All Kinds of Handmade and More

Remembering........

2011-04-09T18:21:00.004-04:00

The past year or so has been a whirlwind so to speak and I've hardly came by here. Actually, I come by here a lot, it's just that when I get here, I'm called away. I've always said that the phone, doorbell, and children's voices are linked to the power button on my computer. As soon as I click that button, I'm immediately called away by someone or something or another. But, isn't that the way it goes for any mom? It's ok, this time is fleeting and I'm trying to do my best in these times.

My little Roly Poly girl has been feeling very sad lately. She cries when she sees a picture of a gray horse. She remembers my Dusty quite well. Her sadness got me to thinking, to remembering.

Dusty was my friend of 25 years that passed away under an oak tree on May 4th of last year. He trotted, galloped, jumped, and honestly, shyed at every object I can think of over the years. He once ate a Whopper (burger) by accident when I dropped it and wasn't quick enough. He was known to gulp down Dr. Pepper or any other beverage you offered to him. You know what? Arabians really can drink from a tea cup like the old legends say....or at least Dusty could. He could count his age with his hoof (even if he eternally thought he was seven years old), eat mulberries from the tree limbs, crack and swallow pecans, jump in a river, cross a creek, shake his head, and dance. Yes, he could dance. He only danced when he was scared or nervous. I always made sure I didn't see him dance on purpose.

He loved me when my heart was shattered at the loss of some loved ones. He made me laugh and he was loyal. ......... (Alright, he was loyal to anyone that fed him), but he and I shared a friendship. He knew I loved him. I didn't make him relieve his past of getting beaten or kicked, or bitten. He knew he was safe with me, with us. I'm so glad that "O.J." caught my mother's eye across the road from our front porch, out in that pasture. I'm glad I was able to make his life a little nicer.

Roly Poly girl misses the only horse that ever paid her attention and carefully watched out for her feet while he sniffed at her pockets for a treat. We have our memories and they live on....

I wanted to share something special with you. Something about Dusty. Not many people can say that someone wrote a song about their beloved pet, but I can. Thank you Gray Lee (and A.D. for remembering) and for finding the right words.

Track #2 is a song about Dusty, a Song For A Horse...........

SCTEam on Etsy is Hosting a Spring Giveaway!

2011-03-25T17:16:00.006-04:00

It's a scavenger hunt of sorts so be sure to click on over to SCTeam's blog for all the details on how you can participate. There are some great prizes to be won! The promotion begins on April first through April 4th so be sure to get your name in the running....hurry, hurry, don't wait, click here for full details!!

Sewing Daleks, Melvin's makeover, and a yarn obsession....

2011-01-27T19:24:00.005-05:00

I'm back! Can you believe it? Live has been too busy or so it has seemed to me. Isn't always busy? I'm beginning to think I have too many pokers in the fire, so to speak!

Everything has been a whirlwind since Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I made quite a bit of handmade goodies over the past couple of months. I tried to make as many Christmas gifts for my side of the family as possible (because they just eat up that sort of thing) and a few things on my hubby's side too. I think, if I remember correctly (and that is a big, "think") the total of handmade items was the following: a quilt for my mother, a quilt for Scott (unfortunately, it still isn't finished- argh), an insulated lunch bag for my sister, and some tapestry purses/totes for my two sister-in-laws and my niece. Everybody else got store bought or gift cards. I did give my other sister a disk of my favorite knitted hat pattern and the circular needles to complete it with (I think that counts as handmade- well, urrrr, sort of).

Speaking of knitting, I have become obsessed. I am still a beginner, (well, maybe an advanced beginner) and I do have a couple of hats under my belt at this point. Add a few scarves to that total too. I started trying to teach myself over a year ago and I guess I've done pretty well up until this point. I'm thankful there are tons of helpful videos out there in cyber world that help when I'm totally lost on a project! I have a few books that have helped too.

I'm constantly finding myself waiting anxiously for those 40% off one item coupons that Hobby Lobby puts out sometimes. Hey, those things can take a bite out of the price of a skein of yarn people. Take a kiddo with you and they can use a coupon too. (That's my little secret to economizing....)

We've had plenty of "knitting" weather too. Our little area of the south recently got 8 inches of fluffy, white stuff. Believe me, it was probably the most exciting event our area will have witnessed for quite sometime. The roads were sheets of ice for almost a week. Four wheelers raced up and down our highway at nighttime (which was a little irritating), schools were canceled, and of all things, I needed to go to the grocery store about 4 days into the icy lock down- geesh. We made it through though.....

During the storm, our tree dude, Melvin, got a makeover courtesy of yours truly.

Our white stuff is gone and we are cautiously awaiting another round of white stuff. After all, it's only January- eeeek!

I had a customer that had asked if I could make a fabric bunny. I tried 4 different times to get the head right and this little guy is the result (the last try too- I'm giving up!!). My son's friend named him Boozle. Boozle is a gender neutral name, I think, so if someone buys him (or her), they will be happy to decide if this particular bunny is a he or a she. Boozle will soon be for sale in the South Carolina Etsy Street Team shop. You can click on over if you want to see if he (or she) has arrived yet.

Remember the title of this post? I mentioned sewing Daleks. I'm not going into a long spill about it, but Daleks are bad guys on the longest running science fiction show, Dr. Who. My husband (and several of the kids) are obsessed with anything Dr. Who. I started Scott a quilt a long time ago and I tried (I really, really, really did try) to get the quilt done before Christmas. I didn't make it but at least a nice looking Dalek was the result.

This is the Tardis panel (what Dr. Who travels in) and the finished Dalek panel. The fabrics shown in the photo are so perfect in matching how the show begins. I bought them a long time ago when our local Walmart closed it's fabric department and had everything 50% off. They have been waiting patiently in my fabric stash up until the day I pulled them out and got to work.

This quilt is the one I finished for my mother. I didn't get to machine quilt it quite like I had wanted (I did the bare minimum) but my mother loved it anyway so it was worth it.

This is my latest little project that takes up all of my extra time. I bought a sock knitting book (Knitting Socks by Ann Budd). I don't know how I've managed to get as far as I have and I wonder if I will ever get a second, matching sock done but I'm going forward with it.

This is my yarn that I chose (Hobby Lobby- 40% off!!) It is a wool, mohair mix and the color changes gradually to a grayish blue to a deep blue so it is interesting. All I can say, is I'm going to have some strange looking knitted socks. (That is if I ever finish the first one and make a second one!)

I found this really neat pattern on how to knit fingerless gloves. It is wonderful because it has step by step with pictures! You can find the pattern on instructables.com. It's the "How to knit close fitting fingerless gloves" pattern.
I knitted mine out of some (very hairy) yarn that my sister brought back from Scotland. I love them and they were a good beginning project for me. I'm planning on making more in the future.

I'm hoping to start back having some tutorials for all sorts of projects soon, so be sure to check back with me.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T15:50:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas from my house to yours. May you know the real reason for the season and keep Him in your heart.

Have you ever had "one of those days?"

2010-11-18T15:16:00.003-05:00

"Huh?"

You know those days. The ones when everything is weird, backwards, and just didn't come out anywhere near how you thought it would? I'm proud to say that I'm old enough...er...wise enough to take life's punches.

It doesn't matter that when the wind blew, the power line that hooks to the house melted and caused power surges all over the house. (Yes, the Wii did survive-the kids are now dealing with their post traumatic stress syndrome over it all.) I was even able to handle waking up at 5am to the sound of the fish aquarium's pump starting up, ........over, and over, and over again because of the power surges. Yes, I did not bite my nails when I had to wait patiently in the dark for daybreak to finally come so I wouldn't be so scared if the house did catch on fire and we all had to run outside. Thankfully, that little scenario never came to life.

Thankfully, (and I vowed 6 years ago that I would never say this after being powerless for almost 2 weeks during a freak ice storm), our power company came to the rescue fairly quickly and solved the problem. The nice technician even disconnected the "juice" to the pole in the vacant lot next door. We had been worrying about that line falling down for a long time.... simple blessings...

Anyway, I guess we have a lot to be thankful for. Never mind that we didn't get the first thing done in school today- the kids didn't mind at all. I even had to run to the next town in the van (which, upon my late, and unfortunate discovery, was almost out of gas and the van didn't like the fact that it was almost out of gas.

Never mind that the roofers came unannounced to inspect the roof (Oh, please, oh please roofer man, don't ask to come in for some reason! After a day of hardly using power, nothing has gotten done and I'd be mighty embarrassed if someone seen the state of my house!)

I'm OK, really. I am. Like I said, I'm older, wiser, and I like to kid myself. I'll probably panic later. For now, I'm blogging (and still hoping the roofer guy doesn't need to come in). Afterall, I only get a free moment here and there. I'm taking advantage of the "there" right here and now.

Somebody else had a bad day too.....

I found this interesting photo on my camera today. Apparently, it's really a big deal when your army jeep crashes into the Lego sea and actually burns underwater.

You just gotta love those Lego games! You should see the time and thought put into creating scenes of mass destruction like the one above. Go Cart Boy puts most of these together. I don't think that kids can ever laugh as much as Go Cart Boy and his older sister do when they are creating Lego chaos....

Even though my day was weird and went totally haywire, at least I can say that my couch isn't haunted.....er...uh....smoking?....uh... covered in spider webs?? After all, I could be like this poor guy that lost his jeep and couch in the same day to unfortunate circumstances.

At least, I can smile and know that tomorrow is another day......

The Cheapest Halloween Ever , Spools, Cupcakes, and My Excuse

2010-11-06T12:04:00.009-04:00

Yeah, I'm making excuses. I have neglected my poor blog for sometime. (Wow, the entire month of October in fact!) Anyway, my excuse is that I've had other things keeping me too busy to type, type, type. Mommy, wife, and responsible citizen issues. Actually, at this moment, I need to be getting ready to go to the grocery store but I wanted to visit the blog world at least for a few minutes today.

"Spools"

It takes time to resize photos so this is all I had done at this time-sorry. These spools are a collection that I have, that is actually for sale in my Etsy shop, Minnie Maes. There are 16 plastic spools for $1.00 plus shipping. Yes, people do buy empty spools. I have successfully sold all of the spools I have had in the past. There are people out there that make creative things out of spools. I don't. I'm just not that creative I guess. Anyway, the point is, I have these spools for sale so if you need them, grab them up while you can!

For this past Halloween I had to make my kids some costumes. I got all of my stuff out to get started and found that Roly Poly Girl had decorated my pin cushion.

Captain Jack and Link battle it out.....

I did a lot of thrift store shopping to find this and that for the kid's costumes and things turned out pretty good if you ask me.

This was the cheapest I've ever came out on Halloween costumes. Here is the breakdown of the two costumes pictured above:

Pirate Costume: Grand Total: $7.50
Pants- $1.00- actually a pair of men's extra large sweat pants that I sewed the waste up enough to fit my skinny son. It was on a clearance rack at Goodwill.
Shirt- $0.00- Old tee shirt we had on hand
Pirate Shirt- Goodwill find- $3.50
Bandanna- $0.00- Had on hand

Boots- $3.00 (I guess) Actually I found an old faux couch cover at Miracle Hill for $6.00- I made two pairs of boots between the two kids so if I divided the cost, it would be $3.00 each. I still have plenty of this material left for other things too!

Don't ask how I did the boots- it was hard and I will probably never be able to duplicate it again. There is a pair of sandals inside them in case you are wondering.

Link (you know, from The Legend of Zelda Video Game and Cartoon series): Grand Total: $7.50

Hat- $1.50 hospital smock from Miracle Hill- I simply cute two triangles and sewed them together.
Green Tunic- $1.00 hospital smock- was on the clearance rack at Miracle Hill- I just tucked the sleeves inside and tacked them so they wouldn't fall down.
White undershirt- $0.00 had on hand
Belt- $1.00 found at Miracle Hill
Pants- $1.00 on clearance rack at Miracle Hill
Boots- $3.00 (see above description on pirate costume)
Sword- $0.00- had on hand- (Thank you Go-Cart Boy)
Gloves- $2.00 fabric in remnant bin at Hobby Lobby

Not pictured was the makings for a fairy princess and an army guy. The fairy princess: $9.50
Army Guy: $3.00

That made the grand total for all 4 costumes: $27.50! Not too bad in my book... Now, if I could only come out that cheap next year.....

I made some cupcakes for the church festival. I got the idea for these out of a Family Fun magazine. You can find the recipe for these over at the Family Fun Website. Mine are certainly not as pretty as there's were, but I think they turned out cute anyway.

Sometimes I can turn my camera on and find strange photos that two of the kids "secretly" take when I'm not looking. Based on the feet in this photo, I think I know who the culprit is this time.... Roly Poly Girl.

And last, but not least, I've been sewing up some tapestry tote bags for my Etsy Shop. This is one of the cutest ones so far. It's reversible and has a totally different snowman on the inside. You can see all of these new totes at Minnie Maes.

Well, that's it for now- I promise I'll try not to wait so long before I post again- that's the plan anyway ;)

Mystery Squash Pie

2010-09-15T12:20:00.007-04:00

Remember that squash that Uncle Bubba sent us the other day?

I had a plan.....

Roly Poly Girl helped me carry out my plan..... She scooped the "guts" out of the squash and we got it ready for the oven.

Here it is in the oven. I baked it at 350 degrees for an unknown amount of time- sorry, I didn't look at the clock- just went by smell to know when it was done.

We got all of these seeds out of the squash so while it was cooking, we laid these little guys out to dry. We are saving them for Uncle Bubba to plant next year. At this point I wasn't sure if having these squash in the garden was worthwhile but I soon found out that it was.

This particular squash tastes just like pumpkin when it's prepared in a pumpkin pie recipe. I didn't even put a crust in because I was that unsure if it would turn out a disaster or not. (After all, pie crusts make me nervous and I didn't want to waste the time and effort to create one from scratch if the pie might turn out "yucky")

The verdict- It turned out tasting and smelling just like a pumpkin pie. It is a strange color for one thing. The pumpkin, when done roasting in the oven, turned out a white color. I knew that the kids wouldn't eat a "white" pumpkin pie so I added brown sugar to the pie mixture for some color. It worked. One of the kids didn't even realize I had a "pumpkin" in the house to even make a pie from!

So, it turned out pretty yummy. I told the kids not to eat the last two pieces because we were saving those for Uncle Bubba- afterall, I'm sure he will want to know how his squash turned out.

Later that day, I made a jar of lacto-fermented sauerkraut. I used a combination of 2 recipes. One from the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook by Sally Fallon and the other that you can find here. I had some left over that wasn't going to fit into the jar so I just added some mayonnaise and, the three of us that like "slaw", had a treat.

....and last on the food agenda of the day, my in-laws blessed me with a bag of pears. I have no idea what to do with them but I'll have to do something with them soon.....Any ideas?

Corn Worms, Compost, and Curtains (Not necessarily in that order)...

2010-09-13T18:27:00.006-04:00

I've felt kind of mischievous lately. It might come from the wonderful invention called, "vitamins" or something. Hey, I'm not complaining. I'm just glad to be feeling better lately.

I've even gotten the gardening bug. Well, uhm, I guess you could call it, the "next year" gardening bug. Remember that cold frame experiment from yesteryear? I figured one of those old, wooden frames might have another year or two of life in them- a new life so to speak. No one ever goes behind the playhouse in the backyard so, I figured starting a compost pile at the house would be a good venture. It would be out of the way. One of those old cold frames would make a good housing for some rotting good stuff.

Last time, I filled a 5 gallon bucket with scraps and about once a week or so, I took that bucket to Uncle Bubba's farm to join his compost. Now, I'll be able to make my own. My goal is to make enough good stuff to plant my seedlings in next year. With that being said, I'm planning to garden next year. Having not really "gardened" to any large scale this year, I realized that gardening makes me happy. Hey, you just gotta' go with what makes you happy sometimes. It took shucking some corn to make me realize that....but that story is to come....

Here is the beginning of my compost pile. It already has 2 spent heads of lettuce, several apple cores (and a few peelings), the watermelon that was cracked (and we didn't realize it until it was too late), some cucumber peelings, the leftover organic dirt from my cucumber plants, some leaves, and of course, all of the corn shuckings and cobs that you see in the photo.

