Black Cat "Gourd-o-lantern" & Superstition History

Black Cat "Gourd-o-lantern" & Superstition History

As you know I am a Gourd Artist as well as a Blogger - "Gourd-o-lanterns" are so enjoyable to create.  A few days ago I shared with you a few of my other "Gourd-o-lantern" Babies (click HERE to view).



When I was a child I had the most wonderful long-hair Black Cat named "Ziggy" - but I always wondered why Black cats are considered bad luck.  I started thinking about that again & I had to do some research. 

Did you know that in Japan, Great Britain & Scotland the black cat is actually good luck!!  And in Germany the direction of the black cat determines whether you will receive bad luck or good luck - if a black cat crosses your path going from right to left then that is bad luck - if however the cat passes from left to right - then that's good luck!

The "bad luck black cat" superstition in North America started with the Pilgrims.  The Pilgrims believed that black cats were a witch's companion and if people were caught with a black cat they would at least be punished and sometimes even killed!

As a Christian I don't place any merit on these superstitions but I do find history very interesting.  I'm very thankful for my feline friends no matter what color they are.



Have a safe evening & ENJOY!!

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Linked to:
Turn It Up Tuesday
Happiness is Homemade
Halloween Blog Hop

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Please checkout this month's wonderful Sponsor!!

"Trees for Sale Online" is a beautiful online Plant Nursery! They sell trees (evergreens & fruit trees), shrubs, berry bushes, perennials, ground cover plants & much more!

(Please click on the ad above)

Cyber Monday Giveaway - Win e-prizes!

Cyber Monday is the largest online shopping day of the year! - It occurs on the Monday after American Thanksgiving.

Wouldn't it be cool if you had PayPal cash to spend anywhere online?  And what if you had e-gift certificates to spend in online shops?  And what about other fantastic e-stuff like ad spaces on some of the most sought after blogs or blog designs by some of the most talented blog designers and a few e-books to read at your leisure?  All of this could be yours just by entering this fun Giveaway!! 

One lucky person will win:

$125 PayPal Cash

8 Ad spaces of varying size on 8 different blogs totaling $137

Blog Design Package worth $30

Custom Made Blog Header worth $30

1 e-gift certificate worth $10

2 ebooks worth $5

That is a grand total of e-stuff & e-fun worth $337 (U.S. dollars)!!

Checkout these 2 ebooks:

    

Find out how extensively I will promote your blog if you win my Monthly Ad Space (which is part of this Giveaway) - click HERE to view details of the ad space

$125 is a lot of money! - One person could use that money to buy:

Kindle Paperwhite for $119     OR

Polo Cologne for $66.99 & SHANNY Makeup Kit for $41 with money left over!!

OR          A bunch of Wii Games   and so much more!!

 - all of which are "shopable" online!!

Your Hosts

Angie @ God's Growing Garden     &     Angel @ Sew Crafty Angel

Your Lovely Co-Hosts

                     Katherine @ Katherine's Corner           Lanaya @ Raising Reagan

                     Wanda @  The Watered Soul              Anna @ Cuddlebug Cuties

                     Julia @  Eternal Girl Shop                   Janine @ Confessions of A Mommyaholic

                     Laura @ Mice in the Kitchen               Cathy @ A Peek Into My Paradise 

                                              Sara @  Content in the Meantime  

Lovely Sponsors

Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines      

Krystal @ My Life of Travels and Adventure

 Now it is time to enter the

Cyber Monday Giveaway!!

There are many ways to enter - ENJOY!!

Cyber Monday Giveaway Rules & Conditions: 

- This is a worldwide Giveaway

- You MUST have a PayPal account to enter

- This Giveaway is open from October 30th, 2013 until American Thanksgiving Day (November 28th, 2013)

- Hosts, Co-hosts & Sponsors can NOT enter this Giveaway!

- shipping for items bought using e-gift certificate is NOT included therefore the winner is responsible for shipping when applicable

- corespondance is done through email and the winner's email addresses will only be used to deliver or set-up e-prizes.  Email addresses will NEVER be sold or shared.

- all e-prizes will be delivered or initial contact by Saturday November 2nd, 2013 so that you may shop on Monday November 4th, 2013

- if you have any questions or concerns about this Giveaway please email one of the hosts:

Angie:  gourdonville@yahoo.com

Angel:  sewcraftyangel@gmail.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Please checkout this month's wonderful Sponsor!!

"Trees for Sale Online" is a beautiful online Plant Nursery! They sell trees (evergreens & fruit trees), shrubs, berry bushes, perennials, ground cover plants & much more!

