Rules to Live By...

In going thru my saved files this morning, I found this article that someone had emailed me so I thought I'd share it with you.....and unfortunately, as with most things that float around in email, there is no authors name attached to it to give proper credit...

ONE... Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO... Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE... Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR... When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.

FIVE... When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye

SIX... Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN... Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT... Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. ..Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN... In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN... Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. ..Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN... When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

FOURTEEN... Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN... Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN... When you lose, don't lose the lesson !

SEVENTEEN... Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN...Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship..

NINETEEN...When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY.. .Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY-ONE... Spend some time alone.

Tuesday...

I've been awake since 4:30 a.m...I went out to shut the back porch windows when it sounded like rain. So rather than toss and turn trying to get back to sleep, I thought I'd read thinking it would make me drowsy. Haha...didn't happen. Finally at 6:00 I just decided to get up. Ugh! I think my allergies are tryin' to kick in full force!

Well I had a GREAT weekend! Had a 'Girl's Night In' with all my sisters! We got up early Saturday morning, hit the Panera Bread for coffee...Marsha and I MUST have our coffee, and Sonic for the non-coffee drinkers...and off to Kansas City we went! A day full of shopping and fun! I didn't have anything particular on my list of things to look for but I managed to find a few things, including a flying geese triangle for a little quilt project I want to try!

This pattern is from the Wednesday, February 6, 1935 edition of The Kansas City Star called Old Fashioned String Quilt. The fabrics are last months FQ Civil War medley of the month from Keepsake Quilting.

On Sunday, I finally made it out to check on my garden and I'd let a couple of zucchini's get a little too big, so I've got to do something with them....make bread, mock apple pie or just grate them and put in the freezer for later use! And I'm finally getting tomatoes....Nothin' like a garden fresh tomatoe!

Just a regular ho-hum day here today....have a few errands to run and a couple projects I need to finish up and I need to clean that back porch....it's overrun with stray threads, fabric remnants and sewing notions strung from one end of the table to the other! I need to find some order out there!

Well, since I've been awake for 4 hours now and on this computer for 2 of them, I suppose I'd better get off here and get on with my day!

Hope you all have a GREAT day!!

Friday Ramblin'...

The weather has been just beautiful lately! I didn't turn my air back on until Tuesday night! The past couple of days have been pretty hot out but on my back porch, with the windows up and the ceiling fans going, the breeze has been just right to make it right comfy out there to work! The cats love it! Can you tell? Harley and Clyde seem to love the ironing board while Salem can usually be found curled up on the work table! Thank goodness for lint rollers! I don't think they like it
on days I work out there 'cause then they have to give up their space!
I finally got the bridesmaid dress done and returned....then along came jeans to hem and jeans to patch so I spent my yesterday afternoon working on the porch and enjoying the breeze! Work all done and ready to go back on Monday....no time for work or trips to town today! Just a little laundry to do, pick up the house and get ready for the weekend! It's 'Girls Night In' at my sister Denni's....along with my other three sisters, Marsha, Susan and Denise. We kinda started this thing that for each of our birthdays, we'd get together for a sister trip! Since my birthday was last Monday (20th), I decided on a girls night in then getting up early on Saturday and headin' to Kansas City for a day of shopping and fun of just hangin' out with the sista's~!
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I thought I'd share a little bit more from that old cookbook.....I found a few recipes that I thought were interesting... like this chili recipe submitted by --Mrs. L.H. McKinney....

Fifteen cents worth of chili beans, red pepper, chili peper to suit taste, twenty cents worth of hamburger steak, three or four large onions, one can tomatoes, not all of the juice; butter or suet. Cook beans a while then add seasoning; then steak and so on in the order named.

And how about this one for Baking Powder Biscuits by Mrs. D.J.Owens of Hamilton, MO....

One pint flour, one-half teaspoon salt, one heaping teaspoon baking powder, one dessert spoon lard, sweet milk. Mix all thoroughly with the hand, add enough sweet milk to roll out. Bake in a quick oven. These are very fine.

Now this one, if you are weak in the stomach to certain foods, you may not want to read it. I grew up on a farm and Dad raised cows so we always had our own beef and Mom would fix liver and onions but she didn't ever fix this one....I will have to ask my Dad if Grandma ever fixed it and what it was like if she did. I do remember Grandma making Hog's Head Cheese though! Didn't care for that but I did love the crackin's she'd make!

Beef Tongue submitted by Mrs. H.C.Minter.....

If a smoked tongue is used, soak it over night. Put it in cold water and let it come to the boiling point; then simmer or cook slowly until tender--about four hours. Boil fresh tongue in salted water one and one half hour. When boiled remove the skin; use either hot or cold. If served hot pour over it a white sauce and garnish with parsley and sliced pickle. Spinach is a good vegetable to serve with tongue.
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So there ya go! I might share more little bits from this book over time...but I think for now, that gives you a good glimpse into the life of a homemaker back in the day! While this old cookbook can serve as a good reference book, I think I'll stick to the modern day cookbooks, recipes and ingredients!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Do something fun!!

