Busy week

BT and I have been off all week. We keep joking it's a practice week for retirement. The good news is we have gotten along all week. Bad news is retirement isn't close enough.

Monday afternoon we packed a cooler with sausage, cheese, crackers and drinks. We then loaded Bentley up and hit the river. My what a peaceful afternoon. We walked the beach and sat and watched the water flow by. There wasn't another boat on the river until we pulled in to the bank to take out. We saw one boat with 2 guys fishing.

Jeremy, Lori and the boys came over to fix a birthday dinner for BT. They bought T-Bones and Rib eyes. I made the salad and the potatoes. Of course we had BT's favorite cake, Chocolate with white icing. More on the high light of the night in next weeks blog......stayed tuned.

Tuesday we worked on the deck. First we applied a stripper, then a cleaner. BT worked in the blacksmith shop later in the day. He made a shovel for Jeremy's BBQ grill. I cut some grass.

Wednesday we put one coat of stain on the deck before noon. Thursday weather permitting, we will do another coat.

BT went back to the shop after we ate a late lunch or early dinner. He made 4 steak turners out of railroad spikes and 2 hand shovels for the flower beds. I made a baby doll quilt for little Josey. I had made her a quilt when she was born, she is now 3.

We delivered 2 steak turners and the baby doll quilt to Jeremy. We had to take a picture of Brady with his frog gig Grandpa made for him. He asked last night when he saw little bothers picture that we needed to take his picture. Then we took one of the hand shovels to Kathy. She thought it was too cool to use.

Back home we sat out front and watched the hummingbirds till dark.

73 degrees 9:51 and still sleeping with the windows open!

Jefferson City the Capitol of Missouri

Friday night Lori, the boys and myself went to Madison's for Dinner. (The guys were on their annual Squirrel Hunting Trip). It was such a beautiful evening. We were just one block away from the Governor's Mansion and the Capitol grounds so we all went walking. Here are some of the sights.

The Governor's Mansion is a Neo-Renaissance structure and built in 1871 at a cost of $75,000 and has served every governor since. It is currently going under renovations.
Lohman's Landing
Governor's Gardens
Corps of Discovery: Lewis & Clark Monument
Veteran's Memorial

The back side of the Capitol at Dusk.

The domed building was designed by the New York architectural firm of Tracy and Swartwout and completed in 1917. It is the third capitol building in Jefferson City. The Capitol's dome, rising 238 feet (73 m) above ground level and topped by a bronze statue of Ceres, goddess of vegetation, rises above the bluffs of the Missouri River.

Soap Making

I have been waiting to use up my last box of store purchased laundry detergent. I am almost there, so it's time to make laundry soap. A first for me. This recipe was published in Country Circuit magazine, A Three Rivers Electric Cooperative Production (my employer). We have had nothing but good things said about it.




This recipe will make a 5 gallon bucket full of liquid detergent. From friends who have made it, supposedly it can cost you less than $10 to do a year worth of laundry. I had to go to the blacksmith shop to borrow BT's Borax and Washing soda. No he doesn't do laundry in the shop! He uses the borax when forge welding. He uses the Washing soda in his cleaning tank to remove rust from metal.



I see at Drugstore.com, the Borax cost $8.69 for 76 oz. and The Arm and Hammer Washing soda is $5.99 for 55 oz. You only need 1 1/2 cups of each to make a gallon bucket of detergent. The Ivory soap is abut 50 cents a bar. I bought all of these supplies locally.

So here's the pot I used. See my Gnome on the Range is guarding it too.








So here's the recipe:
1 1/2 cup Washing soda
1 bar grated Ivory Soap
1 1/2 cup Borax
1 1/2 cup Powdered color safe bleach (optional) I did not use this.





Mix grated soap with 9 pints (that's 18 cups) warm water in a stock pot and heat on low stirring until dissolved






Stir in Washing Soda, Borax and bleach powder. Stir on low till foaming consistency.





Pour soap into 5 gallon bucket and fill with hot water, mix well. Set aside for 24 hours or overnight to thicken. Stir occasionally during the first 24 hours.


Use 1/2 cup per load of laundry. And as a side note, when you wash with this it will not suds. But then suds aren't what clean your laundry, they can actually dull your wash.

2 days down

With the hubby gone, I've been trying to keep busy.

