Cook. Clean. Sew. Repeat.

That seems to be the norm around here. Just not enough of the third step and way too much of one and four. I need to learn some time management skills. Understatement! Yesterday I vowed 15 minutes of internet time would be it until after supper was over and the kitchen cleaned up. Worked well....for the most part. 15 minutes spent checking blogs and emails and my facebook. Ya know I am an important person with all of these ways for people to contact me! LOL!!

I cleaned and laundered and did my haircolor and showered and dressed and paperwork and etc etc etc all before noon. Sat down at noon to check on a recipe for supper. Got up and made a sourdough starter and out the door to run errands. Such a good feeling with so much accomplished! Came home and made Sour Cream Enchiladas
with my own homemade tortillas too!! I am impressed with myself!

Please don't look at how dirty my new oven is already......and it's steam cleam and self cleaning. Don't judge me. Danny does enough of that for all of you! If he didn't make me cook so much for him it wouldn't get dirty now would it? anywhoooo......Delicious. That Suzanne over at Chickens in the Road knows how to cook!!! I will never get to go out to eat at mexican again he says.

After supper....like I said... was blogging time and I found a new blog with this little frog. Went upstairs and made my version. She has the tutorial and pattern that you can download but I couldn't get it so I freehanded one similar to hers. I stuffed him with polyfil and decided that he looked like a pincushion to me. He has been in the watermelon patch and the evidence came home with him.

I made another much bigger pattern for another one. I plan to get several of these made today. You see I am not crazy about frogs but I had some just like him when I was a wee little tot. A neighbor made me one and then my mom made some more like him for me too. I have planned on trying to make a pattern for him all my life it seems and never attempted it. So when I saw this one posted I had to do it. I am in love with him. Not so much that it bothered me sticking pins in his back though. I think he will be happy sitting on my ironing board or anywhere in my sewing room watching me. Maybe he will keep me focused on the project at hand. Ya know my ADD!!!

Speak of ADD? This is what the dollhouse looks like now. The foundation is laidout on the coffee table...hahaha....Danny got a kick out of the fact that it has to be on a foundation. Of course it has a foundation doesn't your house?

Wish me luck on getting anything accomplished today cause it just ain't a lookin good

yet ;-)

33rd wedding anniversary weekend!!

(the above photo was taken only about a year after we were married, hey I made my shirt pin tucks and all! you can click to enlarge)

Yep 33 years he has been married to me! Boy does he deserve a medal! We were married when I was 14 and he was 21.......no kidding! Lots of people were making bets back then on how long the marriage would last and it made us soooooo mad. Now we understand fully why they would be making bets on the two of us. The age difference and the fact that I was a wee tot of only 14 years old.......why my grandaughter is 14 years old now. OMG Her married?????? No way!!!





We spent a nice long weekend at The Fairy's Rest..(TFR).....him resting.....me working!! It was raining buckets and buckets of rain so he could do nothing outside. He had no TV inside, only a portable DVD player that I thought to take for him and a couple good man flicks.....being the good wife that I am!!! He was happy til he watched them all. Guess I shoulda thought and took more for him to watch!





Friday we started with breakfast at IHOP YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY too!!!!! Ran a slew of errands. He left me at TJMAXX my favorite store in the world!!!! I found a lot of goods too. On to the home away from home. Saturday I did a lot of hanging things at TFR and making curtains more cleaning etc etc etc......then he said "I am bored. Let's go somewhere." Sure I had wanted to go into Danville to The Hobby Lobby for a while now..........OMG Another favorite store right up there with TJMAXX Found several great little things in there for TFR and he bought my Christmas present.................. drum roll Please............a dollhouse!!!! Yes a Vermont Farmhouse Jr. Oh Boy Oh Boy I have always wanted one of these. I have to say that he did not have to pay even half of the price shown on the link either!!! I have had so much fun with decorating TFR that he even commented to me the other day that it was my dollhouse....yes it is. This one will be a lot of fun too. I just have to get it put together now and then let the fun begin!!!

Tiramisu anyone?

This is by far my favorite dessert!

If you have never tried it you better!

Go ahead what are you waiting for?

