I LOVE flowers.... the more flowers the better. Gardens of flowers, container flowers or wildflowers. A weed with a pretty bloom on it?? A flower! :) Even in the winter, I'm thinking of flowers. That's when I do my "planning". I keep a notebook with my list of all the different kinds of seeds I have or will have by planting time and where I want to plant them. When planting time finally arrived, I went around the homestead and gathered every single pot or container I could find. If it could hold dirt and I could get a few holes in the bottom of it.... it was tossed in the wagon. I gathered all my tools I'd need to avoid all the running back and forth to get this or that. *spade, trowel and fork set....check *rocks (for filler)....check *potting soil....check *fertilizer ....check *watering can....check *containers....CHECK! * RC cola for break~time....DOUBLE CHECK Sitting on the ground, with my containers all around me, I decide which seeds will go in which pots and I begin to plant..and I planted. I took a break and planted some more. Then called it a day. The next morning I wake up ready to finish my planting projects....so I plant some more. I planted seeds of marigolds around every single building on the place. Which is only 3 but seemed like 300 after preparing the soil around all 3 buildings. Then I wait for them to grow. I'm waiting.... Still waiting... Finally everything was growing. Then one day, Hubby hands me this clear spray bottle, "Here, spray all your plants with this"...I look at the nasty brown~colored liquid inside of it, dis-trustingly and tell him, "I ain't using that stuff!" "It's Miracle~Gro" he says....(he bought a used sprayer from this guy and it still had "stuff" in it and the guy SAID it was Miracle~Gro, Hubby transferred it to a smaller spray bottle so he could use the sprayer). All the Miracle~Gro I've ever seen has been BLUE. So, of course...I went on my merry way...and I didn't use it :) A few days later, Hubby seen the bottle..still not used of course, and said "I thought I told ya to use that on your plants" and again, we have the same discussion..."I ain't using it". Nope, not gonna do it. Not using it. I used it..just cuz he says I never listen to him. My instincts screaming at me the whole time...DON'T DO IT!! I didn't spray EVERYTHING...but I did spray most everything. By the end of the day...all my pretty green plants had turned a sickening shade of light brown. I started to worry. The next morning my beautiful,luscious Wild Violets were deader than a door knob. My flowers in the flower garden by the back porch?? yep..those are door knobs. All those seeds I planted in the containers?? yep, door knobs. A few plants I had planted in the ground around the homestead??? DOOR KNOBS! I wailed...I screamed... And I did what any other red~blooded American woman would've done. I went looking for Hubby. Armed with a handful of door kn...I mean, dead flowers. "I toldddddddd you so!!" as I held out the door knobs for his inspection. All that hard work for nothing...my only consolation was that I did NOT spray any of my roses. The stuff I DID spray were JUST seeds or flowers and plants that I could easily replace or just not "worry" TOO much about the loss. Poor Hubby, he honestly thought it was Miracle~Gro cuz that's what the guy told him it was. He had good intentions, he just wanted me to have good, healthy, pretty flowers, ya know?? He's the one that does all the HARD work with the gardens, the hot, sweaty, back~breaking stuff. We just don't have the money to do all the things he wishes he could do to make everything LOOK like the visions we had to begin with. But he tries...and that's all a body can do. He loves the flowers as much as I do, he's constantly bringing home this and that to plant, he keeps his eyes for "specials" or when they go on clearance and buys most of the plants and stuff then. We've found out that while they may not look too great on the store shelves by the end of summer, as long as they still have green to them and you get'em in the ground before the first frost hits..they'll do great next year. Or, he'll be driving down one of these country roads and spot something growing along a ditch, that he thinks is pretty and he'll stop and dig it up and bring it home. (he's learned to keep a shovel in the back of the pick~up) He's a good feller, well..most of the time anyway :) Many mornings, I've gotten up and went into the kitchen and on "my" side of the kitchen table, where I sit and drink my morning coffee, there will be a bouquet of wildflowers in a mason jar. And on HIS birthday last year, he took HIS "birthday money" and headed off to town and came back hours later with a whole truck~load of stuff, for ME. Garden stuff....To build ME an arbor. You can't stay mad at a feller like that... But, I still TEASE him about the Miracle~Gro though. And just HAD to share it with y'all :) Thanks for stopping by! Y'all be good and be pretty and as always... ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻God Bless ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Last night about 6 pm, the sun was starting to go down so I thought I'd grab my cam and see what shots I could find. Of course "the hounds" heard my cam opening up and here they come running.... They're only allowed out in the back yard cuz it's fenced in. But when I'm taking pics they know they get to come with me wherever I go. So, they take off out the door going 90 miles an hour at a dead run, racing up the road, knowing good and well that I'm just gonna holler at 'em to "Get back down here!" The other neighbors on our road also have dogs and Lucy and Bingo think they have to go visitin' whenever I let'em out. Bingo...wasting no time, he's already at the curve . Ahhh ....but here he comes trotting back to "mommy". He must have suddenly remembered, earlier this year, he got beat up by the neighbor's weinie dog. He was so humiliated..or he SHOULD have been. After their initial excitement of getting to go outside finally winds down a little, I look around and I notice a few more changes taking place. All summer long I've had my eyes on these clump of Black~eyed Susans. But like the Summer, these too are fading away. But I can still see their beauty. I see "seeds of hope" for NEXT year's batch of Black~eyed Susans, promising me they'll be back again next year. The photos doesn't do it justice.... In the fading sunlight, the dried~up petals gleamed with a silvery sheen, still clinging desperately to its dignity, as it knows it will slowly fade and wither away soon.
