Mrs. B's Cottage

Skirts for Fall

2011-08-28T17:45:00.000-04:00

It's almost time to put away the summer skirts, and start thinking about skirts for Fall. Here are a dozen skirts that look very feminine.

(All photos via Pinterest)

Earthquake and hurricane all in one week

2011-08-28T17:11:00.001-04:00

It's been an interesting week here in Vermont. On Tuesday we felt the earthquake that originated in Virginia. Now today, Sunday, Hurricane Irene (which has now been downgraded to a tropical storm) is passing through our state. There's already a LOT of flooding, lots of people without power, and plenty of damage being done.

Hopefully, this coming week will be a little quieter.

Summer reading

2011-08-13T12:52:00.001-04:00

Surprisingly, I've gotten quite a few books read this summer. Must be all those evenings when it was too hot to be in the house, so I sat out on the deck reading until the mosquitoes carried me away each night.

Among the ones I've finished this summer, here are some of the best:

"The Twelfth Imam" by Joel Rosenberg. Part political thriller, part Biblical prophecy coming to life. I enjoyed this book very much. It's the last book in a series, and I can recommend all the other books in the series too.

"Every Woman's Marriage" by Shannon and Greg Ethridge. Excellent. This was a library book, but would be one I'd buy for my bookshelf.

"Pursuit Of Honor" by Vince Flynn. This was a very, very interesting book, taking us behind the scenes of the government and CIA goings-on. If this book was made into a movie, I don't think I would be able to watch it, as there is some violence.

Last night I finished "A Woman's High Calling" by Elizabeth George. Wonderful book full of encouragement for homemakers, from a Christian author. Another book borrowed from the library, but which I'd buy for my own bookshelf. Highly recommended.

Next up, "Glory And The Lightning" by Taylor Caldwell. Story is about a woman in ancient Greece. Haven't started this one yet, but I've enjoyed all the other books I've read by Taylor Caldwell.

Flip your mattress

2011-08-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

Flip your mattress whenever the time changes. That makes it easy to remember to do.

Fold your towels this way for a neater looking linen closet

2011-08-05T16:35:00.002-04:00

Did you realize that there is a proper way to fold towels so that they stay nice and neat in the linen closet, and don't get all jumbled up when people pull one from the stack?

I hadn't thought about the "proper" way to fold towels, and hadn't been folding mine this way, until after I saw this video, which reminded me: this is exactly the way my mother used to fold towels.

I'm not sure why I didn't keep folding my towels the way my mother did, but after watching this video, I refolded our towels, and it really is a simple thing that adds a nice touch.

Thank you to Mrs. V at The Quiet Pleasures Of Home for sharing the video on her blog. That's where I first found it.

Summer afternoon

2011-07-29T16:05:00.000-04:00

Summer afternoon...

summer afternoon...

...to me those have always been...

...the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

I love skirts

2011-07-27T12:27:00.005-04:00

I ran across a very interesting guest post by Jennifer Ross of Renewing Housewives on Pure Modesty today.

The title of Jennifer's post is, "I Love Skirts."

If you've been thinking about adding some skirts to your wardrobe, it's easily done in the summer time, because skirts are so much cooler than a pair of tight jeans in the heat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Our choice to wear mostly skirts (and dresses) most of the time is a cultural statement.
We don't believe that there is anything inherently sinful about a woman or girl in pants or shorts, but we do object to the androgyny of our culture - the insistence that there is no substantial or meaningful different between the sexes. This philosophy is lived out many ways, but one way that we see it is in the often indistinguishable differences between girls' and boys' clothes.
Even the styles that were considered specifically masculine or feminine not many years ago have now blended and blurred so that too often the only way to tell which gender a garment is intended for is by which rack you found it on.
Because of this, one way that we choose to counter it is by dressing in a distinctly feminine way when we go out in public. Our girls wear clothes that could never be mistaken for boy clothes. Ditto for the boys: no tight legged low-cut jeans that look like they came off the girls' rack." ~KimC from Life In A Shoe

Eyelet skirt

If you'd like to read more about wearing skirts and dresses:

Here is an interesting series of posts by Amy of Raising Arrows, and Caroline of The Modest Mom, called "She Wears Skirts".

Every Woman's Marriage

2011-07-19T12:28:00.001-04:00

Last night I started reading Every Woman's Marriage, by Shannon and Greg Ethridge.

So far, the book is excellent, and I'm learning some things about marriage that I didn't know before.

"The high of passionate love doesn't last forever. The body builds up a tolerance to the natural chemicals in the brain associated with being in love; more and more are needed to feel the same level of euphoria. Some people interpret the corresponding decrease in sexual energy to mean they are no longer in love, and indeed for some it does mark the end of a relationship. However, rather than an end to love, it may be a transition into the longer-lasting companionate love." ~from page 68

That's just one tidbit from the book. I look forward to reading more tonight.

Summer skirts beat the heat

2011-07-17T14:50:00.003-04:00

I used to be a die-hard jeans fan. I wore jeans every day, even through the long, hot summers...

...until my daughter convinced me to try wearing skirts in the summer. They were much cooler than jeans she told me...

...I found out that she was right...

...Skirts are MUCH cooler than jeans in the summer...

...Summer skirts catch the tiny breezes and keep my legs cool...

...I can wear a skirt and dress it up for church, or keep it casual for during the week...

...Skirts are modest...

... and feminine...

...I don't think I'll ever spend another summer in jeans.

Do you remember when most women dressed like this in the summer? I do. I remember my mother and grandmother dressing like this. They always looked so pretty and ladylike.

How about you? What is your favorite clothing for the hot summer months?

I'm linking this post to Renewing Housewives.

Husband wants wife to wear skirts and dresses

2011-07-15T14:00:00.006-04:00

I happened upon an interesting discussion as I was looking for some info about skirts and dresses today. A woman wrote that her husband would "love it" if she would wear skirts and dresses only, instead of her usual pants, and the woman wanted to honor his request, and was asking for tips.

The discussion replies that followed were very eye-opening, and some of them were sad. Many of the women said that they would NEVER honor a request like that, and seemed offended that the husband had dared to ask.

Some of the women said they'd laugh in his face if their husbands asked them to wear skirts and dresses.

Other women wrote and said that they wore only skirts and dresses, and felt very feminine and pretty when they did, and that they certainly could do anything in a skirt or dress that they could do in pants.

These days, the wearing of skirts or dresses seems to be a real hot-button topic.

What do you think about this? Have we, in the United States, become much too casual in our dress? Do you wear skirts and dresses, all the time or just sometimes? Is your husband happy when you do? Would you honor his request to wear skirts or dresses only if he asked you to?

It's interesting to think about...

Saturday breezes...

2011-07-09T15:11:00.005-04:00

What a gorgeous day here in Vermont! Nice and sunny, not too hot, and plenty of gentle breezes. Excellent day for working in the garden, visiting with grandsons, and reading a good book.

We were just out sitting under the tree on the front lawn while the boys ate ice cream. They went home a little while ago, so I'm going to do some puttering around in the house while it's cooler.

Later, when the sun goes around to the back of the house, I'll go sit on the deck and read a few more chapters in "Dead Heat", an excellent book by Joel Rosenberg.

I hope you're all enjoying your Saturday too.

Happy Independence Day

2011-07-04T13:11:00.000-04:00

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

Photo credit: Zhen-Huan Lu

Wishing you and your family a safe and happy Independence Day!

This week's decluttering

2011-06-14T15:14:00.004-04:00

After the high heat we had last week, we're now enjoying a few days of much cooler weather--good weather to do a little decluttering.

This morning I "decluttered" our garden of a cart full of weeds, while Mr. B did some decluttering and organizing in the building where we store our lawn and garden things.

I'm looking around the house for a few things we don't need any more too.

So far these things will be going:

-4 saucers, 1 box of ziploc snack bags that don't zip, 4 business books that have been read once (will see if our library can use those)
-1 plastic tablecloth, 1 fabric round tablecloth, 6 placemats

Simplicity makeover

2011-06-09T05:49:00.006-04:00

Now that our children are grown and gone, Mr. B and I enjoy a quiet, simple life here in Vermont. I love to read about others who have escaped the rat race, and this morning I found an interesting article about a couple who had a "simplicity makeover" in their lives. The woman in the article read a simplicity book by, and later became friends with, Wanda Urbanska, who writes about voluntary simplicity.

I especially like this principle from Wanda Urbanska's 7 Paths to a Better Life:

6. Plant a new victory garden with fresh fruit, herbs and vegetables and allow its growth to spur on your own. Grow flowers for your body and soul.

Beginnings of a new flower bed

Growing flowers for body and soul. I like the sound of that, especially now, as summer begins.

A little bit too much rain

2011-06-04T15:44:00.002-04:00

After the wettest May on record, which followed the wettest April on record, we've finally started getting a few warmer, sunnier days here in Vermont.

Lake Champlain rose to its highest level ever this spring, and the water is still so high, some of the state parks around here weren't able to open for Memorial Day because they were all under water. I think some still are.

There's a LOT of flood damage around the state. Thankfully, the flood waters are starting to recede, but it's going to take weeks before they're back at normal levels.

Hopefully things will dry out soon so we can all get our gardens in.

Lake Champlain reached its highest levels ever this spring

Featured: decluttering blog-365 Less Things

2011-06-03T16:54:00.007-04:00

Whether you're new to decluttering, or have kept a decluttered home for years, you'll enjoy 365 Less Things.

Colleen from 365 Less Things

Colleen started her blog as a year-long decluttering project, decluttering one item each day. She has recently completed her 365 days of decluttering, and has decided to continue blogging, in response to her readers that would have missed the wonderful decluttering suggestions and tips she offers.

Over the past year Cindy has been guest-posting for Colleen, and now writes a regular weekly post of her own at 365 Less Things.

Colleen has built a nice community around her blog, and readers are now beginning to share the results of their own decluttering projects that started when they received help and encouragement after reading Colleen's blog.

Another nice thing I've noticed is that Colleen is very warm and friendly, and takes time to answer each comment. That's something that's not always continued once a blog has established a following. It's refreshing to meet a blogger that remains accessible like that, and I enjoy my daily visits to 365 Less Things.

Friday decluttering

2011-06-03T15:14:00.002-04:00

Gone today:

-three old Easter baskets
-one truckload of pine needles taken to the yard waste section of our town's recycling center

Some of the pines that drop all the needles...notice the hot air balloon?

I'd rather have roses

2011-05-28T10:35:00.008-04:00

I'd rather have roses on my table...

...than diamonds on my neck. ~Emma Goldman

Thank you for visiting. Have a wonderful weekend!

Vintage dressmaker dummy

2011-05-23T21:34:00.005-04:00

Mr. B found this vintage dressmaker dummy a couple of summers ago. When he showed it to me, I laughed and told him to keep it because it might make a fun seasonal decoration. I haven't had a chance to really do anything with it yet, but there are lots of possibilities.

Because of the silver thing on the neck, it looks like this might have been some kind of a display mannequin from a store. If it is, it's probably very old. I searched online, but wasn't able to find anything similar. I'd really like to know how old it is.

How to recycle some of those old jeans you're decluttering

2011-05-23T21:20:00.005-04:00

I just stumbled across a great way to recycle worn out jeans, including the seams!

Visit Polka Dot Pineapple to see how she makes coasters out of the seams and hems of worn out jeans. That's a very creative idea.

Thursday decluttering

2011-05-23T20:55:00.003-04:00

When you declutter regularly, it gets harder and harder to find stuff to get rid of, but there's usually something if you look hard enough. I had a few minutes today, so I decided to declutter one of my bureau drawers.

There's not a lot of excess in there, but I managed to find a partial tube of coverup cream, an old blush compact that I never use any more, and a new tube of lipstick I bought from Avon, but it's a hideous color. Clown orange is what I feel like each time I try it, then I wipe it off. Out it goes.

There was also a new mirror-in-a-compact that had been given to me for Christmas, but it was made in China, and broke when I opened it, so it's in the trash now too. One pair of worn-out jeans will be cut up for mending patches.

Image: JillOW on Flickr

Image credit: JillOW

Some Tuesday decluttering

2011-05-23T20:51:00.002-04:00

I recycled a bunch of catalogs that have come into the house since winter.

I went through a bag of old candlewicking stuff that I've had for years. I can't see myself doing candlewicking again, so I recycled the well-used pattern books, threw away one needle that had rusted into a partially-completed candlewicking project, saved the embroidery hoops, fabric, and candlewicking thread to use in another project, or else I'll end up giving that away too.

Threw away the age-yellowed pages out of an old photo album from the 90s. I'll probably keep the photos in a storage box now. I like those better. I don't even buy special photo boxes; I just use a clear plastic shoe box for them.

Threw away one worn, giant gift bag that I had gift wrap and bows stored in. I purged any odd or ugly pieces of gift wrap, thinned out the bows and ribbon, and got it all down to fitting into a smaller bag that I keep in the coat closet.

Recycled one old cookbook.

Keep the prettiest paper and ribbon

(Image courtesy of Premier Packaging on Flickr)

Was it a morning like this?

2011-04-24T09:07:00.000-04:00

~Happy Easter~

Keeping my hands busy this winter-The Snuggles Project

2010-10-12T17:06:00.001-04:00

Here in Vermont it won't be long before the cold and the snow arrive, and we’ll be spending more time inside for the winter.

I always like to have something to do to keep my hands busy at night while we relax.
While I was looking for some sewing ideas one day, I ran across The Snuggles Project website.

The Snuggles Project is people knitting, crocheting, sewing, or quilting little blankets for cats and dogs that are in shelters. Here’s how it got started:

“The Snuggles Project was founded by our president and founder, Rae French, in 1996 because of her heartfelt need to do something for the innocent victims who find themselves in animal shelters without a bit of comfort to call their own. Picturing them in their hard cold cells made her heart ache to do something to help. So she got the idea of security blankets for shelter animals. The security blankets are called “Snuggles.” Each animal would get a Snuggle to cuddle up with to feel warmth and comfort. Most shelter animals are kept in areas with stainless steel braces and hard plastic flooring or even bare concrete floors. The Snuggles would allow them to have a little reprieve from the coldness of the pen they are kept in.” ~from The Snuggles Project website

It breaks my heart to think of any animal being unwanted or abandoned. It's sad to think of them being alone and scared once they are brought to a shelter too.

I'm not the greatest seamstress on earth, but I do love animals, and I have a big fabric stash, so I'm going to be trying my hand at making some Snuggles this winter.

If you'd like to try making some Snuggles, there are easy, detailed instructions at the website.

Getting By: Your Pantry

2009-03-06T17:01:00.005-05:00

When I was growing up, a well-stocked pantry was something that most people had. People didn't run to the store for every meal, or get fast food from the drive up window, the way many people do these days.

We lived on a small farm, in an old farmhouse that had a cellar with a dirt floor and stone walls. Our cellar shelves were always stocked with row upon row of canned vegetables, fruits, jellies, jams, and meats, thanks to the long hours my mother spent working in a hot kitchen every summer and fall. (We helped too.)

Once I started my own family, there were several years where I stopped gardening, didn't bother keeping a pantry, basically believed that I didn't need to keep a pantry because "the stores would always be open and there would be plenty of food".

Around 1997 or 1998, I started reading some of the Y2K preparedness boards, and I learned just how fragile our just-in-time delivery system is. I learned that it really wouldn't take a whole lot to disrupt our nation's food supply.

Y2K nudged me back to my gardening and pantry keeping roots, and I've continued with those things ever since.

If you're new to stocking a pantry, Brenda at Coffe, Tea, Books, and Me has shared an excellent series of posts on starting, stocking, and keeping a pantry. Here is her latest post on this topic.

