Happy Jack

High Rock Lake, Lexington, North Carolina

Jack like to fish...look at that face.

Then all of a sudden everybody likes to fish.

Happy Jack

I thought I must share some pictures from our outstanding Labor Day weekend. 

As  you can see there was a great time to be had hanging out at the lake with family and friends.

Everything has been in quite a whirl since Saturday. 

A very intense rain storm that came in Saturday evening knocking out our phone (completely),

 the washing machine giving up the ghost(disastrous),

and daughters cell phone out of commission(she thought disastrous).

In times like these remind yourself 

All things work together for them that love the Lord.

They truly do!

I'm officially back on track. 

Yesterday, the old man got off work early and came home with a new washing machine.

Today, the telephone company showed up...finally.

and...

various other things have fallen into their place

and I tell ya' the radio has been playing all the right songs.

                              

Ah...thanks for the visit.

Be Blessed 

and

Be a Blessing!

Butterick 4025~Wrap-and-Go Skirt

How many gals out there remember this skirt?

Yes... the old Wrap Around Skirt.

I had one and it was a popular skirt back in the day. Probably because of it's basic simplicity. A few months back this skirt pattern crossed my mind and I thought I wanted one. My mama had lost her pattern along the way and I'd looked in various on-line shops thinking I would come across it but I didn't.

What I did find was the pattern. 

Yeah..for our side!!

So in about 3 hours, I had the coffee pot on, machine out and I was cutting my pattern out. 

I remember my skirt as a girl being made of a heavier cotton or denim type material but I thought to go with a more light and floral material would have a better look at least for a summer skirt. I am also a short person 5' 1" so even the shorter length version of this was going to be quite long.

So, I shortened the length to hit me just above the knee.

(being short is a great reason to take up sewing)

The most involved part of this sewing pattern is one button hole. 

This is just to run your belt through. There's not even a button required.

Wham..Bam..

I was done.

My daughter give a hard look at first .

 I had to reassure her it wouldn't look like an apron after it was wrapped and on.

For me, not even a worry over my waistline; 

totally adjustable...

I would have thought to show a tutorial but when sewing with a Butterick or Simplicity pattern the instruction are extremely clear. 

And as always

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I've been up to.

Wishing you a very

BLESSED DAY! 

My Cup Runneth Over and My Bucket, Too

I was over for a visit with my Mama yesterday and I came home with a bucket full of various trees, bulbs, and flower slips.

This is nothing new to me this is mostly how I garden. I'm not overly educated in horticulture; I tend to keep try this or that until I get a nice result or something that appeals to me.

For some folks, I know this is a highly disturbing way to garden. I do read post and look at a lot of gardening magazines and I do try and buy but usually I come right back to my usual method.

I receive more joy and knowledge walking around with Mama than I could ever gather from a book. My Mama is simply beauty at it's best. Although if I were to try and take a picture of her for this post or really any other reason she would surely be balking. With a cup of coffee in hand she can walk around and name every tree, shrub, and bloom there is and tell you the bird that belongs to the song that is floating on the breeze. 

but...

I bet you're really wondering what in my bucket...right?

Well, there's two holly trees that I've been begging to be saved for me, two black walnut tree's( I have no idea where I can put them I already have a few scattered around),  some bulbs that a lady from Mama's church shared with her(not quite sure what they will be the lady told Mama they were very large red lilies. I'm excited they'll be like a surprise), a handful of marigold's that she pulled out of the way to pull up the Chicken and Hen that I said I need to try again( I lost my others over winter..I have got to work on better winterizing).

Yes, I found everything a home.

Might not look like much now with the grass not mowed but you just wait.

Ooo..looks like I would have cleaned them up a little better before taking that pic.

I wish to encourage you to seek out that Mother or just a good gardening friend.

The seeds they will share will be priceless. 

and...

I have never met a gardener that didn't become overjoyed at the sharing of their own plantings.

Friends with flowers are the best friends of all!

Thanks for stopping by.

BE BLESSED

and

BE a BLESSING!

Thank you, Lord...
Late summer blooms,
 sweet smell of hydrangea in the air.

Psalm 145:3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

Sure Fire Way to Know You're Old

1. When you're sitting at the kitchen table looking at a sewing machine and a dog in your lap.

2.. When you say to the Old Man,"So how'd the test come out?

