Home Tour- 1st stop is the craft room

I had more free time than usual this summer and I spent a lot of it working on my house.  I did quite a bit of organizing, rearranging and a little bit of decorating.

I really enjoy when other bloggers do home tours,  my home does not look like a decorator has been here but I am going to try to do a home tour this week anyway.  no professional photographer either

what you see in the craft room when you walk in the door......
decorators would not approve of our ceiling fans in every room but this is Oklahoma and it gets HOT here,

3 shelving units full of supplies- I used to like to have everything stored neatly away, covered and out of sight but now,  I like things where I can find them easily, as long as they are still neat and organized.

the big desktop computer lives in the computer room too- but I am a bad photographer and can't get a good shot of the new slipcover I made for the office chair.

blinds closed above and blinds closed below- neither picture looks great though

Storage tubs- all full with patterns, plastic canvas and yarn, unfinished quilts and lots of fabric.
Yes,  I know it is a lot,  much was given to me by friends and the majority is from my mom.
I've thought about getting rid of a a lot of it,  but my husband thought that was a bad idea.  He said he has seen me make things with supplies on hand and he does not think I would be happy if I needed things after I got rid of them.  So, for now,  all this stuff is staying.

Paper craft table- the CriCut machine sits on top, papers are stored underneath. But right now,  my rainbow quilt blocks are spread out on it, no paper crafting happening right now.
Rubber stamps on the wall.
My husband and father in law built those stamp frames for me.

Sewing table with the thread rack and more rubber stamps on the wall.
Sewing tools like cutters, scissors and markers are on a tray under the thread rack.
The black and white brocade vinyl is tablecloth material sold by the yard in the fabric department of Walmart.

Ironing board- most all sewing needs some  ironing.
There is a closet in this room, a long closet,  but it was hard to store and then take out sewing things when needed.  So now the closet is used for holiday and baby things and my sewing things are out in the open, easy to use.

The black and white polka dot fabric on the chair and ironing board was bought at parking lot rummage sale, about 3 years ago.  It was a very long and very wide piece of fabric and it just makes me smile when I look at those dots.  Even when ironing :)

My sewing machine, a 4 year old Necchi- I like it a lot.

I used clear containers that 1 pound of salad greens are sold in at the grocer.  They are not the sturdiest of boxes but they are perfect for lightweight sewing supplies.  I learned this thrifty trick from Mary Ann.

This might be my favorite result of organizing.  I put all adhesives into one storage bin- assorted tapes and glues- and it has already been so handy.  When something needs made or fixed,  we all know right where to go for the right adhesive.  

linking to parties at

  Skip to my Lou , 

Craft O Maniac , 

Keeping it Simple, 

Creating Really Awesome Free Things, 

Tweak It Tuesday at Brenda's Cozy Little House

Easy Sunday Lunch

I wanted to serve an easy and healthy lunch today. So, I chose one of our favorites

Make your own taco and salad bar. 

Fresh salsa

Just dice about 2 cups of tomatoes-I used little ones but usually dice 1-2 big ones

Also fine dice 1/2 a fresh jalapeño and some onion.

Add some diced cilantro- a little cilantro goes a long way. 

Season with a little garlic and salt and lemon or lime juice.

Chopped romaine and diced purple onion if anyone wants to do taco salad.

Beef and pork taco filling from the freezer- it looked much better once it was heated in the microwave.

I also put out ranch style beans, grated cheddar, sour cream, tortillas and tortilla chips. 

Some of us had soft tacos. One had nachos and some had taco salad. 

Dessert was fresh pineapple and cantaloupe slices. 

I don't want to work too hard on Sunday and I don't like eating out on Sunday either.  Today's meal was delicious and a good solution, 

What meals do you have that are easy to serve a group after being gone for church?

Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real

Pretty

I've been working a rainbow string quilt.  All 64  10 inch blogs are pieced and trimmed.

the leftover trimmings from squaring up the blocks-
I think a bird could have fun building a colorful nest with them.

we ate a lot of those good Arkansas peaches.  Then I sliced and prepared the rest for the freezer- just for eating or maybe for a yummy pie.

Funny and Happy and a little Sad too

My frequent companions for the last 3 and 4 years both started full time school this week.  A Happy and Sad time both for this grandma.
I will miss them but I won't be bored as their younger siblings will be spending some of their days with me while their parents work.

This grandson  is so active and fast and always smiling.