Where did the corn come from? Uncle Bubba. He gardened pretty big this year even if he got started a little late.

Scott and Go-Cart Boy brought these ears home the other day. We had no idea what condition (or stage for that matter) that the ears were in since the crop had been ready for many days.

"Hey, what are you lookin' at?"

I guess you can figure that my insect loving daughter had a ball finding all of the corn worms. (This corn was totally organic- nothing was sprayed on it so it was bound to have some critters in it).

"This acorn smells like corn"

I've never liked the wiggly critters. Even when I was younger, I always passed the "wormy" corn to my Daddy. (Let me rephrase that- scream and throw the corn down on the ground). He would just reach down, and flick them off and break off the "eaten" pieces. It would gross me out a bit. Have you ever come across "wormy" corn? If you have, you understand how gross it can be. Well, with age comes wisdom. I can now "flick" corn worms and break off the "eaten" parts of a corn cob. Roly Poly girl had no problem with it at all from the start. She didn't get that from me!

This is what we ended up with. The two dark orange cobs were already dried out! In case you were wondering, this corn was an open pollinated variety (heirloom) called "Bloody Butcher". It's an all purpose corn good for roasting, animal feed, and grinding (think grits). Uncle Bubba is going to let a lot of it dry out so we might have a "grits" making post one of these days. I'll have to read up on that before we attempt it though....

Roly Poly Girl found one tiny, little ear. She squeeled, "BABY CORN!!!" and took off for the house to tell her "baby corn" eating brother about it. They actually washed it and halved it. I didn't ask them how it was.

Scott brought some other goodies home too. The yellow guys are some type of Asian melon that taste like cantaloupes. The big squash, we have yet to slice and cook. I hope it tastes like pumpkin. I love pumpkin....mmmmmm

Oh, what did we do with the corn? Since a lot of it was a various stages and it was actually showing it's, "Blood Butcher" hues, I creamed it. I had no idea what I was doing so you can figure that I made a complete mess of my kitchen. (Hence the absence of a creamed corn tutorial) The good news is that everything turned out alright and I ended up with enough for 3 quart freezer bags (and I didn't scorch any of it!!). I'm going to give Uncle Bubba some since he grew the corn in the first place.

The last item on my title says, "curtains" The curtains in question have nothing to do with corn or compost but it was a major event at my house this week. I had seen these curtains at a local home improvement store but shuddered at paying the price they had marked for them. Walking away from the curtain display was a simple thing to do since I'm somewhat frugal at heart. Speaking of being frugal, I went to a thrift store over the weekend and what to my surprise did I find (brand new and still in the original packages)? You guessed it, the very curtains I had sighed and walked away from at the home improvement store. They were more than 80% cheaper (did I mention, brand new and still in the package?!!) Needless to say, my girls have the "girly" curtains that I wanted and they love them. All it took was a quick run under the iron and they were ready to go. I love it when things work out like that... God is good.

This summer in Photos....

2010-09-10T00:02:00.003-04:00

Summer around our house has been pretty busy. The bad thing is, I missed a lot of opportunities to take some funny pictures because I wasn't carrying around a camera with me. Oh well, that's alright. There will be other funny moments in time. In the mean time, I did take a few snaps of some things we've done over the past couple of months.

I grew these cuties. Yes, "grew"!! I had ordered these little guys from Baker Creek Seeds and planted them in pots out on the back porch. If you remember, it was part of my "gardening epiphany" project. I managed to keep enough little cucumbers coming in to make one small jar of lacto fermented cucumbers from my 6 or so plants that survived. I gave them to Uncle Bubba since lacto fermented cucumbers are good for the gout. He could use all the help he can get in the "gout" department. They actually tasted pretty good but were a little too salty. The recipe was from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook.

We went to a birthday party at a local lake. I took this little snapshot of the birdhouse not far from the dock. I have to admit that it made me a little nervous knowing that just some wood planks were the only thing between me and numerous mud turtles.

We threw a few birthday parties......

Go Cart Boy did some "ice" experiments..... quite pretty actually

Uncle Bubba brought some boxes of clay for us to play with. Go Cart Boy made this alien. I made an alligator (he turned out so hideous that I didn't want to share)...

....and last but now least (and probably one of the funniest things) Poppy was bit on the nose by an alligator.... or is that a crocodile?

SHARK ATTACK!!! (or, what's outside my windows)

2010-09-09T09:38:00.005-04:00

It's been quite awhile since I saw something interesting outside my window. Well, this little doozy made up for the months of no excitement!

This is how it ended:

You might be saying, "dead shark". Yep, it met it's match. You see, that guy in the right corner calling 911? He's the cause of this predicament.

Now, this is how it all started.....

Balloon man (in the black shirt- inside the shark's mouth) was apparently trying to help this poor shark out by checking his teeth) The tall guy holding the shark's nose thought he would provide some extra insurance for Balloon Man's safety by holding the creatures snout firmly.

I knew instinctively at that moment that disaster was in the air.......

Notice the guy's arms are bending slowly as the shark is inching pressure down. Balloon man is frantically hurrying to finish his inspection as he knows the danger is rising......

Then it happened..... it was inevitable. The shark broke free of the guy's grasp and swallowed up Balloon Man, the guy holding the shark's nose, and the guy that had been watching from the side line. All that was left was the strong guy in front. He called for help immediately......

This guy, who happened to formerly be a zoologist, leaned over to examine the situation and give his scientific input. The strong guy on the left said, "I'm not waiting for your scientific mumbo jumbo" and he quickly punched the shark in the nose!

"Take that you evil creature!". He moved his position to scope out the situation and see if their were any survivors...

So that is how the situation unfolded (or should I say, "deflated"). The zoologist and the strong guy were the only survivors that sad day. What is the guy doing in the picture you ask? He's calling for help to remove the other three guys from the dead shark.

I have to say that this situation was the most exciting thing that I have ever seen "outside my windows".... Don't you think?

New Halloween Goodies at Minnie Maes (sorry- not the eating kind)

2010-09-07T23:41:00.004-04:00

I've been busy at the sewing machine lately. The result, you ask? A bunch of Halloween trick or treat bags were born. Last year, I made 3 of my kids a bag each. Do you want to know what I really think about these bags- they are wonderful- and I'm not biased because I made them. They really work, they are durable, they fold up to be stored out of the way, they can be washed, and they are just plain, cute!

Thanks to my fabric savvy sister in law, I was blessed with a bounty of Halloween fabric last year. I had forgotten about the fabric until last week when I came upon the bag of it- buried deep in my fabric "tub". It was actually kind of exciting to pull the bag open and see what she had bought me. I don't know why I didn't look into the bag last year. No matter though, it was nice to get a surprise. There were at least 2 yards of approximately 7 or 8 different patterns. Whoo Hoo!!

Here are just a few goodies that I sewed up from my gifted stash:

This brightly colored trick or treat bag is my favorite because of the bright colors and cute pictures. You can find out more about this bag here.

This is the second bag that I made from this bright orange fabric with owls. Do you want to know what happened to the first one? My owl crazy sister fell in love with it. She got an early Christmas present- even if it was Halloween related.

The bag in the photo is a double lined grocery bag that can be used for all sorts of things. You can find out more about it here.

This is one of my toddler treat bags. They are made especially for small hands to carry. After all, little kiddos like candy too you know! You can read more about this bag here.

Like I said before, these are just a few new goodies so be sure to check out my Etsy shop to find more handmade goodies!

I'm Still Around...

2010-07-16T20:34:00.004-04:00

Betch'a gave up on me didn't you? Well, I'm still around. I've just been super busy- in crazy spurts no less- if that makes sense. You know, things seem calm and slow and then, BAMMM, everything jumps into high speed. At this particular moment in time, I have a free moment and thought I'd let you all know what was going on....that is if things don't jump into high speed all of the sudden.

I was alerted that Uncle Bubba built a scare crow, so we took a trip over to take a look. I'm not sure how good it was working on his corn. With the looks of that scare crow's t-shirt, it looks like he has been doing some hard labor. Maybe that hard labor will pay off with some corn. Scott said that one day he is going to sneak over there and paste a ridiculous photo on the scarecrow's face and see how long it takes Uncle Bubba to notice. Hee, hee, can't wait for that one...

My little cucumber plants started blooming at last! I ordered an heirloom variety so it was extra important that the little buggies visited these little blooms. This photo was taken a few weeks ago and since then, we've harvested about 5 little cucumbers. They turned out being this tiny gherkin kind. (I had misplaced my seed catalog and couldn't remember if they were the tiny ones or the regular ones- now I know). 5 cucumbers is not enough to make pickles so maybe next year.

Look at that- nature ties a better knot that I can!

Our former neighbor built the kids a playhouse out of some old scrap wood. This is the frame of it on the first day he started. If you look really, really, closely, you will see that it was built over a stump. Yes, you read that right, a stump. We call the finished playhouse- The Stump House.

The kids were really excited about this new playhouse and so was their cousin Rachel. She made this housewarming gift the day it was finished. If you can believe it, that grass stayed alive for almost a week and a half! I thought it was sweet that the new Stump House was graced with live foliage (at least for a little while anyway.) Scott even installed a solar barn light inside (which the kids left on the other night and nearly made me jump out of my skin when I saw it glowing in the backyard!). For now, we haven't installed the shingles or siding but the kids don't care- it's just the most awesome Stump House ever. Good summertime fun is in store!

Hope summer is going great for everyone!

A Cheap and Educational Day Trip...

2010-06-02T00:15:00.001-04:00

Campbell's Covered Bridge

I don't have a lot of free time lately to blog because we've been busy hitting the school books. But, I have managed to squeeze in some time to share a recent day trip that three of the kids and I made. ( a little wading and splashing was involved by the way).

We visited the last covered bridge in the state of South Carolina. I was amazed at how open and friendly the area around the bridge was so we got out and rambled a bit. (did I mention their was wading and splashing involved? Oh yeah, I did that already)

....Kind of makes you think about all of the wagons and cars that travelled across this boarded floor....

You wouldn't want to meet an oncoming wagon or car back in those days when going through this tunnel....

This little guy was hiding in the "fake" well nearby. I wasn't sure what he was in the light but was delighted to check my camera after I snapped the photo to find out he was an amphibian and NOT a reptile. Thank goodness for small miracles!

Overall, it was a nice day trip and we got to actually see and "touch" a piece of fleeting history. That was nice (Oh, and did I mention, it was a cheap trip- and there was wading and splashing involved?)

A Gardening Epiphany- Seriously.....

2010-06-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

The word, "epiphany" can have religious means or it can be used to describe a feeling that one would get when they suddenly realized or comprehended the meaning of something. In this case, I had a gardening epiphany. I suddenly realized and comprehended that I didn't have a black thumb like I had previously thought.

Last year, we tried gardening on a large scale with seeds all bought from the same company. Overall, we were sabotaged, whether it be from fire ants, deer, drought, underground river, or just plain human ignorance. Well, this year we all but gave up until I had a much smaller vision of what I wanted a garden to look like. Since all of my previous efforts had fizzled out and only produced a few zucchini (I spell that word wrong every time- thank goodness for spell check!) squash and some (by some, I mean, a small few) random other veggies that managed to hide themselves under the weeds to avoid being munched by the local wildlife.

This year, (you might remember this post) all 72 of our seedlings have officially died- all of the sudden like- and I know for a fact that I didn't have anything to do with their demise thanks to a helpful comment from my sister. The last poor tomato plant, and 5 peppers were out back in their little peat pots waiting to see some actual real earth. They looked sickly. Kind of pale, "wilty", and overall, yucky looking. My sister knows a lot about plants and their diseases because it was her job for umpteen years. She barely glanced down at them and said, "Oh, the tomatoes had tomato spotted wilt virus and passed it on to the rest of the plants". So, that was it. Plain and simple- I don't have a black thumb.

The seed company had sabotaged me for 2 years in a row. I had contaminated seeds so no wonder everything died shortly after it came up. What a relief! That meant that all of those tomato plants that I killed last year with chicken manure- didn't die because of chicken manure-it was the virus! Geesh. What did I do when I reached this epiphany? Nothing. The seed company didn't return my email so they took the easy way out. I was "jipped" so I'll never buy from that company again. That's ok, I found a better company with better product.

By the time I found all of this out, it was late spring. It's too late to start over, but, I had an idea...

I've always wanted to make pickles and cucumbers don't take that long to grow so I decided I would try to garden this year on a much, much, much smaller scale. Well, the local dollar store had these pots for only $1.00 a piece and they only had 5 left. I couldn't resist. Next came the accidental discovery that Walmart had their organic soil on clearance- dirt (pun intended) cheap! Hmm, that is two hurdles overcome. I ordered some cucumber seeds from a reliable source and away I went......

I put three of those pots up on the back porch and 2 down in the yard. In each pot, I planted 4 seeds- good thing too- on average, 2 out of 4 came up. My idea is to let the porch cukes grow up the rails on the porch and the yard potted cukes, I'll have to devise some kind of staking system to keep them out of the lawn mower's path.

How is it going, you ask?

Marvelously. Thank you Baker Creek Seeds! I have my fingers crossed that there will be a pickle making blog post sometime in the future.

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T00:01:00.002-04:00

Many years ago my father sat (almost completely bedridden) on the edge of the bed and was watching the news. The television was his only view of the outside world except that of the view from the window or front porch. He was a Korean War veteran. He was a U.S Marine. He was proud of the fact that he was the two previous statements.....

My next door neighbor is a World War 2 veteran and proudly displays not one, but two, American flags just outside his front door. He sometimes asks for his wallet when we go to visit him. In that wallet, in a hidden compartment, is his purple heart. We will probably never know what exactly happened to him to deserve a purple heart because he tears up and goes speechless when he shows it to us.

My great uncle fought in world war 1. I was too young to ask him about it but I can tell you that he was proud to fight for his country. He had a framed letter from former president Woodrow Wilson, hanging on the wall. That framed photo thanked him for his selfless duty to protect his country and the lives of his fellow comrades.

My cousin's husband is a Vietnam veteran. He doesn't speak of his ordeal because it is too traumatic to speak of- yet he did his duty to serve his country- that, can not be forgotten. I remember the stories of some distant relatives in the civil war that died tragically and left behind loved ones. I've heard of a great uncle that made it through the first world war to only come home and die from surgery. I've heard of an uncle that protected the military base. I know many on the internet that have loved ones serving at this very moment and I've read of the struggles and fear that those at home are feeling.... the stories go on and on....

There are thousands upon thousands of veterans in this country that gave- and are currently giving- so selflessly and deserve the honor and respect of every single American citizen. Maybe there are veterans both living and gone that didn't have family. Some were never brought home to their home country. Some are fighting as you are reading this. Some died alone in the wilderness. We should remember and honor them all.

I'll close with this little statement that has stuck in my head for many years. It was a comment that my late father said that day, when he sat on the edge of the bed, watching the news. At that time, our country was sending troops oversees. He sat almost motionless, with a distant look in his eye and proudly said, "If they called me back to duty, I'd go right now".

Something New, Something Cold, Something Still Not Finished, and Something Upside Down...

2010-05-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

Coming soon to Minnie Maes Etsy shop....... (Something New)

Something Still Not Finished....

This was supposed to be a quilt for my mother for her birthday and Mother's Day. That's right, it's the middle of May and it's still not finished....

Something cold fell from the sky one day. The "something cold" was the 3rd (or 4th- I lost count) something that has freakishly fell from the sky this spring. The scary part is that the hail is getting bigger each time it falls. We were pretty close to golf balls this time.

No, he's not dead....he just does this sometimes.....

And last but not least, "Something Upside Down". Our poor fish, Moe Moe has an air bladder issue lately. We don't exactly know what to do for him yet as we've only researched his little "condition" on the internet. A trip to our local pet store is definitely in order. We panic each time we walk by his tank and think he has went to that big aquarium in the sky (only to have our hearts jump when he suddenly flips back over and swims around like nothing is wrong). Geesh, why do we have such weird animals?

Team SC Is Having A Sample Box Giveaway!!