(Please click on the ad above)

November Chain "Linky" CLIMB & Giveaway!!

  <a href="http://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/p/chain-linky-climb.html" rel="”nofollow”" target="_blank"><img alt="God’s Growing Garden" src="http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o501/AngieOuelletteTower/Sponsors/Climb200_zps6c2cafff.jpg" /></a>    New!!  We have added GIVEAWAYS to the CLIMB!! Here's how it works - the co-hosts from the previous month's CLIMB will have the opportunity to participate in a Giveaway during the next CLIMB (this is totally optional) - that gives co-hosts 2 months in a row of blog growing fun!!  We wanted to make our first Giveaway a big one so we opened it to other Bloggers not just Climb co-hosts (Note- all future CLIMB Giveaways will only be open to previous Climb co-hosts.) - We are calling it "Cyber Monday Giveaway"  - everything digitally delightful like: PayPal Cash, e-gift certificate to online store, ebooks & many amazing ad spaces & blog designs!!   Please enter below - one person will win so many e-prizes!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Now onto the CLIMB (blog hop):

 

 

By participating in this blog hop your email address will be added to our CLIMB list & you will be sent an email reminder next month. 

 

Remember - Now if you co-host you will receive a free Weekly Sidebar Ad and your blog button will appear on both Angie's blog & Angel's blog!!

(The Ad will run live a few weeks after you have co-hosted)

 

Sign up to receive emails about the CLIMB

Linked to:
Raising Imperfection
 

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Please checkout this month's wonderful Sponsor!!

Cynthia Tessmer from "Shoreline Designed" creates Natural Beach Stone Jewelry (Please click on the ad below):

Find out more about this amazing artist CLICK HERE 

 

I'm Co-hosting "Tuesday With a Twist" #30 (blog hop)

I'm so excited - I will be co-hosting this TERRIFIC blog hop called "Tuesdays with a Twist" for the entire month of OCTOBER!!

Cyber Monday Giveaway starts tomorrow (Wednesday October 30th)!! 
- Please stop by & enter to win e-stuff  & e-cash to go e-shopping on Cyber Monday!!!!




Now, please link up & ENJOY this cool hop!
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Good Morning and welcome to another fantastic party!

 

  <a href="http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a627/greenmary_smith/ad9dc0c5-5f80-4ed7-a18c-c6e9fb42d156_zpsde41d9bb.jpg"/></a>  

 

Are you ready to party?

 

We're your co-hosts: 

 

Mary @ Back to the Basics and

Joyce @ It's Your Life!

Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
AND Angie @ God's Growing Garden

Each co-host will be sharing her own picks for Features. This gives everyone a better chance of being featured. Be sure to check all of our blogs to see if you were featured!

 
My Features this Week are:

1. "Dimensional Sunflower Card" by Linda @ Paper Seedlings

2.  "Halloween Mummy Hot Dog" by Allie @ Crafty Allie

3.  "Vintage Wedding Ideas" by Carmen @ Vintage Creations

 

If you've been featured we'd love for you to grab a button.

  <a href="http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a627/greenmary_smith/FeaturedMorningglory_zps96ec9fee.jpg"/></a>

We all love comments!  we try to comment on each and every link. 

Please hop around and show some love!

The party starts every Tuesday at 7am EST and will continue until Friday at 11:59pm.  Feel free to stop back any time and "like" your favorites.  Please visit other blogs if you have a moment. 

Share older posts as well as new ones.  No limit on links!

*Pictures should be your own* 

By linking up you give us permission to use these photos

 (with proper link backs) in our features. 

 

And now for the party! 

 

 

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Pancakes with Grape Syrup

Peanut Butter Pancakes with Grape Syrup

If you like peanut butter & jelly sandwiches then this breakfast is for you!!

I have to be honest with you - it wasn't a total success in my house.  Before my husband even tried it he said "Ick!!  What ever possessed you to make something like that" (I shouldn't have told him what it was before hand).  My mother-in-law absolutely loved the grape syrup but wasn't sure about the peanut butter flavor for breakfast and I loved the combination of both!  So, if you have a member of your family that doesn't like change for breakfast, then you might want to stick with the everyday favorite.

 

Printable Recipe

 

1/4 cup Peanut Butter (you may use either smooth or chunky)

2 tablespoons butter

1 egg (lightly whisked)

3/4 cup milk

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

Melt the peanut butter & butter together in a small saucepan until combined & melted - stirring all the time (allow to cool a little).  In a large mixing bowl combine the milk, egg & butters (already melted together) and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.  Now add the flour, baking powder & sugar & stir until combined (see picture above) - this will be a thick dough. 

