I'm out of here..............

I left at 8 AM this morning for Branson, Missouri. It's a girls shopping trip! Me and Rita (that's Rita of On the road 8x30;24x7). I am taking her to meet her husband who has been on a 10 day fishing trip in Arkansas. Okay so we are leaving a day or two before he is to pick her up. After all there are hundreds of stores to shop and hundreds of country music shows to see in Branson.

I will be back Wednesday maybe Thursday to tell you all about it.

Osagebluffquilter

PS Don't worry, I won't get lost I have my new Garmin GPS.

Two more quilts for Mom finished

I finished quilt two more quilts for Mom.

Mom finished this one in hopes, that it will be for her new great-grand baby due in April. That will be her 5th one.

Bargain shopping!!!

I have never been much of a rummage sale shopper. Guess I always felt obligated to buy something. Give me a farm auction and I can stand there all day, buy nothing and still go home fairly happy. Those sales are watching a piece of history in the making. On the other hand my sister and my Mom love rummage sales. Just like this mirror, my sister found for me at $15. What a bargain!




Now let me tell you about my shopping. Yesterday a local antique store advertised a tag sale. They had items donated from a local family of 92 year old twins. A brother and a sister who never married and had always lived in the family home place. So I went to check it out. I loved looking through the items but found nothing I really wanted. I then wandered through the store which was having a 20 % off sale. There I found the Rowe crock (in the middle) for $8 minus 20% off.







In the same vendors booth I found 2 Miller ice glasses 2 for $8 again minus 20% off.




But look at this! It's the most awesome Peacock. The whole body is like prairie points folded and half and sewn on. That is not rick rack you see, it's satin stitch embroidery work. Somebody put a lot of hours into this. AND it also was 20% off. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the great detail!)










I stopped at Salvation Army looking for a jean jacket. There I got BT a camo jacket. It was market $5, but at the cash register everything was marked half price! No jean jacket there.
So onto Goodwill. I found this Tommy Hilfiger for only $10. They go for more then that on EBay plus postage. I want to have BT's Blacksmith shop logo embroidered on it.









Locally they were having rummage sales. Friday when I picked up the youngest grandson, we ran to two sales. There I found this metal wardrobe for $4. I called BT to see if he wanted it for his hunting cabin. No but he wanted it for his shop.



So it's been a fun two days bargain shopping.

Feedsack Friday

My friend over at Oodles and oodles is hosting Feed sack Friday. So I dug and dug and found these in my stash. Unfortunately I still have two feed sacks that will not come out of hiding. I remember them distinctly, one green, one pink. Anyway here is my very small stash.

I also am showing you two quilts. The signature block is that of my father. Bill Cardwell (1913-2000). This quilt making, I am assuming was hosted by his youngest sister, Faye. It has the names of her neighbors, church friends, sisters, mother, mother-in-law and the one signature of a male, my Dad!

Sister Faye was married in 1939, so I know it was made after that. Unless it was a wedding gift for her. There is no one left to ask the history. I received it after all of the above had died. I treasure it and I give thanks to my sister Lona for giving to me. She knows my love for quilts.

The other quilt is also made from some feed sacks, it came from my Mother's side of the family. Not sure of the maker as I was the first on that side of the family to make quilts.

Thanks Oodles and oodles for the memories you conjured up!

What's a girl to do now...

So one time I was cutting grass a couple of years ago. As I was going in a circle, I noticed something. My blade had fallen off. So I picked it up,drove to the barn. Kindly BT put it back on. He hasn't let me forget that.

Today I was mowing grass and this happened to me. Yes the wheel fell off!

Unfortunately it isn't close to the barn, so I can't push it there by myself.

So here are my options. Tell me, just what would you do?

