Mmmm...chicken!

From the web site, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks"...www.thepioneerwomancooks.com. These chicken legs were WONDERFUL! I made a pan gravy to go over the legs. I served it with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed carrots and parsnips. Great comfort meal. Thanks, Pioneer Woman! And, by the way, for those of you not familiar with Ree; AKA, Pioneer Woman -- you should be. Visit her famous, fabulous blog at http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/.

Antique plates

My mom bought these lovely plates (and matching teacups - in my china cabinet right now) several years ago. They're made by Staffordshire (England) and the pattern is English Garden. Can't you just picture the teacup in its rightful place (see the marking on the plate where the teacup goes?) along with a couple of scones on the plate? Too bad I've never done so...guess I'm just not into hosting a tea party!

Snowman & Snowflake theme

Here's my latest kitchen shelf arrangement...which will be taken down this weekend and replaced with Valentine's Day decorations!

Just one of the yucky things about winter in the Midwest

There is no possible way to keep your car clean. This is what my poor car looks like after a couple of weeks of snow and road salt:

Oh, Rats!

These two cute little rodents are my son's pet rats, Dot and Li'l Bit. We became enamored with these creatures as pets a few years ago when we had our first four. (They've since passed away - rats don't live very long.) People mistakenly think rats are nasty, huge, smelly, and mean. They are thinking "sewer rats". These little "pet" rats (OK, they're really sold in pet stores as "feeder" rats - meaning they're sold to feed to snakes - yuck) are not much bigger than mice, they're very clean creatures, and actually have personalities! They love to be held and played with and they don't bite. In fact, they say if you don't have enough time every single day to pay attention to them and play with them, then you shouldn't have them as pets. They're very social creatures.