Lensography of CherylK

All About Me 

A Brief Bio of CherylK

Who is CherylK?

I was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland during World War II to an Irish mother and a Yankee father. This picture of me was taken when I was a toddler. My mean old American cousins called me "pie face"...hrumpf! There are so many stories I could tel...

100% For Charity 

These five lenses contribute 100 % of their proceeds to the following charities and there is a donation button on each of them for easy contributions.

Children's Defense Fund
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Fund
The Humane Society
Save the Children

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society & Acumen Fund and Epic Farms receive a portion from my other lenses.

Dog Gift Basket - For Man's Best Friend

It's generally accepted that dogs are Man's Best Friends.  Dogs are loyal and loving family members who often put their "humans" above themselves. When families hang the Christmas stockings, they usually hang one up for Fi...

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Three Ways

Flickr Photo Courtesy of contracostatimes The most baked cookie of all time is the Chocolate Chip Cookie. Seven billion chocolate chip cookies are eaten annually. Specifically, the Toll House Cookie recipe right from the Toll House Morsels (chocolate...

Prayers for Peace & Goodwill

My youngest daughter brought me this pretty little tile from one of her trips to Italy. Pax et Bonum translates to Peace and Goodwill and I have it sitting where I can see it often. I've written about my favorite prayer in White Cloud's Pra...

Pets at Risk In An Economic Crisis

The ASPCA estimates that up to one million pets are at risk in this economic crisis. With foreclosures at an all time high, families are finding it difficult to find a place to live and keeping their pets is an extra burden. Although there are many...

My Quest For A Greener Life

The first thing I'd like to make clear is that I'm not, by any means, a poster child for the eco-movement. I love to travel but I don't like airplanes and I've had a couple of really, really disasterous train trips so travel by car is my first choic...

100% Charity (continued) 

Proceeds from this lens will help support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Cranberry Sauce Recipe with a Twist

Spirited Cranberry Apricot Relish is really it's name. This wonderful cranberry sauce is a twist on an old favorite.  I got it from my daughter who found it in an issue of Cooking LIght.  It has become our official holiday cranberry sau...

Recipes 

I love to cook and entertain. These are some of the recipes that I've been able to count on over the years. You could call them my "never-fail" recipes.

Easy Breakfast Recipes

Flickr Photo Courtesy of drBenMonkey They say that breakfast is the best meal of the day. If you have a good breakfast, you'll think more clearly and have more energy. Breakfast choices vary, of course, but most often include some type of cereal, eg...

Rhubarb Muffins, Cakes and More

Photo Courtesy of La Grande Farmers' Market What can you do with rhubarb if you don't want to bake a pie? Well, there are rhubarb muffins and cakes and sauces and compotes and stuffings, etc. Rhubarb in an entree? You bet! How about a beverage or two...

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Three Ways

Flickr Photo Courtesy of contracostatimes The most baked cookie of all time is the Chocolate Chip Cookie. Seven billion chocolate chip cookies are eaten annually. Specifically, the Toll House Cookie recipe right from the Toll House Morsels (chocolate...

Easy Holiday Recipes

It doesn't matter what the holiday is. It could be Christmas, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, July 4th or any other ethnic or religious or patriotic occasion. Most of the time people celebrate these special days with family get togethers or neighborhood parti...

Rhubarb Pie - Great Recipes

Photo Courtesy of Cameron Nordholm   Each spring the rhubarb patch, once again, becomes the star of the garden for many people. Not much else is growing, yet. A freshly baked rhubarb pie is the first recipe that "springs" to mind (get...

More Recipes... 

Impromptu Cooking - Soups

Photo Courtesy of Tripp-e Nearly everyone likes soup. You might prefer a vegetable soup, meaty soup, creamy soup or something with an exotic flair but there's a better-than-even chance that there is a soup that you like a lot. Perhaps you even crave i...

Simple Fruit Desserts

I have an assortment of nice recipes for desserts so good they'll knock your socks off! The best part is that they all feature fruit. On second thought, I think the best part is that they're simple...easy to make. These recipes are easy enough to se...