The other grandson  is still a sweet cuddly baby.


Real

update on the backyard garden- it has pretty much been a bust.  The flower seeds in the pots were slow to start but are looking really pretty right now.
We have lots of rain- which explains the grass needing a mowing

The grass is also tall because our underground utility lines have been marked off so the workmen coming soon don't cut any of them.  There is a different color flag and spray paint marking the electric, cable, phone, etc. underground lines.  

We've signed a contract and will be having a concrete safe room built in the backyard soon.  Come tornado season, we should be safer.  

Linking up with 

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Oven roasted broccoli -2 thumbs up!

Have you seen the Pinterest reviews for oven roasted broccoli?  Comments about are things like "it is so good, it should be illegal" and "I could eat the whole pan myself"  

Well,  I like broccoli but I was not sure about this recipe.  The cooking time is long and I thought the broccoli would get mushy and overdone.  But nope, the recipe is just about as good as the comments say.  My husband is not a broccoli fan at all and he ate a huge helping.

You just cut on the fresh broccoli and I cut mine pretty small.  Put it in a big bag or bowl and mix/shake with 2 T olive oil.  Then spread it on a baking sheet and sprinkle with chopped fresh garlic and salt and pepper.  

(I used just a bit of garlic salt and pepper)

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.  When done,  the broccoli be be browning and crunchy.  Or you can search on Pinterest if you want even more directions.  

It is really is delicious and easy too.  

This weeks shopping

a coupon trip to Walmart- the shaving cream was free as I used the $6 off 3 coupon that was in our Sunday's newspaper. The Bic pens were free with $1 coupons and the cupcake papers were also free with a $1 coupon.  I used $2 internet coupons on the Right Guard and it was about $1.50 after the coupons.
I also went to Walmart to get cough suppressant from husband.  His summer cold is over but he still has coughing spells in the night,  any one have any advice for him?

Then to Food Pyramid for a few double coupons.  After coupons,  this detergent and Spam was about $3.
The Spam is not my favorite but my husband will enjoy it.  On the rare occasions that he might need to fix his own meal,  he will be happy frying up a Spam sandwich.


Then,  I went to the brand new Aldi in our town.  It is so nice and big and very close to our home.  I really think it will make grocery shopping much easier and cheaper for us.
I am so happy about it- I think lottery winners might kind of feel like this!

I got all this for about $22-  because it is grand opening,  they are passing out $5 off $25 coupons for Aldi. I've already got 2 of those coupons in the mail, 1 in the newpaper, and 3 at the store.  They don't expire for almost 2 weeks so I may be making several $25 or so visits to Aldi to stock up.

fruit squeeze pouches my grands love

saltine, milk, 3 orange juice, window cleaner, bleach, pork rinds, jarred fruit, flatbread wraps for sandwiches

ranch style beans

red grapes, jicama, pineapple, cantaloupe, 2 lemons and fancy artisan lettuce

Another trip to Aldis- this was just a bit over $25 before the grand opening coupon was subtracted.

Dollar Tree -50 cent coupons from the Sunday papers on the Palmolive

$1/2 Internet printable on the Dial soap

$4 plus tax for all

Then at CVS, I had a $20 ECB. I looked ahead at the sales on slickdeals.net and did not see anything in future sales that we needed. In my email yesterday, they sent me a coupon for 25% off my total purchase of none sale items. 

I prefer to roll ECBs into sales where more ECBs are offered but without any sales I like coming up, I decided to burn it on a giant box of Pampers, 2 eye shadows and 2 cough drops for husband. I used coupons on the Pampers and Cover Girl and spent about $5.

Yes, that was a lot of shopping this week. I don't expect I will be doing this kind of multi store shopping for awhile. But I had fun doing it and am happy with our little stockpiles.  

Especially for the near future, I will be doing any needed shopping at the new Aldi. 

Gifts from afar (well, 300 miles afar)

My professor brother came for a short visit this week. He was here for a few hours but I did not actually visit with him much as 4 of my grandchildren were here and those busy little ones kept us entertained and busy.

After he left, I looked at the good things he brought....

Squash, eggplant, cukes, peppers and a giant zucchini all home grown by our electrician brother

A peck of Arkansas peaches- so delicious!  They are really big peaches too. We are eating some and some will get sliced and frozen. I was happy to find a container of Fruit Fresh in my pantry to use on them, peaches will turn an unappetizing brown in the freezer without it.

