New Recipes - "Country French Chicken", "Romaine, mandarin orange salad" and Poppy Seed Dressing"

Evening Sweet Friends,

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How are you today??  Well and happy I hope!!

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I spent time twice outside working in our front flower

bed.  The bushes needed trimming and the Lantana

needed trimming back as well.  We finally finished

it up when hubby came home,  so it looks very nice now.

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Yesterday I was looking for a recipe for something

called "Country French Chicken".

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 Years ago about 12-14 yrs. to be exact,  they used to have

a jarred sauce you could buy called Chicken Tonight.  There

was a"Chicken Cacciatore I think, and then one called

Country French Chicken.  My family loved the latter

one,  and so did I.  It was so easy to just plop some

chicken breasts in a pan pour that sauce over it and

let it cook away for about an hour,  make some rice

and a veggie to go with it,  and I was good to go!!

And it was a great and tasty meal to boot,  doesn't

get much better than that,  but for some strange reason

they took it off the market,  don't know what they

were thinking!!  Someone seriously needs to talk to

their marketing team,  whoever they were!!

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Anyway,  I was looking online to see if I could find

a recipe for it and I did find one,  but it didn't sound

like the kind of sauce it was even tho it did have some

of the ingredients that the other one had,  so I decided

to do a lil experimenting and came up with my own.

It turned out great and everyone loved it!!  So thought

I would share it with you,  so you can enjoy it too!

Country French Chicken

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4 Boneless Chicken Breasts

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1 can of cream of chicken soup

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1 soup can full of milk

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1 cup of applesauce (I used natural applesauce-
with no added sugar, in the separate lil cups.

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1 cup of White cooking wine or reg. white Wine
I use white cooking wine

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1 small onion chopped up in small pieces

(I use the food processor for the onion, carrots and celery,  much easier)

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1 large carrots or about 8-10 baby carrots,

cut the same as onion

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2 ribs of celery, cut the same as onions & carrots

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1 tsp. parsley flakes

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1/2 tsp. garlic powder or to taste

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pinch of dried thyme

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pepper to taste,  I didn't add

any salt but you might want to if

you are used to your food being a

bit more salty.

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Mix all the ingredients together in a large

bowl,  then put your chicken breasts in

a large frying pan or dutch oven,
  Mine is silverstone so I don't need to add any

oil or pam type spray.  Just put the chicken

breasts in the pan,  pour the mixture in the

bowl over it,  cover with the lid, and turn
 the burner to medium and wait for it to start
 bubbling a little, then turn it to your lowest
 setting and let it simmer for an hour or so. 
You should sort of stir it every 15 mins.
 cause it will stick to the pan if you don't.
 The chicken breasts were large so I cut
them in two pcs.  Take one out at an hour

and see how tender it is just in case.

One hour should be sufficient tho.

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Meanwhile you can be making yellow,

white or brown rice,  whatever

your preference,  I use yellow,  I think

it tastes good and makes a pretty

presentation as well.  Jasmine rice

might be good too,  if you have never

had Jasmine rice - you have to try it

sometime.  I can eat it all by itself,

it is delicious.

I also cook my rice in the microwave,  I find

that much easier,  cause you don't have

to worry about it burning,  but you do

have to stir it ocassionally.

Note: I made it with the Jasmine rice
on 10-15-2013 and it was delicious,
think this is my favorite way now.

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Once everything is ready just put rice on your

plate,  some sauce over the rice and add

your chicken breast.  The sauce is not a

thick sauce,  it is kind of like a thin gravy.

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Wish I had remembered to take a picture,

Sorry I never think about it till it too late!

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Also decided to try making a different type of salad

for a change.  I found a

Romaine and Mandarin Orange Salad

with Poppy Seed Dressing recipe.

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2  heads of romaine lettuce

torn or sliced into small pcs.

