Breakfast For Dinner.....

I grew up eating breakfast for dinner....which became a favorite meal of mine ever since I can remember..I guess you can say I would eat it anytime of the day. My daughter shares the same taste.. we love pancakes, french toast, waffles, blintzes and Swedish pancakes. Yumm!!

When your in a pinch for time or heck even grocery money. Breakfast food is very inexpensive. Almost every household has the ingredients in their cupboard to conjure up a yummy meal.

I have had a hankering for Swedish pancakes lately. My Grammy would always make them when we came to visit. I love putting jelly in mine.

So I made up a quick batch and ate them all up. This time I added strawberry rhubarb jam and a little bit of cottage cheese. It was sooo good !!!

I do hope you have a lovely day... If you don't normally eat breakfast for dinner or never had it for dinner... give it a try. You won't be sorry!!!

Have a grand April Fools Day.

We are playing a little prank on Mr. Darling in the morning.

He will pour his coffee and half and half and find out that his cream has turned into water.

Terrible aren't we?

Drum Roll Please !!!!

Thank you dear friends for entering my Just Because Give Away !!!!

I appreciate your taking the time out and leaving your sweet comments.

Don't fret though !!

I am having another give away !!!

Yep !!!

I am celebrating my 300th post here at the Child's Paper.

Many of you have stuck it out with me through all this time, which has turned into some really nice cyber friendships. I thank you for that. And, for the newbies or the readers I don't know, but keep coming back...thank you. Life is a blessing, and an adventure. I am so thankful to God for all He has blessed me with, which includes people such as yourselves, who give the time to read everyday. In turn I visit many of you on a daily basis. It has given me insight, inspiration, and smiles to share in this temporal life of ours .

So, here is to many more posts !!!

Cheers !!! Don't miss your chance to win the next give away !!!

A Springtime "Just Because" Give Away !!!

Hello friends !!! It is time for a give away !!!!

I have put together a sweet bag of goodies for you... just because !

A darling antique photo of a little girl in the sweetest white dress...her name is written on the back: Marie Cross Campbel. I am also giving away a delicate antique white baby dress with stitched embroidery around the collar and a pair of vintage baby shoes.

Also, a vintage tin made in England which I have filled with this and that's & do dads a few doll heads and trims for crafting. A brilliant blue candle with beaded flower around the base, Darjeeling tea, a magnet that reads "Faith "on it.

A pretty journal for your thoughts which reads

" This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it"

on the cover. A jar of homemade bath salts made with white tea salts, real lavender and bath leaves just for you to soak in after a long day ! Lastly I enclosed a book called The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. The book is a biblical perspective on being an excellent wife, which God calls us to be.

To enter this "Just Because Give Away" !!! Leave me a comment... that's it !!

I will draw a name this Sunday evening !!!

Blessings to you and yours !!

I will be having another giveaway in April to mark my 300th post !!!

Happy Spring !

Hope this finds you well. This is just a small post to welcome Spring in. Open the windows, feel the breeze and smell the flowers. I am having a Springy giveaway this week !! So be sure to pop by to have a peek.

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose

I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout

This delightful photo is a family member on my Grandfather's side. It may be my Great Grandmother. I love the picture no matter !

Happy Spring Days To You !!!!

Spring Cleaning and then some...

March bustles in on windy feet

And sweeps my doorstep and my street.

She washes and cleans with pounding rains,

Scrubbing the earth of winter stains.

She shakes the grime from carpet green

Till naught but fresh new blades are seen.

Then, house in order, all neat as a pin,

She ushers gentle springtime in.

~ Susan Reiner ~

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Ahhhh, a mothers work is never done. Cook, clean, teach, make sure laundry is done, care for the kiddo's and the hubby, leaving some time for myself of course!

Our boxes that didn't make the move finally got shipped last week !!! EEEK !!! It was like Christmas going through all of the things that we missed. I have been going through it all, sorting, purging, putting away. Whew !! On top of it all there is house work and I have been hit with the worst Hay Fever that Spring can offer. I am not complaining... Just been busy trying to keep up with the dust.