I do some of the same things that Brenda does. I try to buy a little extra each week. Some weeks I have a little more available cash, and can buy several extra items for the pantry. Other weeks, things are tight and I might only buy a can or two, or a package of something, to stock my pantry.

The first thing I do when I bring groceries home is mark (with a Sharpie) that day's date on every can, bottle, or package. Newer items always go behind the older items, so we're always "rotating our stock", just like in the store.

I always freeze flour or rice for a few days first to kill any bug eggs that might be there.

I follow this saying, "Stock what you eat, eat what you stock". No sense buying stuff that nobody in the family will eat, whether it's on sale or not.

Your pantry doesn't have to be fancy. It can be a cupboard in your kitchen set aside as your pantry. It could be shelves in the basement or garage. You can even keep canned goods and such under a bed, in a closet, or behind the couch if you live in a small space.

The photo above is an old shelving unit that was out in the garage. Mr. B painted it purple for me, and I now use it as part of my pantry.

Having food in the pantry has been very comforting, whether it was a period of sickness, loss of a job, or just not wanting to go out in the middle of a Nor'easter.

Friday Night Is Pizza Night

2009-01-16T17:03:00.002-05:00

Ever since I got my (free to me!) bread machine, we've given the ol' heave ho to commercial take-out pizzas, and declared Friday nights are pizza nights. Why pay close to twenty bucks for a pizza when we can make our own for way, way less than that?

My daughter told me about Jay's Signature Pizza Crust. I tried it, and she was right-it's the best, and so easy to make too. Just dump the ingredients in the bread machine and let it mix. Take out before the machine starts baking, and build your pizza.

I can make a large sheet-pan size pizza with one batch of dough, which makes enough for the two of us, with some left over for the next day's lunch.

Here are the ingredients and instructions for making it the regular way, without a bread machine. If you're using your bread machine, pour in the warm water and olive oil first, then add the dry ingredients on top.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

(Graphic: "Pizza Chef" by Stephanie Marrott available at AllPosters.com)

A Bit Nippy

2009-01-15T20:55:00.003-05:00

It was a bit nippy when we got up this morning, ten below zero. That's deck-cracking cold, when the boards crick-crack as you walk across them, when it takes a few minutes for the outside door to close all the way, and you just know the car isn't going to start. It didn't, but we didn't have anywhere we really had to be today, and we had gotten groceries ahead of the cold snap just in case, so all was well. Mr. B can put the Salamander on it for awhile tomorrow and get it going.

I find it interesting how the weather people these days make such a big deal out of weather that really isn't that extraordinary. There was a "cold advisory" out yesterday. Yes, it was cold, but it wasn't THAT cold, and this is Vermont. It gets cold here. And a few days below zero aren't that newsworthy, unless you haven't lived here all your life. When I was growing up, I remember when we'd have stretches of two weeks at a time where the temperatures plunged below zero and stayed there, and everybody had all they could do to get vehicles started and keep pipes from freezing, and you'd see lots of people out and about in head to toe snowmobile wear.

It was a good day to stay inside though. We watched an interesting Scientific Explorations In Biology DVD with my homeschooled grandson, then he talked me into playing a video game with him. I've never played a video game before, and this was a car racing game. I was very uncoordinated with the controller, couldn't keep my car under control, but it was good for a lot of laughs. I had to stop after awhile though because it made me dizzy careening sideways, back and forth across the track on the screen.

I did some laundry, then made a loaf of bread in the new-to-me bread machine we got free at the recycling center. It didn't have the manual, but I found a copy online, and the bread came out delicious.

Later I made a big bowl of popcorn for us to snack on while we caught up with some reading, then Mr. B made a fire in the woodstove, just to make it a bit cozier in here.

The weather forecast says it could be as low as 30 below zero here tonight, a good night to snuggle up under our quilt with a couple of extra blankets, and the cat and dog that insist on sharing our bed every night too.

Stay warm and cozy, everyone.

Out With The Old...

2008-12-31T21:22:00.002-05:00

Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home is inviting everyone to join in on her traditional New Year's blog review, a look back at what we have posted throughout the past year. Kelli's instructions say to write the first sentence from your first post of each month of 2008.

Visit Kelli's blog to read what others posted, or to participate yourself.

Here are mine:

JANUARY...
Happy New Year!

FEBRUARY...
I apologize for the lack of updating lately.

MAY...
It's almost summer here in Vermont...

JUNE...
We're very busy here trying to get ready for the family cookout Sunday afternoon.

JULY...
What a gorgeous, gorgeous day it is here today!

AUGUST...
It's gone by much too quickly this year, probably because we've had so much going on.

OCTOBER...
Every year I try to see if we can make it to November 1st without turning on the heat.

NOVEMBER...
It's a blustery, cold, gray November day here in Vermont.

DECEMBER...
Looks like we'll be having a white Christmas.

Snow And Ice

2008-12-13T10:37:00.004-05:00

Looks like we'll be having a white Christmas. We had a winter storm that started Thursday night and into yesterday. We were supposed to get 12-13 inches, but we didn't get anywhere near that. My guess would be about 9 inches.

Even though the roads were a mess around here, our area got off easily compared to many places in New England. The southern end of Vermont got tons of ice, as did Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Millions of people are without power-yes, MILLIONS, and with some very cold temperatures expected in many of those areas, this is not good at all. According to some of the news reports I read, this storm was even worse than the big ice storm of '98, and that one was BAD. I sure hope the crews are able to restore power to these areas quickly.

On a happier note, I had a surprise visit from my daughter and grandchildren up from Florida last weekend. Enjoying a few days with them was wonderful!

Good Day For Baking

2008-11-22T14:19:00.005-05:00

It's a blustery, cold, gray November day here in Vermont. We got a couple of inches of snow overnight too. The cold reminds me more of late December/early January than it does November.

It's a good day for baking, so I am.

For our breakfast this morning I made Pumpkin Muffins from a recipe I found posted
at Simple Green Frugal Co-Op.

I don't like to waste oven heat by baking only one thing, so after the muffins were done, I baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes. I've frosted those with homemade buttercream frosting, and will keep out a few for this weekend, and freeze the rest for another day.

After the cupcakes were done, I made a pan of scalloped potatoes (with potatoes from our garden) for our supper. This really frees up the rest of my day because I won't have to wonder what I'm going to make for supper later.

Kept busy with these things too:
~washed dishes twice already
~made the bed
~folded and put away the load of laundry that I hung to dry in the basement yesterday
~cleaned two kitty litter pans and made sure the dog and cats had full food bowls and clean water
~took the dog out for a short walk in the woods--and found the suet feeder that the squirrels or a raccoon had stolen from the tree on the front lawn this summer
~e-mailed my daughter
~ironed a shirt for Mr. B to wear to church tomorrow, still need to decide what outfit I'm going to wear
~made a batch of the dry homemade laundry soap

We Still Haven't Turned On The Heat Yet...

2008-10-23T11:34:00.008-04:00

Every year I try to see if we can make it to November 1st without turning on the heat. I suppose this is just a game we play with ourselves to see if we can shave a few dollars from our heating bills in what is usually a very long Vermont heating season as it is.

It's getting downright cold though now. We've already used our woodstove twice this week, and it's only 40 degrees outside right now, so we'll probably fire it up again tonight to take the chill off.

Most of the geese seem to have gone south. We hear just a few stragglers flying over our house every so often now.

Peak foliage has passed, and most of the leaves have dropped. We have a lot of pine trees around our house, and the pine needles are thick on the ground. The squirrels are still scurrying around, and every morning I have to break ice out of the birds' water bowl, and from the bowl I leave on the deck for the cats while they're out.

Everything's out of the garden now. I picked the last of the Swiss chard the day before yesterday, and my row of garlic has been planted and covered with straw. I planted a new kind of garlic this year, "Martin's Heirloom", which I bought here. I ordered a few other kinds of garlic from them just to cook with this winter too.

Our next big project is to get more wood split and stacked. (I'm glad it's getting nice and cold. I won't touch that woodpile in warm weather because I HATE SNAKES!) We use our woodstove often in the winter, not only to save on our natural gas bill, but to dry laundry quicker so I don't need to use the dryer. More money saved. :)

This week I made our first big batch of homemade soup of the season. In the past I haven't quite had the knack of making a good soup, but Mr. B makes delicious soup, so I followed his way of making it, and my vegetable soup turned our DELICIOUS. I'll definitely be making a lot more soup this winter.

MONEY SAVING TIP: I know about filling in empty spots in the chest freezer with bottles of water, but last night I was reading the forums at
Homesteading Today, and somebody suggested putting crumpled up newspaper into the freezer's empty spaces so the freezer wouldn't use so much energy keeping all that empty space cold. Once you take the paper out of the freezer, you can toss it on your compost pile. I never would have thought of this, but it sounds like a creative money saving tip.

Hope you all enjoy your Thursday. I'm off to take my pumpkin-apple Harvest Bread out of the oven...

Beautiful October Day

2008-10-09T16:17:00.004-04:00

Mr. B's 100-year old heirloom rose is still blooming.

It's such a beautiful October day today. Foliage isn't at peak yet, at least not around here.

Is it an egg? A weird loaf of home-baked bread? Nope, it's a fungus I found growing near a woodpile.

Where Has The Summer Gone?

2008-08-23T20:50:00.007-04:00

It's gone by much too quickly this year, probably because we've had so much going on.

When I was out watering my flowers a couple of days ago, I heard a familiar "whooosh". I looked up and saw this cool balloon floating right over our road. It landed not too far from our house.

It's a sure sign that the end of summer is close when the Amish peaches come to our area. Mr. B brought some home for us yesterday, and they were delicious.

We've had SO MUCH rain here in Vermont this summer that our gardens have either floated away, or if they're still hanging in there, they aren't producing much. Our garden was beautiful and prolific last year, but is kind of pathetic this year.

I'm not going to complain though, because getting ANYTHING from the garden still provokes a sense of wonder in me---and the worst things picked from the garden are still much better than the best things you can pick up from the produce rack at the grocery store.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T14:54:00.005-04:00

What a gorgeous, gorgeous day it is here today! Bright and sunny, temperature in the mid 70s, not too humid--an excellent day for Independence Day festivities!

Our church always has a float in our town's Fourth of July parade, and Mr. B was riding on it today. I could have gone on it too, but this year I chose to watch from the sidelines with my daughter, son in law, and my four grandchildren. I wanted to take some photos, but I left my camera locked in the car when we crossed the street to stand in the shade under a big tree.

Our town is growing a lot these days, and you can tell because our parade gets longer and better every year. I can also tell because my grandchildren caught about three pounds of candy that had been tossed our way by the people in the parade. (I'm sure they'll be well sugared up by tonight!)

As soon as we got back to our house after the parade, Mr. B, my son in law, and all four grandchildren took the pontoon boat out to go fishing for the afternoon. This is a big treat because it's the first time my 8 year old granddaughter and my 5 year old grandson have ever gone fishing. My 12 year old and 10 year old grandsons are old hands at it.

These are some of the first strawberries from our garden this year. I had to include the photo just because I was so tickled that we got this many for the first picking.

Our big family cookout went very well last Sunday. (This bouquet was one I had on the cake table, and nearly a week later, it's still looking great, so it's brightening up our kitchen table now.)

The thunderstorms that we were supposed to get that day held off all day, so we were able to have the party outside after all. Even though Mr. B put up a nice canopy for shade, it was so hot and humid it was very uncomfortable, so after we ate, we hurriedly brought all the leftover food into the house and put it away, then we gathered beverage coolers, towels, and lawn chairs, and moved the celebration up to my sister's house where they have a nice big pool. The kids were very excited about that.

This week has been very busy, as we've been helping my daughter and son in law with anything that we can do to help them with last minute moving details. They are nearly ready to go now. They need to be out of their house by Monday, so they'll come down here and stay with us Sunday night and Monday night, then they'll be heading out very early on Tuesday morning.

Getting Ready For The Cookout

2008-06-27T13:07:00.004-04:00

We're very busy here trying to get everything ready for the family cookout Sunday afternoon. There sure are a lot of details to keep track of when you're trying to do a combo going away party/75th birthday celebration like we are. I've got half a dozen to-do lists here, in various stages of things being crossed off.

Thankfully, I have sisters around who are sharing the preparation, so Mr. B and I don't have to do everything by ourselves.

Our greatest challenge at the moment is the weather. We've had days and days of thunderstorms rolling through, along with some very cool weather. I LOVE the cool weather, but the forecast is for more thunderstorms, which means we might have to move everything inside, which means that could be a problem as Mr. B and I live in a very small house. I'm not quite sure where I'd seat 20 people in our home, unless we end up sitting on each other's laps, lol.

Mr. B is very creative though, and he says he has some "ideas", so maybe he'll come up with some sort of rain shelter we can make so that we can still enjoy being outside. We'll see.

In the meantime, I'll keep working along, getting things crossed off my lists. I have just a couple more things to pick up at the store; a pasta salad to make (cheating-making Suddenly Salad pasta salad from a box); lawn chairs to bring out; last minute once-over on the house; and I need to iron a shirt for Mr. B to wear to church on Sunday.

That should keep me out of trouble for awhile...

(Graphic available at AllPosters.com)

First Day Of Summer

2008-06-21T09:30:00.005-04:00

I liked this idea when I saw it at Peggy's blog, The Simple Woman, and thought I'd join in too.

FOR TODAY (June 21, 2008)...The first day of summer

Outside My Window...It's mostly cloudy, and rains off and on, but the sun peeks out here and there. Right now a brilliant red cardinal and a pretty blue jay are eating the crumbs of whole wheat bread I put out under the tree for them this morning.

I am thinking...about all I have to do this week to get ready for the big family cookout that we're hosting here next Sunday for my mother's 75th birthday and my daughter's moving to Florida.

I am thankful for...the home the Lord has given me, family that surrounds me, the blessing of children and grandchildren.

From the kitchen...Lots of ice cubes being made so that we can have plenty to keep beverages cold at the cookout next weekend without having to buy bags of ice.

I am wearing...black jeans, turquoise t-shirt, and my CROCS!

I am creating...to-do lists to keep everything organized for the cookout, for every day life, and for all the details that go along with helping my daughter and her family get moved.

I am going...to my nephew's 3rd birthday party this afternoon.

I am reading...simple living and homesteading blogs.

I am hoping...(praying) that my daughter and her family have a safe trip to Florida, that they will enjoy their new home, but that they will also return home to Vermont some day.

I am hearing...a neighbor mowing, birds singing, and a breeze.

Around the house...I'm making sure everything is clean and organized so that I can concentrate on planning the cookout, and remain relaxed instead of getting into a nervous frenzy about everything that needs to be done.

One of my favorite things...my grandchildren. :)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Taking care of my grandchildren tomorrow while my daughter and her husband go on a brunch/lake cruise to celebrate their anniversary...getting everything ready for the cookout...working a few hours on my bookkeeping job...

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...Some summer flowers from my garden

Strawberry Season In Vermont

2008-06-19T19:18:00.006-04:00

It's strawberry season in Vermont! My daughter stopped by this afternoon to drop off some things, and she gave us some strawberries she had just picked. Right after she left, one of my sisters came and brought us some strawberries SHE had just picked, so we ended up with a nice colander full of luscious, juicy, first-of-the-season strawberries. (I had cleaned and prepared more than half the colander full before I remembered that I wanted to take a photo.) I saved a small bowl of berries for us to eat plain, and put the rest in snack-size Ziplok bags in the freezer.

We've had a couple of nice, cool, almost fall-like days here, and it's supposed to be fairly cool for the next couple of days too, so Mr. B and I are hoping to go pick more berries to freeze. It's become a tradition for us that each summer I save enough strawberries to make a strawberry shortcake for Mr. B's birthday at the end of February. What a treat it is to have summer strawberries in the middle of winter!