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1 10 oz. can of mandarin orange segments

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1/4 cup of chopped pecans

(the recipe called for toasted slivered almonds but I didn't have

any and I like pecans better anyway)

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McCormick bac'n pieces

(the recipe called for 6 pcs. of real bacon fried crispy and

 then crumbled - Somehow the oranges and the bacon didn't sound

good to me,  but then I decided to try the bac'n pcs. and it was

actually quite good.)

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Toss the Romaine in a large bowl with the mandarin

 oranges and the if you use the real bacon,  add it now! 

 Place lettuce mixture onto salad plates,  sprinkle with

 pecans or almonds,  and if you use the bac'n pcs.

you can sprinkle those on now.

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Poppy Seed Dressing

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1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar

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1/2 cup of sugar,

 (recipe calls for 3/4 cup but I only used the

 1/2 cup  and it was fine)

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2 tsp. dried minced onions

(recipe called for 1/2 red onion coarsely chopped

since I didn't have red onion I improvised)

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1 tablespoon of prepared mustard

(recipe called for 1/2 tsp. of dried mustard powder)

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1/4 tsp. of salt

(Which I somehow overlooked and didn't use,

and mine was just fine without it.)

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1/2 cup of vegetable oil

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1 tsp. of poppy seeds

(make sure you don't eat these in anything

if you have to take a drug test for a job,

or you will fail it.

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Place vinegar, sugar, onion, mustard and salt into

a blender,  I used my handy dandy Magic Bullet.

Cover and puree until smooth.  Add in the vegetable

oil and blend till it is creamy, then stir in the poppy seeds.

Drizzle on your lovely salad,

Eat and Enjoy!

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We all really enjoyed the PoppySeed dressing,

it was a very nice change of pace.

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Well, hope you have a very nice evening.

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Thanks for coming by and see ya tomorrow.

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Hugs and Blessings,

Nellie

Fall.................. in Florida???

(Tree in my front yard)

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Hello Sweet Friends,

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Hope your Tuesday is going well.  Mine has been good so far.
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  Thought I would show you that we do have some semblance of Fall in Florida.

Not with Temperatures tho,  course,  we are gonna go in the upper 60's this

weekend supposedly,  WOW  sub 70 temps. Scary!!  lol

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Now  Did you notice how sparse my tree is................

That would be because they have been dropping these

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Now ours do not turn a pretty color before they drop, they are just

 maybe a lil yellow with ugly brown spots or just brown when they fall,
 at least this tree anyway.

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The neighbors that gave it to us called it a Maple Tree,

and others have said it is a Sweet Gum Tree,

or maybe it should be called a Sycamore Tree,

cause it drops those torny lil ball thingies all over

the ground at certain times of the year,  winter or

early spring maybe.  I forget!  and they call those

Sycamore balls.  So who knows what kind of tree

it really is..............

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The upside is it looks beautiful and gives nice shade

 in the spring and summer,  and it is a great source of free mulch

in the Fall.  I was out there this morning  raking up leaves

and replenishing our flower beds.  We use pine bark

in the spring,  but after all the Fla. rains in the summer you

have those bare spots where all the mulch gets washed

away,  so I fill in with the leaves,  works great and sort

of refreshes our look until next spring.

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Just wanted you to know you weren't the only ones who

had to rake leaves,  us Florida folk have to do it too!

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Course,  sometimes we just let the mower eat them if

we don't need them for mulch!!   Yes,  we are still

mowing,  and tonight is the nite probably.  We are waiting

for a good cold snap so the grass stops growing so much.

Maybe soon folks,  we can always hope!!

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Course,  then we probably want be seeing these lil

beauties for too much longer.

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They are called Red Hot Hibiscus.  They are pretty small.

Had to hold it up to get a decent pic.  They are so cute,

I just love them!  The bush also has beautiful foilage as well.

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Well,  have a great Fall Day wherever you live,

This morning felt like Fall,  right now it feels just like summer!!

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Remember "To Every thing there is a Season and

a Time to Every Purpose under the  Heaven."

Ecclesiastes 3:1

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Have a Great Evening!!

