Checkmark

With dear hubby gone for the past 7 days I had a lot planned. Check marks indicate what I accomplished.

make jelly a
bind a quilt a (almost done)
strip paint from 4 bar stools a
work on my paper piece quilt blocks (thought about it, never had enough time)
eat what I want, when I want a a a a a a a a
enjoy the covers with out playing tug of war a a a a a a a
had complete control of the TV clicker a
took a blogger friend to the movies a
went out to eat with the DIL and grand kids a
went to a purse party at the winery a
attend a co-workers wedding (sorry had too many tomatoes to can)



Plus I went antiquing, attended the 5 year old grandson's 1st soccer game, took them to breakfast at the new BK Bakery, went shopping with DIL and grand kids, worked 2 days at my paying job, mowed grass, canned 43 jars of tomato stuff, and finally I worked in a little TV time tonight.

By this time tomorrow night BT will be back and it will be like he never left. Gosh I missed that guy!

I'm signing off now, I just remember I bought a jug of Cosmo's and it's chilled now.

stopping long enough to blog . . .

Okay this will be short and sweet. Or at least short. I've been on the run and it's catching up with me.

This is my BFF picking out what purse(s) she wants from the purse party we attended at Summit Lake Winery Thursday evening. I enjoyed my wine and my dinner. I resisted buying.

When I got home Thursday evening, I canned 27 jars of tomatoes, making juice, chili sauce and spaghetti sauce. Never mind the 18 jars of jalapeno jelly I made the day before.

Today I went to Olean, Missouri to Heather's Antique shop. A neat old building built in 1882, then it was the Mercantile Company. I asked to take a couple of pictures inside. She was gracious enough to let me take pictures and then gave me the history behind it. Included in the history tour, was the sea level marker on the front of the building!

My purchases from her wonderful shop included an old fisherman's stool. I am going to recover it to match my ironing board cover and use it to hold my box of fabric scraps when I paper piece. Cost on it $3.00. The antique fishing gig for BT $2.00, Ethan Allen Pottery lamp was on the half price table $4.00, the black doily $3.00, the little blue pottery vase $2.00. Total cost for an hour worth of shopping was $14 plus 80 cents for uncle Sam. NOT BAD!

I went to a total of 4 antique stores looking for handkerchiefs. I did not find one handkerchief. However when I arrived home I had a package waiting me from Stitchin By the Lake. What a doll she is. I hope some day we will get to meet in person, as she has a sister that lives in my town. Thanks Marlene for the sweet package!

I still have these tomatoes to go . . . . but tonight I went with the DIL and grand kids to Madison's for dinner. First we went and took some pictures of the kids. I am glad Lori's turned out much better than mine, I just need to get her copies. Aren't they adorable? OH and we ate across from the Governor's wife. Of course the governor's mansion is just a block away from this restaurant.

Tomorrow it's an 8:30 AM soccer game and then hopefully a trip to the new bakery in town, BK Bakery.

I have to find some more hours in the day . . .

I meet another Blogger in Person!

This week is going by way too fast. With BT out of town, I thought I'd get a lot more done.

Anyway today was fun, if you remember I won free movie tickets from Betsy at the movies(actually twice now) a few weeks ago. Today I asked fellow blogger, Becky to join me. We waved to each other in the parking lot (there were only 6 cars) and then introduced ourselves and hugged. Funny thing is we had on matching shirts, well almost.

We went into the theatre with our free tickets. There wasn't a crowd, in fact there wasn't another soul in the room. No need to turn our cell phones off and no need to whisper. So we got to talk out loud, laugh out loud and cry together. We saw Julie and Julia. As Betsy would say, I give it 5 giggles.

Afterwards we chatted through our entire lunch at LaBamba's. Thank you Becky for the blind date!

I then came home and washed out the gentleman's chest we bought Saturday. It was then on to the bar stools. Have you ever started on something and it seems like so much fun, then it turns into work? That's what the 4 bar stools I am stripping turned into.

I applied orange stripper to them and all looked fine. But then 30 minutes later, the elbow grease came into effect. I worked on those suckers for several hours. The sad thing is I'm not finished yet. To top it off, it ruined my manicure even with rubber gloves on.