Since it was cool today, I took advantage and used the oven. I made a homemade pizza for supper, and a peach cobbler for dessert. The peach cobbler recipe came from Cheryl at
Copper's Wife. It is her mom's recipe, and you can find it here.

I highly recommend this recipe. It was quick, easy, and the cobblers I made (a peach, a blueberry, and a pineapple) for Father's Day were very much enjoyed by all.

I took a photo of the peach cobbler just before putting it in the oven, but when it came out, Mr. B was so eager to have some that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of the finished product. ;-)

The severe thunderstorms we had last week flattened and bent a lot of my irises, so I "rescued" a few of them and put them on the table to brighten up the kitchen.

We are still very busy here. It's now less than three weeks before my daughter moves to Florida, and there is still so much to be done.

Along with taking care of my grandchildren, and helping my daughter with anything else we can do to give her a hand, I'm also planning a big family cookout for next weekend. It will be a combination--my mother's 75th birthday celebration, and a going away party for my daughter and her family. (I'm still very sad that she is moving, but I am trying to keep up a cheerful front because this is hard enough on everybody as it is.)

Summer Decorating For Little To Nothing

2008-06-12T13:33:00.007-04:00

What a gorgeous day it is! Low humidity, temps in the 60s (yay!), lots of sun...I actually feel like getting something done today after the several days we've had where it was too hot and humid to do much of anything.

I mowed most of the lawn this morning, until my allergies (grass, pollen) kicked in and I had to take a break. Mr. B will finish the mowing this afternoon.

I've got laundry on the line, bathroom cleaned, beds made, church website updated, and will head to the kitchen in a few minutes to make a batch of homemade dog food for Sidney, our Shih Tzu.

But first, I want to share some of the little summer decorating touches I've started doing. These are all frugal decorating ideas, costing me little to nothing to do.

This is the little outdoor seating area I set up under the big hemlock tree on our front lawn. Our bird feeders used to hang in this area; that's why there's a big bare spot under the table. That's where the birds dropped all the sunflower hulls, so the grass stopped growing in that spot. I'm thinking about putting some gravel or stones or something in this area, but am not sure yet.

For now, it will just stay simple. The little table was something Mr. B picked up free at our town recycling center. A fresh coat of white spray paint made it good as new. The two chairs were also from the recycling center. Mr. B fixed them up and painted them white instead of green. The little crock on the table was yet another recycling center find. I had a miniature pink rose in it last year, but put yellow marigolds in it for this summer. It'll be a great place to sit and read, enjoy a glass of iced tea, watch the sunset...

We have a bare spot at the end of our driveway where the grass isn't growing well, so last night I put this little planter full of marigolds there. Look closely and you'll see that the "planter" is actually the globe from an old lamp. This is another one of Mr. B's recycling center finds, so no cost. Even the potting soil was free-people leave partial bags of it in the sharing room at the recycling center, and Mr. B brings it home. He hates to see anything go to waste.

This is one of my favorite flower pots. It was a gift from my grandchildren for Mother's Day 2000. Each child's name and handprint is on the flower pot. Last night I potted a few marigolds I had left, then placed it on a (recycled) saucer on our deck. (Yes, our deck is in dire need of restaining. We've got new cans of stain ready-we just need the weather to cooperate so we can get it done.)
I'm constantly amazed at what people throw away. Mr. B found this planter one day when he was at the recycling center. It was green, and had a small crack on the back of it. Mr. B spray painted it white for me, then I filled it with flowers (and recycled potting soil!) and set it by our deck, under the maple tree, so people see it as they come up to our house.

It's fun to think of new ways to use things we either already have on hand, or that we recycle. It's also good that our tight budget remains intact because we're spending little to no money on these little projects.

Hope you're having a wonderful day!

After The Storms

2008-06-11T17:06:00.002-04:00

We had some POWERFUL storms yesterday afternoon and last night. We did not get a tornado, but the wind whipped something fierce. We had downpours and tons of lightning, not just occasional flashes, but constant flashes.

There were many, many big trees uprooted or broken off, and some areas had problems with all the rain that came down. Some areas had large hail. Many people lost their power, and some people still didn't have their power restored early this morning.

Thankfully, we didn't receive a lot of damage. The wind tipped over our lawn chairs, whipped around the clothes on my lines, and broke a lot of branches, but our power remained on, and no trees were uprooted or broken.

Where my daughter lives got hit pretty hard. They lost their power right away, and came down here quite late yesterday evening to stay with us for awhile. They went home to a dark house and what should they see a few minutes after going inside--a small bear strolling up their driveway, heading towards their trash can! Yikes! It must have been scared out of the woods by the storm or something. They didn't see the mother bear around, but it was very dark, so who knows where she might have been.

Today is quite a bit cooler than it's been, only 79 degrees instead of low 90s. The humidity is still a bit high though, so you do start to sweat once you go outside to do something in the yard or garden.

My grandchildren weren't here today, so I was able to quickly catch up on some of the chores I haven't done the last couple of very hot, busy days.

A new Domino's Pizza recently opened right around the corner from us, so Mr. B just went to pick up a pizza for our supper. We'll sit in the living room tonight and enjoy that while we watch tv (Mr. B) and finish reading the latest issue of Countryside magazine (me).

All in all, it's been a good day.

Sweltering

2008-06-10T12:07:00.006-04:00

It is SWELTERING here today. It was already over 80 degrees at 8:30am. Now, a few minutes after noon, it's 89 and very humid. The heat and humidity moved in on Saturday, and it's been beastly the last few days since. We are supposed to be getting severe thunderstorms, with hail, this afternoon and evening--along with the possibility of a TORNADO. Yikes! (Not to mention that we're still a week or so away from actual SUMMER.)

We've been very busy here, taking care of my grandchildren for various amounts of time over the last several days while my daughter and son in law have been attending to details for the move to Florida. Yesterday they picked up the van they bought for the trip. It has air conditioning, which is a must for Florida, even though many of us still get by without air conditioning in our vehicles here in Vermont.

Last night was a real treat. My daughter brought hamburgers for the grill, and a delicious pasta salad for our supper, then we sat out under a tree on our front lawn and enjoyed cake and ice cream for my grandson's 10th birthday. There won't be many more opportunities to enjoy gatherings like this before they move to Florida, so I want to enjoy every moment of the ones we do have until then.

We are getting a bit of a late start on our garden this year. Mr. B's been out planting the last couple of days, but it's so hot, the gardening is slow going. He's planted about half of our potato patch, and yesterday afternoon he put in our tomatoes and peppers. This afternoon we're going to have to scramble around and figure out a way to protect those plants in case of hail.

Well, time to go brew up another pot of iced tea. Enjoy your day, everyone, and keep cool!

Sad Days

2008-05-24T16:22:00.003-04:00

It's been VERY SAD around Mrs. B's cottage this week. I found out that my daughter and her family will be moving to Florida this summer so that my son in law can accept a new/better job.

My daughter has never lived more than about 20 minutes away from me, and in her 31 years, she's usually lived much closer than that.

I never dreamed that one day she'd move so far away. I'm not prepared for this. She is my only child, and I will miss them more than I can say. It already feels lonely and empty around here, even though they won't be leaving for another few weeks.

I didn't go through any severe "empty nest syndrome" symptoms when my daughter got married, maybe because she was still close by. But now, now that she's moving so far away, I'm getting hit HARD. I'm at loose ends right now, finding it hard to concentrate on anything, and every other thing I look at reminds me of my daughter or my grandchildren, and I cry.

I'm putting on a brave and cheerful face for my daughter's sake, and my grandchildren's, but behind it is a broken heart, that's for sure. :(

(American Alligator in Florida by Raymond Gehman, available at AllPosters.com)

Seven Layers Of Organization

2008-05-14T13:47:00.003-04:00

I love to declutter, purge, thin out, and organize, so when I spotted Christopher Lowell's "Seven Layers Of Organization" book in the library this morning, I had to borrow it. Though I'm not very familiar with Lowell's work, a quick glance through this book showed me that I like his style. He seems to have a "less is more" way of thinking when it comes to one's home, and I agree with that.

I've just started the book, and can't wait to see what kind of new tips and ideas I can use myself. There's always something new to learn, and some amount of decluttering and organizing to do (especially if your spouse is a pack rat!), no matter how neat and clean you usually keep your home.

I like to go through our house each spring, tossing and rearranging. This book will probably just add extra inspiration to my decluttering mood. ;-)

Cutting Costs With Homemade Dog Food?

2008-05-13T14:48:00.005-04:00

It's a good thing we have a Shih Tzu. He doesn't eat much, so we're ahead of the game. We were feeding him a raw diet (frozen patties) last year, but he started having "bathroom problems", so I got nervous and switched him back to a quality, natural dry dog food, but which was more expensive than many brands.

Last time I was in the shop buying his dog food though, the owner told me that there were some steep price increases coming. She told me that the increases were going to be so high that they would be "shocking".

That didn't sound good, so I figured after the current bag of dry food was gone, I'd experiment with homemade dog food and see what happens.

I cooked a large batch of brown rice, and added diced, cooked chicken breast, some butter, and a mixture of French style string beans, peas, and broccoli. I baggied it up in just slightly less than one-cup portions, then stored it in the freezer. When it's meal time, I'll warm up a serving, then add a bit of butter or olive oil for good fat.

I got a week's worth of meals from this one batch. I'm not sure how much it cost though-a few cents for the brown rice, maybe a dollar or a little less for the vegetables, a few cents for the butter, and I don't know how much for the chicken, but I only used three pieces out of a bag of frozen breast pieces, so that was probably a couple of dollars.

The last time I bought the dry dog food, I paid $25.99 for a bag which lasted two months, plus a few days, which is approx. $3.25, or a bit less, per week. I always add a "blob" of canned dog food to the dry, along with a little water to make gravy, so this adds a few cents to the $3.25 per week.

Even with a steep price increase for the dry food, I'm not sure I'll be saving a lot by making homemade food. If I'm going to use homemade dog food, I'd probably need to add fish oil caps or some other vitamin, so this would add to the cost.

In this case, I'm probably breaking even or saving a few cents using homemade dog food. I'm not sure which would be better for the dog-my guess is homemade, but then again, the natural commercial brand looks pretty complete, so we'll just try this for a week and see how he likes it.

Have any of you switched to making homemade dog food instead of buying the dry food?

(Graphic: "Dog Food Is Served" by Tracy Flickinger, available at AllPosters.com)

Preparing For Hard Times

2008-05-13T10:21:00.007-04:00

The economic news seems to get worse every day now, and I, for one, don't believe the worst is over. I think we're just seeing the beginning, that things are going to get a whole lot worse, and that a lot of people aren't really even paying attention.

We live on a very small fixed income, and we're already starting to feel the squeeze. Though we already live very frugally and quite simply, I'm on the lookout for things we can cut back even more. It's easier to choose to do it now than to be forced to do it later.

I love birds, and I love feeding the birds. I've fed the birds year 'round for a long time, but sadly, I've decided that after this bag of sunflower seed is gone, I'm not going to buy any more. I'll take down the feeders after the birds have eaten the last of the seed in them.

It's better to stop feeding the birds now, while it's spring and they can easily adjust and find other food sources before fall. The cost of all grains and seeds are constantly going up, and I'm afraid that before too long buying sunflower seed for the birds is going to become a luxury we can't afford. That ten, fifteen, or twenty dollars will be better spent on food for our own pantry.

As long as I can, I'm still going to leave out a suet cake for the birds because I can buy those for a little over a dollar. I'll also keep fresh water out for them.

We have a beautiful pair of cardinals that have returned to our feeders at least twice a day for the past few years. I'm going to miss them most of all. :(

Last week I called to cancel our trash service. We were paying $31.00 per month, and I'm sure were due for another increase since the price of fuel has gone so high. Yes, it sure is convenient to just put the trash cans and recycling bin out each week, but we can take our own trash to the dump and save quite a bit of money. Each month I'll place the amount we were paying for trash service into an envelope so that we'll have plenty on hand to pay the dump fees. We usually have very little trash because we recycle as much as possible, and we have a compost pile, so I have a feeling we might be able to save at least half of what we were paying. After a few months, I'll know better how much we need in the "dump envelope", and I'll take out any extra and use it for groceries, gas, or whatever.

Are you preparing for harder times? If you have any good tips, please share them here. I always like to learn something new.

(Bird photo: Greenfinch by Mark Hamblin available at AllPosters.com. Appliances at recycling center: Mrs. B)

Almost Mother's Day

2008-05-10T12:06:00.008-04:00

It's the day before Mother's Day, and it's been like Grand Central Station here all morning, between people stopping by and phone calls, but we like it this way.

I just finished baking a double batch of white cupcakes that we'll take with us when we go to my parents' house tomorrow. I'm going to frost them with that DELICIOUS, rich chocolate frosting from the recipe on the back of the Hershey's baking cocoa container. I was going to make a layer cake, but realized my cake pans were either all too small, or way too big, for the amount we'll need for all of us, so I figured a nice tray of cupcakes would work. I'll stop and pick up a carton of ice cream after church tomorrow. That way, people can either eat just a cupcake, or take the paper off a couple and put them on a plate with ice cream, if they'd prefer it that way. I don't usually make the cakes for family occasions; one of my other sisters does, but she's helping a friend who's moving today, so I said I'd make the cake this time. Mine are not fancy like my sister's usually are, but the cupcakes should work.

It is a wonderful blessing that my mother is still living, still in pretty good health, and lives only four miles away from me. More than ever now, I cherish each occasion I get to spend with her.

The photo above is of one of my mother's greenhouses. My parents have retired now, and our greenhouses haven't been open for two years, but, boy, do I ever miss them. I used to love working in them. This was always one of the busiest weekends of the season because everybody would be in looking for flowers and plants for their mothers, wives, daughters, and grandmothers.

All of us in the family that could be there would always go to my parents' farm on Mother's Day weekend to answer questions for customers, wait on people that were buying flowers, keep everything watered, etc. Usually it would be so busy that none of us even got a chance to sit down for a few minutes to enjoy a meal together because the stream of customers would be nonstop.

We used to joke about how we couldn't wait for a day when we could just go up and celebrate Mother's Day with my mother without having to worry about taking care of customers, but now that my parents have retired, it feels kind of strange to be sitting around my mother's table, eating cake and ice cream, without having to keep jumping up to go out and wait on more customers.

The cupcakes should be cool now, so I'd better get out to the kitchen to make my frosting.

Hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day!

Problems With Blogger

2008-02-21T18:59:00.003-05:00

I apologize for the lack of updating lately. Blogger has "broken" my blog--it removed my header, added a bunch of weird things to my page, and won't post any photos. I haven't been able to fix it yet.

If I can't get this blog straightened out, maybe I'll just start a new one. I'll post a link if I do.

In the meantime, life is very busy, and we're eagerly looking forward to spring!

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T17:39:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year!

I trust that you enjoyed a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. We were very busy with lots of family activities, and now I look forward to 2008.

We were invited to my daughter's house for a Christmas Morning Brunch this year. I wanted to bring fresh fruit, but didn't want to just haul it over in the grocery bag. Here's the "frugal fruit basket" I put together, using everything I had on hand, except the fruit, of course.

I used one of my baskets, placed white tissue paper (saved from a package I received in the mail) in the bottom, placed the fruit in the basket, then wrapped it in cellophane that I had on hand, and added a bow that had been saved from last Christmas. I thought it made a pretty presentation, and all it cost me was the price of the fruit.

A Little More Snow...