It is super easy and triple super yummy!

I have made this several times and it is always a hit. It is quite impressive when made in a trifle dish also. I use the trifle dish for functions but decided to use my good ole Pyrex dish with a lid on it for the 2 of us. It may last more than one sitting. Then again......

I was out of baking chocolate so I put semisweet chocolate pieces in my food processor and chopped them up. I am sure it will be just as yummy! I have never used the raspberries that the recipe calls for but then again I am sure this can't hurt!!

I saw another version on another blog the other day that was made using Twinkies instead of vanilla wafers. I am sure it is good too, but this version cannot be beat. Well it may really be better if served in a quaint little trattoria in Italy. I'll let ya know if their's is better when I get back!

Enjoy!!

My well deserved makeover!

Bad day. Not just a bad hair day but a bad bad day all around. This was back in June at our pond while fishing. I must not have been catching any fish, ya think??? I have no idea why I grow my hair out only to cut it back off but I do it anyway. I had no style. What happened to me? I used to be the girl who wouldn't even think of going to the trash dumpster or the grocery store without my hair and makeup just right. Off to work well Katie bar the door. I went all out and then I think I realized that no one else cared what I looked like. By the time I quit work in May I had got myself in this little rut of not caring. A few hundred gallons of paint from painting on 2 houses a garage and tons of furniture, a few hundred gallons of gas burned out in a lawn mower, one full growing season in my garden and the many woes of farmgirl life.........and just look at me. Well you can't see me cause I didn't post any thing past June ;-)
So being the hairdresser that I am, I have plenty of hairstyle magazines. I picked out this cute little carefree do and sprang it on my husband last night and LO AND BEHOLD HE LOVED IT!!!!! What??? He hates short hair!! I guess he hated having me look so frumpy when he came home from work too!!! Each day I am in my paint covered comfy wear around the house clothes that I have become so fond of. No makeup. No jewelry. Barely a shampoo hit my hair for months now. I wish I could meet him at the door each afternoon with my "housedress" and apron on, hair and makeup done up just right, a pair of sexy high heels and a delicious dinner on the table. Hey, I bet he would like that too!!! Of course he can't complain about the meals that he gets.................actually he does complain about them too.......it seems it's my fault that his pants are getting tighter.......must be my fault cause I know for sure it is "My Fault" that mine are getting tighter too!!!!!!

Waaaalllllaaaaaaa!!!! Becky in a new sassy do, makeup and her clothes with not nary a paint splotch on them!!!!!!! Are those earrings too????

DH was happy too.

Becky went out this morning to run errands...actually took all day......but she stayed in her "Good Clothes" all day until he could see her. Becky missed her comfy paint clothes or PJ's too.


ps. I didn't want the Kate plus 8 look of an assymetrical haircut so I tweaked it up a little. Leslie came right thru the door this morning, looked at me and called me Kate G. :0(

Kentucky Butter Cake

I think this is worthy of blogging about and I haven't even taken it out of the pan yet! It's a recipe from Allrecipes (my favorite online cookbook) and it can be found here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Kentucky-Butter-Cake/Detail.aspx The reviews were unbelievable. Well I guess I did believe them didn't I? Smells soooooooo good. Can't wait for desert tonight.

I am so good to my kids no matter what they say about me, hu hum hum.

Robin and Eric are coming in from Atlanta tonight to this!!

I'll give anyone out there a piece of this "has-to-be-yummy cake" if they will show me how to put the words that you can click on to go to the link. You know it would be like go "here" or "kentucky butter cake" would be highlighted and take you directly to the site. I will. I promise I will give you a huge slice of this cake if you will tell me how to do that!!!!!! I will also give you a hot cup of coffee with Southern Butter Pecan creamer to accompany your cake!

Did you guess that I like butter? Paula Deen has nothing on me in the butter dept!!!!

Go on over there and get the recipe and make this tonight so we can all be enjoying this cake together. Enjoy!!

Becky Butterton ;0)

Update!!

Berte wins the slice of cake!!! She told me how to do this in her comment!! I was soooo close but was skipping a crucial step. Now I will have your heads a spinning with all my hyperlinks that I will be putting in my posts!!

