See that sweet little birdy there?

Wanna see more? This is an exciting day for me. For those you follow Amy Power's blog and online store InspireCo,you know what kind of really cute, really unique wares she specializes in. Guess what? This month I am her featured artist!

Months ago, when Amy invited me onboard, I was pleasantly surprised and honored. And immediately in panic-mode. Me? I knew the kind of artists Amy had signed on and I certainly didn't feel like I belonged in this group. I've watched every month as artists appeared with their creations and been amazed at what I saw. And I'm still pleasantly surprised and honored to be featured.

If you want to see more of my birds head on over to Amy's, and see what's up. Most of my stuff is made with re-purposed old linens that were otherwise unusable in their present condition. Most can also be used as a recepticle for a small gift giving you two gifts in one! Two for one is always good isn't?

Thanks Amy for asking me to create for you. I've learned a lot along the way and it has stretched me in really good ways. O.K. guys get yourselves over to InspireCo and get shopping!

Does anyone else feel like they

need to de-tox? Whew! I am more than stuffed. I feel like I could explode. I am so weary of all the holiday foods. If I see another sausage ball or Christmas cookiie I will turn green.

When my daughter was here she kept talking about doing a de-tox. I teased her about it, but I have to admit that it sounds pretty good right now.In a perfect world, I would go through a good herbal "cleansing" and arrive on the other side about 5 pounds lighter and committed to a nearly vegetarian diet. But it's not a perfect world and I don't see that happening. When I see my doctor in March I am supposed to be 15 pounds lighter. That's 5 lbs. a month! Yikes! I see a cancelation in my future... I once read a cartoon that said, "I like to make appointments so that when I want to feel in control of my life I can call and cancel." Yeah that's me with this 15 pound thing.

Christmas

was, as always, a happy, joy-filled, food-filled day. As always on Christmas Eve, someone read The Night Before Christmas. Being a new reader, Hilary was anxious to help read ,which was so sweet. Sophia was content to sit and listen.

Christmas morning was full of fun as we all opened our gifts. Hilary would open a gift and put it in her stash and go for the next one. Sophia was happy playng with the first gift opened for her and would have played happily with just the one. Maybe that is a lesson for the rest of us?

After a breakfast of baked french toast and candied bacon, we all sort of settled in for the day some electing for naps.

3 days after the Big Day and everyone here is sick of holiday food, and the decorations are just of a rude reminder of all the work to be done getting them all down. Oh well.

Immediately after the holidays, I get in this major cleaning mode and want to clean and re-paint everything in my sight. I have lots of cleaning projects on my list and some fun decorating ones too.

I have this idea to cover the barrel style lampshade on an antique floor lamp in my living room in cream colored feather boas. I think I cut them where they are joined together and then pin/glue them all arond the shade to cover it. I think it will look fantastic. I already love using different colors of boas on a favorite pair of candle sticks so a lampshde isn't such a far stretch I think. I'll take pictures.

Since we did not have internet service a great part of December due to a faulty sattelite (which is still not quite right), I didn't reach my goal of blogging everyday in December. I am going to try again in January!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

On the longest night of the year,

 

Hilary and I made Christmas candles together. The purple one is her favorite. It looks a little like a candle you might find in Dr. Seuss's Whoville I think. She loves this project everytime we do it, but doesn't want to give any of them away! She is spending the night with us tonight. We took her shopping for so she could choose gifts for her Mom and Pop. I am going to let her do the wrapping and everything. Tomorrow we will meet up with Mom and Pop at church. The weather is still crummy and nasty and I am still on the old dial-up, so I don't want to write an extensive post here just it case it bumps me off, so I'm keeping this short.

O.K., so I am NOT impressed

with Hughes Net. We only got it a few months ago (in the summer) because we were so tired of dial-up and it's painstakingly slow response time. It's looking pretty good right now. At least it works. Our skies aren't really that cloudy this week, but apparently enough to keep the satellite from receiving its signal. The MOTH finally got our old desktop to connect but who knows for how long? Till a cloud passes over I guess. All my pictures are trapped in my laptop which will not connect, so I can't post any of my Christmas pix. I feel like I am cut off from everything without my internet! Phooey. I know I could have worse problems but I just hate that we are paying mucho money and not getting anything in return about half the time.

a clear view of the southern sky

I have NOT had most of the week. Hense my disappaerance. We live in the boonies and the only way to get high speed internet is with satellite. When you see the Hughes Net commercial and they say all you need is a clear view of the southern sky to have access to high speed internet, believe it people. Most of the week our sky was a deep dark leaden gray that sent rain by the bucketsfull all day. I was offline so long, I was going nuts. Couldn't email, couldn't keep up with world events, couldn't shop. I wasn't starting to ascquire a nervous tick, and felt myself twitching convulsivly. Well, not really, but I sure didn't like it.