The Housekeepers Alphabet

Taken from the old cookbook I mentioned yesterday. Some of these things are tried and still hold true today...but there are some that I think I'd be a little skeered to try.....like using ether, amonia and alcohol at the same time for cleaning a coat! YIKES!! And I don't think I'd be using chloroform either! 'CHLOROFORM'...a toxic, carcinogenic, colorless, volatile liquid, CHC13, with a sweet taste, used as a solvent, fumigant, etc, and, formerly, as a general anesthetic.
Yeah...I'm afraid, and it's not recommended to mix bleach with a cleanser...so I don't think I'll be using either of those tips!
And what is 'FELON'?.... a painful abscess or infection at the end of a finger or toe, near the nail; And do you even want to know what the 'RENNET' is.... 1-a) the membrane lining the stomach of an unweaned animal, esp. the fourth stomach of a calf.
And I might add that 'WHITING' is... powdered chalk used in making paints, inks, etc.

I just thought I'd share that little bit of info before giving you the list.....

THE HOUSEKEEPERS ALPHABET

• Apply amonia for orange or lemon juice stains.
• Burns, apply alum water or soda.
• Cut warm bread or cake with hot knife.
• Disinfect sick room with burning coffee.
• Equal parts of sweet oil, vinegar, and spirits of turpentine make an excellent polish.
• Felon, apply rennet soaked in milk, nenew until relief is found.
• Grease spots removed from carpet by using chloroform, or amonia and water.
• Hot sunshine will remove scorch.
• Ink spots removed from white goods by soaking in milk or applying lemon juice.
• Jars holding a pint are more economical for preserves in a small family.
• Keorosene applied to unused stoves will prevent rust.
• Lamp burners improved by by boiling in strong soda water or ashes, then rubbed with a fine cleaning soap.
• Mildew--soap the spots, covering while wet with whiting, lay out in the sun.
• New iron should be heated gradually to prevent cracking.
• Orange and lemon peel should be dried, powdered and kept in glass bottles.
• Pour boiling water upon fruits stains in linens or cotton.
• Quince seed will make a good curling fluid.
• Rub men's soiled coats with equal parts ether, amonia and alcohol.
• Soap is injurious to oil cloth; best cleaned with milk and water.
• Tinware may be cleaned and brightened by scouring with soda.
• Use cream and ink for defaced red boots.
• Variety is the culinary spice.
• Wheel grease, wash with cold water and soap.
• Xantippe was a scold; don't imitate her.
• You should never polish windows while the sun shines on them.
• Zinc can be cleaned with kerosene.

One more bit of info....if you don't know who 'Xantippe' was.... she was wife of Socrates: the prototype of the quarrelsome, nagging wife.

*Definitions from Webster's New World College Dictionary*

Have a GREAT day!!

Cookbooks....

Good day all!!

Yesterday, my sil, Debbie, was needing a couple of recipes, so that took me to my little collection of cookbooks. I love cookbooks! So, I thought I'd share with you a couple that I have in my collection...given to me by my Aunt Evelyn, my Mom's sister.
The red covered book was put out in 1950 by the 'Willing Workers Club' of Prairie Hill, MO and it's much like many of the ones that groups/organizations put together today. The brown covered one, put together by the 'Ladies of the Presbyterian Church' of Keytsville, MO and their friends.

Of course, it being an older book, I find it much more interesting...as the recipes aren't written out as in the 1950 book or as in the books we use today. I can't find a date or year...the first couple of pages are gone.

Advertising is throughout the book, which I also find interesting. Recipes written in paragraph form with measurements written out rather than numbers/fractions and no abbreviations.

Several blank pages throughout for adding your own recipes. The written one shown above is a quick roll recipe and there's also an added Molassaes Cookies w/out egg. A Devils Food Cake and Cake Filling. Mrs. Field 15 minutes Cucumber Pickles. And there are a few other recipes tucked into pages that had been clipped from the newspaper.

There are recipes for not only punch but also for "Beef Tea" and "Grape Wine". There is a canning section with a chart for canning certain fruits and vegetables. And besides the usual cakes, breads and pies, there are recipes for soap. Uses for salt and so many other household tips!

Here's a recipe for Caramel Pie as submitted by Mrs. L.L. Gorden...

Yolks of two eggs, two tablespoons flour, one tablespoon butter, one cup sweet milk, one cup brown sugar. Mix and cook until thick; pour into a baked pie crust. Beat whites of the eggs and spread on top.

I love cookbooks.....old and new...they are all interesting to sit and read....I have cookbooks from churches, schools, work groups, family cookbooks, Amish and Gooseberry Patch, Taste of Home, diabetic cookbooks, canning....I love them all! I'll share more from this old one over these next few days....I think you will find some of these things as interesting as I do. Oh, and yes, I did find the recipes she was needing!

Now I must get busy.....lots to do today!! Have a great day!!!

Tuesday Ramblin'.....I'm still here.....

