Good food for the sick.......

I have promised you the story of my Homemade Noodles and here it is.....

These babies are a hit around this farm.

Danny is not a noodle fan....well

he wasn't a noodle fan until I started making these.

He just ate them because noodles and any type of pasta is a staple in my book.

I am the mac-n-cheese queen.

I have made several batches of these yummies in the past week!!

We had 2 pots of chicken and noodles last weekend when we both were starting to get ill.

That's when Danny really loved them, said they made his throat feel real good.

They just made me feel good all over!!

We have a K&W Cafeteria here in these parts and they serve Chicken Stew.

It is by far my favorite dish that they serve and I nearly cry if they do not have it when I go in.

I have tried and tried to make that same dish at home to no avail.

I have to tell you that

this recipe for noodles + a big pot of stewed chicken= K&W's Chicken Stew!!!!!
Be still my heart!!

My life has been changed for the better!

Thank you Miss Canned Quilter!!

I also love Chicken and Dumplings and I can make a mean pot of them.

The oldfashioned way of course, with the big fluffy biscuit type dough dumplings and a thick gravy around them!! Yummy!!

However I have tried a lot of different ways to make them over the years

and I hear the same thing from Danny each time I color outside the lines...

"Now why did you go off and ruin this pot of dumplings by doing that?"

One time I think it was last summer,

he told me that I had finally learned to make them just like his mother did!!

My sil's mother (Cass) made the very best dumplings I have ever ate.

When I was a wee child I would go to her house, with my best friend who is now my niece,
and on Sunday afternoons Cass would have these dumplings.

They were like a big pot of extra fat and yellow chicken broth with the chicken pieces, and these huge fat dumplings that resembled homemade yeast roll dough. The broth was clear, no thickened gravy texture to it.

I have tried to recapture that taste and texture all my married life and nothing has compared to hers.

I am so happy with this new recipe for noodles because it is so versatile and easy to make. Did I mention they are delicious?? Well honey they are!!

I was lying around today on my death bed and I still have an appetite, so of course I was thinking about food all day long.

I just happened to have a batch of these in the freezer that I whipped up on Sunday and decided to try them with spaghetti meat sauce........oh yeah baby another big hit and they sure did feel good on the sore throat!!

Danny said it was better than any store bought noodles I have ever made!

Now I can't wait to get up the energy to make up a bunch of these for the freezer. I bought a 25 lb bag of all purpose flour Monday just for this project.

How many batches do you think I can make with 25 lbs of flour?

I'll let you know!!

I am also wanting to try them with beef.....now doesn't that sound yummy??

Now if I can just find me one of those pasta roller/cutters like the Canned Quilters!!!

Bon Appetit!!

sick, just sick....

"Doc there is no way to even describe or explain the symptoms other than" just sick"!

You name a symptom and we've got it or just got over it or

chances are we are getting ready to get it."

Danny is out of work again today for this crud. Second day in one week and probably out tomorrow too. He has never missed but maybe 2 days for sickness in all his years of working.

I was better for about 12 hours sometime this week but I can't remember which 12 hours that was. I have had a resurgence of this stuff and it has come back with a vengeance this time!

Maybe it didn't pay off for me to drink my sick husbands Coke during my furious delirious state of mind after our Dr made me mad on Monday. What ya think?

If we didn't have the same bug before, I know we do now!!

So we are just lying around today looking at each other, and yes we look just like the pictures above, only Danny doesn't have lipstick on his face!

I may unknowingly drink after him but I am certainly not

going to kiss on him!

I am not that kind of nurse!!

I am very much in the sewing mood today, but I haven't the energy to pick up a piece of fabric.

If anyone would be so kind as to send some good powerful bolts of energy to me, I would march right upstairs and get a log cabin quilt started. This has been burning a hole in my mind ever since I saw this one. I want one for the bed in the guest bedroom.
I love the classic colors Terri used too!!!

So if any of you have energy to spare today just beam it on down here!!!!

Terri? Brenda?

Anyone? Please!!!!

"A Coat Of Many Colors"

(click to enlarge)

Here's my latest watercolor project. This is my out building that is getting ready to be torn down and replaced with my new "Big Girl" goat barn. It was here when we purchased the property, as I am sure you could have guessed! It was painted red many years ago and it has had a few new colors tried out on the sides of it. I don't know who did that?? hehehe There have also been several boards replaced over the years which are different colors too. When we decided to build the barn in it's place I changed my mind about painting it. Instead, I took this picture of it this winter while playing with my new camera, of course when the snow was on the ground. I really saw this building in a new light in this photo and of course I just had to paint it. What's up with me doing all these snow scenes? I don't like snow and I sure find it hard to capture on canvas! Go figure! I think I am always up for a challenge!