2010-05-14T00:01:00.001-04:00

Team SC is having a "Spring into Summer" sample giveaway! Just click on over to Team SC's blog and enter for your chance to win this assortment of handmade, South Carolina items! Why should you enter? Because it's free and it's easy, and you might be the winner!

Do it now, what are you waiting for?!?!

Farewell to My Friend Dusty

2010-05-13T17:47:00.003-04:00

Orion's Stardust
(Dusty)
April 1st, 1978 - May 4th, 2010

I knew the day would come but it snuck up on all of us. Dusty didn't come up to eat that day and my sister went looking for him. She had grown close to him since she had been taking care of him for some time. When she found him down in the pasture, she called me. She was crying and I soon followed suit. It was a terrible day for us.

I have written about Dusty a couple of times over the past year or so. He was my friend for over 25 years of our lives and I will never forget him. We rambled through the woods, creeks, and over many miles of roads over our lifetime. He was there to carry me through the loss of both of my grandmothers and countless others since then. Dusty was a nut but he was a faithful nut.

When I first got Dusty, he could count how old he was by pawing his foot on the ground. He could also "shy" at every living thing (and non living thing) and throw me off his back quite easily in those early days. He took me to my first horse show where he won champion (not me- I was totally lost- he carried me through it). His brother (adopted brother) picked on him but he loved him- a lot. Poor old Spirit didn't eat for awhile and stood moping after he lost his brother, Dusty.

Dusty's passion in life was eating. I know, horses like to eat but Dusty lived to eat- not eat to live. He loved sweets of any form or fashion. During berry season, he drastically lost weight each year because he munched on blackberries, mulberries from the trees, and wild strawberries down in the pasture. He had the life of luxury. One "neigh" and he had my mother tied around his little "hoof". She would faithfully bring him loaves of bread to eat (twice a day!!). If someone had the time to crack pecans for him, he'd gobble them down too. He hardly ever took the time to eat actual grass. He wanted goodies.

Dusty was an old horse and had lived the last 15 years or so in retirement. His life was easy and I'd suspect that it was much better than his earlier days before we got him (he was abused by a previous owner) I'm just glad he came into my life and the life of my family. We all loved him.

Dusty died alone under an oak tree. His favorite mulberry tree was not far away so I'd suspect that is where he had been spending his time munching. I've always called him a nut because of his funny antics and I think it ended up being very appropriate that he was buried under a "nut" tree very close to his mulberry munching spot.

I'll miss him but I know it was his time to go........

Cuteness- pure and simple- Oh, and a few bugs too...

2010-04-28T11:12:00.005-04:00

Yeah, you know that kind of cuteness. The puppy kind. That puppy breath, puppy feet smell cuteness...... Cuteness pure and simple.

This is "Jipped". He belongs to our former neighbor. He brought him over to show the kids. They ate him all up. He said that he was named "Jipped" because they were promised a female pup and when they got him, they figured out he was a boy so they got, "jipped".

Jipped was so sleepy- you know being cute is very tiring. He took a nap in the backyard. The kids had a hard time leaving him alone because he was just too cute and they wanted "awake" cuteness- not "asleep" cuteness.

Since Jipped wasn't around later that day, Roly Poly girl spent some time with this caterpillar for awhile. I've been around these guys all my life and for the first time, one bit me. Yes, it sank it's little fangs right into my arm. Let's just say that I'm not picking these guys up again. You learn something every day I guess.

This beauty was captured by another neighbor. Apparently he was injured by a passing car. We took his picture and then left him under a tree with hopes he would survive. Who knows if he made it or not- we had a nasty little hail storm- (yet again)- the next day. That's nature though. As much as it hurts us, we have to let nature take it's course sometimes.

2010-04-23T09:15:00.004-04:00

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. "
............................The Pledge of Allegiance

My blog is not a political blog. It was never intended to be. My blog is just a little peak into life- in my world. There are just some things that bother me in my little world nowadays. I've always tried to bring a little silliness into my posts, because, like I often say, life is just too serious already.

I do want to make it clear that I am an American. I was born in America. America was formed under certain principles and because of those principles, America is a great country. There are some in this country that want to erase our history and make our America something else.

I am who I am, America is what it is. You can try to change a person or thing but deep down, to the foundation, a person or thing is just, simply, what it is and you can't change "grass roots".

Please don't let your children forget how America was formed. Please don't let yourself become biased by the opinions of people who are only out to make a dollar or to gain "power" over others. Be an American. Be strong. Stand up for what you believe in...... It's our right as an American.

A Few New Items at Minnie Maes and a Bear in the Works...

2010-04-15T00:01:00.001-04:00

Since I made my Bible carrier last week, I stumbled upon the fact that some people like to carry their latest paperback book with them where ever they go. I never thought of this because I guess, I've just never had the time to enjoy a good book at my leisure. I'm the type that hovers, humpbacked over a book, with a maddening look in my eye, and feverishly reading as fast as possible. Why? Because I'm a mom and moms just don't get to read books at leisure. The are interrupted constantly. It's a fact of nature. So, you see, that's why I was quite surprised to the fact that I had lost sight of what was going on around me. Not everyone spends their free time cleaning house, cooking, or figuring out which kiddo went where. Some people sit, relax, and actually consume a book. People actually take books with them to the park, beach, or even the coffee house. Where have I been?!?

I found this fabric on clearance last month and had no idea what it would become until I pictured someone holding it while sitting on a bench underneath a weeping willow tree at the park. It reeked of personality and besides that, it's just plain, cute.

Here is the paperback carrier opened with a Nancy Drew book inside. (Yeah, I have one - make that two- girls that like Nancy Drew). A book carrier comes in handy, not only because you can "carry" your book, but also you can have some privacy. No one will ever suspect that that girl in the park, wearing that pink chiffon dress is reading the latest issue of "Grub worms and Other Fishing Bait"

This is the other paperback carrier that I made from the material left over from my Bible carrier. It's cute, it doesn't call a lot of attention to itself. I think it's practical- more my speed I guess.

This is what it looks like opened and with a book inserted. The inside is a little more colorful than the outside. Hey, kind of like me :)

This is Bessie Pearl the teddy bear. She is, in the making, so to speak. Poor girl, I had just about finished her and ran out of stuffing for her tummy area. So, right now, she's a little on the skinny side. When she is finished, I'm planning on listing her in the South Carolina Etsy Street Team's shop.

I'll be sure to let you all know Bessie Pearl is celebrating her official birthday and when I actually find a copy of Grub Worms and other Fishing Bait to pass on to that girl in the pink chiffon dress......

More Yard Critters and a Marble Treasure

2010-04-14T12:01:00.004-04:00

Mr. Dragonfly

Somehow or another, we went from the dead of winter to early summer. What happened to spring? I'm not complaining too much since it's not blazing hot, but some days, it's in the mid 80's already! Anyway, with the warmer weather, we find ourselves outdoors a little more than we had been. Roly Poly girl is still young enough to find nature amazingly interesting so I find myself taking full advantage of these little learning opportunities.

Yes, Roly Poly girl was at it again. She had to lift up the mat in front of the basement door to find her little crustacean friends hiding below.

Mr. Bumble Bee

This little guy strikes fear in one of my kiddos heart the minute she sees (or hears) him. Why, I don't know for sure but I would suspect it is due to the fact that my daughter managed to step (yes, I said step) into a yellow jacket nest when she was a very little girl. She feels the way I do about snakes (you know, a good snake is a dead snake) but her little saying would be; a good bee is a dead bee. Maybe we both will get over our little fears one of these days...

Mr. HoneyBee- Stay away from Monsanto Corn!!!!

Speaking of bees, I was thrilled to see Mr. HoneyBee. You just don't see these guys much when someone has planted that evil, genetically modified corn in the area. You might want to get educated on "Frankencorn" if you haven't heard about it already. You can start at Mother Earth News Magazine's site and read their recent article or head on over to one of a gazillion web sites dedicated to let the public know what Monsanto is doing to our food supply.

Ok, I'm off of my pure food high horse now- back to the program......

We have an over abundance of robins in our backyard. That's not a problem. They supply us with hours of endless amusement. The other woodland creatures in our backyard (the squirrel family) do not approve of the flock of robins so, they are constantly waging war on the birds. It is quite hilarious to see either birds jumping straight up into the air after a squirrel sneaks up behind them, or squirrels running around confused after being dive bombed. It's a win- win for us- hey, it's free entertainment!

Stay tuned, I've been trying to get a photo of the squirrel family but they are photo shy. One of these days I'll try to share the squirrel family with you. Their three babies are sooo cute so it will be worth it to see them.

A Roly Poly Girl treasure.....

With the general population of children in the neighborhood being male, there are a lot of boy-related games that are taking place at any given time somewhere around the house. One of those boy-related activities is marble shooting. No, not the old fashioned kind of marble shooting- the sling shot kind of marble shooting.

What's so good about boys shooting marbles in slingshots? Well, little girls enjoy spending hours looking for marbles that boys shot out of slingshots. Before it's over, the girls have more marbles than the boys!

Roly Poly Girl and I like to leisurely walk around in the backyard and nearby gravel to look for long lost marbles. (It's like treasure hunting...) On this particular day that I snapped this photo, we found 3 of them. The best time to go marble hunting is in mid day, the day after a rain storm. Once, we found 4 at once- that's a good haul if I do say so myself!

The week in photos....The Vampire Bunny, UFO's, and some new sewing projects

2010-04-06T13:35:00.007-04:00

Vampire Bunny

We had a really great Easter and our Easter dinner and egg hunt were lots of fun ( I ate waaaayyyyy too much) . This cute bunny bread is from a recipe that I had in an old Quick Cooking Magazine from years ago. I misplaced my magazine but I found the link on Taste of Home's site. The link to the recipe for the bunny bread pictured above can be found here. It's super easy but next year I think I'll scale the recipe down to just one batch of bread dough so I'll have more room for the veggies around Mr. Bunny.

I had a few minutes a couple of days before Easter (and some spare cloth scraps) and whipped up this little pocket tissue holder from a pattern that I found on the internet. (Sorry, I'd share the link but I had sewn the holder while the computer was on and later turned the computer off for the day without bookmarking the site- I didn't realize that until later the next day- argh!) Maybe I'll run up on that pattern again.

The only problem is that I don't have a pack of tissues to use inside- so I'll just have to wait until I can remember to buy a pack to see if they actually fit inside! I've got some ideas to make my own pattern with "quilting" and other strange designs that are cooking in my brain. It just might take me awhile to turn those ideas into reality! ....isn't that always the way it goes..... plenty of ideas, just no time to make them come to pass....

I'm keeping this one for myself....

I also found this really cool Bible carrier pattern and knew right away that I had just the right fabric for the job (hence the scraps that went into the tissue holder above). My Bible is a little too small for it but, this was my test model just to see if I could make one. I don't use other people's patterns for anything I sell in my Etsy shop so I'll have to come up with one myself soon as I really enjoyed sewing this one up. I'm planning on changing the tie strings to a buckle type closure with a large button, adding a key ring with a clasp (for holding car keys), and a cell phone pocket. The possibilities are endless as to what they could look like. They could even be made from holiday type fabrics. Hey, I would have used an Easter Bible cover if I had one. Look out, I'd imagine I'll have some interesting choices come Christmas time!

A UFO

I thought I'd share a picture that one of the younger kiddos at our egg hunt took. I have no idea which one did, but they managed to get this photo of a UFO in mid flight in the backyard. (See it? Look near the top center of the photo- it's long and pinky looking) Awe, I know what it is I just thought it was funny that they managed to get a picture of it. I don't know the technical word for the UFO but it is part of a Ladder Ball yard game. Let's just say that these UFO's were flying back and forth a lot that day. No one got beaned in the head by one believe it or not!

Love you Heather... (Now your hurt boo boo is all over the internet...)

We did have one casualty though- well, technically 2-1/2 casualties on Easter Sunday. One kiddo tripped and hurt her toe when she fell and the bandaged toe in the photo above was cut by the teeniest, tiniest, piece of glass. What was the 1/2 casualty you say? I say 1/2 because it wasn't until the next day that the casualty fully blossomed into a full blown case of poison ivy on Go Cart Boy. ( I guess you could say 1/2 since the ivy claimed it's victim on Easter but didn't show up until the next day.)

So how did your week go?

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T00:01:00.000-04:00

Leave it to Family to Prank You Good....

2010-04-01T10:05:00.002-04:00

I guess what comes around goes around. I logged into Farmville (on Facebook) this morning and discovered that you could "TP" someone's barn for April Fool's Day. I wasted no time in clicking on over to my sister's farm (while simultaneously making a deep, evil, "he, he, he" laugh).

Later this morning, I was blessed with the incident shown above in the photo. Was I mad? Naaahhhh. It's all fun. I love having my barn toilet papered. I might just leave it that way too.... thanks Janette!

Happy Birthday to My April Fool

2010-04-01T07:02:00.002-04:00

Orion's Stardust

Born April 1, 1978
(That's 32 years ago in case you didn't add it up)

....and yes, he has acted the part as long as I've known him.......

Photos of a freak hail storm....

2010-03-28T19:31:00.002-04:00

View through the storm door- we couldn't open it due to the hail falling diagonally and hitting the glass.

It all started with the intense lightening striking and then it got really dark all of the sudden. Typical for summer but this is early spring. It wasn't long before we heard slight taps on the windows which quickly turned into pounding.

Most of it was about marble size with an occasional bigger one close to quarter size.

Not only did it hail, the rain poured and poured. This is what the back yard looked like after it was all over.

Quite a bit of the white stuff built up pretty quickly. Amazing. I guess you can figure what we will be studying tomorrow in school.....

Molly, McGee, and 18,000+ People's Obsession

2010-03-25T10:53:00.005-04:00

Molly
Photo courtesy of Sportsmans Paradise Online

McGee
Photo courtesy of Sportsmans Paradise Online

Who is Molly? Who is McGee? Why are 18,000 people obsessed?

Well, a fellow Etsy team member passed a link to a live web cam that is currently showing the inside view of a barn owl nesting box. Mom, Molly, is inside with 2 owlets already hatched and more to come. Hence the obsession. It is very educational, soothing, and truly interesting to watch the daily comings and goings of this really neat owl family.

Right now there are two babies in there with another one due to hatch today. Daddy McGee will be very busy in the days to come, bringing home dinner.

Be sure to visit Sportsmans Paradise Online to get acquainted with this every growing owl family.

(Oh, and by the way, if you are squeamish, don't say I didn't warn you that you might just see some interesting things going on at mealtimes.)

American Responsibility

2010-03-23T00:01:00.002-04:00

Definitions that every American needs to know as found on Webster's online dictionary website: (Don't take my word for it, click on the links to see for yourself)

1. Socialism-"any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods"

2. Republic- "a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law"

3. Democracy- " the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges"

4. Communism- " a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production"

Quotes of famous Americans: (as found on USHistorysite.com)

Benjamin Franklin- "All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse. "

Thomas Jefferson- "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves." "The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please."

George Washington- "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

Abraham Lincoln- "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. "

Food for thought, I would say.....

and yes, this is one of those blog posts with a message to my fellow Americans...

Frog's, Turtles, and Chickens, OH MY!!

2010-03-22T00:23:00.000-04:00

My mother has quite the collection of yard critters- both live ones and those that aren't alive. Here are some of her critters that she gathered from the "fire ant" side of the house and moved to the "non- fire ant" side of the house. Let's hope the "other side" of the house continues to be the "non- fire ant" side of the house for a long, long, time.

On Going Projects....

2010-03-21T00:53:00.000-04:00

Quick! Point to the nearest chili bean! Phew, you made it.

Lately, I've been looking for opportunities to have as many "projects" that the kids can work on in school that they can handle. One such project was one that my 7th grader asked to do. She had found the project in her science book and it kind of went a long with the "wild" garden that is growing on my kitchen counters at this very moment.

The project involved painting 3 seeds with fingernail polish and leaving 3 seeds alone. All were put into jars of water and observed the next morning to see what the fingernail polish had done. Well, the lesson learned was that the seed needed water to penetrate into it, in order to start the germination process. Lesson learned and the girls had lots of fun painting kidney beans with fingernail polish.

