Chats

I'm linking up with Patrice over at Everyday Ruralty.

1. When it's time to cut the grass (mow the lawn), who does it?
My husband does it most of the time, we also have an old fashioned mower and the girls will do a little mowing with it. If I mow I'm a mess.
2. If someone gave you $500 to spend and not on yourself, who would you spend it on?
My daughters and if not them-- I'd give some to our church food pantry, La Leche League, pet shelter and my favorite public radio station.
3. Have you ever taken a blogging break or considered taking one?
I've had times where I've never found the time to blog, so I have gaps sometimes not really intentional.
4.Are you bothered by spring allergies or hay fever? If not spring, any other time of the year?
I do have spring allergies but fall is the worst for me.--which is hard for me because I love fall. I quit taking allergy meds years ago so I just deal with the runny nose, sneezing and red eyes.
5. What's new with you?
Not much just running like crazy. The month of May feels like there is something on every night, band concerts, soccer practice, you name it I think I'm there!!!

Pinned It, Made It! Monday

 

picture courtesy of Heather Feather and Food.com 

After hearing about how good the loose meat burgers were that my friend had enjoyed at a local restaurant  I decided to try this recipe.  I did not add the lard, I think I added a pat of butter (maybe- it was last week). I also added another tablespoon of mustard, and used coarse black pepper. We toasted our buns and added the pickle and mustard. My family loved the sandwiches and I will definitively be making  at least once a month.

I'm linking up with Tammy at Country Girl at Home. Check out all the other neat Pinned It projects that are posted.

Nelson Atkins Art Museum

Housed in a separate case, an unfired earthenware sculpture of a Central Asian woman breast-feeding her baby while rousing her camel.

Our Girl Scout troop had a fun Sunday afternoon at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum! It looks like spring has finally arrived in Kansas City at least for a little while, they are forecasting cold weather later this week.

Fort Leavenworth Garage Sale

I love the flag made out of a small pallet on the  porch!

              One of the cannons overlooking the Missouri river.

                 Beautiful tulips lined up the sidewalk.

The buildings on the fort have a lot of character and some of them date back to the 1880's.

Here are a few goodies I picked up this year! We had a lot of fun walking, talking and shopping at the garage sales. I think I'll redo the candle it's too glittery for me.

Barefoot Primitive Giveaway Goodies

I was one of the winners in Debbie of Barefoot Primitives giveaway.  I consider myself lucky because Debbie and I attend the same church so I received my gift in person.

 This is one handy sewing travel kit. When I take a project on the road to work on, I'm always forgetting one thing or another, I know this will make it easier to have it all together.  She included a needlebook, pincushion, a few pins and a couple memory verse cards. Thanks Debbie.

Chats

I'm linking up with Patrice at Everyday Ruralty.

Questions

1. Do you like to drive or be driven?
If my husband is the driver I like to be driven.

2.What's your favorite kind of jam, jelly or preserve?
I love blueberry and black raspberry jam. I don't eat as much as I would like since I've cut out a lot of gluten.

3.Do you have any special plans for this spring or summer?
Not really--just want to get a few projects done around the house

4.Lots of folks are becoming aware of issues with food. There are many articles, books and movies on topics like allergies, GMO, pesticide use, bad or no labeling, over processed food, food from other countries that may not have high standards, and many more topics. What concerns you the most?
We have cut out hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. I would like to be able to afford all organic, but at this time it's not in the budget. We also avoid GMO's and don't buy a lot of processed food. We also try to keep the food dyes to a minimum which isn't always easy. I use to believe that the FDA looked out for us and would never allow certain things or food to be consumed but now I know that's not true, so I try to stay on top of that for our family.
 
5. Do you use nail polish often? Fingers, piggies or both?
When I worked I polished my nails, but now if I polish my nails by the end of the day they would be a mess. So I just do my piggies and usually only in summer.

