The Portable Pinewood

Pumpkin Spice Cake

A couple of weeks ago I made this cake and it was the best pumpkin cake I've ever made. It was so light and airy compared to so many things made with pumpkin which end up heavy. Everyone thought it was wonderful and the couple of leftover pieces stayed moist for a couple of days (maybe longer if we hadn't eaten them).

Pumpkin Spice Cake

l can pumpkin pie filling with spices (mine didn't have spices so I added 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1/3 c. water
2 tsp. baking soda
l T. canola oil
1 spice cake mix

Beat pumpkin pie filling with eggs and oil. Add cake mix and baking soda dissolved in water. Mix.
Bake in a 9x13 inch pan at 350 for 35 minutes. Cool cake. Can top with whipped topping mix combined with 1/4 c. brown sugar but then you must refrigerate. I made a small recipe of cream cheese frosting and it was perfect. We also served it with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.

My favorite weekly newsletter

Each Sunday evening I receive via e-mail a newsletter from Cheryl Richardson, a well known coach and author. I find that I look forward to receiving these each week and many of them I have printed out to reread or saved them on the computer.

Many times what she has to say pertains to what is going on in my life at the time. And, often I will forward the newsletter to a good friend who I know will benefit from her words of wisdom.

To sign up for it go to: cheryl@cherylrichardson.com

Being Aware of those Special Moments

Friday I had wanted to come to the computer and write about my wonderful morning and as so often happens, it's now Sunday evening and I finally have a chance to sit at the computer for a few minutes.

I know I've written before about being aware of what happens to give us that special feeling of peace that comes over us sometimes. It was not a very pleasant day outside as it was cold and very windy and gray. We were taking care of our friend's two golden retrievers. I knew the cookie jar was empty and I kept putting off making some cookies to have on hand for us or friends who might stop in for a cup of coffee. I put some relaxing piano music on the CD player, took my time making a batch of ginger snap cookies (the smells in the house were wonderful, had a few soft lights on in the rest of the house and looked at the dogs sound asleep on the floor. All of a sudden it really struck me how fortunate I was to be experiencing such peace at that moment as many days I go non-stop all day from morning to night, multi-tasking as so many of us women do.

It is so important for us to have some moments like this in our weeks and if at all possible in our days.

I have a good friend who is suffering from depression and a very stressful job. She has found by having
just a little bit of quiet time for herself in the morning can help her day go so much better. Find something that you can do for yourself each day to "feed your soul".

Fall is Here

I can't believe another 3 months have gone by and I haven't taken the time to write on my Blog. I just started reading a new book, Knit Together, by Debbie Macomber. She is one of my favorite authors and this is her first non-fiction book. One of the things that hit me right away is my lack of goals and how I keep busy each day but am not doing some of the things that I feel are important. One of the things I want to do is write on my blog and share ideas with others and it is the one thing I let go of every day.

It's been a busy summer and I'm not sure why as I always equated being busy here in Door County with our business. This has been the slowest year in the 7 years we have had our business. We have done a lot of talking with friends trying to figure out why this is happening and now are trying to come up with some different ideas of how to do our business which we both enjoy doing. Debbie's book is definitely helping put some things into better perspective.

This has been a summer of putting Craig's health first and we're still dealing with doctor visits, blood tests, etc. None of this is connected to his lung embolism of last April but now he has a lack of coordination. This has also made us take a different look at how we want to do our business. He thankfully is able to keep working in the shop but has had to change his focus from making furniture to refinishing furniture (and this is a real gift of his with his painting techniques, etc.). I feel like I go non-stop with making healthy meals, keeping up the house, helping with garden, doing all the driving, etc. Most women know what I mean.

I feel that I have lost my creativity and as I was reading in Debbie's book this a.m. (a real treat to have a cup of coffee and read in bed at 6:00 instead of jumping up and starting working on things around here) these sentences jumped out at me. "The heart and the soul are the source of all creativity. Take time for yourself." I have not been taking time for myself. This calls for more awareness of what I am doing with my time each day.

Last week we went from 85 degrees to 32 in just a short time. I love Fall and feel like finally time will slow down a little. In a way there are more things to do such as cleaning out the garden, getting Fall and Winter clothes out (which I haven't done), washing windows if it warms up a little, etc. but somehow the busy summer life is changing. We have only one more week and then consider the summer tourist season over. By the lst of November many of the shops and restaurants will be closed. I can't believe how much I look forward to that time of the year. This must be telling me something about how I want to lead my life. I guess it goes back to "simplifying". Seems like that has become a foreign word this past year.

Hope you are all taking time to enjoy the Fall color!