Karen's Green Picture Wall

I got this idea from my creative friend Kerr, who actually built her own house and has an eye for colours and detail ! In her office, she put up a wall "Tree" transfer that you can buy at Wallmart or HomeSense or wherever. They are a rub stick on....anyways....she put the tree up and put black frames around the tree, creating a "Family Tree" ! So I took her idea ( thanks Kerr ! ) and went with it.

I found green paint , painted the one wall ( yep, and not the whole hall !! ) and knew what I wanted to do. When I shopped in the USA-Bath and Beyond store--and they had this "Tree" Frame idea already in a box ! I bought it, and Ed put it up for me. It turned out great ! Of course we added more frames, planned it out the way it looked the best the wall. The floating shelf underneath the "Family Tree" will have a lamp on it and a few more frames. An easy and creative home project !

Krafty Karen Kreated by Kerr !!!

Always Remember...

"In Flanders Fields"

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place: and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

the torch; be yours to hold it high.

If we break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep,

though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.

The pictures above are me. I was in the infantry division of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada Regimental from 1990-1993, out of Cambridge Ontario.

The group picture- I am last standing behind my Master Corporal- in Bordon training Blackdown"C" when I graduated in summer of 1990, Infantry Division.

On each Remembrance Day I remember marching in a Rememberance Day parade in Cambridge wearing my full get up dress gear. What a great feeling to march in a parade on a day like Remembrance Day!

So a shout out to my old Regiment in Cambridge ! Have a great parade and have a beer on me !

Remember to honour the heroes of yesterday and today who gave their lives for our Freedom !

Karen Wiersma

( PTE MARSHALL 1990-1993)

My Pumpkin Loaf turned out great !!

Well, my pumpkin loaf turned out great ! It was not as dark as the one I bought- but still I am happy with it !

Pumpkin Loaf

• 1 1.4 cups brown sugar


• 1/2 cup cooking oil


• 1 2/3 cup cooked or canned pumpkin


• 2 eggs


• 2 1/2 cups flour


• 3 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp salt, ginger, ground cloves


• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Beat together 1 cup sugar, oil, pumpkin and eggs

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cloves , and 1 tsp cinnamon

Combine pumpkin mix with dry ingredients

Grease 2 loaf pans

Mix remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle over the loaves.

Bake 350@ 1 hour- or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Enjoy !!!!

PS- apparently my cookie recipe won in a competion- 3rd place !

Karen

What to do with leftover carved out Pumpkins ! ?

I bought a yummy "Pumpkin Loaf" at a bazzar over the weekend. I loved it soooo much, I ate it all myself and thought, I can make this!!!!
We already got rid of our 2 large pumpkins from Halloween, and we had 3 little weeeeee ones outside still.....ummmmm.....can I do this??
I go on line--read what the instructions on how to boil pumpkin from scratch and find the easiest "Pumpkin Loaf" recipe I could find.
Well ! Those little weeee pumpkins were sooooooo hard to cut into !! I soaked them in hot water for awhile, rinsed them off and I still could not cut it open. Mind you, I only had a steak knife in the house to do this....where was a chain saw or electric knife when I needed it???? So I go on line, and it tells me to Microwave the pumpkin a few minutes then try it again....follow the instructions like you would a large potato ! So in it went- x3 of them......heated them up and then tried cutting it ! Yikes !! It was sooo hard, but a bit easier to cut it open. So I hack away and cut the pumpkin away from its skin and put in in my crockpot. Yep= you can do this ! Who knew? So on high for about 3 hours, a bit of water, I threw in pumpkin spices, and voila ! Cooked pumpkin :) I just have to strain it and prepare to make a pumpkin loaf ( all for me ) LOL---i will see how it turns out---it may even be a good Christmas gift for someone....the Recipe I got makes 2 loafs- I hope I have enough cooked pumpkin and then some left over to freeze, which you can for 6 months.
The results coming up with a Pumpkin Loaf Recipe !

Karen

Grandparents Day Oct 26th 2011 PCS

Grandparents Day October 2011

Every year , Kyler's school hosts a Grandparents/Special Friend Day. Usually a Wednesday in October. Sometimes, both sets of Grandparents go, or one set or just one grandparent goes and visits Kyler in his school. They get treated like royalty of course ! They get a litte show put on by all the grades, a tour of the classrooms and even a lunch ! This year , Grandma and Grandpa Wiersma went for a visit. They enjoyed their morning at the school and came by to visit Kijin and myself in the afternoon. What a great day !

A Bee, Dragon and a Knight oh my !

Kijin , the BEE was the cutest BEE we have ever seen ! I took him to work in the morning to buzzzz around the office, with his BEE costume on, where of course he was the show of the morning ! Buzzzzzzzz.............We put him in front of the mirror and he loved himself as the BEE-he was kissing the mirror ! AWWWW !

On Halloween night, We put him in his Dragon outfit ! AWWW ! Once again , he loved himself all dressed up and did a little dance in front of the mirror! Kyler was the knight- with a Dragon companion!!!!

We hope everyone had a good Halloween !!!

At the Pumpkin Patch

Off to the Pumpkin Patch we go ! Kijin's first Pumpkin pictures and first Halloween !

We headed off to a nearby farm and picked our pumpkins ! Kijin is (16 months) having a seat right in the middle !

Here is Kyler ( 10 years old) who was in charge of picking out 5 pumpkins and pushing the wheelbarrow out to the car !


Unfortunately, these huge pumpkins did not come home with us !

And these what our pumpkins looked like after ! Kyler and I carved them out and I also cooked the pumpkin seeds ! Yummy ! Not bad eh?

Happy Halloween !