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Hugs and Blessings,

Nellie

Have a Restful Sunday

(Appalachian trail in Maine)

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Good Sunday Morning Dear Friends,

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Hope this finds you smilin and joyful this Sunday Morning.

We had a fantastic day today.  We were so blessed by our

friends  surprise visit,  and fortunately I had everything

I needed to make a nice and quick dinner for us, 

 which meant they got to stay longer. 

 What sweethearts they are!  They have really gone thru

 some rough waters over the last years but their faith

and trust in the Lord is as strong as ever.  What a joy

it was to spend the day with them.

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Typically, we would have been at our Church's Fall Festival

 that we have every year.  We usually work one of the

blow up activities,  but for some reason, we just did not

feel led to sign up this year,   which we both thought

 was wierd,  cause we love doing it!

But now we know why!!

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  It is sooooo good to worship and serve a God

who knows all that is gonna happen way before we do. 

 Guess that is why one of His attributes is

 "omniscience"  or "All Knowing".

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I will leave you with Psalm 32:8

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"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you and watch over you."

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Hope you have a Very Restful Sunday!

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Hugs and Blessings,

Nellie

The Grouting Has Begun!!

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Happy Saturday to you,

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I just had write and tell you how excited I am

cause we finally began grouting last evening.

It looks sooooooo good!!  Can't wait to see

it totally finished,  but it is coming soon!

We are also very excited because we got

a call from some old friends this morning

 that used to go to our church but moved away

 and they are coming in a few mins. to visit.

It has been too long since we have seen

them,  of course,  we have talked on the

phone and written some,  but a visit is

always better!

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Well,  gotta run,  Hope you have a

great weekend,

Blessings,

Nellie

Welcome to Thankful Thursday - October 8, 2009

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Hiddy Ho Sweet Friends,

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Hope you are having a very blessed day today.

My day is going well,  not a lot happening today

really.  Have been finishing up some cards and

getting them in the mail,  and planning a surprise

for a special friend.  Thinking about what to make for

 din din,  think it will be Tilapia, baked potatoes,

 and roasted asparagus.  Sounds good to me,  and

fairly easy.  Have to run some errands late in the

day so that should work.

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Today I am thankful

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#1

 for friends that love the Lord and enjoy talking about Him

 and the things He has and is teaching them for it brings

great encouragement to me, and to them.

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#2

that my friends, son Daniel,  and that he is doing okay after

having been taken to the hospital for seizures.  They

think it was a reaction to a medication he was taking,

he has been in the hospital 2 days and was preparing to

go home when I was there to visit early this evening.

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#3

that I didn't take a spill today when my tennis shoe

caught on the rug, as I was exercising and lost my balance.

Those falls are not as easy to take as one gets older.

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#4

I was able to get out of the house for a little while

today,  even tho it was a lot of quick stops and some

errands.  One that was fun,  actually they were all fun,

 but one in particular was the most fun,  the surprise I

 mentioned earlier.

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#5

that I was able to get a Chocolate Elvis since I was

out,  and the planet smoothie store was right by one

of the places I had to go to!  Like I really need that

excuse!! lol

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#6

for our printer.  Now this is a sacrifice of praise..........

because I have been aggravated with it for sometime.

We bought it new about 2-3 months ago,  but I am

not happy with it,  I liked our old printer much better,

but it broke.  So decided I should quit griping about

it and praise the Lord,  cause I could have NO printer!!

So that makes this one sound mucho better.

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#7

that Scott is getting off a lil earlier tonight so he can

go see his new girlfriend before she leaves on a

trip tomorrow for the weekend.  She is a sweetie!

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#8

that Scott has Sat. off,  so he can get some rest,

he really needs it badly!  Not that he is complaining

cause he isn't,  but Mom's can tell when you are

wayyyyyyyyy overtired!!

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#9

that the Dr. office finally called in the okay on my

hubbies prescription since he took his last pill

last night!!