3. When you're blogging about a dog in your lap and your Old Man's check-up 

while drinking(Miller High Life)

Alot of times I forget I'm suppose to be old....Until someone reminds me...

A lot like fall but mums the word on a Wordless Wednesday Walkabout

Nothing Fancy~Wordless Wednesday

p.s. What day is it?

Hump Day!!

(that's for Jack)

BE BLESSED!

Last Day of Summer

It's the last day of summer.

 Well no...not officially but it is the day before the new school year begins. For us in this house, when school's back in the summer is basically over. When I was in school we didn't start until labor day was over so I always get the feeling the kids are getting cheated a little. With school will come routine again and that's not such a bad thing.

It will also be interesting to see how our new pup, Roscoe will handle this change. We're still working on potty training and he's also very spoiled. He doesn't want to be alone.

I thought to do some weeding and he did too.

Curious Pup...

My helpers

           Giggles are wonderful.

A tuckered out Roscoe.

What's for lunch?

Fried everything!

I started out making some home fries and I thought I better use that onion before it goes bad 

and then there was green tomato that was knocked off by the rain....

and...

I might as well make something out of that left over breading. 

Hushpuppies would be great. 

For the home fries I simply washed the potatoes and sliced them long ways.

In the oil they went. 

Onion Rings can be a little tricky and I have made my share of not so great ones 

but these turned out real well.  

I started out by skinning and slicing my onion.

Next, I put about 2 cups of self-rising flour (Martha White) and 1/2 cup of  self-rising cornmeal in a large mixing bowl and stirred it with a wisk.

Place onion rings into flour mixture. They will get very lightly coated take them out onto  another bowl or plate.

Then, I added a big tablespoon of mayonnaise  and stirred in water until mixture was a good batter.

Dip coated onion rings back into the batter and  you are ready.

I fried mine in a deep fryer with a lid but I kept the lid open and placed a few rings(5 or 6) in at a time using tongs. **Careful...oil is very hot***

Take the rings out when they are just brown. They will be browner out of the oil than what they look.

I had batter left over so that's when I sliced that green onion up and dipped the slices in the batter.

I cooked them the same as the onion rings.

There was still batter remaining so that's when I as a not so traditional cook put 2 squirts of ketchup in them left over batter. Stirred it up and dropped into hot oil and cooked until almost lightly brown.

**again careful..careful**

By the time we fried all that up and ate it...

You know it was raining again.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. 

It must be time for another nap.

Be Blessed.

A Butterfly Summer

Wow...it's been so long since I have mustered up a post.

I hardly know where to begin.

To put down more words about rainy days would be quite extreme;

but it, along with a other obstacles and set backs have left me quite empty for words..

Rather than focus on tomatoes ruining on the vine,

 I'm quite intrigued at how many butterflies we have this year. 

They are in full array. 

Happy they are to sip nectar and float from bloom to bloom.

Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies how they grow...

For lack of lilies, I'll consider the butterfly.

I find them quite nice.

Boston Red Socks vs. New York Yankees~Monday Music Moves Me

Good Mornin'!

Welcome to another Monday Music Moves Me!

It's a freebie.. so...anything goes!

Anyone catch last nights Boston and Yankee game? What a game right?

                           


                           

What's up with all those bearded Boston boys?

Well that's all folks.

                               

Summer Rains, Front Porch Sittin', & just a little Sippin'

Front porch sittin'

white watching the summer rains amble

across the mountain just beyond

Spittin' that cool sprinkle across your face

and

Just doing a little Saturday summer sippin'

and just a little something for those Beach Music Fans...

yeah....

that's what I'm listening to on a summer day.

                             

and for those that love the shag...

                               

Hot Dog~A New Twist to an Old Favorite

Hot Day are great for hot dogs.

We put a new twist on our dogs.

We typically eat our hot dog two ways; either Carolina style which is mayo,mustard , chili ,slaw , and onions or with mustard and sauerkraut.

These dogs are wearing mayo, red lettuce and tomatoes. A dash of pepper really went well.

It was a light, easy and quite  a yummy summer supper.

Sometimes it's just the little things that make the day.

Be Blessed! 

Washin' the Car~Wordless Wednesday

I see U...