Get out the push mower and finish mowing the rest of the yard

Read my new Cooking light magazine that came in the mail today

Put the binding on the baby quilt I finished quilting this morning

Work on my Dear Patti quilt

Give myself a manicure and a pedicure

Enjoy a cup of hot tea

Or read blogs

Wild West Day

Annie Oakley who never missed
Beautiful manes
Buffalo Bill (who was awesome)
Sitting Bull

I took the grandsons to Jefferson City Park and Recreation Department's 2nd annual Wild West Day. They were thrilled just to ride the Charter bus from the park lot to the festival. Then we got to ride a golf cart to the gate. They didn't know it would get better.

We saw Professor Farquar's Old Time Medicine Show. Notice his assistant playing a Buffalo jaw bone. He also did magic and made a green piece of silk disappear. The boys were mesmerized by that. We saw sack races but did not take part in them.

Our ride on the stage coach sure wasn't a smooth one. Next Alex threw rattlesnakes onto the cactus to win wooden nickel tokens. They could cash them in for prizes. They went through the straw maze many times, since that was a sure token made easily.

Brady and Alex shoot for more tokens. They then made Alex a neck scarf. It was a joint effort since Brady didn't want to make his own.

Picture time during a rest. Later we ran into the neighbors at lunch time. The boys chose corn dogs. Little did they know that they would be foot long hot dogs. Of which they ate every bite. A lot of walking made then hungry.

One last photo before we left.

Oh and by the way Happy 73rd Birthday to my brother Bob!

Things that made me Happy today

My hubby forged me a stand for this piece of Peola Valley Pottery.

I found this new old looking clock for the mantle.

But this was a sad note, this clock given to me by my Aunt had to be replaced.

I got the 2 pieces on the left in the remnant bin at Hobby Lobby. They match the piece I already had.

I found 2 pieces of reds in the same remnant bin and they match the Christmas print I have been saving.Total I got 4 1/2 yards of fabric for $13, original price would have been $28.

Spiders

It's been a difficult week at work and isn't getting better. A co-worker tomorrow, will bury his 47 year old wife, Terri. She died from complications of Lupus and a defective heart valve. I have known her since she was 5 years old. Her and my sister were BF for all of their school years.

Terri was a person who was always there to help others. Just two weeks ago she bought food to work, a cake and a jello salad. She was always baking something for the linemen. (I work at an electric cooperative). She was always driving the eldery to church, the doctor, the grocery store or just to get out of the house.

Than there's co-worker, Frank. 10 days ago he was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. Today his blood results had more then doubled in 4 days. He will start Chemo tomorrow. He is only 44 years old with two beautiful children.

This morning I took these pictures as I went outdoors for a walk with the dog. I wonder, how many times these spiders thought it was a never ending circle. Life, a circle that sometimes God has us step off early.

Please remember Terri and Frank in your prayers and their families.

From July heat to October chill in September

It got really hot and sticky Friday evening and I had to turned the AC back on. Saturday morning it was still miserable. As the day progressed, the humidity increased.

After breakfast I started playing with my bottle brush trees. Over at The Misadventures of Mama and Jack, I learned all about stripping the color from the trees and dying them. I want to make some Halloween colored trees. I did one tree at a time, by adding bleach to hot water in a glass. It wasn't an instant thing. You have to dip and soak the tree. It probably took about 10-15 minutes to bleach them to what looks like the original color.

Now I need to get some Rye dye. (Sunday I tried food coloring.) Orange, I have a light colored tree now, but I will pick up some dye on my next shopping day. Oh and I need more trees, bigger trees. However there are none to be found in this one craft store town! Shucks!



BT finished restoring his brush hog and tried it out behind the house. He now has plans for cutting some of the smaller trees out of the woods. This would be winter project. The brush hog and tractor would fit better between the bigger trees. I can see another park in my back yard! Here he goes for the mowing. (Be sure and stop the music on the side bar, so you can hear the tractor sounds.)