2007-12-17T20:54:00.001-05:00

We did get that Nor'Easter yesterday. It was a wild day, that's for sure--but the snow was SO pretty (as long as you didn't have to be out on the roads driving in the mess, that is). The weather was so bad early yesterday morning that our church services were cancelled. That happens so rarely around here that when it does, you know it's bad.

My two oldest grandsons were with us today because the roads were just too terrible to risk the drive to take them home last night. They had fun playing in the snow all morning, helping Mr. B shovel his old plow truck out when it got stuck in a snow bank. They cooked their own French Toast for breakfast, then I baked them a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and made them a homemade pizza for lunch.

After lunch we all went up to my parents' house to do some shoveling for them. We cleared and sanded the ramp up to the house, cleared the mailbox, cleared the garage, then cleared paths out to all of my mother's birdfeeders. It was very cold and windy, but with the boys' help, we had the shoveling done for their great-grandparents in record time.

We then headed out to take the boys home. The roads were so-so. Mr. B thought they had been cleared enough to be passable and acceptable, as long as you drove slowly and according to conditions, but I am a nervous nellie, and was tense all the way over and back. There are lots of slippery hills on the way to my daughter's, which made me kind of nervous, but we made it safely.

As we turned in at my daughter's driveway, our car got pulled to one side and we got stuck in a snowbank, but with all of us shoveling, we were able to get back out pretty quickly, so that we were able to be on the road headed back home before dark.

Mr. B had also slid off the edge of our road into a neighbor's snowbank last night, and we had to shovel quite a bit to get the car unstuck from that. Our neighbors were kind enough to offer to pull us out, but we were able to get the car out ourselves.

Between all the shoveling we did yesterday and today, Mr. B and I are both stiff and sore, and I'm sure we're going to be all "seized up" tomorrow. But it was a good day, and we are thankful that all family members stayed safe and warm through the storm.

We didn't even lose our power.

Have a wonderful day!

If You Just Can't Get Enough Christmas

2007-12-16T06:15:00.001-05:00

For those of you who just can't get enough Christmas, "Real Christmas" should keep you busy reading for awhile.

As for us, a powerful Nor'Easter is scheduled to hit today. Up to two feet of blowing and drifting snow, and substantial ice accumulation. This is Vermont, and we're all used to tons of snow, ice, and cold--but when public officials, and news and weather forecasters warn everyone to "just stay home", you know you're in for a doozy.

Many businesses are planning to be closed, or to shorten their hours, for the safety of their customers and employees. The schools knew last Friday that there will most likely be a snow day tomorrow. I'm sure there aren't many children that will mind that.

It's rare, but even some churches cancel services when blizzards arrive on Sunday. The worst isn't supposed to hit until later this afternoon and tonight, so we should be able to attend church this morning.

Mr. B finally got his snowplow repaired yesterday, so hopefully everything will work correctly. There's going to be a LOT of plowing to do by tomorrow.

I'm off to put a batch of whole wheat bread in the machine before we leave for church so that if the power goes out, we can at least make peanut butter sandwiches.

This is definitely going to be a very white Christmas.

Snow On The Way

2007-12-14T12:17:00.001-05:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....Or it certainly will be after this weekend anyway. We're expecting up to two feet of snow this weekend from a good ol' fashioned Nor'Easter. Mr. B is out getting his snowplow ready, and wouldn't you know, something broke on it. It's a very old truck (his favorite kind-he loves all the vintage vehicles), and takes lots of TLC to keep it running. We live on a private road, so we won't be getting out of our driveway until Mr. B plows us out. I hope he'll be able to get the repair done this afternoon.

Our pantry is stocked, our refrigerator is full, and we have plenty of wood for the woodstove in case the power goes out, so we should be ready for the storm. As the guy on the radio said this morning, we hope it doesn't get real bad until everyone gets home from church on Sunday. Sunday afternoon into Monday is supposed to be the major part of the storm.

Today is basic cleaning and cooking. The laundry is already done.

Two of my grandchildren will be staying with us again tomorrow, so I need to think of a few fun projects we can do together.

They've already requested homemade macaroni and cheese for lunch again, so I guess I'll go out to the kitchen and get that made ahead of time. Then I'll just have to pop it into the oven to heat before lunch tomorrow.

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

(Let It Snow mousepad available in my shop.)

Monday, Macaroni And Cheese, Cupcakes...

2007-12-10T17:30:00.001-05:00

My two youngest grandchildren stayed with us all day Saturday while my daughter and son in law went to town for lunch and Christmas shopping. I'm always happy to take care of my grandchildren, and am so glad that my daughter was able to have a few hours to spend alone with her husband.

We had a lot of fun...walking in the snow...drawing and painting...watching a Christmas show...and making cupcakes. Here are the cupcakes frosted and decorated by my seven and four year old grandchildren. Of course we had to have some photos, and the cupcakes were delicious. :)

I was looking for some good casserole recipes for winter, and my daughter gave me a recipe that turns out to be THE best, THE easiest, homemade macaroni and cheese I've ever had. The recipe is from Very Best Baking. I made this macaroni and cheese for the first time for lunch Saturday when the kids were here. I didn't think to take a photo, so the photo below is from the Very Best Baking page where the recipe is.

In case you don't want to click the link, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups (about 7 oz.) dry small elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 2-quart casserole dish.

COMBINE cornstarch, salt, mustard and pepper in medium saucepan. Stir in evaporated milk, water, and butter. Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in 1½ cups cheese until melted. Add macaroni; mix well. Pour into prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

BAKE for 20 to 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and light brown.

NOTE: To transform Macaroni & Cheese from a simple dish to a savory one-dish meal, add 1 cup chopped ham or hot dogs after milk mixture comes to a boil.

I added a little more macaroni than the recipe called for, because macaroni and cheese is always a favorite in our house. It took only a few minutes to prepare--I think the thing that took longest was boiling the macaroni, and even that didn't take very long.

We ate the first batch on Saturday, so I made another batch last night. I did find that it really needs that time in the oven though, to make its texture "just right".

I know I'm going to be making this dish often. I think it will be a hit at church potlucks too. (The only thing I'm wondering is why it calls for evaporated milk, and what is the difference between evaporated milk and regular milk? Hmm, guess I'll have to search for the answer to that because I'm curious.)

Today I've been busy with my bookkeeping job, making sure everything is getting entered before the end of the year hits. I'm having a very good December so far in my shop too, which is nice.

My daughter brought me a beautiful poinsettia when she came home from shopping Saturday night. Tonight I put the candles in our windows. Other than that, I haven't done a lick of Christmas decorating yet, and seeing that it's only two weeks until Christmas, I guess I'd better get a move on...

Have a wonderful day, friends!

(Art is "Christmas Glow" by Paul Landry, available at AllPosters.com)

For Those Of You Who Don't Get Any Snow...

2007-12-04T11:20:00.001-05:00

This will put you in the Christmas mood...

It started snowing yesterday, and is pretty much done this morning.

It wasn't a Nor'Easter where we get tons of snow and wind, and it wasn't a "big dumping"--it was just enough to make everything pretty for Christmas. (It's trash day today, so please pardon our trash cans and recycling out by the road.)

I like the way the sun is shining here, very winter postcard looking.

As you can see, we did get enough snow during the night for me to have to get my boots out.

Now I'm off to fill the bird feeders...

Hope you all have a wonderful and productive day!

Not Accomplishing Much

2007-11-30T19:42:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those days, where you're very busy, and the day flies by, but at the end of it you feel like you haven't accomplished much? I'm having one of those days.

Maybe it's because we have several "projects" going on at once, and there are things lying all over the place.

Mr. B is replacing some pipe and reconnecting the woodstove in our basement, so we have two cement blocks at the top of the stairs, waiting to be carried downstairs.

We're painting another door, so our paint things are still out.

Mr. B collects blankets and stuffed toys to bring to a local greyhound rescue, so there is a large box of those sitting here in the kitchen, waiting to be delivered. For some reason, our cats think that's a lovely place to take a nap.

I've got a bunch of file folders from my day job--it's actually more like a few-hours-a-month job, stacked on one end of the kitchen table, waiting for me to take them back to the office.

The cat yakked on the quilt I had just barely put on the bed a couple of days ago, so that needs to get thrown in the washer.

I worked on my shop for a few hours today, but it was mostly upkeep, sprucing up the template, seo work, stuff like that, but not much designing, which made me feel like I hadn't accomplished much.

I guess it's just one of those days, where things are in progress, but I just can't see specific, completed accomplishments. I'm sure once we get a few "deliveries" made, and the woodstove project is finished, I'll feel like we really got something done. ;-)

Tidying

2007-11-26T11:29:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a restful weekend.

Mr. B and I are busily putting away the last of our summer and fall things. We're supposed to get rain, sleet, and snow tonight, and then it's turning much colder, so this is probably about the last fairly warm day we're going to get to finish putting outdoors things away.

I just put away the last two chairs from the deck. We have a glass-topped table out there that I'm going to wait for Mr. B to carry out to put away. We brought in our deck umbrella earlier, but forgot the base, which got filled with rain water, so I just brought that in. It's thawing and draining in my sink. I'll store that when it's all drained and dry.

I moved the gas grill, then swept all the leaves and pine needles off the deck and steps. We haven't quite decided on what we want to put up for outside decorations yet, but at least we'll be ready with everything nice and neat.

I found a wonderful new blog this weekend, Restyled Home. Linda has SO many creative ideas for decorating, and her writing shows that she must have an excellent sense of humor. I read back through all of her archives, taking notes of things I'd like to try in my own home, and am excited to start on some of the projects. Visit Linda's blog if you need some new inspiration for your home too.

Speaking of projects, I have a couple in the works for today, so I'd better go work on them--along with the laundry, the cooking, and the errands I need to run today.

Hope you have a wonderful and productive day!

(Graphic "Home For The Holidays" by Gretchen Huber Warren available at AllPosters.com)

Hot Air Balloon

2007-11-24T12:49:00.001-05:00

I was sitting at my desk this morning when I heard a "whoosh" outside the window...

The "whoosh" sounded like a hot air balloon. We often see hot air balloons flying over our house...
...but usually it's during warmer weather. This morning it was only 20 degrees when I stepped out onto the deck to see what I could see.

Sure enough, it was a beautiful hot air balloon, flying just barely above the rooftops behind our house.

Peek through the trees and you'll be able to see the bright stripes of the balloon...

As the balloon navigator made the flames hotter, the balloon started to rise...

...slowly...

...until it popped over the trees...

...and sailed right over our house!

What a great way to start the day. I hope you all enjoy a wonderful, productive Saturday!

Black Friday

2007-11-23T22:17:00.001-05:00

So, today was Black Friday. Mr. B's daughter was looking forward to going out in the early morning chaos, but that's nothing I'd want to do. Nope, not at all. I had my fill of Black Fridays during my retail years way back when.

Some people go to the other end of the spectrum and celebrate "Buy Nothing Day". I'm not that radical; I just prefer to stay out of the stores to preserve my peace of mind.

The extent of my shopping today was to go to the pet food store to pick up the special food we feed our Shih Tzu. We also stopped at the feed store and bought two bags of rock salt. One we brought to my folks' house.

Other than that, it was a day of eating delicious left overs, creating designs for my shop, and spending some time reorganizing my art supplies and the toys and games we keep here for when our grandchildren come over.

I hope you had a good and productive day too.

(Graphic by Peggy Abrams available at AllPosters.com)

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-22T21:54:00.001-05:00

We've just returned from our family's Thanksgiving feast. The day was good. We even got to visit with my daughter and her family when they stopped in at my sister's where the rest of us were gathered.

Even though we thought we were "cutting back" on the amount of food we prepared--we always seem to manage to make way too much--we still ended up with lots and lots of leftovers for everyone to take home.

It rained all day long, and we were a bit nervous that the temperatures would fall low enough for it to start freezing on the roads just when people were driving home, but it stayed just barely warm enough not to freeze, which was a relief.

On our way home we saw lots of homes already decorated and lit for Christmas. Tomorrow is "Black Friday", but you will not find me anywhere near the stores! You couldn't pay me to go out into that frenzy.

I hope that all of you enjoyed a very wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Tossing

2007-11-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

Periodically, even those of us who are quite organized still need to go through the house, looking for items that need to be tossed, making a "clean sweep", as it were.

The mood to do this usually comes over me during the fall and winter months, and it is here now, so I'm taking advantage of it.

Mr. B is a collector, and I am a tosser, and sometimes I have to step up my tossing a notch in order to keep up with his collecting. ;-)

I find that going through and tossing stuff every so often really seems to "lighten up" the place. Maybe it's because "stuff" tends to weigh us down, simply by virtue of its being there.

It's a good thing I enjoy tossing because we live in a small home, and we'd be packed to the rafters if I didn't stay ahead of it.

I'm finding that the older I get, too, the less stuff I want or need to have around. I prefer to pass things on, recycle, give away, get it out of here as we go along, rather than maybe leaving too much behind that my daughter might have to dispose of someday. I wouldn't want her to have to deal with that.

Another thing I find is that, with every pass through the house, you can usually always find something that you no longer need. It might be something worn out that you throw away, or something that you've simply outgrown, gone beyond--something that you can now give away to someone who can make good use of it.

A huge plus to tossing is that the less stuff you have in your house, the less time you have to spend cleaning, and the easier it is to clean too. Less stuff to pick up, move around, trip over, spill, get stressed out about.

I think I'll start a list of some of the stuff I'm tossing, just to see how much more I can get out of here. I'll come back and add to this as I go along.

So far:

-Tossed an old "Miracle Slicer" that I've had since the early 80s. It's much easier to use a knife. Out it goes.

-Tossed a bunch of old, pretty much dried up glitter glues that I used in art projects.

-Tossed a baggie full of toothpicks that had polyurethane on one end, from when I was dipping paper beads that I had made.

-Shredded some clothing sales catalogs, some dieting magazines that I've saved for YEARS, and some BBW magazines that I've held onto (for inspiration) since the 80s or early 90s.

-Taking a box of stuffed toys that our dog doesn't play with to a local greyhound rescue organization.

If there are any fans of Fly Lady, on her site there is a place where you can report, in actual poundage that you've weighed, how much stuff you've tossed. That can be a fun thing to do for someone who is just getting started on tossing and organizing.

Giving Thanks Friday

2007-11-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

This week Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home has been hosting a special time of preparing our hearts and homes for Thanksgiving. Visit her blog to see what other ladies have been doing in their homes this week.

This is what we woke up to this morning-the first snow of the season! We're not supposed to get that much, maybe a few inches, if that.

My daughter and her family are coming home from vacation tomorrow. They've been enjoying temperatures in the 80s in Florida, so of course I had to send them these photos just so they can see what they'll be coming home to. ;-)

When I was a little girl, there were Thanksgivings where we had LOTS of snow on the ground. In recent years, though, things seem to have changed with the weather, and we usually only have a little bit of snow, or none at all.

Even so, the first snow of the season, which usually is around this time of year, always reminds me of a song I learned in elementary school. I'm sure it's familiar to most of you too...

Over the river and through the wood
To Grandmother's house we go.
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh
Through white and drifted snow.

Over the river and through the wood --
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood
To have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring,
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river and through the wood,
Trot fast, my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground
Like a hunting hound,
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go
Extremely slow --
It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood --
Now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

Speaking of pumpkin pie, I baked one last night. Think I'll go have a slice now. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Giving Thanks Thursday-"Pink"

2007-11-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

We woke up to gray skies and pouring rain this morning, a real November-looking day. We had a nice, hot oatmeal breakfast, then headed to my daughter's house to take care of the animals. We wanted to make sure to get there early because our forecast calls for snow today.

On the way over, the rain started changing to snow, but it can't quite make up its mind today, and changed back to rain. The mountains are supposed to get four to nine inches of snow tonight, but we should only get a dusting to an inch or so where we live. But you never know living in Vermont--we could just as easily wake up to a foot of snow at this time of year.

