Friday's Finds: {no. 36/10}

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{Welcome to Friday's Finds! For those of you who are new to this blog and/or just poppin' in - Hello! and welcome. On Friday's I like try to feature "a find" of no particular value or sentiment, no reason or rhyme and yet, exactly for all of those reasons I just mentioned.}


Today's Friday's Finds.... an attentive audience and one great big girl story-teller!

: : I used to do this... when I was her age : :

Happy Weekend ~ Be Attentive!!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes

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Over the weekend I had a hankering for something pumpkin... and although I LOVE my favorite Spiced Pumpkin Bread recipe... I was feeling the need for something different.  I discovered this recipe in one of my "go-to" cookbooks and I think this one deserves coming back to, again and again.

I love all things Cream Cheese and anything Pumpkin - so this was a win win all around.

I will tell you this recipe makes a LARGE batch of cupcakes.  Yield:  36 cupcakes  Here goes...

~ Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes~

2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped fine (you'll really want to add these)
1 cup vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl.  Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full.

Filling:

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese - semi soft
1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup of butterscotch chips.*  (I didn't have any - so I used Cinnamon Chips.  I loved it!!)

Combine and cream together cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt.  Add the  *chips by folding in.  Drop 1 heaping teaspoon filling in each cupcake.

Bake at 350* for 25 minutes.  Yield: 36 + cupcakes.  I still had some left over from filling all 36 papers.  So, I put the remainder into a microvable dish.  I mic'd the dish for 5 minutes on high.  It worked pretty good....

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But, one bite of these cupcakes - warm out of the oven - was like eating a slice of pumpkin pie.  You really want to be sure you include the fine chopped nuts.  It makes them so unique.

: : Scott (my husband) had a buddy come over to "redneck" his car... on Saturday, when I made these, and OF COURSE, we had to send a few along with Danny for he and his family's dinner later that evening.  I doubt the cupcakes made it home... at least that's what he threatened,  because I had given Danny - one fresh out of the oven and that was "all she wrote".

You know how that kind of thing goes with hungry guys...

Families are Messy...

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Are they not?

Then again... most any, if not all relationships are (or, can get) messy.  Shew!  that is one mouthful, but I think you'll agree... they can also be some of life's greatest blessings.

I recently read somewhere if you want a perfect relationship - get a goldfish.  I find that somewhat humorous.  But true.  And yet, there are no goldfish here.  Period.

Relationships, within families, are such a pain.  Pardon me - as I liken it to a window pane.

Say your looking out, your window, on the ones you love.  You can clearly see what they're doing, how they're living life, what they are NOT doing.  But because of fear of breaking the glass (you know -that fragile wall) between us we'll often pull the shade and pretend we don't notice.

Isn't this so sad?  And yet, it's truly said of all of us.  We've all done this very thing.  The question to ask is, this.  Are we willing to risk shattering their world (and ours) in order to "clean" the glass window of their souls?

Why is it the ones that you love the most, that makes it harder to "hurt"?  Not hurt to hurt, but hurt to heal.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful - Proverbs  27:6 (KJV)

Ultimately, God is their true Redeemer - but he does use us... as in Iron on Iron to sharpen:

• Spouse to Spouse
• Sibling to Sibling
• Daughter or Son to Parent and vice versa
• In-laws & "Out-laws"
• friend to friend
• co-worker to co-worker
• as neighbors?

How does this work?  Scripture reminds us...

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  ~ I John 4:18

Pray First.

Pray.

And, Pray some more.

An idea for why it might be so hard, is this:  "God's grace needs to be evident in our hearts and life first.  It's really hard to extend grace to someone else if we haven't received grace well - ourselves. "   (31 days of Grace)

Emily Freeman | Chatting at the Sky

Because.  Without {it} we have no business knocking out window panes...

Broken glass- just to have broken glass lying around is NOT a Beautiful Mess.  It's just plain - Messy!

Pumpkin Fun

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Feeling the urge to get my paints out again... I found a paper mache pumpkin and a little "Funkin" pumpkin - just begging for some "Bevy ~ TLC".

I'm still working on the paper mache pumpkin - workin' to get it looking just like a fantasy pumpkin.   I like LOVE how my little white pumpkin turned out.  What do you think?  Cute, eh?

Don't ask... it was with a lot of creativity to get it lookin' like this.   My inspiration came from here and here.

I went back, to the store over the weekend, for a few more and the store was sold out of funkin pumpkins.  Next Year?  We'll be stockin' up on these little guys. 

So fun....

: : Tell me.  What are some ways you've been busy creating for the fall holidays?  I would love to hear and see some of your creations... include a link, in your comment, if you would like.

On Thursday, I plan to bring you another delicious recipe... this time it's Pumpkin... stay tuned. 

What's that on your face?

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An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up. ~ Proverbs 12:25

~ A Bowl of Magic Fruit Cereal ~

From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.  ~ Proverbs 18:20-21

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Recently, I was driving around, one afternoon, when I heard the radio persona ask; "What's that on your face?" Not fully paying attention to who he was speaking to or what he was speaking about, in asking that, the question completely caught me off guard.  Off guard enough to think a bit deeper about this... I know, you're thinking, here we go again.  Bevy's thinking "deep"... look out!

But.

Think about it with me.  Please?

If people were to come up to you on a regular basis and ask "What's that on your face?" - hopefully you wouldn't think a dribble of milk and colorful magic fruit off the far corner of your mouth.   Hopefully, you'll think more along the lines of big globs of sweet golden honey.  Seriously...stick with me...

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. ~ Proverbs 16:24

You see, when we, as beloved children of God, his redeemed and chosen people (and I'm speaking to the choir here) walk around with a countenance (both face and body) that is full of "anxiety" (which, trust me, I know, it can be legitimate), a look of sorrow,  or gloom, or as though we're just plain ..."bummed out"...then, we're only blending in - to the oncoming crowd.

What are we saying when we walk around like that?

Hasn't the Lord given our life some meaning?  Isn't it enough to shout it out - LOUDly?  Can't we keep from singing?  At best... wear a S M I L E.  It will, more times then not, make people curious as to why we're smiling.  If they ask, we are to do what?

"...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness..." ~ I Peter 3:15 (KJV)

We've got a glimpse of HOPE all over our faces... that's what's there!!!! Amen??  And hopefully it's a gleaming glimpse.  A bright spot.  A look that is full of vivid color, enticing to the wondrous filling deep inside of us.  And, with that, come words spilling forth that are full of blessing, encouragement and peace-filled.

A bowlful of (Words) of HOPE!!   Come on, spill it... spew it... there really is no reason to cry over spilled milk.  At least in this case.