I thought long and hard about the first recipe I wanted to share with y'all. I wanted it to be something absolutely amazing and something that was special to me. I was about 16 or 17 when Mammy made these one day and Lawdy, let me tell you, they were the best things I had eaten...ever. These are better than any cinnamon roll you could even hope to buy at a store or bakery. They're like having your own little slice of heaven...all rolled up. MMmm MMmm! As one of my besties would say, "These are slap your Mama GOOD!" I loved watching Mammy cook. I can remember standing at the counter just watching her and I still laugh when I think about how, if she was telling someone how to make something, she'd use her hands to demonstrate. "You mixxxxxxxxx it up like this" and her hands would do a mixing motion...or "You stir it realllllllllllll good" and she'd start "stirring". Oh how I loved that woman and still miss her every single day. I wish I had her love for cooking but I don't...but what I DO have....is her recipes and this one, is for y'all :) Mammy's Cinnamon Rolls What you'll need: * 3 packages of dry~ active yeast any brand * 1/2 cup WARM water * 3/4 cup shortening * 1/2 cup sugar * 2 cups buttermilk * 5 cups self~rising flour * 1/2 cup melted butter * 2 cups brown sugar * cinnamon (it's not measured, just use it generously) * 12~inch thread or dental floss * nuts and raisins are optional * makes about 24 cinnamon rolls (YUMMY!!) (For those who don't use our measuring system here in the U.S., you can Google and get the conversions you need...I've provided a link for you that may be helpful) http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/ INSTRUCTIONS: Dissolve 3 pkgs yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water in a small bowl and set aside. cream together shortening and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk and yeast to the shortening and sugar mixture. Stir in 5 cups of flour...one cup at a time for easier mixing. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 5 minutes and then grease the bowl that you just used to mix the dough in and put the dough back in. Turn dough over so both sides are coated with the grease and place a towel over the bowl and let rise for an hour. After the rising time, punch dough down with your fist. On a floured surface, with a rolling pin, roll out a 15 by 24~inch rectangle (or close to that size, doesn't have to be exact). Using a pastry brush or rubber spatula spread the melted butter over the rectangle of dough but not so much that it runs off the sides. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the dough and then sprinkle generously with cinnamon , and then add the nuts and raisins if you like. Starting from the LONG end, roll up dough tightly, making sure to keep the roll about the same size all the way down the roll. Pinch the seams together To slice the roll, you can use a serrated knife but I use a piece of thread. Gently slide the thread under the roll on one end. bring up the thread to make a criss~cross motion and slice roll at about an inch thick. This recipe doesn't say to grease the pan, however, if you prefer you can use aluminum foil on your pans. Cover pan with a towel and let rise for about an hour. I've made these with the rolls touching each other and I've made them by separating and letting them have their space in the pans...either way worked and were delish. If they're touching each other, it makes the center of the rolls pop up but when they don't touch, they have room to spread out. Pre~heat oven to 350 degrees and watch rolls closely and take out when they are LIGHTLY brown. (I have to take mine out before they get lightly brown, my oven sucks :(...I touch the top and see if they feel done) GLAZE: 1/2 Cup melted butter 1/2 box or bag of confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar 1/4 cup water The last time we made these, Hubby wanted to see how they did if we froze them after baking, and they were good. Fresh out of the oven these are sinfully delish and the very reason I've had to store 2 pair of jeans in the last 2 months! If you ever try this recipe out, let me know how they did for you or better yet, bring one by and I'll help you taste~test it :) If you make these for a group or small gathering, be prepared to have the recipe handy to share cuz...you'll be asked for it! Hope y'all enjoyed it....I would have probably enjoyed it a little more if after having finished this entire post, I hadn't accidentally deleted it...and had to start ALLLLLLLLLLL over again..lol... Today's post is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother. She would have LOVED the idea that her recipe was put out there for everyone to try ...Ty for letting me share her with you all today :) ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ God Bless ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Today's post is basically going to be "getting to know me" and why I decided to do this blog. I posted in a previous blog post about Hubby's reaction to my thoughts about attempting a blog. (Personally I think he's still a bit skeptical about the whole thing.) It's not that he doesn't really think I can DO it, it's just that he KNOWS me...and knows how I am. Being an agoraphobic, I rarely leave my home. So, what could I possibly have to write about?? I don't really see that many people except for immediate family members. We don't go out like "regular" couples would for a night out. I won't even ride in a vehicle with him anymore unless it's a dire emergency. If I have a doctor appointment, most of the time, it's cancelled and rescheduled before I work up enough nerve to finally GO. I no longer drive because of the severe anxiety. My doctor has tried just about every known pill there is to try and help me. I know it has to be hard on Hubby, putting up with a wife like me. But then again, hey, I put up with him, right?? When we got married we vowed to TRY to make