{pretty, happy, funny, real} Extended Edition

   {pretty, happy, funny, real}                          

                                      

It's Thursday, so I'm linking up again with the terrific Like Mother, Like Daughter. As we celebrate Mother's Day, a number of birthdays and a couple of marriages in our family this month, I thought I'd share a few bits about my extended family that are {pretty, happy, funny, real}. 

My beautiful niece, Jeanette looking {pretty}

This pillow made me {happy}

Unfortunately, circumstances would not allow me to be present, but I spent the day of the wedding working on their gift and spending the time praying for their marriage. I came up with this idea of a pillow using linen and a photo from their engagement pictures. I'm so happy with it that I will probably be listing custom made pillows like this on my Piccolo Di Luce Etsy Shop soon. 

More {happy}

The quilt top

I also got the chance in the last few weeks to make a baby quilt for Thomas More College professors, Mr. Andrew and Mrs. Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs, who are expecting their first baby next month. As they teach The Way of Beauty course, and Mrs. Thompson-Briggs is an artist, I thought I would make a vintage style red-work embroidered quilt. My mom had given me a large container of vintage, hand-stitched strips, so I used those for the sashing and binding. I wasn't sure what color to do the border, so I sent a photo to Mary at school. She suggested mustard which was seconded by Sylvia, the owner of Greenbaum's Quilted Forest. I took their ideas and then machine quilted the whole thing before making the label. The best part was being able to pray for their family and especially the new baby as I worked on this {happy} quilt!

This is one {funny} little girl

My mom and I headed down to southern Oregon last weekend for a bridal shower for another niece and to celebrate Mother's Day with my sister. Normally, I wouldn't have gone, but since my kids are all at school until next week, I thought it would be fun. I was so right! One of my other nieces was visiting from Virginia with her little one, Zephora. She is so {funny}, and they were a great joy to be with during the weekend. The best part was they needed a ride to the airport in Portland, and a place to stay for a couple of days, so my husband and I got to host them during that time. While they were here, I took them up to Mt. Angel Seminary to visit Joshua and have a little tour. We ended up not only having coffee and walking around, but he invited us to join him and the other seminarians for lunch. My niece, Jael, loved it plus the baby was awesome!! I then took them to Fordyce Farms for the first strawberries of the season, and then we came home so I could teach Jael how to bake bread before they headed off early Tuesday. We also got to feed ZuZu (her new totally cool nickname that Unky Brian and I came up with and got the mom approval) her first taste of rice cereal. She wasn't sure about the spoon or the texture, but I'm pretty sure she'll be liking it a lot in just a little while. What a blessing it was for us to open our home and share the love and mercy God has given us!

{real} Gluten Free Banana Bread

So I mentioned the kids will all be home next week- did I mention how totally excited we are?!?!? 

Both Brian and I are looking forward to them being home for a number of reasons. I am sure he'll be glad to have others to do chores plus someone other than just me to talk with. To be honest, the talking thing works for me too- just keeping it {real} here, folks. As part of the preparing for them to be home, I did a little baking today. Now, for any of you that have read any of my posts, you may remember that we have a wacky eating family- I have one child who is celiac, one with a tree nut allergy and one with lactose intolerance plus I have to eat low sodium. Thankfully, Brian and Joshua don't have any food issues, so that makes it a bit easier. With that in mind, I made a couple loaves of banana bread, being sure to mark them well before popping them into the freezer. Since so many of you have a great recipe for regular banana bread, I thought I'd share this Gluten and Lactose Free version. I did make some with regular flour and no nuts for David, so everyone should be happy. Here's my G/F Banana Bread for you to try. Oh yeah, it tastes {real}, so don't be afraid to try it!

                                                        {REAL} BANANA BREAD

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (roughly two medium bananas) 

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil (I use rice bran oil, but use what you have) 

1 1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar 

1 1/2 cups G/F baking mix   

2 teaspoons baking powder 

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

1 cup walnut pieces 

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray 9" loaf pan with non-stick spray and line with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, beat the mashed bananas with the eggs, oil and brown sugar till combined. Add G/F baking mix, baking powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg; beat until well combined. Stir in the walnut pieces.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and spread evenly. Stud the top with some extra walnut pieces, if desired. Bake on the center rack for 55 to 65 minutes, if necessary, until the center is done (a wooden cake tester should emerge clean).

Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.

Eat right away or wrap in wax paper and foil and freeze for up to a couple of weeks.

Makes one 9-inch loaf

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope you are having a wonderful month so far. Be sure to stop by Like Mother, Like Daughter to see what everyone's up to today at {pretty, happy, funny, real}.

{pretty, happy, funny,real} Spring Has Sprung edition

{pretty}

                                            

So the weather has been pretty wonderful here in the Mid-Valley over the last couple of weeks.  Of course, we're due for four days of rain starting tomorrow, but I just need to remember it's what keeps everything green.  While the sun's been shining, I took a little bit of time and popped some flowers into the two pots that sit on our front porch steps. I don't really know how long they'll last due my less-than green thumb, but they look so {pretty} at least for now.

{happy}

I made a really yummy low-sodium BBQ sauce today to pour over a small pork picnic I found on sale at Winco.  I've been trying to cook more for just the two of us as we have noticed that leftovers are good for a day or two but not a whole week. The smell of the sauce cooking has been making me {happy} as it has brought back memories of going to Chris & Pitt's BBQ with my grandparents when I was a little girl.

I adapted this recipe from The Daily Dish, and here it is for you to try (trust me, you'll never miss the salt)!

LOW SODIUM SMOKY BBQ SAUCE

2- 8 oz. cans no-salt-added tomato sauce (I use Hunts)

1/2 c. finely diced onion (half sm/med onion)

2 t. minced garlic (2 cloves)
2 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. olive oil
2 T. unsulphered molasses
1 T. honey
1 t. liquid smoke
1 1/2 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground paprika
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 t. ground cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until translucent. Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer, stirring occasionally over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a clean lidded jar or other airtight container. Refrigerate until use. 

{funny}

I've joined a Catholic women's pen pal group, and it's been so enjoyable.  I've also tried to write more letters to my kids and others who would hopefully like to receive a letter. While this endeavor may not seem to fit the {funny} part of this post, I realized this photo of my tea, vanilla ginger cake & letter writing fits it exactly.  I can't believe how much frosting I had put on that cake until comments like "lots of frosting, little cake" and others came up. All I know is that I didn't want leftovers, so I used the whole batch.  Of course, I think it was enough for a full size cake when this little one was only 6". At least it tasted delicious!

{real, oh so real}

Well, you can't get much more {real} than this.  A bunch of gals on Instagram have been posting photos of themselves with no make-up and no filters. I took this one yesterday, and I can't tell much of a difference. I thought of making this the {funny} part of the post, but I think it's just so {real}. I've tended to not worry about the physical things that come with getting older, and I'm glad about it. I've got too much other stuff to think about that is a while lot more important.  I hope you can focus today on what's truly important in your life as that's where we will be truly {real}.

Be sure to visit Like Mother, Like Daughter and check out the other bloggers who have {pretty, happy, funny, real} stuff to share.

                                               

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Green Edition

Since today is the Feast Day of St. Patrick, I thought I'd do a "Green" edition of this week's {pretty, happy, funny, real} link up with Like Mother, Like Daughter. I'm not Irish, but part of my husband's family is from Donegal, Ireland. You can read more about St. Patrick's life here.

{pretty}

We've had so much rain in the Mid-Willamette Valley this winter that our whole yard is blooming including plants that most people think of as weeds. So much green everywhere! We have one space in the backyard where these yellow flowery plants grow. I'm sure they are weeds, but the green and yellow make for a very {pretty} area.

{happy}

I was very blessed to be invited to coffee with my dear friends, Annette and Cristina on Tuesday. I had been wanting to have a reason for making this green scarf, so I got up early and stitched it up. Annette graciously picked me up since I'm still not supposed to be driving. We had been going for just coffee, and Cristina ended up making us breakfast {happy}. We thought we'd be there for a short while and ended up finally leaving after 4 1/2 hours. What a {happy} time we had being able to talk and share our journeys as wives and moms.

