Sunday, August 29, 2010

Try this dress on.....



at the Four Star Greenhouse Proven Winners Garden.....

I have 88 pictures on my camera but just a quick hello for today. PJ and Jeff get their dress pictures on first but just wait till you see mine and Barb's.

More about this place later. It is unbelievable. Happy Sunday all of you.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Hello Pumpkins!

Barbara L. sent me this picture for a screensaver. I wrote back and asked where is this place. Many of us would like to go there.

I am off to visit the Golden Girls, Rosie and Joy, for a few days. Have a nice weekend y'all.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

New Annie and Black Cat

Used some of my expensive fabric from Sew Elegant and glued on a fabric candy corn nose. Glue is a dirty word for some dollmakers, but I use it anyway.
From PJ's fabric, this little Annie dressed for Halloween. The cat is painted, but not sanded. I may use glue but I don't use sandpaper.
The cats woke me up early but I got to see the light show as the sun came up over Midge's house. This bush is totally green right now, later on it will be yellow but this morning it was just lit by the beautiful light coming in. It is called Solidago Fireworks. Happy Thursday.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Emma's poke salad and Altie's stewed tomatoes

I had a few tomatoes left over from the salsa so thought I would try my grandmothers stewed tomatoes. Not as good as hers of course....she would open up a jar of canned tomatoes, add some butter and sugar and a slice or two of white bread and cook a few minutes. Mae Utley always made these for me when we had a potluck at the Melvindale church. She was from Kentucky too.....

Later that day one of my neighbors came over and I asked him if he ever had "stewed" tomatoes. He said yes, at a little place in Covington, Kentucky that had the best food he ever tasted.This is the poke salad fruit but if you see any, don't eat it. I think it is poison to us at this stage. But the birds love it.
When my mother, Emma, came to live in Michigan, she complained that there was no poke salad for spring cooking. We transplanted some for her and now it is all over this neighborhood. I always think of her and leave a plant grow for the birds. You can only eat it when it first comes up in the spring. And of course you cook it with bacon grease.

Happy Wednesday everyone, I will have some dolls tomorrow.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

My neighbor, Midge....

Directly behind my garden there is a chain link fence between our yards. We have passed our garden vegetables over this fence for more than 30 years. Midge died early this morning.

A few weeks ago I made fried green tomatoes for us and we watched the Tigers game on TV. She was a faithful fan of all the sports. Charlie liked to go over to see her and would go with me when I was going. She always had candy for us. Good neighbors are a treasure. I will really miss her.

I hope you have a good Saturday, it looks like rain, which we need. And Jordan is on his way back from Iraq!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Amaziing Pancakes

This was John's first pancake breakfast at my house. Charlie has named my pancakes "Amazing" but not to my credit, the recipe is from Land O Lakes.
Messy kitchens are happy ones, mine is delirious. Tyler, Charlie's friend, John and Charlie celebrate breakfast. Recipe below.

Amazing Land O Lakes Pancakes

Mix together, you don't have to sift:
1 cup of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teas salt
2 Tablespoons sugar

Mix together:
3 Tbs. Land O Lakes butter, melted
1 cup real buttermilk
1 egg
Add to dry ingredients. Sometimes you may need to add just a tad more buttermilk for the right thickness. Use a hot griddle lightly greased. Must use bacon grease. So there!

You will never buy Aunt Jemima again.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

New things in the garden...

This tomato is called Black Krim, it has a really good taste, sweet and juicy. I will plant it again.
These are new hollyhocks, Country Romance from Burpee. They are about 4 feet tall, and the foliage looks very nice. That's not true of all hollyhocks, eeww, they mildew. Some of them are maroon but I didn't have any white ones. I'm hoping they will come back next spring. Happy Tuesday.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

She can't spell.....

The Cat says..."after you take a picture of what you make you can find all kinds of flaws. The camera doesn't lie.

For instance, here I am, hanging crooked, with pretty bad embroidering, and she can't even spell Halloween. She who made me, should stop watching Memphis Beat tapes while she is sewing and tend to her business."

This cat has no sense of humor. We're going to a party today for John Michael's second birthday. It is very hot and supposed to rain but we are going to have a good day. I hope you do too.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Designs by Crows Roost Prims



I made these up from some new patterns from Crows Roost Primitives. My favorite is the little fat cat. Mine are not as primitive but I am not so good with the extreme primitive look so mine usually turn out to be semi-prim.

Visit Crows Roost Primitives. She has patterns you will like.

Happy Friday the Thirteenth , I hope it is a day with extra blessings for you.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Us Versus Food

First, the really good stuff. I made some apricot jam from Connie's recipe. Go to the link, I Started Out As a Child. They must be in season, there were plenty of them at Meijers.

Lunch on Wednesday. No Thanks Charlie, I'm not interested.


But I am, the first time all summer, Gramma has taken us to White Castle. She eats way too many tomatoes.