So I am typing this with a fresh manicure and pedicure. After all I have to work tomorrow and then it's party time at the winery. It is actually a purse party.

Time for the recliner . . .

Somebody has a birthday today!

Yes today there is a birthday that could be celebrated at our house. But you see for the past 35 years, the birthday person is missing. It is the hubby. It seems his annual muzzle loading, primitive camping trip is always the week of his birthday. But I can celebrate because I don't have to bake a cake. It's not the cake I have trouble with, it's the gosh darn icing. I never could do pretty cakes.

In his absence, I will make jelly, bind a quilt, strip paint from 4 bar stools, work on my paper piece quilt blocks, eat what I want when I want, enjoy the covers with out playing tug of war, have complete control of the TV clicker, take a blogger friend to the movies, go out to eat with the DIL and grand kids, go to a purse party at the winery, attend a co-workers wedding and anything else I can think of. One thing I will not be doing is accepting a temporary job that was offered to me for three days this week.

Ask me this time next week, and I will probably say how glad I am to see him, share the covers, eat decent meals and having some one to show me the mistakes in my blog. I might even bake him a blackberry pie.

BT and his hunting friend leaving on their trip . . . wienie wagon and all.

Saturday

We left the house before 10 AM. Stopping at the mail box made the morning even sweeter. I won a give away from Blind pig and the acorn. It came with a handmade card from Tipper. She sells them at her Etsy site. Included in the adorable card was a Wal-Mart gift card. You too can win by signing up for her newsletter. She has a give away quite often. If you leave a comment on her blog, she has a monthly give away too.

Tipper and I became friends over a year ago. She lives near John C Campbell folk school. The next time BT and I go back there for classes you can bet we are sitting a spell with them for a good little visit.



We arrived in the neat little town of Fulton. It's an adorable town with brick paved streets. It has a section of the Berlin Wall you can walk through or visit the Christopher Wren 16th Century church, which was brought over from London, England.

We visited Cornerstone Antiques. Here I found many things that made me think of my fellow bloggers. But first let me show you this wash tub of buttons! I was so in awe at seeing that many buttons, I didn't even look to see how she was selling them. Becky look there is a wire quilt rack in the picture too.



But I also thought of you Becky and took a picture of this quilt rack. It had a price tag of $19.50 minus 20% off.








Then there was this wash tub (I see a theme going here) full of printed feed sacks. This room was full of vintage linens. Of course I couldn't look through everything with the hubby with me. He doesn't have the same patience as I do, unless it features rusty iron.





And for blogger friend Sarah I found this cute ornament tree. The tree by itself is for sale for $19.95. It holds tons of vintage ornaments.












This cabinet just screams Oodles and oodles. However a trip from NY to MO would probably be too far for her to travel.


While we were in Cornerstone Antiques, the owner asked what we were look for. I told her we were wanting an oak sideboard. Oh, she said I am getting one in, it's actually from an estate sale where I bought the entire house. Let me show you a door I have from it. After much discussion, I asked if she did email? Yes, she could send me a picture. I gave her my card and she looked at it, read it, paused a minute and said I used to work with a Tappel. I said tell me where and I could probably tell you who it was. She said Interco. BT piped up and said that was "me", I thought you looked familiar.

They figured out it was 41 years ago that they worked together. Then they remembered seeing each other at an auction about 20 years ago. Small world.

Before we left, her husband took us 3 doors down to a historic building they are restoring. They have several antique oak glass front cabinets they are trying to sell. They are about 4 ft tall. The door opens, then slides inside of it. A closet rod slides out of the top of it. We let them pass. However when we got home we called back and she will send us measurements. They are pretty deep and would take a big space to use. But it's almost too cool to pass on.



Now let me introduce you to the piece we were actually going to Fulton to pick up . . . a gentleman's dresser. It is in great shape with the exception of a shiny brass lock on the closet door. BT will replace that for sure. The beveled mirror is in great shape. I can see it now with quilts stacked on the left, fabric organized by colors in the drawers and vintage linens draped inside the drop front desk.




Back at home, Jeremy had just finished putting his trailer back together. He wouldn't like me describing it this way, but it's just "sweet".








While I prepared beef tamales in the kitchen, BT and Bentley just hung out together.



