Elephant Skirt

 We were shopping at Walmart when we spied this elephant printed corduroy.  We fell in love with the elephants so it had to come home with us.

My husband said that it looked like a Republican skirt. 
Why do men have to make everything political? 

It is so much more important that the elephants were bright and cheerfully cute and that the skirt twirls properly.  Like it should.

Ah yes. . . she's a cheeky one isn't she?

Have a great weekend ♥

Just a little something because I like you (aka: It's a GIVEAWAY!!!)

Giveaway is closed----------
This fall I was a vendor at two craft fairs.  Lots of work.  Tons of fun.  I really enjoy getting out and meeting people as they come into my booth.

This is one of the items that I made to sell. One side is Mexican Oilcloth and  the other side is chalkcloth.   Sold like hotcakes.

This particular banner has 12 pennants.  You can write any message you want in chalk on the chalkcloth side, hang it up and both sides will look pretty and festive.

Possible Messages:

Personalize it with a name

Garage Sale

Welcome Home

Give Thanks

Make a list of things you are thankful for.

It's a boy! or It's a girl!

Backyard BBQ

I want to give one of my amazing readers the banner pictured above.  Just leave a comment and make sure I have a way of contacting you.  If I can't contact you, I'll choose another winner.  This giveaway will end on Friday evening (November 11, 2011)

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

 A friend had bushel baskets full of peppers that they had picked before a freeze and offered some to me.  I was excited because I have been wanting to try to make Jalapeno Pepper Jelly for a very long time.

 

I used this recipe from allrecipes.com:  Hot Pepper Jelly 

I didn't measure each type of pepper exactly, but made sure that I had 4 cups of peppers total and that worked fine.  I just used what I had.

  

I learned a couple of lessons:

• The recipe is perfect.  A lot of the reviews suggested doubling the pectin.  Don't do it.  If you bring the jelly up to a rolling boil (which is a boil that can't be stirred down) it will gel.  We panicked and added more pectin because it didn't seem thick enough.  It will set up more with time.  My jelly is now too gelled.  (Does that even make sense????)
• Many cooking experts tell you to wear gloves when cutting hot peppers.  I didn't do it.  Very bad idea. Please wear gloves.  OUCHIE! 
• If you don't wear gloves, be of good cheer.  Your hands will eventually quite burning after HOURS of pain. 
• This is a fantastic way to eat your vegetables, but the scale is telling me that it does need to be eaten in moderation.  Dumb scale. 

We used FlipSiders crackers.  The ones with pretzel on one side and a buttery cracker on the other. And we had cream cheese, because I ♥ cream cheese☺

Is it snack time yet?

Tanganyika Wildlife Park

 Our family recently went to a local Wildlife park.  It is unique because you get to interact with a lot of the animals.

We spotted a park employee taking a PORCUPINE for a walk.
AMAZING!
So each of the kids got to pet a porcupine. 

 Lemurs were the favorite.  Apparently they like craisins.  Who knew???