A local Walmart store finally bit the bullet and began to close it's fabric department over the past few weeks. They didn't sell enough of the stuff to justify the fabric department's existence. (Could have been the fact that, at anytime of the day, no one was there to actually "cut" the fabric for you and the guy in automotive had no idea how to do it?) Anyway, I picked up 4 yards of homespun (shown in the photo above) for $0.56 a yard! What am I going to do with it? Well, I'm in need of some new cloth napkins for the kitchen. I should be able to make enough to keep us swimming in napkins for a long time. If you are interested in making your own cloth napkins, you can see this old post for a "how to".

As far as other projects, I'm desperately trying to figure out some kind of sewn item that would be good for men. Making things for women are easy- it's men that are the problem for me. Any ideas?

Gardening Time Again and Our Plan- Sort Of.....

2010-03-20T00:39:00.001-04:00

We had this brilliant idea to use an actual kit to start some seeds this year. The part that was not brilliant was that we had no idea that the seeds would sprout in 2 days (80% of them that is!!)

This is what we started with. We got it from our local Lowes store. They are little dehydrated peat disks that you water and then later plant your seeds in.

We had to soak the little disks almost all day before they "puffed" up to their normal size. We planted 2 rows of tomatoes, and one row each of the following: gourds, sunflowers, squash, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, chili pepper, bell pepper, and cucumbers.

Two days later, this is the shocking site that we saw! Uh, peat sure does sprout seeds, and fast! The bad thing is, we figured that we had a couple of weeks before these plants would need to be transplanted to (a yet undetermined location- eeek) somewhere else.

We are wanting to plant a garden at Uncle Bubba's again but due to the fire ant problem, we might even start some square foot gardens in the backyard this year. We are still debating what to do though. Regardless of what we are going to do, something needs to be decided soon as these plants are taking off! It's still a little too cold here but in a month, we should be able to get these seedlings in their permanent home.

As of today, all but the 2 types of peppers have sprouted and we've realized that we didn't plan very well already. Where am I going to keep 72 seedlings once we transplant them all into peat pots?

Abandoned Daffodils and Their New Home

2010-03-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

Down in the woods, there were these abandoned little jewels. They were left over from times gone by. Who planted them, we don't know but what we do know, is that someone had inadvertently disturbed a lot of them from their bed near a trash pile. They were randomly growing a top piles of trash and debris, struggling to surface the leaves and brush. We rescued the stragglers that had migrated down the hill away from the big bed of these little guys.

We figured that they might be much happier in a place where people could actually see them and I'd get the satisfaction of finally having some flowers planted in my yard- not just in a pot on the porch!

So, here are the lone, "woods" grown daffodils in their new home. It's a start.....

Some Easter Pretties- New At Minnie Maes

2010-03-18T00:05:00.001-04:00

Some time ago, we had a flood that, kind of, "affected" a lot of things that we had stored in our basement. To make a long story short, I discovered a box of Easter baskets that had seen better days. I figured that there had to be some way to make a fabric basket that could be washed, folded, and stored for next year. After all, a fabric basket wouldn't take up room in the basement, gather dust, or worse yet, get flooded!

I had no idea how to make one so I started playing around with with my fabric gift bag patterns, and Eureka! I managed to figure out how to make a small basket and made a second one shortly after. Days later, I made a larger version that could hold up to 3 dozen eggs and then I set out to cover the little boy market. After all, little boys hunt eggs too and maybe they don't like girly bunnies and butterflies!

Here are the first three fabric Easter Baskets that I made. They can be found at Minnie Maes if you would like to know more about them.

Here is my "boys" or "tom girls" version.....

Be sure to visit Minnie Maes to see these baskets and lots of other goodies!

St. Patrick's Day and Our Homeschool Experience

2010-03-17T13:59:00.005-04:00

What? Are you confused? What's this guy doing in this St. Patrick's Day post, pointing at a pile of snakes?

Why, that's ole' St. Patrick himself! One of the things that he is known for, is for banishing snakes from Ireland. What does that have to do with St. Patrick's Day? Well, in our American culture, we have sort of "changed" the meaning of St. Patrick's Day.

Being a homeschool family, we spent the greater part of this morning researching what St. Patrick's Day really is and what all of the traditional symbols of St. Patrick's Day really mean.

We learned that in Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday, celebrating the date that St. Patrick died. He was known for driving the snakes out of Ireland (possibly meaning the driving out of Druid ceremonies that involved snakes). Most importantly, he spread the word of God and converted many non believers.

We also learned that many in Ireland feel that the color green is unlucky. American's have kind of introduced the drinking of beer as part of the holiday. Oh, and last but not least, the shamrock does indeed, have Irish backgrounds. St. Patrick himself taught that the shamrock represented the Trinity (Father, Son, and The Holy Ghost). So, how about that.

Our learning didn't stop at searching the web. The two younger kids wrote St. Patrick's Day stories (both about leprechauns) and I gave the older kids a fun sheet so they wouldn't feel left out. Later, we searched different locations (including the place where St. Patrick was born- Scotland, by the way) and Dublin Ireland using the street maps so we could get a bird's eye view of the real places. So, basically, it's like we traveled over the ocean and actually "saw" what we were studying with our own eyes (without having to leave the comforts of home!!). If I had thought ahead, we could have thrown some home economics in the mix and fixed some traditional Irish meals today but this mama wasn't that prepared....

Well, we traveled to Ireland and Scotland, wrote some stories, learned some history, AND managed to get our regular school work done. What a St. Patrick's Day we had!

The First Sign of Spring and The Tiny Snowman

2010-03-03T21:30:00.005-05:00

This is it. I have proof. Spring isn't far off. These daffodils rising out of the leaves is solid proof. Mind you that daffodils usually bloom in late February/early March anyway but, hey, it means that winter is on the way out. After the 60 degree temps we have this coming week, I would suppose that these little beauties will be in bloom very soon.

Could this poor, little snowman be labeled, "making do with what you have?"

The day after we discovered the daffodils coming up, the weather man actually confirmed that we were in for some wintry weather again. I think this would be the 4th (I think, could have been the 4th-1/2- I'm just not sure now- I lost count....) snow that we would get this year- very, very unusual for us. It snowed all day but didn't stick until just before dark. Can you say, "disappointed kiddos?" We made the best of it though. Even though there was a scant amount of the white stuff on the ground, we were determined to make at least one snowman this year. (All of the other previous snows had been covered with sleet or were a dry snow which made it impossible for snowman construction.)

This is the final product. This little guy took up almost all of the area's available snow in the yard but he was worth it. The kids worked together to give him some personality- (via some asphalt rocks and sticks).

This photo is what he looked like the next morning, unfortunately. His little face fell off and he lost an arm. Poor little guy.

Maybe next year we'll get to build a gigantic snowman but for now, I'm content in knowing that, we at least made do with what we had and managed to produce a tiny snowman in the end- even if he didn't stick around for very long.

Are You Playing, "The Game" ?

2010-02-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

I'm not and I never will. I guess that means that I won forever.

Let me explain......

This isn't "The Game" but various family members use the sight of it as a tool to make the other family member lose "The Game".

What is the game you say? Unfortunately, I know very well what it is. Where it came from, I do not know. I'd imagine that some teenager, somewhere thought it up. I don't have time for it (OK, you got me there, I do have the time to blog about it but that's about it.)(Ok, you got me again, I do have time to make people loose "The Game" as you will see later on).

The rules are simple: If you remember that you are playing "The Game", you lost. As long as you forget, you win. Simple enough. That's it in a nutshell.

I've caused several people to loose the game inadvertently (and I must admit, sometimes purposely) over the course of the last year. Just the other day, I was helping my oldest daughter with a word problem that simply stated that a particular ratio had to be set up with games won to games LOST. Two other kiddos as the table muttered, "Oh man, I just lost the game" under their breath. We girls just looked at each other and smiled and proceeded for several minutes to mention the word problem and how to set it up (over and over and over again....heh, heh, heh....).

Another example of how to make someone loose "The Game", is to mention that it's Tuesday night and LOST comes on. Simultaneously, you will hear the mutterings echoing through the house again, "Awe, I just lost the game...." (By the way, if you watch LOST, and play "The Game", you loose for an entire hour while the show is on.)

I've even sent Flair buttons to my son and niece on Facebook that say, "I just lost the game". I don't think they appreciated it very much. I know that when my son received his, I heard, "Ahhhhhhhhrrrrrggggggghhhh, I just lost the game again- geesh, thanks mom!" coming from the next room.

Sometimes I can mention random words or phrases like, parsley, box of chicken, John Locke, meep, or even Noah Webster, and those words will cause various outcries during the day from the two boys that are playing at my house. ( My oldest son's mind works through association- that is why those random words cause him to lose the game- How he associates those things with playing, "The Game" go figure??? The world will never know.....)

So, the moral of the story is, if you didn't know what "The Game" was, you do now. If you know someone that plays "The Game", I've probably given you some ammunition to make them loose "The Game". Anyway you look at it, it's just a game.

What I finally made for ME

2010-02-24T13:54:00.002-05:00

I either knit or sew things for all kinds of people. I never, hardly ever, make anything for me (unless you count the curtains last month....). I broke my track record this week. I finally made something just for me.......

This was the beginning of my little project. I saw this yarn during a trip that my sister and I made to our local Hobby Lobby store awhile back. (If you are a relative and follow me on Facebook, you will remember that was back when Janette and I randomly screamed "Hobby Lobby" back and forth in our comments......yes, we finally got to go!).

Janette saw me eye-balling this yarn and she said she was going to buy it for me as part of a late birthday present. Yay!

I worked on it for what seemed like a couple of weeks off and on. Usually, I try to finish a hat in 2-3 days but since it was for me, I took my time. Here is the hat just as I was decreasing to close it up at the top (which, by the way, is my least favorite part of knitting a hat in the first place). That is probably why I took this picture. I needed a break from decreasing (Did I mention that decreasing makes me nervous?) Anyway, this photo clearly shows that I'm on the home stretch.

Hooray! It's done. The hat turned out to be thinner than I had thought but none the less, I still love it. It matches my coat. I actually had a lot of yarn left on the skein when I was done so I decided to make me a matching scarf.

I only have about 4 or 5 inches of the scarf done but it's getting there. Hey, at this rate, I'll have it done by summer!

I'll probably have to buy another skein of the matching yarn so it looks like another trip to Hobby Lobby is at hand!

If you are interested in the pattern I used for this hat, you can do like I did and learn by watching this video from the Knit Picks website.

Stationary Yard Critters In The Snow

2010-02-16T23:04:00.003-05:00

We managed to get about 3 inches of snow during the quick little winter storm we had several days ago. Believe it or not, there is still some snow in the shady areas of the yard still. I grew up hearing that if snow lies on the ground for a week, another snow will come to cover it up. I've always wondered if that was true. This is the south so I'm just not sure how much merit that old saying holds. I do know that when I was little, I counted each and every day that snow was still around- just hoping that that new snow would hurry up and cover the old snow. Come to think of it, I don't think it ever worked. The snow always melted just shy of 7 days. Oh well....

Here is our favorite tree dude, Melvin. He is sticking his tongue out at the snow. He is saying, "Nah, nah, na, boo, boo, you can't bother me you, you white stuff!"

I came upon these funny little guys in the front yard. Imagine that you are a frog in the snow, holding up a basin filled with snow. Yeah, just like that. Now realize that you are nuts because you are not a frog in the snow, holding up a basin filled with snow. HA!

Poor little guy. He's cute though, with all of that snow drifted on his little nose.... kind of looks like he told a lie doesn't it?

It's snowing again!

2010-02-12T23:01:00.004-05:00

The snow is coming down as I type. We will have quite the winter wonderland by in the morning. The kids are thrilled and I am too. I've been to the store. We don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, and the hot chocolate is in the cabinet, so, I guess we are ready for a day of fun in the snow tomorrow!

This is the first object that the snow started to pile up on, outside our front door.

It wasn't long before it started sticking on the ground and trees.

It's funny to think that these bushes were partly covered in water just a couple of days ago with our "flood". They are still "kind of" covered in water if you want to be technical.....

The snow started coming down pretty fast. I love how it looks on the Leyland Cypresses.

After dark, I let the kids play for awhile (until their hair got wet...) because they just couldn't wait any longer. It was quiet except for the snow crunching beneath every one's feet. You know, there is something familiar about that "crunch" of snow underneath your feet. I guess it reminds me of childhood. I haven't heard that "crunch" in a number of years so it was a nice treat to hear it. I know, that's weird.

I'm actually looking forward to playing in the snow tomorrow!

The Cleanup BEFORE The Flood

2010-02-11T15:55:00.004-05:00

It was time. I had been putting it off for some time. I certainly couldn't use it, that's for sure. Meet, my sewing table.

Somehow, someway, my table became a catch-all....a catch-all that "caught all" fairly quickly too. With that being said, I am throwing caution to the wind and I have decided to be brutally honest here. The photo you are about to see is where I was supposed to create things. Instead, I hit a brick wall each time I walked by the table. Something definitely had to be done....

Before:
A real mess that was slowly, but surely growing.....

After:

A might better I would say. There is still too much clutter on the table but I can see that there is a table. (Don't look at the pattern sticking in my "to do" box, Janette!) I even vacuumed afterwards! I threw away 2-30 gallon trash bags of , uhm, well, trash and precious cloth scraps that I had been holding on to for far too long! A couple of weeks ago, I made the curtains you see in the photo and all that the room needs now is a fresh coat of paint. Now if I could figure out how to keep little kiddos from drawing on my rotary cutting mat in INK!

OK, that was the cleaning part. Now comes the flood part.

We are accustomed to having to call for emergency services from time to time since we live near a busy intersection but nothing prepared us for what happened the other night.

Imagine Scott and I sitting on the couch, trying to watch LOST. Then, the familiar sound of a car crash broke our concentration from figuring out what year Kate and Jack were actually in this time. We walked out on the porch, scanned the yard to see where a car landed this time. This time, it was two houses away and we saw sparks flying in the distance....or what we thought were sparks flying.

As it turned out, when a car runs over a fire hydrant, at night, the car lights reflect on the cascading water and give the appearance of sparks. (Oh, and just to let you know, the person was not injured in the car accident)

To make a long story short, here are some scenes from that night:

This was the beginning of our "flood" experience. Believe me, it is very sobering to suddenly see a river of water rushing towards your front door.

Here is the water just touching the siding on the front of the house.

We watched helplessly as the water rose and rose, closer to the top of the foundation of the house. At one point, I pulled the couch out from the wall to see if the water was coming in. Thankfully, it didn't.

It's hard to tell, but this is a river of water that was washing down one side of the house.

Here is the threshold of the basement door. Notice the water pouring out of "Mr. Slither's" escape hatch. (Mr. Slithers is the black snake that I'm petrified of, that lives in the basement and leaves his skin lying around in my path each summer)

This is a photo of just after the water slowed down (thank you Mr. Water Company Employee)

Almost a foot of dirt was washed away from this side of the driveway. The gravel came from across the road somewhere....

This used to be full of mulch if you can believe it. Now the mulch is long gone. you don't even see it in the back yard- it washed down the hill, through the woods, and into a local stream.

Here is the far side of the house where the water rushed down and uncovered the downspout from the gutter. There is still some mulch here but we have a nice little ditch there now that wasn't there before.

Overall, I had no idea that millions of gallons of water could flow that quickly from a fire hydrant. I also learned that, (thank goodness) a water company employee lives fairly close to my house.

Something tells me that we will be hauling mulch in the near future.....

Winter weather in our neck of the woods....

2010-02-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

The shear mention of ice or snow in the south causes massive shortages at the grocery stores. You know, bread, milk, peanut butter, and toilet paper. Don't ask me why but those are the things that are generally missing from the shelves right before, during, and several days after a winter storm. Maybe it's a southern thing. Maybe not. Who knows?

I even find myself scanning the pantry shelves when the weather man starts all of this pandemonium. Thankfully, we didn't run out of the necessities during our recent 2 day wintry mix.

These are just a few scenes from our sleet/snow mix.