Time to get the grandsons in bed now, their Mom and Daddy are out celebrating 10 years of marriage. Congratulations Jeremy and Lori!

It's friday

The weather here in Mid-Missouri is just beautiful compared to what we usually experience in August. It never even made it to 80 today. Sunday morning they are calling for a low of 52 degrees!


This afternoon Jeremy came over and quickly summoned me outside with the camera. He was telling me he had blog material.

Lying in the woods beside our road was this doe. He had stopped to take a picture with his cell phone and she never moved. He drove on to the house, got me, we went back and she was still there.



While Jeremy worked on his Jeep trailer, Grandpa and the boys planned out their log cabin.

Sometimes it takes three.








Other times two are enough.







Here he is starting with the first coat of paint.







The wheels were quickly added here due to a rain storm coming in. Luckily it passed us by. The wheels were then taken off and more paint was applied.

Tomorrow I will have pictures with the fenders on. It got too dark to get a good shot.

Have a great weekend. We are road tripping for antique furniture in the morning. With any luck we will have pictures and furniture tomorrow night.

GOT MEAT?

The deal of the month was this Biro #22 meat saw BT bought at an Amish auction. Total cost was $75.00. That is $625.00 less than an identical one his brother PT bought this past winter.



Believe me, BT won't let PT live it down either that he got the deal of the month.



This is the before picture taken less than two weeks ago when he brought it home from the auction. BT then went into action. It took power washing, grease cleaner, sanding, and lots of elbow grease before new paint was applied.





This is the new restored version. It is all bright and shiny. Looks like it just came off the show room floor.



Now if we just had a fattened hog or steer ready to butcher!

First day of School 2009

The boys were ready for their first day of school.

Here is what Elizabeth had to say about her brothers starting their first day of school today.

Spit happens!

It's Monday already . . and that's almost gone too

I can't believe the weekend went by so fast.





It all started Friday when cousin's of BT's came in from Iowa.

Dan and Pat came on their Harley's! Here we are visiting with them at their hotel. We had just enjoyed drinks and dinner together. BT's sister Darlene, and her husband Doug were our chauffeur's.

We gave them the 5 cent tour of Jefferson City. We drove around the Capitol, past the Lewis and Clark monument and to the south side of town. The cousins wanted to see where their great uncles and great grandparents lived in the early 1900's.









Here are the 2 uncles. Circa 1960.



Pat has her own bike, it's a softtail classic. She loves chrome!

I didn't get a picture that does Dan's bike justice, but he has an Electra glide.

We spent Saturday visiting with them at our place. The blacksmith repaired a spring from Dan's kickstand. That sure impressed Dan, that a blacksmith could fix a Harley Davidson. BT's brother Pat, and his wife Larraine came to visit with the cousins too.


Remember this from August a year ago? Jeremy bought this 1948 Jeep Bantam trailer. He has been working on restoring it.








It's now been primered. When it stops raining this week, he will give it the color coat.

One last thing, I had my doctor appointment today. I am singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! I did not tear, or break anything. He told me it was just trauma to the muscle. I have drugs and some exercises to do. I am very lucky!

Men of the club 2009

Yes ladies it was once again time for the Boy's and Girl's Club fund raiser. As last year, men showed us ladies their swimsuit styles, their talent and last their evening wear. (You had to use your imagination for some of the evening wear.)

As you can almost see in this picture, my friend Betsy is one of the emcees. Warren is the other one and he used to have a blog, but it's no longer active.

For the best pictures of the night please see what Betsy has on her blog. I'd "steal" her pictures and use them, but she's my friend. And friends don't steal from friends!





In this picture Ryan Imhoff and two other guys are mocking Justin Timberlake. The blond on the left in my beautician.







Some of the ladies at our table brought food and shared with us. Oh and that drink, that's my $6.00 Cosmo . . . yeah that's what I said too. Where's the cranberry juice?

It was a fun night, watching men strip to their speedos, some who were actually adding clothes over their swimsuit to cover up a pudgy body, and some even doing synchronized swimming in wading pools.

Can't wait until next year.

Good job Betsy!

One last fling before school starts

School for the boys starts in a week. Today the oldest had his school physical and a shot! Baby E. also had her 4 month check up.