On the advice of my internest whiz son-in-law, I called IT support just to be sure it was only the weather and not something more serious. I had never done that before but desperate enough to try.







I bet you know where my IT support is. India. I knew I was in trouble when the voice on the opposite end said, "Hello my name is Deepak and I am here to help you." Oh, lordy all I wanted was a Kevin or a Susan, or anything remotely pronouncable by this southern girl.

I was concentrating very hard in an attempt to understand D. as he asked me questions about my computer. Finally D, says to me, "Ceendy (that's my name in Indian), type what I am going to say.

"O.K., I am ready." I say fingers poised over the keyboard.

Then D. says to me, "Deh Blue, Deh Blue, Deh Blue."

Total silence on my end, but my brain is in a panic as I frantically looked for a "Deh Blue" key. Then I started thinking it must be French and I don't speak French. What to do? I asked D. to repeat his instructions. Politely he did. I was still clueless and finally sai, "Could you spell 'Deh blue' for me?"

This time D. was silent. Finally he said in a slow, painstaking way, " Deh Blue, as in WHISKEY!"

Embarrassed, I said, "Oh dub-ya, dub-ya, dubya!" I said in my best southern accent.
Talk about being mortified! Thankfully, the rest of our conversation went a little bit better with the final diagnosis being no clear view of the southern sky. Puh.

a clear view of the southern sky

pretty!

 

 

I subscribed to Teresa McFayden's "Paper Bella" ezine, The Twelve Days of Christmas and am having so much fun with it. Just as it sounds, for 12 days in December, you get a fun holiday related project. This little star was day 2. I love, love, love bottle brush trees and since I have a huge supply of them knew I had to make this. It is hanging from a vintage cloth covered lampshade in my kitchen and looks so sweet there. I think I want to take large trees now and make a really big one, but first I think I will bleach the trees and then dye them pink. Wouldn't that be pretty?

looky here!

 

 

What a village of sugared up glittered up houses! I wish my pix weren't such poor quality and that I could have gotten a picture of the entire set-up but you get the idea. I just love the little house in the close-up. When my daughter and I visited my sweet friend Amy Powers of InspireCo she taught us how she makes her little houses for her line of houses she calls Sugarville. We had so much fun! Amy had snacks (love that St. Andre Triple Creme Brie-I ate most of it), and manner of crafty cutesy thing ready and waiting for us. We spent a couple of happy hours painting, glueing and glittering our little houses. If you look closely at my little house, you will see a cute little guy painted by Amy herself. I think he is wanting in that little house and I don't blame him.

Speaking of houses; oh buddy is Amy's cute! It's just like her. Warm, cute, welcoming, and happy. Every corner is a feast for the eyes. Ever so often my daughter or I would stop what we were doing and go and look at some other little corner that had just caught our eye. No doubt about it, Amy knows how to make a house a home.

After I returned home, I was inspired to make another house or two for my little glittery village to go with the few I already had. I think I will add to it every year. maybe Amy would be honorary mayor?

The hot light is on!

 

Isn't this just the cutest little ornament? My sil Pop got it for me. The little light just blinks away. Makes 'ya want a Krispy Kreme doesn't it? Come on, you know you want one...

It's just not Christmas around here

 

until this little guy is displayed somewhere safe in my house. On the underside he is dated "1962" with a black magic marker. His brilliant paint job mostly gone-rubbed away by little fingers hoping that just by holding him would make the great day come sooner.

Poised on a high shelf, the first time I look at him every year, I remember just like yesterday the day I first saw him. I was 4 years old and sitting under our silver aluminum Christmas tree looking at the bright red ornaments on the tree and all the equally bright packages under the tree. Even as a 4 year old, I was a tradionalist and longed for the popcorn garlanded, icicle laced, magnificent green firs I saw depicted in all my storybooks.

What was wrong with my family? All the story books showed happy families bundled up and packed in their station wagon with a GREEN Christmas tree tied down on top. Or better still they were tramping through the woods with a tree they had actually cut themselves. And us? Daddy would go to the attic and re-appear with a longish box that contained a bare skinny pole with holes all over it. Then, one by one, daddy would remove flashy aluminum sticks from their paper sleeves and stick them in the holes. In 30 minutes time we would have a "tree" that was a testment to the times: the space age and all that went with it. The crowning touch was not a beautiful angel or a shiny star for the top, but a color wheel that sat on the floor and revolved reflecting red, yellow, blue, and green onto our alme uminum fir.

