Fower Bed ReDo ...

I've wanted to re do the front flower bed for a long time.  There was one privet that grew exceptionally well, was totally beautiful and completely blocked the water from the sprinkler system from hitting the rest of the bed.  Every time I asked to have it moved, the landscaper who mows and cares for our lawn would find a multitude of reasons why it should not be moved... we can always raise the sprinkler heads... etc... etc..  Well, the sprinkler heads were raised and it still didn't help.  Guess what... that privet is NO LONGER THERE!  

It will take about a month for the bed to fill itself in and look like something other than a mess, but I can wait.  :) 

Son John worked like a Turk all day on Saturday and then we finished up with the mulch on Sunday morning.  Looks a little sparse for a while, but that will change.  :)

John works for Midwestern State University in their horticultural and grounds maintenance department.  He was telling me that an alumnus left a chrysanthemum to the University that was over ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD!  I had no idea they would even live that long!

There will be stepping stones added in a couple of places to make working the bed easier... and stop the walking all over my creeping phlox.. :)  I cannot wait to see it when it is all mature... (telling self to BREATHE... lol)

Do so enjoy having the kids home.. Just seems there is so little time...

Another of the paintings I have done lately...

This is the side view of the house my father's parents lived in when I was small.  My brother and I would spend hours playing on that stump.  I am trying to find a  few pictures of the front of the house... but since my photos were all destroyed first in the tornado in Wichita Falls and then again in a mistaken trip to the trash.. sigh... I have to rely on the goodness of someone else's heart to get them.. :)

The weather is cooling off,  being out during the day is wonderful now.  I'm sure that since that little ditty was said out loud the North Texas weather gods will laugh out loud, snort and bring the temps back into the 90s... but we'll enjoy it while we can... lol

Have a wonderful day... :)

It's Saturday!

Have my youngest son here this weekend.  Even makes the coffee taste better.. if that's possible.. lol We're going to totally re-do the front flowerbed.  It's been quite a mess for the entire year and the fact is ... I'm tired of it!!!  Haven't the faintest idea what it will turn out to be, but it certainly can't be any worse than it is.. 

I don't know if I've mentioned my rash...  I've had it since February of 2014 and it seems quite content to set up housekeeping and stay until it retires.  The only reason I'm mentioning it is that I've totally set aside all the wool and fiber things to see if I can find the culprit that is causing it.  So.. I have taken up watercolors.  

I realize that I will never take the place of Picasso or Michelangelo...lol... but I do enjoy the process. So for the time being this will by my passion.  Not that I won't be doing some knitting or crochet or sewing...  I just won't handle the raw wool for a while.  (She says that and somewhere deep inside a voice is snorking... )  Well, I'll try to stay away from the raw wool... :)  

I had another heart cath a couple of weeks ago... results wonderful.  Dr. says will not have to have another one for years..  Now to work on the bradycardia.. slow heart rate.  I think this definitely is caused by the meds I take for familial tremor but I've tried 2 other meds and they didn't work so this is my last option... I think.  We'll see.. :)

Every year I say the same thing... can't believe how the year has passed so quickly.. but... Here we are at nearly Halloween and the holiday season is upon us once again.  All the heat from the summer will be gone and we'll be complaining about the cold...lol   Personally, I think we just like to complain.  :) 

I suppose I should get busy if I plan on accomplishing anything, so I will just say ... I hope everyone has a wonderful day.  I know I will.. since every day spent with my children is a day worth it's weight in gold.  

Hello Again...

It's been almost a year since I've posted.  Guess facebook just took over my keyboard and refused to let go.  :)   Must say that I have enjoyed it and have found many old friends that I haven't seen or heard from since high school... but... and there is always a "but"...  It seems that facebook is like email or quick phone call.  Once it's done, there's no going back to re-read it unless you want to search back for years.. and then there's no guarantee that you will find that one priceless gem you're looking for.  So I think.. just perhaps... it's time to stop. 

I have been really distressed over the past few months.  I could not get back in to my admin area to post on Mish Mash etc...  When my computer crashed a couple of weeks ago and I had to update to Windows 10 I found that..  (of course)..  all my passwords were gone.  Everything had to be reloaded and updated.  Talk about a chore.. lol  Anyway.. suddenly Google just jumped right up and let me back in.. yayyy

It's been a busy year.  I will try to update a bit as I go along.  Looks like blogspot is having difficulty and will not upload my photo so will try back later..  I'm just happy to be here... :) 


The big blue quilt is finished.. :)  My Aunt Sue quilted it for me on her longarm quilter and must say did a wonderful job.  It's a light, warm, cotton batting quilt and we used it all last winter. 

Home Made Dog Treats... Recipe

I love the flourless Peanut Butter Cookies.  So does my husband.  So do our poodles, Sam and Katie.  It has become almost impossible for us to have them without giving some to the dogs.  Soooo... I decided to come up with a doggy recipe that doesn't have so much sugar in it.

I use the 1 cup peanut butter, 1 egg but I halve the sugar and use only 1/2 cup.  To that I add 1/2 cup flour and enough chicken broth to make a soft cookie dough.  (Believe me.. they are not too worried if I get too much of one thing and not enough of the other..lol )

I first tried making a BIG FLAT SQUARE COOKIE-LIKE THING and cutting it into tiny squares.  It didn't work.  So I got out my cake decorating bags and just didn't put a tip of any kind on it.  It dots out the perfect size tiny cookies onto the cookie sheet.  I bake them at 350° for about 7 to 8 minutes.   The time will vary with individual ovens so just bake until golden brown.  After cooling, I keep them in a gallon size ziploc bag.  They love them.... and we get to eat our own cookies.  :)

Peasant Wheat Bread ... Free Recipe

Beginning in January last year I decided to start cooking.  (Yes, I was already cooking... but I mean "cooking" ).   I came across this recipe for No Knead Bread in some way I can't remember.  I LOVE IT!!  The recipe is at Alexandra Cooks where she has photos for every step.  Her recipe is for regular white bread but she also has hints, tips and other things.  The recipe is on THIS PAGE.