Bob and Rita came to our place about 6:30. It looked like it would rain about anytime as we drove into town. Ria's Restaurant just opened a month ago. It is a beautifully decorated Greek Restaurant. We had about a 30 minutes wait in the bar. From there you can see into the open kitchen as the food is prepared. They need to improve their timing with the food. However the food, once received was excellent. BT had steak that looked Yumo! I had Lasagna, Bob and Rita went Greek, Gyro and Vegetable Pita.

While we were inside the rains started. They would continue until late Sunday morning. I got up several times during the night to see how much it had rained. It was predicted Ike would dump 5 to 7 inches on us. This is our lake early Sunday morning as the water was rushing over the top of the dam.

Saturday it was 88 degrees, Sunday morning it was 77, and by noon it was 66. We went from miserable humidity to almost needing the heat turned on. For dinner I found a new soup recipe. It was pretty good. I love potato soup but BT won't eat the kind my mother taught me to make because of the milk in it. Here is the recipe for the new one.

Sausage and Potato soup

1 lb. sausage, brown and drained

1 lb. hash brown chunks (I grated fresh potatoes)

3 cans chicken stock or broth

3 stalks celery, diced

1/2 onion, diced

2 can cream of celery soup

2 pinches of red pepper

Parsley

Basil.

Cook potatoes, broth, onion and celery until tender. Add sausage, soup, and spices. Heat thoroughly.

9:13 PM 61 degrees.

Tour of Missouri Bike Race and Bare Butts

Friday WOW what an exciting day. I rushed home from work, (actually speeding) to make it to the top of my road. I wanted to beat the Tour of Missouri bike race.

There was Diane, who is my VBF, and Bob and Rita whom I have not seen in two years! They are the full time RVer cousins. They made it in Thursday from spending the summer in Pine River Minnesota! Check out their site. Rita will get it up to date soon. Julie my co-worker

who was in front of me, also stopped. She didn't think she could make it 4 more miles to her house without being stopped. BT made it within one quarter of a mile of us and had to stop.

Going home every intersection, drive way and yard had people waiting for the bikers. First we saw highway patrolmen come by, then motorcycles with mounted cameras. A few of the sponsor cars came and then the van announcing the first 12 rides that were over 2 minutes ahead of the crowd were coming.

We cheered as they went by and quickly snapped this pictures.

At home by 5:10, BT and Bob enjoyed a cold beer. Before Rita and I left to pick up Diane, I ordered the guys a pizza at Pizza Haus. With Diane in the car we stopped at Wardsville to pick up Donnie. We all had a 6:30 date to the dinner play, "Take Me Out". Marla met us there and we paid for our tickets. We were packing Mama's as we carried our bottles of wine in.

The menu

Devilish Dressed Chicken Breast on Angel Hair Pasta

Stuffed Smoked Pork Chops with Apple Raisin Filling

Naked New Potatoes

Sweet and Sassy Green Beans

Dirty Rice

Creamed Corn Skinny

Salad with Assorted Dressings

Hot Buns

Fantasy Island Fruit Salad

Sock It To Me Cake

Better Than Sex Cake

The play even with nudity and foul language was still great. An all men cast too. The only bad thing was an very obnoxious lady sitting directly behind us with a horrible LOUD laugh. She found a lot more things funnier than any of us did. I thought for sure Diane was going to either hit her or throw a glass of water in her face. Before the night was over, we were cupping our hands to our ears to hear the cast.

Rita and I made it home just shy of eleven o'clock, much later than I thought it would be. The guys were half asleep watching TV.

50 lb Little Giant Trip Hammer

It was an early morning for us. We left the house at 6:15 AM with a thermos of hot coffee and headed towards Lincoln Nebraska. What for you might ask. Why a 50 Lb Little giant Trip Hammer. AKA Rusty metal. Its' date of manufacture is between 1895 and 1904. It weights approximately 1800 POUNDS.

We made good time going up. We stopped for gas and at the same time stopped in McDonald's. There I tried their new Cappuccino. Because I ordered that ,we were offered a free breakfast sandwich. WOW BT got a free breakfast.

