weekly words to live by

"Oddly, it is not real cooks who insist the finest ingredients are neccessary to produce a delicious something...Real cooks take stale bread and aging onions and make you happy" - Susan Wiegand

more WORDS at Tracy's Notes from a Cottage Industry

Sepia Saturday

This picture is my great grandparents on my dad's side of the family.
John was the Pastor for "The Church Of The Brethren" church in rural Cordell, OK. Photo taken probably in Cordell, Oklahoma, about 1915.


They are dressed very conservatively in this one.
In the front row - John Pitzer, Marie, my grandmother Minnie Maye and Annie Elizabeth.
In the back row - Gladys, James and Alice. James disappeared in 1938, the family believed he was robbed and murdered as he was carrying a large amount of cash after a sale, but nobody ever found out for sure.


Gladys, Marie (in wagon) Alice standing in back and Paul with his dog Bounce.
this picture is earlier, my grandmother was not born yet for it


This photo was around 1935. I guess the Church of the Brethren had a not so strict dress code by this time too.


more Sepia Saturday family photos and histories

happy anniversary to us!

Jeff and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this week. We ate out over the weekend to celebrate so we ate at home on the actual day.
For dessert, I made a half recipe of Jeff's favorite lemon pound cake and my favorite, chocolate covered strawberries.
The first time we ate chocolate covered strawberries was in 1982 on an all expenses paid trip Jeff won to San Francisco. We had vouchers to eat at some fancy restaurants but we liked the street food sold on the wharf better. I was 8 months pregnant on this trip and I think we bought chocolate strawberries more than once from that vendor.

I made a few at home and they were so good! I just melted 3 ounces of chocolate chips with a teaspoon of shortening in the microwave. Then I dipped/spread it on with a little spatula to about 10 strawberries.

Jeff surprised me with this pearl and diamond necklace. So, can you guess which year anniversary we just had?

Yo Plus Winner

The winner for the YoPlus gift pack is Sharon!

Thank you to everyone who entered.

Weekly Words to Live By - Linked to Notes from a Cottage Industry

This is a passage from Nella Last's War that I really liked. The book is a diary written by an English housewife during World War II. I found the entire book thought-provoking and fascinating.

"One think I've noticed since the war: what a lot of people - mostly women- seem to have no resources of their own to fall back on. My generation had no wireless (radio) and few pictures, so perhaps we had to find other things - particularly when we lived in the country, as I often did with Gran. We took the opportunity of being alone to wash our hair (now no girl seems to wash her own), mend a hole in stockings (stockings today do not stand much mending), sew buttons on - but then again, there are few buttons to sew on underwear. Older women shredded vegetables for the following day's soup, but now it is all tinned soup. They gladly read yesterday's newspaper, if they had not had time before. There were always oddments of embroidery or sewing, or letters to be written, and a few hours alone were a boon and a blessing. We liked to sit down and relax by the fire and think things out - to plan menus and shopping lists. Of course, living today is in every way more exciting and thrilling: but where today it's as if people snatch a piece of rich Christmas cake and eat it, with creamed coffee, on top of a good dinner, we took our cake and ate it slowly, savouring each mouthful and finding time to think how wonderful it was that the ingredients came from so many far-off places."

To participate in or see more Weekly Words, visit Tracy at her beautiful blog, Notes from a Cottage Industry

the weathermen were right

That's my daughter's tweet on a digital billboard in OKCity
So far, the news says we've got about 8 inches of snow and may get 4 more before the storm front moves on.
These are not the best pictures, I could not walk out into that snow and was just standing in doorways while I took them. It's too cold and mess to actually go out in this stuff!
You can really see how the wind blew around the snow into deep drifts in the 3rd and
5th picture.

Grandpa's Bread

This is the recipe for my grandparents daily bread. Both Grandma and Grandpa were the best bakers and I learned how to make this bread from Grandpa.
It's just about the simplest bread recipe I've ever come across. And the best tasting. No fancy ingredients or equipment needed.
This bread is perfect for breakfast toast, sandwiches and just eating with any meal.