I've oftetn wondered what went through my daddy's mind as he contructed this tree every year. My mother loved it. I don't know what he thought of it. But the day he brought home this little Santa and handed it to me, it was though he was saying to me that he understood and hoped this little traditional icon might take the edge off the aluminum tree for me.

The irony in all of this is that every year as I put out Santa I wish I had that old silver tree. I would gladly set it up and decorate it and probably display it right next to my gorgeous, real, live, green tree.

Just a few pictures tonight,

 

 

 

.
I'm pooped. Got lots and lots of fabric cut at the quilt shop today. A fun, productive day though.
I love the JOY ornament is my newest favorite. It started out life as a plain kinda ugly copper colored metal ornament from Wal-Mart. I added the vintage glass glitter and the pink ribbon. Love the why it looks hanging from the jar filled with antiquie ornaments.
Just one of 20 poinsettias I bought this year. Yep, 20, but hey they were only a buck a piece at Lowe's. I have them everyshere! wish I had thought about having to water all those flowers tho before I bought so many.
Hollie Hobby says Merry Christmas! That is vintage 1977. I had two and don't know what happened to the other one.
More on my Christmas decorations tomorrow!

the trouble with pink

 

is that it comes in so many lucious shades and I love them all. Yep, there is lots of pink on the needles these days. I just finished a pink scarf to go with my pink coat. I do love that color.

No more singing out loud while home alone

well, maybe.

As my family can attest, I LOVE to sing. I know a line or two from oodles of songs and can belt one out for just about any situation.

Yesterday, I had the Christmas music going and I was singing along at full volume in my best off-key warble. Actually, my off-key warble is the best I've got, but it doesn't stop me.

Anyway, I was giving it my all as I walked back and forth through the house tidying up. From front of the house to back I went, Jasper following me barking away. What we must have sounded like! i just thought that Jasper was joining in the fun, when suddenly, I heard someone knocking on my door. I was instantly silenced as the person knocked again. There is no way they couldn't have heard my music making. I was so mortified that I couldn't answer the door. I finally managed to peek out the window and saw a woman walking down my driveway back to her car, which had its hood up. I felt really bad about not helping her, but my embarrasment overcame any altruistic feelings I had.

It felt kinda strange around the house today as I went about my daily chores quite as a mouse. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold to my new vow of silence.

for once it's good to be a follower!

and not the leader. At least, that is what blogspot is telling me. I am trying to learn more about using blogspot as it relates to my blog and I saw this new gadget you could add. I am learning as I go and I hope this is a good thing to add. I guess if it is not, I can delete it. So if you read my blog, become a follower, just don't ask me how you do it!

I've been tagged by KellyMaria

at Belle Ame. I have to post 6 things about myself and tag 6 others.

Here goes.

1. I hate to have my picture taken. Really hate it.
2. I love to be all alone all day long in my house cooking, crafting, and decorating
3. I like to shop online
4. intense, high strung people drive me nuts. You know the kind? Everything and I mean everything is IMPORTANT, especially if it pertains to them.
5. I would spend my last dollar on a book or a craft supply
6. My favorite Christmas movie is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

sorry I've been MIA

No reason for it really. First I skipped a couple of days, then another, then I was out of town, then I was busy, busy with babysitting, and the longer I went without posting, the guiltier I felt and the guilt was so great that I didn't even want to look at my blog becasue I felt so badly about not posting.

My December challenge to myself is to post everyday this month. Even if it is only a sentence, I hope to get something written here.

We had a week with our granddaughter Sophia while her parents were in Hawaii. Whew! She kept us busy! Plus our other granddaughter Isabella was here too. We were in toddler mode for over a week. I went back into survival mode. quick! she's asleep, get something done! For a week I took very fast baths, cooked very little, stayed dressed in sweats, pretty much stayed at home, and cuddled and sang, and kissed little toes, and inhaled the sweet smell of baby.

Thanksgiving was good, although we only had one of the grands here. We still had a good time and ate too much. We were lucky to get to spend some time with old friends that were vistiing.

The decorations are up! I love decorating for Christmas but this year, I went for a leaner, more traditional look. Lots of red and gold. I will be posting pictures over the next few days.

Now for the shopping! I've done a little, mostly online. I love shopping online and scoping out the etsy shops to see what unique things I can find. am trying not to buy so much "junk" that only ends up unused and unloved just a few days after the big day.

I am also working on some cute stuff for Inspireco. I will be featured in January and I am trying to get my stuff finished and mailed to Amy in record time. I have some really cute little birdies that I can't wait for everyone to see. Maybe I'll give a little peak!

So, hello everyone! I'm home!

I'm pretty sure it's not santa claus...