My daughter's chickens haven't been laying for several weeks, but today when we went in to feed them, one of the ladies had left us a nice fresh egg. My daughter had told us that if there were any eggs, we should take them home with us. I told Mr. B that I would fry the egg for his breakfast tomorrow. :)
Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home has been hosting a week of Giving Thanks, getting our hearts and homes ready for Thanksgiving. It's been fun to see what other ladies are sharing. Visit Kelli's blog to get in on the fun.

Today, for Giving Thanks Thursday, I want to share one of my favorite recipes. I wish I had a photo of this, but I don't.

This has been a hit at our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for many years, and it just wouldn't be a holiday without it.

I know there must be a proper name for this recipe, but I don't even remember what it is. In our family, it's simply known as "Pink".

"Pink" is a dish where there really aren't any specific measurements that I can give you. Oh, there probably ARE specific measurements somewhere, but we never use them. We have a big family, so we tend to make a HUGE bowl of this, and it's basically just opening containers, dumping them into the bowl, then mixing and chilling. (And when I say huge bowl, I'm talking about a big silver mixing bowl, a bowl that won't fit into the fridge, but usually ends up staying chilled on the porch or deck wherever we're gathering.)

When you first read the ingredients, you might think, yuck--but believe me, this is DELICIOUS. I think I'd even prefer a bowl of "Pink" over a piece of pie. It's that good.

Here's how we make the "Pink":

Ingredients Needed:

1 large container of cottage cheese
1 large container of Cool Whip, thawed
1 small box Strawberry Jello
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup or so walnuts, chopped
1 large jar maraschino cherries, chopped

Gently combine all ingredients. Chill. I'm guessing this would serve about 10-12 people.

When I make it, I always start with 2 containers of cottage cheese, 2 tubs of Cool Whip, a large box of Jello, and I toss in pineapple, walnuts, and cherries until it looks like enough.

Once you make this, you'll figure out your own measurements, and you might like more of some of the ingredients and less of others. You can also make this using mandarin oranges and orange Jello in place of the pineapple and strawberry Jello.

As the saying goes, try it-you'll like it!

Giving Thanks Wednesday-Quick And Easy Freezer Cleaning

2007-11-14T12:12:00.001-05:00

All this week, Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home has invited all of us to join her in preparing our hearts and homes for Thanksgiving. Please visit her blog for more information, and to see what all the other ladies are doing.

I hate being in the grocery store, in the crowds, at the last minute, so this morning I started thinking about what I'd need to buy to prepare whatever items we'll be bringing to Thanksgiving dinner. Since we'll be gathering at my brother's house this year, I'll only need to prepare a couple of things.

As I started planning, I looked into my freezer for something and noticed that it had gotten very disorganized and needed cleaning.

You know how things get all jumbled after awhile, then it gets easy to just start tossing stuff in? That's how the freezer was looking.

I have a lot to do today, so I figured I'd do a Quick And Easy Freezer Cleaning. It took me just about half an hour from start to finish, and that included two trips out to the compost pile to toss some things.

When I do a Quick And Easy Freezer Cleaning, I take everything out of the freezer, and off the door, and just stack it all on the counter. You don't even have to be neat about it. Just stack it up there.

Right away you'll probably see a few things that need to be thrown away. Toss it now. I threw away some sticky, melted frozen juice bars that got left behind when my grandchildren were here this summer.

The little butter pats were leftovers from my brother's wedding three years ago. I figured those were probably not the best any more, so I tossed them.

A friend gave Mr. B these little packages of salmon, but when I read on the back that they were from China, we both agreed we wouldn't eat them. We don't trust any food product from China these days, and will not knowingly buy anything from there.

The little bag of yucky green stuff is some chopped parsley that got forgotten about once it slipped down underneath everything else.

I also tossed an old, opened bag of whole wheat flour, and two bags of cranberries that I bought a couple of years ago and just never got around to using.

Next, I simply wiped out the freezer using warm water on a soft cloth. You could use some baking soda too if you want.

A simple wiping and everything is clean and ready to start putting the frozen food away again.

Everything is all straightened out and organized...

...and now I have room for my Thanksgiving supplies when I go get them.

Thanksgiving

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go.
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow.
Orchards have shared their treasures,
The fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway -
Thanksgiving comes again!
~Unknown~

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Giving Thanks Tuesday

2007-11-13T16:31:00.001-05:00

Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home is hosting a special week of preparing our hearts and homes for Thanksgiving. Everyone is invited to participate. Visit her blog for more details.

Today I want to share with you how I decorate with things I already have on hand. For the table decoration above, I used a small silver tray that we had. I went out and gathered a few of the oak leaves that had fallen, and arranged them on the tray. On top of that, I put a votive holder that I've had ever since my daughter was little, with a fresh Pumpkin Spice soy votive in it. I had two fall candle rings which I cut apart and placed near the candle. I did not spend a cent on this. If the leaves get too dry and crunchy before next week, I'll just go out on the lawn and pick up some fresh ones.

Over the table I hung the little plaque above. Somebody gave us this plaque in a gift basket last year. It was very plain and I didn't like it at all, so I added a few touches to it for this year. I took out the twine hanger and replaced it with a piece of country plaid material I had in my fabric stash. It doesn't show very well here, but the material is brown, with some orange and gold through it. I used pinking shears to give it an uneven edge, then tied a bow to hang it.

The plaque itself was too plain, so I used my Prismacolor pencils to color the pumpkins and stems. The words say, "May Your Blessings Be Bountiful".

This is still not my favorite decoration, but it adds a small touch in a place where it needed a little something. Again, not a cent spent on it.

I had to include this photo of tomatoes today because...well, because it's November 13th, in Vermont, and we still have garden tomatoes ripening! As they ripen, I've been chopping and freezing them for soups and stews or chili this winter.

They're really getting to the tail end now though, so I've been chopping a dish of them to take to my daughter's chickens each time we go over. The ladies are thoroughly enjoying them. As Vermonters, they appreciate what a treat it is to have a fresh garden tomato this late in the year. :)

Here's Mr. B's wheelbarrow full of straw that he used to put our small patch of strawberries to bed for the winter. He's going to make a nice boxed in frame for them, but for now, we have a temporary frame in place with some old boards and cement blocks.

My daughter and her family will be returning home this Saturday. I can't wait. :)

Here is a very fitting verse that I came across this morning in my Bible reading:

"Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence." ~Psalm 140:13 KJV~

Have a wonderful day!

Menu Plan Monday

2007-11-12T14:34:00.000-05:00

I'm STILL trying to get better at planning some menus in advance. I've been told that planning menus really helps keep the grocery budget in line, and with the way prices keep rising at the grocery store, I need all the help I can get.

Laura at Organizing Junkie hosts Menu Plan Monday. Please visit her site to find lots of great menu ideas from the ladies that post there.

Ok, so here are the menus I have in mind for this week. I am not at all a stickler for which day of the week we have these. Just having an idea in mind will be helpful. :)

Breakfasts: Pretty simple--eggs or oatmeal or cold cereal.

Lunches: Since Mr. B and I are usually both at home most of the time, it's easy to grab leftovers, or simply make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I've been making whole wheat bread in the bread machine, so we always have a fresh loaf of that. We buy Polaner 100% fruit spreads to reduce our consumption of sugar. (Polaner spreads are delicious, just in case anyone wonders. You wouldn't know you were eating a spread that didn't contain sugar.)

Suppers:

Monday...Leftover mashed potatoes, hamburg, and corn from last night. (I call this "Faux Shepherd's Pie" because we just mix the three items together on our plate, and add butter, salt and pepper.)

Tuesday...Chicken and veggie stir fry with lots of garlic and onions, and maybe some walnuts and raisins added for interest.

Wednesday...Goulash with cheddar melted on top. (I'll just pull this out of the freezer.)

Thursday...Hamburg patty with two veggies and a scoop of cottage cheese

Friday...Homemade pizza. I'll make pizza dough in the bread machine. I'm thinking that I'll make an extra one and take it to my daughter's house for Saturday. They get back home from Florida late Saturday afternoon, and I'm sure nobody's going to feel like cooking that night.

Saturday and Sunday...Whatever's laying around. :)

So, there you have it.

Oh, I forgot---the goodies category. Let's see, I'm craving a pumpkin pie, so I might go make one of those right now. I might also whip up a batch of Crunchy Fudge Sandwiches to have around. I've never met anybody who didn't like these, and I posted the recipe for them here.

Giving Thanks Monday

2007-11-12T13:13:00.001-05:00

Kelli is hosting a wonderful week of preparing our hearts and homes for Thanksgiving. She has invited everyone to participate by sharing their own decorations, recipes, thankfulness items, etc. Please visit her blog, There's No Place Like Home, for more details.

"Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God has done; Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings, see what God has done." ~from the hymn "Count Your Blessings", words by Johnson Oatman, Jr, Music by Edwin O. Excell

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, one of the first blessings---or I should say, three blessings--I received this year was the Lord's sparing of my father and my two brothers from heart attacks.

Yes, all three of them had heart attacks this summer and fall, all of them two months apart from each other.

I am so thankful to the Lord for allowing them to recover. It was especially touch and go with my father, as he is 77 years old, but after several scary weeks, he does seem to be doing much better.

It is a very pretty day here in Vermont. It's 45, which is quite warm for us at this time of year. I enjoy the beauty of the Lord's creation all year 'round, and love to take photos, even of the mostly-bare trees. :)

We don't have to go take care of my daughter's chickens and pets today, so Mr. B and I are keeping busy with various projects around our home and property. Mr. B is building a wooden box around our strawberry patch today, so that all the little strawberry "runners" stay in their own section this coming spring.

The first decoration I've put up is this wreath on our freshly-painted front door. I think it's a nice touch for fall and Thanksgiving time. It's way too early for me to put up any Christmas decorations, even though I've seen a couple of houses that are already decorated.

Our house is white with black shutters, so it took Mr. B and I awhile to choose a new color for the front door. We finally settled on this "Deep Aubergine". I'm not sure my camera captured it the best, but it's a rich, elegant color, and we really like it. (It was a pain to paint though. Even with the use of the proper base coat, it still took four or five coats of paint before it came out right.)

It's a great background for the wreath. The fun thing about the wreath is that it didn't cost us a cent. Somebody had left it, still in the box and looking brand new, at the recycling center. Mr. B knew I'd like it, so he brought it home for me. I love it when we can be frugal and save something from the landfill, all at the same time.

Remember to visit Kelli's blog to see what all the other ladies are doing to prepare for Thanksgiving.

Have a wonderful day!

Flying By Saturday

2007-11-10T17:51:00.001-05:00

Saturday again already...This month is just FLYING by!

It's crisp and cold here every morning now. There's always a layer of ice to take off the cats' outdoors water bowl and the birds' water bowl under the tree. Our dog sits around shivering until we put his sweater on too. ;-)

Mr. B took some stuff over to the recycling center early this morning, then we headed to my daughter's house to do "chicken duty". They have a big orange cat named "Kringle". He's a real lover, and he sure will be happy when his people get back. He wanted to stay practically wrapped around our legs the whole time we were there today. Only a week to go, Kringle.

Cheryl at Copper's Wife has a very thought-provoking section in today's post about food, meals, meal presentation, and how we can get out of a food rut and make things more attractive when serving family meals.

I need to give some thought to that same thing because I know that we are in a rut here. For some reason, when there are only two of us at the table, it's way too easy not to take the time to make everything nice. It's too easy to load up our plates, then sit in front of the tv or the computer, and not really have a meal time at all. Just gulp and go. This is really not a very good thing.

Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home is going to begin her "Giving Thanks" series on Monday. As creative as Kelli is, I know this series is going to be wonderful. She's invited everyone to take part, so if you're interested, visit her site to read more about it.

The sunset was spectacular tonight, but I guess my camera didn't capture it very well. The sun was very, very orange, and the clouds were lavender, coral, peach. We can see the sunset from our deck every night.
The other day when we were returning from my daughter's, we saw a house already lit up with Christmas candles in every window--and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. I guess some people like to be early.

With that in mind, I had to post this photo that I saw online somewhere the other day. The tree above is made completely of Mountain Dew cans! I read that there are 400 or more Mountain Dew cans. I can't remember which site this was from, but if you Google "Christmas tree made of Mountain Dew cans", you'll see the tree and the instructions to make one yourself--in case you have a lot of time on your hands. ;-)

Show and Tell Friday

2007-11-09T10:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday, everyone! It's a gorgeous November day here in Vermont. It's cool, only 27 degrees when I got up, but it's nearly 40 now, and the sun is shining. Very pretty day.

I'm usually a toast or cereal or doughnuts or coffeecake--or any kind of pastry item--girl, but since I'm trying to avoid flour and sugar right now, I made us scrambled eggs with leftover veggie stirfry added for breakfast this morning. It was delicious and filling.

Mr. B is not trying to avoid bread, and we needed a fresh loaf, so I have a loaf of whole wheat bread in the bread machine right now. I will do my best to ignore it later when it's done!

I've got the dog walked, dishes done, and laundry in. Now I need to get busy working on the books for my neighbor, then doing some new designs for my shop.

Kelli, at There's No Place Like Home, hosts Show and Tell Friday each week. Visit her blog to see all the other Show and Tell posts that others have made.

For my Show and Tell today, I have some photos of my daughter's chickens. We've been going over to care for them while my daughter and her family are in Florida.

This is a very tiny flock, the beginnings of a flock actually. There are five Buff Orpington "ladies", and Thomas, the Buff Orpington rooster. We had tons of chickens on our farm when I was growing up, and I had forgotten about how fun they are to watch.

Above, Thomas and a couple of the ladies peer into their coop. Mr. B was inside, installing a heat lamp and stapling up plastic because it was quite drafty in there. We've been bringing corn cobs, pumpkins, and other treats for the ladies. It looks like we need to rake out what they've picked over before we give them some new treats tomorrow.

Here is Thomas, looking very handsome, as he investigates the pumpkin and other goodies we gave them.

This is one of the sweet little ladies. They are plump, pretty, and seem to be very gentle.

Have a wonderful day!

Gray Tuesday

2007-11-06T16:30:00.001-05:00

Last night the wind blew and blew, and it rained heavily. This morning it was still rainy, but the wind was calm. The skies have been very November gray for most of the day, but the sun has tried to peek out here and there.

Around midmorning, Mr. B and I drove over to my daughter's house to take care of the chickens, the cat, and my grandchildren's hamsters. We made sure everyone had plenty of fresh food and water, and we also checked to make sure that the basement hadn't flooded after all the rain last night. Thankfully, everything was fine.

I've had a bad headache all day, so haven't accomplished a whole lot that I had planned. I have quite a bit of work on my desk to do, but when my head is pounding like this, it's hard to concentrate on bookkeeping. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful Tuesday!

(Journal available here)

Cemetery and Florida Trip

2007-11-03T09:29:00.001-04:00

I probably should have posted these photos on October 31st, but I just barely got them from my camera.
This is one of the older sections in a very large cemetery in our town. If I remember right, this section has graves from the Civil War years, and maybe even earlier. I haven't walked up on that hill in a long time, but Mr. B and I plan to go read some of the markers when we get up there again.
Yesterday the weather turned colder, more normal for here at this time of year. The cats' water bowl on the deck was frozen. That's more like it for the first days of November. There is ice in the bowl again this morning, so it looks like winter won't be too far behind.
I took this photo a few days ago, just because the yellow was SO bright and pretty. The next day, nearly every leaf had fallen from that tree.

Friday morning we saw my daughter and her family off on a two week trip to Florida. They'll be visiting my son in law's family, doing the Disney thing, just enjoying a vacation.