Thanks a million Berte!!! I hope you enjoy the cake as much as we have ;-)

Fundraising Fashion Show

This evening I was invited to participate in a fundraiser for the Community Action Emergency Fund for our county. It was held at the home of Jeannie O'Neill. She has a gorgous home and gardens on Main Street.
This little building (the back of the building shown) used to be her fathers vet office. A few years back my daughters and I rented this from Jeannie and had our ladies consignment store in there. It has now been renovated (wish I had pics) into the cutest ever B&B type nightly rental. While we were getting ready for the fashion show a gentleman from England came up requesting a room. He got a great room for the night and was invited next door to the show and 2 doors down to Jeannie's husbands birthday party after the show!!! What a deal he came across!!

Her back yard.

Her boutique Jeannie O'Neill Originals. She is a fabulous artist and clothing designer. Robin and I used to do some sewing for her. Her items are being modeled tonight.

One of the models, Cindy. My job was to dress the models in Jeannie O'Neill Originals. These are her handbags too. There were four other stores from our town that also had their clothing shown.

Side of her home. It's huge.

Front room of her boutique.

Some of her art and jewelry on display.

More art. Love the "nothing to wear" sign.

I can't believe I am telling this on myself, but this is "MY BUTT" .......really it is.......when we rented from Jeannie she came into my store and asked me to come outside and model for her. I did as I was told....bent over and she took a picture of my butt!!!! The rest is history! You have to know Jeannie and I don't think it would make any of you mad. I always thought this was my best side ;-)

Some of the models gathered for pictures. Notice Jeannie's art hanging on the side of her house.

This is an old friend and previous co-worker of mine Lori. A fellow hairdresser and her boyfriend Michael. They were both models tonight for another store. I was so happy to see them here.

Here's the crew. All my models and Jeannie second from left.

There were door prizes and a silent auction with a lot of great items for auction. If The Fairy's Rest was ready for guests I would have given a weekend to the highest bidder!! Maybe next year.

This is Jeannie's sister Temple. She modeled vintage dance wear and was caught dancing later in the evening. The band was great too. I think everyone really had a good time. Jeannie is quite the hostess.

She also offered me a job before the night was over!!!

Vintage laundry hamper cart thingy......

Did I tell you that I like toile? I also like laundry or at least somedays I like laundry. I don't like it when it gets piled up. I love love love handwashing! I think I will like it all while using this!
Before!
This is one of my Friday yardsale treasures only $2

I knew it had potential. I used the old liner as a pattern.

The old liner only had one pocket but I decided that I wanted two. I don't know why but they are there now. One for clothespins and the other for a bottle of water and a snack? LOL!!! Everything I do is centered around food!!!

I love the toile. I had purchased this fabric with no project in mind. The brown denim was a remnant for $1 intended to make me a pair of run-around-the-house-and-paint-furniture-in-shorts but I was too busy painting furniture to get them made. The buttons were from my stash I have had for years and years. I have something like $6 in the finished project including my vintage clothespins!!!

Hope you are having a great Labor Day! Does sewing count as labor? If so I am not taking the holiday off. Too many ideas in this head that need to become into fruition. Wish me luck! I have gave Danny the entire day off. I have asked for nothing as of yet, but the day is young ;-) Wish him luck on that one too!!

Make hay while the sunshines.......

or while it's raining
the sun was shining in the hayfield but it was pouring just over the hill


my view......I was the driver

when he had the trailer almost loaded all by himself, 3 of these young guys came over and threw on a few bales. They felt sorry for the old man, told him they were impressed at how fast he loaded that much by himself at his age!!!!! Made him feel really good.

We had 87 bales and just barely made it home and got it unloaded and into the shed before it got wet. Had to cover it with a tarp before we got it unloaded to keep it dry. I am a weinie and not good at lifting hay but I did a pretty good job unloading the trailer while he restacked it. I told him that I thought we had a lot more fun doing hay when we were 14 and 20 years old!!!! He agreed !! This was some really nice hay and my goats will love it this winter.

A Kodak moment....

