Showing posts with label WalMart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WalMart. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Tea-Baking-Books-Kindness

L👀k what has arrived @ WalMart!! ☕💛🍯☕💛🍯☕💛🍯😄

I regularly check tea aisles when shopping and was so pleased to find Harney & Sons at my local WalMart. Vanilla Comoro is a decaf tea, and my absolute favorite right now.  It smells like cream soda when you open the tin! I enjoy it with a splash of milk and local honey.  In fact, I enjoyed a cup on Sunday when I read a free download of a novella called A Goose Creek Christmas by Virginia Smith and paused after Ch. 1 to spontaneously make Millie's Apple Cinnamon Muffins listed in the book.  Although I slightly overcooked the mini loaves, they were quite tasty with the tea, on a very rainy day!


CLICK HERE TO FIND BOOK DOWNLOAD
Millie’s Apple Cinnamon Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour 
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk or canned coconut milk
1 T. canola oil
3 T. unsweetened, natural applesauce
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups peeled apples, diced


Topping
½ cup brown sugar
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ cup old-fashioned oats
3 T. butter, room temperature
½ cup nuts, finely chopped (optional)


Preheat oven to 375°. Spray muffin tins (18 regular size or 12 large size) with cooking spray or line with paper cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In a second bowl, stir together the buttermilk or coconut milk, oil, applesauce, egg, and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Do not overmix.
Fold in the diced apples.
For the topping, combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and oats. Cut in the butter. Add the nuts, if desired, and combine with a fork until crumbly.
Fill each muffin cup three-fourths full with batter and then sprinkle with the topping.
Bake for 20 minutes or until muffins are browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let muffins cool for 10 minutes before removing from tins.
Makes 18 regular size or 1 dozen large muffins.


As for the book, I would give it 3 to 4 stars, but only because I far prefer historical fiction. What I did like about this story was that there were characters of all ages. It was a pleasant diversion, but I doubt I would seek out the other books. The writing is decent, just not "wow". However, it is a clean read, which I always appreciate.


Now some other thoughts:
Some of my blogging & IG friends have posted some lovely reminders I wanted to share, along with my own.

Abbey at Little Birdie Blessings blog

Stephanie at The Enchanted Rose blog
MyTeaJourney on Instagram

I will pray for our president, just as I did the last one.
I will pray for our country.  I will pray for unity.
I am grateful for prayer, and the freedom to do so.
God bless you all. Hugs and a cup of tea,


Thursday, May 12, 2016

Peonies and Pencils

Two days ago I purchased some peonies.  Squeeeee....!!!!
I have been waiting for Trader Joe's to get these in stock.  I loved them so much last year when I bought them as a hostess gift for someone. But, when I went back, they were gone :( (booo!)

I quickly gave these a fresh cut and arranged them into a mason jar, so they would be ready for our afternoon tea.

They are amazing.  You can practically see them change and open as the hours tick by!

Here is how they look after 48 hours.
Gorgeous Peonies
 Last week I discovered a HUGE display of the newly popular "adult" coloring books at WalMart.  I personally do not consider these just for adults, as I have been copying them for my daycare kiddos, and nieces as well.
After browsing for quite some time, I finally settled on the one I was first pulled to (naturally), which I had already "favorited" on CBD.com.
It was on sale for $9, & no s/h (whoop!) :)
One of my "love languages" is "Words of Aspiration".  This book is filled with them, so it truly speaks to my heart.
TEA represented. YEEEEEES!!!!
There are several styles throughout... a little something for everyone.
Here is the one I did yesterday. I plan to mail it to my sponsored child in Guatemala, along with a copy she can color :)
The pages are perforated at the top, so you can easily remove them.
 There are even some cute bonus pages at the back, like these bookmarks and 
 
these gift tags. 
Sometimes, when I scan a page, I like to shrink it (printing 4 to a page), and add personalization (like this scripture).
I then print them on small, papercrafting pages to use as tuck-ins when mailing to people.  Some people (ahem, me) might be intimated by coloring a larger page, so this might help.
Besides colored pencils, my niece loves coloring on the phone.
So I decided to attempt something else!
I scanned this page and saved it. 
I emailed it to myself.
I opened it in my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 4).
I clicked save.
I clicked the edit button and used my stylus to create this:
You have to be a little creative, because you are coloring on top of the picture.  It also takes patience.  However, it was a fun diversion.
I'm thinking this might be easier on an iPad or something similar. 
Once I was satisfied,
 I clicked save again, 
and was able to email & text it to friends/family, 
and upload it like a regular picture.

Well, I hope you are inspired and find joy
in simple pleasures.

God bless you readers! Hugs and a cup of tea,
UPDATE: Just 24 hours after
posting my blog, my peonies 
have changed to this color:
sort of antique looking.
So interesting :)