Looking Back

Don't know about the rest of the state, but I am ready for warmer weather, so bring it on!

The link I have copied here is to one of my other blogs. I was revisiting some of my older posts and wondering why I cannot get motivated to do all of the wonderful things I use to do. I think this horrible weather plays a big part, as does being cooped up all winter. I have gained a few pounds, and we all know the difference a few pounds can make in regards to how you feel. Hopefully, warmer weather is just around the corner, and we will all get outdoors and get some much needed fresh air and exercise. Until then, you might want to browse through some of my older posts. I may do a bit more of that myself. You never know. I may get motivated sooner than I thought.

http://letmeshowyousawn48.blogspot.com/

The Purple Socks

As I told my neighbor and fellow blogger just this afternoon, I feel we all have at least one"why" tucked away, somewhere in our subconscious. I have many, but the one that comes to my mind tonight is" Why do I feel compelled to save everything. A pair of purple socks is my subject tonight. I have worn this pair of purple socks off and on for about a year now. I know it's been a year, because my Mother passed away a year ago March 12, 2013, and I inherited many of her colorful socks. I wanted them simply because they epitomise "Mom" herself. She loved color and she wore and used it incessantly. In any form possible. If not in her clothing, then she would use colored paint. She painted the sidewalks and the stepping stones, every color in the rainbow. Thus her nickname,The Colorful Cajun. At least, that's the name the Pastor of her church used when referring to Mom. To those who knew her much better,it was "The Ragin' Cajun, which she was equally proud of. 

Tonight, when  I took my purple socks off, I decided it was time to stop wearing them. There was a hole in each heel, which didn't show when I'd wear them, so I continued to do so. Tonight is the night. I must stop wearing them. I took the scissors and cut them down the middle and across the toe, making a square flat piece out of each one.The color was so pretty, and then there was Mom's memory attached to them. How could I possibly throw them away. Well, I didn't. I took them to the serger and hemmed the little square pieces of sock material on all of the raw edges. I WILL find some way to use these pretty little purple square pieces of fabric. Thus, my questions. Why do I do this? Why do I feel so attached to inanimate things? Is it a sickness, or possibly a curse? I suppose I could pay an exorbitant amount to some kind of counselor or head doctor to explain it to me, but knowing me, I'll continue on, asking myself "Why".

Who needs a recipe?

At the last few visits we made to the local auction, we found they were selling produce. Such a great idea. They have been selling some items that most of us can really use, and the prices were right, too. I bought 6 Huge Granny Smith apples. They were selling 3 apples for $1. I got 2 lots. The grapes were heavenly, too, but the subject for my post today is the apples.

I have never been one to stick to a recipe, although we HAD to do so, for most of the latter years I worked for the local school system. I grew up "making do" with what we had on hand and that is a hard thing to overcome, not that I would ever want to. We were very poor, growing up, and hardly ever got "sweets". Most of the sweets we did get came from something I had concocted using whatever we had on hand in the cupboards. Mom always had this one rule that we knew better than to break. We were allowed to make or cook up anything we could find the ingredients for, but it must be eaten. We could not afford to mix up something and toss it out simply because it did not turn out to suit us. We would have to rework it into something that was edible. Whether it meant adding peanut butter, or oatmeal, or sorghum. It had to be made edible. If nothing else, we could make it up into a cake. It is amazing what you can come up with, if you have that rule hanging over your head.

I usually got the job. I don't know if I cooked back then because I enjoyed it, or if I learned to enjoy it later in life, because I had those cooking experiences as a child. nevertheless, I do enjoy experimenting with foods. Today, I decided to try my hand at the apple dumplings or a close attempt with no recipe. Usually, I will hear someone telling what all they used in a recipe, and I can come up with a pretty close dish of my own.

Without hunting up a recipe, I knew I had the Granny Smith apples. That is the type most ladies mention that they were using. An apple is an apple to me, but then I never was much of a connoisseur on apples. I had crescent rolls,  cinnamon and sugar, butter, sugar water (since I had no Sprite), and cream cheese. I don't remember if the others used cream cheese or not, but I love it so I'm tossing it into the mix.  I tossed the diced apples in my sugar and cinnamon mixture then I wrapped one of the crescent rolls around several pieces of the apples, along with a small chunk of cream cheese, and placed the finished product in my casserole dish along with a half stick of melted butter. I sprinkled a little more cinnamon and sugar over the rolls, then poured 1 cup of water mixed thoroughly with one cup of sugar, over the entire dish. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the rolls were brown on top.

