4th of July pics

We had a really busy 4th! How about you? Our plans for a cookout did not pan out, so we spent most of the day in the pool and at the lake.

The weather couldn't have been better. Not hot, no rain, and a nice cool breeze. Perfect! Last night we went down to a local marina where the fire department has a celebration of Independence Day. They had rides for the kids, an antique car show, military equipment, and every kind of food vendor that you can think of. The marina is located in a very beautiful area of the lake. The land used to be a farm before the lake was built in the 1960's.

The fireworks were spectacular. I am like a child when it comes to fireworks, I get so excited!

Wishing everyone one a blessed day!

Veggie Tales

This is the gourd that ate New York city! Well, maybe not New York city, but it has taken over a huge amount of my garden. See that litle tee pee trellis, I thought the gourd would grow up that, but no... The gourd is everywhere! And it has the cutest little gourds on it!

Does anyone here grow hubbard squash? This is my first year and I have no idea when to harvest them. Is there a certain color?

My glads are really pretty this year, unfortunately I have to move them! They decided to come up through my rose bush, which I'm moving as well. My husband always jokes to me about me playing "musical plants" because I move them around frequently, looking for that perfect spot. Can you see the blue dolphin that jumped out of the pool to smell the glads?

My Dad and I always have a friendly rivalry when it comes to growing tomatoes. We both want to be the first to have a tomato by the 4th of July. Well I picked this little tomato last night! I might be cheating just a little because it is not totally red yet, but it was lying on the ground and I was afraid it would rot. I tried to call my Dad, but he wasn't home, to rub in the fact that I have the first tomato this year!

My squash and cucumber are very prolific this year! I have picked over 2 bushels of cucumber and probably that much of squash. I am also starting to get a few green peppers and jalapeno peppers as well. Looks like some fresh salsa will be in order!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th!

Blessings,

Linda

Lake Fun!

We finally got our boat back from the shop and were out of the lake early today! It was a little overcast when we left but we were so excited to finally have our boat back we took off anyway. Yngwie had a friend down and they rode the knee board and wake boards. I rode a knee board once a very long time ago. I got up the first time. The second time the knee board slipped out from under me and broke 3 ribs. Haven't been on one since, thank you very much!

We were out for about 30 minutes when along came the rain. It has rained and stormed here every day for the last week. Not the good soaking rains. Just torrential rains and winds, and lightning. We came back in for about and hour and I swam around in the pool after the rain stopped while the boys did some adjustments on an old knee board. They were trying to see if this new "contraption" they made out of a bucket and some lexan would help the knee board "foil" or lift up out of the water. As you can see, that was one experiment gone bad! Nobody could even ride it then!

The garden is doing so good! I love fresh squash and cucumbers! I have always loved cukes, but when I was pregnant I craved them cut up with vinegar over them. DH was afraid our baby would be born pickled!

Now the sun is setting over the lake and the skys are blue and tomorrow promises to be a beautiful day for the first day of July. Looking forward to celebrating our nations independence this Wednesday. We will be having a cookout for friends and family and then riding down to a local marina to watch the fireworks over the lake! Weather permitting of course!

Hope everyone has a blessed week-end!

Friday Show and Tell

Kelli over at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ is hosting show and tell. I love Show and tell days and seeing what treasures other bloggers have!

Today I would like to show you some photos of some of my family. This is the wedding photo of my maternal great grandparents, Elijah and sally Ayers. Unfortunately, I never go to know them as they both died before I was born. The story I love best about Elijah was that one day he needed some grease to grease his wagon wheels and didn't have any money to buy it. So he took a pound of butter to the store to trade. The storekeeper didn't need any butter and refused to trade. So Elijah took the butter home and greased the wagon wheels with it!This is a photo taken before Elijah and Sally were married. Apparently Elijah and his buddies went to West Virginia looking for work. Instead they found some "moonshine". a traveling photographer took this picture of them and mailed the photo to my great grandfather. He is the one in the middle.
This photo is of Elijahs parents. My great-great grandparents. Both are holding their Bibles and John has a civil war medal pinned on him.The served in the Confederate Army. He was taken as a prisoner of war during the civil war and was held in a camp in New York for months.

Even though I never knew these people it brings me great comfort to have their photos in my home. There is just something about being surrounded by family, even if only in pictures, that makes me feel less stressed on days when I feel like climbing the walls! I always think of the hardships they endured and my problems seem less important.

Have a wonderful and blessed day!