Here is Melvin. If you follow my blog, you have probably seen him in all of the different seasons. Last winter he even had a runny nose. (The remnants can still be seen here, unfortunately) This year, he fared a might better. The tree to the left of him had a run in with another tree recently but, Melvin's tree persevered.

The roads weren't too bad. (Well, if you can call this slushy mess, not too bad) OK, compared to up north, they weren't too bad. Down in the south, it was shear disaster. There.

The snow plows went up and back down the highway twice that second day. The third day, they came by too, but that trip didn't make much sense to me. They came by scraping bare pavement. What a noise that made! I'd imagine they need new snow plow blades by now.

Red berries (sorry I can't spell their name) Poison- stay away. But they are pretty with sleet and snow on them.

I thought that this looked like an ice flow.

This is the end of the fence that usually tries to claim a victim or two when the sledders slide down towards it. Thankfully, no casualties that day....sort of....

I take a lot of my pictures for my Etsy shop on these rocks. Hey, I even took advantage of the change in scenery and snapped a few that day too. (Mental note, upload new Etsy items...)

These are the trees in which our satellite dish calls home. (It's on the other side with a clear view of the sky so don't worry) Usually when something is on the branches, such as ice or snow, they lean in, and obstruct the dish. Kids panic, parents panic- you get the idea. This time, the branches didn't lean (very much).

Last but not least, I had to include a photo of the two young men in my family that snowboarded down the driveway (or should I say, attempted to snowboard down the driveway). (Notice the snowboard at the feet of Go Cart boy- on the left) I'm not sure if one was snowboarding and the other slipped in front the other, or if both of these nuts were trying to snowboard at the same time. Regardless, our elderly neighbors probably stood at their kitchen window smiling and laughing at their antics for hours!

We are supposed to get a less exciting version of another storm so we'll just have to see what happens next.

I bet the grocery stores are still out of bread, milk, and toilet paper at this very moment......

We don't cut brownies "straight-like" around here....

2010-02-04T15:07:00.005-05:00

You know the feeling. You need chocolate, you don't have a handy dandy mix in the cabinet. What are you going to do? Make them yourself! It is possible- I promise!

I never have to cut the brownies around my house when they get done. Before they are even cooled, somebody, somewhere- from around the house, has already taken care of that little chore. Can't you tell?

A couple of years ago, I came across this recipe. I don't know where it came from but all I know, is that it is good and will make you so sick! (The good, chocolate, fat, overload sick).

If you are trying to loose weight, RUN, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!! Don't read on. If you are a brave soul, get ready- you are less than 20 minutes away from ooey, gooey, chocolaty goodness.

The Best Brownies Ever

Cast of Characters:

1-1/4 cup oil (I say, "forget the oil!", use 2 and a half sticks of butter instead- live dangerously!)
1/4 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (the real stuff not the chemical, fake stuff)
4 eggs
1-1/2 cup flour (I use bread flour in mine)
1-1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start by mixing the dry ingredients well. Melt or allow the butter to soften (I've always just melted the butter in the microwave, myself). Mix the wet ingredients together with the butter and then mix everything together until just moistened. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan. (Remember all of that butter? Use the butter wrappers to grease your pan.) I use a glass baking dish but you could use a metal- your choice.

Now for the mystery. I never cook anything for a particular time. When it's done, I know it, when it's not, I know it too. I would guess that you need to cook it for 15 minutes and then check on the brownies. When a toothpick (or in my case, a butter knife) comes out clean, it's ready. If not, use your judgment and cook an additional 5-15 minutes depending on your oven and the pan you used. (Sorry I can't be more specific but I'm just one of those cooks that play it by "smell").

Now, doesn't this photo make it look like your hard work will be soooo worth it?

The dead tree in the backyard and what it has to do with Etsy....

2010-01-14T16:16:00.005-05:00

Yes, I'm getting slack at blogging. I like taking crazy photos but it's just been too cold to get out and do it. Today though, it managed to get above freezing for awhile so I took advantage of it and got a couple photos of some new items for Minnie Maes. (Note that both items are sitting atop a tree. Hence, the "what it has to do with Etsy mystery is solved)

This is a cute little Valentine's Day burlap bag that I created for the South Carolina Etsy Street Team's January Creative Challenge.

This is a poison tree frog that I made over a month ago. He never managed to get a name that "stuck" so I call him, "The poison tree frog from TR". (Travelers Rest that is). I took advantage of that dead tree and used it as a podium of sorts for these two new items to rest upon.

This is the view with our "dead" tree from afar. It didn't stay there long though. As I'm typing, some guys are hauling it away by using a Bobcat and a chain. Farewell, dead tree.

This is the dead part in case you were wondering. The tree died the year before last and as you can see, the center was beginning to darken and rot. It wasn't cut exactly straight but just a small section of that stump had at least 60 rings in it. I'm estimating 80-90 years old, it was. If trees could talk, imagine what that particular tree has seen in it's days!

What has this got to do with a dead tree and Etsy you say? Well, technically, nothing. I just thought it was hilarious. Roly Poly girl didn't like the meat for the tacos the other night. She developed her own "special" taco. It was comprised of veggie cheese and bananas.

Yes, I was disgusted too at the site of it then. I'm even more disgusted now. Ewwwww! She gets a hands up for creativity though!

Add mine to the cold weather complaint list......

2010-01-07T12:46:00.003-05:00

This is the bottom portion of our back yard right now. Technically, there is a little bit more ice down there now, than there was yesterday, when I took this picture.

So, do you think it's cold in the south right now or what?

The snow is supposed to make it's way into our area starting in a few hours- TODAY. I didn't do the typical southern snow preparations (you know, buying the following: toilet paper, bread, milk, and peanut butter). Currently I think we have those essentials so we are good to go, I guess??

In the mean time, while I'm waiting for the white stuff to start falling, I think I'll work on my mystery project seen in the photo below.

Here is the beginning "knittings" of the plastic bag-( er...uh.....) mystery object that I'm working on right now. It's not very pretty but it's coming along. I just wish I knew what it was (or will be). I'd love any suggestions. If it turns out to be something interesting enough, I'll put it up for sale in my Etsy shop. I'm serious, ok, maybe not.......

A Smurf Is Born.....and Other Events from This Past Week

2010-01-06T08:37:00.005-05:00

Ok, you either know what I'm talking about or you really think I'm nuts. To give you some background info, just in case you have no idea what a smurf is, I'll give you a brief history.

The Smurfs are cartoon characters from the 1980's. They are small, blue, and are constantly on the run from their human enemy, Gargamel (sp?). To get to the point, a smurf can only be born on a blue moon. Guess what, we recently had a blue moon. So....... I guess, a smurf was born the other night. Wonder what they will name the new baby smurf, "Freezing Smurf", because it was freezing that night? What do you think?

Here is the best that my little camera could do on capturing a photo of the elusive, blue moon. Kind of looks like something from the X-Files, in my opinion.

Aunt Nay (that's just what my kids call her-( hee hee, it's funny seeing it in writing...)) came by one night and said she was going to sneak away to look for a ferret. She came back awhile later and when she entered the door, something was moving inside her coat. That moving "something", is named Sassy and she is an albino ferret.

Sassy thought that our basket of telephone books was pretty amazing. I was just wondering when the last time Sassy "went", if you know what I mean......

One day last week, I was searching for a video to teach me how to make fingerless gloves by knitting. I did come across a rather interesting video that taught you how to make a "plastic bag, bag". So, the girls and I went to work cutting up every plastic bag we had in the attempt to make this, "plastic bag, bag". (You know, a plastic bag knitted out of plastic bags that actually hold- well, plastic bags!)

This is our yarn ball that we created out of strips of plastic bags. I started on a plastic bag, bag but it turned out disastrous. I took the beginning knittings of it apart and now, I'm just practicing knitting with plastic bags. Stay tuned because I'm not really sure what it's going to turn out to be. Right now, it's about 7 inches wide and somewhere around 4 or 5 inches long. Plastic bag scarf, anyone? Don't laugh, it may just turn out to be one!

This little project made me really happy and it only took about 4 or 5 hours to finish. (Who am I kidding- it probably took longer but I like to think that it only took 4 or 5 hours) Argh, I hate it when things take that long- at least I'm learning patience, I guess.

Anyway, back to the story. I found this rather annoying video on the internet on how to make "quick and fashionable" fingerless gloves by knitting. (maybe the music annoyed me?) Follow this link if you want to see it for yourself. I decided that this was a good place to start since I had no clue how to do it.

As you can see from the photo above, I actually managed to make a pair and my oldest daughter is thrilled beyond belief because she usually gets to keep my projects. I paid a grand total of $0.50 for the yarn at a thrift store and I have half of the skein left over. I love it when things work out that way. If I have time, I'm going to make my niece a pair to go with her hat and scarf that she will be getting for her birthday in the next few days.

The only problem with knitting is that it keeps me from sewing. Oh well, maybe it's just a faze I'm in and I'll grow out of knitting- naaaaaah, I think knitting is here to stay.....

Things I have learned this year.....some the hard way.

2010-01-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

Back in July, I started keeping this blog post saved in my drafts so that from time to time, I could come back and fill in those little things that struck me as weird or funny for the rest of the year. I learned a few strange things this year, often the hard way so I'm sharing them with you as a kind of, look back on 2009.

1. When the refrigerator accidentally gets turned up too high, your raw milk will freeze (I know, that's obvious). What I really learned from this is that when raw milk freezes, the cream turns into butter. How did I figure this out? I made myself a nice, tall glass of chocolate milk one day. One swig and the tiny butter chunks that I didn't notice, nearly gagged me.

2. Chicken manure is evil and so are fire ants. I was always told that chicken manure was a fantastic fertilizer. Oh, now I get it, it's a fantastic fertilizer for fire ants.

3. When you plant yellow crooked neck squash in the garden, don't be surprised at all when you harvest zucchini. Things never go as planned and you just need to learn to roll with the punches. Hey, it fries up just the same anyway. You know the old saying- "When life gives you apples, make applesauce". Knowing that, I say, "When life gives you zucchini, don't look a gift squash in the mouth- just put it in yours".

4. If you have the slightest inkling in your mind that you want to make a family photo: Don't tell any children under the age of 18 ahead of time. If you do, chances are, one or more will come up with a big blue bump on their forehead, have a younger sibling give them a haircut in secret, or knock a tooth out (in the front of their mouth- no less) within minutes of your announcement.

5. Skunks can and will take up residence in your outhouse if you are not careful. That information seems as though it should come from an old timer's textbook but in this day and time, it really can happen. By the way, baby skunks are kinda' cute.

6. Snakes like holes in trees. Snakes like to scare people that walk by holes in trees. Snakes can sometimes "jump" from holes in trees to petrify people that walk by holes in trees that snakes like.

7. If there is a mud hole around your place, you can pretty much be confident that a little boy has already discovered it before you did. You, by the way, will discover the fact that you have a mud hole around your place, when you walk through your living room and it looks like a herd of muddy footed elephants stampeded through just recently.

8. Ponder the fact that when your three youngest kids left the dentist's office, the technician gave them each ice cream for the trip home.............. (I'm serious- this really did happen- I kid you not!)

9. A thunderstorm (or at least a very ominous black cloud) will show up at your door step the exact instant you think about going to the park or work in the garden.

10. If you manage to hide some chocolate from everyone else in the house, they will instinctively come running from all directions as soon as you walk into the kitchen to get it for yourself.

11. If the day is relatively calm, expect a storm before that day is over (and I'm not necessarily talking about weather here).

12. You can not trust seed companies to actually include the seed in the package, that they have advertised on the outside of the package.

13. Deer like pinto beans, fire ants like potatoes, and ground hogs like zucchini squash (or at least they do in my neck of the woods).

14. If your toilet fails to flush properly once, don't ignore it. Trouble is on the horizon....

15. If water pours from the bottom of your washing machine at the exact moment that the machine makes a "shriek, clunk, clunk, rip" sound, you just aren't going to wash clothes that day.

16. If your washing machine gets fixed and you finally get to wash that much needed load of dirty clothes, expect the heating element in your dryer to go out the "exact" same day that the washing machine was fixed. Needless to say, the clothes WILL get washed, they just will not get dried.

17. If you notice these beautiful green patches of new grass growing in your backyard and you have experienced #14 from above, you just got your second clue that trouble is on the horizon.

18. If the septic tank man takes 4 days to show up, 5 minutes to look at the backyard, and another, lets say, never comes back, let's just hope that it's not a bad sign that more trouble is on the horizon.

19. Knitting is addicting, plain and simple.

20. If you washing machine, dryer, and septic tank goes out on you - all within the same week, don't be completely surprised when your dishwasher goes on the blink too.

21. Farmville on Facebook is extremely addicting.

22. Wearing a white turtleneck is not a smart thing to do when cooking spaghetti- you get the picture.

Well, there you have it. Some goofy things I learned this year. Mind you, they are not all of the things I learned this year, just the ones that I happened to remember. I wonder what's going to happen this year?

Wishing you and yours a very happy and prosperous new year!

Me-Ma's Nativity Scene Disaster

2009-12-30T00:02:00.001-05:00

I just love it when I have a camera at my disposal, at just the right moment.... In this case, my pesky cell phone came in handy that day.....

Here is how it went down....

Something happened here. There is a logical explanation that a shepperd is dangling precariously from the edge. (The sheep lying there on it's side reminds me of that Little House on The Prairie episode where those bad guys sold the tainted sheep meat and made everyone sick.) One wise man fell face first- the other passed out and fell straight back. Never mind the fact that there is a wise man buried in the hay. Yet, the angel watches over them all......

Like I said before, this poor guy is doomed to fall to an uncertain death, I would suppose. That poor sheep to his left, is gnarled and mangled.

This explains a lot......

Caught in the act huh? Trying to hide your guilt are you?

How can you be so relaxed when that poor shepperd is in peril, the cow is being suffocated, Mary is trembling in fear, and baby Jesus and Joseph are missing altogether?

You don't care do you "Foot Kitty"?

Oh well, I guess you know where it's warm and comfy- in a manger. As long as Me-Ma doesn't care, I don't either. I'm just glad you allowed me to photograph the entire thing......

Their's, MINE, and Ours- Christmas At Grandma's House

2009-12-29T10:42:00.004-05:00

We had a good time at grandma and papa's house. At some point, there are two young folks that can bet their bottom dollar that embarrassing photos will show up on the internet of them. Oh, wait, why not start today? Hee, hee, hee......

This is the best photo that my camera took on Christmas Eve. The rest, I think, had a finger print on the lens and the ISO was changed behind my back. (What is ISO anyway?)

Here is an empty plate. I think it had previously been full of grandma's homemade pineapple cake. You reckon' it was good or something?

My father in law has a sense of humor if you didn't already know. All of the cups were labeled with every one's names so there would be no wasting. He got the job of labeling the cups this year. He labeled his own- while displaying his sense of humor. I think we all will never forget, that if we come across a cup that simply says, MINE. It belongs to my father in law.

This is the last minute gift making that I did on Christmas Eve between the festivities. It is a scarf for my niece's fiance, Gray Lee (that's his nick name folks). I think he likes gray but maybe brown would do this one time.

At any given time in the kitchen, these two could be found hugging Dr.Pepper bottles. I caught them in the act here. Hmmm, I bet this photo might turn up on Facebook some time soon......

In addition to drawing names, we each brought gag gifts to open this year. I just had to snap this photo of what Uncle Phillip received. In case you are wondering, I played the safe route and gave a nicely wrapped box with a dead battery in it. Inside was a note that said, "Toy not Included". Next year, I'm planning on making some kind of kit to take with you into nasty gas station bathrooms- hand sanitizer, toilet paper, seat cover, cross word puzzle, newspaper- you get the picture. It's all going to be in it's own handy, dandy tote. I'm sure that will be another story in it's self!

Once we opened gifts, these two were caught enjoying their gifts. Notice the guy on the right- he is busy counting and planning an assault on the nearest department store the day after Christmas.

At one point, I looked down from my frantic knitting, and saw these two characters at my feet. I think they are Wicket and Yoda. They are in a heavy discussion- that or a fight with a stick and a light saber.