 

i just went outside to check my mailbox. As I was walking up the hill back to the house I happened to glance up at my roof and there on the chimney was a HUMONGUOUS bird! I ran inside to grab my camera hoping he wouldn't fly away before I could get back out. Luckily, he accomadated me.

I snapped dozens of pics and this was the best I could get. My house is 3 stories tall so even on zoom this was the best I could do. I am just glad this is not the chimney we use. Sure would hate to have roasted big black bird one evening if he fell in while we were enjoying a fire in the fireplace.

Good thing I am not superstitous cause this looks like the perfect bad omen. Big black bird perched on your chimney.

new fiirepit

 

We got a good deal on it. I've wanted one for a while now. So tonight the MOTH and I tried it out. It was pretty cool outside, so I made Chai Tea Lattes with whipped cream on top and we sat with our feet propped on the rim and just enjoyed the crisp fall evening as we talked about this and that.

On the home front the youngest is home from Hawaii safe and sound. We are enjoying getting to know all over again the red-haired babe that comes with the daughter. She is a delight and reigning toddler chaos everywhere. Jasper the dog is really enjoying all the snacks thrown his way as she learns to feed herself. His once slim frame is showing shades of portlyness.

Lots of sewing going on. Will try to take pictures. Christmas stuff mostly. A quilt and a table runner from the scraps. Also doing sewing for Amy over at InspireCo because after the first of the year I will be featured on her blog! I'm trying to focus on "needful things" done up pretty.Seems like in this economy we gals are looking for pretty at a pretty good price. I'm doing some re-purposing in some of my stuff and so far those who have seen my wares have liked them, so we shall see. Amy if you are reading this are you curious?

More later.

spooky house!

 

This past week-end while my niece was here she and my daughter B, and B's daughter Hilary decorated a spooky Halloween house from a kit I purchased. What a time they had! I bought extra candy thniking Hilary would want more and sure enough she did. As they worked, I snapped pictures and listened to their conversations and would sneak candy when no one was looking. By the time they were finished their hands and their tongues ( I wasn't the only one sneaking bites) were stained black from the frosting that came with the kit. Funny for sure, but probably not so great from a health stand point. Anything that black can't be good for you. but the three of them had a good time and Hilary took the house home with her to occupy a place of honor I am sure.

I just had the best weekend!

This past weekend my big sis and her daughter came for a visit. There are about 8 hrs. worth of driving between us, so we don't get to see each other often so when we do we try to pack it full. And pack it full we did. Lots of shopping, some crafting, lots of shopping, and well, we managed to eat a lot too. We ended each day on the front porch, swinging and rocking, looking for stars and having a glass of wine. While waiting for the stars, we swapped stories, recounted memories, talked about favorite books, and just generally packed those evenings full. It all just basicly left me wanting more but savoring what I had.

Lots of fun things have been going on

 

 

 

around here lately. Fall just gets me so busy! Last week my friend Theresa, aka "decorating extroidinare friend" came over for a day of sewing. There were supposed to be 3 of us but one couldn't make it, but I still called it my "sewing circle". All week I went around saying to myself, " I need to tidy up for my sewing circle, I need to cook for my sewing circle, I need to", well you get the idea. It just sounded so old-fashioned and so PRODUCTIVE.

It did end up being productive. We sewed all day while an early fall rain made everything so cozy and snug. We broke for a lunch of homemade pimento cheese sandwiches and a chaser of homemade cream of tomato soup. Somewhere along the way a pot of tea was thrown in too. At the end of the day we both had a quilt top pretty much finished. We were making the same pattern using the same fabrics but they still managed to have our own stamp on them. A few finishing rounds and they will be ready to pack up and send to the quilter!

I'm sure once we have them back we will be so proud of them and every time we throw those quilts on our lap not only the quilt but the good memory attached to them warm us heart and soul.

goody, goody, I won!

 

I just love bloggers and the blogging community. Last week a fellow blogger gave me the heads up on a giveaway on her blog so I went over and left the required comment. Guess what? I won! So fun and exciting to find that out. It was a fall-themed giveaway over at belle ame. Go there. It is lovely. Kelly Maria has really created a lovely place to visit with a cup of tea in hand and maybe a bite of sweet to go with it. I don't know how to link in a post, but check out my faves cause she is there.

Here is the really neat part. We discovered common history of sorts. Turns out she lives in a town I used to live in and we were able to connect over a coupld of landmarks. Isn't that just the coolest thing? Who would have guessed?

Oh the goodies in my box? Fantastic! A poem Kelly Maria had written herself about our friend and Autumn icon the scarecrow, a lovely scented candle which I plan to light and enjoy as I listen to the presidential debate, a cute harvest pumpkin, a lovely vivid oraange "faux" pumpkin I am going to find a home for tonight, a gorgious magnitized fridge calendar for '09, and notecards. Doesn't it all sound like a giveaway right down a bloggin' girl's alley?

