A Few Things I've Been Working ON

For 2010, I was determined to get back to blogging, but as you can see, I haven't been doing very well. What can I say? But, I have been busy with a few things. Here's a few burp cloths and baby wipe case for my grandson, Easton, who should be here in a few weeks.

And here's a big sister shirt for Kaylee.

And a big brother shirt for Nolan and of course a little brother shirt for Easton.

A baby set for little Robert Clay.

Some little wristlets for a few friends of Jenn's.

And a kitchen towel for Mike's Aunt Jenny.

Dinner with Friends

Aren't Saturday nights great when spent with family and friends around the dinner table? We enjoyed a good dinner with friends last night and we didn't even have to bring anything. What a treat! During this busy tax season with all the added stress of work and taking care of my dad, it was nice to just relax and have someone else do the cooking. And look at what we had:





Robert fixed us sweet potatoes chips to munch on while he prepared the food.





We had roasted broccoli and brussel sprouts,






corn on the cob and new potatoes,



bacon wrapped asparagus, grilled chicken, and T-bone steaks.





We managed to save a little room for the chocolate peanut butter cake. Sorry, no pictures of the cake. I was too busy eating to take anymore pictures. Needless to say, we were miserably full!

A Few Sewing Projects

I was so bad in updating my blog in 2009! Maybe in 2010, I'll do a little better. But look, the first month of 2010 is already nearly over and I still haven't posted anything. Not a very good start! I wish I could say it was because I was concentrating on my new diet and exercise, but that would be a lie!


So I thought I would go ahead and show a few things I made recently:




This was a set of hand towels I made for my hairdresser for Christmas. She had recently redone her shop with pink walls and black fluer de lis, so I thought these would go great with her decor.





And here is an apron I made for the dog groomer. She treats Snickers really good!



A burp cloth and baby wipes case for a new little daughter of a man at work.



And a few more things for my new little granddaughter. Wish I had more time to sew for her!!!!!



A Christmas pillowcase dress I made for my oldest granddaughter. Isn't she a cutie!




A few "I spy" bags I made for the grands to take on their long flight to Alaska. And another one for the son of a co-worker. These actually turned out pretty good and keeps the children occupied in church, too. I may have to make a few more of these.






And a little pillow I made for Aubrey's room. I'm going to make one of the other grandchildren, too.

Comfort Food

I've been sewing and working around the house this weekend, so what's for supper after all that work??? Some homemade potato soup and cornbread!




Of course the cornbread was made in a cast iron skillet.



And for dessert? A glass of cold milk with cornbread in it. Reminds me of my mom, she always liked putting cornbread in her milk.



Hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did mine~

Sewing for the Grandkids

I got to spend some time sewing this weekend,which was great! I finished Kaylee and Nolan's trick or treat bags. I decided not to put their names on them, just made them simple.



I made a tooth fairy pillow for Kaylee. I think I need to put a little bow on one side of the ribbon.




And I made a few burp cloths and baby wipes case for the newest grandbaby, Aubrey, who should be arriving by mid December. What a great Christmas present for Kellie and Brandon!

It's Apple Time

It's apple season once again, which makes for busy weekends! Making and canning apple butter, making fresh apple pies and getting ready for pears to be ready for pear preserves. My personal favorite are the pears, but apples come in a close second. I love the way my house smells when cooking with apples.

Here is a good recipe for Apple Pie. It's bake in parchment paper and turns out really good!

Before:





After:




Here it is in the parchment paper before going in the oven:




After baking:






Dutch Apple Pie

About 5 cups apples; peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 9 inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 425°. Put apples in pie crust. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon together. Pour over apples. Sprinkle lemon juice on top. Cut 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup butter together and top pie with mixture. Take two pieces of parchment paper and enclose pie. Fold up edges and staple. Place pie on baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven, and split parchment paper. Cool pie on wire rack.

Enjoy! Now I've got to go make the apple butter.

Baby, It's Hot Outside!

We are having some record setting heat around here this summer! It sure makes it hard to get things done when you get off work. All you want to do is stay in the air conditioned house. It sure makes you appreciate air conditioning! So, what do you do when it's hot outside????

You make ice cream! We made some homemade ice cream for the 4th of July. We don't think you can enjoy the Fourth without homemade ice cream! It sure was good! But when you don't have time to make ice cream, the next best thing is this:




Any of Blue Bell's ice cream is good, but in the summertime for a limited time, they have Southern Blackberry cobbler. It's my favorite!!!! Just look at the blackberry swirls running through it.



It has bits of cobbler crust and lots of blackberries and swirls. It really tastes like blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Oh, it's great!!! I think I'll go fix me another bowl.



* I had planned on posting this last week when we really did have some hot weather, but then got busy. Lucky for us, we are enjoying cooler weather with rain. Yea for the rain!!!!

I THINK I CAN

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! I've got to get back into the swing of things and get back to blogging!!!!!!

After all, so much is going on. Blogging is a great way to journal and posts recipes and tell everyone what's happening with our family. I just get so busy and caught up in other stuff that I don't take the time to blog. I miss it! And I really miss visiting other bloggers.

The Little Engine That Could was one of my favorite books when I was little. I love the way it teaches children that with a little hard work and optimism you can succeed. Speaking of children's books .... take a look at this.

That's the night stand in my guest room with children's books. I usually try to keep this shelf in better order, but by the time the grandkids leave, this is what it looks like. We got to keep Kaylee for a week (well, nearly a week) and after reading her nighttime stories, the shelf was back to being a disaster.


Here's one she picked for me to read to her.



This book belonged to her mother. There is no telling how many times I've read this book. And look what's on the inside cover:



Jennifer passed it on down to Brandon. And speaking of Brandon, this was one of his favorite books:




And Kaylee has it memorized, too. I just love children's books. And since I'm going to have another grandchild in December, it looks like I'll be adding more books to the book shelf. Luckily, my daughter and daughter-in-law enjoy children's books as much, if not more, than I do!