I think the last time I posted, John and I were about to head down to the lake to visit a friend. Our friend, Mitch, has a little lakefront place on Lake of the Ozarks. Once we got there, we visited a bit, he gave a little tour of his house and had a lunch of BLT's! We took the pontoon out around the lake a few times...a short one then a couple of more lengthy ones. Grilled steaks for supper and just visited! It was a really nice time....I didn't have to do a thing! I did help fix the meals but it was just that...help! It wasn't totally up to ME to do it! So I really had a mini-vacation there! We came home on Monday....with a little detour at the lake mall on the way! Then it was back to work. Yard work, laundry, grocery shopping....I want another vacation!

Not an exciting week....just the same ol' same ol'. Last Friday was SO nice that I shut our A/C down and opened up the windows! Ahhh.....and I'm still enjoying it! It got almost a little too warm yesterday afternoon but we stuck it out since they're saying only 75 degrees along with the rain they're calling for today. I want to enjoy all I can 'cause when I shut the house up again, it will most likely be for the remainder of the summer since hayfever season is right around the corner.

I finished five aprons last week...they are available at Randolph Mercantile! Look at this one...it's a pasta print. Wouldn't that be neat to tuck into a pasta pot, along with a bag of pasta and bottle of olive oil for a nice bridal shower or hostess gift?
I'm still working away at my 'Homeplace at Christmas' counted cross stitch...I'm anxious to finish this one up because I just got a new chart in the mail from Notforgotten Farm! I am SO enjoying working on counted cross stitch again!
Some time ago, I went thru my things, realizing that I couldn't do it all...I needed to get back to the basics...fabric, thread, needle....I don't think I could ever settle on just one thing....even though I still find myself overwhelmed at all the possibilites that just basic supplies can bring, I have my choice of works to do in a day! Sit at the sewing machine? Counted cross-stitch? Punch needle? Which I still have a punchin' project in the works but I've gotten so involved in the x-stitch project, it got set aside!!

Today will be a sewing machine day. I brought home a little homework....hemming a bridesmaid dress... a full three layers! So that's how I'll be spending my day today and I guess the sooner I get to it, the sooner it gets done! Right?

Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Saturday ramblin'.....

Yep...I said "bye-bye" to my lil' Jeep Cherokee last Monday for this Ford F150...

...just thought I'd share.

So what's been going on in your world? Since we were in Columbia today, and the aprons I posted last week have all sold, I hit the Hobby Lobby for more fabrics!
Aprons are making a come-back! Hoda and Kathie Lee even had a little ditty about them on their show the other day....but they called them "smocks". I'll post pics as I get them done!

Tomorrow, John and I are off to the lake to visit a friend...I hope you are having a GREAT weekend!!

Honey....I'm home! Happy 4th of July!

Did ya miss me? Yes....I was gone...for nearly a week! I left on Monday with John in the truck....went to Iowa, then to Wisconsin then down to Oklahoma then on to Texas. We got home just this morning so now I'm playing catch up! Laundry going, Lucy bathed, done some house cleaning...a little rearranging, which I'll get into in a bit....now I'm taking a break. The coffee pot just beeped so I'm going to settle down with a cup of coffee and catch up in blogland!

It has been quite the week. I mentioned in a previous post that Ely and Liz were staying with us due to plumbing issues. Well, they found out this week that the man that started the repair job can't finish until August. They don't own the house so it's not their call to make. I won't go into details....too long! Anyways, needless to say, they will be with us for awhile longer. Which is why I had to do a little rearranging. I wanted to bring my computer back to the kitchen and shift some of my sewing things to the back porch so they could use their old room. They are looking for a house to buy and have found one that they are really interested in, so keep your fingers crossed that all works out for the best for them.

And you all know my Lucy girl....my black lab....she got hit by a car the other night. Not serious, but enough to give her a good roll and scraped her up a bit. What an ordeal! We have two pups outside that we let run during the day but we kennel them at night. I don't know what happened that led up to this, but the neighbor dog came over and got to the pups, when the kids went out to see what was going on, Lucy tore out of the house and chased him back across the road and when she was coming back home, she got hit. Poor girl....that's twice now! She's fine...she was SO glad to see me this morning! John and the boys are making fun 'cause the boys said she's been doin' just fine, walkin' around and such....now that I'm home, she's favorin' one of her hind legs to get mama's sympathy.

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When I go with John, I usually take along some sort of hand work. I work while we are waiting to be loaded or unloaded or while John's napping. I divided my time with a counted cross stitch project and a punch needle project. I'll share them with you once they are finished, which will be soon, I hope!

I do enjoy going out in the truck with John...the time together...time away from home....but even with all the catch up work, it is always good to get back home.

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I'd mentioned some aprons in a previous post. I did get them finished and they are available at the Randolph Mercantile. I thought I'd share pics with you....

I just love how all of them turned out and hope to get some more made soon to list on Etsy! So if you are interested, be watching!

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So what has been going on in your world this past week?! What are you doing to celebrate Independence Day?!

You see what I'm doing! I'm not sure if we will venture out to any gatherings or not.

Whatever you do....have fun and be safe!!