It was heavenly. Perfect for a midday snack, especially since Carmen, David, and the Grand children are planning me a Birthday Supper tonight with Cake and Ice Cream.

I got a $10 Starbuck's gift certificate today from my first cousin in Alaska. That would be so nice with my Apple Dumpling snack, but I guess I will have to wait until we go to Louisville in the next few weeks to use the certificate.

Pretty, Useful, Creative,Recycled

I try to take a few minutes each day to work with some of my crafting ideas. Especially since they are what keeps me motivated. I awake most mornings and sometimes throughout the night, with another good idea for a crafting project. If I'm feeling rested enough, I may get up anytime during the night and go down to my craft room in the basement and busy myself with a project until I feel sleepy enough to crawl back into bed once more. Some nights I get so carried away, I don't feel the need to crawl back into bed.  Having a creative mind is a blessing, most of the time, but there are time when I do not agree with that statement. When I am desperate for sleep and I lay there, tossing and turning, trying so hard to fall asleep, but cannot, for thinking of projects I want to undertake as soon as possible. At times like that, it seems more like a curse.

I have made many variations, over the years, of this project mentioned today. I was having trouble falling to sleep a night or two ago, so I got back up and set at my desk and drew up a pattern for a tiny box. Most of us can make a box, but I am forever trying to think up little projects for small children. That seems to be foremost in my mind lately. I do not have natural kids. If I did, I think they would have inherited some of the creativity from myself and other members of my blood kin. Most of my family have no issues with creativity. We can all do any and everything we set our heads to. I suppose it can be learned, but it most definitely is an inherited thing, too.

The project I made here today started out with a home made box (see my pattern).
(1) I cut it out and glued it together.
(2) I used pretty paper to cover it. Some I had made in another recycling project.
(3) I made a ribbon to encircle the box, with a piece of matching fabric.
(4) I put on some lettering. I could have done that in many different ways.
(5) I cut last years calendar into small pieces to fit in the box.(the back of the pages were blank)
(6) I placed a small pencil in with the papers.

Now, I don't want Pop to yell at me again for not having pencil and paper handy by the phone for when he needs to take down a message or a number.

Pop's Run In with John's Cat

 There has been a lot going on around our house in the last couple of weeks. Most of it involves running to and from doctors offices with Pop's finger.  

We attended our Grandson's 9th Birthday Dinner on Monday, January 13th. John had decided, since it was his birthday, therefore his choice on the meal, that he wanted meat loaf for Pop, and chicken and dumplings for himself. Who could refuse either. Especially since we haven't been doing a lot of cooking around our house lately.

While we were all sitting around, visiting, waiting for Carmen to get home from her job at the hospital, Pop began petting Mochie, John's cat, and rubbing his belly. Evidently, he rubbed the wrong spot, and Mochie attacked Pop's hand.

It was a deep bite, and Pop complained a little, but he didn't make a big deal of it, so we went on with our evening. Two days later, on Wednesday, Pop was spending the morning with his two daughter's as he has been doing for awhile. They get together at a restaurant in town, eat and visit, then do the flea market thing, if it's in season and the weather is fitting, then they hit Walmart for a little shopping. Well, by Wednesday, Pop's finger was swollen and red and warmer than usual. He had not complained to me about it, so I was not aware it was that bad. Carmen, being a Nurse Practitioner now, she demanded that he see a doctor at once. When he got home, I called for an appointment for him to see our regular Nurse Practitioner and get her opinion.  She was booked up tight with flu patients so recommended we go to Urgent Care. We did and Pop got a tetanus shot, and some antibiotics.We called our NP and made an appointment to see her, but since Monday was a holiday, she couldn't see him until Tuesday. Carmen could not wait. She got on the phone and made him an appointment with the BIG DOGS in Louisville. Kleinert and Kutz. They are a world renowned team that works on and trains others on hands. So we have been going to and from Louisville over the last week or so. They did surgery on his hand the first day they saw him. We had gone thinking they would just look it over and give us their opinion. They did just that and decided it needed to be lanced. NOW! so they did just that. Our appointment was about 12:30 (noon) and we didn't get home from Louisville until 10 that night. We did stop to eat on the way home, so that took about an hour, but still. It was a long day.