The Dr. Pepper twins were at it again during the gift opening. Those two cousins have done some crazy things throughout the years. I guess we can just add the coveting of the Dr. Peppers as another one of those crazy things.

Merry Christmas from My House to Yours

2009-12-25T00:01:00.003-05:00

Remember the reason for the season

The Winter Weather that Was....and Wasn't

2009-12-21T11:15:00.005-05:00

Well, this is what we woke up to Saturday morning- a light dusting of sleet. Hey, it was enough to cause pandemonium in the south I tell you! Just up the road about 10 minutes away, I'm told it was a winter wonderland of snow. Just yesterday (Sunday), I passed two cars in the road that were covered in the melting white stuff. Here are a few pictures of what we saw when we looked out the windows....

This is the front walkway- complete with the magic tricycle. I say magic because if you saw what 8, 9, and 10 year old boys did with this thing, you would realize that it's a miracle that the poor thing is still in one piece. The 5 year old that rides this thing has to listen to the constant pops and creaks that her brother and neighbors caused. Maybe Santa will do something to fix that little problem.

Not much to see but you can tell it was cold....

This is the view out the back door. I'd imagine there was quite a bit more of this sleet before daybreak. Do you see Melvin, the tree spirit, in the right hand side of the photo. He got so cold, his nose started running again- just like last year.

The last thing I heard was that we were to get more frozen stuff Christmas Eve- I don't believe it though. This is the south- we don't get frozen stuff on Christmas. You know how it is, the weather men get too excited and start wanting to predict frozen stuff every week....either that or the grocery stores are in cahoots (is that a word?) with them and want to make some extra sales or something.... makes you wonder.

Handmade Sleet Balls

2009-12-18T14:41:00.007-05:00

Yes, freezing precipitation has arrived in my neck of the woods. The public schools let out at 12:30 from what I'm told. I knew it would happen, but, I was not prepared for what would happen INSIDE my house during the winter storm. I wasn't prepared for the droves of children stomping muddy sleet prints through the kitchen and across the living room carpet while simultaneously begging for hot chocolate. I wasn't prepared for mine, and the neighborhood children, begging for hats, gloves, and coats- ALL AT THE SAME TIME. I wasn't prepared for "SLEET BALLS" being pelted at every door and window either.

Speaking of "Sleet Balls", I have personally determined that sleet balls are more evil than snow balls for sleet balls can house any number of foreign objects and mostly, MUD!

One of the many "sleet balls" I encountered on or near the front porch.

The good thing (and boy, howdy, am I lucky) the neighborhood kids all like me or else I would have been a "goner "when I stepped outside to take a few pictures. Thank goodness that they all value the hand that feeds them all!

The winter storm isn't over yet so I'm sure I'll be steam cleaning tomorrow and the next day, and the next day, and the next day- you get the picture! The main thing is, the kiddos are having fun (even though I'm overwhelmed at the impending house cleaning) and they are safe.

Hey, this is the south. Frozen stuff doesn't happen very often so we have to enjoy it while we can! The weather man is predicting snow on Christmas Eve. Can you believe that? I'll believe it when I see it. In all of my years, I've never known snow on Christmas Eve or Day. If the weather man proves himself right, things might get interesting!

Barbie and the Sugar Ants

2009-12-17T14:58:00.003-05:00

Why is it, that when Christmas comes rolling around, that time starts to speed up? I know it's that way for everyone- everyone just doesn't talk about it much. THEY DON'T HAVE TIME!!

Can you tell I'm a bit overwhelmed lately?

I've missed blogging about so many crazy things that have came across my daily path- simply because I didn't have a camera at hand or my memory failed me. Believe me, if I started a series of "What I found on my kitchen floor today", you would laugh until you couldn't breathe. For example, this morning there was the torso of a decapitated Barbie doll with chocolate syrup splatters all around. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that one deserved a quick trip to find the camera. I was too worried about mopping the mess up before the sugar ants got a whiff of the syrup! Maybe one of those days I'll start that little series. I'm sure I would find something worthy of a good laugh at least once a week, on my kitchen floor....

Speaking of sugar ants (and yes, I know they have another name but I'm a polite person), Scott has been going crazy with trying to find out how the little boogers are finding their way into the food pantry. Why, he has virtually caulked every nook and cranny there is to find in that cabinet. We probably have the most air tight pantry around! They still managed to "appear" mysteriously and attack the lid to the honey jar (no matter how clean it is or tight it was screwed on). I think my poor refrigerator is packed with more pantry staples than the pantry itself. That's the only way we have kept the food safe from the pesky critters. Truthfully, I think they are just angry at me for talking so badly about their cousins the fire ants.

To make a long story short, it took a trip to the attic and a rather shocking discovery of an "ant nest" in the attic to solve our little mystery. So far, since that day, the honey jar is safe once again. I've heard of bees making nests randomly in attics, but ants makings nests is a new one on me. It doesn't surprise me though- weird things tend to happen in our family! Anyway, I'm still paranoid about keeping sweet things cleaned thoroughly to keep the critters away.

School is out now and I plan to enjoy my long awaited free time (is there such a thing for a mom?), so hopefully, I'll be sharing some crazy things with you soon so stay tuned! As for right now, I'm off to find out what happened to the rest of Barbie......

It's Done, It's Done, The Quilt Is Done!!!!

2009-12-14T16:02:00.004-05:00

On Saturday night, I managed to finished my cousin's quilt. I feel like it was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to finish it but it is over! I know it sounds like I hated sewing the quilt. It wasn't that. It was that Christmas is quickly approaching and I have other things that are distracting me along with my normal activities so it was very hard to stay focused and to squeeze in the time to finish. I had given myself 2 weeks to get it done. I made it in exactly 2 weeks. I only had a slightly cute finger and possibly some carpal tunnel developing from lugging the monster back and forth through my machine but that's ok. I'll live. I am just so very thrilled that it's done!

This is a photo of the "home stretch". I had to move my machine to the kitchen table so I could pull the quilt through and have a large area to work in.

Here it is. I took it to my aunt's house so that my cousin could pick it up the next day. Do you know what? I think they liked it!

It's going to be a long time before I attempt a project of this magnitude again- believe me!

Quilt Update #6

2009-12-10T08:09:00.003-05:00

I lost count on the exact amount of days that I have been working on the quilt for my cousin and her husband but I'm guessing that I started on November 30th. That would account for the day I washed the fabrics and ironed them. Maybe....

Anyway, I have a total of 12 blocks left to quilt. It's been a long, hard road with a total of 34 in all. I've discovered that I hate the process of quilting. Not assembling a quilt, the quilting part. Why, I hate quilting so much, my sister in law had to quilt the wall quilt I made that hangs on my kitchen wall. (I guess she got tired of seeing it "un-quilted" and offered to quilt it!) Anyway, back to the story at hand... She wasn't around when I started this project or else I would have paid her to quilt this one!

This is what one quilted block looks like so far. Sorry the picture isn't great- there wasn't a lot of light when I snapped this photo.

I do not have a quilting frame (the old timey one in the storage shed doesn't count- it covers an entire room and I have no idea as to how to assemble it in the first place!). I went the "making do" route and used gobs of large safety pins to hold everything "taught" while machine quilting. Thank goodness for huge safety pins!

Here is what the quilt is sizing up to look like so far. I think it turned out pretty nicely considering I only have 2 or 3 more days to finish- that is, to keep up with my 2 week limit I gave myself. My cousin said she has a sleigh bed and her favorite colors are red, burgundy, and gold. I got all of those colors covered and I think that it would look awesome on a sleigh bed, so I hope she will be pleased. We'll just have to see if I can muster up enough strength to lug this monster through the machine for 12 more squares. I managed to finish 6 yesterday so if I can do 6 today, 6 tomorrow, I can put the binding on and Voila! That's the plan at least.

Quilt Update #5 and a sick Moe Moe

2009-12-07T23:21:00.003-05:00

Awhile back, I introduced you to our goldfish, Moe Moe. Well, Moe Moe took a turn for the worse Sunday morning which prompted us to rush out to Petsmart and get him "doctored up". The good news is that Moe Moe has made a full recovery from, what I think is called, "dropsy"? Let's just say that the poor guy was lying on his tummy on the bottom of the tank.

We took drastic measures and totally cleaned his tank out (finally threw those pesky, pink rocks out) and now he is happy and swimming again. Apparently, there was a lot of nitrates under those rocks (even though we couldn't see any "nastiness") and they were suffocating our poor, beloved fish. You should have seen the scene Sunday morning, two girlies at our house were hysterical (thus the urgent Petsmart visit).

All is well but the massive tank cleaning (and the Christmas parade) made me put off any quilting until today.

I am happy to announce that the blocks are sewn together, the top and bottom are sandwiching the batting and I have machine quilted a total of 7 blocks. I have (I think), 27 more to go. It's not fun pulling a queen sized quilt through the arm of the sewing machine, over and over, and over again. It might take me a few days but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I simply can not wait to give it to my cousin and her husband by next week. I, basically, bit off more than I could chew in such a short time frame. Let's just say that I'm not making any quilts anytime soon- I'm pretty much burned out.

Hopefully, the next time I report back, I'll have some photos of my progress but since I've been doing most of the sewing at night (and all pictures that I take at night are awful), I promise I'll post some as soon as I can.

Quilt Update #4

2009-12-05T14:59:00.004-05:00

In case you are just tuning in, I have been documenting my progress of making my cousin and her new husband a quilt for Christmas, as their wedding gift. I'm, kind of, using my blog to keep myself motivated when I'm having one of those "I want to give up" days.

So here is what is going on now:

All of the blocks are finished! I would have done the happy dance if I hadn't been so tired after it all. Yesterday, I purchased 6 yards of material for the back of the quilt (I sure do hope it's enough). Today, I am taking a break from sewing but I find myself thinking constantly about how to lay out the blocks.

Tomorrow will be the day to start the assembly of the quilt. (That is, once I decide on the pattern layout). I don't have a portable quilting frame so this should get interesting. I do have an idea though. I'm thinking that I'm going to put the rows together with the "quilt as you go" method. That way, I have a smaller area to work with and the backing will not get "bunched" up as easily. My next step will be to get a large embroidery hoop to use to keep the sections tight as I pull the massive monster through the machine. If anyone knows of an easier way, please let me know. I'm the queen of making do so I'm going to make this work regardless.

Well, there you have it, tomorrow is the big day of sewing. It feels like I'm coming to the end of a treacherous journey. The only casualty so far is a slight little "nick" from the rotary cutter. Not bad I guess. I hope I get a lot done on the quilt tomorrow.. Wish me luck.

Quilt update #3

2009-12-04T09:27:00.002-05:00

7 more blocks are finished and 4 more are started. I stayed up too late. I'm obsessed with finishing this quilt in the next coming week. Today, I'm going to look for the backing fabric and do some calculating to figure out how much I need.

Can I do it? Who knows. I'm not ready to give up.

The Backyard Flood and Some More Quilting

2009-12-03T10:07:00.004-05:00

We got some rain yesterday. See the right and left sides of the walkway? Mulch used to be there. Now it's out in the side yard.

This is the temporary lake that formed in the bottom of the backyard.

I like to call this the meandering creek that formed through the same part of the backyard. We always thought that a creek would look mighty pretty down there.

Here is the river that was gushing down the hill. This water was coming from our neighbor's backyard (which was in a much worse condition than the lake that formed in our yard.)

The other day, I said that I would hold myself accountable to finishing a Christmas quilt for my cousin and her new husband. Well, I have worked on it now for 4 days. Last night (until after midnight-mind you) I finished a total of 9 more blocks. That brings the total up to 24 blocks now. I was curious at how many more I needed so I laid them out on the floor to get an idea. I figure that I'll need two more columns to finish up. I'd love to add a total of 3 more but I'm running out of some of the fabric and with it being this close to Christmas, I doubt I'll find anymore to match what I have. This is what the blocks look like arranged all the same way.

This is what they look like arranged in a different pattern. I can't make up my mind as to which way I like better. Any ideas? I'd love to hear what you think. The way in the above picture kind of struck me as more "patchwork" looking so I'm kind of leaving towards it. On the other hand, I like the tradition way in the former picture too. See? I'm hopeless when it comes to deciding the best pattern.

Looks like I need a total of 18 more blocks to finish. If I can make 9 more tonight and 9 tomorrow, that leaves me Saturday to buy the backing fabric. I can then start on sandwiching the blocks (I'm going to do the quilt as you go method- hey, I'm running out of time here!). I'll still have to quilt the individual block pieces but I may be able to handle that on the machine. (gulp....maybe)

Best case scenario, I'll have it done in one week. Worst case scenario, I panic with the quilting part and give in and "tie" the quilt together with embroidery floss. I'm hoping I don't have to tie it but that is an option if something happens to keep me from staying on schedule.

Well, there you have it. I sure hope I can pull this off. I'm ahead of schedule so far as I had originally planned to finish at least 6 blocks and so far, I've done more than that, all but one night.

We'll just have to see what happens next!

New Critters and Some Accountability

2009-12-01T16:20:00.005-05:00

Here is the latest creation to be added to Minnie Maes. This is Ardy Stoorworm. He was born on Black Friday after his brother Rupert found a new home.

I think he has bewitching eyes.....

All the boys in the neighborhood want him for their very own too. I like him so much, I almost hate to add him to the teddy bear tub for safe keeping until he gets that new home.

This adventurous project has been long in waiting. Back in August, my cousin got married. I promised her a quilt. Guess what? I never had time to start it. Well, I have battened down the hatches and I am determined to get her a quilt done BEFORE Christmas! (2 weeks before to be exact). I had no idea as to what she liked as far as "her style" of things so I opted to play it safe and make her a Christmas quilt. She seemed very pleased to hear of that idea so, a Christmas quilt it will be!

I'm going to hold myself accountable for getting this quilt done in two weeks maximum. That's it- no more time than that. I'll be coming back to the blog here from time to time and report my progress.

This might work out pretty well for me because I get obsessive when it comes to making a quilt. I kind of, can't stop until it's done. You know, besides, eating, sleeping, teaching school, and possibly picking up here and there.

It's going to be a log cabin pattern and obviously is made up of various Christmas patterned fabrics.

Here is where it stands now: Day one- fabric was washed, dried, and ironed. Strips were cut of each fabric.
Day Two- 6 of the blocks shown in the photo above were assembled and sewn.
Day Three- 9 blocks were assembled and sewn. More strips of fabric were cut and readied for tomorrow..... (If I can assemble and sew a minimum of 6 blocks per day, I just might make my 2 week deadline to have the quilt finished!)

That brings me to a total of 15- 14" blocks. My cousin has a queen sized bed so I really have no idea how many I'm going to need. (I need to study on that one) All I do know is, that I am going to need a lot of blocks if the entire quilt will be made of blocks. If I run out of momentum and time, I might end up putting borders around each block. So, it's just too early to tell what I'll do at this point. The determining factor will be how far I can go with the cloth I purchased because some of the prints are probably gone from the stores now and I can't run to get more if needed.

I did take a couple of hours to make some extra business card holders, two check book covers, and a new wallet (that still needs a snap- that pesky snap assembly I had, has hidden itself from me!) None of these items are available in my Etsy shop yet- I just can't find the time to photograph them, let alone get them listed. Maybe soon.

The blue flame fabric that Ardy the dragon is made from, gave the impression that a poison dart frog would look nice made from it. Well, here is the poison dart frog. I haven't named him yet but he will have a new name soon if and when I decide to list him at Minnie Maes.

So there you have it- some serious sewing is going on. Stay tuned for updates on the quilt. I'm hoping that holding myself accountable on this blog, will give me inspiration to keep going.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

Wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.

Team SC needs your vote!

2009-11-25T08:12:00.002-05:00

The South Carolina Etsy Street Team hosted a November Creative Challenge with the theme of "Celebrating the Holidays". There were 4 entries this month. Please take a moment and visit the Team SC blog and cast your vote for your favorite item. http://scstreetteam.blogspot.com/2009/11/its-time-to-vote-for-your-favorite.html

Minnie Maes participated in the Team SC Holiday Bazaar Recently

2009-11-24T10:42:00.006-05:00

On Saturday, November 22nd, I participated in an in-home holiday bazaar at the home of one of my fellow South Carolina Etsy Street Team teammates. I had a great time and it was a great learning experience for me.

