Simple things

Isn't it amazing how the simple things in life can be the most special things of all?
Every evening, as the sun starts to go down in the sky, Stephen and I head out for our walk. It is really a special time for us. Stephen loves to listen to the birds and usually he settles in for a cat nap, and I'm just plain happy to be outside!

This past Sunday evening we were strolling along, just coming to the end of our first corner. There was a little gray haired lady standing outside. We have seen her, smiled and waved to her many times in the past. But, tonight I decided to stop and ask how she was. We struck up a nice conversation, she adored Stephen (who doesn't??!!), and she told me that she would love to walk with me, but since she is now 91 yrs old, her knee just doesn't work like it used to. (91?? I am 50 years younger! Mental note to not complain about my knee!)

After a bit, she asked me to walk around to her front door, telling me that she has something for me. She had to go into her house and meet me out front. I had no idea what it would be. Have any guesses? Well, out she came, told me to hold out my hand, and here is what she gave me:

Four brand new shiny gold dollars. One for Jerry, myself, Seth, and Stephen. I told her that was awful sweet of her. She smiled shyly, and said, "That's my hobby. I like to pass out these little gold dollars to make people smile. My family thinks it's silly. But, I don't care. I do it anyway."

Well, you know what I had to do next...I gave Miss Isabelle a hug and promised that Stephen and I would visit again soon.

For the rest of my walk, I couldn't get my mind off a blog that I had read just that morning. It was actually my husband's blog. He only writes one blog a week called:

THE WEEKLY MUSING

This week was about pennies from Heaven. You should go read it. It will help you appreciate the little things in life.

Like a sweet little gray haired lady named Isabelle who makes it her hobby to give away shiny gold dollars.

Seth is too busy for us

Mr. Seth

has quite a few of you

that really enjoy his blog entries.

SO,

you might be thinking,

that it is ABOUT TIME

that Seth write a blog.

Well,

He has been gone to his Dads,

and now to camp.

For those that have asked,

his catnip never grew so I went and bought him some from a greenhouse.

It took off nicely and now he has a bunch drying on his workstation.

He also has some tomato plants

that I forgot to water last night.

OOPS!

Peanut Wisdom

Do you have something from your childhood that you still treasure today? I am quite an unsentimental person, overall. I don't have many childhood keepsakes. It is funny that in the midst of my crazy childhood, the things that I did keep were books and a quilt.

This is my favorite book that I saved over the years:

You can tell that it has been well-loved:

I just love the fun pop-up pages:

Snoopys little moveable ear to protect Woodstock from the rain:

You can "turn" the channel on the TV and Woodstock flies around in all sorts of patterns:

On this one, you can Lift the Flap and make Snoopy 'catch' the ball:

And check out the inner part of the cover:

Awhile back while Stephen and I were on a walk, we stumbled upon an Estate Sale, and just look at all the Snoopy books that we couldn't pass up:

A couple of them are so Adorable!!!! Every once in a while a bit of Peanut Wisdom will probably pop up in my blog. I just can't help it. I am a Snoopy addict. Always have been!

Do you have anything that you've held onto and treasured since childhood?

Stephen Hop's on Pop

Today's blog is from Stephen. He made something he wants to tell you about:

This is me and my POP! He lives in Texas, so I don't get to see him much. He got me a cool shirt:

It says HOP ON POP. Here's the back:

So, I decided to put on my Hop on Pop shirt and make something extra special for him. I went outside to play and had my sissy take some pictures:

We had a lotta fun taking pictures. But then I had my daddy put them in a frame for me:

See? It says POP. He loved it!

Twitterpated an other things to learnt.

I got myself an email this mornin, and it were all about life truths. Ifn you can't relate to these then you ain't livin'!!

A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.

Onced and Twiced are words.

“Jaw-P?” means “Did y’all go to the bathroom?”  

Fixinto is one word. It means I’m fixing to do that.

Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar.

Backwards and forwards means I know everything about you.

          The word “jeet?” is actually a phrase meaning “Did you eat?”

You don’t have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is, you work until you’re done or it’s too dark to see.

You measure distance in minutes.

You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.

All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect, or animal.

You know what a DAWG is.