This is done on watercolor canvas and is aptly named "A Coat Of Many Colors".

Can you believe this?

1. That Danny and I have both been very sick? I started last week with the cold/sinusy/junky

stuff and it carried on for the most part bearable until yesterday. I was driving Danny to the Dr with the same stuff that hit him hard on Saturday and he was wanting to go to the Dr yesterday so honey you better know he was sick!!

I was driving him there when the nausea hit me.

I was only going 70 down I-81!!

We debated calling Leslie to come to the Dr's office and pick us both up and drive us home.

2. That this Dr that we have been seeing for about 5 years as patients and I have worked along with for longer than that, was SO INCREDIBLY RUDE TO US? Well let me rephrase that she was down right mean. I have never even heard a Dr talk that bad to any patients in all my years of nursing!!! Well she is history in my book! Mama says if you have nothing good to say about anyone don't say anything so....That's all I have to say about that!

3. That .......insert drum roll here......no make that the soothing peaceful sound of a harp, my head still hurts pretty bad...............

MY TAXES ARE FINISHED AND READY FOR THE ACCOUNTANT!!!

when I have no more upset stomach that is!!!

Whew what a burden lifted off of my shoulders!!!!! AMEN!!!

4. That Robin and I made this perfect trade this weekend? She needed a pressure canner and I needed an easel for my painting....so you got it. We each had what the other one needed! We are both very happy with our little trade! She got a new pressure canner that I just happened to have bought on ebay last year to have as a spare and she had purchased a great portable but heavy duty easel also from ebay and found she didn't really want to paint....she would rather can beans!! She is part of the new Radical Homemakers Movement too!! Go girl!!

5. That.....it is almost 60 degrees out there today?

6. That my snow is finally melting? Whew!!!

7. That we saw the Robins flying over yesterday? Just about made me cry!!!

I can't hardly believe any of these things, can you?
The proof is in the pudding tho, so I am a believer now!!

I have a lot of catching up to do, I am behind in reporting the happenings from the farm to all of you who follow me so faithfully ;-))))

I still have to tell you about the great fur exchange from the great white hunters!!

That exchange took place on Saturday! I have stories and pictures of that!

I need to tell you all about my homemade noodles that were an exceptionally big hit around this farm and many more exciting things........ such as I have learned that

I must be kin to Annie Oakley and I have been doing some awesome target practicing.

Danny can't hold a candle to me anymore!!!!

So bear with me and let me heal from this flu that we have here and then I'll be back!

(of course the friendly Dr wouldn't even check him for the flu and could really care less what he had, labeled it as a virus and gave him some cough syrup that doesn't work as good as his Halls cough drops)

STAY WELL EVERYONE!!

Guess what girls??!!!

Do you remember my scare with my banties this week?

Do you understand why I was so scared that they were hurt?

Well that Carrie was hurt?

They were fine.

They have just started the love thing a couple weeks ago

and they have really bonded since then.

Well guess what!!!!

Carrie laid and egg today!!!!!

Of course she was very proud of it and laid it on my porch!!!!

Right beside the sliding glass door for me to be sure to see it!

I am just upset that I was gone and missed the show.I am sure she struted her stuff for a while after that one.

As far as I know this is her first egg, but I hope for many more.

I don't care if they are laid on the porch, I will gather them and when I get enough I will incubate them myself.

After that I may be able to break her from my porch.

I want some itty bitty black babies running around here!!!!

enough white already....

outside and in. I still love an all white interior decor but

I am so sick of an all white outside decor!!

I can't seem to be able to change the outside

but I can change the inside up a little.

I just needed a little more color in my life!!

I loved the foyer white back in the summer and fall.

This picture was taken back in the fall when I had my

sewing room in there ;-)))

(Terri, here's that drop leaf table and one of it's many uses.)

I had to dig out some Easter goodies today.

This quilt bunny was made by Danny's cousin.

She purchased some of Danny's Mother's old quilts from the estate sale

and then made up little stuffed animals out of them.

She gave them back to the children and grandchildren at baby and wedding showers

until most all of them had one.

Cause she was very smart that way ;-))

She also painted the carrots all over that egg!

They sure make me smile!