I have also been busy sewing away in my little corner studio while the children work on their lessons. I have three Doll House Doll's coming up as well as some soldered pendants!!!!

The theme has been houses lately... Hmmmmm....

~Home, Sweet Home ~

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;

A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,

Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.

Home, home, sweet, sweet home!

There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;

Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!

The birds singing gayly, that come at my call --

Give me them -- and the peace of mind, dearer than all!

Home, home, sweet, sweet home!

There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild,

And feel that my mother now thinks of her child,

As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door

Thro' the woodbine, whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.

Home, home, sweet, sweet home!

There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile,

And the caress of a mother to soothe and beguile!

Let others delight mid new pleasures to roam,

But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home.

Home, home, sweet, sweet home!

There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;

The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;

No more from that cottage again will I roam;

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

Home, home, sweet, sweet, home!

There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

~ John Howard Payne 1791 - 1852~

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Home is sweet when filled with the laughter of children. I will treasure these moments that I have with them for as long as I live and thank God every day for them.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Failte !

Well, did you wear green???
We did !! So ya can't pinch us !!

My dear Mr. Darling is half Irish on his mothers side. They were known as the O'Gale's. Once in America their name was changed to Gale. So, in honer of our family roots we celebrate St. Patrick's day.

Did you know that corned beef and cabbage in not a traditional Irish meal? It is an American-Irish invention. The Irish are known for Colcannon, as their National dish.... it is a meal of potatoes, scallions, cabbage, heavy cream, butter and seasonings such as thyme, salt & pepper. I am making this dish for the very first time this year... so I hope it goes over well.

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Did you ever eat Colcannon

That's made from thickened cream,

With greens and scallions blended

Like a picture in your dream?

Did you ever take potato cake

When you went off to school

Tucked beneath your jacket

With your book and slate and rule?

~Irish Children's rhyme~

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Another fun traditional food is Irish soda bread, which was a daily fare in Ireland, made fresh for breakfast and tea. Authentic Irish soda bread is made with sour milk, not butter milk, or milk soured by adding vinegar or lemon juice...you simply leave the milk out overnight to sour. It is said that they didn't use any sugar...but, I like to add a bit for sweetness. Here is a recipe I have from a Victorian Holiday Book I refer to.

I know, I know a green tea frappuccino is by no means IRISH...

But it is GREEN and sooo good... Go get one today !

You won't be sorry !!

Have a GREEN kind of day !!

Peanut Butter Heaven !!!

We made the most heavenly cookies this week !!

Thought we should share with those who have never had a Peanut Butter Cup Cookie before !!!!

You won't be able to eat just one !! Each cookie is filled with a delightful Reeses Peanut Butter Cup center....oh man !!!!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

They are soooo yummy, it will melt in your mouth.

Enjoy !!!!

Home Sweet Home .....

Welcome !!!

As I have said before, There is no place like home that is for sure. A place of comfort and joy. A home filled with love and those you love.

I have been at work in my little corner studio in my house... and started dreaming as I always do.... Here's what I came up with.

Introducing my new design

" Doll House"

A fun colorful quirky piece to brighten your Spring or anytime !

* NOTE: This Doll House has been

SOLD !!!

Thank You.

More coming soon !!

She is complete with a door that opens , a house number and key.

Open the door to see a sweet message.

I will be making a few more of these in different colors as well as accepting special orders.

Please e-mail me at

garboodlesdolls@yahoo.com

if you are interested in

ordering a custom piece please let me know. More Doll Hoses are coming soon !!!

$ 55.00 + a low shipping cost.

Hope you are having a cheerful Springy kind of day !!!

* Hope you will come back to visit....

I am having two give aways really soon !!!!

Victorian Country Home... A Simple Life...

Or is it ??

We went on a lovely field trip to a local historical museum a couple weeks back. We toured this sweet Victorian Country home Built by Jesse Pomeroy in 1890. The SIMPLE Victorian house displays Queen Anne/East lake details, including a complex seven-gable roof line and fish scale shingles.

