For All of my Cooking and Baking Friends!

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!
The Prize:
The winner will receive a brand new Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!

About the mixer:
From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.

New Friends - Sunday Scribblings

The theme for Sunday Scribblings this week is “new.” It could be new hopes, new dreams, or new year’s resolutions.

“The shortest distance between new friends is a smile.”
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A few days ago, my son and his friend were riding in the back of my Forerunner on our way to spend Christmas gift cards. They were playing a game where they waved at people in other cars and tried to get the people to wave back at them. They decided that the people who waved back were nice, and the people who didn’t wave back were “sour.”

As we were walking in to Target discussing their poor results (1 in 5 waved back), I told them to smile at people because if you smile at someone, they will smile back. I believe that is true, and we had fun putting the theory to the test. I'm going to take my own suggestion and try to smile more. People can’t help but smile back, and it fits with my intention to project happiness even when I might not be feeling very happy. Maybe in the process, I will make a new friend. I am reminded of a song we used to sing at Campfire Girl camp:
"Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. "


Image - http://lonestartimes.com/2007/08/14/

To read how others responded to the prompt "new," click here.

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Thursday Thirteen #13

I am in the mood to reminisce a little, thinking about my birthplace and my hometown, where I have spent most of my life. I still live within a 45 minute drive of Humble, Texas, and my mom still lives there as do many of my friends. I miss living there, so here is a bit of historical trivia about my hometown.
1. Humble is located 18 miles northeast of Houston, Texas.
2. George Bush Intercontinental Airport is 5 minutes away.

3. Humble is named for Englishman Pleasant S. Humble, a San Jacinto River ferry operator whose family settled there before the (US) Civil War.
4. The “H” is silent (pronounced “umble” not “humble”).
5. Located on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, later the Houston, East, and West Texas Railway.

6. The station was once known as “the rabbit” because railroad passengers shot rabbits when the train stopped on its way from Houston to Shreveport.
7. The First United Methodist Church of Humble was established in 1886. (Click on the link for an inside look at the historic chapel.) This is where both my sister and I were baptized, confirmed, and married.
8. The first school in Humble was established in 1890 and had 50 students, and I taught for the school district from 1993-2004.
9. Humble became a pioneer oil “boom town” in 1904 when oil was discovered in an area known as Moonshine Hill (figure that one out).
10. In 1905, Humble had the largest producing oilfield in Texas.

11. Ross Sterling (later, a governor of Texas) founded the Humble Oil and Refining Company in 1911.
12. Humble Oil became known as Exxon over two decades ago.
13. In 1912, during a drill, what was supposed to be oil turned out to be a free-flowing artesian well which later provided water to the bath houses and private homes. It is still flowing today and is located across the street and half a block from the Church.


Historical Information about Humble, TX can be found here and here and here.
I hope you enjoyed my brief history lesson!

Wordless Wednesday

It doesn't usually snow where I live in Texas, but on Christmas Eve a couple of years ago, it did. This is our dog, Rocky, wondering what that cold, white stuff is!