Linda

Recipe Thursday! Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I haven't had a lot of time to do much cooking this week other than quick suppers. But I had a couple of zucchini from the garden and decided that zucchini bread was in order.

I found this recipe in the 1993 Southern Living Annual Recipe book. It's a little different than my usual zucchini bread in that it doesn't have a cup of oil in the recipe. Instead it uses 3/4 cup of butter and like Paula Deen I love me some butter! And to make it even better it's also got chocolate! Butter and Chocolate!!!!

It turned out really good and light. I like it just like it is, but Yngwie likes to put cream cheese on his. Either way, it makes a great summer bread.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3/4 c. butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 large)

1/2 cup milk

2 tea. vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tea. baking powder

1 1/2 tea. baking soda

1/2 tea. salt

1 tea. ground cinnamon

1/2 c. cocoa

1 cup chopped pecans ( I didn't have any so I just skipped on the nuts)

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.

Combine zucchini, milk and vanilla. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients; add to butter mixture; alternately with zucchini mixture; beginning and ending with flour. Stir in pecans.

Spoon batter into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool on wire racks 10 minutes and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Makes 2 loaves.

Wishing everyone a blessed day!

Linda

Finished Projects!

I finally snapped some photos of some of the projects I have been working on. The jeans purse was so much fun to make! I just cut off some of my sons jeans that were too small and sewed up the bottom. I measured the inside of the bag and lined it with some red and beige toile fabric that I already had. The handle is made from a mans tie that I bought for .50 at the thrift store. And on the side is a little rhinestone button that came from the button jar that my Grandmother gave me. The fabric flower I made using a tutorial from http://blairpeter.typepad.com/. These fabric flowers could also be used as a topper to a package or even as a corsage! They are so fun to make.

This photo of my Edwardian apron did not turn out so well. I really love the apron, it has great coverage which is good for me because I can get really messy cooking sometimes! And it has great deep pockets. I got the pattern from http://sensibility.com/. They sell lots of patterns that are Edwardian and Victorian. It's a really fun sight.

The embroidered cat is from a 1980 Better homes and Gardens craft book. It was a lot of fun to make and is so cute. I made this one to be a Christmas ornament and will give it to my girlfriend Diane for her birthday. She loves cats and Christmas ornaments. I think I will make several of these to use on top of Christmas presents instead of bows.

We had a little set back with my MIL yesterday. At her appointment they told her that she had emphazema and she will probably have to have the oxygen tank the rest of her life. She is really having a hard time accepting this. Her oxygen levels are down to 74 without the oxygen. Your oxygen level should be at least 87.

Please!!!! If any of my blogger friends smoke, please, please, talk with your Dr. about getting help quitting. My MIL smoked for 35 years and is now paying the price for it. It is so hard to watch her cry and cry and not be able to do a thing for her. There is no cure for enphazema and it doesn't get better.

This and That

Good Morning! This weekend was definitely better than last! My Mother in law is continuing to gain strength. I am taking her to the Dr. this morning for a post hospital visit check-up. She made the appointment this week-end and I told my boss yesterday I would need the morning off to take her. He wasn't very happy about it. I hate feeling "between a rock and a hard spot". I know I am needed at work and I know I must take care of my MIL. My husband couldn't get the morning off. Yngwie is studying for his learners permit and will probably go this weekend to test, but I do not feel comfortable with him driving her with very little experience.

I got my new Gooseberry Patch Christmas book in the mail this week-end and there are so many great ideas in this book. I really love all the paper crafts they have and the recipes make me so hungry just looking at them. The Lime thumprint cookies are going on my list to make this week! I love anything "citrusy". BTW, todays June 25th! Only 6 more months to Christmas! (Don't shoot me!)

I spent alot of time outside this weekend working in the flower garden, the veggie garden and just taking a stroll down to the lake. We live in a rural area and the deer around here are all but tame! The fellow in the above photo was out taking a stroll too. They come right into our yards and last year one even walked onto my porch and ate the pansies in my planters. There are 3 baby deer that sleep in the clearing just before you get to the lake on our property. The are so cute. Not much bigger than our labrador and still have their spots. They look just like Bambi. Everytime I take my camera on my walk, they of course are not there.

I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

It's Friday already! Yay! Kelli over athttp://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ is hosting show and tell. Jump over there and see all the wonderful photos everyone is sharing!