Most of our activities lately have been centered around Pop and his hand. Doctoring it, cleaning it, exercising it. Worrying about it. Let's not forget that. Who knew a cat bite could turn into such an ordeal. John's cat had to be quarantined for 10 days. That turned out to be O K. No rabies. Thank God! But it's a precaution the health department must demand we take. Naturally Mochie was not happy. Since the quarantine and dilemma with Pop's hand, John's cat has had to make a trip to the vet and get his man parts disconnected, among other things. But hopefully he is in good shape now. If only we can say the same for Pop in a few weeks. This hand thing has really been scary and it's not over yet.

Three is not always a crowd.

There are a few terms or tasks that I try to keep in the fore front of my mind  at all times.These are tasks that would definitely make my life and the lives of those around me,much easier. They are tasks that come easily for some, but for others, myself included, it's a constant   struggle.
Some of the tasks I speak of are Organizing,Categorizing, Decluttering,Utilizing,Improvising,Down sizing, to name a few, and there are so many other terms I could list that would follow along these same lines.          You get the picture.

I have mentioned before, that I do not do a lot of shopping. Well, I need to rephrase that. I hardly ever buy new things from traditional shops. Occasionally,I do, but nowhere near the average shopper, by no means. I do buy things, now and then, that I can use in my crafting, but they are usually really cheap or  else I pass them by.Most of my crafting is done from my recycled stash.
I will buy a bulk of supplies if I find a real bargain which I have done on a few occasions.

Once, I bought $15 worth of crochet thread. Twenty or so spools,give or take a few. Some slightly used from, but most were nearly full .Mom was with me that day, and she was always my conscience. I could take one look at her and know if  I should or I shouldn't. That day, she agreed that it was a good deal, so I bought it, since she had done a lot of crocheting in her younger years, and was well aware of how expensive it could be. .That was several years ago, and I have still not utilized the thread to the extent I had planned.

One of my nieces recently asked me to make her some dish washing cloths for her new house, so I have been crocheting several of them lately. I told her that I had regular crochet thread or acrylic yard, but only a roll or two of cotton thread that is normally used for that purpose.So I would make a few cloths from what I had and she could see if any of them suited her. During my crocheting, I decided to double and in some cases, triple my threads to see how it would work for these type of cloths. Wallah! I was elated at the results I got. They were turning out beautifully, so I am in the process of making more, thus using up my thread supply a bit faster. I am so thankful and glad I experimented and came up with this idea. I have been matching up 3 colors and making some really nice cloths. I am so excited over this new found method, I can hardly force  myself put them down when it comes bedtime.

Sleepless Nights

multi-purpose covered pickle jar

Most folks who have followed my blog for awhile, know how I enjoy using things that others would discard, and making something useful and pretty from it. I don't like to make a lot of things that serve no purpose. I suspect that stems from the fact that I, personally, have too many collectibles, just sitting around, looking pretty, but serve no actual purpose. One can only display so many things, then you run out of space to set anything else,needed to function with your daily routine.

The dish cloths and the pin cushions, pictured, are old standbys for sleepless nights, but the little catch all jar is a new project, or shall I say, another version of an older idea. I have used throw away jars in many ways before, but I decided to put a new twist on this one. I have so much fabric,and much of it is not usable in quilting. It's really pretty, but I must find other ways of using it up.

I spoke to a good friend here lately about possibly starting up a crafting session. She and her daughter are burned out on trying to sell their products through various venues, so they are "throwing in the towel". We discussed getting together and making crafts at my house, mostly to use up some of my supplies, and to satisfy our desire for crafting, not necessarily for selling purposes. I usually give most of my crafts as gifts, sooner or later.I have donated many to auctions to raise money for folks who might be down on their luck. That is definitely, satisfying to me. I get the pleasure of making them, and then the satisfaction of knowing I am helping someone in need.

