About - Toot Sweet 4 Two

Hi! I’m Carole, co-founder of Toot Sweet 4 Two. Welcome and thanks for stopping by to check out what’s happening in my corner of the universe.

I’m married to Charlie (25+ years) and we have a cat, Coco. Coco is a boy. A very spoiled, much loved boy. You can read about him here: A Boy Named Coco. If you are a lover of cats, you can check out my posts about Coco, an absolutely gorgeous Snowshoe Siamese, here:

I’d love to make him an internet star (he’s just so gosh-darn pretty!), but he does absolutely nothing special. Not one blessed thing. Nada.

We live in Southern California, in a semi-rural environment on 8 acres of dirt. In other words, while we own and live on a few acres, we don’t farm the acres {grin; a long story for another day!}.

A little background on the metamorphosis of Toot Sweet 4 Two:

Launched in July 2012, Toot Sweet 4 Two started as a blog about me and my niece, Tiffany, and our adventures. A mother of two young girls, Tiffany found it difficult to meet the demands of blogging and struggled with the universal truth that all mothers struggle with: not enough time!

So, in December 2013, Tiffany “retired” from the blog to focus on her family. Tiffany and her family live on in the archives of this blog and pop in on occasion at special times. Here are links to some of my favorite posts (a blast from the past) written by either me or Tiffany about her and her family:

With Tiffany’s “retirement”, that left me, Carole, a not-so-young, married woman of a “certain” age with no children! Suddenly, Toot Sweet 4 Two was no longer a “Mommy” blog!

Buh-bye!

But, here’s the thing: blogging is a passion for me, a labor of love. Not wanting to start over with a new blog entirely of my own, I’ve kept Toot Sweet 4 Two in its original format as a “lifestyles” blog. But now, the focus has changed to recipes and cooking!

So, if you were to ask a blog “expert” about what Toot Sweet 4 Two is, they would respond that Toot Sweet 4 Two is a food blog! If you ask me, I’ll tell you that I’m a lifestyles blogger with a heavy emphasis on recipes {grin}!

And, that’s the “reality” – Toot Sweet 4 Two is a food blog. The recipes are what drive the traffic. Visitors find my site through Google searches primarily for a particular recipe or through Pinterest pins or referrals from other recipe sites.

Fortunately, I love cooking and I’m pretty good at it {grin}! While I’m not a trained chef, just a self-taught home cook, I like to experiment and develop new recipes. I call my recipe category “Sweet Eats”. Here are links to the most popular recipes on my blog:

Fair warning! Most of the photos taken for the above recipes were taken by me or Tiffany with our iPhones, my “pre-fancy-dancy” camera days. In spite of the fact that those photos aren’t so great, they still generate a ton of traffic to my blog and my philosophy is…

“if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Consequently, if you visit old posts on my site, you will see that some photos aren’t stupendous. But, here’s the thing: Tiffany and I decided that we wanted to keep our blog as a chronicle of our growth, both as writers and photographers. While Tiffany no longer actively participates, I want to honor all that she brought to this blog during the time she contributed. So, I’m not going back and “fix it” because “it ain’t broke!”

In December 2012, Charlie gifted me with a Nikon DSLR 3200 and I’ve been a budding photographer ever since! And, by checking out these old (and popular) recipe posts, readers will notice how much I’ve improved in my photography, photo editing and food styling skills! While I’m still “a work in progress” (aren’t we all?), I’m getting better everyday and more importantly, enjoying the journey!

Those (listed above) are my most popular recipes. Want to know what my favorite recipes are? Check these out:

Okay; I’ll stop there {grin}!

I even share my recipe failures:

But, just like everyone else, I am not a “one-dimensional” person, so I continue to share other things on this blog, even though I’m technically a food blogger.

What other things do I share, you ask?

Well, in October 2007, Charlie and I lost our home to a wildfire. I’ve written a 20-part series about our loss and rebuild and you can read it starting with this first post: Any Way the Wind Blows.

Because of our loss, I’ve become passionate about emergency planning and preparedness and have written a ton about the subject. Here are a few to get you started:

Also, I love to party! I like every aspect about party planning (well, maybe NOT the actual work!) and share parties and tablescapes on this blog. Here are a few to check out:

I have a “crafty” side and while it has been dormant for many years (PTSD from the fire), it’ll materialize (no pun intended) here and there:

And, as the “mother” to elders, I’ve had my challenges navigating the elder care world. I’ve shared many posts about the trials and tribulations of elder care and here are a few:

I like to share stories of people who have inspired me:

And places I’ve visited:

Plus, I make endless lists {grin}! Lists of 42. This started as a whole home inventory project (emergency planning) that I’ve decided to share on my blog. Two years later, it’s still going strong!

Here are just a few of my endless lists of 42:

And, most importantly, I love to write (no kidding!). Some of my favorite posts are:

Man, oh, man – did I ever give you a list of different things to read! I guess it’s evident that I love my blog and I hope you do too!

All about Toot Sweet 4 Two:

“Sweet Eats” is all about cooking and recipes. Not all are “sweet” – that’s just the name!

“Sweet Home” is about home-related stuff: decluttering, emergency planning (including the series: Any Way the Wind Blows, about the loss of my home in a fire), gardening, green living, housekeeping, thrifty thoughts & tips, time management, The Eldercare Diaries and The Mommy Diaries.

“Sweet Ideas” includes crafts, decorating, hobbies, parties and tablescapes.

“Sweet Life” is about family, memory and pets.

“Sweet Nothings” is my category for everything else not filed anywhere else – Seinfeld made a fortune about nothing. So I thought I’d give it a try!

“Sweet On” is the section all about inspirations, innovations, inventions and opportunities developed by others that I’m excited about and want to share with visitors. This section also includes tutorials on various aspects of blogging. Reviews are located under this category, as well.

“Sweet Spot” is about adventures, travel and nature.

“Sweet Talk” includes inspirational quotes I like with beautiful pictures that I want to share, as well as remembrance of certain days and holiday wishes throughout the year.

“Sweet Things” are things I like that I want to share. No rules, so the “things” can run the gambit of the universe!

Oh, one more thing (I always seem to have “one more thing” {grin}): the expression, “toot sweet” is American slang for the French saying, “tout de suite,” which literally translates to “all at once.” Often life transpires “all at once” or “toot sweet” and after much brainstorming, Tiffany and I thought this described our crazy, busy, frenzied, hasty, chaotic lives.

Want to always know what’s happening on Toot Sweet 4 Two?

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Thanks again for dropping by!

Tootles,