Grandpa's Bread
2 cups warm water
1 package yeast
1 t salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil - they used Wesson or Crisco oil - I used melted butter
about 6 cups of flour - they used all-purpose flour, I used 2 cups of whole wheat and 4 cups of unbleached
dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Then stir in the salt, oil and most of the flour. Mix well, then knead until you have a smooth dough. They kneaded it all by hand, I let my Kitchenaid mixer do most of the work
Let dough rise in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel, until at least double in size.
Punch down. Divide in 2. Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans.
Let rise again, until at least double.
Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes.

Here's my dough after the first rising, I even have their Pyrex bowl.

my 2 loaves baked

A loaf of bread lasts about 3 days with Jeff, Theo and I. I sliced both loaves, put them in Tupperware, and put the second loaf in the freezer for later in the week.

Linked up to Gayles Grocery Cart Recipe Challenge

Sepia Saturday - vintage farm dogs

On my grandparents farm, they always had a farm dog. I was just 3 or 4 and playing alone at the farm. A rooster that jumped on my back and the farm dog Doc chased away that mean rooster. When the attack was over, I went in the farmhouse and told my parents and grandparents that "Doc saved me"
I don't remember any dogs ever coming in the house. They lived outside, ate scraps left from the evening meal and earned their keep by watching over the land and farm animals.

This is Grandpa, why he was on a bicycle is a mystery, but that is definitely a farm dog getting in the picture.

I'm not sure who this baby is, it might be my mom. Whoever it is, they sure seem to like the dog.

My mom, Uncle Bill is wearing a cowboy hat and is kind of behind her and the dog.

Uncle Jarvis with one of his much-loved bird dogs.

Visit Sepia Saturday for more sepias - and participate if you have some sepias to share.

Oh My....not again

we've finally had really nice spring-like weather this week. In fact, today it is supposed to be close to 70 - but not for long....
here is tomorrow's weather forecast.
we live in the county shaped like a submarine, in the pink part of course



I am going to enjoy today while we can. I hung out the laundry on the clothesline and now Theo and I are going for a walk. And I guess I better make sure the snow shovel is in a handy place.

Don't forget to wear a little green today....

Happy St. Patricks Day to you all.
This Irish Blessing Sampler was made by my mom from a Jane Snead kit years ago. It still lives at their house but I think my brother and son have both requested it.

these next 2 are here at my home - everyone need a bunny in a leprechaun hat, don't they?

YoPlus Gift Pack Giveaway

MyBlogSpark has provided me with another great giveaway. I've already got my gift pack from them and they will send the same thing to the winner on my blog. The prize pack is a coupon for a free 4-pack of Yoplait YoPlus yogurt, a YoPlus on-the-go lunch container with utensils, an insulated lunch bag, and a pedometer.
Jimmy has already claimed my lunch pack, he thinks it will be perfect to pack his food for his long days at law school. The container has a freezable cold pack right inside and is still small enough to fit easily in a back pack and hold a sandwich with some sides.

YoPlus is available in six flavors including Strawberry, Vanilla, Cherry, Peach, Blackberry Pomegranate and Blueberry Acai.
YoPlus Light is available in three flavors – Honey Vanilla, Strawberry Banana, and Key Lime – all with just 70 calories per cup.



To enter, just tell me which flavor you would think sounds best, I tried the Key Lime and it is light with a very fresh taste.
I'll pick the winner next Monday, March 22.

here is a link to print a $1 coupon if YoPlus is something you want to try.
coupon

thank you for reading and entering

Thrift store finds and a hello from a sweet puppy

First, our sweet dog Theo wants to tell you all hello....can't you just tell he is a sweety by looking at him?

Now, on to the thrift store finds. Since I had already spent my morning repairman sitting, I spent the afternoon thrifting.

big pile of goodies - I'll break it down below

a cute puppy and shirt for grandson Gavin, 2 pears and a a pear stamp - I had so much fun using that rose stamp on the pantry wall, I know this pear will be fun to stamp somewhere
2 books and a pretty old plate, all 25 cents each

vintage patterns - just 10 cents each

a really long piece of shamrock fabric and 3 packs of vintage trim
I just unfolded that shamrock fabric, long is right! There are 22 yards and it was just $4

the little bluebirds are salt and pepper shakers.
I am pretty sure this fat blue bird will end up in Elizabeth's nursery!