Many of my ideas never get off the ground, but this is one plan I will be working diligently toward accomplishing. I am not making this one of my New Year's Resolutions. They are so hard for me to achieve, but one can only hope that all goes well with my new idea. Only time will tell.

Time for Some Indoor Projects

One of my favorite projects is making tags. These tags are for any and all occasions.They say,
Just "A Little Something" to let you know that you were on my mind today. I put these tiny tags on little hand made gifts that I pass out for various occasions, whether it be for Christmas, Birthdays, or simply a Thinking of you gift. I'll glue a tiny flower on each tag and using a hole punch, make a hole to attach a pretty ribbon. They add a nice personal touch to the gift. I never or hardly ever buy new supplies. Ninety per cent of my supplies are from recyclables and/or yard sales and consignment stores. I use a lot of brown paper from packing in various boxes I receive in the mail,brown paper bags, and even the inner lining from some food products such as sugar. Very little is wasted in my home. I purchased a second hand book lately from Amazon, entitled  The Money Making Secrets of the Amish. There wasn't anything mentioned in that book,that I am not already doing in my household.

This is an example from the free picture site.

Another project I've gotten interested in here lately is making stars from discarded barbed wire. Many folks use rusty wire, but since we have recently purchased several new acres of ground, I have been rounding up lots of new barbed wire that was pushed out with the bulldozers when the land was cleared. While Pop is cutting cedars and firewood, I busy myself gathering anything I might find interesting for use in my crafts. Barbed wire, acorns,walnuts, pine cones,bird nests,etc. Now if I could only find some type of berry that would dry well and go nicely on my barbed wire stars.That may be my next challenge. Coming up with a method for making those berries. They are way too expensive to buy.

I made a couple of stars, but gave them away as gifts before I got to save pictures. The picture above is not my star, but  simply a picture I borrowed from the free picture site on the web.

Hoarders Anonymous Anyone?

Is there such a group as Hoarders Anonymous? You know, like Alcoholics Anonymous. A group to help folks deal with the reasons why and to, hopefully, overcome the desire to collect more and more stuff. I do have a problem with collecting stuff. Not near to the extreme I heard of this weekend, but bad enough that my husband complains about it a lot. Granted, he is going to complain about one of my shortcomings, regardless, so why not let it be this one. For some strange reason, this one is more of a "sore spot" than any of my other shortcomings. The reason "why" is a mystery to me, unless it is the fact that I am ashamed of this fault and have no legitimate excuse, that I am aware of, anyway.I have curtailed my yard sale and flea market and consignment store shopping since Mom's death. What one has to do with the other, I'm not sure, but I have nearly stopped visiting all of those places.

This past week end, we had a family gathering at the nephew's camp site on Rough River, and some of us folks were sitting around the campfire, late in the evening, chatting as we always do.Ultimately,some fool has to bring up hoarding. It seems that topic comes up a lot, and as you might guess, I get to feeling very uncomfortable.

 I am ashamed and embarrassed about my problem, but like every other aspect of my life, I had a good plan, in the beginning. It just never got off the ground. I will be putting this topic at the top of my list for the new year. Hopefully, I will make a little progress in my decluttering and organizing my life and my "stuff". 

Oh, to be a turtle, for awhile anyway!

Time is moving so quickly and it seems there is not enough time in a day to get all of the necessary things done. Not to mention a few things I'd simply like to do for pleasure. My crafts have fallen by the wayside. Not only because of the usual commitments one has to fulfill daily, but life in general, just seems to get in the way.

Pop's ex-wife, the mother of his two daughters, passed away this past month. We have been helping the girls and the two grandchildren to work through that loss. Mostly spending a lot of time doing things with them that we feel might help. We know that grieving is something that everyone must go through, in their own way, but Pop worries they might not be handling it the best, on their own. With my Mom passing this past March, I do understand that it takes time to heal. There's no rushing it,either. Time will help, and not everyone handles death in the same way.

The Grand daughter is into Archery nowadays. She has her first competition tomorrow. All thoughts,preparations, and plans for Christmas must wait. She is a teenager now. We had to wait until 8 PM Sunday night, to celebrate her 13th birthday. Her Mother is now a Nurse Practitioner, and she didn't get off work until 8 o"clock. Hurry up and wait. It seems that's our motto nowadays.

