Tanzanite, Tuquoise & Topaz Tuesday...

I'm going to treat myself to a birthday present this year. I want a new birthstone ring. Not an expensive one, but one that is considered a fashion ring with my birthstone in it. 

My birthday is in December. And for some reason, December has FOUR different birthstones. One is called Tanzanite. The International Gemstone Color Association (IGCA) says "Tanzanite is an extraordinary gemstone. It occurs in only one place worldwide. Its blue, surrounded by a fine hint of purple, is a wonderful colour. Thanks to its unusual aura and the help of the New York jeweller's Tiffany, it has rapidly become one of the most coveted gemstones in the world.It is named after the East African state of Tanzania, the only place in the world where it has been found."

Okay...let's rethink tanzanite. Rare? One place in the world to fine it? Tiffany's uses it? Yep, way out of this girls price range. So my next choice is turquoise. I do like turquoise but I always feel like I should dress in suede and fringe and move to Arizona or New Mexico. Don't know why I feel that way, but I do if I want to wear turquoise jewelry. 

So that brought me to my next birthstone. The beautiful, beautiful blue of Zircon. I really like it. But it is a very dense gem and therefore the weight of it is heavier which means a smaller stone if I want the ring to be comfortable. Plus the IGCA says it is more brittle and easier to crack, chip or break. So mark that off my list. 

Which leaves me with the Blue Topaz. The blue topaz is a man made gem that is made using special processes to create a clear topaz into a blue topaz. There are blue topaz gems in real gems, but they are rare and hard to find. So I'm sure they would be too expensive. But I do love the man made blue. It comes in various shades depending on the process they use. 

So I went searching for rings I might like in the blue topaz. This was one that I liked.  

But this is one I fell in love with. 

Would love to know what your birthstone is....

Weekend wrap up...

I came home one evening last week and had all this by my door. 

The long package was a fall serving tray. I have a friend that I swap items with occasionally that we are going to get rid of with each other. She had dropped off this wonderful tray. 

And the bag was from her with this cute pumpkin and little candles. The candles actually work and the "flame" has a spooky face on them for Halloween.

And I was super excited when she included some of her famous tea cakes that she bakes. I was thrilled to get some of them from the recent batch.

The box was some free books I had gotten from Samaritan's Purse. I have had a couple of these before, but someone borrowed them before I got to read them and I told them to keep them. So I finally got around to ordering me some more. 

I also wanted to show you this recipe book I picked up at a thrift store. It has the recipe of what to put in the jar and then recipe cards printed out (3 copies of each recipe) that you can tie to the jar as a gift. It's really neat. 

Saturday on my way to work, I stopped by the Dollar General to look for a plastic tablecloth. I just wanted a cheap plastic one for a little work table I use in the kitchen. Since I have sunflowers on my curtains and fall is just around the corner. I decided on this one along with this new dish towel for fall. 

I love when I can use PIA (Pyrex in Action) for my meals. The sunflower casserole dishes is holding my homemade bacon gravy warm while I fry some eggs. It was all delicious. 

That was my lunch for Sunday because I was afraid I would not feel like cooking it for supper and I really wanted it bad. Then afterwards I made a Duncan Hines Swiss Chocolate cake with my homemade chocolate icing. It was out of this world. 

Seriously thinking about offering a dessert service for people who need cakes, cookies and simple desserts for gatherings and don't have time to make them. Just basic items, nothing elaborate and fancy. Hmmm, something to consider.

We are blessed to welcome The Wilmington Celebration Choir at our church today for morning worship. They are fabulous. This is a video of them at our church the last time we had them visit with us. If you are in the area, join us at Beech Springs Baptist in Kodak, TN. We would love to have you.

Fun Vintage Decor

I love Christmas decor and am always looking for new ideas. Check out some of these cute things that caught my eye on Pinterest.

Friday Foto Friends

I saw a wonderful sky yesterday with a unique cloud they call a cloud shelf. It was so amazing. As I watched the sky changing as I was driving to work, I knew I had to stop at Walmart parking lot and get pics for Friday Foto Friends. 

This one scared me. It looked like an alien ship was about to land.

As I left Walmart and headed toward Pigeon Forge, I would snap a pic anytime I got caught by a light. The sky changed every few minutes as the storm moved closer in.

Fifteen minutes after I left Walmart I was getting near work and look how black the sky was. This one scared me more than the first scary one did. See how dark the road got. This was at 10:30 in the morning.

Sure enough, soon after the black cloud the raindrops started falling, but not too hard or fast.

Of course, by the time I got in the parking lot it was raining hard and so windy that my umbrella wasn't much protection. So I did get a little wet. 

It left as fast as it came and it turned out to be a beautiful day. I worked until around dusk and as I stopped at Waffle House for some hash browns. I realized we had a beautiful sky at night as well. 

So I thought it was a perfect way to end my day by taking more pics for this post.

Ms. Debbie I HOPE you like the pics I got for this weeks Friday Foto Friends!

Gravy and biscuits..

I don't know about other parts of the world, but in the South we love our biscuits and gravy. And not just for breakfast. Ask just about any Southerner and they will say they love to have breakfast for supper (which for those of you who do not speak Southern, supper is dinner to more refined folks).

I occasionally will have a hankerin' for breakfast for supper. Sometimes I want bacon and sometimes I want sausage and sometimes I have been known to make both. 

And a breakfast supper is not complete without biscuits. I am not a homemade biscuit kind of gal though. I like Hungry Jack to do all the work and I just pop the can and place them in the oven.  Sometimes it is buttermilk flaky but mostly it is southern style. 

And if I am having biscuits for supper there had better be gravy. But here is where my West Virginia roots show through. We do sausage gravy don't get me wrong. But Mom made a lot of bacon gravy when I was little so that's my favorite. It is simply equal amounts of flour and bacon grease made into a rue, then add salt, pepper and milk and cook it down. It is one of the rare completed homemade items I know how to make and actually tastes delicious. This popped up in my Facebook from 2 years ago when I made it. And that's what started me craving breakfast for supper.

Of course, add in some fried eggs and a skillet of hash browns and you won't have just breakfast. You will have a heart attack on a plate. But oh, it is so good. 

What to do, what to do?

Yesterday I didn't have to be a work until 2:00 p.m. because I was on a different shift for that one day. On Monday, I was off work and I cleaned my house and caught up all my laundry. Even took some time to work on re-organizing some new craft supplies. I wasn't in the mood to watch TV and I had just finished my book and wasn't in a mood to start a new one. 

So I kept thinking "what to do, what to do?" And my mind wandering like it always does put the thought in my head "I wonder what size Christmas tree will go in my new place this year." Which let me to wonder where I am even going to put the Christmas tree? So I walked into the living room to take a look at the furniture layout and realized I wish I could somehow put it in front of my front window. 

So I slid some furniture out and rearranged it and wah-lah! I now can move a tea cart and a small shelf during the holidays and my tree has a perfect place to go. 

And I can't believe how much floor space it opened up.

I am so happy. Now I just have to get me a new tree. I sold the one I got last year because it was so huge. Time to start getting ideas and then scope out the Black Friday ads when Thanksgiving rolls around so I can get a good deal.