This is my display with a lot of my items that I brought

I ran out of time and had hoped to included lots of inexpensive items that children could easily purchase. This basket contains a lot of smaller items that I brought that day that I already had made up.

Here is my box of bears

Everyone that participated that day had a lot of fun and we all are planning on getting together in December to display and sell our items together again as a team. I'm looking forward to it.

The Baby "Lizzie" Hat

2009-11-18T13:24:00.003-05:00

When will things ever slow down? Those bothersome multiplication tables are causing everything at my house to come to a screeching halt some days. The only thing a mama can do is trudge on. Eventually, those times tables will be memorized and this troublesome time will end.

I feel this constant feeling of urgency in the back of my mind that something really big, and really busy, is on the horizon. Oh, yeah, the holidays are approaching! I knew I forgot something. Eeek!

Sometimes in between my Farmville addiction and checking all my "stuff" (as I call it) online, I do manage to snag a free moment or two, here and there. Recently, in my free time, I knitted up this little hat from some spare yarn that I have had for years. Leave it to me to calculate wrong and run out of enough of it to make the entire hat just, plain red. I had to throw a black stripe in there just to make it to the end.
I think it turned out pretty good considering I don't have a baby in the house and don't have any baby showers to attend anytime soon. This little hat will probably end up as my first knitted item at Minnie Maes.

I took this little photo with the assistance of Roly Poly Girl's baby doll. I learned something from this experience. NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER forget to tell your little girl, ahead of time, that if she sees you with her doll, taking photos of it, it DOES NOT mean that I'm going to sell it on Etsy. Tears were flowing before I even turned around to see what was the matter. Oh, the lesson I learned that day.

Since that day, I announce to the entire house, when I take photos, that if you see me with any strange objects (other than sewn items), I am only borrowing them as props.

The things a mama has to do......

Team SC is hosting a Holiday Bazaar In the Upstate on November 21st

2009-11-12T10:12:00.004-05:00

Local SC artisans are hosting an in-home Holiday Bazaar for your Holiday shopping needs. Handmade items will be on display for viewing and purchase. So get in the spirit of the holidays, support local artisans and give gifts that carry the special love that comes from being handmade.

Bring your friends, neighbors, and family. All attendees will receive one chance to win our door prize, a Holiday Gift Basket of handmade items provided by the artisans. You don’t have to be present for the drawing at 4:00pm. Refreshments will be provided.

Date: Saturday, November 21st
Time: 1:00pm until 4:oopm
Place: 140 Fairway Estates Road, Greer, SC 29651

For driving directions and other details, check out this link.

Halloween, Publix Supermarket, and the Biggest Pile of Leaves I've ever Encountered....

2009-11-11T17:23:00.005-05:00

Phew- too much has been going on around here. I'm almost worn out! I did, however, find a minute or two to share some photos again of what's went on lately.

Here is a fairy princess, Snow White, a ninja, and a Victorian princess all about to make their presence known to our unsuspecting elderly neighbors. Look out, Mr. A! They are about to invade! and invade, they did..... Afterward, I was told that Mr. A gave out the coolest chocolate eyeballs around.

I guess by now you are wondering what Publix Supermarket has to do with this Halloween escapade. Some years ago, we discovered that Publix stores let kiddos "Trick or Treat" in each department. (Floral, Pharmacy, Bakery, Deli, Produce, Meat, Service Desk, etc....you get the idea.) Guess what, they scored pretty good here. We drove to the next Publix store on our little route and they scored again. Now, how about that?

Halloween came and went. Then the leaves fell off of the trees. The kids took advantage of that opportunity. Scott, packing a leaf blower, helped the situation a little. We even had a couple of neighborhood kids come over and get lost in that pile too. The kids had this goal of making the pile as tall as the gas grill. They accomplished their goal but the leaf pile didn't stay up very long.

Even some big kids got into the act. Hey, H, got some embarrassing video of you too. You just wait- it will surface on the Internet eventually..... mwha, ha, ha......

Now, I bring you to the funniest story in this leaf journey. You know how teenagers like to talk on the phone and "text" constantly. How is this shot for showing how dedicated a teenage boy can be with his texting. What was he saying, "Hey, jumping in leaf pile- text ya' later"?

I just had to include this photo. Do you see it? The dedicated texting teenager triumphantly held his phone out of the leaves to protect it. Such determination and dedication that boy has.....

Natural "Yard Art"

2009-11-06T08:38:00.005-05:00

Betcha' thought I'd ran away huh? Well, it's just been super busy around my place and I don't expect things to lighten up for awhile. We are hitting the school books pretty hard and that takes up all of the "play" time that I used to have. That's ok though. It's teaching me to prioritize things a little better now. I have managed to find a few minutes to post these photos of the last fleeting glimpses of warmer weather gone by. Hope you enjoy.

I promise I'll have some silly stuff coming up when I can squeeze some time in.....

The bee that allowed me to get really, really close to take this picture.......

Someone's been "munchy" on those leaves, it appears

I almost got this one focused right.

This is not poison oak. This is Virginia Creeper. People from all around the south panic when they see it and think it's poison oak. There is still cause to worry though- some people are allergic to Virginia Creeper. I wouldn't know if I was or not- I just leave it alone. It does color up to a pretty peachy shade of color though, if I may say so myself....

I AM A PUMPKIN PIE ADDICT

2009-10-28T14:17:00.000-04:00

I admit it, I have a serious addiction when it comes to pumpkin pie. I love it's yumminess. I crave the pounds of sugar that help make it up. I could eat it for breakfast. I could eat it anytime for that matter. (and I did eat it for breakfast once- shhhhh, don't tell).

Now, I am picky about my pumpkin pie. I do not, and I repeat, do not like cloves in my pumpkin pie. Spicy pie is exactly why 90 percent of the pumpkin pie haters of the world detest pumpkin pie in the first place. All a good pumpkin pie needs is sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, some eggs, milk, and a pie crust. (and the pie crust isn't necessary either- I've had pumpkin pie with out the crust just the other day- yum yum).

This is my pumpkin pie recipe that I tore off of a can of pumpkin a long, long time ago. I've altered it a little over the years.

Ingredients:
1. 2 deep dish frozen pie crusts (or if you are adventurous, make your own- I'm not- so I always buy mine from the freezer section of my local supermarket rather than attempting the difficult task of making a homemade pie crust)
2. 6 eggs (I have used 4 before- didn't change the taste or texture in my opinion- so if you are short on eggs, 4 would probably work for you too)
3. 2 teaspoons cinnamon
4. 1 teaspoon sea salt
5. 1 can of pumpkin ( in supermarkets, it's the larger can - somewhere around 29 ounces) If you make your own- first of all, Hooray you can your own! Second of all, you would use just under 2 pounds)
6. 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
7. 2 cups sugar (can substitute brown sugar if needed)
8. 1-1/2 cans of evaporated milk

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Pour your eggs, salt, sugar, cinnamon, and ginger all together in a large bowl. Beat these ingredients together. Add the pumpkin and part of the evaporated milk. Mix thoroughly then add remaining evaporated milk. Blend thoroughly one last time. Pour into pie shells. Cook for about 10 minutes or so at 450 degrees and then turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees. Cook for 30-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the pie. I say 30-45 minutes because cooking time varies with different ovens. (If your pie crust tops get too dark after 15 minutes or so, cover the crust edges only with thin sheets of aluminum foil to prevent them from burning).

Take the pies out of the oven, allow to cool and then refrigerate over night. Don't ask me why, but I personally think that pumpkin pies taste much better, (and has a better texture) the day after you cook them. If you can't wait, eat up and enjoy yours as soon as it's cool enough.

Mmmmm, I think I'll go make some pumpkin pie now..........

6 x 3 = Lego creation

2009-10-26T12:23:00.003-04:00

This is a typical sight on our kitchen table nowadays. To be honest, this is quite neat and tidy compared to most days. Do you see those nice green multiplication table cards there? What I'm working on right now is how to pour the numbers from those cards into Go Cart Boy's head. So far, he has the zero's and one's down. It's the two's and three's that are wreaking havoc in my kitchen.

So what's a mother to do when the two's and three's aren't sticking? They are just blowing Go Cart Boy's mind. Well, I thought hard and came up with a plan. "Hmmm, Go Cart Boy likes Lego's, Go Cart Boy hates multiplication tables. Wonder what would happen if I combined the two?"

The result: 6x3=18 and whatever this is. Hey, it worked and I doubt he will ever forget what 6 x 3 is. (and for those of you that are really astute, the other 4 Lego's are hanging off the back side of the contraption)

Friday Fill Ins

2009-10-23T09:06:00.002-04:00

Go to Friday Fill Ins to "fill in" your own!

1. The crickets sing, the frogs croak, the horse neighs, and we all say goodnight.

2. Try to be good wherever you are.

3. I want to get far away from the hustle and bustle of the large city.

4. Having my own farm; this was a dream.

5. But as for me I still use hand sanitizer every time I leave a store.

6. A place where you see people working hard even though they don't have much to show for it, is where I come from.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to finish sewing a special order, tomorrow my plans include a church fall festival and meeting with some ladies from my Etsy team and Sunday, I want to try and sew some new items for my Etsy shop (maybe, just maybe) !

One last Garden "Hoorah" and the Forensic Team

2009-10-21T17:48:00.007-04:00

School has been taking up most of my free time but I have managed to grab a picture or two or three here and there. I thought I'd share a little of what went on this week with us.

One night, we returned home to find this bag of garden peas on the front porch. They were from Uncle Bubba. Roly Poly Girl got straight to work on those babies. I bet she ate 2 cups of them- RAW! With what was left, we were able to put up two quart bags in the deep freezer. That's good because "Fire Ant" peas are one of the few vegetables that all of my children will consume without complaining!

We visited the garden one last time this year to see what kind of peanut harvest we would have. This armful was it. The critters got the rest of them. We bundled these up and tied them up in the corn crib roof to dry out for a couple weeks. Not much to show for all of the work that went into planting these. Not much to show for the money the seeds cost in the first place. Hmmph. Well, the kids had fun pulling them up and each one ate ONE raw peanut- just to try. I'm not that brave. If you know what raw, uncured peanuts do to you, you'd understand why I didn't risk eating just one!

The fire ants were at it again. This hill was the largest I'd seen this year. I guess the little cold snip lately has them scrambling. (heee heee heee)

This is my spooky corn photo that didn't exactly turn out like I had planned. The sun was shining so majestically through the trees and dancing on the dried corn stalks. When I snapped the photo, I don't know what happened to the sun (I guess the camera didn't like the light). Anyway, it makes an interesting photo.

What's this? Is that a police car? Why yes, that is a police car. And is that a forensic team vehicle behind that police car? Why yes, that is the forensic team vehicle behind that police car. Why did I take a picture of this?

Because someone broke into this monster. This container is sitting out in the countryside, minding it's own business. Now crooks know where it is. Now, we can't go camping anymore. Now, the kids don't have a spare tv to play video games on. Now, no one can safely ride the go-cart since there are no helments anymore. Now, I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.

The ironic thing is, they stole every little treasure that was special to my oldest son. Amongst his treasures, was a Bible. Maybe the crooks will learn something from it..... we can only hope.

Secret Christmas Stuff- Don't tell

2009-10-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

The internet is a great place to learn a new hobby. Just ask anyone on Etsy. Sooner or later, you see something that picks your interest and before long, you set out to find, "just how did they do that?"

How do people knit those spectacular creations that you can't find in stores? Is it possible to knit and entire sweater?

Well, I have picked up the knitting needles again. The first time was years ago and I didn't get far with learning back then. Now, thanks to a gift from my sister a few years ago (a knitting kit), and those fabulous You-Tube videos out there on knitting, I was able to figure out at least some of the "knitting mystery". Now, I think I'm addicted. Some ladies on the SHE Team on Etsy mentioned the other day that they thought the sudden desire to knit comes with the impending cooler weather. So, I'm not alone. There may be women all over the country knitting at this very moment- that's pretty neat!

This is a secret. When I make something for someone, it has to "speak" to me. Speak in the terms of who I think it would look good on. This secret (if it works) will go to someone that has a fondness for the Scottish lands.

This is a full sized secret that I finished. My first secret in fact. I'm shocked that it turned out exactly like the video said it would. An undersized model for this secret object volunteered to model this secret for me. This secret object has the name "Me-Ma" written all over it . I just hope Me-Ma isn't allergic to wool!

Hmm, some of us are waiting for a crochet teacher to spend some time with us. When that happens, I don't think there will be any stopping me or my sister!

Friday Fill Ins

2009-10-16T10:13:00.005-04:00

Go to Friday Fill Ins to "fill in" your own!

1. So are we going to go or what?

2. Uncertainty is what's up ahead.

3. I love to spend money- the problem is, I don't have any so I can't spend it.

4. I'd love to have a way to bring in some extra money of some sort.

5. I walk a straight line full of valleys, mountains, and twisty curves (doesn't make since does it?).

6. Contentment is the true elixir of life!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to not having to cook supper because we are going to a birthday party, tomorrow my plans include trying desperately (oh, so desperately) to get a facebook fan page up for my Etsy shop, and Sunday, I want to have all of the worksheets run off for the coming week's school work!

Team SC is having a Sample Box Giveaway!

2009-10-14T18:40:00.006-04:00

You heard me. G-i-v-e-a-w-a-y!!!! The giveaway takes place today (Thursday, October 15th through November 30th). Click on over to sign yourself up for a chance at winning a gorgeous assortment of donated items from South Carolina artisans. Just leave a comment on The South Carolina Etsy Street Team's blog and you are good to go. Easy-Peasy! One lucky winner will be randomly chosen to win a box of goodies in the photo above!

What are you waiting for? Tell your friends and spread the word- everyone wants a chance to win a freebie!

Anticipation and Dirty (Filthy, Nasty) Socks

2009-10-14T10:03:00.006-04:00

Boy, has it been busy around my house. With all of the "plumbing" problems we have had (I'll spare you the details), we did manage to throw a birthday party for Go-Cart Boy, work very diligently on schoolwork, fill a couple of sewing orders, and I managed to make a few things for Christmas gifts. Woo Hoo. Good for me, bad for my shop. Sewing will soon be in order so don't worry. People are wanting more options in my money/coupon organizers so, it looks like I've got to get to work soon. Anyway, here are a few photos from this week that I wanted to share.

It all started the other day with this. Yes, kid's shoes were littered around the yard. Where were those kids that belonged to those shoes?

After awhile, those shoes were not alone and filthy, muddy socks, were then littered around the yard.

What does this have to do with shoes and filthy socks? Well, this photo should be named, "Anticipation".

This photo should also be titled, "Anticipation" Have you figured it out yet?

Yep, this little jewel was the object of the neighborhood's affection for over 4 hours last Saturday. It was also the object that will forever go down in our family history as presenting us with the birthday party that can never be outdone. You see, Balloon Man set this wonderful contraption up for Go Cart Boy's birthday party. Guess what? It got dark before any kids realized that Go Cart Boy had not opened his presents or even sang "Happy Birthday". Can you believe it?

So what did the grown ups do while the kids played on the inflatable? Well, they littered the yard with their own little toys. I'm not sure what you call this object but you will see what it belongs to in the next photo.

The older folks played Ladder Ball. They had a blast. I don't even know who won. Overall, it was a great day and everyone had fun. That makes me happy. Go Cart Boy had so much fun and everyone slept like a bear that night from sheer exhaustion. It was all worth it.

Maverick's Basement made Bird House

2009-10-10T00:02:00.002-04:00

Our old oldest son (whom I will call Maverick- not his real name) started a neat little project today. This is where it all began......

Ok, technically, it all began at The Home Depot. That is where I spied this pattern for a birdhouse. Hey, when you homeschool, your eyes are always on the lookout for a learning experience for your kids.

From time to time, I stepped down to the basement to see what was going on. (By the way, those red free publication boxes that are in every single one of these pictures are for sale- cheap- I want them out of the basement!)