We made it to Lincoln in 6 hours exactly.

This is what we found at the Ebay seller's house.













Bill had his Farmall M ready to go, chains and all. It was quite a load to pick up. Okay drag. Notice the almost flat tires.





In an hour the guys were finished loading it onto the trailer we had borrowed. Our trailer wasn't heavy enough to haul this thing.







The trip hammer was laying on a rubber tire to cushion the 364 mile ride back home.






As I was taking pictures this rather strange woolly worm came by. A blond woolly worm? I had to take a picture for the daughter's boyfriend. He's the meteorologist at KOCO. Last year I mailed him a woolly worm.



Our trip home wasn't quite as fast. We did make a couple of stops to check on the trailer. About 150 miles from home, our check engine light came on. After reading the manual, we decided to keep going. Friday BT will take it to the Jeep dealer.

We stopped in St. Joseph Mo for dinner at San Jose Steakhouse and Mexican Restaurant. I don't know about their steak, but their Mexican had something to be desired. I should of had a Margarita to help wash it down.

At 8:30 we pulled into the drive way. Bentley was barking and jumping. He was so glad to see us. Our bottoms were dragging. We hit the recliner and stayed there until bed time.

Where did the weekend go?

Friday after a bowl of home made beef barley soup, BT and I headed to Mary's Home Missouri. We went to the house of one of BT's classmates from the class of '68'. As you can see in this picture they are loading a brush hog aka rusty metal.

We have needed a brush hog to keep some of the 15 acres we have mowed down. This is a fixer uper.



Saturday girlfriend Diane and I headed to Jefferson City to the Arts and Craft show. We bought what I consider to be the best soy candles I have ever had. Giddy-up is the brand. I really think you could just take the lid off and use them without ever lighting them. I also bought myself 4 bars of Nubian Goat Milk soap. Another good smelling thing. Then I found the most adorable paper mache' owl. So that's when I just had to put out my Halloween decorations. My daughter said it's a little early for that.

Speaking of the daughter, last week when visiting I took her the pink edition of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. Today she used it! She even used the home canned spaghetti sauce that I took her in the recipe. You go girl!

Diane and I also stopped by Specialty Quilts open house. We both registered for the give aways. Diane isn't a quilter, so if she won I was going to reap that benefit. Bad news is, they never called. The quilt shop has been open for a year or two. It has now doubled its size and has a nice line of high quality fabrics and supplies. They are starting to teach classes.

Saturday evening we had a couple of friends over for BBQ. Jeremy, Lori and boys were here too. The guys had trimmed trees most of Saturday. A necessity after last springs ice storm. Lori had worked her booth at the craft fair. So I felt obligated to cook for them all. BT and Jeremy grilled pork chops while I made river potatoes, green beans with country cured ham and fried apples. Dessert was raspberry bars and lemon bars.

Sunday we slept in. Then just odds and ends. I trimmed the sidewalk with the weed eater, did a load of laundry, put my fall wreaths out, and embroidered a little. BT worked all day on refurbishing the brush hog.


Just as Bentley and I were walking to the shop, it started to rain with the sun completely shinning. That's when I snapped this picture of the rainbow. Actually it turned into a double rainbow, but that picture wasn't good.






After we retired to the recliner, BT made an E Bay purchase of more rusty metal. ROAD TRIP, as it has to be picked up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He needs to talk to the seller, but hopefully that will happen later this week. Oh by the way, this is called a Trip Hammer.






I am thinking of purchasing a GPS. I'm looking at a Nextar 3.5 screen. K mart has a $179.99 on sale with rebate final price $ 79. Anyone have one? Any suggestions?

Well time for the evening news. It will be a busy week. Work, road trip, Tour of Missouri bike tour coming through, going to a play Friday night, and best of all Bob and Rita are coming in town.

69 degrees.