Thanks Kelly Maria! You made my day!

p.S. Kel even addressed the box to

nap, interrupted

O.K. so night before last, I did not sleep well at all. After dragging around all morning I decided a nap was in order. Soon I was blissfully tucked in, covers piled on, and fan blowing cold air at me.

I had probably been asleep about 2o minutes when suddenly I became aware of a noise. It was kind of growly, rumbling, throbbing, and very loud. I kept trying to wake up to investigate and when I finally did to my chagrin, I discovered the noise was coming from me! Even those I was alone I was embarrassed! I really thought the MOTH was making it up when he said I snored.

No wonder Jasper, who was in the room with me, wouldn't settle down. I was aware of his pacing and prowling even as I slept. After waking myself up in such a nasty way, I peeled off my p.j.'s and climed back into the clothes I had been wearing. Glancing in the mirror I noticed what I thought was a piece of pink trash or something perched on the bosom of my favorite black t-shirt. Glancing down, I was aggravated to discover what had kept Jassper so busy as he indured my noisy sleep. He had chewed a large hole in a very strategic place on my shirt. Talk about revenge. That will teach me to throw my clothes in the floor maybe. I just hope the MOTH doesn't follow Jasper's lead and start eating my clothes in retaliaion for my noisy sleep "songs"

days of perfection

Ah Autumn! I wish you could hear the sound of bliss in my voice. Only 11 days old, already I feel it slipping away only because I love it so. Is there anyone who doesn' at least like this season.I can't imagine not finding something to love in this season of brillian hues, celebrations, and transistion to a slower, calmer time of year.

I find myself wanting to savor every moment of every glorious day. The swirly clouds, the squawky ducks flying over in their miraculous "V" on their way to the duck Riviera, and the tentative early leaf falling. The leaves shimmer in the light breeze wanting to let go of their perch, but not quite willing to call it quits. Enough have fallen already that you just make out the browns and grays of the boulders that make up the bones of the ridge across from my house. Soon, the entire foundation will be exposed covered only here and there with evergreens.

Today is a real beauty and I have lots of house chores to do. I go about them indifferently until I promise myself a reward. "Do two more chores, then make a pot of tea and head outside for a while" I tell myself. It works, I pick up the pace and before you know it, my tea kettle is whistling and in minutes I am out the door to park myelf in the porch swing. Jasper, in his friendly, companionable way, stretches out on the floor at my feet.

Sitting there I start to get the itch to go camping. It is a favorite way of ours to enjoy this time of year. But we've packed so many house projects and so much fun already into the next several weeks, that I am worried it may not happen this year.
If all else fails, I just may set up the tent in the backyard for a night. Just one evening of sitting around a campfire may have to do this time around. I mean we could hike the ridge, cook steaks over the fire, sit up late around the fire and head for the house when nature called. Hmmm...I may have hit upon something here.

see this little

 

puddle of blue? This is the pieces to Max the boy's first sweater and matching hat. The yarn is lovely stuff-bamboo and wool and just glides through my fingers. I love the hat with the jaunty little pom-pom on top. Too cute. Just the outfit for someone entering our all girl world. No female alive will be able to resist that pom-pom.

how cool!

 

wow! This evening I watched a Moonflower open into full bloom. i just love Moonflowers. They look sorta like giant white Morning Glories and bloom at the oppisite time of Morning Glories. Maybe that is why I like them so, for I am definlitly NOT a Morning Glory. Just like a Moon Flower, I come alive in the evening and scurry about doing all kinds of things.

But back to the flower. I was outside filling my bird feeders when I noticed a bloom getting ready to go into action. So I just stood there and watched. First there was a little split along a petal and then ever so slowly it puffed up and a little star-shaped opening appeared at the tip. The frangrance from a Moon Flower is very, very subtle and just before the flower I was watching burst into full bloom, it gave a little puff of fragrance and there it was! Beautiful, pure white with a star shape in the center and a good 6 inches across, it was worth all the mosquito buzzings and bites that I got as I waited.

Autumn's Up!

 

 

 

I've got all my fall decorations up and am really pleased wtih how it all looks. I love my dining room mantle especially. the floral arrangement was done by my decorating extroidenaire friend as was the cute crow on the shutter in my kitchen. I made the "thankful" plaque hanging over the mantle. It was super easy. I bought a large package of "grungeboard" by Tim Holtz at the scrapbook store. There are 8 different fonts in 8 sizes in the pack. Good deal! I used the biggest font and glued them to my scrapbook paper covered board. I used the ModgePodge to adhere the paper to the board. (I primed it first with paint). Then I used Tacky glue to stick the letters down. Oh and I painted the letters white and then put on a coat of pearlized white. Add a sawtooth hanger and voila! I only have one other thing I want to do. I have a very ornate cut glass punch bowl in the middle of my kitchen table that is sitting inside a beautiful wreath of autumn leaves. I want to fill it with water and add floating candles but I can't find any. See them all the time when I am not looking for them. Anyone know where I can get some?