Mr. B and I will be making the twenty minute drive over to my daughter's house to take care of the animals while my daughter's family is on vacation. I have a feeling that we'll be chopping ice out of the chickens' water container this morning when we get there.

Today is going to be busy. Mr. B has already gone to help his son repair something on his vehicle. I've got whole wheat bread in the bread machine, and just took a cinnamon coffee cake out of the oven.

After we come back from my daughter's, I want to iron some of Mr. B's shirts, then I want to add another coat of paint to both our front door and our side door. We're painting the doors a very rich, deep plum, but even with a primer, the paint is extremely transparent and is taking several more coats than we had planned. It's going to look very pretty though.

Time to be on my way...Hope you have a wonderful day!

Germ Killing Tips

2007-10-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

With cold and flu season fast approaching, and with all the different food-borne illnesses we're hearing about these days, here are some excellent tips to help us cut down on daily germs. (See the original article here.)

Soap up! The 12 germiest places in your life

Sure, there are outbreaks of microbes and viruses across the country, but some of these germs are lurking where you least expect them. “Health” magazine senior editor Frances Largeman-Roth pinpoints the 12 germiest places you’re likely to encounter during an average day and devises ways for you to keep clean. After all, the fight is in your hands. Literally. Eighty percent of infections are spread through hand contact. So wash up, people, and get ready to wage a bit of germ warfare of your own:

1. Your kitchen sink

Kitchen sinks are dirtier than most bathrooms. There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in the drain alone. Plus your sponge, basin and faucet handles are crawling with bacteria as well.

Reduce the risk: Clean your kitchen counters and sink with an antibacterial product after preparing or cleansing food, especially raw fruits and vegetables, which carry lots of potential pathogens like salmonella, campylobacter and E. coli. Wash your hands as well with warm, soapy water for 20 seconds (long enough to sing “Happy Birthday”). Sanitize sponges by running them through the dishwasher’s drying cycle, which will kill 99.9 percent of bacteria on them. As for the sink, clean it twice a week with a solution of one tablespoon of chlorine bleach and one quart of water. Scrub the basin, the pour solution down the drain.

2. Airplane bathrooms

It may not be a shock that there are a huge number of germs in most public bathrooms, but experts agree the cramped and overused ones on airplanes are the worst. There are often traces of E. coli or fecal bacteria on the faucets and door handles because it’s hard to wash hands in the tiny sinks. And the volcanic flush of the commode tends to spew particles into the air, coating the floor and walls with whatever had been swirling around in it.

Reduce the risk: Toilet seats are surprisingly clean, but use the paper cover when available. After using the toilet, wash and dry your hands thoroughly, and use a paper towel to handle the toilet seat, lid, tap and doorknob. Put the lid down before you flush. If there’s no lid, turn your back to the toilet while flushing and beat a hasty retreat.

3. A load of wet laundry

Any time you transfer underwear from the washer to the dryer, you’re getting E. coli on your hands. Just one soiled undergarment can spread bacteria to the whole load and machine.

Reduce the risk: Run your washer at 150 degrees (you can check the temperature of your washing-machine water with a candy thermometer) and wash whites with bleach (not the color-safe type; it doesn’t pack the same punch), which kills 99.9 percent of bugs. Transfer wet laundry to the dryer quickly so germs don’t multiply, wash underwear separately (there’s about a gram of feces in every pair of dirty underwear) and dry for at least 45 minutes. Wash your hands after laundering.

4. Public drinking fountains

Drinking fountains are bound to be germy, but school fountains are the worst, with anywhere from 62,000 to 2.7 million bacteria per square inch on the spigot.

Reduce the risk: Send your child to school with plenty of their own beverages and tell them to wash their hands throughout the day.

5. Shopping cart handles

Saliva, bacteria and fecal matter are just a few of the substances found on shopping cart handles. Cart handles rank high on the yuck scale because they’re handled by dozens of people every day and, of course, raw food carries nasty pathogens.

Reduce the risk: Many stores have dispensers with disinfectant wipes near the carts. If your store doesn’t, bring your own wipes and give the handle a quick swab. Or carry along a cart cover like the Grip-Guard or Healthy Handle.

6. ATM buttons

If you’re not careful, you might pick up more than quick cash from your local ATM. These buttons have more gunk on them than most public-bathroom doorknobs! ATMs aren’t frequently cleaned, and are regularly touched — a perfect combination for a lot of germs.

Reduce the risk: Carry an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with you and rub it on hands after visits. Also be sure to do it after you handle paper money, which actually carries quite a few germs, too.

7. Your handbag

Recent studies found that most women’s purses had tens of thousands of bacteria on the bottom and a few were overrun with millions. Another study found bugs like pseudomonas (which can cause eye infections) and skin-infection-causing staphylococcus bacteria, as well as salmonella and E. coli.

Reduce the risk: Instead of slinging your bag on the floor, hang it on a hook whenever possible — especially in public bathrooms — and keep your bag off the kitchen counter. Stick with leather or vinyl purses, which are typically cleaner than cloth.

8. Playgrounds

There’s just no way to put this delicately: Children tend to ooze bodily fluids and then spread them around. When researchers sampled playgrounds, they found blood, mucus, saliva and urine. Pair those findings with the fact that children put their fingers in their mouths and noses more than the rest of us, and it’s easy to understand why Junior (and maybe his mom or dad) has the sniffles.

Reduce the risk: Carry alcohol wipes or hand-sanitizing gel in your purse, and clean everybody’s hands a couple of times during a park visit, especially before snacking. Pick warm sunny days for outdoor play: The sun’s ultraviolet light is actually a very effective disinfectant. Most bugs won’t survive long on surfaces that are hot and dry.

9. Mats and machines at health clubs

Antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus has been found on yoga mats and cardio and resistance machines. At high schools, antibiotic-resistant-staph infections have been transmitted through wrestling mats. The same thing could happen at health clubs.

Reduce the risk: Wipe down machines with antibacterial wipes before working out. Bring your own yoga mat or cover a loaner with your towel. Shower after a workout and soap up your skin to rinse off any bacteria you may have been exposed to, as thorough washing gets rid of antibiotic-resistant staph.

10. Your bathtub

Shocking, but true: The place you go to get clean is quite dirty. A recent study found staphylococcus bacteria, a common cause of serious skin infections, in 26 percent of the tubs tested, as compared with just 6 percent of garbage cans. Tubs typically had more than 100,000 bacteria per square inch! You’re washing germs and viruses off your body and the tub is a fairly moist environment, so bacteria can grow.

Reduce the risk: Once a week, apply a disinfecting cleaner to the tub and actually scrub. Then you need to wash the germs down the drain with water and dry the tub with a clean towel. If you leave the tub wet, germs are more likely to survive. If someone who uses the tub has a skin infection, scrub it afterward with a solution of two tablespoons bleach in one quart of water.

11. Your office phone

This is enough to make you dial 911: Office phones often have more than 25,000 germs per square inch, and your desk, computer keyboard and mouse aren’t far behind. Phones, including cell phones, can be pretty gross because they get coated with germs from your mouth and hands.

Reduce the risk: Simply cleaning your desk, phone and keyboard with a disinfecting wipe once in the middle of the day will kill 99.99 percent of the bacteria and viruses.

12. The hotel-room remote control

What’s the first thing you do when you settle in at a hotel? You grab the remote control and switch on the TV — you, and the hundreds of other guests who’ve stayed there. How dirty is it? A recent study tested various surfaces for the cold virus after a group of sick people had stayed overnight and found the virus on the remote, door handles, light switches, pens and faucet handles.

Reduce the risk: Clean the remote control, phone, clock radio, door handles and light switches with germicidal wipes.

(Graphic available at AllPosters.com)

"Loafing" Around

2007-10-22T19:45:00.000-04:00

Today was another absolutely gorgeous fall day here in Vermont. Sun was shining bright all day; there was a gentle breeze; and the temperature reached 77 degrees.

Two loads of laundry dried on the line in no time.

It won't last though. There are snow showers in our forecast by Saturday.

Today was a little of this, a little of that...Cleaning, straightening up, and putting away things from yesterday. We consider Sundays a day of rest, and don't worry about whether or not certain things get done. Whatever might be left lying around when we get home from church on Sunday will certainly still be there for me to put away on Monday morning. ;-)

I got a chance to play with my "new" bread machine today. Between suggestions from my daughter, and links on The Hillbilly Housewife site, I found that I was able to figure out how the machine worked without having the manual. The Hillbilly Housewife did have an excellent explanation on her site about how to operate most bread machines, even without having a manual available.

I used THIS bread recipe from The Hillbilly Housewife to make my first loaf of bread in the machine.

It was fun watching a loaf of fresh homemade bread appear--without having to do all of the hand mixing and kneading. I've made hundreds of loaves of bread, but this was the EASIEST bread I ever made.

Mr. B sampled the first slice, hot out of the machine, and he declared it "excellent".

I was so tickled with how the bread turned out that I made a batch of pizza dough right after the loaf of bread.

My daughter suggested this recipe for pizza dough, and it was both easy and delicious. One batch of dough made enough for a nice, large pizza for us, with some left over for tomorrow's lunch.

I think this bread machine is going to come in VERY handy in our house. :)

Paula Deen's Green Tomato Cake With Browned Butter Icing

2007-10-21T12:52:00.001-04:00

A few days ago we picked the last of the tomatoes because we were expecting a killing frost. We ended up with a LOT of green tomatoes.

We've got a bunch of green tomatoes laid out in the living room to ripen, and a couple of days ago when I went to pull up the tomato plants, I ended up with another bowl full of green tomatoes that we had missed on the last picking.

Though I absolutely LOVE red tomatoes, I didn't really know much to do with them, except fried green tomatoes, which really don't strike me as something I'd like, so yesterday I went searching around online to see what else I could do with lots of green tomatoes.

I found several ways to use green tomatoes, ranging from relishes and salsa, to green tomato mincemeat. None of these ideas really sounded delicious.

But then I ran across a recipe for Paula Deen's Green Tomato Cake With Browned Butter Icing. Not THAT sounds delicious!

It sounds like it'll be a rich, moist, dense spice cake with butter icing, just right for an autumn dessert.

Paula's recipe is here.

I think I'll bake one this afternoon.

Have a wonderful day!

Mrs. B Recommends

2007-10-20T14:26:00.001-04:00

I had gotten away from using dryer sheets for the past couple of years. At the time, I had been trying to reduce our expenses, and dryer sheets were one item I felt that we could get by without.

However, lately I've been noticing that, without using dryer sheets, there's so much static cling in our clothes that I've been finding my panties stuck inside some of Mr. B's clothes. The other day I found a pair of panties stuck inside one of Mr. B's t-shirts. It would have been really embarrassing if he'd gone out somewhere and a pair of my underwear fell out onto the ground!

So I added dryer sheets to my grocery list again.

Today I was in the store sniffing all the various dryer sheets, and I ran across a new kind I haven't used before, but which really smelled wonderful--Snuggle Purple Fusion dryer sheets.

According to the Snuggle website, the fragrance is a mix of tropical berries, apricot, and a touch of vanilla. If a dryer sheet can be "luscious", these are.

Here are some other ways that you can use your dryer sheets. Some of these I've heard about; others are new to me. I'm definitely going to try some of these, especially dusting with a dryer sheet. (These are just a few ideas. You can read more here.)

Keep your kitchen smelling fresh. Place a Snuggle dryer sheet behind the garbage can, in the back of your cabinets, or behind the kitchen curtains.

Get rid of dust. Snuggle dryer sheets make great dust cloths. They easily wipe away dust and leave a wonderful fragrance behind.

Kick out bad odors. Add a Snuggle dryer sheet to your gym bag and tuck them in your family's shoes.

Remove pet hair. Brush clothing or fabric with a Snuggle dryer sheet to magnetically attract loose hairs.

Prevent static shock on carpets. Mix one capful of Snuggle Ultra liquid into a spray bottle filled with water and spray the carpets.

Make your windows sparkle. Mix 2-3 capfuls of Snuggle Ultra liquid in a gallon of warm water and use a sponge to wipe off water marks and dusty grime. Rinse the sponge frequently. Change the Snuggle solution as needed. Dry windows using a cloth or soft sponge.

Clean glass and Plexiglas tabletops. Mix 1-2 capfuls of Snuggle Ultra liquid in a gallon of lukewarm water and sponge the tabletops. Use a dry cloth to wipe them dry.

Freshen your washing machine. Add a capful of Snuggle Ultra liquid to your washer and run a load without any laundry to dissolve excess soapsuds.

Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a Snuggle dryer sheet before sewing.

Remove old wallpaper. Mix 1-2 capfuls of Snuggle Ultra liquid with one gallon of hot water. Dip a sponge or cloth in the mixture and use it to soak the paper. Wait about 20 minutes then peel it off. Rewet the paper as necessary.

Warm Fall Friday And A Bread Machine

2007-10-19T18:34:00.000-04:00

Phew, you certainly wouldn't know it's getting towards the end of October in Vermont today. It was very warm and humid, getting up to nearly 80 degrees. All the windows that we had closed a week or so ago when we had a few cold days had to be opened up again this morning because I was roasting.

At this time of year around here, you really have to hurry and complete your outdoor chores and projects because it won't be long before it snows. Many years we get our first snow around the 31st of October. The last few years have been extremely mild though, so it might not get cold for awhile yet. Good thing--Mr. B and I still have lots of things on our to-do lists for outside that need to get done.

We got quite a lot done outside today though. Mr. B worked at clearing some clutter that had accumulated around his shop area throughout the summer. While he did that, I worked in the garden (too nice to stay inside), pulling up tomato plants to be burned, collecting the tomato stakes and tomato cages that we had used, gathering Mr. B's garden decor items and storing them away for next year.

I had read on the gardening board at Homesteading Today that we should spread our compost pile on the garden now, instead of waiting for it to break down in the pile. Thanks to
Copper's Wife sharing their experiences with doing this, and how it didn't work out the best, I think we'll just be patient, let the compost pile stay where it is for winter, then see what we end up with in the spring.

A few weeks ago I mentioned to Mr. B that I'd like a bread machine. Until now, I've always made bread by hand, but lately I've started wanting homemade bread without always having to do all the kneading by hand, not to mention cleaning up all the flour mess that always gets all over the counter, etc. I jokingly mentioned to him that if he ever spotted a bread machine at the Recycling Center, please bring it home for me.

Well, wouldn't you know it, this morning when Mr. B went on his weekly trip to the Recycling Center, there was a bread machine!

It's an Oster bread machine, but with no manual, so I'll have to search around online and see if I can find one somewhere. If not, I'll just experiment and see if I can figure it out.

After so many years of making bread by hand, I'll really feel as if I'm "cheating", but I know that I can make bread for a lot less than the nearly four dollars a loaf we're paying for bread right now. I know that my poor, hurting arms and shoulders will thank me for using the bread machine too.

I was tentatively scheduled to take care of my two youngest grandchildren tomorrow while my daughter took her husband out to lunch for his birthday, but they have decided to do a family outing instead, so the children won't be coming tomorrow after all. Maybe I'll get a chance to do some thinning-out and reorganizing in the house instead. That's something I've been wanting to get to, but there's been too much other stuff going on lately. We'll see what happens.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

PS The photos are of the woods near our house where I often enjoy walking. A developer has recently purchased that land, so I'm afraid it may be getting cleared and built on soon. *sob*

Busy Wednesday

2007-10-17T22:04:00.001-04:00

"Busy" seems to be the byword around here lately, which is fine because I enjoy being busy. It was a very nice October day here--temperatures got up to nearly 60 degrees, and the sun peeked out for awhile here and there.