A Taste of Yorkshire

I have a tea towel from England covered with recipes from Yorkshire, a beautiful county in northern England. Yorkshire is the largest county in England. It's known for its beautiful countryside including the heather-covered Yorkshire Moors and...

Nutty Cereal Cookies

I first tasted this cookie when my sister-in-law (who is a fabulous cook) made them. It was the winner in the After School Snacks division of a competition and was printed in a magazine. Those cookies were so delicious and so full of healthy ingredie...

Easy Brunch Recipes

Flickr Photo Courtesy of bemky Brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch. Brunch is really a fancy name for breakfast that is served closer to lunch time. It's been said that brunch originated in England in the latter part of the 19th century b...

Still More Recipes... 

Recipes From Famous Brands

Photo courtesy of kevindooley I love to cook and I love to cook from scratch! Although I make it a practice to follow a recipe to the letter the first time, I tweak recipes more often than not at least once after that. I don't always have time to co...

Recipes - Rhubarb Sauces & Compotes

Rhubarb lends itself beautifully to toppings for desserts and meats. It pairs well with other fruits and can be seasoned with spices for a unique taste. Rhubarb can be served as a delightfully refreshing topping for desserts like pound cake or ice c...

Homemade Honey Granola Bars

This is another recipe that I clipped from an old magazine but had never tried. I re-discovered it while looking for something nourishing to take to a friend whose husband was in the hospital about three hours from home. Something she could take wit...

Golden Fruitcake: The Best Holiday-Fruitcake-Recipe Ever

This is not your grandmother's fruitcake. It's not dense. It's not dark. It's not your typical toss-it-as-soon-as-you-get-it fruitcake or turn around and give it to someone else. No. It's not that fruitcake. This is moist and buttery, light and scru...

And two more recipes... 

The Best Ever Banana Nut Cupcake Recipe

This recipe for Banana Nut Cupcakes has been in my husband's family forever. I do not know the origin but I do know that my mother-in-law was making these long before I ever met her wonderful son. She was famous for these cupcakes. Just a couple of...

Favorite Diet Plan Recipes

I'm almost embarrassed to admit it but I've tried most of the diets out there and I've purchased at least one of the books associated with each of them. And I'm really following a few of the plans by incorporating sensible habits and better food choi...

Cookbooks 

These cookbooks are favorites

Since I love cooking it stands to reason that I would collect cookbooks...I have dozens but my favorites are really of the "community" cookbook variety...church cookbooks, Junior League cookbooks and family cookbooks. In fact, in 1992 I created a cookbook for my children called "Mom's Guide to Impromptu Cooking and Other Kitchen Basics".

Here are my cookbook lenses, so far...

Church Cookbook Recipes

Photo courtesy of Me! I've got dozens and dozens of cookbooks - ranging from a vintage Betty Crocker cookbook to a whole series from Food & Wine. But the recipes that I favor are often those gleaned from a collection of favorite church cookbooks. I'l...

Recipes From Junior League Cookbooks

Some of the tastiest recipes I've ever prepared have come from Junior League cookbooks. They're typically tested over and over by Junior League members so you can be assured of an accurate recipe. I'll start by introducing you to my personal favorit...

Gardening & Going Green Lenses 

The best of both pursuits

Rain Gardens - A Beautiful Way To Improve Water Quality

Did you know that 85% of pollutants in our lakes and streams is the result of stormwater runoff? Did you know that every parking lot and road that is built only increases the pollution? Did you know that these pollutants affect wildlife habitats as...

Simple Steps to Prevent Water Pollution

Preventing pollution of our waterways is everyone's responsibility. Our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams are suffering from industrial waste and unhealthy farming methods. "But," you say, "I don't contribute to industrial was...

My Quest For A Greener Life

The first thing I'd like to make clear is that I'm not, by any means, a poster child for the eco-movement. I love to travel but I don't like airplanes and I've had a couple of really, really disasterous train trips so travel by car is my first choic...

Lakescaping - Restoring Natural Shorelines

Believe it or not, everyone has waterfront property. Yes, it's true! Even if you live in the middle of a city! In this lens, I'll attempt to answer why that's true and to explain why lakescaping can help to save our natural waterways, wherever they...

