Chats

           
I'm joining Patrice at Everday Ruralty, for her chats this week.

Questions

1. Have you ever been on a boat? (Motor boat, sail boat, cruise ship, ark, or Good Ship Lollipop)
2. Do you need an alarm to wake up in the morning, or do you wake up naturally? If you have an alarm, tell us what type.
3. Have you ever had a yard sale?
4. Do you like kitchen gadgets? What are some of your favorite?
5. Do you read labels at the grocery store?

Answers

1, I have been on a couple boats. We have a boat down at my in-laws lake house, it's a small one that fits about 6-8 people. We use it for tubing and cruising.
2. I use an alarm on weekdays and not on the weekends. Weekdays I'm usually awake before it goes off, and weekends I sleep a little later.
3. I have had many garage/yard sales. 

4. I like some kitchen gadgets, I try  to not  buy gadgets that have only one purpose. I do love my immersion blender and this old fashioned food chopper that you can only use in cast iron or steel pans. It really gets your meat chopped if partially frozen. I also forgot my garlic press, love it. ( I didn't think I'd be able to fins a picture of the chopper-- I had to find it online.) I would like to add my children do the dishwasher and nobody knows what happened  to our chopper. I hope it shows up soon.    
5. I do read most labels---we try to not eat hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrups and dyes. I also avoid a lot of gluten/wheat products. I'm not gluten free but maybe in the future. I refuse to read the Vanilla Cream Peeps label. I love those and you can only find them around Valentine's Day!!  
 

What did I say about the weather?

 After my post on Monday --the temp was in the 70's, windows open, ceiling fans running. Look what Wednesday brings---It's snowing and blowing out there today. This was our walk to the bus stop this morning.

This pile of rag quilt squares is almost done. I have it sewed together but it needs another row, so I'm working on that. All the sewing should be done by tomorrow and then it's on to the cutting.

Pinned it, Made it! Monday

It's hard to believe it's January today the temperature in Kansas City is 78 degrees, but it will be back to 35 by Wednesday. The windows are open and there is a nice breeze blowing in. I've always heard "If you don't like the weather in Kansas wait 5 minutes", some weeks that is so true. Last summer not so much with that hot, hot summer. I hope you are enjoying a nice day where you are.  

I've been working on these Angry Birds since umh-- December, they kept getting moved to the back burner. I bought enough material to make quite a few besides the ones pictured here. I found this blog with patterns and directions for making all the Angry Birds.
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I also made this wonderful gravy Saturday night. I pinned this recipe  looked at the gravy recipe and the word horseradish leaped out at me, I knew what I was going to do with a few pieces of leftover steak we had in the fridge. I didn't get a picture but let me tell you it was wonderful, well Jim and I thought so-- the two children at home skipped the gravy---they don't know what they missed out on. On the recipe I didn't have lemon, thyme or pan drippings. I used butter in place of the pan drippings, I used Simply Organic's Chophouse Steak seasoning, and black pepper. I also used regular horseradish. Try it- it was wonderful!    

Don't forget to check out Tammy at Country Girl at Home.

Pinned it, Made it! Monday

  My Pinned it, Made it! project is one Kaitlyn and I both worked on. A friend she has known since she was in grade school is getting married and invited us to her bridal shower. She looked up the colors her friend picked out on a gift registry and went from there. Kaitlyn sewed this cute potholder, she pinned this tutorial on pinterest but since our printer is out of ink, she free handed it. I made two tea towels-- I looked for inspiration on pinterest but didn't find exactly what I wanted so I went with just a strip across one towel and three circles (cut to fray a little) sewed together with a button to match. I also made the towels from muslin, I used a tea towel I had on hand to get a good size. We also threw in a cookbook for the bride. It was a fun time, I've known the bride to be's mom for years and use to work with the grandma and great aunt.So it was nice catching up with them.

I also have another project to share. I started this in December of 2011, I was making an ear warmer for Kaitlyn and had it all finished last year except for the button. So finally I was able to fit in to her head and get the button sewed on. Yay for finished projects!!!   

Don't forget to check out Tammy at Country Girl at Home.






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Taco Soup

I've been making this taco soup recipe for years. I couldn't find my original recipe but here is how I make mine. You really can't mess up this recipe.
I use chicken, you can use whatever meat makes you happy. The original recipe used hamburger, I've had it both ways but like the chicken best.

1-2 boneless chicken breast or any chicken you already have on hand. Cook chicken till done. Chunk or shred the chicken.

