Earthquakes and Hurricanes....Oh My!!

One's family goes away on vacation and we missed all the fun!  While we were away, our area felt the earthquake that rattled the East coast and then along came hurricane Irene!  We were delayed getting home by two days and the first day of school was cancelled.  

We are thankful to our friends and neighbors that kept an eye on our home and made sure that everything was secured before and after the storm.  

Hopefully over the next few days, I can get caught up on blog reading, emails, laundry, etc.  Then I will post again with some pictures and some thank-yous!

My thoughts and prayers go out to those that were more severely affected by mother nature this past week.

Sweet Rain, Summer Fun and Some Goodies!

***EDITED TO ADD MUFFIN RECIPE***

We have finally had some rain here!!  The gardens are looking a little happier now and it will be much easier to pull all the weeds that have taken over! 

The boys have been keeping busy doing summertime things.  Swimming, riding bikes, reading, etc.  Good old fashioned summer fun!

 

 

Here is my oldest and one of his friends practicing with their BB guns.  They are planning on taking the hunter safety course later this fall.   No worries, right now they are only shooting at milk jugs and empty soda cans!



We've also done some cooking and dish washing.  In our house, we let bananas get extra ripe just so we can make chocolate, chocolate chip, banana muffins!  Yummy!

 

Of course, you can't bake without licking the bowl!

 

And if you want the first muffin, you help with the dishes - don't you just love the dish washing outfit!!

Here are the muffins cooling - after which they will be dusted with powdered sugar!

We also made some zucchini soup, but I neglected to get a picture of that before it was all gone..

I was able to get my exchange package put together and sent, sorry, I can't show you the pictures yet.  I received my package yesterday, and as soon as everyone receives theirs, I will be able to post pictures.  So, I can't show you, but I can tell you that I had a wonderful exchange partner!

I can show you are some goodies I received in the mail.  First up is this adorable tissue pack holder from Stitchin' Sweet Sue.  She gave three of these away during a giveaway to celebrate 200+ followers!  Mine is the Burnt Garden Dots pattern - too cute - I love it! Thanks again Sue!

 

And next, Catherine, some of you may know her as diamondc, had a giveaway.  Now, I wasn't the first name picked, but she found another pattern to send out and my name was picked!  Red Bird Sampler by Ewe and Eye And Friends.  What a sweet pattern!  It looks like it will be fun to stitch.  Thanks Catherine!! 

 

Hopefully, I'll have some stitching to show soon and will be able to share the exchange pieces!  For now, I'm going to enjoy what's left of summer with the boys!

Thanks for stopping by.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFINS
The pictures in this post represent a double batch of muffins.

1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (I always use three bananas - and let them get really ripe!)
Blend the above ingredients until creamy.

Sift together and add to the above:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Blend until smooth.
Fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips. 
Fill your muffin cups (I usually fill mine 1/2 to 3/4 full - depends on how big you like your muffins)
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes
When cool, dust with confectioner's sugar and enjoy!!
(They are also good warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream)

FYI.....

*Edited on August 7th*

Another great giveaway by Happiness is Cross Stitching.  This one ends on August 28th.  Here is a picture of the beautiful items up for grabs!


Just a quick post to let you all know about a giveaway at Lee Hill Primitives. The giveaway ends August 26th, so head on over and check it out.  I tried to add it to my giveaway section on my sidebar, but for some reason, when I pull that up to edit, it keeps getting stuck.

Don't forget to also check out Jennifer's giveaway at Feather's in the Nest.   This one ends soon - August 6th is the last day to enter! A winner is to be drawn on August 7th.

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend - I'm going to try and get some stitches in!!