I'm just saying hello today but tomorrow I will show you what I've been making from some Crows Roost Primitives patterns.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

More from Forget-Me-Not....

This is an antique coffee grinder from Germany. I didn't buy it.....yet.
I did buy this....How on earth do you take a picture of a mirror? It's some kind of old door, I really liked it.

I went out in the garden this morning and made our lunch. John and I will have corn, green beans, tomatoes. He will say yum. Happy Tuesday everyone.

Monday, August 9, 2010

The Latest Buzz......

I hope these little girls are not worried about being replaced by zombie dolls. I say this because of the Facebook buzz about the zombie dolls at Allen Park Street Fair.

When we walked through on Saturday we didn't stop to look at them, however I am hearing that they caused quite a stir. It didn't occur to me to take a picture to show you all. I hope no one will be mad at me, and some will thank me.

One person said they were expensive and another person said they went back to buy one and they were sold out. There were several different viewpoints.

I'm sticking with Raggedy Ann.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Color Co-ordination

"People see God everyday, they just don't recognize Him". Pearl Bailey

Saturday, August 7, 2010

We found a new Thrift Store.....

It's at 1093 Fort Street, Lincoln Park (near Outer Drive).

Pink is nice.

Shoes anyone?

All good stuff...

AND....their mission...to raise awareness about suicide and to support families, friends, and survivors who are not exempt by this tragedy. Through public donations, Forget-Me-Not Thrift Store will raise the funds needed to help support those who are impacted by this disaster.

Barb and I met the owner and she was so nice, I hope she doesn't get tired of seeing me. We bought some treasures too. I have more pictures for you later.

Also, we walked the ENTIRE Allen Park Street Fair. Pretty good for two old broads.
I hope you had a great Saturday too.

Friday, August 6, 2010

My New Tree

I saw one of these at The Farm and liked it. Yesterday I got one UPS from Kynda. I don't think it's early at all.

Home Sweet Home....

Just a fuzzy picture of Jordan, our Army guy, that we made from the computer yesterday. He is smiling and so are we, he will be home from Iraq the end of this month. Woo Hoo....

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Move Over, Buca De Beppo

Charlie is cooking Italian. You can see there wasn't much left to take a picture of. We loved it.

Now, the recipe came from one of the bloggers, and if it was yours, please let me know so I can give you credit for this delicious dish. I just jotted the recipe down and didn't take note of where it was posted.

Hope you don't mind if I share it with my friends and family....

Stuffed Shells

A jar of spaghetti sauce
16 oz ricotto cheese
2 eggs
16 oz. mozzarella
parmesan (1/2 cupor more)

He cooked the shells first, made the filling meanwhile. Mix the ricotto, eggs, a handful of the mozzarella and the parmesan.

Rinse the shells in cold water, drain and stuff with the mixture. If it's too runny add a little more of the mozzarella. (He didn't have to.)

Then layer the sauce (top and bottom) and stuffed shells (stuffed side down) and top with the mozzarella that is left. He baked it 30 minutes (foil covered) and uncovered it for about another 10 minutes.

I hope someone will take credit for this recipe, meanwhile I will keep looking for it in the blogs.

Thank you very much.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Out in the Garden....

I really like this flower that Barb gave me but she doesn't remember the name. I did a search on it and the closest I could come was a "Tree Marigold".
One site had a tea that you make from dried leaves and drink it for arthritis. I'm not sure that I would try that.
Along the privacy fence and in front are my black-eyed peas for New Year"s day.
It is a really tall plant. Charlie is five feet tall, so it must be at least six feet. Dave's Garden site says some grow as tall as twenty feet.( Charlie has been raiding the green beans for a snack.)

I think anyone would like this plant, it makes a natural privacy fence and stays upright (which is important to me) and the foliage is nice too. Easy to share from cuttings too. Happy Wednesday all!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Toys R Changing.....

A friend asked me Sunday, how many generations have you raised. My answer would probably be, not nearly enough. I am so thankful I can still contribute and enjoy. I missed babysitting for Judson and Isaac and still think about that and now there's Betsy and Kyle in Kentucky that I will also miss out on. Sometimes I wish we could be everywhere.

Yesterday I was thinking about the toys and how much they have changed. I remember that my own grandmother never called them toys, they were playthings back then. Now they all sing and count and spell and tell you what to do and think. In general I find them no fun at all, except for those little rubber cars with funny faces. We mostly read and color and go outside anyway.

However, this Monday, we found a perfect way to play with the new toys.
First you dump them all out.
Then you sit in the container.

Happy Tuesday everyone, have a blessed day.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Dog and Porch Sitting

It was a weekend just for the girls.......
we watched these yellow butterflies, they were everywhere......
we found some cleomes hiding here.......
and just sat on the porch and looked at their hosta garden..... and no, Dave, Elvis couldn't make it.

I hope all of you had a weekend so nice. Happy late evening Monday.