The nurse's husband will be retiring from his job as an EMT as of the last day of 2013.Plans are in the making for him a celebration. He'll have his hands full being Mr. Mom and managing the many apartments and houses they own and rent out. It has been a struggle for him for quite some time, keeping them all maintained and the grass mowed for all. Sounds like he needed to retire long before this.

Then...we have a couple of good friends who will be celebrating 60 years of being married. That is practically unheard of this day and age. We simply must attend.

I still have not finalized my Christmas shopping, nor wrapped the gifts I have purchased, but I did squeeze in enough time to put up a few Christmas decorations.Nothing like I usually put up, but it will have to do.

Does Anyone Ever Get Back to Normal

Normal is a word which I can no longer use to describe my life, but I am trying to get back to something close.  I lost my Mother on March 12 of this year. It's only been one month now, and it still hurts so bad, that I cannot call her or just go by for a visit. I have been busying myself with house and yard chores and even gone fishing a time or two. Something I had never done in my lifetime. Yes. There are a few minutes, now and then, that I can carry on without the pain swelling up inside of me, but just a single thought can bring it all back again. Mom was such a huge part of my world. She and Dad moved away in 1972, to an island down in south Georgia, and they remained there for 27 years. I wrote to Mom quite often, since phone calls were so expensive, and we'd send tapes back and forth, but still it was not like having her close, here in Kentucky, where I could drop by once in awhile. When they finally moved back to Kentucky, Dad was getting along in years and in bad health. That was the main reason they moved back. His family was all buried in Hardin County, and that's where he wanted to be buried, but we had no clue it would be that soon. They purchased a house in 1999 and Dad died in the Fall of 2001.That made it more important that I visit and spend time with Mom as often as possible. She was now alone, and she did not drive. Several of the nine children had abandoned Mom during Dad's dying, and that made it more important that I be there for her. Now, twelve years later, Mom was stricken with Dementia and Alzheimer's. She had already lost most of her eyesight due to Macular Degeneration in both eyes, then with the other two problems, her life as she once knew it was gradually slipping away. It started out slowly. She would loose things that she used all through out the day. Namely, her glasses and her cane. She forgot how to use her appliances. How to operate the TV and such things. She'd hear the phone ring when it really had not rung, but she'd jump up all through the night to answer it anyway. Many times, falling as she did so, since she was loosing the ability to get up and down without help. Many nights, on many occasions, when I'd stay over with her, she'd stir and ask me if I thought we should get the phone. I'd tell her the phone had not rung. She'd get frustrated because she felt she had heard it ring. Then came the pills. She'd worry constantly about it being time to take her pills. She was so afraid she would miss taking her pills. We had already divided her pills up in tiny containers and labeled them for her to know when to take what, but even that got confusing to her. She would nap quite often, and when she would awaken, she would be disoriented about the time, whether it be day or night. Since my one sister, Rita, and I, were left to care for Mom, during the last few months of her life, we now had to make the decision that one of us must stay with her around the clock, at all times. Five of the other children did their usual disappearing act as Mom lay dying. No visits. No calls. No Birthday cards. Nothing. Unless you count the one brief visit from one son, and then two brief visits from a son-in-law, who only came because he was a volunteer as an EMT. Mom would cry and pray, then cry and pray some more. Wondering and questioning us as to why her children were not by her side as she lay dying. This went on for a couple of months, but still, five of the children did not come or even call to see how she was doing. We had a dinner for the two brothers who had been communicating with Mom all along. Then on her birthday, Rita and I tried to make it as pleasant as possible for Mom. She turned 87 on the 30th of January. Still no communications from the five other children. We can only assume the hate that made them behave in such a way when Dad lay dying, had taken over their hearts once more. The sad part is that three of the children live 8 miles away and one live 3 blocks from Mom. What kind of explanation can one give for treating their parents in such a horrible way. Many times you see and hear them speak of God. Whatever God they are using that condones such actions as they have displayed, while their parents lay dying, is not the same God I worship. My God wants us to be respectful, forgiving, loving, compassionate, considerate, empathetic, caring. None of these things described the way they were treating our Mother as she lay dying. I'm sure they will conjure up all sorts of excuses as to why they treated Mom and Dad both in the way they did as they lay dying.
As for myself, although I grieve and miss my Mother every minute of every day, if I had it to do all over, I would spend several more months with her, even if it meant time away from my own home and family all over again ,and I'd  do everything humanly possible to make her life as comfortable and pleasant as I possibly could during her final days. I can truly say that for me and my sister, Rita, No excuse will ever be good enough for what they have done, nor will they convince me that they are Christians.I am hurt and bitter,because of the way they treated our Mother. I may heal, in time, and I may even reach a point where I can forget and forgive them for the pain they caused her,but for now,it hurts too bad,and I can not, so getting back to normal, may be impossible for me.