Way to go Maverick! I was so proud of how fast he put this little jewel together and what a great job he did. I told him to beware. The next time I went to The Home Depot, there was no telling what pattern I might pick up next time. I don't think he was worried. He discovered that he liked working with wood today. Hooray!

2009-10-09T07:44:00.002-04:00

Go to Friday Fill Ins to "fill in" your own!

1. Sweet dreams my little one.

2. Sometimes a person feels that they are placed out of their "element", I find this is true, especially for me.

3. Silliness sometimes makes the world more livable.

4. I'm not ready for this Halloween.

5. Outstanding or not I don't always agree with the winners of major awards.

6. A break from unexpected stresses is what I want right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having school done for the week and the house cleaned, tomorrow my plans include shopping for and throwing a birthday party and Sunday, I want to have the next week planned out and to have survived the party from Saturday!

School is in full swing- Finally!

2009-10-08T00:01:00.001-04:00

I am so thrilled that school has been going wonderfully. I'm almost afraid to say it out loud. That first sentence is something that I don't say often each year. This year, I've tried some different things and so far, they are working. We all are still sitting at the kitchen table but I have staggered subjects some so that no two people are working on the same subject. Kind of doesn't make sense but I have found that when I'm working with one person, the other is constantly trying to get my attention so that they can get done and move on to the next subject before the other person can. I fixed that now so there is no, "unspoken" race to finish one subject and move on. Hey, little things make big differences!

Kindergarten is going well and Roly Poly girl is happy.

See how fast Roly Poly girl moves that pencil? Naaaah, just kidding- too little light, blurry picture. I just thought it was funny and had to share. (By the way, K-5 kiddos were allowed to wear pajamas on their first day of school too- how's that for fun?)

This is what you get when your husband catches you running off a clock template from the internet so that you can make your own cheap clock for 3rd grade math.

Scott, said, "Wait, don't waste paper, we have a clock in the basement that (Go Cart Boy) he can use instead." It didn't have all of the numbers but Scott fixed that. (hee hee). Roly Poly Girl decorated it too. I'm sure Go Cart Boy appreciates all of the work that went into it. (hee hee) Hey, whatever works. He can practice telling time and that is all that matters.

Stay tuned for further homeschool adventures.....

A Wordless Wednesday- Scenes from around the yard

2009-10-07T00:01:00.003-04:00

I couldn't resist........ "Anyone have some calamine lotion?"

Distractions this week.......

2009-10-06T18:57:00.006-04:00

I did not make this but I wish I knew how.......

My incredibly talented sister-in-law was informed of my ill attempts at crochet. I showed her the pattern that I had wanted to try. There was one problem, the instructions looked like some foreign language to me. To her, she picked up that crochet hook, and got to work. From the time it took me to walk to the kitchen, heat up the left over spaghetti, and get the food on the plates, she had this little jewel above finished. I guess it only took her 45 minutes tops! Here and there, I popped into the living room to watch and ask questions. I'm just not sure that my brain comprehended the answer to those many, many questions. We will just have to see. The good thing is, there are quite a few of us in the family that are wanting to learn how to make these dishcloths (pictured above). We have a "crochet party" planned in the near future.

I made this and I'm thrilled that I know how.....

When I discovered that crochet was just not going to happen without further instruction, I picked up the knitting needles. My sister in law said that crochet was, "sooooo much easier than knitting." Hmmmm, I somehow managed to make this little jewel by knitting. Do you reckon that I learn backwards? Anyway, I'm quite proud of this accomplishment. I was shocked that it came together so fast. I started it three days and ago in my spare time and now, it's done! Woo Hoo! Now, I need to find someone or some site to show me how to make hats- instant Christmas presents- you can't beat that!

I play this too much but it's so addicting....

This is my other distraction. The Sims. Yes, I have a family named the "Who" family. If you know anything about Science fiction, you will get it. If not, you'll think I'm just as nuts as you usually do. To give you a little background, my Sims family is comprised of Doctor, Gwen (from a Doctor Who spin off show), Martha, and Merlin (our newest favorite show until Lost comes back on in January). Doctor, Martha, and Gwen all have steady paying jobs and Merlin is unemployed. He lives in a shed beside the main house and practices magic. You know, turning people into frogs and such.

It's all good fun and quite a distraction if I may say so myself.

So there you have it, my distractions this week.

The Hammerhead Worm (Don't look if you are squeamish)

2009-10-04T00:01:00.002-04:00

A Homeschool moment in time......

One day this week, during a brief break in the rain, we spotted something creepy- crawling up foundation of the house. I had seen these things dried up in the driveway before and I had thought that they were "snake worms". Ewww, the mention of "snake" sends shivers up my spine. Anyway, this creepy guy (or gal?) was inching it's way up and I noticed it had a flat head. Ewwwwwww.

I can't believe I'm blogging about this.

Anyway, I looked on the internet and quickly found out that this guy is called a Hammerhead worm and he is bad news to earthworms (which are good news to farmers and gardeners). I found this neat article on these guys so if you are interested, just click on over here to find out more.

Apparently, they devour earthworms (rather slowly and painfully by the way) and if you chop them up, each little piece multiplies into a totally new hammerhead worm. Blechhhh. Top get rid of him, you have to "dissolve" him. Hmmmmmm, that kind of creeps me out too. What to do.....?.....

By the way, Roly Polley Girl calls him a "pop" worm. She says they pop...?.... Even she didn't like him or he would have been named "Bob" like most other critters.

There you have it, the hammerhead worm or land planarian. A new critter found in my neck of the woods. I hope I don't see him again either.

Either way you look at it, we all learned something new today, how about you?

To Crochet or To Knit........

2009-10-03T00:01:00.002-04:00

I recently figured out that I can't sit still. I'm not hyperactive by no account. It's just that if I sit still, I quickly start thinking of all of the things that I could be doing that need to be done and I feel really guilty for wasting time. Know what I mean? Anyway, I figured that if I was going to sit still, maybe I should be doing something somewhat constructive. Hey, my mother in law was wanting to learn how to make dish cloths so I figured I'd give it a try and maybe we could practice together. The problem is, neither of us have a clue as to where to begin. Maybe crochet is the "constructive" thing that I could do while I sit still (if that happens very often).

I started my learning process at my local Walmart by picking up a book that is "supposed" to teach you how to crochet. I say supposed because I'm wanting to blame the book for my mistakes (and there are a gazillion of them). The book probably does a good job at explaining things. I'm the one that is not understanding those instructions at all.

Things started off pretty good. This is a chain stitch. So far, so good.

Still doing OK here.....

This is the finished product. I'm really good at making something look good when it's not, don't I? I folded it over to hide where I tried several different stitches, got stuck doing a chain stitch again for no reason, and totally bombed when it came to "finishing". And yes, this dishcloth would give even a geometry teacher a headache if you saw it lying flat. I guess that I shouldn't complain since it is a first try, it took two days to make, I answered the phone a total of 6 times during the making of it, I had to get up 19 times each time I got started, and I almost burned supper (twice!).

Will I try again, maybe. Right now, I've switched back to trying to learn how to knit. So far, I can cast on easily. Let's just see what happens next.....

Friday Fill Ins

2009-10-02T10:36:00.000-04:00

Got to Friday Fill Ins to "fill in" your own!

1. I have a history of doing too much for everyone else and not myself.

2. How to play the piano is something I wish I knew.

3. I'm eating (or recently ate) brown rice and my special ground beef mixture with some soy sauce.

4. I don't like eating on the road.

5. So that's it, that's all you have to do? (The phrase you say when you try something new that you had thought was too hard in the first place and it turned out not being difficult).

6. Five minutes of free time is better than nothing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the septic tank guy finally showing up (don't ask), tomorrow my plans include going to the Tram Art's festival and Sunday, I want to have school planned out for the new week!

The Week In Photos

2009-10-01T00:01:00.003-04:00

While I was gone this week from blogging, a lot went on in the background that I thought I would share with you.

I sewed up these little toddler bags for a special order.

Scott and Go-Cart boy came home with this little guy, set him up on the kitchen table, and told me to take a picture of him since they knew that he would fall apart at any moment. I take it they went to Arby's for lunch that day.

While taking my compost out to the bucket, I passed under the volleyball net. Something caught my eye.

All I did was put my hand down at the pole on the ground and I was swarmed instantly. Thankfully, these are what we call in the south, "sugar ants". Let's just say that Scott came along shortly after and took care of these little pests. Unfortunately, they quickly found their way into the back door shortly after. Just so you know, a few drops of tea tree oil , a scoop of Charlie's Soap, and water in a spray bottle kill these guys instantly. We discovered this safe concoction after trying to develop something to kill fire ants. The bad thing is that it does absolutely nothing to fire ants. Sugar ants, instant kill. Don't ask me why, I'm not a chemist. All I know, is that it is a safe pest controller for sugar ants. Fire ants just get a nice bath with it and that's all.

It got quite chilly here the other day so I decided it was time to switch out the girl's summer clothes for fall. The boy's closet wasn't so hard. This is the beginning of the "mess". It took two trips to Walmart to get more clothes hangers to sort this out. I have 5 grocery bags full of goodies to give away or donate to Goodwill now. .........Now, if I could just figure out where I put my winter clothes in our container, I'd be alright......

And now for the number one thing that I've been busy with this week- getting school more organized. One thing that I have found that works for me (and the kids of course!), is Spelling City. You take your spelling words, enter them in a list, and the kids can play all sorts of spelling games and can even get tested. Here is a link to Spelling City (just click on the photo)- I highly recommend it for any kiddo that needs a more fun way to learn to spell those spelling words!

And last but certainly not least, the biggest news of the week.......

********** Insert imaginary photo of two fang marks on Scott's leg***********

Yep, I made a promise to Scott that I wouldn't put any goofy pictures of him on this blog and so far, I've lived up to that promise. To make a long story short, Scott was bitten by a snake this week. Yes, I did take a picture of his "fang" marks but, I'm not going to show them here. Luckily, the snake didn't penetrate his skin too far down and even more luckily, apparently, it wasn't a poisonous snake to begin with. Can you say fortunate? My hard working man was weed eating in the dark (don't ask me why?) when his little slithery episode took place so he had no idea as to what variety of snake bit him. He is doing fine and the bite marks are shrinking every day. I think I have had a few new gray hairs show up on my head since that night.

The South Carolina Etsy Street Team Needs Your Vote!

2009-09-30T09:28:00.003-04:00

Talk about late with spreading information! Today is the last day to participate in the voting for your favorite of the above listed items.

These 10 items are those that have been entered into the South Carolina Etsy Street Team's September Creative Challenge. Click on over to the South Carolina Etsy Street Team's blog and cast your vote today- don't wait- TODAY is the last day to vote!

A Quick Blogging Break

2009-09-21T20:50:00.004-04:00

It's that time of the year. You know, the time when you put a piggy bank on top of a bunch of books in front of a yellow wall and take a blogging break.

Had you there didn't I? Don't you just love clip art? You can find the most appropriate pictures in it sometimes. Anyway, the point of this post was to let anyone out there know that I'm disappearing for a few days and in my absence, I will be patiently writing notes until I have blisters on my fingers.

You see, I'm doing something that I haven't done before. Instead of writing my lesson plans week by week like I've always done with our homeschooling, I'm getting the entire year down on paper all at once! How is that for super organizing. Well, it is for me anyway.

I have a plan and I'm determined to stick with it. Blogging will deter me from that plan so I'll return later in the week. Have a good one!

A Visit to the Park

2009-09-20T00:09:00.000-04:00

I took a few other random photos from our little trip to the park the other day and I thought I'd share them.

This is a replica of General Elijah Clark's homeplace in Lincolnton, Georgia. During certain celebrations, the park hosts a lot of pioneer demonstrations to show how people survived during the early years of our country.

Here is what I dubbed, some silly name that I can't even remember but for now, I'll just call it, "Nails o' plenty". These are all of the metal (and a few plastic) sharp objects that the park service took out of the trees. From the looks of the sign, apparently, it is illegal to nail things into the trees at a state park.

This is "Bob' the turtle shell. Obviously, Bob is without a home at the moment. At least that's what Rolly Polley Girl thinks. Ok, that's what's going on- I'm not taking it any further than that.

Take a look at that. The lake was reeeeeeeaaaaaaalllllllyyy low according to the depth marker. Years ago, that yellow barrier would have been floating atop water that was about 9 feet deep or so. Can you say, "drought" conditions? Even a couple of months ago the kids swam in water that came up to the 3 foot mark. We were shocked at how fast the water had went down.

I took this before we left from a rather quiet camp site that we stopped at when we were walking about the camp area. Years ago, I remember the water coming up to that farthest tree in the photo.

It was a nice day.

Putt Putt at The Park...

2009-09-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

We took a little unexpected trip to the park the other day. Our life is just that way. We have to be able to slam on breaks and completely change the direction of our day in an instant. It's always been that way and it probably always will be. Why? I don't know- it just seems that it always happens that way. Anyway, we pride ourselves as a family in making last minute changes to plans and just, "going" with it. This particular day, we were looking forward to a change in every day life- a trip to our favorite state park.

Our fun began in the park office. Someone pulled a scale out and all of the men standing around started weighing themselves. (Ladies, you know what the women were doing- standing around going, "You are going on a diet now fellas".) Why the men wanted to weigh themselves publicly, I will never know but, I do know that the scale in the above picture was waaaaaaayyyy off. According to that scale, my poor brother in law had gained 28 pounds in 1 week and a half!! My Scott had gained almost 15 pounds since we left the house earlier in the day. Well, however off the scale was, it prompted a lot of the men in the surrounding area to start walking everyday.

This is the putt putt course that we played on. We tried to start playing early in the day but certain, lets say, "obstacles" were making a normal game, quite difficult.

Here is a photo of one of the many "obstacles" that we encountered. Have you ever played putt putt when the carpet was raised up all over the place? Hopefully, the new carpet will be down when we go back next year...

Hey, I thought I was free from the evil that is called, "fire ants". Oh foot, they have them here too!!! The good thing is that they pretty much left us alone and didn't come looking for innocent toes to bite like the one's back home do.

This was the highlight of the putt putt game. I said that the looser had to kiss the skunk! The kids all kissed the skunk, even if they didn't loose.

Mr. Skunk (or "Bob" as Rolley Poly Girl stated) got a lot of lovin' that day.

2009-09-18T08:15:00.003-04:00

Go to Friday Fill Ins to "fill in" your own!

1. My car is patiently parked in the driveway waiting for a new engine.

2. Christmas shopping season is coming up next. (eeeek!)

3. Lately, things seem weird but, I'm optimistic that things will soon level out.

4. The deep freezer is one of my favorite 'hiding' places. (for chocolate only)

5. What happened to chivalry?

6. Cooking for 25 people all by yourself is not impossible! (It will just tear up your nerves for a long, long time).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to actually finding the top of my sewing table amidst the clutter, tomorrow my plans include working on getting some school books in order and Sunday, I want to have a quiet, calm, non-eventful day!

There's No Place Like Home....

2009-09-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

I went home again the other day. My mother has the most awesome yard.

Bumble bees were crawling all over these pretties. Can you believe that this brave bee didn't care that I got this close. I wondered if he was dead- eventually, he moved a leg so he was alive. I think the deliciousness of the flower intoxicated him temporarily.

My mother has this pretty bunch of cone flowers on her back step. It really helps the matter that my sister works at a greenhouse and can supply her with plenty of "flowery goodies". She says that the mosquito plant (to the right) really does help to repel those little nasties.

This is the Virginia Creeper that is already turning for fall.

This deformed apple is the last one on the tree. It was out of reach, which is ok since I'm not sure I'd want to eat a deformed apple. It kind of looks like the "wormies" have already sampled it anyway.

Just a few more lavender shaded pretties.

This is the last Rose of Sharon left on this tree.

Two pears left on this tiny pear tree. We sampled one last month but it wasn't quite ready yet. I'm just not sure how to tell when pears are ready. Anyone have any ideas?

Pretty, pretty, but I'm sure they are poisonous. Ok, I'm not really that sure but if the birds aren't eating them, I could only guess that they are.

I hate to see the last flowers of summer fading away.......