The Rhubarb Patch

We inherited this rhubarb patch when we bought our home ten years ago. It's right next to our vegetable garden. Right now there are five rhubarb plants marching in a row with their fresh, crinkly, light green leaves and celery-like stalks sprouting...

Travel 

See the USA...

Traveling throughout the United States by automobile is one of my favorite pastimes. My husband, Jack, and I often take the backroads enroute to a destination. I'll add to this as we have more adventures.

Northwest Angle of Minnesota

The Northwest Angle of Minnesota (affectionately called "The Angle") is the most northern part of the United States. A small piece of the state juts about thirty miles north of the rest of Minnesota. Unless you travel by boat across Lake of the Wood...

Monticello - Thomas Jefferson's Home

There is something very special about visiting a place that is historically significant. It's a trip back in time. Thomas Jefferson loved this home better than any place on earth and if you ever go it will be apparent why that was true. He called M...

Mendocino County, California

We recently had the privilege of housesitting in Mendocino County, California. We've traveled extensively throughout the United States and have visited California many times but had never stayed this far north in California. It was a wonderful exper...

Korean War Memorial - Washington DC

On a recent trip to Washington DC, the one exhibit that I really wanted to see was the Korean War Veterans Memorial. I'd heard that it was impressive. Well, impressive doesn't even begin to describe it. It's breathtaking. It's awe-inspiring. And it'...

Housesitting and Petsitting - Two Unique Travel Concepts

Housesitting is caring for homes and pets while their families travel here and there. It's a fabulous way to visit anywhere in the world for just the cost of the transportation. We've been housesitting for about five years and it's been a great expe...

Travel (continued) 

Two favorites

Alexandria, Minnesota is where I live. We moved to Alexandria from Pittsburgh, PA and that page I created as a Rocket Moms lens.

A Visit to Pittsburgh, PA

October, 2008. A wedding in Charlotte, North Carolina took Jack and me on another road trip. It was a last minute trip because we weren't going to attend the wedding because it was going to be so far away. But the parents of the bridal couple are su...

Alexandria, MN

30,000 years ago a glacier stopped in the west central area of Minnesota and deposited a massive amount of ice that was thousands of feet thick and embedded with tons of rock material. When it melted the water that was buried in the debris formed tho...

House and Home 

I'm a former Realtor and I'm a certified Home Stager so have created my first lens in this category with some authority. I'll be adding others...stay tuned.

Also in this category will be lenses dedicated to home management. Tips for saving money and organizing your home. Tips for saving energy, too.

Staging Your Home For Resale

Selling a home can be a daunting task in any economy. With today's real estate downturn it can be incredibly difficult to compete with all of the other properties on the market. It is generally agreed that an investment in updating and/or making you...

Simple Money Saving Kitchen Tips

I've been thinking about some of the little ways I'm saving energy and there are several items that we use that have become second nature. The best part is that they're also money-saving kitchen tips. That's it. Nothing too expensive or fancy invol...

SquidWho 

Reading is a favorite pastime, as well...all genres, actually. But here's my tribute to a talented writer who is a community activist as well as an accomplished, award-winning crime novelist.

Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky is an influential crime novelist best known for her heroine V.I. Warshawski, a Chicago private investigator. She has earned enormous respect from her peers and has been awarded the coveted Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement from th...

The Arts 

Who doesn't enjoy a great quotation? I sure do...and I jot them down as I find them. Here's a collection of my favorites plus a fun page on non-scary Halloween Art. I'll admit it...I'm a scaredy cat. But I do love Halloween!

More lenses to come on other art forms, too.

Halloween Art

I am the first to admit that I'm a big old scaredy cat! I really enjoy the milder side of Halloween...the trick-or-treating with the little kids in cute little costumes...Halloween parties with dunking for apples. I can't get past the opening credit...

My Favorite Quotations

I've always been inspired or amused or enlightened by quotations...sometimes all three at once! But that's not the only reason I like quotations. Quotations are like poetry, if you think about it. Spontaneous poetry. Some funny; some serious; some i...