Happy Birthday to My Daddy In Heaven!

                                           Today was my Daddy's birthday. He was born in 1917.

His troop.

He served our country during World War II.

 Dad and Mom met briefly when Dad was on a two day leave from Camp Polk, Louisiana. He wanted to marry her instantly. She refused, but offered to write to him over the next four years while he served his country.He came home from the war,stopped by his parents home for a brief time,picked up some money his Mother had been saving for him, and went directly to New Iberia, Louisiana to see if Mom was ready to marry him. Of course, she said "Yes", and he and Mom, Bercie Rita Theriot, were married in 1946 immediately after the war ended.They went directly back to Kentucky where they made their life together, until Dad retired in 1972.

He worked as a carpenter, along side his father and brothers for many years. He was a farmer. He became best known for his skills as a bull dozer operator throughout Hardin and the surrounding counties.

He and Mom raised nine children. In 1972,they moved to St. Simon's Island, Georgia.They stayed there and raised the remaining five children, since the four older children had already left home while in Kentucky.

Dad suffered a heart attack in 1996.

He got over the heart attack for the most part, but felt his health was declining, so he and Mom moved back to Kentucky and bought a nice house in 1999. Probably the nicest house they had had throughout their entire married life. He puttered around his garage, repairing lawn mowers for a lot of the local folks. It was nowhere near the work he wanted to do, but his hands were busy, so he was as content to repair mowers as anyone could be at 82 years of age. He contracted a cancer in his chest which was inoperable at his age, and passed away on September 5, 2001, just 3 months short of his goal. His father before him had lived to the ago of 84, and that was daddy's wish, to live as long as had his Father.

Daddy was buried at Mt. Zion Church Cemetery, the same church where he was baptized, along with his father,his brother, myself and my sister, Rita. We were attending Smithersville Baptist Church at the time and their Baptismal pool was not completed at that time, so we used a neighboring church's pool.

I love and miss my Daddy, and will until the end of time and we meet again.

Live Forever

Sedum

Many plants have many different common names and the sedum is no exception. I have always known this plant as a Live Forever. If I've ever wondered where it got that name, I need to wonder no longer. I have been clearing the old growth from my flower beds this last few pretty days, trying to get ahead of the really cold winter days ahead, and maybe even some rain. I had plucked the decomposing stems from the plants, and tossed them in a pile of debris that was waiting to be taken to the woods. With all of the unexpected road blocks that happens in life, the pile of discarded flower debris sat there for a few days.When I finally got back to the task of clearing the debris away, this is what I found.

The dead stems, or so I thought they were dead, had sprouted. So I plucked the sprouts off and will be starting new plants in another location in the yard. Not that I needed more, but I'm a gardener, you know, and I hate to toss any living plant, even if I have millions elsewhere.Happy Gardening!

A New Acquaintance

the front center is my butternut squash

Yes I do have a new found acquaintance and friend, but it is not the people kind. It is a new food. I would have said a vegetable, but the link below, states that is is considered a fruit because of it's seeds.

http://www.wholeliving.com/134734/power-foods-butternut-squash

I have only eaten this squash once that I remember, and it was prepared in a way which did not appeal to me,but this past week, I found myself picking up a couple of Butternut squash in a local Amish store, more out of curiosity than anything else. They were 50 cents a piece. I have cooked one and saved the seeds for next Spring. I love to try new plants in my gardens.

