Today's the Day!

All of the negative news about Facebook has had a bit of an impact around our house.  Today is the day that my facebook activities end.  I'm sad.  I love my friends, watching my children's posts and see photos of my grandchildren and great grandchildren.  It is a very difficult thing to give up. 

But..

I would kinda like to keep peace in the household..lol   Enough said.

We have been here in our new home 9 months now and it has been a definite up and down transition.  Old friends have been missed terribly and new friends made.  The roller coaster of "Do you want to move back?" or "Do you want to stay here?" ...  At the age we are now it's not  a surprise.  Change of any kind is a difficult proposition.  But the decision has been made and all is settling into it's proper perspective.  :)

It's almost time again for the "Fairy Ring" of mushrooms that would come after every rain last year.  Have to say I love it...lol   Fairies are one of my favorite things.  :)   I find it curious .. to say the least... that even when the mushrooms are not there, the grass is a bit of a different color inside that ring.  You can still see where it is.. hmm

We took out the old cellar that required a pump to keep the water out.. the water level here is so high that anything underground usually requires a pump.  We put a new cellar into the center of the garage... we don't have to get wet to go to the cellar.. :)   A good thing.  The bad thing.. we had to widen the garage door so both cars could get in without running over it.   Have to say that with tornado season upon us I am tooooo happy to have it. 

Tomorrow... our screened in back porch.  I just know you are enthralled and can't wait to see and hear about it.. roflol  Anyway,  The weather man keeps saying we are in for some rain, but I really have seen nothing more than what our sprinkler system put out.. hmmph .. 

Hello to all my buddies.. sending hugs out to everyone out there.  Hope your Spring is looking wonderful.. :) 

We Are Here...

It's been two months to the day since I arrived to open the doors to our new home for the movers to unload our furniture.  What a whirlwind of activity!  But I can finally say that almost all the boxes are opened and put away...the furniture is in place... and maybe there will be time now for a few crafts and/or exploring the town.  :)

This house is an older one, very large with a wonderful yard that is landscaped.  Crepe myrtles are blooming all around the house and the roses seem to never stop .. :)

This one is a beautiful peach color and has single roses on a short stem.. sadly no fragrance.  I have no idea what the names of these lovely roses are.. any of them.. but what's in a name anyway?  :) 

This one is on a very old vine that is as thick as my wrist at the base.  It has gold roses on one side and creamy white roses on the other.  Beautiful.

As with any older home, there have been a few things that have had to be fixed, mended,replaced or just lived with.. lol  But we love it already.. and Sam and Katie are over the moon with the size of the back yard... so much room to run.. so many new smells.  

But the best thing... the absolute best thing.. is we are only a couple of houses down from daughter Donna.   It's amazing how wonderful it is to look up and see her at the back door, spending an hour or so just visiting at the end of the day... totally makes everything else .. the move, the inconvenience, the plumber, the air conditioner guy, the builders screening in the back porch.. everything.. totally worth it.   

Well.. the heat is beginning to show it's ugly head around here.  So far there has been enough rain to help keep it down a little, but August is here and I'm thinking that will probably end.. sigh

Have a lovely day..  :) 

Bread Box and Milk Jugs..

I love Lehman's Amish Store ... It has everything you would ever want for non-electric "stuff".  My sweet DH found the breadboxes one day and asked if I would like to have one and you can guess what I said.. :)  And I do love it ..

I've been keeping dry milk on hand and making it up as I needed it for years.  Lately.. after the doctor told me I was so deficient in Vitamin D that it was almost nil.. I've been drinking a lot of milk every day.  I started mixing up 2 quarts at a time of the dry milk and adding a little 1/2 and 1/2 to it. The 1/2 and 1/2 adds back the cream and makes the taste so much better.

I guess my sweet DH got tired of constantly moving the pitcher to get to what he needed in the fridge and he asked if I would like some real milk jugs... Blimey.. I didn't even know they made these anymore!   And I do love them!

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm already tired of all the political stuff... sigh   Seems to get worse every 4 years.. sigh again..