I multi-tasked all day. I did a couple of loads of laundry (even hung one out, though it will probably take a few days to dry at this time of year); did dishes; made our bed and swept the kitchen floor; kept all indoor pets fed, watered, and walked; and made sure the birds and squirrels had plenty of seed too.

I spent a few hours working on my neighbor's books, but wouldn't you know it, as soon as I needed to print, my printer went on the fritz. Haven't figured out what the problem with that is yet.

I had a few dozen corn left to freeze, so I finished that this afternoon. I'm imagining corn chowder, Shepherd's Pie, and even some corn on the cob later this winter. Yum.

Mr. B stayed busy out in the yard, the garden, and his shop today. Our town has "free tire day" at the recycling center this Saturday, so Mr. B is gathering some of the old tires that have accumulated around here over the last couple of years so that we can get rid of them on Saturday.
This is the first year I've seriously tried to keep a compost pile going. I have no idea whether I'm doing it right or not. Here you can see all of the string bean plants and corn husks I've thrown on the pile the last few days. I was reading on a homesteading site that we should spread all of this on our garden now, so that it will be broken down by spring. I'm not sure about that, but Mr. B and I are thinking about trying it.
We had our first frost last night. It wasn't as hard as what we expected--a lot of my flowers are still fine, but these poor sunflowers have seen better days now. The birds and squirrels are still enjoying them though. Whenever I walk around the garden, I see little piles of sunflower petals where they've taken sunflower heads and sat on our garden fence to eat them.

Apple Scotchies

2007-10-17T17:57:00.001-04:00

This weekend I baked a batch of my father's favorite cookies to take to him. These have been his favorite for as long as I can remember. Somebody in the family usually whips up a big batch or two every fall, when it's apple season. The last several years, I've been baking them.
My mother first found the recipe for these cookies years ago on a bag of Nestle's Butterscotch Morsels. I don't remember when this recipe first appeared, but my copy of it is from when I was a young bride, so it's at least 30 years old. I tried to find the recipe on the Nestle's site so that I could link to it, but I couldn't find it.

If you love a very sweet cookie with lots of walnuts, apples, brown sugar, and butterscotch pieces, you'll like these.

APPLE SCOTCH COOKIES (from Nestle's)

1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups chopped apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup butterscotch morsels

Cream together butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and milk; beat well. Mix and sift flour, baking powder, salt and spices; stir into creamed mixture. Stir in apples, walnuts, and butterscotch morsels. Drop by tablespoon onto well-greased baking sheets.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Remove from baking sheets immediately. Cool on racks. Makes about 4 dozen (teeny tiny) or about 2 dozen decent-sized cookies.

Delicious for a fall afternoon snack!

We've Been Busy

2007-10-16T22:11:00.000-04:00

We've been busy.

Over the weekend Mr. B and I helped clear out a shed that's attached to my parents' farmhouse. The shed is old, and was packed with lots and lots of old things, many of those things even older than I am.

It took most of the day, but we got everything moved from the shed. Now the carpenter can come remodel to make a new laundry/sewing room for my mother, then she won't have to go up and down the basement stairs all the time to do laundry. We'll feel more comfortable knowing that everything will be conveniently located on one floor for her now.

Church on Sunday was excellent as usual. After church I took it easy for the afternoon because I still had a headache and allergies from working in the dust in the shed on Saturday.

Yesterday I finished picking the last of our second planting of string beans. There were no more blossoms, so I pulled up the plants as I picked. I tossed the plants on the compost pile and ended up with a large mixing bowl full of string beans to freeze.

When Mr. B got home yesterday afternoon, he went out and picked the rest of the tomatoes, since we are expecting a killing frost tonight. We got nearly a bushel of tomatoes, most of them green, so we put a long table and some shelves in the living room to hold the tomatoes while they ripen. I'll freeze them when they're ready.

Over the weekend we had also ordered 20 dozen corn because my daughter and I both wanted some for our freezers. Mr. B and I delivered my daughter's corn to her yesterday, and she got hers all into the freezer last night.

I've recently started doing some bookkeeping for a local businessman neighbor of ours, and I've been busy with it the last few days, so didn't get a chance to start freezing my corn until this evening. I was very tired when I started, so ended up getting only half of it into the freezer. I hope to finish the rest of it in the morning.

Mr. B and I both have long to-do lists of chores and projects that we want to get done both outside and in the house before winter, so I think we're going to stay very busy for awhile.

I missed posting Menu Plan Monday yesterday, but that's ok because last week I ended up doing only ONE of the suppers I had included in my menu plan. I am really NOT good at sticking to a menu plan, mainly because I have very limited energy, and usually do not have enough left at the end of the day to stand and cook dinner. I'm thinking that instead of a menu, maybe it would work better to cook in the morning, make extra of whatever I'm making, and stock it in the freezer for us to grab in the evenings.

Artwork is "Door Stop" by Neil Faulkner. Available at AllPosters.com

Menu Plan Monday

2007-10-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

Hi, everyone...I've never really done much menu planning, but with the way grocery prices are zooming up these days, I thought I'd attempt it and see if that would help us save money in our grocery budget.

For breakfast this week we'll choose among: eggs, oatmeal, pancakes or waffles, and muffins.

For lunches we'll choose among: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, salad, or left-overs.

Dinners:

Monday: left-over London broil and mashed potatoes from this weekend (will probably nuke a veggie to go with it)
Tuesday: baked potatoes with broccoli and Cheez Whiz sauce poured over the top (I'll add Bacos on top of mine too.)
Wednesday: big tossed salad with a sprinkling of raisins and also some grated very-sharp Cabot (popular Vermont brand) cheddar cheese on top
Thursday: Bush's baked beans and cole slaw
Friday: homemade pepperoni pizza

Fishing With My Grandsons

2007-10-07T19:48:00.000-04:00

Two of my grandsons stayed with us last weekend. It was a gorgeous weekend, and the boys wanted to go fishing. Mr. B was game. I have NEVER gone fishing in my life, so this was a first for me. I don't like looking at worms dangling from hooks, or little fish flopping around, so I have no interest in fishing myself, but I brought my camera along, and got lots of great photos of Mr. B and the boys.
We went to three different places, searching for that "perfect" spot. The fish weren't biting much though. The only thing the boys caught was one little perch, which they released, and one-half of a minnow basket that some other fisherman had lost, lol.

There was lots of laughter, and we all had a great time together.

Beautiful October Sunday

2007-10-07T17:39:00.001-04:00

After a week of high 70s to 80 degrees, it turned much cooler last night. It didn't even hit 60 degrees today. I would be happy to have it in the 60s all year 'round.
Foliage season seems kind of late this year. Our trees have barely started turning.
Here and there, our yard is starting to look more like fall. There are lots of geese leaving the area too. We see many large "v's" flying and honking over our house every day now.

Heart Attack

2007-09-03T21:19:00.000-04:00

My father had a heart attack, and has been in the hospital. He is at home now, still very ill, but at least he is more comfortable in his own home.

Needless to say, blogging has been the last thing on my mind.

Freezing String Beans

2007-08-09T15:13:00.001-04:00

After several days of very hot weather and increased humidity, today we are enjoying a very pleasant, and quite a bit cooler, day. It was only 55 degrees when I got up this morning, and it's still only 71 degrees right now. Very refreshing.

Up until this week, Mr. B and I had been keeping up with our bean picking, but we've had rain twice at the beginning of this week, which prevented us from getting out there to pick when we wanted to.

This batch of beans was very close to the end of production, but I figured we'd get one more picking from them, then we'd pull up the plants so that Mr. B could do a second planting. We've never done a second planting before. The growing season here in Vermont is so short, and we don't know if we'll get more beans before frost, but we're going to try it anyway.

Yesterday we picked the last of the string beans and I pulled up the plants and stacked them in the wheelbarrow, then Mr. B wheeled them over to toss on the compost pile. Mr. B also managed to plant four new rows of string beans before it got too hot to be in the garden.

This morning I froze the last of this crop of string beans. As you can see, because of the rain, there are quite a few beans here that are really too big, but I didn't want to waste them. Even though they won't be as tender as the smaller string beans, I figured we'd still enjoy them in February--and if there are any that are really too tough, we'll give them to the dog because he loves them, tough or tender.

Here are my string beans cooling in the ice water after I blanched them.
Even though this last batch of string beans was small, I still ended up with a nice large bag of beans for the freezer. We'll look forward to these during the winter months. I know they'll be much tastier than the canned string beans we get from the supermarket.
We've been hearing about the triple digit heat indexes in other parts of the country. I hope that all of you are able to spend some time where it's cool, and that you don't over do. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Show & Tell Friday

2007-08-03T13:16:00.001-04:00

Today is Show & Tell Friday, hosted by Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home.

I have a "homestead" type Show & Tell today. This is a photo of the chickens that my daughter got recently.

The handsome fellow in the photo is "Thomas" the rooster. My four year old grandson named him after Thomas the Train, which is one of his favorite characters. *smile*

I'm not sure, but I think Thomas and his ladies are Buff Orpingtons. As you can see, the ladies have had lots of their back feathers plucked. This happened on the large farm where they lived before my daughter got them. Hopefully their feathers will fill back in soon.

The ladies are already laying well, so there are fresh eggs to find each morning. The children have fun watching the chickens scratch for bugs and fluff themselves in the dust. They also like to pick grass and weeds for the chickens to eat, and they take turns tossing in scratch feed for them.

I grew up on a farm, where we had lots of chickens, ducks, and turkeys. It's so nice that my grandchildren are also having the opportunity to grow up around, and care for, farm animals.

To visit others who are participating in Show & Tell, go over to Kelli's blog.

I hope you are having a wonderful Friday wherever you are. We are sweltering here with our second day of 90+ degrees. The thing that makes the heat and humidity more tolerable in August is that now fall won't be far behind!

August Is Coming In Like An Oven!

2007-08-02T14:32:00.001-04:00

I must say, August is coming in like an oven so far! We are expecting 95 degrees today, with increasing humidity. You know it's going to be a warm one when it's 75 degrees before 9am.

Yesterday was right around 90 degrees. It was quite tolerable though, especially since my grandchildren were here all day, and we spent most of the day either sitting under a nice shade tree on the lawn, or dousing each other with cold water from the hose or sprinkler. Yes, even I got thoroughly soaked and cooled off when my grandson poured a small pail of water over me. (We were engaged in "Water Wars" at the time, lol.)

The kids love to use my art supplies, so we took paints and paper and glitter out underneath the tree and ended up having lots of wonderful creations for them to show their mom when she came to pick them up.

Bikes were ridden, and lots of popsicles were eaten. It was a fun day.

This morning Mr. B and I were out in the garden early, trying to get the string beans picked before the heat of the day set in. We got a large soup kettle full today, but there aren't many little beans or blossoms left, so we'll probably get one more picking, then Mr. B will pull up these plants and plant more string beans for fall. We've never done a second planting before, so we'll see how that works out.

I made cucumber sandwiches on whole grain bread for our lunch today. The cukes were from our garden, and the sandwiches were delicious. I'm trying NOT to turn on the stove today unless I absolutely have to. :)

I'm going to just putter around for the rest of the afternoon, then we'll head out to the deck once it starts cooling off a bit. Mr. B brought home some ice cream treats for us. We'll enjoy those as we read and watch the sunset later tonight.

Hope you all are finding good ways to stay cool and comfy on this beautiful summer day!

(Homemaking Journal available here)

Staying Productive In The Heat

2007-07-31T12:49:00.001-04:00

As I visit everyone's blogs, I'm always amazed at how much everybody seems to accomplish, especially during the hottest days, and especially the ladies who live in our hottest states.

I have to wonder, do most of these ladies have central air conditioning in their homes or what? How can they get so much done when it is SO hot and humid? (Of course the ladies with small children still at home have no choice--they HAVE to be productive!)

For those of us whose children are grown, and as we get older ourselves, it can be very tempting to do nothing all day except sit around with a cold drink and a good book. Not saying that there's anything wrong with spending some time in such a delightful way, but I'm thinking that if I did that every time it got uncomfortably hot for me, I'd probably get NOTHING done from June to the first of September! Hmmm...

This was my basic daily routine during July, and it worked out pretty well. I still need to fine tune this for August because there's still a lot I want to get done before fall.

EARLY MORNINGS
Put in a load of laundry; hang outside. Make beds. Do dishes. Sweep/vacuum/mop as needed. Pull weeds or pick whatever's ready in the garden. If there's any cooking to do, do it as early as possible. Run errands or buy groceries when needed. Shut shades and front door to keep sun out.

AFTERNOONS
Work at my desk...Pay bills, write on my blog, design for my shop, etc. Visit blogs and do any other e-mailing or online reading.

EVENINGS
By this time, our house has usually gotten hot, and it feels a bit cooler outside, so Mr. B and I eat supper on the deck. After that, I bring in clothes off the line, water my flowers, little things like that. I also turn on the little air conditioner in our bedroom so that it can cool the room off before we come in for the night. Mr. B usually putters around in the garden or in his shop. After I've gotten everything done for the day, I usually get a big glass of ice water and go back out on the deck to read until the mosquitoes start biting.

Hot August is just about here, and this week is supposed to be a very hot one, so I'll have to wait and see how much I actually manage to get accomplished before it cools down a bit.

I hope the heat is tolerable where you are...Keep cool!

Show And Tell Friday

2007-07-27T10:59:00.001-04:00

Kelli over at There's No Place Like Home hosts Show & Tell Friday each week. If you'd like to join in, check Kelli's blog for details.

My Show & Tell this week is this trio of chipped and rusted old chairs. In our home, it is not ME that finds all the goodies, but Mr. B!

These chairs came from an acquaintance of ours who was just going to throw them on the scrap heap, but Mr. B mentioned that he liked them, so the guy gave them to him instead.

Mr. B had planned to sandblast the chairs last winter so that we could paint them, but he didn't get a chance to do that, so they sat in our backyard over the winter. (Those are pine needles on the chair seats.)

We can't decide whether to paint each chair a bright, whimsical color, which I like, or to go with a more vintage or pastel color scheme. I think they'll be pretty no matter what color we end up painting them.

These chairs can be somewhat expensive to buy individually at vintage or antique shops, so I think Mr. B got an excellent bargain in these. *smile*

Pincushions

2007-07-26T15:16:00.001-04:00

Four Pincushions
Originally uploaded by crafty bean

I haven't done any serious sewing for several years, but lately I've been getting the urge to get my sewing machine out again to make some things.

Since I'm so rusty, I thought I'd start with something simple, like a pincushion. Boy, pincushions have come a long way since the basic ones we used to sew in 4H back in the early 70s.

I really like the pincushions that look like flowers, like the ones in the photo above. I wasn't really sure how to start one of these, so I had to go search for some instructions.

Purlbee has a Very Easy Pincushion tutorial here.

Whipup has some slightly different instructions here.

Tammy has easy instructions here.

Have you ever heard of any of these as pincushion stuffing: sawdust; hair (yuck); dried coffee grounds (yum); uncooked rice; unpopped popcorn; legumes; flax seeds; or tiny pine cones? I hadn't.

I haven't quite decided what kind of a pincushion I'll make first, but if you'd like to get some pincushion inspiration, check out the pincushion pool of photos at Flickr.

And if you would like to make some creative pins to go with your pincushion, try these Shrinky Dink Pins from Wee Wonderfuls.

That oughtta keep us busy for awhile on this sweltering (90 or over here today) summer afternoon.

7/27/2007 Post edited to add: The pincushions in the photo aren't mine. They were made by someone posting as "Crafty Bean" on Flickr. I liked them so much that I blogged her photo directly from Flickr, but the credit to Crafty Bean doesn't show up unless someone clicks on the photo. I just wanted to make sure to give proper credit for the pretty pincushions.