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#10

that God loves me no matter what,  and that His

ear is always inclined to me since I am His child,

and that He answers so many of my prayers!

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#11

that I feel like such a blessed lady for so so many

reasons.  Even when there are problems we still

have way more blessings that we can contain.

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Hope you are feeling amazingly blessed this day!

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Count your blessings.......name them one by one,

Count your many blessings,

see what God has done!!

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Hope you will leave me a comment telling me

what God has done for you!!  It encourages me

and other that read it as well.

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Thanks for stopping in, and

Have a great Friday!!

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Blessings and Hugs,

Nellie

Been a Good Day!!

Greetings Sweet Friends,

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Hope you day is going well.  We had our ladies group

this morning and had such a great and encouraging time

together.  We hated for it to end,  but all good things

have to come to an end sometime! lol

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Spent the afternoon making some greeting cards,

that is always fun.  Have to admit I am getting a lil

out of practice since I have been blogging tho.

Must try to do it more often.  You know the old

saying if you don't use it you'll lose it!

Sure don't want that to happen.

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Well,  hubby is home and I am going to go

have dinner.  He got a Rotisserie chicken from

Sam's.  Yum Yum!

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Hope you have a great Evening

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Blessings abundant!

Nellie

Have a great Tuesday

(Our Backyard wildflowers done in Photoshops Threshold affect)

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Good Morning Sweet Friends,

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After looking at my header picture aren't you glad that God

painted our world with color!!  I sure am,  even tho,  that is

a neat affect,  I would much rather look at this!!

Wouldn't you??
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We had a nice weekend,  How about you??  Monday was good

too,  got to spend the afternoon and evening with my sweet Dee.

We had a great time talking all afternoon,  and then we had dinner

and she did my hair.  She keeps her Mom looking fresh!!

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I made something I haven't made for a long time,  and we all loved

it!  Was easy and delicious and I used a recipe I got online cause

I was too lazy to look for my old one,  and I actually like this one

way better! 

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I made "Cuban Ropa Vieja",  it is a beef dish cooked in tomato

sauce and spices.  With this recipe you just throw it all in the

crock pot and forget about it for 4 hrs.  Love that!!

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I made Black Beans and Yellow Rice to go with it,

and I would typically do a lettuce tomato and onion salad,

but didn't this time.  We also like to slice up bananas on

a large plate and then sprinkle them with lemon juice to

eat with the meal.  Delicious,  and you don't get all the

fat of the fried plantians that usually would be prepared

with this meal.  I added rice to the leftover sauce we

had, and hubby took it as soup for lunch today.

I tasted it,  made a delicious soup too!

I will definitely be making that again soon.

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If you are interested in the Cuban Ropa Vieja Recipe,

go to http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cuban-Ropa-Vieja/Detail.aspx

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In case you don't know how to spice up your black beans,

let me share what I learned about making them,  from a

sweet cuban lady that I worked with, when we lived in

Key West,  years ago.  You can use dried or canned

black beans,  I usually use the canned.  Add a lot of

garlic powder to taste,  add onions and bell peppers,

l large each for about 3-4 cans of blackbeans.  I also

put about a tblsp. of olive oil and a tblsp of red wine

vinegar as well,  also a couple of bay leaves,  and

let them simmer on low for about 30-45 mins.  If you

make them dried it takes way longer to prepare.

I usually put all the spices in and let them just

sit in the pot,  on the stove for quite awhile before

 cooking them,  and they get seasoned thru even just

sitting there,  then you don't have to cook and

stir them so much,  and the beans don't get so

mushy either,  so they make a nicer presentation

on your plate.

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Hope you will give it a try!  I think you will find

you really enjoy it.

It is a very flavorful meal,  but not spicy or hot!

Pleasantly different,  a lil bit of Island flair!

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 Bon Appetit!!

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Just had to show you the wildflowers now that they are in full bloom!
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Don't they look like they are reaching heavenward to praise our Lord!!
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Have a great Tuesday!!

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Blessings and hugs,

Nellie