Happy Hump Daaay!

Country Store~official Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver

Possum, Oh-possum and Another Monday Music Moves Me

Good Monday to ya and welcome to another 

Monday Music Moves Me.

This weeks theme is videos that feature celebrities.

Upon getting home from work this morning, this is what I found.....

Around here we have put the war on for whatever has put the war on our hens.

Of course, opossums are not uncommon but before we bring more chicks home, I'd like to give them a better chance of surviving. 

The ole man has worked on the foxes but for as many as we were seeing I was sure there was more to get rid of but because they are so smart and quickly adaptable I thought I'd try setting a trap out by the chicken coop and see if I could get lucky.

Oh lucky, not fox but this nasty mama opossum. I had really forgotten that they keep their babies in a pouch. I wish I had captured a picture when all those little legs and curly tail where sticking out but she has tucked those babies away.

So help me, I'd better not get anybody teary comments for this nasty creature.

She has gone from being calm and still to getting viscous and fangy

and ...

She stinks!

Now I've got to figure out what to do with it.

I'm thinking I'm going to wait until the ole man gets home.

shew 'ew...

Let's get to the music please.....

I guess we're goin' Redneck Crazy with Tyler Farr and our redneck celebrities from 

Duck Dynasty.

          

These young 'ens around here can't get enough of those nuts down there in West Monroe 

so let's hear Darius Rucker performing Wagon Wheel.

         

The next song on this is 1994 by Jason Aldean. 

There's a lot of  country celebrities but it also features Hayden Panettiere.

         

Lucas Till is our next celebrity being featured in Taylor Swift's You Belong to Me.

                    

How about a throwback from Dolly Parton. Everybody's a star in this one.

                    

Let's end this musical fun with these sorry son's a...

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Let Go of that Eggo

 I was strolling through the grocery store a few weeks ago and decided to pick up some frozen waffles for the kids. I thought it would give them something different and something easy on all of us on those morning I'm coming off work.

The kids have ate them without complaint but after getting some out of the freezer for Jack, I thought to myself ," how gross?" They are basically like eating a piece of cardboard. I'm assuming that cardboard can easily be eaten if it's covered in butter and syrup. I thought I had eaten them before, too. I didn't remember them quite the same but regardless of all that I purchased them again.

but

I felt very guilty. 

I knew I should do better than this. 

If  Kellogg's can freeze their waffles, why can't I?

Well, I can and I did.

I pulled out my waffle maker.

Gathered my ingredients

If you have a tried and true waffle recipe by all means use it.

I on the other hand am not a typical cook.

I'm an eye-baller and an improviser.

I put a good bit of self-rising flour in a mixing bowl, maybe 2 cup maybe a little more.

Add about a teaspoon of salt and some sugar. 

You could leave those out if you don't want them or have it on hand.

I measure the salt in the palm of my hand and throw it in. 

The sugar I just sprinkle along the top of my flour; it's really more to help it brown nicely.

Take a whisk and stir it up.

I then add the egg, oil(about a 1/4 cup), teaspoon of vanilla( usually your cap is a teaspoon)

and add your milk or some real big tablespoons of sour cream. 

I used the sour cream because I forgot we were out of milk....

Whisk again.

It will be really thick. I then move to the sink and 

Add water and whisk until I get it looking about right.

*about right is when it is thin enough to pour but not too thin*

Then you..

Cook 'em

and

Eat 'em

and 

Freeze 'em.

When you freeze them it will be best to put wax paper between them.

I use an old bread bag to store them in the freezer.

Do your own waffles.

and

Thanks for the visit.

BE BLESSED! 

Vintage Soft Tee~Pinterest

A $3.00 t-shirt and Pinterest recipe for a vintage soft tee

1 quart of water

1/2 cup of salt

Brine shirt for three day 

Machine wash

Tumble dry

My shirt wasn't terrible stiff but I was hoping for that ridiculously soft feeling;

 the feeling you on get from wash and wear.

Should I use regular iodized salt or sea salt?

The instruction didn't say it mattered so I went with the regular salt it is cheaper.

I soaked it for the 3 days, I washed and dried.

My result where really unnoticeable.

50 cent Find~~Wordless Wednesday

new favorite coffee cup

it's a flower pot....

OMG...no make-up...eek