The completely restored and furnished home features special displays throughout the year including quilts during February and March and wedding gowns each June. Each December it is transformed with Victorian Christmas decorations. Antique decorations and clothing from their large textile collection are rotated seasonally. Above is the sitting room. The fireplace was not an original piece to the house. The furnishings were SIMPLY sweet. In the middle of it all there was a modest formal dining room fit for entertaining.

In the later 1900's a Pastor from a Lutheran Church in Escondido lived in the home for many years with his wife and five children. Their wedding photo is actually above the fireplace in the photo above.

Life in this little home was SIMPLE in a way, yet at the same time just think how it was actually very hard work to keep such a small home. Imagine grinding your own coffee beans by hand or having to kill your own chicken or cow for dinner? Making your own bread, using your own fresh fruits and veggies from your garden , making jams, butter, fetching your eggs from the hen house and milking your own cow twice a day? Women would have to wash their families clothes by hand and hang to dry. Work was never finished in a little country home in that time.

The kitchen is sweet and SIMPLE filled with the resourceful necessities of everyday life. The pantry is filled with just the right spices and ingredients a homemaker would need....

No boxed cereal or potato chips here !

Ahhh, the little girls room upstairs...SIMPLE furnishings, SIMPLE toys & dolls, yet has such charm and surely kept a little girl dreaming for hours.

Another SIMPLE bedroom with a lovely piece of art ( A QUILT ) sweet dolls on a side table. There was also a sewing machine where the mother could sew up her clothing for the family.

A little boys room...SIMPLE bed and dresser, a trunk, probably filled with magic !!! You would find books and bears, marbles and wooden toys here. Notice the little pot under the bed? This home does not have a bathroom. If they had to go in the middle of the night without having to run all the way to the outhouse, they would SIMPLY do their business in the little pot kept under their beds... I wonder who in the heck had to empty the pots in the morning...BLAH !!!

The last room is the parents bedroom. Another wonderful quilt... and yet again the SIMPLEST furnishings. It was truly delightful to see.... if you would like a tour yourself

Take a virtual tour here.

Whatever happened to the SIMPLER life... busy,busy always on the run, stopping by the fast food joints to grab dinner, buying our children the latest gadget. Tis funny to me to see all these kids walking around with headphones in their ears, texting on a cell phone wearing the latest fashions. People are so busy with thinking about what to wear, what kind of car they drive , how big their house is and what name brand furnishings will go with it. We buy our children loads of plastic toys that either break in an hour or less or that they could care less about in the first place.

Well, I can surely tell you I am learning.... I have found it is the SIMPLE things my kids truly appreciate. My daughter is thrilled just playing with a SIMPLE doll or the doll house I built for her.... My son is probably one of the only teens that doesn't have a cell phone... He can be found enjoying a SIMPLE book.

Bye bye Barbie, Polly Pockets, Action figures and Lego's !!!

We are going SIMPLE... It is the Simple things which will be treasured.

I hope you enjoyed these SIMPLE pictures...

Have a lovely weekend ahead !!!

SIMPLIFY !!

March Tid Bits

Tis finally Spring !!! What a grand time to hear God's wee feathered creatures chirping and singing their glory to their creator every early morn. It is such a delight to see the birds in our backyard roaming around, flying to and fro from their nests, preparing for their offspring.

These are the times we spend outdoors amongst all of God's glorious creations. This is to be my second favorite time of year, when the trees & flowers bloom, the sun shines yet warmer on our face, and new life is just beginning.

As for us...there are more activities to enjoy. My daughter started arena soccer for the first time. Her team is lovingly called the

She was so thrilled, yet got butterflies in her stomach right before entering the field. We told her just go out there and have fun and to make sure that she was kicking the ball in the right direction. She did sooo well. Their team even won !!! So we went out to celebrate with ice cream cones. Our Spring days have already been in the upper 70's low 80's. Youch !!!

Upcoming Events:

1. Swap & Shop Mom's nite out

2. High School Youth Day In Court

3. Showcase Science Fair

4. Wolf Center

5. A 5 mile walk with women of the church

6. Classics For Kids CLASSICS PHILHARMONIC

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Keep cool. I do hope this finds you all well and in good spirits.

Have a blessed week ahead !!