Square Foot Garden

We are headed to the parkway this morning on the Harley's and will hit a few country stores and general stores on the way, if you haven't been in one of the old stores in a while you really should check them out. I have had my eye on a apple corer/peeler tool for a year at the Williams Sanoma store, it runs around $40.00, we have 3 apple trees in the yard but they put out just enough apples to feed the squirrels and birds, Bob got lucky last year and harvested 2 apples!! We live close enough to some great apple orchards that have pick your own area's that I want to try out this year, we love apple butter, apple pies, sliced apples the works so I was thinking the apple tool would be a good investment (love kitchen tools as much as scrapbooking tools). So here is the deal I made a trip to a general store Monday looking for some asparagus plants and low and behold there was the exact same apple tool William Sanoma had for only $22.95, hot diggity dog I scored big!! Not only did I pick up the apple tool I also picked up some great tips and information from the owners on finding asparagus starters.

Pictured here are our square foot gardens, we have added 2 this year to see how it will work, they have been in for 2 weeks now and are growing like weeds, everything looks incredibly healthy except the corn, I have my fingers crossed that the whole square foot garden thing will work, weeding the traditional garden is a pain in the butt.

The roses in the photo are from my Grandmothers yard in Indiana, my Aunt knew how to propagate plants and trees so she had a little of everything from the homestead that she shared with me over the years, we are talking eons ago, I know the original rose bush is much older than I am, so along with everything else this year I want to learn how to graft a plant from this rose for our 2 daughters that bought homes this year, I would love to pass Mamaws roses along. I have a CTMH order due in today so maybe just maybe I can get in the scraproom tonight and play a little I have missed the room so much this spring!!

Real Cherry O

As I was running around trying to get all the weekly errands finished so I could get back home for housework, garden and yard work I ran into a super deal on sweet cherries. They run $6.99 a pound here but the sale had them down to $2.00 a pound, well I loaded up on 20 pounds of them thinking that would be a nice little job for the afternoon then I could get back to my to do list. Needless to say I bite off more than I could chew, I did get the cherries canned but only got around to mowing the front yard. Today I am working double time trying to get everything from yesterdays list done, Bob will be in for the long weekend and we have guests coming is as well this afternoon, the weekend is jambed packed full of holiday stuff to do and I have Tyler for the day. Tyler is wound up tighter than a spring knowing Papaw is on his way home so it is a very challenging day. I need to be showered, dressed and ready to enjoy Bike Night for supper out at the track by 6:00, then we will head to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a day of riding on Friday. I need to learn to pass up sales no matter how good they are!! But you must admit my cherries look pretty good and will be dynamite in breads, cobblers and pies this winter. I really could use an additional 20 pounds of cherries to have enough to last all winter but I will have to see how the long weekend goes, I am not ready to take on another marathon canning right now.

Today

WooHoo, my Hydrangea bush's are doing great this year, the blooms are huge so I should be able to refresh all of the arrangements around the house that are looking pretty dusty.

I was able to finish the nursery art for Kelli yesterday so I am officially done with my part of the nursery. Tyler took a good long nap which gave me time to do a little housework, finish the pictures, and start the "Splendor" workshops on the go, it is such a cute kit, can't wait to find the right pictures to use on the layouts today. I have a ton of yard work to do today and of course the garden is always on the list along with a few errands.

I am very close to hitting the buy button on a dehydrator but haven't taken the plunge yet, I really don't mind canning and I get pumped when I see all the cans lined up on the shelves but they take up so much space that I have been thinking a dehydrator might be a good option to help with storage and prepackaging my own soups and mixes has a real appeal to me, I can't eat most of the prepackaged side dishes and meals at the grocery store, the food additives do a number on me and the rest of the family don't need all the extras that none of us can even pronounce in the package soooo I am gonna kick the idea around for a few more days. I wish they weren't so darn big, I hate trying to store all the big appliances that only get used a few times a year. Off to the garden now, I will post some layouts from the "Splendor" workshop tomorrow

"Cherry" O Recipe Box

Finally found a few minutes to post photo's of the recipe box, however the recipe cards did not come in on Monday's shipment so I will have to share that with you later. This was a fast easy and inexpensive project that would make a great gift. I used 2 pieces of pattern paper from the "Cherry O" line, a leftover button from the "Cherry O" wotg, the stamping on the front is also from the wotg stamp set. What a deal, you can get a lot of bang for your buck with the wotg kits. I inked all of the edges of the box in tulip before adhering the paper, I gave the box a couple of days to set then finished it off with 2 coats of Mod Podge. I am a super messy cook, and we are true southerners so lots of frying goes on in the kitchen, I wanted to give the box a nice layer of protection from the kitchen elements.

We had our new mattress and box springs delivered this morning, YAAAA it has been 14 years since Bob and I had a new mattress, that seems a little gross but it was in perfect shape when they took it out other than the deep wells we had worn in it over the years, even with turning and flipping we were both stiff each morning, we definitely got our money out of the old mattress.

Also installed 2 new stainless steel shelving units in the laundry room yesterday, I HATE building!!! I loaded both of them up with canning supplies, cast iron and more Williams Sonoma baking dishes than anyone should have. I now have lots more room in the pantry and a full 5' x 5 shelving unit in the laundry room to hold all the caning jars I am working on this summer.

Working on Kelli's art for the nursery, have my fingers crossed I can get it finished today, her book case should also be in today so the babies room will FINALLY be done!!! One baby down one more to go, Heather and Shannon will move in their new house the second week of June so I am sure she will keep me busy nesting before the baby comes along.