I remembered my camera this time. On Friday evening while we were feeding our catfish we finally spotted 2 of our big white albino cats that came up to get food for the first time this year. Last evening we spotted them again. Click to enlarge picture and get a look at the difference in the size of the white ones verses the channel cats. WOW!!!
All 3 of them!!! Bout fell off the dock too! At least I did have the camera.

They are so dag um happy on the bottom all year that you could never even get a glimpse of them. Occasionally if the moon and stars are properly in alignment they would sneak up and eat with the others. Robin hooked one last year while all us girls and kids were fishing and it was a sight!!! She was yelling for help cause she thought she had Moby Dick on her line. I was laid back with my feet propped up in one of those folding/in a bag loungers ( LOL!!! ) on the other side of the pond. It took me for ever to get out of the thing with out folding my self up in it. Her rod was about to break in two. She was dancing and screaming like a girl......thought she had a mud turtle on her hook cause it was so heavy. Just as it was finally pulled to the top of the water I made it to her and her line snapped. We both were able to see what it was and yelled out "A white catfish!!" I was happy that it got away but she wasn't happy at all. It appeared to be about 14" long at that time but they are at least 20" long now.

Look at that face. Scary huh?
Danny and Robin keep threatening to catch one of these and eat them. Over my dead body! These are my pets. I don't think either one of them would do that to me, do you?

An aerial/over the mountainside shot of where all this action takes place.
Multi colored fish, bear, snakes, turtles, raccoons, skinny dippers, ................no skinny dippers since the first year cause of so many other creatures!!!!!

What a great day I have had! Thank You Lord!

This weekend is the Hillsville Va flea market and gun show. One county over. Huge and I say Huge!!!!! At least that's what I've heard. I've never been. Always try to stay out of the way!! But let me tell ya there are some good yardsales on the roads leading to Hillsville!!! I covered three counties today and hit the mother lode!!! This Ironstone pitcher and bowl I got for a song! It already has a couple homes but I can't decide which one I want it to stay in yet. I love it!
I never thought I would own a Dooney and Bourke bag. Especially for $1
I feel like a theif!

I don't know if it's an original or a knock-off but it looks real to me! Bad focus on my camera!

This is just a drop in the bucket of my finds. I had my truck loaded down and spent less than $100. Rooster napkin holder 0.25 cents Vintage tablecloth $3

I bought these 2 couples for 25 cents each cause I wanted them!

Beautiful dresser scarf $3

Vintage flour sack .......drum roll......$1 Looks like an apron to me!!

This is a gorgeous santa bowl. A nice one that was all in a box with gold writing and all for $1

Brass sconces for 50 cents each. I came home and primed one to paint it white and broke one. Can you believe it? But my dh has some brass welding rods and is going to try to weld it back for me. He's pretty good to me ;-)

This evolution of a snowman (click to enlarge) was 50cents.

I got more santas

Tupperware

2 Fire king dishes

a fireking mug

2 pair of jeans for dh Carhart and wranglers

A chenille bedspread

2 sheets

A glass cloche

a locker type basket

A big box of little girl movies Barbie etc

little girls clothes for Emma

a super duper cooking thermometer new for 25 cents

4 new sweatshirts

1 new pink hoodie (all $1 a piece)

3 curtain panels

more Christmas decor

2 drop leaf end tables $5 each Great!!

................. and............

a vintage (double triple flips here--oh happy dance) laundry sorter/basket/thingy....not sure what it is called but OMG $2

a beautiful vintage womens bathing suit and matching swim cap OMG it is sooooo cute!!!!! Boy have I got plans for it!!

And a fabulous vintage armoire to die for!!!!!!!! $25 tehhetehhe

I am certain I have missed a lot of stuff but I am so happy with my finds. Actually some of this was purchased last evening at a yardsale down the road.

The best part of the day was all the old friends that I ran upon and got caught up with while yardsaling. I made so many friends when we had our consignment store and I got to see some of the best of the best today!!!!!!

A great day!

Then tonight while feeding our catfish 2 of our 3 big white albino catfish that we haven't seen all year, came up and ate and ate and ate. Of course no darned camera with me........... That's OK I looked over at Danny and said.....

"It's been such a good day."