You carry jumper cables in your car - for your OWN car.

You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Tony’s, Tabasco and ketchup.

The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local high school sports, motor sports, and gossip.

You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit a bit warm.

Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite pastime known as “goin’ Wal-Martin’” or “off to Wally World”.

You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chicken stew weather.

Fried catfish is the other white meat.

We don't need no dang Driver's Ed. If our mama says we can drive, we can drive dag-nabbit.

(I really laughed about some of these. "Fixinto" is truly in my daily vocabulary. We do measure the distance in minutes it takes to get there. I often use the heat in the morning after Jerry leaves for work, but the A/C goes on to cool it down before he comes home. The festival in this town,.."Crayfish days", or a bit more south "Mountian Oyster Fest". I could go on, but I'll spare you.)

On a more serious note, I'm as giddy as a twitterpated bull-frog on a warm summer night. One of my wallhang-uns has been used for a showin an a tellin! GO HERE to one of my favorite blogs. Pat is a real live artist, an she has something I made hanging in her home! Don't that beat all??

Ponders

Today's blog is completely not my normal style. But, maybe sometimes I will make it my style. Today sure has been a day of ups, downs, ponders, and revelations.

I have decided not to do craft shows this year (once again!). At first this saddened me, because I just can't seem to get that end of my business rolling. We could really use the income, but on the other hand, I don't have a lot of spare time unless I stay up at night.

So, I got to thinking.

** Just a bit less than 6 short months ago, our Christmas surprise was born. Six months of his life is gone already.

**Just 12 short years ago, Seth entered into my life. I don't get enough time with him as it is because he is a victim of divorce and is away half of the time.
**Just 20 short years ago my baby girl was born. She and I are very close...alot of life has happened that she and I got through together. When we have a moment to be together, we make the most of it!

** Just 2 short years ago I married my knight in shining armor. I waited 40 years to be rescued by him...I don't want to waste a spare moment of being his Maiden.

So, I don't care if I don't have the time or resources to do the craft shows I have picked out. God gave me the talent, and He'll give me the time to use it. He also gave me 3 children and a knight. THAT is my here and now.

Loads of other thoughts have been going through my mind today. Most are probably due to hormones and exhaustion...

 I won't get into discussing how I just don't understand how someone can hate someone in their own family. Yet, I know it will happen according to Luke 12 :53. And, it does happen, sadly!

I've been feeling truly blessed to have met an angel. Her name is Helen. I am sure her Crown in Glory will be stunning!

One final thought...Noah had to have been very patient. With all this rain and flooding who can not think about him? But, his patience shows yet today, because if it were me

I would have killed these...all 2 of them.  I sure am trying but I can't kill them all these days!

Doin' the Mash

Fer those that don't know much bout me, I was borned n raised n lived near Kansas City, Missouri my whole life. Well ceptin the two yrs we lived in southern Missouri. Now, mind you, the Kansas City metro area is a large area. I never onct lived in Kansas City proper like. The little ol' town I like to call my 'home town' is about 45 miles away from Kansas City. But, it still in the Kansas City area.

Now mos' Kansas City people wouldn't consider themselves hillbillies. But, when you spend alot o' spare time stompin' roun' the Ozarks, then you call call yurself a hillbilly. Thet's me. Well, anyway's, this here story be bout Kansas City an not the Ozarks.

When I lived down yonder fer a couple o' years, I got me to cravin' a couple of yummies thet I jest assumed you could get anywhere's. One day I was really cravin em bad like (bein pregnant does that to ya), and we couldn't find em! That were dreadful!

So's now that I'm livin back in my homeland, I thought I'd jest up and tell ya bout some of the Kansas City things you all be missin out on. An you can sees for yourselves thet there jus ain't nowhere like Kansas City!

You see that little ol big pile of Cherry Mash's? That be my stash. Yep. Pa figured I needed some and went n bought me a whole pile o' them. Cherry Mash is the top selling cherry candy bar in whole cuntry. Only, you can only get em roun here. Must mean other homeland folk feel the same as I do bout these little gems.

Ifn you can't find Cherry Mash in yur homeplace, I recommend thet ye jus order them on the Cherry Mash Homepage. Also on the homepage you can find a Cherry Mash song RIGHT HERE or some recipes HERE.