And a stack of coupons from my mom. 

Thank you Mom and brothers. 

Life changing hair brush

I have thin fine longish hair that tangles like crazy, especially after shampooing, no matter how well I condition it or what kind of pick or wide toothed comb I used. My daughter and her daughter have the same tangly hair. 

Daughter in law Sheena is a hairdresser and she knew just how to solve this. She got them "The Wet Brush" 

The Wet Brush goes through wet or dry hair with ease, as if there were no tangles. It does not pull out hair and just makes the combing out a speedy pleasure instead of a long difficult task to be dreaded.  My hair even stays smoother all day after using The Wet Brush. 

Sheena gets The Wet Brush from a beauty supply distributor.  She sells them at her salon and I am guessing many other salons also sell them. 

I got mine from Amazon, they have different sizes and colors and sell for about $8.

Hair seems to either be the tangling kind or the non tangling kind. If you have the tangling kind, you ought to look into these.  I don't have enough words to describe how much easier my hair routine is because of this new brush.  

According to the package, these brushes are made in England.  No, I am not a paid spokesperson, just a big fan. 

a mistake that turned out to be for the best...

We eat salad about 6 nights every week.  I usually make it in a big bowl and each batch lasts about 2 nights.  I like salad and my husband really really likes salad,  he eats his serving in a 1 quart vegetable bowl.

I usually grate the carrots with a Salad Shooter. I was going to use the slicing attachment on the Salad Shooter for them but I goofed, and ran the radishes through on the same shred attachment that I use for carrots.

It turned out for the best.  This batch of radishes was extra hot so the small shred made them a little more gentle to eat.  

This salad is romaine, bell peppers, red onion and shredded radishes. Picture was taken before the carrots and tomatoes were added. 

My great grandmother, a real Oklahoma pioneer woman

This true account of her life was written by my great grandmother
Annie Elizabeth.  
Her daughter Minnie Maye was my dad's mother.  

I was born in Stephenson County, Illinois on April 2, 1872 and lived there until the early spring of 1883. We moved to Dallas County, Iowa (where all of my mothers people lived) on a farm that joined my grandparents home. Early in the year of 1885 we moved to Barton County, Kansas where I grew up. There were 5 girls of us and we helped our father to farm as it was wheat country, he farmed big fields of wheat. He had ½ section of land and an 80 acre piece of hay land, and we milked a good many cows,

In October 1891 my family and I moved to McPherson, Kansas where we could attend our Church College and I met the young man who became my life companion, John Riley.

John grew up in Texas, and came to McPherson at the same time I did. I was 19 and John was 22. We were raised on farms and did not know all the smart ways that young folks now know. I had never heard of keeping step in walking. John lived at the College three years. He went to school a half a day and farmed for the College a half a day and that is the way he got his education. He milked the cows and done the College chores besides farm work for three years. We sat at the same table in the penmanship class, that is where we got acquainted. His mother passed away and he was needing a friend I thought. When he and the business managers wife, Mrs Peck came for shrubbery for the College lawn I helped my mother to entertain them and our friendship started by the lilac bush in our front yard.

We were married in May 23, 1894. My mother had passed away and my schooldays were over. Neither of us had graduated. We moved to a farm in Barton County, Kansas, where Alice Ruth was born March 5, 1895. In 1897 we went to Oklahoma to visit Johns sisters. Alice was 2 years old.

 We moved, in 1897, to Washita County, Oklahoma. Our oldest daughter, Alice was two and one half years old. We travel in a covered wagon. I drove the ponies, Dandy and Squirrel hitched to the spring wagon; it had a crate of chickens, a box with two small chester white little pigs and some other things. My feet rested on top of the dashboard so Alice rode in the wagon with with her daddy and sit on the bed and strung buttons for her past time on the way. 

John had Queen and Molly hitched to the heavy loaded wagon he drove. There were no bridges on the rivers. We forded the North and South Canadian rivers and the Salt fork and Washita rivers. I would not drive my team across the rivers. John would drive his team across, then unhitch his team and ride one horse back to drive scross with me. Sometimes he used four horses to take his wagon across where the rivers was deep.

We homesteaded in Washita County in Cheyenne Indian country, in September 1897. Johns sister Maggie and Frannie lived near by. Our claim joined Maggie and George Rogers claim. George Rogers helped John make us a dugout where we lived the first winter then John hauled native rock and Uncle George built us a stone house, twelve by sixteen feet, with a lean to kitchen on the side. It was of lumber.