{more happy}

My oldest son has had a great experience at Mt. Angel Seminary taking part in so many cultural celebrations/feast days since the students are so diverse. He's shared about how the only group that hasn't done anything special are the anglo community. After talking with some of his fellow seminarians and getting the okay from the staff, he decided to head up at St. Patrick's Celebration. I decided to make some {happy} cookies to help the party- Whole Wheat Celtic Knot Sugar Cookies & Green Sparkle Sugar Cookies. I love that he planned everything from talking to the chef about making Irish food to being part of an Irish Band. Even though I haven't gotten the chance to talk with him, I am sure it was a {happy} success!

{fuuny}

Last week I shared about our {funny} cats. This week the {funny} is about Solomon the cat. I think it might be due to not having kids at home. I refuse to believe it's because I'm turning into a crazy cat lady!
So this weeks {funny} cat photo is Solomon loving on my sewing machine. He enjoys coming upstairs to my sewing room and sitting on my desk to look at the birds and the green leaves outside. The other day, I realized that Solomon also likes to rub his face all over my sewing machine. He doesn't touch the thread, so I've decided I am okay with him taking a like to the machine. I've decided I want to make a little quilt for him to lay on next to the machine. I just hope this isn't another indication of the crazy cat lady thing.

{real}

Wednesday nights from 9-10 will find me at our parish, St. Joseph Catholic Church, for my hour of Adoration. During most of the year (Ordinary Time on the Liturgical Calendar), the chapel is fairly empty, but as soon as Advent or Lent starts, it can sometimes be even standing room only. I am always so grateful to see other people come and join my husband and I in adoring the {real} presence of Christ. It just doesn't get any more {real} than this. If you haven't been to Adoration lately, consider going as many times as you can during the upcoming Holy Week. I will be praying for all of us that we can be sure we are keeping it {real}. 

Check out other {pretty, happy, funny, real} blogposts 

by visiting the link-up at 

Like Mother, Like Daughter.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Mangia Mamma style

{real}

                                                   

After so many years of enjoying the blog Like Mother, Like Daughter and especially their Thursday feature {pretty, happy, funny, real}, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and add my little bit to the link up. If you happen here and haven't been on their site be sure to head over there ASAP. So much great advice from Auntie Leila as well as great posts from all her girls.                                                     

{happy}

{more happy}

I must admit this may seem a bit self-serving as I get to show off a couple of my oratories. I haven't done an actual post on the new ones I've been making, but then again, I haven't been blogging much at all lately. So, here are a couple examples that make me very happy. The top one is the little pocket oraatory I sent to Auntie Leila as a thank you for her encouragement. She in turn was kind enough to post about it, and let me do a giveaway. How fun it was to make one for Hannah in Pennsylvania!
I've even made a few that have gone overseas. The bottom photo one is a special custom order I did that will be going to France (hence the French prayer). It has been such a blessing and joy to make these as it's a little way for me to help others draw closer to Christ through prayer.
With that in mind, I've also started making little wool felt Rosary cases. They have an image of Our Blessed Mother on them as well as a prayer. There are lots of choices of images and prayers which is a fun way to personalize your case. Just like the pocket oratories, you can find them at my Etsy shop, Piccolo Di Luce.

{pretty}

Jospehine {funny}

Solomon {funny}

I guess with all going on in our family that the {funny} is sometimes hard to find. Thankfully, even with the kids gone, our dog and cats keep us entertained. I'm not sure if that's a sign that we're not getting out enough, but it could be. Nonetheless, it's a humorous sight to see the three kitties jumping on our bed like a small herd of starving animals every morning, making me glad they are all fairly small for cats. Here's at least two of the three trying to look at least somewhat cute, if not funny!!



The last part is a bit more of the {real}. We are starting the process of trying to finally remodel the house (after 20 years of living in it). Between Brian's OCD and my Meniere's Disease, it will be quite a feat if we pull it off. This is where I finally realized this morning- sometimes it takes me a while to use my brain- that we need to not only be on the same page, but we need to be praying together for each aspect of this endeavor. I am hoping this draws us closer to both each other and to our Lord. It just can't get much more {real} than that.

{real} kitchen is on the remodel list

Be sure to check out all the great posts on the Like Mother, Like Daughter 

{pretty, happy, funny, real} link up today!!