This Shoe Screams Me

2007-07-25T18:33:00.000-04:00

Now, I'm not a shoe lover. I'm probably more of a shoe minimalist. In my closet right now I have two pairs of flats that I wear to church; my completely comfy hiking boots; my sneakers; a pair of heels I bought for an unexpected interview last time I worked outside the home (which are terribly tight, but bought in a hurry for said interview); a pair of fuzzy slippers; and the pink flip flops I bought back in the early 90s that I only wear when the temperature hits 90 or above.

This basic shoe wardrobe has served me well, especially during the last several years, when the styles have tended to be very narrow, pointy toes, weird heels, and just, in general, nothing I would wear.

Then I saw this shoe--can't remember now where I first saw it, but I saved the picture because this shoe screams me! So feminine, and reminds me of some of the shoes we wore in the 70s. (I know, that really dates me.)

I did a search trying to find a place to buy this style online, but I haven't been able to find it yet. If I ever do manage to find it, I'm ordering a pair.

But then again, is 50 too old for a shoe like this? I don't feel quite ready for elastic support hose and orthopedic shoes.

What do you think?

Bounty of Beans

2007-07-24T17:47:00.001-04:00

We were expecting warmer and more humid temperatures later this week, but they seem to have arrived early. It's been very warm and muggy today.

We noticed that string beans were ready for picking again, so while Mr. B was out helping a friend, I picked the beans. Look at all the beans I got from our tiny patch! (I had just picked a few days ago.)

We shared some with my parents, and I have a big pot of them cooking now for our supper. String beans and butter--very simple, and very summery.

We just had an odd thing happen...A young couple came to our door, supposedly selling magazines. The funny thing is, they drove a van that had plates from all the way across the country. They were dressed extremely casually, in shorts, tank tops, and flip flops. They carried no sales materials or order forms with them. They were a bit aggressive in their sales pitch, and at the end, asked Mr. B for some bottled water!

Now, maybe they really were selling magazines, but my internal radar went up immediately. First of all, in this day and age, door to door salespeople should be carrying proper identification, along with pertinent materials from their company. They don't need to be dressed formally, but a bit better than flip flops and tank tops would be more professional. And if they were really representing a magazine company, why would they be sleeping in their van? Wouldn't they have a hotel room? Not to mention, who on earth would go to a stranger's door and ask them for bottled water?

We got their plate number, and I reported it to the police. Perhaps they are legitimate, but you can't be too careful these days.

That was our excitement for the day. Now I'm off to get ready for the bridal shower. While I was in the store picking out a card to go with the gift, I found the perfect gift bag to go with it. Very simple presentation, yet sparkly and elegant.

Nice Weekend and New Week

2007-07-23T13:52:00.001-04:00

What a nice weekend we had. Saturday afternoon Mr. B and I dropped off the chocolate sheet cake I had made for the Vacation Bible School workers' dinner. We also brought ice cream to go along with the cake, but, oops, somebody had told us the wrong time to deliver the food, so we ended up over at church too early. Nobody was there yet, so we couldn't get into the kitchen. We were worried about the ice cream being "soup" before too long, but Mr. B had a great idea: We took a blanket from the back seat of the car, and wrapped the ice cream container in it to insulate it. We didn't have to wait too long before someone came along to open the church, so the ice cream didn't melt after all, and the cake was a hit.

Yesterday we had a potluck/picnic after church as a bit of a celebration at the end of the Vacation Bible School week. Our pastor had reserved a section in our town's recreation park for us, so we were able to have plenty of picnic tables under a shelter. The weather was absolutely gorgeous-sunny, not too hot, just right. The food was delicious, and the fellowship was sweet.

This morning Mr. B picked some red lettuce so that I can make a salad for us. I still haven't figured out a good way to get garden fresh lettuce dry enough that it doesn't make the salad "wet". I'm sure I could buy one of those "salad spinners" they have, but I really don't want one more thing taking up room in my cupboards that I might not use often. Besides, do the salad spinners really work that well?

I usually wash the lettuce, then use up a ton of paper towels trying to dry the leaves. Instead of using so many paper towels, I wondered what would happen if I placed layers of lettuce between clean dish towels to blot? That's what I did with my lettuce this morning, so we'll see what happens.
This is a miniature pink rose that Mr. B gave me for Mother's Day. I didn't know whether or not it would bloom again, but I trimmed it, and it certainly has. Look how pretty it is.

The care stick in the rose container said this rose is good for either outdoors or indoors. Since I usually kill any rose that we plant outdoors, I've been keeping this one on my kitchen window. (Just brought it outside for the photo.)

Do you like the little old-fashioned crock the rose is in? Mr. B brought that home for me one day. Somebody was going to throw it away. It's just right for this mini rose.
I'm invited to a bridal shower for our pastor's oldest daughter tomorrow evening. The bride to be has asked for baking dishes and cooking items, so, being unsure of exactly what she might already have received, I picked up this 8" x 8" glass dish for her because it's such a commonly used size, and if she ends up with more than one, she'll probably still be able to use them both. Along with it, I've wrapped a pretty (and yummy smelling!) jar candle, and I'm going to tuck in a pound of Dunkin' Donuts coffee beans too, since the theme of the shower is coffee.

I need to go pick up a shower card to go with the gift, and I'm still trying to decide how I want to wrap it. I think creative wrapping really adds to a gift by showing thought and care, and you can get really pretty effects without spending lots of money on expensive wrapping paper and ribbon.
One more thing--this weekend I stumbled upon a wonderful blog. I had seen the blog listed on several blog rolls, but for some reason, just hadn't clicked to visit before. All I can say is that you're really missing out if you don't visit Cheryl's blog. Cheryl is a 50-ish grandmother, who is still homeschooling her two youngest sons. Her husband is in law enforcement (thus, the name of her blog). Cheryl has many posts that have given me food for thought, and I've already learned several new things that I want to try in our home as well. I'm reading through Cheryl's archives now because I don't want to miss anything. I'm sure you'll enjoy your visit at Copper's Wife.

Have a great day!

I Never Gave THIS Any Thought Before

2007-07-21T16:17:00.000-04:00

In all my years of homemaking, I never imagined that there might be a "proper" way to fold a fitted sheet! I always just folded them as neatly as I could, then stored them with their matching flat sheet and pillowcases.

Well, there IS at least one proper way to fold a fitted sheet. I happened to be visiting Mrs. U's blog, and found this video about fitted sheet folding there.

I will have to try this later myself. Thanks for the great tip, Mrs. U!

Saturday Doings

2007-07-21T15:17:00.001-04:00

What a gorgeous day it is here in Vermont! It was only in the 50s when I got up this morning, which was fine with me because I needed to turn on my oven to bake a large sheet cake to feed the Vacation Bible School workers tonight.

I wasn't quite sure what to make, so I figured a chocolate cake with homemade buttercream frosting and sprinkles--along with ice cream--would be something most everyone would enjoy.

Now it's close to 80, but not too hot because the humidity is very low. I just went out and picked a small pailful of string beans, and Mr. B found our first cucumber of the season too.

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer Saturday too!

Baking tools image by Karyn Frances Gray at AllPosters.com

First String Beans Today

2007-07-19T11:54:00.001-04:00

We picked our first string beans of the season today. I thought only a handful were ready, but we got this small pail full picked before it started raining.

I told Mr. B this bounty is a result of his hard work and the Lord's blessing.

Now we just have to decide if we want to cook these and eat them with just butter tonight, or if we want to splurge and make potatoes, beans, and cream...Either way, yum!

July Garden

2007-07-17T18:29:00.000-04:00

Mid-July and our garden is looking pretty good so far. (Well, except for the times that Miss Plume has run through the rows of wet string beans, knocking them over and making them get yellow leaves!) The cukes have finally started climbing the fence. I took this photo because I just loved the little curlicue tendril that was sticking off this cucumber plant.

My grandchildren made up a gift basket of garden seedlings for me for Mother's Day this year. The basket contained two Brussels Sprouts plants. They are growing nicely. Mr. B is eager to have some home-grown Brussels Sprouts. Me, I can't wait for tomatoes!

Looks like we'll be having some tomatoes soon...

Mr. B didn't get all the tomatoes tied up as soon as he would have liked, and this poor guy here broke in half this morning when Mr. B was tying him up. The other half of the plant wilted this afternoon. :(

We'll have string beans soon--as long as Miss Plume stays out of them!

String bean plants are loaded with blossoms and tiny string beans. Can't wait for a pot of potatoes, string beans, and cream!

A little more of Mr. B's humor... This little cow sits on the edge of the garden fence.

Will I Bike With Mr. B?

2007-07-12T20:02:00.000-04:00

Boy, this day shot right by. I barely had time to blink. It was one of those days where every time I tried to get something accomplished, the phone would ring, or somebody would be at the door.

It was cooler, though, and really nice. No rain either, for the first time in several days. I'm going to enjoy it because we are due for 90s again next week.

Mr. B repairs and rebuilds bicycles for a hobby, and he's fixed up a real nice bike for me. Only problem is, I haven't ridden in probably twenty years, and I also have some unknown problem with dizziness that comes on at completely unexpected times, so I'm a bit hesitant to just leap on the bike and go for a ride--but I'm going to work up to it. Mr. B would love it if I'd go on rides with him.

(Image by Fabrice De Villeneuve at AllPosters.com)

Ok, I've Just Gotta Know...

2007-07-10T14:39:00.000-04:00

For all you ladies who have homes filled with vintage treasures, collectibles, and such--how on earth do you keep your homes as clean as what they seem from your photos? I've just gotta know...

I visit so many gorgeous blogs, and come away from them fairly DROOLING over the decorating ideas I've seen. Most of these homes aren't staged for a magazine photo shoot, which means "real people" live there--people who must leave junk hanging around, people who don't always pick up after themselves, etc. Yet the photos always look so pretty all through the home. Somebody must be spending a LOT of hours dusting and polishing.

Here's an example: In many of the lovely bedrooms I've seen, mountains of decorative pillows are stacked on the bed. What do you do with those pillows at night, just toss them in a pile on the floor? The only "mountains" stacked on my bed are the pile of cats and a dog which vie for the spot closest to us every night. (Though I must say, on these hot and humid nights, I wouldn't mind tossing a couple of them off the bed--they make me way too hot crowding up against my legs--but I don't, because we love those silly furkids.)

And how about those kitchens? Lots of the blogs show counters that contain all kinds of displays or vignettes. These look wonderful in the photos, but how do you clean your kitchen? Do you have to remove all those little vintage items, one by one, to wipe the counters?

And how about the living rooms, where some ladies have stacks of vintage books, with photos or knick knacks displayed on top of them? Some have numerous old suitcases displayed, or many baskets, or, pretty much, just about any kind of collection you could name.

I love looking at these photos, and at the same time, I keep wondering: how on earth do they keep everything clean? They must spend hours upon hours just dusting and wiping and rearranging---or maybe not...

Up 'til now, I've been more of a minimalist when it comes to decorating, barely anything on the walls, as close to zero knick knacks as I can get, and housecleaning has been pretty quick.

I'd love to hear about how you ladies with the beautifully decorated homes and fabulous collections keep up with everything.

Anyone? Anyone? ;-)

(Image by Peter McGowan)

Lightning and Wild Flowers

2007-07-10T13:16:00.001-04:00

What a lightning show we had last night! A major thunderstorm rolled in just as we were going to bed. Looking out the window, it was as if someone was flicking a light switch on and off, on and off, on and off, constantly, for the duration of the storm. The storm lasted at least an hour, or so it seemed. In the next town over, many trees were blown over, or hit by lightning and split in two.

Today the heat and high humidity has set in. It's supposed to be hot and muggy for the next couple of days. It's easier to stand the heat when you know it's only for a couple of days, and that we're back to 70s right after that.

I can't remember whose blog I was reading, but somebody had made a wildflower arrangement. I loved the idea, and thought I'd try it too. This is what I came up with after taking just a quick walk around our yard.

Next time I do a wildflower arrangement, I'll walk down our road and see what I can find. This kind of a bouquet calls for some nice Queen Ann's Lace, some purple vetch, and whatever other wildflowers are out in July.

This wasn't terrible for a first try, but it really needs a lot more "stuff" to make it complete.

70s Style and Farrah Hair

2007-07-09T15:25:00.001-04:00

I was reading at Queenly Things last month when one of the posts had me laughing. It was all about the wrap pants that were popular during the 70s.

I graduated from high school in 1974, so I loved the 70s, but I'll admit, an awful lot of strange stuff came out of those years.

Take the photo on the left for example. Guys' sideburns really looked like that, and it really was cool to wear the widest possible collars you could find.

And look at the woman. Look at that sweater! The caption says that "Almost 58 percent of American women looked like this in 1974", and I believe it because I had sweaters JUST LIKE THAT! In fact, I had several sweaters like that.

Yup, the hairstyle looks familiar too. We either cut it short, like in the photo, or we wore "Farrah Fawcett hair", with all the layers and wings. I'd try to wear the Farrah hair, but my hair was fine and straight as a stick, so I'd have to stand there with a curling iron (or hot rollers) for an hour, and use half a can of hair spray, then it would still be straight as a nail the minute I stepped out the door.

Those were the days. :)

Muggy Monday

2007-07-09T12:31:00.000-04:00

It's a muggy Monday here in Vermont. A thunderstorm woke me up this morning, and they've kept rumbling through all morning so far.

The latest one just stopped, and it is very muggy now. We're supposed to be getting over the next few days the heat that has plagued the people out West. High 80s and high humidity. Ugh. (But I'm thankful it's not supposed to reach the 90s or 100s--you notice I said "not supposed to". We'll see.)

It was a busy weekend here. On Saturday my two oldest grandsons stayed with us for awhile. My daughter came later to pick them up, after she had gone to go pick up a few chickens they'd been wanting. (By the time she got home with my grandsons, one of the ladies had already laid an egg. Nothing like getting down to business, huh?)

We had a relaxing afternoon after church yesterday. Mr. B puttered around and watched some tv. I spent the afternoon dabbling with collages because I needed something new for my Etsy shop.

With the constant rain and thunderstorms today, I can't do much outside, so I'll multi-task inside instead. Multi-tasking inside means sitting here making stuff for my shops most of the time, but getting up every so often to keep the blood circulating, and to throw in a load of laundry, sweep the floor, make a salad, etc.--whatever makes me feel "productive" in my homemaking tasks too.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!

Stargazer Lilies

2007-07-06T15:04:00.001-04:00

I love Stargazer Lilies, and I have a beautiful clump of them in one of my perennial beds. Well, I should say, I *usually* have a beautiful clump of them in my perennial bed.

This year beetles have gotten to them, and the lilies have been eaten nearly completely away. I don't know what kind of beetles these are, maybe Japanese beetles? My neighbor has put two of those "beetle bags" out near where our properties meet, so I'm wondering if that's the problem.

Whatever it is, I'm sad that I won't see any of the Stargazers this year. I wonder if they will come back next year? Does anyone know?

Happy Independence Day

2007-07-04T12:08:00.001-04:00

Happy Independence Day!
Hope this 4th of July finds you well and safe, and enjoying the day with family, and maybe some friends.

Mr. B is riding on our church's float in our town's Fourth of July parade. I'm here putting the finishing touches on dessert to bring to the cookout after the parade.

The weather is really cooperating today. It's in the high 70s, breezy, comfortable humidity levels. Most years it's beastly hot and humid on the Fourth here, so this is a real treat.

There will be fireworks in our town's recreation park tonight. Mr. B and I live close enough to the park that we can stay home and watch the fireworks from our deck--no scrambling to find a parking place, or sitting in a hot car trying to get a good view.

Hope you all have a lovely day!