Spiritual Lenses 

Prayers for Peace & Goodwill

My youngest daughter brought me this pretty little tile from one of her trips to Italy. Pax et Bonum translates to Peace and Goodwill and I have it sitting where I can see it often. I've written about my favorite prayer in White Cloud's Pra...

White Cloud's Prayer

My spiritual philosophy is both simple and complex. A long journey with many detours and I'm still traveling. I love the quiet and patient philosophy of Eastern and Native American spiritual beliefs. Peace, harmony, tolerance, respect. A connection...

My Rocket Moms Lensography 

CherylK's Rocket Moms Lensography

I've had the privilege of being a Rocket Mom for Sessions 2 and 3 and I must say that it has been a most enriching experience. Not only have I "met" some wonderful friends, but I've learned so much about Squidoo and the principals that drive this a...

Rocket Moms Lenses 

From Session 2

Top Ten "Make Your Own Products" Recipes

photograph by memotions Years ago I found a recipe for Shake 'n Bake, a convenience food mix for making oven fried chicken. It was easy to use and the chicken was tasty. The family liked it. A big plus. Then, when we had a pet dog, the kids and I fo...

Homemade Honey Granola Bars

This is another recipe that I clipped from an old magazine but had never tried. I re-discovered it while looking for something nourishing to take to a friend whose husband was in the hospital about three hours from home. Something she could take wit...

All About Salt

We probably all take salt for granted. It's just something we use when we cook and serve meals. There's always a salt and pepper shaker on the table and we probably reach for them without even thinking. You cook with salt. You can clean with salt. Y...

Simplify Christmas - Five Good Ideas

I'm not entirely certain about other countries of the world but in the United States of America Christmas, which is eagerly awaited and loved by everyone, is often one of the most stressful times of the year. It's busy. It's expensive. It's chaotic....

My Camera and Me - A Travelogue

I have somehow developed a passion for photography. I have never taken a class in photography. Can't even figure out the handbook for my camera (Canon A720/IS). Which says a lot about the camera, actually. Point and click is my kind of camera. In s...

Squidoo Reference Lenses - A Lensography of My Favorites

This lensography is dedicated to the wonderful lensmasters who lend their expertise so unselfishly to help those of us who are novices learn to make the best lenses possible. There are many talented and knowledgeable lensmasters and I know that I hav...

Dale Chihuly Exhibit - Desert Botanical Garden

I had the pleasure of visiting the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona this past winter. It's a beautiful display of all of the wonders of the Desert and we've visited it several times over the years. But the thing that made this particular...

Pets at Risk In An Economic Crisis

The ASPCA estimates that up to one million pets are at risk in this economic crisis. With foreclosures at an all time high, families are finding it difficult to find a place to live and keeping their pets is an extra burden. Although there are many...

More Rocket Moms Lenses 

From Session 3

The Healing Garden Body Lotion

I'd like to highlight a product that I love and use faithfully. It's Green Tea Therapy Body Lotion by the Healing Garden. It has a soothing fragrance that doesn't overwhelm. If I slather it on after showering my skin just seems to drink it in. Nothi...

Tortellini and Vegetable Soup

It's that time of year. The weather is turning cooler and the days are shorter. Everyone is busy with school and work and time is short. Eating healthy is more important than ever. We need comfort food but we need it to be fast and easy to prepa...

Children's Books Are Toys, Too!

If you teach a child to read, you've given them a headstart on learning anything.  Books should be one of the first learning tools introduced to your children. But lots of children, for one reason or another, don't enjoy books or reading...

A Visit to Pittsburgh, PA

October, 2008. A wedding in Charlotte, North Carolina took Jack and me on another road trip. It was a last minute trip because we weren't going to attend the wedding because it was going to be so far away. But the parents of the bridal couple are su...

Quick Holiday Brunch Recipes

Even though these holiday recipes are almost always part of our family's Christmas or Thanksgiving celebrations, they would be great for Easter, July 4th, Hanukah, Kwanza or any other ethnic or religious or patriotic occasion. You can have a festive...