While you're over there, have a look around.  She has some really wonderful recipes!

It's been quite nice the least few days here in North Texas.  Temps in high 50s to mid 70s.  Prior to that we had a truly unseasonable arctic front come through that was seriously out of character for us.  My grandmother always said that "If winter comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb."  We can surely hope so.. :)

Have a wonderful day.

OMG!!! I Actually Got In to My Account!!!

I've been trying for almost a year to find a way to get back in here!  Google kept trying to use a different email addy and wouldn't let me into Blogger!  Yayyy!!  Happy dance!!

This is a Verbena.. I love it.  It made such a beautiful showing this year.  It seems there are so many things to catch up on. 

I think I will begin to print off my blog a month at a time.  I find that when something happens, I blog about it.  Then when I need to remember WHEN that something happened I can go back to my blog to see... :)

It's very cold here today.  Down in the 20s overnight.  It's up to about 42° F right now.  Hopefully will continue with the warming for a couple of days.

I'm so excited to be able to blog I can't decide what to blog..lol   But hang in there with me and I'll come up with something.. :)    Have a wonderful day!

Winter's Blast

It's been very cold and icy for the last several days here in North Texas. They are calling it an arctic blast.  We get them every so many years.  There's lots of staying inside, schools closed, businesses closed.  It's very hard on several of the small businesses here that are trying to make it day by day and this long period of inactivity is putting some in very dire straits.. It's difficult to even imagine the hardships for the people who have no place to go or are caught in their cars and vehicles along the roadsides.  Our heart goes out to them.

The ice began to drop (not snow... ice) on December 5.  Very softly.  As I took this photo there was just the tenderest kiss on my cheek as the tiny drops touched me.  Each spearmint leaf is totally encased in a thin icy sheath .

By sundown the sleet/ice has drifted to 6 inches deep just outside our front door.  It is so strange to see so much white and ice with not one single icicle... The ice fell and the temperatures were so cold that there was no water to drip and form the icicles.. 

This is that small mound of ice the next morning.. December 6.  We cannot get out our front door.. or the back door where another smaller drift of ice has accumulated. 










The streets are covered in a sheet of 2 to 3" of ice.  So is everything as far as a person can see in every direction.  Officials have been begging everyone to stay off the roads.  Vehicles have been piling up all along the main roads and our county (and surrounding counties)  was totally unprepared for a storm of this magnitude.

Today is December 9.  As you can see the drift at the front door has dropped about an inch.  My sweet DH tried yesterday to chop it out some so a person could squeeze between it and the door, but this is solid ice and will require more tools than what we have. (You can bet that will change!  :))

The good news is that the sun is shining today.  And what a glorious sight it is.  The temperatures should remain above freezing for the entire day.  Hopefully most of the ice will be gone by evening.

As for us, we've been toasty and warm.. for which we are extremely thankful. 

Allen Grady Ingram, Jr...

We lost my uncle Allen Ingram, Jr. on November 7, 2013. 
Allen was just younger than my dad by a few years.  He was a warm and loving man who has 2 wonderful daughters and a loving extended family. When we were kids we called him Uncle Bug... until he decided enough was enough.. :)  He will be missed.

Phlubliefitttzzz... :(

I have another blog.  It's called Fabric Follies Two and on it I have put up some free crochet and knit patterns for anyone who would like to use them.  But... I did NOT plan on Lion Brand taking them and calling them their own!  When they took the scarf pattern I sent them an email... this time I won't bother.  These patterns are the most popular on my blog and are listed as mine on Ravelry.  I'm not sure why I am so upset about this, but I am!







On a happier note, I have a new scarf pattern that I put together for one of my sons.  It's a combination pattern scarf using ribbing, long cable and short cable.  It's made from I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby.  It is 100% wool and knits up really well. It should be toasty this coming winter.. :)

The weather here has cooled.. and that's a good thing.  However, I am still having those "personal vacations in the tropics" causing rivers of sweat to cascade from my being every time I walk across the room.  My sweet DH has started wearing long sleeve shirts while I, for the first time, spend most of my time in shorts.. phew  I suppose if it keeps up much longer I will have to make a trip to the Dr. to see what's up with the hormones .. :(

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Have a great day.. :)

Gluten Free Buckwheat Waffles

My sweet DH has diabetes.  In an effort to find something he would enjoy for breakfast and could eat without his sugar skyrocketing, I tried buckwheat.  What a hit!  He loves them. 

Today was a buckwheat waffles day.  I found the recipe at Cooks.com ... here .  I made a few changes to the recipe.. well, not really changes.  I just added some stuff.  I always add 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon allspice and 1 cup chopped pecans.  Sometimes I add 1/2 cup finely chopped apple.  He can eat these and not raise his blood sugar.. sugar free syrup is a must.. :)

The recipe calls for an overnight wait to let the buckwheat thicken.  This is always best.  Today was a hurry up day, so no waiting.  It's a good thing this makes a lot of batter...  now I can let it set for a couple of hours and then make up what is left into waffles for the freezer.  Love those days when no cooking is necessary for breakfast.. sigh  My sweet DH just grabs some out of the freezer and pops them into the toaster.  Great!

The sun is shining out there today.  Guess this may be the day that I have to go clean the mess off the back porch.  I've been putting it off claiming the heat was too bad... then the wind was too bad.. then I was too tired... hmmm  Are we seeing a pattern here?  lol

Have a wonderful day... Hug anyone who will let you and enjoy that sweet warm feeling.. :)