Love is...Fruit Cocktail Cake and Blue Skies

Don't forget to leave a comment on on Pink Saturday.Spiritual Sunday/Memorial Day post all rolled into one for a chance to win a terrific pink surprise! The rule is very simple just leave a comment there and be a follower! Easy!

I am sharing a sweet Love is....today

 I hope you stop by Marydon's and join all the girls who participate. It is such fun!

This Love is... portraits my life. It has been one of very little materialistic gain. Lots of love, lots of fun and a great big phamily! So I am celebrating this with my Blue Day post of blue skies. I hope you join Sally and all the other wonderful participates of this Blue Monday meme.

I was thinking of a fun cake my Sweets said his late mom use to bake for them. She worked for 20 years in the college cafeteria at SCSC in my hometown. Southern Colorado State College at Pueblo. But because my late mother-in-law was a baker I am sharing a simple fruit cocktail cake recipe she made for the kids when they were growing up.

Fruit Cocktail Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 can fruit cocktail, 15 oz. with juice
1 can crushed pineapple. 20 oz. with juice
2 large eggs
1 3-4 oz. package instant lemon pudding.
8 oz. whipping cream or Cool Whip

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 17 x 11 pan. Mix the packaged cake mix with 1/4 cup pineapple with juice, the fruit cocktail and two eggs. Beat for about 30 seconds with an electric mixer. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat another 2 minutes. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20-23 minutes until sides spring back from the sides of the pan! Cool on a wire rack.
For the topping mix the pudding mix with the remaining pineapple with juice and prepare whipped cream if using fresh. Otherwise add the pudding/pineapple mixture to the cool whip and frost cooled cake. Refrigerate until serving time.

Finally come enjoy the blue skies I found for you today to celebrate Blue Monday. I have added a Memorial Day surprise in blue too.

Thoughts of a Soldier
I struggle to see my objective for the sand blowing in my eyes,
I hear sounds of  explosions like thunder from the sky,
My mouth in dry and my body aches,
I must push on no matter what it takes,
the lives of so many innocent keep running through my mind,
I know this is why my country has me put my life on the line,
So don't lose hope America, we do this for you,
For all your soldiers bleed red,white and blue.
Submitted by Jimmy L. Ashburn

DANCING

I have missed many weeks of Alphabe Thursday. I want to get back into the swing of it! So here goes...dancing! I love to dance! I am not a prima ballerina or a hip hop star. I am no Ginger Rogers . I just like music and I dance when I hear music!
So my "D" word today is  dancing for Alphabe Thursday!

As a child I loved Fred Astaire. I loved watching him dance. I watched the movie "Singing in the Rain" with Gene Kelly many times! He was a favorite dancer of mine too. I liked the new style of John Travolta and Patrick Swayze. I watched Richard Simmons help ladies dance themselves slim! I love "Zumba" the new dancing exercise rage and I admit it, I even watch "Dancing with the Stars."
Now go put on your blue suede shoes and come dance with me!
Enjoy the google images and visit Jenny and lots of other letter lovers today!

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY BIRTHDAY!

Good morning! Have you heard the expression, something like this, the faster I go, the behinder I get! I feel that way today. I was planning my fabulous Pink Saturday post to honor our third birthday today. Then I started thinking about the Memorial Day weekend. I missed Spiritual Sunday last week so here I go trying to stay ahead of the pace and incorporate all three of these into a big Saturday/Sunday surprise!
 I am  offering each one of you this beautiful pink bouquet of flowers!

Then I would call each one of you on my pretty pink phone and wish you a tremendous day filled with love and kindness and all sorts of fun things!

Then I would bake you a big beautiful birthday cake, add some balloons and of course, the perfectly pink drink and send you off with a pink sunset!

Then I would stop by Beverly's and thank her for hosting three wonderful years of pinkness! I would hurry over to Charlotte and Ginger and thank them both for hosting a weekly spiritual slice of bread and a taste of wine (or ginger ale) for all of us who crave God's love and need His constant assurance.

Scripture Regarding Friendship


"Love must be sincere, Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:9-10


"Therefore as God's chosen people,  holy and dear, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive for the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14


"And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth and insight , so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ." Phillipians 1:9-10


"Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:80

Then please today and all weekend long, never forget the trials, the sacrifice and the bloodshed many American soldiers have given to secure our safety. May our flag wave proudly. Do not give in to the evil ways we are seeing spread over our nation and do not be deceived by the things of this world. Remember these words from some of our founding fathers.

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories" Thomas Jefferson

"They that would give up essential liberty for a little temporary safety,  deserve neither liberty or safety. " Ben Franklin


"Duty is ours; results are Gods" John Quincy Adams

God Bless America that I may participate in these weekly meme's without any threat or retribution.Please pray for our troops where ever they are serving us today.

Thank you to google image for allowing me to share these images here today. Please stop by and visit Pink Saturday and Spiritual Sunday. You will find the buttons on my right side bar. Then celebrate the freedom we have with a safe and happy Memorial weekend!

NOTE: Somehow blogger pulled an older post and made it front and center. It was my Alphabe Thursday "D" post!