Monday I worked all day. Played with the dog when I got home. Ate Gardetto's and an ice cream bar for dinner. Had a cup of hot tea for my bedtime treat. Watched the Olympics and once again slept with the windows open.

Today, I stayed on the computer the first 2 hours I was up. After that I ironed just the few pieces left over from the laundry. I then hemmed 5 pairs of school uniform pants for McKenzie. By this time it was just noon. My lunch was marinated grapes*. It was a beautiful day outside so I decided to travel to Lake Ozark to go shopping. On my way I crossed the bridge just below the Bagnall Dam.

I stopped at a couple of decorator's outlets, Marshall's, super Target, and last Circle of Friends Fabric and Quitting store. That's where I found myself a new Paper Piece book, titled "A year of Paper Piecing". Last but not least, McDonald's for a Large Sweet Tea!

It was then deck time with my new quilt book and the daily news paper. Then I cut some grass.

My Naked Ladies having finally bloomed this year. These bulbs were originally started from BT's Grandmother Martha. She was born in 1894 and never learned to read or write. There was a radio program called Kitchen Klatter during the 50's and 60's. She would listen to the recipe and tell her husband when he came home from work. He would write it down for her. Later if she wanted to make it again, he would read it before he left for work. As newly weds I loved going to her house. If it were an afternoon visit, she would have gallon jars of homemade cake donuts or popcorn and always orange soda. If it were for dinner, she would always have 2 kinds of meats.

I will close the evening out by watching the Olympics. And who knows what will be my dinner. maybe popcorn and ice cream?!?

7:16 PM 79 degrees.

*Recipe for Marinated Grapes

1 cup sour cream (not lite)

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Mix well, add stemmed seedless grapes. (Purple are my favorite)

Chill well, OH SO GOOD!

The Weekend 8-16/17-2008

The weekend started at 4:30 Friday when I called for a carryout at Pizza Haus. Friday is BT's early day off and he was at home. I had hoped to BBQ, but rain was threatening. I had tomatoes, tomatoes, and more tomatoes to can, so I wanted a quick dinner.
Before bed at 10:30, I had 13 jars of Chili sauce made, and 2 loads of laundry finished.

Saturday after an early breakfast (okay 9:00 AM for food is early for us). It was so cool out, I turned the AC off. Tomatoes were awaiting me. I hadn't even gotten half of them finished yet. This time I made Spaghetti sauce. BT finished installing the new gate hinges.

He then made Alex a frog gig. Or as Alex says “Frod didder”.

Jeremy and the boys arrived to show us his “new” 1949 Bantam trailer. It is sweet. (Is that an adjective to describe a trailer?). The boys came to the house with me. Later I made us all grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on Sour Dough bread. After lunch Alex went down for a nap and I went back to the tomatoes. By quitting time I had another 13 jars canned.

We went to church at 5:30, stopped by the grocery store for more canning supplies and then went to LaBamba where son, wife and boys meet us.

Sunday we woke up to cool morning, it was 60 degrees in the house. BT joked about turning on the heat, the day after we had turned off the AC. I made BT a breakfast sandwich while I had a bowl of fresh peaches with a sprinkling of sugar.

BT started packing up for his annual Squirrel hunt. This has been a tradition for the past 35 years. Him and a life long friend camp for the entire week on the Current River in southern Missouri. When they started it was a 3 day thing, gradually it developed into a week long hunt.

We cleaned up and drove 5 miles to St Thomas Catholic Church for their picnic. We meet our priest in line and bought his dinner ticket with ours. We visited for about an hour before our numbers were called. The food was well worth the wait. Golden fried chicken, roast beef and all the trimmings including Sauerkraut cooked with potatoes. Of course you had your choice from two 8 foot long tables as to the kind of homemade pie you wanted.

BT's hunting buddy called and said he would be ready to go by 4 PM. As you can see by this picture, they have a wagon with their supplies. This is the modern version of a chuck wagon plus. They have nicked named it the wienie wagon. It has everything including the kitchen sink. While they loaded up, I took this video of Bentley playing with a frog. I am as afraid of them, as he seems to be. They have always been the thing I am most afraid of. (Don't worry PETA, the frog got away).

After the guys got off, I went back to the kitchen, by the time I was finished I had canned 6 jars of ketchup, 6 of plain tomato juice, 18 jars of chili, and 8 of spaghetti sauce.

