Am I a Horder???? Yikes

Hi all, Yes, I’m still around…been sick for going on 3 weeks now – after 2 Dr. visits, 2 different antibiotics…yuk! Won’t bore you with details but still not better!

I know most of us have seen the TV show Hoarders…well last week I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets to re-organize and to get rid of a few things and honestly didn’t realize how many bows I had…now I collect Salt Glaze but wow..
I put them all out on the table and put them in the cabinets according to size – makes it much easier to find them and get more use out of them. I also took a few to a consignment shop and put 4 of the real large ones on the shelves in the dining room.
Now mind you…I DO USE ALMOST ALL OF MY BOWLS AT DIFFERENT TIMES…and especially the really small ones almost daily so it was hard to determine which ones ‘went’.  I even gained a bit more cabinet space!
 

  

Last weekend our sons came over to help their dad put the plastic on the screen room (necessary for our hard Winters of snow)...it would blow those screens right in if it wasn't up.

I know they all enjoyed it and it was fun seeing the guys with their dad...lots of fun and some things I won't repeat...guys you know!

Brett brought his tree trimming tools and fixed a place in the tree that had been splitting for years- hopefully it will last a while longer.

Then I got them all together (when they were finished of course….didn’t want to disrupt the flow!)

Dan, Darren, Doug, Brett….thanks guys!

Oh….I asked Brett what Joe was doing because he didn’t come with him like I thought he would…he said he was having a LEGOPALOOZA with 6 of his friends – 7 hours of non-stop LEGO building.
Heather sent me a few photos – I can imagine all the different things they built that day. Joe is the third one from left in back row.
  
 
 

I ordered a wonderful door box from Jen over at Hickory Hills Primitives…it’s solid and the finish on it is a beautiful Mustard color.
I would show you what it looks like on my door but we’re trying to find a way to display it – I can’t get a hanger to work so I’ll have to go looking for one – our door is steel so no nails!
The picture is from Jens site…but our door is red also, so you get the idea – now I need to find a 3m hanger and fill the box with my real Bittersweet that has been waiting for the box to arrive
 

And in the package Jen added these wonderful Wax Bowl Fillers with an awesome Cinnabun scent
Go on over and check out her site…all their products are made by them
http://hickoryhillprimitives.com/ 

Now I thought I didn’t have anything to post today…guess I was wrong – I can be chatty even when I don’t feel well….

Do you remember like way back to the beginning of Spring I think it was – maybe before that even…I was getting into rug hooking – well I bought a chair pad kit and finally got the hooking part of it finished last week. I’m slow with it because I’m not good at it but it’s my actual first one – got two others in the process but I don’t like them so maybe will take them apart.  I need to back this and put ties on it (maybe) and it will be ready to use.  I’m rather proud of it!

And then there’s my two kitties – normally they don’t get this close to each other and I’m not sure why Baby is peeking through the island legs at Lola – I think she’s wondering ‘where’s my food’!
 

Enjoy the rest of your week and hope you all have a great Halloween … for us we’re having a party here at the house with the kids.  Not doing much but it still should be fun.

 Booooooooo!   Karen……..

Apples and Black Walnuts

HAPPY FALL EVERYONE…This weekend was one of the most beautiful so far this month…well the whole last two weeks were as well but I so enjoyed the weekend.
We spent lots of our down time in the screen room – not many of those kinds of days left to sit out there.  We enjoyed watching the Brewer’s and the Packers do their thing…like they do!!!!  Yeah…they both won!
And I made some awesome Baby Back Ribs and these delights below!

I had a need to make something with Apples so I made some Apple Dumplings – they turned out good but not great. I don’t think I had enough sugar inside but it certainly didn’t stop me from eating mine.
They were calling my name even before they got baked

Here’s mine just waiting for the special sweet Vanilla sauce
 

 
Doesn’t it look awesome!  Yep, it was.

 

On Thursday I went Black Walnut picking…right out my front door (well, IN THE STREET, across the street).
These came from the road – there are so many you don’t need to search or even go into the grass area and the best part is the cars that hit them have popped the skins on them so that saved me tons of time and stained hands.  These are also the culprits that kill all our tomatoes, and most of the flowering plants we plant…there’s a tree in back and one in front…we are doomed.
 
Now mind you I finally did get stained fingers – I lifted up the bag they were in without thinking. Do you know how long the stain stays…I have a tinge yet this morning.

I put them in a pillowcase (no I will not wash them and use them again on the bed!) and in pans then covered them with very hot water and almost immediately it started  to show some color.
I let them soak for a couple days

And no finished photo to show you…I was so busy helping Doug get these bags out of the pans and not get any of it on the driveway (death would have occurred instantly because this was all done against his will).
We put the stain in a large covered bucket and he carried it oh so carefully to the basement where I will have to use it…no stain upstairs in the kitchen sink.

Now…will someone tell me how to use this stain…do I use it like I do my coffee mixture?
And…if I boil it down some to condense it will it still work so I can get a darker color?
I thank you in advance.

Goodness I just have to share this.  I purchased a Kindle edition of the new book by Amy Clipston called ‘Naomi’s Gift ‘ (another wonderful Amish Fiction – part of Kauffman’s Amish Bakery series) and not too far into it I found an error…double words so that left part of the sentence off…but I kept reading…a few pages later, more double words…this repeated itself through the entire book.  36 KNOWN DOUBLE WORD ERRORS/PARTS OF SENTENCES LEFT OFF in the book (that I noticed anyway).

I reported this to Amazon (along with a detailed description of EACH ERROR AND PAGE it was on (at their request) and they immediately refunded the price (but also removed the book from my kindle - Boy, they sure could have let me have the inferior edition for heavens sake)!
And I e-mailed Amy as well…she replied back with a huge thank you.

THIS IS A SERIES WORTH BUYING AND READING.
 
Kauffman Amish Bakery Series
Book One:  A Gift of Grace
Book Two: A Promise of Hope
Book Three: A Place of Peace
Book Four: A Life of Joy (available Jan. 24, 2012)
Book Five: Naomi’s Gift
   

 

 

So how many of you are on PINTEREST?  I love that site.  I have found so many wonderful ideas and recipes – it’s like having your own online journal of all things you like…so if you want to follow me and join yourself let me know…I’ll send you an invite. You can find it on the right sidebar at the top.

Now that’s not much from here but it’s all I got for ya! 

P.S. I want to say thank you to WENDY for becoming my 800th follower today! Wow…thanks Wendy.

Karen~