Today

I cleaned the upstairs bathroom really well. As in moving stuff and dusting, mopping and washing all the clear glass that holds bathroom stuff.

Vaccumed up a ton of dog hair. Asked myself if I would have kept this cute stray a year ago if I had known how much he would shed.

Took the above mentioned dog out at least 10 times.

Did 4 loads of laundry. And acually put it away.

Cooked a really good dinner.

checked my email 3 or 4 times (who knows why)

Worked on two quilts. One just a little, the 2nd quite a bit.

Made a pattern for a pillow.

halfway cleaned a 2nd bathroom.

cleaned off the dining room table

did a little thinking

talked to 2 of my daughters at least twice

talked to 2 of my granddaughters.

knitted

had a glass of wine on my front porch (o.k. I had two)

a stranger in our midst..

It was bound to happen eventally. We got the news this week that our estrogen-rich world is going to be shaken up come February with a male child. It will be the first male to appear in our little family in almost 31 years.

The MOTH and I had 3 daughters and these 3 have each produced a girl of their own. Girls are familiar, girls are 2nd nature around here, girls just "fit" at our house. Now that one of the daughters has broken with tradition and got herself a little male child, we are all wondering how this new world will be. Will he be intimidated by all the estrogen? Probably not. I imagine that as he grows amongst all the women in this family, he'll learn all the finer points of getting along with the fairer sex and be able to play the aunts, girl cousins and grandmother like a fine violin.

So, welcome, little dude. All I can say is you gotta lot guts busting in on this bunch! but we'll be ready and waiting for you when you get here.

Really good recipe

 

As much as I love to cook, I don't really post that many recipes here. But this one is so good and so s1
imple that I had to share it. I got it out of the sept issue of MS Living. With summmer squash, fresh corn, and green onions, what's not to love rifht? The buttery taste of the squash and the sugar sweetness of the corn combine with everything else to make a absolutely delish pasta dish.

1 lb. of penne pasta or some other tube pasta
coarse salt and coarsely ground pepper
2 T olive oil
2 Zuchinni sliced 1/4" thick
1 yellow squash, sliced 1/4" thick
2 1/2 c. fresh corn kernals ( about 4 ears)
3 green onions, white and pale green part only
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced (note I did not have a jalapeno, so I used crushed red pepper flakes and I think I prefer the pepper flakes)
1/2c chicken stock
4 T unsalted butter
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Cook pasta, drain and reserve 1 cooking water
Heat oil in large deep skillet and add squash, sauteing until light golden brown. Add corn, green onions, garlic, (or pepper flakes), chicken stock, and 2 T butter. Cook until corn is tender, about 5 min. Add pasta, remaining butter and enough water to keep moist. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until is well coated, Garnish with cheese.

I'm tellin' ya, you gotta try this. It will be one of my "go to" recipes whenever I don't know whaat to make for dinner.

We just got back from a really quick trip to NE Arkansas. That means lots of car knitting for me. I finished a pair of socks and my new sweater now has only a few rows to go! I can't wait to finsih it

While in AR, the MOTH and I did a little driving around to old familiar places. Or I should say we tried. Both of us spent most of our kidhoods and teen years within miles of each other but didn't meet til later. We drove to the sites of our homes. I say sites becasue both had been torn down and cotton planted over the very spots where we had fought with siblings, had parties, baked cookies, had boyfriend/girlfriends over, argued with parents, eaten countless holiday and birthday dinners and yet, it's as tho it never happened. Kinda weird. Where once people grew, cotton now claims the growing space.

The worse part was driving by the little house the MOTH and I re-did and spent so much dream time and labor making it into a warm, happy, inviting place. We didn't get to spend many years there, but the ones we had were filled with kids, Christmase, my first Thanksgiving dinner that I prepared, and meals with friends. It's obvious the current owners don't share the same feelings for this house that we did. What was once happy little yellow cottage is now a tumbled-down, almost derelict shell. Sigh...I guess not everyone has the same idea of dwelling place that I do. The next time I go to Arkansas, I'm staying away from the memories and hiding in the hotel where they can't find me.

I'm back!