James Paul, Annie Elizabeth, Alice Ruth, and John Riley P.   – about 1900, in front of the stone house

====================================================================

James Paul was born the next year and the girls Gladys Esther and Anna Marie were born in that little house. Paul was three when he was in the field with his daddy who was plowing and Paul was waiting at the end of the field and was bitten by a rattlesnake. His leg got spotted and swelled. John took him to our neighbor, Mr. Craig who had snake medicine and he got over it.

We made a milk house with the sandstone same as our home and had a windmill over the well near the house. All the water for the stock went threw the milk house to the stock tank; a milk tank in the milk house was where we had two gallon stone jars in water to keep the milk cool. Paul's dog Bounce churned for us on a treadmill outside the milk house. He was tied on a platform made by setting a post in the ground and putting a big wheel on the post on a 45 degree angle. A floor on one side of the wheel had slats nailed on and there was a fence around the floor. The churn was an 8 gallon barrel churn in the milk house connected by a rod threw the milk house.

Gladys Esther was 4 when she climbed upon the windmill tower and called to me, come up and see she said ”I can see where Aunt Maggie and Uncle George live and all around”. She was dancing first on one foot and then the other. I was so scared she would fall. I could not go up to get her. It was in the fall before Minnie Maye was born in December. I talked to her and coaxed her down. Her father took the lower rounds off that ladder when he came home so she did not try that again.

Anna Marie was two years old when she gave us a scare. John had came home from the gin where he had sold the bale of cotton late on Saturday night. We were all asleep so he lay down on the divan and put his pocket book under his pillow. Next morning John had to leave early to drive 10 miles to his appointment to preach and did not think of his pocket book. When he got home he looked for it. It was not there and none of us had seen it. We thought it was gone and one half of the price of the bale of cotton had to go for the picking. It was 2 or 3 weeks later Paul was digging in the yard where the children played and dug up that pocket book where Marie had buried it. We felt happy it was found.

One day the horses got out of the pasture and came up the road and in the driveway. John was there to open the gate to help get them into the lot. Marie was out there and to small to get away, was not afraid. One of the colts in play ran close to her, kicked up his heels over her head. John saw the colt and shut his eyes. He expected the colt would hit Marie but he had kicked up over her head, did not touch her.

That first year we lived in the dugout an Indian came to our home and John was not there. He could speak our language and asked where my husband was and I told him and he went to Uncle Georges home where John was helping with some work.

The White men had been stealing wood from the Indians. White settlers would go at night to the creek and chop down trees and haul them home for firewood. The Indians owned all the land where the creek was. All the trees were on the creeks. But we never stole from the Indians. John bought a ridgepole for our dugout from the Indians. 

We burned “Cow chips” and some coal. Fuel was scarce.

Our nearest railroad was at El Reno, Oklahoma, 75 miles from Cordell, Oklahoma. We lived there several years before we had a railroad into Cordell, Oklahoma. There were no rural telephones and no rural mail routes and no automobiles. The 160 acres we homesteaded was prairie, not a furrow turned or a post set, not even a road past our place before we got there.

Minnie Maye is our youngest child. When she was 6 months old we went to Texas to visit grandpa and grandma P. in a covered wagon and when grandpa found out we had not named our baby girl, he named her for us.

Our first car was a model T Ford in 1916 and we went to Texas again and got up to a speed of 20 mph. I said when we get home I'll stay there if you are going to drive so fast, Ha!



John and Annie 1924

Grandma P. lived 99 years on earth and I am fortunate to of known her. She made that apron I am wearing in my header picture. I also have a blue and white Irish chain quilt she made. 

She was not famous, not a great photographer or recipe blogger nor did she marry into a rich family - but was loved by her family. Women like her, real pioneer women, who lived in sod houses and worked so hard with no frills are the backbone of Oklahoma. 

One of my dad's cousins was quite the geneologist.  He did lots of research on the family tree and much of it he published on line.  I am really thankful for his work.  This is just a small portion of it.  

Birthday cooking

My husband's birthday was the weekend before last and all our children and their families were here over the weekend.  Sometimes they overlapped and sometimes just one group was here.
It was fun weekend and of course,  there was food.

Daughter Nina made the birthday cake.  It was a 2 layer white cake with homemade lemon curd filling.
The G on top is for Grandpa.

