October in Patrick County

 Old, trucks, old tractor, the barn, the buildings.               Yeah you're in Patrick County.

  

         Let the road take ya!

How Great is out God!

Thanks for stopping by.

BE BLESSED!

Getting Ready for Anything and Everything Apple

Hey Yeah!!

It's that time of year again; Stuart Virginia's annual 

Apple Dumpling Festival!

October 19, 2013

I'm think I should conjure up some apple goodness but to get myself in the right apple state of mind I thought I'd revisit last years festival and gather some ideas. 

Since I was taking a stroll down memory lane I thought you might want to stroll it with me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Here you go!

Stuart, Virginia's Annual

Apple Dumpling Festival

Great turn out!

Lots of Artisans!

Yum..

Yum, yum

Local grown apple

                                               The guest of honor..Apple Dumplings

How 'bout Homemade ice cream atop those dumplings?

Music at the amphitheatre

C.C. Coates Band

Am I in the warm sun in the middle of the day?

Or..

Some dimly lit corner?

Great Blues Band!

What a way to enjoy an autumn day? This is just one of a few festivals that Stuart puts on but it definitely is a favorite. Nothing screams the turning leaves and the brisk air like the Apple Dumpling Festival. As you can see folks turned out from all over. Definitely a stopping point for many traveler. This little town is at the foot of the Blue Ridge Parkway and makes a wonderful place to stop on your next leaf watching adventure. I thank you for letting me share my day with you and thank you for stopping by 

Southern Direction.

Be blessed.

Shake It Baby Shake It~Monday Music Moves Me

Sometimes you just gotta

Shake it baby!

Hey!..I said shake it..shake a leg shake ya' head..shake ya tail feather!

Let's start this thang off with the original Wild Man.

                           

                                 

Aah...you still wanting to boogie? Well me, too!

              

Oh yeah..by now You Should Be Dancing...

                          

                         


                          

Time to put that slow roll on..

                           

I'm hoping your week is off to a shakin' good time.

Shake Your Tail Feather!

            

BE BLESSED!

Peppermint Sugar Scrub~DIY

Ingredients:

sugar(white or brown)

unscented oil such as grapeseed 

peppermint essential oil

Directions:

• I started by placing about a cup of white sugar in a small mixing bowl.
• Begin pouring oil(about 1/4 cup) into sugar while stirring. 
• Continue stirring and adding oil until you have the consistency of sticky sand            (sandcastle quality)
• Add 2 or 3 drops of peppermint oil and mix/
• Pour into a container with a large opening such as a large mouth jar

 That is it!

Tie a ribbon around your jar to make super easy gift to yourself or someone ya' love.

Thanks for stopping by.

I hope you will give this DIY a try.

BE BLESSED!

Whipped Coconut & Lavender Moisturizer

For about three month, I've been using a natural moisturizer.

I found the recipe for Whipped Coconut Moisturize while scrolling through Pinterest.

The article explained all the benefits of coconut and with a oh-so simple recipe I was convinced to give it a try.

My method is quite simple coconut oil whipped with a mixer. The first few times I made this I just used some vanilla extract I know that must sound crazy but I didn't have essential oils on hand. The result wasn't bad and I could feel and see the difference in my skin almost immediately but I missed the fragrance. I had become spoiled to those store bought aroma's. 

Once receiving the doTerra Lavender Essential Oils, I can't got back only a drop or two have soothed my fragrant wants. I wish there was a way to convey the purity in the smell and it totally added a refreshing to the cream and made my skin really feel revived.

I tell you it was so good that Roscoe, our dog, ate my first  batch with the lavender, completely!

I guess you can't blame a dog for following his nose.

I hope you'll give this moisturizer a try. 

As always...thanks for stopping by.

BE BLESSED!

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

Fall is callin'

What?? 

You don't hear it?

It's calling pumpkin, Pumpkin, PUMPKIN...

We want more...we want more...

So today let's make up some Pumpkin French Toast Casserole.

Ingredients:

• Loaf of bread~I'm using some day old french bread. Use a bread of your choice.
• Dozen eggs
• 1 cup o' milk
• 8 oz. block Cream Cheese
• 1 cup of raisins..or more
• 1 1/2 cup of pumpkin~~I used 1/2 a can of Libby's
• teaspoon of Vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 
• 2 cups of Brown Sugar
• nuts~I used Fisher crusshed nuts for ice cream topping 
• Maple syrup

Once you've gathered your ingredients place your cream cheese in the freezer.

This will make it much easier to cut into cubes.

1. Cut bread into cubes. Place into casserole dish.

2. Cut your block of cream cheese into cubes. Place on top of cubed bread.

3. Sprinkle raisin over bread and cream cheese.
4. Mix pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, and brown sugar.
    Mixture will be dark and thick.
5. Lightly beat eggs and milk together.
6. Pour egg mixture over bread. 
    Pour slowly so that the bread will soak it up rather than 
    turning soggy on you.

7. Cover and place in the refrigerator until morning 
     or at least 2 hours.
8. When you are ready to bake your casserole 
     Heat oven at 350 degrees.
9. Bake for 30 minutes covered with foil.
10. Sprinkle nuts and drizzle maple syrup over the top
11. Bake for 30 minutes uncover.