 

Yeah, high speed internet! Let's hope it solves some of my problems.
This week I am deeply entrenced in the activities of the Republican Convention. Evenn tho I think it is a worthy way to spend my time this week, I can't help but feel a little guilty sitting in front of the boobtube for hours at a time. So to assuage my guilt, I have taken on a large knitting project. I guess as a nod to the campagne goings on I should knitting in red, white, and blue but instead I'm honoring my favorite season (hurry up Autumn!) and am nearly buried in a froth of Autumnal colors. The yarn is super fuzzy and the official color name on the yarn band is "straw into gold" Love that. What is it? It's a sweater for me! I hope by the time the convention winds up on Thursday to have it almost completed. I know my fingers are hoping that, because they are starting to get a little bit sore. We'll see.

The fall decorations are going up around here slowly but surely. I bought a couple of new things this year. I need to take pictures of them. Both were made by a decoration extroidanere friend of mine. She and I spent a fun morning browsing in the Old Time Pottery store choosing lots of really nice autumn silk flowers and berries to make fall arrangements with. At the check-out it was mucho$ but luckily since she has a business, she got a discount. And for me it wasn't so much because we did a little bartering in the side. She requested a pair of hand-knit wool socks for the winter and I was happy to oblige since I like to always have a pair of socks on the sticks to pull out when in the car with the MOTH or just to keep my hands busy when I am waiting somewhere.

Jasper is behaving himself pretty much right now. He likes to lie at my feet when I am knitting with his head on my feet. It's a nice cozy feeling I must say. His new snack food of choice is Cheetos. He can catch one of those things thrown from a mile away. he hears the bag rattle when you open the cabinet and he is johnny on the spot!

The dog ate my homework

No, really, he did. Last week the ladies at the quilt shop decided to have a potluck lunch and my assignment was to bake my marvelous herb bread. Got it baked the night before, wrapped tightly and carelessly perched it near the edge of the kitchen counter. Now, I know better than that. But it was late and I was tired. Next morning the MOTH lets the dog out of his kennel in the back kitchen hall and heads to the shower. Jasper, troublesome sort that he is, spies the bread, grabs it and eats half of it. When I came downstairs I met a very happy dog with garlickly herb breath and a very waggy tail. I don't think the ladies at work are going to forgive him anytime soon. Can't say I blame them.

The dog ate my homework

Sorry about the silence

but my computer is driving me nuts. Half the time it won't let me publish pictures with my posts and sometimes it won't publish anything, In fact, this is the 3rd time I have tried to publish this particular post and so far, no luck. But the good news is we're getting high speed internet next week! Yippee! Maybe that will solve some of these problems, we'll see.

I am so bad, and a new kitchen toy

 

 

 

O.K., so this is just the plain ugly truth. I am really, really, really bad about letting this happen to my flowers. Gross and yuck! I don't know why I do this. Everytime I pass by, I think to myself, "Get rid of those dead flowers!" Hasn't happened yet tho. I'm thinking that revealing so a nasty thing might shame me into cleaning up my flower act. Probably not. And the really sad thing is, I have oodles and oodles of thriving flowers right out in my backyard that I could just go a replace this pitiful things with. It's hot and my garden flowers are bursting with petal-ly beauty right now. Tommorrow, I promise I'll do it tommorow.

New kitchen toy! My hairdresser is Mexican. One day while in for my cut and color she was making homemade tortillas for everyone's lunch. She let me sample them and boy oh boy, were they good! I haven't forgotten it and have been on the look-out for a tortilla press. Found one the other day at World Market. I also got a bag of the special corn flour you need. I made a practice batch today. Very simple and straight forward. And good! So tommorrow I am going to make a big batch of them, and then do up some stuff for tacos, some homemade salsa, fresh avocado...I wish it was tommorow night's dinnertime now!

Crafting and cleaning

that's why I'm not posting so much. I am trying to clean out my workspace. It is just about impossible to work in right now, it is so messy. Problem is, as I am cleaning, I get distracted so easily. I'll run across something I bought weeks ago and forgot I had or just plan lost it in the chaos, and I'll stop my cleaning to play with whatever I found. Happens over and over as I sort and trash stuff. All sorts of creative rabbit trails.

Just yesterday as I was cleaning, I stopped to try my hand at rolled fabric roses. Then I ran across some vintage crochet work and I had an idea to use it so I spent a good hour fooling around there, then I got the idea to put a really cute rub-on on a small wooden mirror my husband made years ago. Then I found some great old ribbon and wanted to put a bow on the mirror's handle and put it in one of my guest rooms, well you get the idea I think. No, I'm not usually ADD. Unless I'm cleaning my creative space.

I'll try to do better, but until I get this place cleaned up, I can't promise anything....

I've been tagged!

Kelly over at belle ame tagged me to blog about 5 things I love the most.
1. Well, of course, my family is a given.