Today I have my collection on Toby mugs. I really don't know how I came to start collecting these, but I have added a few. My Grandmother thinks they are the ugliest things she has ever seen and wouldn't be caught dead drinking out of one of them. Fortunately, they are just for decoration. Looks like someone didn't want their picture taken!

My Mother in law is home and doing fairly well. She has to be on oxygen for an undetermined time and it is very upseting to her. It was somewhat overwhelming to all of us when they came in and set up all the tanks and equipment, but after a good nights rest, she seems in a little better spirits this morning. I appreciate all of your concern and prayers. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that people you have never really "met" are sharing their concern. Thank you so much.

Have a blessed weekend!

Linda

The Circle of Life

Praise God! My mother in law is coming home today! She is still very weak and needs oxygen, but her kidney infection is clearing up. Her sugar is high and they have started her on some stronger medication than she had been taking before. She will have a home health nurse come and check on her for the next couple of days.

The Doctor said someone would need to stay with her during her waking hours to help her around the house, do cleaning, cooking, and just keep an eye on her vitals.

My mother in law kept our son from the time he was 5 weeks old until he was old enough to stay by himself. We paid her $75.00 per week to watch him. We will now be paying our son $75.00 per week to watch his grandmother. Of course, he didn't want any money to do it, but we felt if we were going to have to pay someone anyway, it may as well be him. He knows how to cook, clean, take her sugar, temperature, etc.. He will be there from the time we leave for work until we come home, than my husband and I will take turns sleeping at her house until she is well enough to be left alone.

I have noticed that most things in life eventually come full circle. There's a lesson to be learned in that. How we treat others will someday come back to us. She has been so strong and so helpful and kind to us, now it's our turn to help her.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers.

Have a blessed day!

Linda

Just a quick update

My Mother in law is still in the hospital in serious condition though she is showing a remarkable improvement! She is able to sit up and talk some, and the Dr. has prescribed medication to whet her appetite so that she will eat and get stronger. He is controlling her diabetis with insulin at the moment as he is more concerned with getting her stronger.

She is coming out of her "fog" as well. She knows who everyone is now and seems to be regaining more and more of her memory.

The Dr. has told us that the kidney infection is still not clear and he will probably keep her until the weekend at least.

Thanks so much for your continuing prayers for my mother in law. We all know that God is the great physician and we pray it's his will to send her back home to us better than ever!

Prayers Please!

We have had a very trying and tiring weekend. On Saturday, my mother in law woke up not feeling well and started throwing up. We live next door so we checked on her every hour. When she started getting weak we called her Dr. who called her in a prescription for phenagren for the nausea and told her to drink a bottle of Gatorade.

After she took the medicine she said she was tired but felt better and was going to go to sleep for a while. We were getting ready to go out on the lake for about an hour, so Yngwie went to check on her before we left. He couldn't get her to answer the door and he was wet so he called for me to go in and check on her. When I went in she was in her bed, had turned so blue she was almost purple, had thrown up all over herself and was having trouble breathing. I have never seen anyone in such a horrible condition in my life.

When Yngwie came in he yelled for his Dad and immediately called 911. DH and I took her temperature with an ear thermometer and it was 105. We immediately started putting cold wet towels on her and trying to get her on her side so that she could breathe. When the rescue squad got there she was unconcious and was not responding to any stimulus. The EMT told us she might not survive the ride to the hospital. DH rode with her in the ambulance and they started fluids and oxygen.

When Yngwie and I got the hospitable they had her in stable condition. She apparently has a kidney infection and because she had been throwing up so much she had dehydrated and the infection had spread all over her. Her temperature when she got to the hosptial was 103.8. The Dr. told us if we hadn't checked on her when we did, in another 1/2 hour she would have died.

She is now listed in serious but improving condition which gives us much hope that she will recover from this. She is a very lively and vivacious 72 year old whom we love very much. She babysat for Yngwie from the time he was 5 weeks old and he still goes over to her house everyday for breakfast. He is so close to her and is so upset. He keeps repeating, "I can't stop thinking about what would have happened if I didn't go to check her". So please keep my dear mother-in-law in your prayers.

Wishing everyone a blessed day.

Linda

Guitars!

These pics are for "Tracy's" son Mac. He wanted to see the pics of my sons guitars, so here you go!

The guitar on the left is a 1976 les paul custom "black beauty" the guitar to its right is a 1973 lespaul custom the guitar to its right is a 1993 les paul studio and the strat is my practice guitar.We collect guitars and make our own guitars and at the moment have 15 total.

Friday Show and Tell!