I watched Alex, so as not to expose him to the sick kids in the doctor's office.



I met Lori and the kids at 11:45 and we let the boys pick where they wanted to eat lunch. They both wanted egg drop soup at Hunan's, a local chinese restaurant.









Afterwards we went to see great grandma. Here she and Elizabeth are having a deep conversation.
















Elizabeth still has the floor here with me.













The boys hang out with great grandma. (Isn't her bedroom set beautiful?)










Our last stop of the day was Central Dairy. It's been a Jefferson City landmark since 1933. It has the old fashioned counter and features at least 30 or 40 different flavors of ice cream and sherberts. I'm pretty sure the wooden booths are original too.

It's hard to believe school time is almost here again.

It's been busy around here.

BT's mom has been in town from Texas for a whirl wind couple of days. All the kids have taken great advantage of her and used her to full extent.


Tuesday, some of us went antiquing and took her along. Here is daughter #2, Darlene is shopping in the antique mall. Can you believe they supply you with shopping carts? And believe me, she made full use of it!

Darlene found three little brown jugs in descending sizes. Had she not seen the smallest one before me, it would have been mine.






Here the MIL is resting. She had bought us lunch at the diner next door. After shopping this huge mall, she needed a rest.






I passed on these two horse heads. (Aren't you glad BT?) I collect this creamy white pottery that is trimmed in gold. You can usually recognize it by the hand painted initials on the bottom of each piece.







However I couldn't pass on these two handkerchiefs. I saw a butterfly quilt made from handkerchiefs and now I am on a mission to collect some.






Then this little crock caught my eye. Since our mailing address is Jefferson City (we really live in Osage Bluff), it just had to come home with me.

Those were my only finds of the day. We visited and shopped and took the MIL around town to look at the progress made since she had moved away. It was a fun day girls! Thanks for the invite.





Later in the evening, the guys cut up a utility pole at the lake. It was stinky work, and required some heavy lifting even after sawing it up.










Wednesday the kids came over while their Mom ran to town. They arrived at the same time as the MIL. Here is Elizabeth almost enjoying her walker at Grandma's house.





The fruits of her labor. Yes MIL came to bake pies for BT's work. His boss man Mike, loves her homemade pies. And who wouldn't?
Her pie crust are the best! I tried to take notes, but she never used a measuring device. She asked for a big spoon. I gave her a serving spoon. No, she said, a great big one. So I gave her a big cooking spoon. She took a couple big spoons of shortening, plopped it into a big bowl, and then took it to the sink and turned the faucet on it.

She then worked the water into the shortening with a little salt. Finally the flour canister came into the picture. Scoop after scoop of flour was added. Never did she use a fork or a pastry blender. She'd stir, add some more flour, stir a bit more. Finally she took a hunk of dough, floured the countertop and started working the dough by working in more flour by hand. So girls, as for the recipe, there it is. Never will I get my dough to turn out as good as hers.

Next were the fillings, two peach pies, two cherries and one apple. We used frozen cherries and frozen peaches. They were pretty simple, just add sugar and some corn starch. As for the apples, I peeled and sliced them. The MIL then took water, corn starch, butter and some cinnamon . It was cooked on the stove until it was thick. She then poured it over the apples in the bowl. We let it set until the crust was ready.

I sprinkled sanding sugar on the top of the pies and put them in a 400 deg. oven. About an hour later we had 5 beautiful pies.

BT arrived at home just before noon for a bowl of soup with his mother and me. He took the still warm pies with him back to work.






Here at HSG, Pat, BT's brother (who also works at the same place) is enjoying a cup of coffee while a co-worker cuts the pies. BT said they didn't last long! So delicious. Thanks Mom!





Wednesday evening, brother Pat called to tell us he had some corn for us. BT went and picked up almost 3 bushels of corn. It took us a couple of hours to shuck it all.


Here it's ready to be cut off the cob.






The master corn cutter-offer.











After it's cut off, you measure, add sugar and water and bring it to a boil. It then needs to be cooled in ice water.


We froze 24 quarts of corn! So if we have nothing else to eat this winter, we will have plenty of corn.


I finally was reacquainted with my pillow about 12:33 AM.