Rich Fruit Cake There's a lot of ingredients but you basically just mix them all together! Makes 8" round cake or 7" square. (I have also used this recipe to make a 9" round cake with excellent results) 1 lb 5 oz currants 6 oz raisins 11 oz sultanas/golden raisins 6 oz candied citrus peel 5 oz candied cherries, washed and cut into 4 pieces 1 oz sliced almonds 1 oz almond meal/flour 1 1/2 teaspoons very strong coffee 2 level teaspoons spice mix (your own preference but I use cocoa,cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice and nutmeg) Pinch of salt Zest and juice 1 small lemon 10 oz soft dark brown sugar or molasses (I use 1/2 of each) 10 oz butter 12 oz self rising flour 3 fl oz dark rum 6 large eggs Extra 1 fl oz dark rum for brushing over cake Line cake pan sides and base with parchment paper and outside of pan sides and base with brown paper (using natural string to secure) Heat oven to 250F In large bowl add spices, coffee, almonds, salt, lemon zest, and juice to fruit. Mix well then add rum and leave to soak for at least 24 hours or up to 1 week. I stir it once per day. The aroma is wonderful! In a second bowl, beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat eggs one at a time and add to butter mix, adding some flour with each egg. Reserve a small amount of flour to coat fruit by stirring it through fruit mixture. Gradually add butter/egg mix to fruit mix and stir until well mixed. Scrape into cake pan making a very slight depression in the center. Cover lightly with circle of parchment paper with small hole cut in center. Bake in pre-heated 250F oven just above center, until an inserted skewer comes out clean, approx 3 hours. (My 9" cakes have taken up to 5 hours!!) When cooked leave in oven for a few minutes with the door open. Remove from oven, brush over 1 fl oz of rum over top of cake. Leave in pan until totally cold, or overnight in a cool room. Remove from pan, wrap completely in parchment paper, then in foil. Store for minimum 4 weeks to mature. I brush with a little extra rum or brandy every 6 weeks if I store the cake for many months. The cake for this Christmas is over one year old.

The plan is to get a duvet that's goldish and then just fold the quilt up at the bottom of the bed. I'm not parting with the quilt. Browny, et al., it's not old, it's just a Ralph Lauren quilt that mimics an old pattern (and was extremely overpriced). Here are two closeups of the fringe; as you can/should see, it's a perfect match for the rug and chair and, I think, the velvet in the curtains. And you're in withdrawal because I haven't yet finished my other (and small) things. I'll post about one of them tomorrow (it's about where to hang this new framed oil painting I got (there's a teaser of it below)), but this past weekend I also made the terrible mistake of thinking I could easily strip an old 5-panel door I got to match the closet door in my living room. If you recall, I had my contractor put in a new 32" door for my bathroom to make furniture moving easier and just to have a bigger door. Well, I hated the look of the 6-panel door just 5' away from my original 5-panel door. So I went on a hunt at the local salvage yard and found a matching 5-panel, 32" door with a brass mortise lock and properly hung. I couldn't pass it up, and it was just $45 once I talked her down a bit and told her I didn't want the hinges, knob, and rosettes it came with. So I took it home and spent 7 hours stripping 1 side. Disaster. But it's getting there as you can see below, albeit from an upside down positioning of the door. Here's the door (one side nearly completely stripped of about 20 layers of paint) and the teaser of the new painting that is going to go in any room of my house.

I feel the same way about my husband's exwife. I am custodial stepmom of 3 chlldren. My husband has always had custody because the exwife decided one day she no longer wanted to be married or a full-time mother. Before I came along she constantly dumped 99% of her time on my husband, he of course never said no, she had full control of her old household only she lived in a differnt place and had her own life. It was a very unhealthy situation. My husband just never stood up to her, he struggled to keep a full-time job and take care of 3 children. I give him tremendous credit because many men in his situation would not be able to take on that responsibilty. Well, then I come along, we get married and all of a sudden she begins to take a deeper interest. Mainly because I would not allow her to control my household and my husband began saying "no", She always used us as her babysitter, whether it was a work meeting, an exerecise class or a European vacation. She has been nothing but a major PIA, she wouldn't pay child support when my husband enforced the order she opened a full blown custody case, suing us for full custody because she did not want to financially support her children. We also have a screwed up schedule. During the school the chldren visit their mother Mon&Tues 4-8pm with alternating weekends. During the summer they visit her Mon-Wed 4-8pm with alternating weekends. The exwife wanted some crazy, they live with her 3days one week, then us 4days, and the next week it was the reverse. Mind you, she only had a 2bedroom condo. All three children sleep in the same bedroom. 2 girls 13&10 and a 8yr old boy. The master had enough sense to reconize that the living arrangemnents were not appropriate and would not grant anymore overnight visits except for the already standing 2 weekends a month. The schedule is crazy. The exwife is crazy. She teaches the children it is ok to lie to us. She is NOT supportative of myself or my husband. She has harrassed us to the point that she is not allowed on our property, she can not contact us by phone, she may only communicate via email, unless it is an emergency related to that day's schedule, then she may leave a message on our cell phone. She would call my husband at work and pull him out of meetings with the CEO of the company for some nonsense question. HE would get numerous calls on a daily basis. I never saw 2 divorced people talk on a daily basis. We have insulated ourselves as much as possible but everyday there is some new issue. She never returns clothes that the kids wear over there, one day she sent my ss home with no shoes on. She won't take the kids to baseball games and then tells them we did not give her the information. I could go on and on. But your words say it best I HATE HER!!!!! If I had hindsight my posting would be alot differnt. I would be like that one woman who used to be involved with a man with children. Trying being involved with a man who has custody of his children. The rewards have been few and far between. I have lived this from the first day I moved to where my husband lives (I moved from a different state). So the entire two years of my marriage have been filled with this crap. My husband's relationship with his children has also suffered terribly. I was divorced for 11yrs before I remarried and never experienced one ounce of the trouble I have in this life, and it isn't even my divorce. The best advice I can give you is stand your ground. Say NO, she is responsible for her custodial time. It took my husband a long time to be able to say no, it is very easy for me. I know that he is still uncomfortable with saying no but I help him, Remember you can't let her control your life. Good luck, God Bless. I understand, it's one hell of a way to live.

It's one of the Red Maples...there are several different kinds..I'm not sure which it is. It was bought for the county park Denny works at but they didn't want it because it had a scar on the trunk from one of those plastic ties the put around them to tie them to the pole that is in the pot. It had gotten too tight..they thought it might die. But you can't hardly see the mark this year...it seems to be growing out of it. I'm glad we gave it a chance. patti