2. Creating. I love to create all kinds of things using all kinds of mediums. Sewing, quilting, cooking, gardening. I can't imagine going through a day and not creating SOMETHING.

3. My home. I am a die-hard homebody. I can go for days without leaving my house. After a few days of being out of town, I really start to miss all my "stuff".

4.Autumn. Oh how I love a crisp fall day, the sky full of migrating birds, the trees all aglow in reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. I love the energetic feeling that fall gives.

5. Winter holidays. I love planning meals, decorating, the excitement and anticipation of having my family under my roof, finding just the right gifts for everyone. Sigh...I can't wait.

Now I have to tag 5 people and I sure hope this works. I am going to try and post their blog links here.

http://treasuresfrommyheart.blogspot.com/

Peaches and Posh

THE B HIVE

BeadnTat

Wings of Eagles

The more things change....

So today daughter B and granddaughter Hilary came to my house loaded down with peaches wanting a lesson in making peach butter. It had been years since I had performed this task, but it was fun and I remembered almost everything without having to do too much consulting of cookbooks. We ended the day with jars of glistening gold butter seasoned to perfection just waiting for its meet-up with some good bread and liberal spread of creamy butter.

At one point as we worked, I remembered something. I asked B if she remembered years ago in our Arkansas house making jam? "Oh yeah, I remember that." I think we both had forgotten it but the fragrance of the bubbling peaches triggered the memory for me.

On that particular day 20 years ago, I had the presence of mind to write down rather quickly on a sheet of onion skin paper our experience. I am going to re-write it here just as I jotted it down that day.

"June 10, 1988
Today Kelli and Brittainy and I made plum butter from plums gathered in Papa's orchard. Kelli and B washed the plums and picked out the wormy ones for me to take care of. Then we cooked them and put them through a sieve. When we were through, we had enough pulp to make butter and enough juice to make jelly!

Kelli and B helped to stir the butter as it cooked and that was a big help because it takes a very long time(about 45 minutes). As the butter cooked, we added 1 cup sugar for every cup of pulp, a dash or two of mace and two gratings of nutmeg. Next we poured the butter into sterilized jars and sealed them. Nana came to see us and took a jar home with her. It made 6 1/2 pint jars. For breakfast we will have toast with homemade plum butter. Next we plan to make raspberry jam."

Pretty staight forward, just the facts, but I sure am glad I wrote that down and stuck it in my recipe file. For some strange reason, I stick a lot of my writing in there. Or did. Before I began to blog. Now it's all pretty much here.

In the Pink

 

 

Nothing much really going on here. Yesterday was the MOTH's 54th birthday, so we celebrated at my daughter's house. She makes really good fajitas and we always request those when does the cooking. While she labored in the kitchen, I walked around the house, chatting with Hilary and just taking pictures of different little vignettes around the house. Hilary is the queen of pink let me tell 'ya. Right down to her cowgirl boots. I guess she had her cowgirl going yesterday, because that was her footwear of choice, with shorts. Love the dresser top arrangement and the memory box packed full of littles.

the middle age woman and the yarn

 

See this pile of lovely sock yarn? My camera does not do the colors justice. They are bright, deep, and rich. And limited idition colors for what it's worth. Never again will Lorna's Laces produce these colors once they are sold out. Kind of a good sales gimmic I think. We sock knitters hit the web site the first of the month when the new colors are added and quickly snatch up enough for a pair of socks. What a tragedy if you miss that month's limited edition! That stuff pretty much flies off the shelf of the yarn shop.

Blueberry was June's color. It's beautiful blues, lavendars, purples, and rich almost black blue. I chose a lovely lace pattern for my socks. It has driven me crazy. I have ripped out, picked up dropped stitches, re-read directions until I can't stand that pattern anymore.

It has begun to remind me of the horrid story that was required reading in high school. The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemmingway. Frankly, I've always thought he was over-rated. I hated, hated, hated anything I was ever required to read of his. This is coming froms someone who loves literature and always has a book going. But back to the issue at hand. I remember it was just the old man, the boat, and the sea. That's all there was. It's just me, the yarn, and the pattern.

I had the first sock within one inch of completion when things went horribly wrong. I studied the thing, I studied the pattern and the longer I looked the greater the horror grew. A dropped stitch 6" down that I somehow never saw,and poorly written directions. So I began to rip hoping to be able to fix things. Nope. I now have my lovely blueberry limited edition yarn rewound and am seriously considering burning the pattern as a cleansing ritual of sorts.

After perusing some other sock patterns I picked up July's limited edition "Fireworks" and cast on and so far I am knitting happily, no horrible story analogies coming to mind. Perhaps "Blueberry" will be used for something else. But then again, I may be completely over the blue stuff for a while.