Baby Elizabeth's room

I spent the morning at John and Nina's home. They were both at work and I was there while the 2 Sears washing machine repairmen worked over their washer.
While the repairmen worked, I was also working, doing some alterations to the dust ruffle for the crib.


The Crib - bedding is from Pottery Barns Kids, furniture is from a local store called Wiggles and Giggles and was a gift from John's mom and stepdad.

the dust ruffle has several pretty rows of ribbon, trim and rick rack. But the bar along the bottom of the bed hid all the trim. So I added some white fabric where those bars are and then hemmed the whole thing so now, the trim shows!

The dresser - the name letters were made by their friend Emily

Nina saw a similar piece of art to this one at PBKids but she made a knock- off, much cheaper and cuter!

Really, really cute, huh? Now we just have to wait until June when the baby arrives.

another project and an announcement

I don't think I have told you all that we will have a granddaughter in June!
This picture is our daughter Nina, taking a picture in their baby's nursery. Nina and John are expecting Elizabeth, their first baby in just a few months.
I think the nursery is about ready, I am going over there later to wait for a repairman and will take some more pictures of the nursery to show.
Yes, the walls are blue and the baby is a girl - John is a football coach and did not want things too girly - he may be in for some surprises down the road - but he is a good guy and I am sure he will be a great dad, even if Elizabeth is as girly a girl as her momma.




I found this old maternity top pattern at a thrift store for a dime and made Nina one top from it from a cute black and white print. Sorry, no picture though.
She liked it and picked out 4 more pieces of fabric from the sewing room.

I finished them up today and think they turned out pretty good. Nina is on the tall side so I added a couple of inches to length of all of them.

Sepia Saturday - one day late

These are pictures of my dad, he mostly grew up in Garber, Oklahoma. Dad is the
3rd boy in this picture, sadly, he says his other 3 buddies have all passed away.

He spent lots of time swimming at the Garber pool.

This is his high school football team, Dad is holding the football on the front row.
Garber has always called itself "Home of Champions" and it is still true, Garber won the class B state football championship in December and last night they won the basketball championship.

For more great pictures, visit Poetikat's Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday was yesterday but I am a day late as I came down with a terrible stomach bug/food poisoning or something. And I am very thankful to be better now!

Pantry re-dos - the projects that I thought would take 1 day but really took all week

Our home has 2 pantries, one is regular closet size and was mostly used for storage of cleaning supplies, cookbooks, and miscellaneous kitchen stuff.
The other pantry is bigger and has always held food. We have less food items with just Jeff and I living here but we seem to have lots of stuff so I wanted to switch the 2 pantries around. I also want to add some color to them.
So, last Sunday, I emptied everything out of the smaller pantry and thought this job would go so quickly. Well, sweet Gavin spent 3 days with me and I went to the VA hospital with Jeff one day and then on the other day, I mostly did regular home cleaning and a little shopping. But by Friday afternoon, somehow, the change-around was complete.


Before - big pantry


After - now it has red-check shelf liner with an ivory lace-look shelf trim
Can you see all the cookbooks? Uncle Rex gave me a big stack of his when he moved to the retirement home and now I have room for all the cookbooks in one spot


top shelf holds my cake pedestals, punch bowls and cups and plates - I don't use them every day but they are pretty and I like to look at them often

the bottom shelf holds Jeff's barbecue tools and pans

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Junk pantry before

After - I painted the walls green, lined the shelves with white shelf liner and added a trim on the front. I cut strips from vinyl lace tablecloths to make the trim and I really like the old-fashioned look.





I used a rose sponge stamp to add a little more color to this food pantry. I'd never sponge stamped on a wall before but it was fun and easy, and I may just put some more roses somewhere else.