Nevertheless, I cut the squash up into small pieces and boiled it, after cleaning out and saving the seeds. After I boiled it, I was unsure as to what to do with it. At the time, I was eating breakfast, so I experimented with it, by smashing it up to a mush consistency, and incorporating it into my oatmeal. It wasn't bad, but not my favorite way of using it. I had already tried it baked,as it was served up to Pop and myself, years ago,right out of the halved state in which it was baked.I think the server had baked it with butter and maybe salt.That was it. Not the most memorable meal that we have been served, especially since that was IT for the entire meal.Pop told that story for years to come.

Today, I decided to try something different with the remainder of my first butternut squash. It was already boiled, so I proceeded to  peel it and dice it up into tiny pieces. I added some real butter, a little water, salt and sugar, then heated it thoroughly. I was amazed at how good it was.  I will most likely tweak the recipe a bit more as I experiment with it, but so far I am enjoying this recipe. Most likely, I will try a bit of nutmeg or some similar spice, and maybe even a little thickening in the water/butter mixture.It kinda reminds me of parsnips, which I dearly love, but never expect to grow. I will definitely be planting and preserving several of these butternut squash next year.

Wild Turkey (but not bottled kind)

We do have a Wild Turkey Bourbon Distillery here in Kentucky, but that is not the wild turkey I'm speaking of today. I'm referring to the real thing.  A two legged wild turkey. Pop and I nave never cared to kill and eat the wild turkey that raise here in Kentucky. We do eat poultry, but just never thought we cared enough for the wild turkey, to hunt and kill one. We do enjoy watching them raise their young and roam the clover fields and hill sides of our little farm, but that is the extent of our interactions with the turkey.

However.........A good friend dropped by yesterday with a turkey he had just killed. He was determined to share it with us. I agreed to accept a half breast, so he proceeded to clean the turkey on the tail gate of his truck. I thought surely we could use the half breast. That alone was quite a chunk of meat,but before the evening had ended, he had persuaded me to take both leg quarters and the entire breast. What's a person to say when some one gives you a fully cleaned turkey, but Thank You.

I cleaned and soaked the fresh turkey meat for a few hours in salt water while we attended a Halloween function at the auction, then I proceeded to freeze the breast and cook the rest in the crock pot. Now comes the problem of deciding what to do with the cooked turkey meat. I have no problem finding ways that I will eat it. I have Cajun blood, you know, but now Pop is a different story. I'll have to be very creative to get him to eat it,so I'll be thinking of various ways to slip it into his meals in the near future.Wish me luck.

The Last Hurrah!

The weather is slowly but surely getting colder. The sweet pepper plants are still holding on, but I fear, they will not survive the cold temps for too many more nights.I may try to cover them, but even that will not protect them for long.

I planted two sweet pepper plants in one of my new raised beds this gardening season, and I have had an abundance of sweet peppers. I have shared my peppers with a few family members and neighbors since they were so plentiful. I also received many colorful sweet peppers from a good friend, since I only had the green. They were so nice, I have decided that next year, I will be planting a few other types of sweet peppers, other than my usual green sweet peppers. With my own peppers and those obtained from my friend,I was able to freeze approximately 2 gallon of sliced and diced green peppers.

This summer, along with my older step daughter, Rhonda, my sister,Rita, my niece, Cindy, and my niece's son, Braydon,I had an opportunity to visit one of the new Chipotle restaurants in Louisville, Kentucky. The meal was so nice, I have decided to freeze as many peppers as possible, in the future, just to use when I attempt to assemble a similar dish at my home. After the visit to Chipotle's, I had my sister and her daughter over for an experimental meal, Chipotle style. It turned out wonderful, thus I will be using up a lot of sweet peppers in the future. Pop doesn't eat sweet peppers, so I have never grown an abundance of them, before now. I am sure he will not be interested in trying our new dish,so I will plan to serve the new dish only when I have family dropping by. 

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

How many times have I heard those words from my Mother's lips. Very few excuses were acceptable in her eyes, regardless of the situation.

white paper bag

Today, as I was taking my medicine from the bag it came in, I noticed the nice white paper it was made of, and it brought this thought to my mind.

