First neighborhood yard sale of 2011

We went to a pretty good group of sales Saturday morning.  Not really awesome but it was pleasant weather and we could mostly walk from sale to sale. 
My husband picked out the little iron skillet,  $1. 
Jimmy got the Texas ware bowl,  the hook that goes over a door and the "real" Mona Lisa,  at least the seller said it was real.  His total - $1.75.
I got the vinyl tablecloth for 50 cents,  the bread book was $1,  2 Corelle platters were $1,  the little Dora Explorer sofa was $1.50 - I would like to recover it but it may be a bigger job than I have time for.

My favorite purchase -the 2 glass beverages pitchers -$3 for both!  they are in the fridge full of iced tea. 

I think we went to about 15-20 homes with sales,  but not a single piece of Pyrex at any of them though. 

Have the rummage sales started in your town yet?

Cream, butter and cows

This is 2 gallons of farm fresh milk. 
Stepson Clint and his wife have a small farm.  Beside chickens and eggs,  they also have 2 milk cows and we are fortunate that they share milk with us. 

They can pasturize the milk and they can run it through a separator.
But, I like the whole milk with the nice layer of cream on top.    If you look close, you can see that the cream is on the top and the milk is on the bottom. 

There are lots of ways to use the cream.  One of my favorites is this biscuit recipe from King Arthur Flour. 
The biscuits are made with flour, cornstarch, some leavening and cream.  There is no cut in butter or shortening because the cream has a high fat content.  They are so fast to make up this way.  I made about 3 recipes at a time,  then freeze them all to bake off as we need them.
\ 

homemade butter!

This cream also makes really nice butter. 


Some the milk we will drink.  I will probably make a large batch of pancakes and freeze them to use as we need them.  Homemade pancakes are much better than Eggos. 



The cows that make this rich delicious milk.  The cows names are Cindy and Creamy. 

the front door in spring



I took these pictures Tuesday morning
after a nice rain and before I packed away the Easter decorations.



the watering can belonged to Jeff's granddad

I planted the knockout roses last summer.
They are really blooming and smell so good,
but I am not sure why they are not getting much taller
and I am really wondering why the red one seems to be
a ground crawler.

This rose bush was planted by the Dawes,
the previous owners of our home.

hmmm, and something cute

this is what I found one morning


I know who ate a big helping of goldfish, then left this single goldfish cracker in the cannister, put the lid on it and put it back in the pantry. 
Yep, I know who did it, but it could of easily been several other men in this family and they have done similar things on  different days.
Does your family do this too? 

Elizabeth checking out the bottles her momma is going to use for a craft project.
They are Starbucks coffee drinks,  nobody here drinks this,  but Nina found a few people who do drink and they saved the bottles for her.

Aren't they cute bottles?
They remind me of the bottles that milk was served in
when I was in elementary school. 

2 Big Days

1st Big Day
more pictures from Bobby's 30th birthday party
having a toddler around for gift unwrapping is very handy

Elizabeth considering 2 of her uncles.

2nd Big Day



Oklahoma Supreme Court - to swear in the new attorneys



Jimmy is now a real card carrying, certificate in hand attorney.



My mom with Bobby, Jimmy and my brother



Elizabeth toddling in the capital rotunda with my dad

Gavin thinks the tube is the coolest part of this big day,
and the cookies at the reception.



Gavin is little and this Brave statue is very tall!