Drop by large spoonful (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of dough) onto a preheated skillet (that has been sprayed first or a little butter melted in the bottom) - cook on 1 side over medium heat until bubbles appear but no longer fill in with dough.  Flip & cook for 1 minute or less & then repeat until all of the dough has been used up.  Keep the cooked pancakes warm in a toaster oven on very low setting.
 

Pour grape syrup on top (click HERE to view Grape Syrup Recipe) & ENJOY!!
(I will also include a printable recipe on Saturday that will include the syrup recipe)



You may substitute strawberry or blueberry syrup for the grape syrup.

Copyright, Permissions & Disclaimer

Linked to:
I Love My Post
Good Tastes Tuesday
Tasty Tuesdays

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

Please checkout this month's wonderful Sponsor!!

Cynthia Tessmer from "Shoreline Designed" creates Natural Beach Stone Jewelry (Please click on the ad below):

Find out more about this amazing artist CLICK HERE 

B.A.S.S. - Advertise November 2013

 

 

Are you fishing for something different? 
Then you've come to the right place!
 
The "B" in "B.A.S.S" stands for "Buy"
The "A" stands for "Advertise"
The first "S" stands for "Support" &
The second "S" stands for "Swap"

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Today we are going to concentrate on "A" for "Advertise" -


 Why should you advertise with me on God's Growing Garden?
Checkout my Advertise page to see how intensively I will promote your blog (click HERE to view) & it's only $10 USD!!!!

- Here are my Follower stats:

GFC (Google Friends Connect) - 881
Bloglovin - 795
Twitter - 1,708
Pinterest - 976
Google+ - 659
Facebook - 447
Linky Followers - 45
Networked Blog - 89

That's a grand total of 5,600 followers in some form or another.

As of yesterday (October 27th, 2013) I had 19,407 views in 1 month.


All ad spaces for the month of November 2013 are currently sold out.

Thank you so much! 


I wanted to let you know that there will be some ad space changes starting in January 2014.  All of the details are not decided yet but these changes will allow for more ad spaces.
 

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THANKS AGAIN! 

Copyright, Permissions & Disclaimer

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Please checkout this month's wonderful Sponsor!!

"Trees for Sale Online" is a beautiful online Plant Nursery! They sell trees (evergreens & fruit trees), shrubs, berry bushes, perennials, ground cover plants & much more!

(Please click on the ad above)

Healthy Laughter = Healthy Person

Healthy Laughter = Healthy Person

I wanted to look at a few statistics about laughter - the following information is from "WebMD.com":

Laughter helps us relax & sleep - in one particular study it was discovered that 10 minutes of laughter equals 2 hours of pain free sleep!!

Laughter caused blood sugar levels to return to lower healthier levels in those people studied with diabetes.

During laughter our blood vessels expand & contract easily (which is healthy).

Laughter raises the level of infection-fighting antibodies in the body.

(click HERE to read more on laughter by WebMD)

"Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.  Then it was said among the nations 'The Lord has done great things for them.' "  Psalm 126:2

I believe that there are two kinds of laughter - one that stems from humor -  from something that tickles our funny bone and then there is the joyful laughter that comes from happiness.  An example of joyful laughter might be when you see a family member or friend after many decades of living apart or maybe when caught off guard and realize that God has just answered a prayer in a way that you never thought possible.  I believe that it's this second type of laughter that is written about in Psalm 126: 2.

It is important to note that the glory and credit must be given to our Lord & Savior! - "The Lord has done great things".  This happiness that causes our laughter is because God is so amazing - because he sent his only Son to save us from our sins so that we might have eternal life with Him!!

"I know that there is nothing better for man than to be happy and do good while they live."  Ecclesiastes 3:12

Our happiness comes from God and it's only natural that good works should follow such happiness.  The verse in Ecclesiastes is so simple - "there is nothing better for man" - it's just that simple. 

I even think that it goes both ways -

being happy causes us to do good works and doing good works makes us happy!.

Are you healthy with laughter?

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Linked to:
Healthy Tuesday

Blogger Opp - New Years Cash Bash

This is a fantastic Blogger Opportunity! - If you want to be part of a Giveaway then check this out - it's hosted by my blogging friend Laura from Mice in the Kitchen:

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What better way to start a new year but with some extra cash in your pockets!  One winner will be partying past midnight with the New Year Cash Bash. The amount of this giveaway will be determined by the number of participants.  The BIGGER the better!! Don't wait sign up to be part of this great giveaway and at the same time gain some new followers and watch your blog/social media grow!

The Fun Details! 