Your casserole should be soft drizzly
                                                                               but..
                                                               if you need more add a few more raisins
                                                                               and
                                                                  drizzle more maple syrup.

Candy Corn Bottle Display

Welcome Autumn!

Welcome autumn with a simple Arrangement of found bottles.

I thought I may as well make something 
out of this mess.

I've cleaned up my bottles and gathered my supplies

&

a bowl of inspiration.

I didn't do any taping when I spray painted my bottles.

First, I painted the middle section orange.

I painted the top of the bottle white.

A light hand when painting and the uneven spray made a more

appealing look.

 Placed on a plate with a candle and a piece of raffia.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my DIY.

BE BLESSED!

&

Be a Blessing! 

Another Pine Bites the Dust~Wordless Wednesday

A Devilish Monday Music Moves Me

Good Monday Morning!

I hope everyone out there in blogland is doing great

and ready to kick start the week with another

Monday Music Moves Me!

Congratulations to this weeks spotlight dancer,

Gillian from A Daft Scots Las.

Gillian has picked Guys & Dolls for this Monday's theme

but I say...the devil may care.

                           

      Oh that Devil Woman....

                             

Hey! What's the devil doing with that blue dress on?

             

but...

Sometimes the Devil drives a coupe de ville down in Brokenheartsville.

                           

We know the devil went down to Georgia 

but what the devil has come over

The Zac Brown Band

                                 

Well...That's all folks!

Making M&M White Chocolate Bark & Pumpkin Planter

M&M White Chocolate Bark

Hi, I thought I'd pop on here and share what I had been up to.

I whipped these quick projects out yesterday. Friday is my day to get my yard work done and this is also my weekend to work but I wanted to do something special for the kids.

My M&M White Chocolate Bark is the go to if you' only have a pinch of time or you have that last minute bake sale. 

One bag of M&M White Candy Corn

Two bags of white chocolate morsels

One baking sheet covered with wax paper

Melt your morsels in the microwave according to instruction,

then, Stir in your M&M's.

Spread your mixture in a thin layer on you baking sheet.

I put mine in the freezer to harden quicker.

Once the mixture is hardened break it into different shaped pieces.

Pretzels crushed would be a great add in. If you're like me and for got them just put the pretzels in the serving bowl with your bark it look and they'll get ate right along with the barks.
                                                         Sweet & Salty!

It  was sort of Monkey-See-Monkey-Do. 

I'd been seeing all the $1 Jack-o-lanterns turned into planters

and 

I had to make me one too!

I started with one of those $1 pumpkin heads.
I chose a blue one
and 
I really don't know why.

A couple of markdown mums.
I'm going to use one for this project
but 
I want to add my barrel with the 
orange mum. 
I think he needs a friend.

I hung my pumpkin head on a limb at the edge of the yard.
I got busy with the spray paint; first,white.
I so cheated this when I seen some
poison ivy( I hate it) that had turn the most awesome red.
I stuck pieces of the ivy on the face and sort of stuck held it in place with the paint itself.
My next colors was some green, then orange and a bit of silver.
Very lightly!
Don't use a heavy hand.

I was out of burlap so I used a piece of leftover brown clothe that I singed just a bit .
Stuffed the material and my mum in my planter.
Don't forget to pop off that black plastic handle.
An old piece of wire or an old rusty bucket handle could be fixed in it's place.

 Thanks for stopping by.
BE BLESSED
&
Be a Blessing!

My Workplace Accident and Looking for Relief

Hey! How you doing today?

Me? Not so good.

 I'm nursing myself after I had a bit of a fall off  of a ladder at work last night. Nothing was to blame for the accident other than me forgetting I was standing on the ladder and maybe the fact that we were just covered up in work.

Having such an accident leaves me feeling very foolish. I'm not typically a careless person or someone often gets really hurt. I did feel fortunate that no one actually saw me with my feet tangled up in the ladder and my head bouncing of the concrete. 

Once I figured out my neck wasn't broke and I wasn't bleeding anywhere I was able to get back to my machines and worked my shift on through

 but....

you know how those things go. 

After getting home, the egg has popped up on my head, the purple and poned up bruise on my leg almost feels hot, and my neck is so tight I couldn't even really dose off.

I know what you're thinking...enough with the wining. 

My reason for writing this post isn't as much about giving you this elaborate description of my wounds but I thought I'd share with you my go to when I ache.

Absorbine Jr.

 It's really good relief for muscle ache, 

like tight shoulders from raking or calves from running. 

I'm a little surprised when I have recommended it others because a lot of people

have never heard of it.

Absorbine Jr. was one of those things that Mama and Daddy

 always had in the bathroom cabinet, so I do too.

I started by rubbing it on my neck and it gave me that quick cooling feeling 

so...I thought I'm going to rub it on my bruised leg and it felt better 

so..I rubbed it on the knot on my head

 and by the time I'd checked my Email I felt much better.

If you have a nagging ache, you might want to give this product a try.

This is by no means an advertisement.

I just thought it might do somebody some good.

It does have a strong odor but if that bothers you more than your ache

you're probably not hurting that bad anyway.

Be Blessed!