Have a wonderful day!  :)

Home Made Bread and Things

 I finally decided to get the food processor out that we bought last year and try to learn to use it.. :)  I found a recipe for whole wheat bread and decided to cut it in half since I didn't think the processor could hold the entire thing at once.  After about an hour watching YouTube videos of how to use it, I gave it a try... and felt entirely silly for putting it off so long.  :)  The results were wonderful..

Went out to check on our Bradford Pear tree in the front yard that was planted last year and stopped to see the pansies.  I don't know how we did it, but it seems that one of them was a different color from all the rest.  And I love it!  I'll wait until it has some more blooms and you can bet at least one or two will be picked to be pressed and kept!  This photo may also become a watercolor painting.  :)





We've had such beautiful weather for almost all winter that I have to pinch myself to remember that Spring is so near.  The temps will be in the 70s for the next couple of days and then possible rain.  :)  I didn't think I would ever welcome rain again after the flooding of last spring.  I'm still not sure about my peach tree in the back yard... Flooded and sat in standing water for a month... May not live but I'm not giving up yet.. :)

Have a wonderful day..

Another Book

It seems that every time I try my hand at making a book I find another "thing" to do.. lol   Anyway, I'm happy with this one even if I had to finish it up in a bit of "around the world" fashion. (If you're from the South, you'll know what that means..lol )

First, I found a recipe for cooked white glue (actually called "book glue" ).  Turns out it's just the same flour and water paste we used as kids with a little sugar and vinegar added and then cooked until thickened.  Here's the recipe I used:

4 tbsp. white flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. vinegar
6 to 8 oz of water

Mix well in a small pan, then bring to a boil over medium heat.  Stir continually until the mixture reaches the thickness you desire.  I put mine into small jelly jars and stored in the refrigerator.  I haven't worked on how to do a hot water bath or something that will allow this to be stored on the shelf for a longer shelf life.

Here's how it ended up...

The pages are regular printer paper that I soaked in hot strong tea, allowed to dry and then ironed.

I have no idea how I will actually use this book.  The truth is that I just enjoy making them.  I don't want a professional looking book... I want my great grandchildren and great great grandchildren to recognize that this book was hand made by me.. :)

Well, it's now late August and coming quickly to Labor Day weekend.  Where does the time go?   This has been a relatively mild summer this year with more summer rain than we've had in the last few years.  Only one burn ban that I know of this year... and that's amazing.. :) 

Hoping your Tuesday is a good one.  Here in North Texas the sweet tea is made and the back porch is calling.. .

Energy Efficieny Testing for Home (and FREE repair)

It's been a good week... with a couple of exceptions...but we won't go there...lol

Did you know that you can call for a free...yes, FREE... test of your home to check for any leaks around the windows, ducts or anywhere and they will be fixed for FREE by the electric company? Wow... at least this is what is happening Texas.

We had ours checked last week and surprisingly it was very good. The inside duct work had to have some work done, but for the most part everything was perfect... imagine that! That is a first for this house...believe me! They close up the outside of the house, open all the inside doors and put a vacuum on the house going outside. While in a vacuum, they check all windows, doors etc... We did not have to leave the house. They checked the attic and around all the heating and air conditioning, even for plumbing holes under the sinks. It's great....

The story is that sometime in the '80s the electric company asked for a big rate increase to be set aside because "things will be very bad in the future and will be used to help when that day comes." It seems that the legislature has now said.."That day is here...get busy!" So, as we were told...we have all paid for this service up front. The money is there and that means the service is free to the consumer. So ... if you haven't had this done, go for it.

PC Back From the Shop

Well, once again Windows was reloaded. DH and I had to share his pc for a day...what a laugh that was. He told me I was like a little kid watching someone else eat..lol

But it's back now ... hopefully all fixed. However, I did find another icon on my users page again... We are hoping it's a Microsoft thing... Terry (our pc guy) is calling to find out and will be calling me back in a bit. So last evening and this morning has been one of re-installing all the programs...ughh... Then trying to find everything in the backup program and bringing it back to useable..