Mom was born in 1926, and times were bad for even the most affluent families. Not only was she poor,but she came from a broken home, abandoned by her father at the age of six or so. Her Mother ended up placing the children in a orphanage of sorts. She was separated from her siblings for quite some time, before being reunited with them again. She endured horrific treatment and conditions before reaching the age where she could finally get a job and take care for herself.

Nevertheless, this bag brings to my mind, the story Mom always told us of her school days,which were very few. She told me near the end of her life, that she had such a hard time with her schooling, they held her over several times. It seems she had grown as tall as the teacher, and was still in the third grade. That's when she dropped out of school, so as not be be made fun of. Since times were so hard, Mom had to do her lessons, many times on brown paper sacks. The teacher would hold her work up for the class to see, and tell them how not having paper was no excuse for not getting their homework. She'd say,"Look at Butch.(that's what everyone called her as a child).She had no paper so she used brown paper bags." Wouldn't it have been wonderful if Mom would have had access to this type of paper bag back then.

Move Over Peter Piper

Peter is not the only one who has been picking peppers. Pop visited a neighbor yesterday in search of a few tomatoes for the table and this is a few of the items he brought home. Pop doesn't eat sweet peppers unless they are cooked up in meatloaf or Spanish Rice. And even then he won't admit that he eats them.

I cleaned and sliced and diced the peppers at 3 o'clock this morning, since I couldn't sleep. I think my nap time has been getting later and later each day, and some days I miss it all together. That must be the reason I cannot get a good night's sleep lately. When I miss my nap totally, that causes me to go to bed earlier. It seems I am getting more and more like Mom every day. She only needed 4 hours of sleep nightly, then she was up and ready to start the new day. I guess taking a nap in the mid afternoon helps to supply us with enough sleep to warrant only 4 hours of night sleep.Whatever works!

I diced and froze about a half gallon freezer bag of the peppers, and saved a few slices for me to munch on with cream cheese. I have read that bright colorful veggies is a great help in warding off cancer. The brighter the colors the better. So I have saved the seeds from all of the various types of peppers in hopes of growing some next Spring.They will be so pretty in my new raised bed.

Patience is not one of my strong suites.

“Waiting and hoping is a hard thing to do when you've already been waiting and hoping for almost as long as you can bear it.” 
― Jenny Nimmo, Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

I have waited so long for a really nice raised bed, and now I am getting impatient to see something growing in it. I couldn't stand it any longer. I went to town today and picked up a few plants, plus I dug a few from my yard, and set them out in my new bed. They won't have long to do much, but hopefully there will be enough time for me to tell if the soil needs adjustments. I love to work with the soil, and you can usually tell by the plants as to whether it needs something more or not. I'm hoping to see these plants fill out nicely before he first frost arrives. With the strange weather we have been having this year, one never knows what to expect.

These two pictures are of a new plant I found today. It is the Trumpet Flower. I believe it is the same family as the Moon Flower I have been growing now for several years. The nursery had it in yellow, and now I am wishing I had bought one of them,too.This flower was so strange, I could not resist bringing it home.

What has happened to Creativity?

 Creativity?  It seems so many folks have lost the ability to be creative. When I was growing up, there was little money to be found for extras like toys. Today, kids feel they must have the latest craze, which in most cases, is a hand held computer or game of some sort. Imagination and creativity are out the window.
I wonder just how many folks take the time to explain to their children that they need to learn to be creative. If one is creative, they will never have time to be bored. You can look around and find something to do or make at any given moment of the day. I only wish I had time to make, and do, and cook all of the great creative ideas that pop into my head every minute of every day.

a ring to hold cords

I really didn't have the time, or so I thought, but I grabbed up an empty paper towel roll and was headed to the garbage can with it, when I got to thinking of all the things one could do with this empty roll. I stopped and pulled out a roll of red duct tape and a pair of scissors and created a little ring holder for my cell phone recharging cord. One can always use such a thing for help in keeping things neat in a drawer. Cords especially.One could find so many uses for such a ring.

This is only a small example of a creative idea,and it's another way of keeping such items out of the landfills and reducing our carbon footprint.

Have you taken the time lately, to sit down with your children or grandchildren and shown them different ways to be creative and reduce their own carbon footprint?

http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/What_Is_the_Average_Carbon_Footprint