Giveaway will start December 15th and close at mid night on December 31th.  Winner will receive their prize money through PayPal so anyone who has a PayPal account is eligible.

You may be a Host or a Co-host, these spots are $30 and  you get 5 entry links. You will also get the  full HTML  with raffelcopter HTML for the giveaway to run on your blog. Don't forget to promote through all you social media so we can really watch the number of entries grow!  There is a limited number of co-host spots so sign up early!!

If co-hosting isn't for you you can buy in as many entry links as you want for $10 per link. (Bloglovin, GFC, Twitter, Instagram...etc)

Example:
1 entry links = $10
2 entry links = $20
3 entry links = $30
4 entry links = $35
5 entry links = $40

I am sorry but this giveaway will not be allowing Google+ as one of your entry options. Google+ has some serious rules for giveaways & promotions. Please read the article below for any questions:
http://blog.rafflecopter.com/2012/08/google-plus-sweepstakes/

Please fill out this GOOGLE DOC.  Please send PayPal payment to ryderbunch@gmail.com. Please send payment as if you are sending money to family or friends. (Note: There is a fee if you do not have a PayPal balance or bank account attached.)

Entry form can also be found  HERE

Hurry you have until December 7th to be part of this great giveaway!!

You can ALSO win a $25 referral bonus for referring others to be part of this giveaway.  
EVEN if you are not participating in the giveaway!!!
Simply copy and re-post this announcement and make sure that when they fill out the Google doc that they put YOUR NAME down as who refereed them. The blogger with the HIGHEST amount of referrals will win a $25 PayPal Digital Gift Card! 

Winner for the referral bones will be announced on December 9th!!

A Stocked Cellar = Ready for the Winter

 

Stocked Cellar = Ready for Winter

Harvest time is so much fun & oh so satisfying!!  I so enjoy looking at my stocked shelves in my basement cellar & imagining all of the delicious treats that we will be eating this winter!

Today I wanted to list all of my canning recipes that I have shared with you so far on this blog to date - I have grouped them into 5 different categories: Jams & Jellies, Sauces, Syrups, Other and then Pickles.



Click on each title to view details of each post:

Jams & Jellies
Raspberry Jelly
Peach Jam
Blueberry Jam
Strawberry Mango Jam
Grape Jelly with Lime Juice
Cherry Jam from Frozen Fruit

Sauces
Making Your Own Cinnamon Applesauce
Making Tomato Sauce

Syrups
Blueberry Syrup
Strawberry Syrup
Peach Syrup

Pickles
Bread and Butter Pickles
Homemade Spicy Dill Pickles

Other
Homemade Grape Juice
Cinnamon Spiced Homecanned Pears





ENJOY!!! 

Copyright, Permissions & Disclaimer

 

 

Linked to:
HomeAcre Hop


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Please checkout this month's wonderful Sponsor!!

"Sleepy Single Girl" is a super fun blog!  Justine started her blog as a single woman but soon fell in love.  She is a huge football fan and she also provides very interesting reviews on her blog - please visit today!

(Please click on the ad above)

"Giant Gray Stripe" Sunflower - Part 3

Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower

The "Giant Gray Stripe" Sunflower - Part 3 BEST

I took so many pictures of this fantastic flower that I decided to split them into 3 posts: GOOD pictures, BETTER pictures & BEST pictures.  Today you will be seeing the BEST photos.  I saved the BEST for last.

ENJOY the following pictures!

All photos were taken by me (Angie Ouellette-Tower) and the sunflowers were all grown in my garden.

© (2013)

Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower

Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower


Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower


Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower


Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower


Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower


Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower


Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower


Photo by Angie Ouellette-Tower

Sunflowers from 2013:

Giant Gray Stripe Sunflower - Part 1

Giant Gray Stripe Sunflower - Part 2

Soraya Sunflower

Italian White Sunflowers

Starburst Blaze Sunflowers

Sunflowers from 2012:

Mammoth Sunflowers

VanGogh Sunflowers

Floristan Sunflowers

Cherry Rose Sunflowers

Monet's Palette Mixture Sunflowers

Sunflowers from 2011:

Sunflowers, Black Velvet Queen

Sunflowers, Autumn Beauty

Sunflowers, Royal Flush

Copyright, Permissions & Disclaimer

Linked to:
Thursday Favorite Things
HomeAcre Hop

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Please checkout this month's wonderful Sponsor!!

"Tree Nursery Online" is a fantastic Wholesale website.  They have Flowering Trees & Shrubs, Evergreen Trees & Shrubs, Vines, Ferns, Mosses - The best quality and at the best wholesale prices. 

(Please click on the ad above)