So because I am fighting blogger and losing followers and comments and because I was light headed and goofy this morning putting this post up originally I do have a surprise giveaway that I want to share with everyone! I will have my Sweets draw the lucky winner Monday evening! Spread the joy and come join the giveaway. I will only ask that you leave a comment and be a follower! Easy as eating apple pie with vanilla ice cream!  Just know the giveaway will be pink! I am including all the comments in the drawing already because with a little luck, some of you got through!
Blogger is being very difficult. No commenting, losing followers, refusing to let me follow someone! I am going to get a good night of rest and be back tomorrow. Argh....
Sweet dreams everyone!

F IS FOR FUDD, ELMER

Elmer Fudd is a fictional cartoon character. He is one of the original Warner Brothers Looney Tunes. As a kid  I loved the Bugs Bunny Show and all his friends andof course, his archenemey Elmer Fudd. Elmer has one goal and that is to hunt Bugs! But he has an unusual speech pattern and replaces his Rs and Ls with Ws. His signature catch phrase is "Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits."
One of the best known Elmer Fudd cartoon is "What's Opera Doc?" It is the one time that Fudd bests Bugs. Elmer and Bugs were enemies but when teaming with Daffy Duck the three of them could send you into unstoppable laughter.
I miss those fun old fashioned days when cartoons were clean and fun was simply fun! I hope you will visit Jenny and join the Alphabe Thursday fun.

ORNITHOLIGIST

When I was a young girl just out of high school I worked for the Pueblo County Treasurer's office. We collected property taxes. It was a good job at that junction in my life and I liked to stop and chat with  one of the County Commisioners. Mr. Giguere was an ornitholigist. It is a scientific term for a "bird watcher". He would spend weekends bird watching and he always shared his knowledge with me. I never took it as seriously as he did but whenever I see a different or interesting bird I fondly remember this man who helped me learn about this wonderful art.
Now I will be totally honest with you! I am not a fan of birds in mass quantities (remember the Hitchcock flick "The Birds"????) In fact, many years ago at the Denver Zoo I stood in line for hours, literally, with my oldest daughter who was a small child and my late Aunt Ang. We thought we were going to see the koala bear that was on loan from the San Diego zoo. When we got to the front of the line we were led into an atrium where there were birds flying everywhere! My Aunt mumbling "Heck no" and we turned and fled! I laugh out loud thinking of that moment! It was a July day and the temperatures were soaring into the double digits! None of us wanted to be hanging out with all those crazy birds!
 Another story I want to share is that I  was getting a fancy hairdo for a big dance I was attending in high school. My sister Mary, who attended beauty college and kept her beauticians license up all these years was doing my hair in an up swept hairdo with french curls! She had a little parakeet and that bird flew into my hair. He apparently thought I was a nest! That was a terrifying moment! I laugh now but feeling that bird scratch his little bird legs into my head! Oh! It stills sends a chill down my spine!
So before I get anymore long winded I want to ask you to stop by Angela's and join us for Tuesday's Show and Tail!
Please enjoy my google images of birds too!

My Bloggerette Project Completed./ Love is.../MIscellaneous

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Here is my Love is....today. I hope you will join me along with Marydon and all the other ladies  Life has been a whirl wind of craziness for us lately. So instead of troubling with you all the details I decided this little illustration says it all

I finally finished my project for the Bloggerette Society. Stop by http://bloggerettesorority.blogspot.com.  Thank Debi for hosting and here is a sneak peek of my two rush projects! One is finished and the second one needs a coat of clear protector. It can nto be done until tomorrow.  
I chose a small silver plate tray and added a black and white photo of the Bloggerette Society. Then I decoupaged a colored photo on a plain wood box. I am thinking of using it for a memory box and keep some blogger friend cards and such in this box.
I spent the day pulling weeds in the yard and painting a wicker basket pink! I decoupaged and helped my Sweets make burritos and a few other menu items for the week!

 I could not get a photo of me with my project(s) because I still need to get cleaned up from a long and busy day. I also am posting a few miscellanous photos. Nick ran in a 5k race yesterday. Here are some photos. He also took 7th overhaul in the race and 2nd in his age group. He received a beautiful trophy. Now he needs to rest and focus on the upcoming cross country season. His previous coach retired and his cross country coach is taking over the whole track and field coaching. It will be different but we like the coach and his plans. He is always concerned about the kids welfare so we appreciate him. I also shot a few random photos yesterday when I went downtown to my Sweets office to help him do the mail which he handles once a month.

I added this last photo for Iggy because he loves these orange cones. I see them everywhere in the Spring and Summer, road construction!

PINK OR BLUE YOU DECIDE!

Since my phamily is experiencing a baby boom in 2011, one here and two more on the way, I thought I would share pink and blue with you! Please join Beverly at Pink Saturday and also on Monday join Sally for Blue Monday. Here are some choices for you. Pick your favorites and let me know!

1. Pink Skies

2. Blue Skies

3. Pink Barbie

4. Blue Barbie

5. Pink Hair

6.Blue Hair

 7. Pink Arianna Cecilia (2011)

8. Blue Nick (1992)

I thought these pinks and blues would help you decide which color is your favorite.
But before you do you need a sweet treat to calm your sugar craving:

9. Pink Rock Candy

10. Blue Rock Candy
There you have it! Choose your favorites and come join all the pink and blue fun! I am prejudice. I love them both and I love all the photos! Some are my own, others are google images. You choose. Then tell Beverly and Smiling Sally how much you enjoy these weekly memes.