The good news is, I am finished. The bad news is, there are more tomatoes on the way.

I crawled in bed early, knowing I wouldn't slept well with BT gone. It will be a long week without my sweetie.

Men of the Club

I bet that got your attention?!?

Last night was Girls night out. something I almost never do. I'm a home body. I enjoy being with my husband, and I don't leave him very often. However, Diane my VBF asked me to go to Men of the Club show. It is a fund raiser for The Boys and girls Club of the Capital City, a United Way Agency.

The show at the Capitol Plaza Hotel had a room packed with 1300 people. Marla had saved us seats. Diane, Donnie and I arrived about 30 minutes before the show started. We had taken snacks with us as suggested. First we made our way to the bar at the far end of the room. There were several bars set up. I purchased a whole bottle of Norton Wine by St James Winery. One of Missouri finest. It was $15 for a bottle, or $7 for a glass. You do the math.

It was fun to people watch everyone come in. It was filled with about 90% women, the rest were a few husbands that were probably thinking they were coming to a real men's fashion show.

Eleven men were participating in the Swimwear, Talent and Evening wear competition. Some of these guys had real talent! Police Captain Shoemaker sang Going to Jackson with a gal from the local Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

There were Michael Jackson, and Tom Cruise, impersonators. Save a horse ride a cowboy was done by a tall thin African American who was shirtless with leather chaps on, wearing nothing but a swim suit underneath! My Way was done by the final winner (who just happened to work for a Beer distributor) so at the end of his song he pulled a beer out of his chest pocket.

By the time we left my jaws were sop sore from laughing and yelling they hurt!

All girls need to get out once in awhile!

The Dog Days of Summer

What a lazy relaxing weekend we had.

Saturday we slept in, and then had a late breakfast. BT worked in the Blacksmith shop, since it was nice and Cool. On Sunday he finished up the hinges he made for our deck gate. I am so lucky to have a blacksmith for a husband. Do you have hand forged hinges?

Sunday I washed a few windows and cut the grass. BT was back in the shop.

Later Bentley and I went for a run. (Ha! not what you're thinking, I was on the 4 wheeler, he was running). Look at this fungus thingee I found. It almost looks like a portabella. The weather this weekend was just great, I'm almost ready to open my windows.

And this is what Bentley enjoyed about the weekend. Be sure and pause the music player to hear him slurp the water.

9:46 79 degrees

Colten's 1st birthday

It's been a busy day. The little boys stayed with me while their Mom went to their Great Aunt's funeral. That lady will have a throne waiting for her in heaven. She was the mother to 14 grown children.


The boys and I watched Cartoons, made a tooth fairy pillow for Brady, played outside, had lunch, went to Aunt Lona's pool, and played Wii. While the little one slept, I worked on a quilt and also made a bowl of homemade Salsa using the fresh tomatoes from the DIL. (Brady lost his first tooth last night. He actually pulled it himself after he went to bed.)



At 5:00 their mother picked them up. BT and I packed the boat and met the neighbors at the river. We first had to wish little Mr Colten a Happy First Birthday. It was then time to head up river to Luebbering's Island. There Eric grilled hamburgers. Colten was like a turtle on the rocks and in the water. Nothing stopped him, rocks or water.




We stayed until after 8:00 and then tied the boats together and floated down river for a mile or two. The cloud bank was beautiful and as we were watching it a small plane flew over.



Unfortunately we all have to work tomorrow so all good things must come to an end this evening.



9:42 79 degrees.

Go Green

It was so hot Tuesday! I had to cut grass in between showers. That's shower for me in the house. It took me 3 tries to get it all cut.



Therefore I didn't want to spend my extra time outside, as neither did my black Lab Bentley. So I put him in his kennel in the cool basement and I went to my sewing box.



There I found 4 pairs of jeans that had been put back after laundry. All 4 pairs needed major patching. Remember those days when Mom would patch your jeans and your brothers jeans. Man did we hate to wear those patches. BUT in this day of going green, I just couldn't see throwing them out and buying the "Blacksmith" new jeans to get dirty in the shop. So here is what I did in the heat of the day.

How did you spend your day?

Mom's Quilts are finished

7:00 pm 94 degrees and 61% Humidity