Over the years I have lost the little sign that the rabbit was holding

that said "Think Spring"

Well it makes me think about Spring!

My poor ole innocent husband came home from work early today.

He made the mistake of telling me that he was coming in around noon.

I had a lot of little odd jobs literally waiting by the door for him!!

I have had this yardsale door up for several years now and I have had the kickplate sitting by the door for as long. I made him get to that today before he even set his lunchbox down!!

Color!




I know this is a (dirty4 letter word here...."SNOW" figurine) but it has a Springy attitude with the Cardinal at the birdbath. I think the Garden Cloche
makes it look springy too.





A little greenery.

Garden Central!

I told you this table has many jobs throughout the year.

Right now it holds the heat mat and some very struggling seedlings.

They are trying.

I had these valances in the kitchen but in my quest to gain some color I thought they may do here for now.

The shutters were just sitting in my closet for a couple years now trying to figure out where they wanted to live.

See all that white outside? Yuck!!!

Night time shot and you can still see the snow.

The black lamp is supposed to be at The Fairy's Rest but I thought it may play in here for the time being. I think I like the look with the black valances.

This dresser houses all our DVD's

my silver flatware, tablecloths and napkins.

I sanded it a tad to try and shabby it up a little today.

I think it needs a little more.

A few crooked pictures. I have a lot more to hang back up in there.

When we first moved I had all the walls in the foyer lined with pictures

in all sorts of frames. I took them down to paint one time and didn't hang them back up,

but I think I want to now.
It is just a hodgepodge of colors right now,

but it's a start.

When I can move the plants out of there it will look better.

Needs a lot of tweaking but

it is making me smile already and that's

all that matters!!
Here's wishing you some color in your life!

Do you act like this?

Or am I the only one around besides my dad who has such a temper?

I have spent the morning repairing and cleaning up a big, well a BIG mess

that I myself made back before Christmas.

I had the Christmas tree up in the foyer by the window,

as I am sure you remember with all the

photos that I shared of that tree

that I did not like.

I didn't like the photos or the tree!

I also had an electric tart bunner

plugged in to the same outlet as the tree lights.

Do you see where I am going here?

Hot melted wax, me befumbling around with tangled cords?

You got it.

I spilled hot but very nice scented

Pumpkin Crunch Pie wax allover everything in the foyer.

It was sorta behind the tree.

It was allover the little white table that it was sitting on, the floor

and my white walls! Urgh!! It was soaked up into a crocheted doily that was under it.

Everything immediately turned a nice shade of Pumpkin!

I just took a deep breath and let it out.

Then I most patiently walked away from it!!

Isn't that what you guys would do?

If I tried to clean this mess up I would have been wearing a Christmas tree

around my neck or I would have gotten so

"frustated" (not a typo, you American Idol watchers will know what I mean here)

that I would have thrown everything in there out the window into the snow.

So instead I decided to wait until today to clean it all up.

What a mess. I was right about how hard it would be to clean up too.

It involved sandpaper, a chisel, Clorox, lots of hot soapy water and a paintbrush and bucket of white paint.

Need I say more?

No pictures cause it was TOO big a mess to show off!!

While on my cleaning frenzy this morning, I found this unfinished tablecloth from several years ago. I have a nice storage bench under the halltree that houses several UFO's.
I would really like to know what I was thinking when I got this one started.
Did i really think that somewhere in my lifetime I would actually have enough little 4" blocks
for a tablecloth?
Maybe a dollhouse tablecloth!!
Oh yeah that's right I have an unfinished dollhouse too.......
hahaha that darned ADD again!
Maybe I will do better after next weekend when daylight savings time kicks in again!
Oh happy days!!!!!!!
No I won't do any better but I may very well get these 42 blocks put together to make
a very pretty table runner. I mean tablerunners are more in vouge than tablecloths, right?
Yes my dear friends, I am almost finished with
Baby Bubbas Crocheted Log Cabin Baby Blanket!!
Aren't you all proud of me?



The sun is shining so beautifully today and
I am feeling a little Springy
so I had to make this wreath.......

and hang it on my front door!
I am doing some other Easter/Spring decorating today too.
Pictures later!

So my friends I think it paid off to wait until a pretty sunny day to tackle that crazy mess I made
and not let my temper get in the way.
Not that I didn't whisper little bad words to myself with each new obstacle I ran into while
trying to get the mess cleaned up!!

Off to the foyer again!

I sure hope Spring has Sprung in your neck of the woods!!

ps. here's the sourdough bread recipe I hope you all try it!