Mother's Day 2013 and appreciation

I've been reading a book that was based upon a woman who decided to write a blog to vent her frustrations but it turned into a way of connecting with the outside world including people that didn't know her.  I don't know that I've got that big of an ambition, but I am going to try and make a bigger attempt to write on my blog MUCH more often!  I enjoy doing it, but just don't sit around and make the time!  It's kind of like exercising, except that I don't like exercising and I also don't sit around and make that time either... 

Life is short and it makes me want to leave something for anyone who comes after me.  I am including a photo from Mother's Day as that is another reminder of how important the people who created all of us are.  Both Mark's Mom and my Mom are great!  We are fortunate... :) 

May 2010 Kitchen Home Improvement

Draft... You know--
Al Roker from "The Today Show" made it look so easy....



Here is one of the "before" pictures.

I have to find the rest of the pictures..., but it DOES look good. See my facebook page for the rest of it. I have to thank my cuz Stacy for the real talent. I was the apprentice!

Barry & Stacye Brown

How to Make an American Quilt

After watching the movie "How to Make an American Quilt", it reminded me of one those remnants of memories I have from being very young. I remember seeing a quilt hanging from the ceiling of my grandmother's house and people doing the quilting part of it. It was memorable to see everyone sitting around there and starting from the center and working their way to the edges. This could have been one of those I watched being made.

If you will look to the left bottom you will see where you can now even see through it because of the holes where it has been worn out. I don't think some of my relatives understand why I want these quilts more than the newer "prettier" ones.



There is something about it being hand made by many different women working together. I remember my great-grandmother Putman sitting there at least on one occasion. She was born before 1900 and gave birth to a 14 pound baby BEFORE EPIDURALS--and survived... she wasn't a big lady and was only about 14 or 15 years old. WOW...

Look at all of the stitches needed for the one above... --then came the quilting stitches... Lots of dedication and patience.

Another one with lots of wear and tear from the ages.

This is one that my Mom made for Mark and me. Our names are on the two corners.
This is Seth's quilt. His favorite color was yellow growing up. He pronounced it "lellow" as he couldn't pronounce his "Y" sound.




This is my favorite newer one. I like the donkeys-or jack a$$'s you might say! There is one for each just for each of the males in my family...ha! ha! (You know that there isn't one for me... :) )

Kyle's School Project

Kyle had to do a project where he made and designed a musical instrument. He chose the Bongo drums.

I always get very excited when we have PAINT out for the boys to use.

Notice my VERY BEAUTIFUL ALMOST NEW dining room table. This is also known as a card table...

This is a picture of him painting them bright colors. The red tape in the middle is so that there will be a straight black line when we pull it off.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished...

Tonight is a story of Tim, the Tool Man Taylor's adventures--AKA ME....

I have been wanting to change out my light fixtures and cabinet pulls ever since we got the new colors in our kitchen. Evan & I decided to go ahead and turn off the electrical current and do it ourselves. Evan is really gifted at any home projects, so I thought he was great in this project.

Evan helped by taking down the old brass fixture and I put up the bar for the new one. I'm feeling good about right at that moment since I've turned off the correct circuit breaker so we haven't gotten knocked off the table by an electrical current.

After this point, I wired the black, white & copper/ground wire in. I then needed Evan to hold the new fixture while I put in the new screws.

This is the "before picture" of our table...

And THIS is the "after picture"...

Now, if you can't see any difference in the two photos above, you probably shouldn't even bother reading the rest of the story...

The moral of the story is... DON'T STAND ON A TABLE TO CHANGE LIGHT FIXTURES--& ESPECIALLY DON'T ADD YOUR ALMOST 6 ft tall son up there with you to finish the job.

Here is the end result...

So this is the story of how my great intentions did not result in success... believe me, this color coordinated bruised arm was NOT worth the funny story above.

If you can laugh at it, you can live with it... sometimes, it takes a few days to get to the part where you realize that you can laugh at it... --with the help of Loritab anyway... It really could be worse, though--no broken bones--just some sore joints and wounded pride... :)

Farmtown--much easier, but no real food there...

Since I have been on farm town (my very pretty, but very fake farm on Facebook)... I decided to work on (& eat) some of those real vegetables I've also been farming this summer...

How do you do this, you ask???

SO... Here is what you need--some clean Mason Jars and lids...

AND...the most important part...

lots of TOMATOES...

Good looking tomatoes !!

(Aren't they pretty ??)

That pioneer woman website has nothing on me... (see www.thepioneerwoman.com )

Then comes all of the fun!

First, you boil the tomatoes so that it is easier to peel off the skins. You then peel them while yelping a little as they are still hot and it is no fun to actually hold and peel them at this point! Mark and I thank my Mom for that very valuable bit of information which has saved many hours of work!

Then you let them get really hot (the tomatoes, I mean) & them put them in the jars.

You need some seasonings which mainly include SALT, yes good old fashioned, raise your blood pressure... SALT!

Then, have your very helpful husband to put the peeled hot tomatoes into the jars, and put lids on them. Then , put them in a pot especially made for the process, cover and heat to high to seal the jars. (He kind of does a lot of this part of the process!)

Also, very important is to grab any available kids who wander through the kitchen at this point and have them help with the process. (PS-never mind that my child has enough food on his face to scrape off and use for a snack later.)

Put up for a few weeks and you will be quite excited to have these when it is winter and the other alternative is those crappy greenhouse tomatoes at the grocery store... at the rock bottom price of $3 per pound!

It is very important to note at this point that we get a LOT more than just one quart of tomatoes... I'd rather work at Farmtown than do all of that work for one quart!