Short Post

I promised an altered project to be posted today and I will do that as soon as the sun comes out and I can get a good photo to post, we are having a cloudy overcast morning so for now I will entertain you with a few picture of my other creations from the garden!! We have more lettuce than we can use so I have been cutting and bagging that to give to friends this morning, also bringing in broccoli to put up in the freezer and the 2 square foot gardens we put in last week are both doing great, only took 3 days for the little sprouts to come in, WOO HOO, we now have our fingers crossed that they will really give use vegetables and not just cute little sprouts. I am off today to the garden center to pick up and additional raspberry bush and a few more tomato plants and who knows what else, then on to the grocery store to stock up on tenderloins that are on sale. Gotta make sweet with the butcher so he will cut it all up for me then I will only have to use my food saver to package and get it in the freezer, we are down to our last package of steaks so the sale came at a perfect time. Last but not least another grocery store is running triple coupons today, just typing the words triple coupons has my heart beating faster. I will post the so very cute scrapbooking project a little later today, need to hit the road and get the errands finished before the rain comes in.

NASCAR Tailgating

Tyler's a true Southern boy, tailgating in the back of a pick up with a lawn chair, gotta love it!!

Saturday was our annual NASCAR All-Star tailgate/race day. We didn't have as many folks as in the past and didn't play as many games since the field had tons more campers than in the past but it was still a fun day with way more food than any of us could ever eat, I will be throwing out and cleaning up lots of covered dishes today. What a waste, I always make too much food, normally that's not a problem I LOVE leftovers (food or scrapbook supplies) but with the heat and flies there is no way I am gonna use the leftovers from tailgating. This year I didn't attend the race, I decided to stay back with both prego daughters and Tyler, we had a Mom daughter trip to Babies R Us planned, had hoped to finish up Kelli's nursery and last minute baby needs.

We are having a nightmare of a time finding the baby a dresser/changing table, the girls buy (Mom/Me) regular furniture for the babies rooms so when they are ready to come out of the crib they will only need to purchase a bed. Kelli is doing black furniture which is so cool, very versatile no matter what look she wants to go with later, the problem has been everything she sees at the baby store has to be ordered, then they tell us sorry but it is back ordered and we can't order right now, when we continue to check back they say the same thing, then low and behold they tell us oop's sorry that has been discontinued UGHHHH. Baby girl Hines is due in 6 short weeks, we have no time for the baby stores craziness so we hit the furniture stores all afternoon, didn't stop until 10:00 PM last night, so much for a fun evening!! We ran into the same problem at ever store we went to, they were out of stock, not sure when they could order again or if they could order again, had one store who was willing to sell us the floor model but they would only give us 10% off and the piece had lots of scratches, now here is the really crazy part, the store was having a 25% off store wide sale so I checked with the salesgirl to make sure the price would be 35% off right? 25% store wide sale 10% off floor sample, nope only 10% off, WHAT is that all about. Heather is running into the same problem ordering furniture for the new house, she is at it every night after work and every weekend, they had thought by now they would have everything ordered and ready for delivery at the new house the week they move in. Not sure what is up with furniture right but it seems like the manufactures have made so many cuts to the workforce that they can't fill orders and are afraid to do rehires yet, in the meantime baby girl Hines needs her room finished. I have my fingers crossed, we made a call to a store in one of the small towns around us that has a dresser she wants, he has one floor sample and is willing to sell it to us at a good price so I am off this morning as soon as the doors open to hopefully make the deal happen. Some really odd things are happening in the consumer wold, makes me wonder what the heck is going on. Sorry for ranting and raving today, just tired and frustrated to no end, I need to get back in the garden and play in the cow poop!!

On The Run Friday

Here is a quick easy card using what else but leftovers, most is from the "Cherry O" Wotg but the chipboard is from the "Caboddle" Wotg, can't say enough how much I love these kits, they give you a real bang for your buck!! On Monday I will post a super cute altered project that I worked on yesterday, I am not much into the whole altered stuff or Mini albums. I think I have done so many workshops and classes with Mini albums that I am just over them, I have baskets that are overflowing with them that rarely get touched. I would much rather spend my time and money on scrapbook pages for our family.

I have tons of errands to get done today that I put off from Wednesday, I HATE doing errands on Friday. In our area so many people are off on Friday that the traffic is crazy add to that we have the NASCAR All-Star race Saturday and next week is the Coca-Cola 600, thousands and thousands folks come in for the full 10 days of NASCAR fun. Don't get me wrong we love NASCAR as a sport and the local drivers are wonderful folks the vast majority are just that regular folks who do so much for the community but the traffic is a nightmare, note to self next week get errands done on Wednesday no matter how bad the garden looks. I then need to get busy on a couple of covered dishes to take to the tailgating party at the race tomorrow, pack all the race necessities, load up tables, chairs, tent, cooler, football, wuffleball and on and on the list goes. This will be the first year I won't be attending the race, just going to the tailgate party then back home, over the past year and a half I have really watched my lifestyle and food intake, I have finally gotten my medication down to half of what it use to be YA ME!! The noise at the track is always a problem for me it takes days to get my head cleared up and just doesn't seem worth the possible side effects. Kelli is far to prego to be fighting the crowds, Heather is also prego as well as Tyler is to young to go to the races yet. We might just stop off at Babies R Us for a little Mommy and me time I know that will cost me a pretty penny but new babies are worth it!! Have a great weekend and check back on Monday to see a super cute project you will love and would be a great gift giving idea I am thinking Birthdays, Wedding showers, Christmas gifts, it is never to early to get started!!