Nex time I fix my husband up a dinner all fancy, I jest might make this recipe: (borrowed from their site)

CHERRY MASH COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
8 small Cherry Mash chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Gradually beat in flour mixture.
Stir in Cherry Mash.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool on baking sheets for two minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes 18 to 20 large cookies.

With our thanks to Bonnie Lytton

You lickin' yur lips, yet?

Seth becomes Official

I have some new followers, so for those that don't know, my son, Seth, is 12 yrs old and gets a weekly spot on my blog. This is his writing...I'm just the typest.

LOOK WHAT I GOT:

Cool, huh? I always wanted to be an apothecary. I guess now I am. :)

To prove it...

I have these herbs drying on strings. (Both of these are peppermint.)

And a bunch of new plants. Not all are shown on this photo.  I really like my workstation. With all these new herbs, I have successfully come up with a crazy (but good) tea mix!

Seth's Spicy Ginger Tea

2 Tablespoons dried Ginger root

Approx 5  dried rose petals

3-5  dried rose buds

honey to taste

OR

Seth's Sweet Ginger Tea

1/2 Tablespoon dried Ginger root

2Tablespoons chopped rose petals (you can cut them with scissors. I did.)

5-7 uncut rose buds

honey to taste

Heat about 2 1/2 cups of water until just under the boiling point. Add the herbs. Let steep for about 20 min. Strain before drinking. I strain over cheesecloth.

This concludes "Seth's Herb's" for this week. Please tune in next week to win $100,000. (You wish!) Just kidding. Next week I'll teach you how to make herbal syrup.

Missed

Lately I have been feeling sorry for myself. Yep, a regular ol' pitty party. You see, I've always been a dog person. And right now we don't have a dog. Nor can we have a dog. We live a simple life, yet are blessed to have a nice duplex in a very nice neighborhood. We found it by internet before we moved. But, it has one downfall. NO PETS. We can understand, if we were property managers, we'd probably feel the same way after seeing the way some people care for their animals. But, I've always had a dog...and I want one! All in due time...

Our last property managers didn't allow dogs either. That is, until they met Dawg.

One day, Amy and I went to the pound because she was feeling a bit lonely and we thought she needed a companion. But, then I saw this big, no HUGE, baby all skin and bones in a too small cage (most cages were too small), and I just knew that Jerry would love him. Poor Jerry. He had worked a night shift, and was home sleeping when I called and said, "Hey, can you get the dog pen put together, we got a dog." When Jerry and dog met...it was a given. They belonged to each other. I asked Jerry what we should name him, and Jerry said, "Since I was a little boy, I've always dreamed about having a big ol' dog named Dawg."

Dawg loved car trips. Once we went to Texas. It was time for us (me and Dawg) to meet Jerry's parents. It was cold, and we hit an ice storm. So all three of us ended up in the cab. And big and hairy got the middle, while I was pushed up against the door the whole time! Dawg was not average size, even for a lab. He was tall! When standing, he could rest his chin on the kitchen counter (and would get his nose bopped if he tried.)

Dawg loved four things. His daddy, sticks, swimming and chasing squirrels. He wore a charm on his collar that Amy got him. It said "squirrel patrol". On nice weekends we would load up and head to the river, a creek, anywhere Dawg could have a nice swimming time. Dawg loved Amy, Seth and I too...but not like he loved his daddy!

And yes, he had birthday parties.

One cold winter day, we all headed to the woods to go on a walk. It was a nice park where we could just let Dawg run free. Dawg took off after a rabbit; and we wish we'd never gone there! Nothing visible happened. But, the next day Dawg had a limp. Over time, and several vets later, it was decided that Dawg hurt his shoulder that day. He was just so big. Even with surgery, he would never be the same. Never chase a squirrel, never swim.

We made him as comortable as we could, until his pain became unbearable no matter the amount of medication. Last fall, we kissed him good-bye. Seth wrote the following limerick about him:

The Stick Eating Dawg

There once was a dog named Dawg;

He dreamed he was chewing a log.

You see, he thought all sticks belonged to him,

Even the smallest limb!

Oh, the wondrous dog named Dawg.