In the country at night

I have lived in both town and country and can I just say that night time in the country is 10 times louder than in the city. In the city it's just people shouting, car engines and the occasional siren, I can sleep in the city with my windows open, the sounds of the city streets become white noise and I can sleep like a baby.
In the country it's a whole different ball game, during the day time, the only sounds I hear are the birds chirping and children laughing... love it, but at night, OMG, whole different ball game, it starts with the crickets chirping, quickly followed by what must be some of the biggest bull frogs, then the cicadas kick off, followed by an owl in the nearby woods and the Whip-Poor-Wills.
I love to sit out under the stars with a mug or glass of something and take in all the sounds around me, but when it's time for bed forget it, no windows open in this house, the sounds are so loud and so different that they never become white noise and alas I have to close up my windows, if I were to fall asleep to the night time orchestra, I would awaken at 5am, to the Dawn Chorus of all the birds that manage to roost and sleep in the trees around us.
Never in a million years would I have believed the country to be a place of endless noise at night

The winner is .....

Victoria from http://victoriamiller.typepad.com/the-granny-diaries/ (sorry my link up still isn't working)
Victoria.. the dinosaur print lunch kit will be on its way tomorrow.

To the rest of you thank you so much for entering.

Several of you asked where I bought my PUL from, I buy mine from Hancock Fabrics

Giveaway Day

It's Giveaway Day again over at sew mama sew (Click the title of this post and it'll take you over there) and to celebrate the beginning of the picnic season I am giving away one reusable lunch kit in your choice of fabrics offered. Each kit comes complete with a Sandwich wrap, 2 snack bags and a cloth napkin. No more plastic bags or paper napkins filling up the landfills.
Sandwich wraps double as a placemat, no more lying your food on nasty picnic or cafeteria tables.
Each wrap and snack bag is lined with PUL (Polyurethane laminated fabric) making them easy to keep clean, just wipe them down and reuse time and time again, want to throw them in the washing machine ? No problem. How about the clothes dryer ? Absolutely, though air drying would be better.
Want to win a set ? just leave me a comment telling me one of your favorite Summer activities along with your fabric choice.
This Giveaway is open to everyone(yes even all of you across the pond) and will close midnight May 20th. On May 21st early in the morning I will let the random generator work it's magic and post who the lucky winner is.

Good Luck !! and don't forget to check out all the other great giveaways. For some reason my link up won't work, so to find Giveaway participants go on over to www.SewMamaSew.com

Fabric choices
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Happy Birthday Dad

Had my Dad still been alive, today would have been his Birthday, I mentioned that to Reagan this afternoon and in true Reagan fashion she responded "Then we should bake his favorite cake" And so that is what we did.
Dad's favorite cake was a Victoria Sandwich Sponge cake filled with strawberries and fresh cream. As luck would have it I had gone strawberry picking with the girls yesterday and had made my first batch of jam for the season this morning, so everything was set for a wonderful Birthday cake and to remember the life of the person who would have devoured at least half of it.

Victoria Sponge Cake
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For the Cake
1/2 C butter, softened
1C Granulated sugar
4 Large eggs
2C Cake flour
2tsp Baking powder
Pinch of Salt
1tsp Vanilla extract
4 Tbsp Milk

Strawberry and Whipped cream filling
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4 Tbsp Strawberry Jam
2 C Fresh strawberries, sliced
1 1/2 C whipping cream, chilled
2 Tbsp Granulated sugar

Topping
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Confectioners sugar to dust
Strawberries to garnish

Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Butter and flour 2, 8 inch cake pans. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper

2. In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt

3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla; then add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. On low speed slowly add the flour mixture. When flour mixture has been fully incorporated add milk 1 tbsp at a time, mix well into the batter

4. Pour batter into each cake pan. Bake in pre heated oven for 20 - 25 mins.

5. Turn cakes out onto cooling rack after 10 mins, let cool completely

6. Once cakes are completely cooled, spread one layer with strawberry jam, add sliced strawberries on top of the jam.
Whip cream, adding 2 tbsp sugar, until peaks form. Spread over the strawberries. Place other layer on top.
Dust with powdered sugar and garnish with strawberries.
ENJOY !!!

Why I love Etsy

Etsy is becoming my one stop shopping spot, I can get pretty much anything I want/need all in one place without leaving my home and the best part is the people you find over there.
Recently I was hearted by a fellow Etsian who runs a soap shop, not sure what it was about her shop but I fell in love, it was one of those moments where you are pulled in but you're not sure why. I've never bought soap online, I don't like not smelling a product first, I have incredibly sensitive skin and so I'm really careful as to what I use on it and bar soap in general just does nothing for me, I'm a liquid soap kinda gal along w/ body wash on a scrubbie, though I will use a Dove soap bar on my face in the shower, but I was all out.
I contacted Deb the owner of the shop DedaNotions, explained to her about my sensitive skin and how dry my face gets and wondered if she had something. Right away she emailed me back telling me of her soap named 'Despair' Now I'll admit the name didn't make me feel real warm and fuzzy and then she went on to tell me how she'd originally made it for her son who was at the time suffering from acne, again that made me question it, why would I use the same soap as a kid w/ acne ? She also told me of her soap 'Innocence' totally fragrance free, sounded better than Despair too, right ? I debated trying one or the other and then she kindly offered to send me a sample of each.. ok, how's that for Customer Service ? A week went by and honestly, I never gave the soap samples much more of a second thought, though I did check out her shop a couple more times. Then this past Wednesday I went to my mail box and there was a pkg in there for me, I had no idea what it could be, I kept trying to remember what I'd ordered and then this awesome aroma came up from the envelope, Lemongrass to be exact.When I got into the house and opened up the package I was expecting to see small note card sized bars of soap, but instead Deb had sent me 2 full size bars, Holy cow !!! I emailed her right away and thanked her, she went onto tell me that she'd first mailed them to the wrong town, so the samples were returned to her, she felt horrid for the delay and so sent me 2 full size bars... O.M.G can we say "Excellent customer Service" I hadn't even considered it a delay and because she was sending me samples and not even wanting me to pay the S&H, so for her to go all out like that really impressed me.
The following day I tried both soaps and O.M.G (again) they're awesome. Despair is my absolute favorite soap of all time, it leaves my face feeling clean, moisturized and glowing after every wash, my face feels so good I don't even want to put make up on over it. I've used it for 4 days now and have already noticed a huge change in my complexion, it's no longer dull, it's healthy looking, my skin has honestly never felt better and the smell of the Lemongrass is to die for. Today I used it in place of my body wash and again I've fallen in love, Deb has herself a new customer.
I have also used the 'Innocence' bar on both my face and body, again with great results, but I like the smell of 'Despair' better, I am now using 'Innocence' on my 6 y/o, she thinks it's cool because it came in the mail and a "Lady really made this".
So if you're looking for a new soap go check out DedaNotions over at Etsy www.DedaNotions.Etsy.com I promise you , you won't be disappointed.

*Anyone know how I can directly link ? I used to be able to, now I just get a box pop up and my link won't copy in there, it goes directly to my text.*