1 15oz can pinto beans

1 15oz can black beans  

1 cup or a half of a bag frozen corn

2 --15 oz crushed tomatoes

1 12-15 oz tomatoes with chilies

1 pack Ranch dressing or 2 T bulk ranch mix

1 pack taco seasoning or 2 T bulk taco seasoning
2 cups of water
Any other seasoning you like, whatever else you like.
Throw it all together for 15-20 minutes.  I like to add shredded cheese, sour cream and jalapenos to my bowl and eat with tortilla chips.

 Amy playing in the snow --during Christmas break.

This is Callie our oldest cat--she's 11 years old and has been looking it lately. Her favorite place to lay in on my husbands back.  

Chats

                                                         
Tammy over at Country Girl at Home had this on her blog, so I headed over to Everyday Ruralty to find out about joining up.
   QUESTIONS

1. What was your favorite game as a child?
2. Have you ever had your own business? (home business, a shop, Etsy, lemon-aid stand, etc)
3. How's your spelling?
4. How are you about going to the dentist?
5. Do you enjoy board games?

Answers

1. My favorite game as a child, outside would have been kick ball, when I was young it was house, as an older kid I loved Masterpiece, Monopoly, and Life. 

2. I sold Pampered Chef for a couple years but was spending to much money trying to meet the amount you were suppose to sell to stay active. I sell Avon but I don't make any money with it, which is fine with me. One of my goals this year is to open an Etsy store.

3. My spelling is okay, I'm constantly checking it especially when I post on Facebook or my blog.

4. Going to the dentist does not bother me, well except when I have to pay. :-)

5. Not as much as I did when I was a kid. I like card games now but will play board games with my kids. 

  

Pinned It, Made It! Monday

It's that time again for Pinned It, Made It! Monday. I pinned this pin 45 weeks ago and finally made it. A friend gave me a couple pieces of rosemary the other day. I forgot to get a lemon but had an old lime sitting around. I squeezed the juice in the pan with the the vanilla and the rosemary and added water. It smells wonderful even though I don't have slices of lemons in it. I will be growing a rosemary plant this spring and making sure I have lemons on hand next time. If you haven't made this yet, what are you waiting for?? :-) 

I'm linking up with Tammy at Country Girl at Home.    

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Today is also my mom's birthday, she would have been 80 years old. It's hard to believe. Here are some pictures of her when she was younger. I'm not sure what the deal is with the first two pictures, blogger must love me today.

 My mom with her parents.

 My upside down mom!

 At the sewing machine, I remember my mom always sewing something, of course I wasn't born when this picture was taken.

Mom in the middle with her sisters.

Taking the tree down

Taking down the Christmas tree, it seems like nobody else is interested or wants to help, but maybe in a way it's good. As I took the ornaments down this year, I had my prim ornies on the small tree and the bigger tree had kid made ornaments and all the KCAP swap ornaments. I was thinking of the friends who made the ornaments as I placed them in the box.  My prim ornies are made by bloggers who I've met through their blogs, on a prim forum or through a blog swap. I also have a lot of prim Christmas decorations--that I love, it's kind of sad packing them away for the next Christmas. I feel a little guilt for all the Christmas stuff I didn't get out this Christmas. I need to go back through everything and see what needs to find a new home. I know I'm not the only one late to take the tree down, when I'm driving at night I see Christmas light still shining in windows.

Ha-- I wrote this and had to leave to drive one of my daughters to youth group, when I came home, my 6 year old had played Christmas and decorated the small tree with ornaments.  This picture is her handiwork. This Christmas tree was bought one year when I was tree crazed, it's funny, because I looked at the picture and didn't pay attention to the height and whatever else it stated on the box. I pulled this out of the box when I got home and laughed and laughed because it wasn't what I was expecting. I'm thinking of this great bargain I had and that it would be a much fuller tree.  I did keep it and it is a pretty tree. I later found one at the thrift store that was new in the box for $20.

Pinned it, Made it! Monday

Okay, I know Christmas is over but I actually was all ready for Pinned It, Made It--- the Monday before Christmas and Tammy didn't do one. So I'm posting this now.

I always use a different sugar cookie recipe every year, searching for the perfect one.. This year it was this one, Amy did almost all the cookie decorating. It looks like I need to get some Christmas toppings, I think these were from Valentine's Day. I also used the icing recipe on the link for the cookies.

I'm linking up with Tammy at Country Girl at Home.

Happy New Year's

Happy New Year to you! We had a wonderful new years meal at Jim's parents. KC Strip and boiled shrimp along with all sorts of wonderful sides.. We play a fun card game that nobody knows it it's called 65, 56 or something like that, it's fun and takes about an hour to play one game. I hope you have a wonderful new year!