Sisters...

This photo was taken just over a year ago, celebrating  Marsha's 51st birthday....

We laugh, cry, scream and fight with each other, yet, at the end of the day, we are sisters...

....and friends. 

We know that if we can't call on anyone else, we can call on each other.....

(Cindy, Denni, Marsha, Denise & Susan)

This next photo was taken the same night....our "adopted" sister....my sister-in-law, Sheila....

since she has just a brother, she felt left out of all that sister stuff so, we "adopted" her....

I think she sometimes wonders "what was I thinking?!" 

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We've been having some beautiful weather....I spent most of yesterday cleaning house with windows open and even a fan or two going.  It's a tad bit cooler today and calling for rain...going to take it easy today and enjoy some "me" time stitching.

Enjoy your day!



Chocolate...

I've been craving chocolate.....

Do you think I might be able to find something to satisfy the tastebuds

in this?.......

....the latest issue of Food Network magazine.

Hmm....I think I might. 

Enjoy your day!

Saturday Morning Ramblin'...

Good Saturday morning!

Since I didn't get here yesterday,  thought I'd pop in real quick to share a couple of finishes....

Another little apron order....

I can't wait til Rylee is big enough that I can make one for her!

This 'young girl sampler' was a freebie chart by Primitive Betty

Thanks Betty!

And a little pin-keep make-do....made from an old zinc canning lid and snippet of an old crazy quilt...

filled with crushed walnut shells. 

Both are available at Randolph Mercantile....which, is holding their

spring open house this weekend. 

That's where I will be spending my day....working...always enjoy that!

Have to head out soon, so better get myself busy.....

Enjoy your day!

Tobacco Sticks...

Used for hanging the tobacco in the barns to dry. 

They are quite long...45"- 50" and longer...

they can be a round stick or a square stick, with  pointed ends or cut ends...

they are a very hard wood.  I have to drill holes before putting in nails or screws.

And when cutting, a power saw is much easier than a hand saw.

Though they may not be used for hanging tobacco anymore, they do still have a number of uses...

A basket hanger...drill a hole on each end, add eye hooks and strips of homespun and hang to hooks in the ceiling...

this one  holds a few of my favorite baskets.

You could also use "S" hooks for hanging pans....just be sure the ceiling hooks are secured tightly enough that you don't run the risk of them coming out of the ceiling..

A tobacco stick ladder...this hangs in my kitchen and as you can see it is loaded with favorite kitchen tools,gadgets and knick knacks...I've thought about taking it down but I just haven't been able to do it yet. 

SO many interesting things! 

Tobacco stick star...I had this one hanging on my front porch...still wrapped with the lights, I just hung my wreath in the middle of it for this past Christmas. 

I  have cut the sticks into shorter lengths and made smaller stars, a more suitable size for hanging indoors.

These sticks have so many more uses...

Cut lengths of it, add some decorative nails or hooks for a peg rack or herb drying.

Use for making primitive frames...

...or even a curtain rod.

Look beyond an items  intended use and be creative.

Enjoy your day!

French Breakfast Puffs.....

So simple yet SO good! 

I was wanting a little somethin'  the other morning to go with my coffee, so

I started flipping through my The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook

and found this recipe..... OMGosh! 

It was quite the ordeal to get them made...as I started mixing the dry ingredients, I was at the end of my baking powder and when I got to the eggs, I had only one....so much for having a little somethin' with my coffee.....so they were put on hold until I got back from town...

so I had them with my afternoon coffee.....

FRENCH BREAKFAST PUFFS

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Coating:

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, sal and nutmeg. Set aside.

In seperate large bowl, cream together sugar and shortening.  Add the eggs and mix again.

Alternate adding 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake 20 - 25 minutes, until golden.  Remove muffins from pan and set aside.

To make the coating, melt butter in bowl or glass pan.  In seperate container, combine sugar and cinnamon.

Dip warm muffins in the butter, coating thoroughly...then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

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She made a note that they freeze well and are great reheated...

Well, they were so good I knew there wasn't going to be any that would see the freezer but there were a few left for Sunday morning.....yep, she was right....they were just as delish reheated....

Hmm....I think I just might make up some more today!

***Note...I did use splenda for baking  in these and they were just as good! Also, for the coating, I started with just half the measurements and had plenty to give them all a generous coat.***

Enjoy!

Old Feeders...

There's no telling what you might find on the walls of my home.  As a print that I have hanging in my kitchen says...

"I LOVE ANTIQUES AND EVERYTHING OLD".... I do!

 They don't have to be huge furniture pieces that cost hundreds of dollars or fancy cut glass....

Just simple things that speak to me, telling me that they still have a purpose....

I call this 'new uses for old things'....I wish I had more photo's  to share with you as I'm sure there are others who have found new uses for these things.....

I think I found my first old feeder several years ago, buried in my folks old barn.  I took them home, scraped them off and cleaned them out and started using them as I would a shelf or a wall basket....

I'll be sharing more new uses over the coming weeks....and I'll try to get more photos.

Looks like a beautiful day out.....I'm solo today since there's no school for Presidents' Day, Rylee is home with mama.

I'm just kinda puttering around the house today....finishing up some laundry and taking the time to snap some photo's for future blogs and I think I might try to start something new in the sewing room.... hmm...I might even sneak in a little walk!

Enjoy your day!

Grandma Mag...

I love old photographs.

This one is of my Great-Grandma Margaret (Zumwalt) Summers, aka Grandma Mag, with my Grandpa Summers and his sister, my Great Aunt Minnie (Summers) Meyers.

I never knew Grandma Mag nor Aunt Minnie.  Grandma Mag passed away in 1954, more than 10 years before I was born.  Minnie died on December 5, 1918 at the age of 21 and 8 months pregnant, from the flu. 

Grandpa turned 15 years old on that day. 

From what I understand, Grandma Mag was, as we would call it today no matter the circumstance,  a single mother.  Grandpa Charlie passed away when Grandpa was a youngster.  She  remarried but one day he just up and left, never to be heard from again.  I can't even remember his name and apparently Grandma Mag didn't want to remember, as she took back the Summers name.

According to my Great-Aunt Ruby, Grandma Mag was a skilled seamstress and what my Grandma Hazel learned about sewing, she learned  not from  her own mother, but from Grandma Mag once she and Grandpa were married.

I wish I had taken better notes as I was growing up and hearing some of the stories.....as people get older, memories start to fade and details are forgotten.  There are always old photographs but if someone doesn't record the who, what and when on the backs of them, the faces are unfamiliar to those who follow.

I'm trying to do better at recording the necessary information on the backs or with captions in scrapbook and photo albums. 

I'm hoping that as I blog more about my family, it will inspire and motivate me to get busy on my scrapbooking and record more information of generations past for our future generations.

It looks to be another beautiful day.....time to get ready to church.

I'll be making chicken enchiladas for Sunday supper....

Enjoy your day!