I made 3 pinterest inspired recipes over the weekend. One was  Onion Cheese Rolls.  They were wonderful and would be good with other fillings like garlic and mozzarella 

or bacon as the son below suggested.  

I also made jalapeno cornbread poppers 

and a batch of the bacon pancake dippers.  They were a big hit but I prefer my bacon and pancakes separate.  If I do make them again,  I will use my from scratch recipe for the pancakes again and put the batter on the griddle first, then top with the cooked bacon slice.  These would be a big hit with teenagers who like to eat breakfast on the run.  

Bacon loving son Bobby provided and cooked the entrees for the Sunday lunch.  He grilled little tiny lamb chops and his specialty "chicken balls" 

he has a ladle to mold each chicken ball and he puts in 4 slices of raw bacon, criss-crossed on the bottom.

then he puts in a boneless skinless chicken thigh and 3 cubes of Monterrey jack cheese.

then he wraps the bacon all around so it seals in the ball.  I did not watch him cook them but I think he started them in the electric smoker and then finished them on the grill.

Sorry I don't have a cooked picture of them but they were prettier cooked and delicious!

One bacon wrapped cheese stuffed chicken ball is more than enough for a hearty size entree.  Certainly not for everyday eating- but great for a special birthday meal.  

Green eating and green trash

I know I post a lot about baked treats and we do eat desserts.  But we also eat lots of fresh produce.
This is what we bought Saturday and it should last us about a week and half or so,  some maybe longer.

3 kinds of onions, 2 kinds of lettuce, 2 kinds of mushrooms, 2 kinds of squash, 3 kinds of tomatoes, 3 kinds of berries, red grapes, 4 kinds of peppers, celery, peaches, plums, bananas, 2 cantaloupe, radishes, okra, broccoli, carrots

and a watermelon

Most all of it got washed and air dried, then packed in Tupperware Fridgesmart or zipper bags and put in the fridge until we need it.

I kept all the produce trimmings in a bowl that will go in the composter- not all of this is from Saturday's shopping, the bowl was already half full.  I keep saran wrap on top to keep away fruit flies, icky little things!

One more new step to deal with the shopping trash.  I collected all the paper, plastic and foam and put it in our brand new city-issued recycle bin!   See that pile on the top left?  that is one of the grape bags full of all the other produce bags just from today!  that amount really surprised me.

We have the big one that gets picked up and dumped by the automatic truck for a few years and just last week, the yellow lid one was delivered for recyclables.  

Both are the large size but I am going to see how it goes,  I know we can trade the 2 large ones and get 2 small ones that I think will be more than sufficient.  The small ones have a smaller monthly bill than the large ones too.  

Does your trash service do recycles?  This is new here and I am wondering how it is going to go......

down the baby bib memory lane.....

We have been blessed with 5 grandchildren in 4 years.  

I have sewn lots of bibs for them.  I found where I had blogged about some of them and had fun reminiscing about them.

bigger bibs

bibs

Bibs from funny retro fabric


more bibs


first batch of bibs

This week, I sewed 20 little bibs for sweet JJ, the youngest grand that is in a bit of a spit up phase.

I used flannel scraps from the last burp cloth project for most of them. The yellow and white ones are made from a never used Carter's reversible blanket that was just too small to wrap JJ.

I've used Velcro and ties and buttons to fasten bibs over the years. All have good and bad points. 

For most of these, I used sew on snaps.  I'll let you all know how we like that method. 

Pinterest caterpillars

Monday afternoon, grandson Gavin was in the craft-computer room with Grandpa and saw a bag of pompoms. He asked to make a craft with them and that was fine with me but I could not think of anything.

So before Gavin and cousin Elizabeth got here Tuesday, I looked on Pinterest for preschool pompom crafts.  I found lots of them and picked this simple one for them to do. 

Pompom caterpillars

I cut long shapes with a circle-ish end for the head from brown card stock. I drew a simple smile-y face with a black marker. 

The grands dipped the pompoms in Elmer's glue and lined up pompoms on the caterpillar shapes.

For dipping, putting a little glue in a cupcake paper liner works great for these preschoolers. 

Do you do Pinterest? It does have some flaws but it has become my go-to site whenever I need a quick answer or a tip or a recipe or ideas to entertain the grands. 

We still have lots of pompoms even after they both made an army of caterpillars. So I will be looking for more ideas there soon.