then turn out on serving plate.

in our house if we're gonna do calories we go all the way, and drizzle them with white glace icing

we can't possibly eat them all in one sitting, but i leave them out on the counter lightly covered and they're all gone by that night...

do you think he liked them - maybe just a little!!

Tracey

~keeping it real~

so how did you do that, in the midst of all the decorating and gifting and hosting??

here's what we did, we made tags for each place setting, each with a different name of Jesus and a corresponding bible verse

then tied it to a sparkly silver ornament, which our guests could later take home with them

and we went around the table and shared some of the names of Jesus (some even accompanied with spontaneous song!)

simple and meaningful

happy birthday Jesus!

Tracey

three reasons I'm a happy junker!

three reasons today was a totally amazing day!

reason no. 1: I got to go thrifting with "Rust and Ruffles" Janis for the whole day, that's right, the WHOLE day!

...and we found lots of treasures today, we almost couldn't see out the back of my van!

reason no. 2:  Janis greeted me with this gorgeous gift for my birthday, don't you love birthdays that just keep going!

(it was all nicely tied together but of course I had at it right away...)

yummy burlap sacks that I have so been wanting to get my hands on

this gorgeous necklace Janis made 'specially for me, I wore it all day of course!

this cute vintagey tile " I bought only two gowns in Paris"

(ha, ha, not likely)

all tied up with a little birdy tag

now is that a great way to start the day or what!

reason no. 3: I found the best chairs ever. I have been looking for around 6 months for kitchen table chairs. The ones we have we bought almost 20 years ago when we were first married (yes, I was a young bride), and one by one they are falling apart on us, or more like under us (hmmmm....)

anyway, I digress, we've gone from 8 chairs down to 41/2, and since there are 5 of us on a daily basis = problem

...but I wouldn't settle for just anything, I knew exactly what I wanted, something Queen Anneish,  but only had a budget of $100 for four chairs

so I found these, nice and sturdy and a compromise as I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in my price range

so bought the three for $30

well, wouldn't you know, the very next stop I found my dream chairs, four of them...

Me : Janis, I have a  problem

Janis: What??!!

Me: I just found chairs I like better than the others

Janis: Where?

Me: Here across the store, see, they're exactly what I want!

Janis: Well, you'll have to buy them

Me: We don't have enough space

Janis: Sure we do....

Well, we squeezed two in, (remember I already had three chairs and a ladder in there), I have to go back for the other two tomorrow, but aren't they beauties!!

look at those scroll backs and shapely legs

picture them white, with white upholstered seats....

sigh...

oh, did I mention they were on for half price!!!!!!!!!!!!

yup, so came in under budget

so now I have 3 + 4 = 7 chairs

what do you think bloggers?

I was kinda thinking 4 chairs + a bench

do you think I should mix and match them all, or return/sell the first 3?

of course, Mr Keeper hasn't actually been in the garage yet........

but for now i'm one happy junker!!

happy days,

Tracey

white roses and yummy gifts

had a fun long weekend....Monday was a holiday here up north

gorgeous white roses for my birthday (Mr Keeper : "knew you'd like them 'cos they're white!")...

kinda yellow now they're opening up

got to finish up a bunch of projects...

like this cute wicker mirror for my sweet 16

sold a couple things on etsy....

like this shabby mini mailbox

and these vintage baking pans

went out for our favorite steak dinner with Mr Keeper...

browsed around a book store

decided to forgo coffee and buy a magazine...

well, two actually (would have been cheaper to have coffee!) - loving them both

had a venti Starbucks ('cos they got my order wrong!)

went walking along the river AND the sun came out!

was spoilt by family and friends, here are some of my lovely gifts

a hummingbird feeder...

this chunky necklace, which I loooove

cute block candle...

and this lovely sparkly candleholder my Mom brought me back from England

yup, it was a fun weekend, even if the boys did end it with a water balloon fight!!

I'm linking to Kathleen's White Wednesday

happy days,

Tracey