"Cooking from the Heart" by NJ and Karen

A little change of pace... Here is my all-time favorite cookbook! Cooking from the Heart. It's mine. My dear cousin, Norma Jean, and I compiled our favorite family recipes in 1988. "NJ" as she is known by, embroidered first name initials on each book. Amazing woman! I did the typing, using a new computer... my first one. My cookbook is falling apart as you can see, but although it's beauty has nearly disappeared there is so much on the inside. NJ's mother, my Godmother, and my own mother, illustrated the cookbook and contributed many wonderful recipes. NJ and I dedicated the cookbook to our mothers... the best cooks we've ever known!

The new look in the family room

This is how things looked early this morning... complete with the magazine rack out of place and my husband's breakfast plate still on the lamp table. Oh well.. that's life, right? Notice my new wood floors and my new rug? We still have to finish the flooring around the fireplace. I would like to say it will be marble, but we have yet to get the estimate. Will work on that today. I would never have put that white chair in this room but when the flooring men put things back, this chair somehow ended up there... and ya know... I sorta like it. It's very old and would need to be recovered, but I am considering it. It came from my grandmother's (remember reading about Jean?) home in Dickinson, Texas. She was so determined that I would inherit this chair that she wrote my name on the back in Magic Marker. Oh well....
Onward...

My "autographed" chair!

Not sure I want to cover this up...