Cultivate Tour

When I planned this tour, I didn't realize it was Earth Day, I just knew my kids were out of school. We had a fun time at Cultivate. We had a tour and learned all about about what they grow, their CSA (which unfortunately for us is full), where they sell their produce and a ton of other interesting things. Then we helped pull a bed of spinach that had bolted.

That was a long row of spinach but we pulled it all. It was a fun day working in the dirt and an added bonus that it was Earth Day. Did you do anything fun for Earth Day?

Pinned It, Made It! Monday

My sister-in-law asked if I could make a pillowcase for her travel pillow. I used this tutorial so there would be no raw edges. I just measured around the pillow to make sure it would fit, very easy! You should have the coordinating color end piece bigger then what I used. You don't want to know, just know the pulling it through was pretty brutal with the small opening.:-)  

This is the second time I've made these cute headbands. The two pictured above were for a birthday party Amy went too. I was sewing these late at night and when I thought I had one done, I tried to see if it would fit and realized I sewed two back pieces together and they definitively would not fit around anybody's head. So I headed to bed before I could mess them up anymore. The birthday girl will be getting these in the mail.
 
I'm linking up with Tammy at Country Girl at Home.

Knotted Dolls

These twin dolls are now at there new home with twin baby boys, who were born at home. Many wishes of love and happiness to them and their family.


These are one of my favorite gifts to give to new babies. The original pattern used wash clothes but I wanted softer, so I use fleece. I've been thinking about using Minky Dimple Dot next time, just need to get it on sale or with a coupon.

Do you have a favorite gift you make for new babies?

Chats

I'm joining Patrice at Everyday Ruralty today!

Questions
1. Are you part of the back to nature/ecological group or are you more of the mindset "I'll do what I want   and everything will work out in the end"?.
We recycle as much as we can and make all the cleaning supplies we use. We hang our clothes to dry and don't own a dryer much to our daughters dismay. I buy almost all of my clothes from thrift stores or garage sales.  There are other things we do, but that's a start.

2. What's a favorite dinner dish to make?
Favorite fastest is tacos--If my husband is cooking on the grill--steak.

3. What animals have you seen give live birth?
Cats and dogs

4. If you had the opportunity to teach something what would it be?
It would be sewing, crafting, rag quilting, or green cleaning. I already lead meetings for breastfeeding moms, so if I didn't already do that --that would be on my list.

5. What did you love most about school?
The smell of new school supplies, playing with friends, recess and the # 1 thing would be the library. Also coming home to a snack my mom had waiting for us.

Pinned It, Made It! Monday

Last week my plans for dinner was chicken salad but it didn't feel like a chicken salad day, it was a little chilly and a friend had talked about the chicken stew that she had on the stove. I'd been wanting chicken and noodles and it sounded like a good reason to try to make homemade noodles. I of course never follow a recipe all the way. I looked at a lot of different recipes and ended up making this recipe. I added a tablespoon of olive oil to the noodles. I was a little worried after I mixed them up because a couple recipes called for milk or water. The noodles came out and tasted great. I did add a few more spices. This was a recipe my children and husband both liked, so I'll be making this again. I didn't get the noodles rolled as thin as I wanted but they worked. I only used the noodle part of the recipe, I added broth to the pan and used my precooked chicken I had in the freezer along with carrots, onions and garlic. I also want to try gluten free noodles next time.

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole 

This is one of the recipes I looked at but went with this one instead. My changes -- I used chicken I precooked and froze, I also made my own uncanned condensed soup recipe. It smelled wonderful but I didn't get to try since it was for a funeral dinner at church.

This lovely picture is a pan of Congo Bars-- I also made these for a funeral dinner at our church. My mom use to make chocolate chip cookie bars when we were growing up, she also called them blondies. The recipe I used was from Six Sisters' Stuff. The only change I made since I only had one cup of brown sugar was to use 1 cup of white sugar instead of 2 cups of brown sugar.  Yum!

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