Kelli over at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ is hosting show and tell! Hop on over it's so much fun!

Today I would like to show ya'll part of my Barbie collection. Now these dolls are not the beautiful mint in box Barbies that most collectors want, but they are collectible to me because they were mine and they have been gently (or sometimes not so gently) loved.

All the dolls in this picture are Barbies. The "Bubble Cut" Barbie in the middle of the picture, Santa brought to me in 1965. The two pony tail Barbies on the end were given to me around the same time by my cousin who decided at age 8 she was too big for dolls. The blond on the left I got the next year for Christmas and the "Bald" headed one I got probably around the same time. She had wigs that came with her, but over the last few decades they have gotten lost or tossed!
The black Barbie is Julia. She was from a TV show in the late sixties or early seventies and was a nurse. I think Diahann Carroll played as Julia. Her hair has turned bright red over the years, not sure what is going on with that! The middle doll is Ken of course, Barbie boyfriend for the last 50 years! Talk about your long engagements! The doll on the left is Midge, Barbies best friend. She was one of my favorites because her hair flipped up and she had freckles like me.
This is Skipper on the left, Barbies little sister and on the right is her friend Scooter. Scooter has a special story. Two days before my 5th birthday my little sister was born. So the party at home was moved to my great aunts house because mom was in the hospital. The day of my party a huge snowstorm hit and the only little girl to make it to my party lived next door to my aunt. I was so disappointed. I had asked for "Scooter" for my birthday. During the party my Dad comes in with my gift. I unwrapped it so excited and it turned out to be another "Skipper" At that point I had a melt down. I threw a horrible tantrum (so my aunt and Dad say) and started crying. My Dad took the Skipper doll, went back out into the snow storm and drove back to town, (over a half hour in good weather) and picked up the right doll "Scooter" and brought her back to me at my aunts. What a Brat I was!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week-end!

Linda

Recipe Thursday

This weeks recipe comes from ""Our Favorite Desserts" Favorites From Home Economics Teachers. The copyright in the book is 1967.

I had alot of things I needed (wanted) to do last night so I decided to make a quick snack for DH and Yngwie when they came back from running their errands. So I chose Shoestring Potato Cookies. This is a super simple recipe and requires no baking which is perfect for hot summer evenings.

Shoeestring Potato Cookies:

2- 6oz. pkgs of butterscotch chips

3-tbls of peanut butter

1- 4oz. can of shoestring potatos (These are potato sticks found in the potato chip aisle)

1 cup chopped nuts (I didn't use any nuts, I used more potato sticks)

Melt butterscotch and peanut butter. Pour over shoestring potatoes and nuts. Stir gently.Drop onto waxed paper on a cookies sheet by tablespoons. Put in freezer to set. Remove from freezer as soon as firm.

How easy is that?? They are very much like "haystacks" that are made with the chinese noodles but with the potato sticks you get that salty/sweet thing going on that I love.

So thank you Mrs. Rowena Ballew of Richland High School in Fort Worth Texas for sharing your delicious recipe.

Have a blessed day everyone!

Linda

Take a stroll with me through the Veggie Garden!

The vegetable garden is coming along nicely. As much as I love flower gardening, I love vegetable gardening even more. I can't remember there ever being a time in my life that I wasn't working in a veggie garden. There are picture of me around the age of 2 or 3 with my child size garden tools helping my family in the garden.

The onions are really doing well. I grow mine on top of the ground. Many years ago a neighbor told me to get really big onions to pull all the dirt away from the bulb leaving only the root in the ground, and it works!! I am so thrilled that the peppers are doing well, last year they didn't do so well, when I plant my peppers I strike a match, blow it out and put in the ground with the pepper plant. Maybe an old wives tale, but it works for me.

Of course whats a garden without tomatoes and squash? My family loves squash. This was something I wouldn't eat growing up. I think because my family cooked it to mush. My mother in law gently stewed hers with lots of butter and chopped onions and I loved it! We also love fried sqash. Dip your squash slices in egg then into cornmeal and fry on each side. YUM! I can't hardly wait for the first tomato sandwich or tomato biscuit of the year! Sometimes I eat so many tomatoes in the summer that I start getting blisters inside my mouth. I know better than to eat 10 per day, but they are so good! I also have cucumbers, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, chocolate peppers, ( yep, I said chocolate), butternut squash, cantelope, watermelon, gourds, giant pumpkin and white pumpkin and a few rows of green beans! Come on over, I'll share!

Wishing everyone a blessed day!

Linda