each other a better person. I made him promise he'd get his GED (which he did!!..so very proud of him!) and since I'm hearing~disabled, he made me promise I would get hearing aids. I was always so afraid people would make even more fun of me if they could SEE the hearing aids so I would never even THINK of getting any. But, I did and it was truly the best thing that ever happened to me. My agoraphobia is the reason I "Facebook" a lot and have decided to do a blog. I have a NEED to be with people...to see people...but I just can't. I wish my "online friends" and family members, only knew how much they all mean to me, just knowing that every day that I wake up, and come to sit in front of this computer... that they'll be here. While Hubby and I might not do all the things "normal" people do, if nothing else, at least we do keep each other thoroughly entertained! I'm Edith to his Archie ... and the Alice to his Ralph...hence the reference in this blog's title. I LOVE watching the "stats" page of this blog, it lets me know many visitors have stopped by and I was so excited just watching the numbers go up and up. I was telling Hubby about how many hits I received for one day and he was like..."Well that's good...now go get me a cup of coffee!". I dramatically tossed my hair back as I slicked down an eyebrow and said "I don't HAVE to get your coffee anymore, cuz I'M A STAR now"...he said.." Oh yeah??!!...Well, you're gonna be on the MOON if you don't go get me my coffee!" :) Happy Wednesday, my friends! For those that come back tomorrow, I have a special treat that I think you'll love..my first recipe post :)....Thanks for stopping by!
Be good and be pretty and as always.... ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ God Bless ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ I know it doesn't look like I've done much here but last night I spent 5 hours (and still not done) uploading pics for the blog. Actually, I'm beginning to think of it more as a "Dear Diary" instead of a blog. So, there are now a few pics under the photo menu but like I said, I'm still not done adding to it. I wish I had LOTS of new ones to add, most of my friends have already seen these and speaking of friends...I'd also just like to say, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to my friendsღ , for always liking, commenting and just "showing the love" whenever I'd post the pics to my Facebook page, you all have no idea how much your kind words mean to me and I love you all!! Usually I go for my morning walk with my 2 wonderful, lovable, totally aggravatin' "HOUNDS"....Lucy and Bingo ღ LUCY...down at the creek cooling off last summer and this is Bingo...muggin' for the cam before he decides to take a dip in the creek... But the last 2 days have been, for me, unbearably HOT. I DID venture out yesterday morning to see what kind of shots I could get but as soon as I stepped outside my cam lens fogged up. SO frustrating when I see GOOD stuff to take pics of and...zip...nada, nothing...I couldn't get the cam to focus. I only came out with a few "decent" pics out of like 130 pics that I took yesterday morn. I get frustrated cuz I want to do stuff with the cam and don't know how....still learning and trust me, it's slow going. I've been reading articles on photography, for beginners and it seems like the more I read the more confused I get, which really doesn't take that much to do anyway! The dogs and I didn't go for our usual walk today cuz it's just wayyyyy to hot for me out there. I picked up my cam to take the batteries out to re~charge them and they came running like a bat outta Hades cuz they heard the cam. They're still pouting and mad cuz we didn't go out....but, maybe tomorrow :) I am just sooooooooo ready for Fall to get here! Fall has always been my fave season. I love them all but Fall is special. It brings the promise of cooler weather...pumpkins....sweaters...hoodies...hot chocolate...being curled up on the couch with a blanket and a good book. Oh I LOVE Fall! ღღ Thank y'all for stopping by...hopefully soon I can get outside and take more pics to add. Y'all "be good and be pretty" and as always...
✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ God Bless ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Well, I said this would be a weekly blog but I thought I'd post a few pics... An ALL ~WHITE "wooly worm". The old saying is that an all white wooly worm means we're going to have a mild winter?? But still...just in case, y'all better run on out to Walmart and stock up on some long~johns... and don't forget the hot chocolate :) This little spider web reminded me of a piece of lace :) That's it for now...Thanks for stopping by! I hope this Monday is being kind to you and don't forget to give someone a smile, it just might change their whole day :) ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ God Bless ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻
So...someone told me, "you should start a blog." I was honored, but still a bit skeptical. Me? Start a blog...no way! Then a little later, while I'm lying in bed, I'm thinking...Hmmm, start a blog, I can do that! How hard could it POSSIBLY be?? A few days later while I'm still rolling the idea around in my head, I make the mistake of telling Hubby what I was thinking about while we were having breakfast. "YOU??!! What would YOU write about??" he said and of course it hurt my wifely feelings a tad bit , as it should. "What do you mean ME?? Why I can write about LOTS of stuff! "Like what?" he asked. And I sat there, with my head hung down, looking at my coffee. What WOULD I write about?? And I'm thinking...and thinking. Finally I looked at him, while still pondering if I want to DRINK the rest of my morning coffee or see how nice he'd look wearing it and said " I'd just write about stuff... and things, but nothing that would interest YOU I'm sure!" So with the idea that I'd prove Hubby wrong, I head for my computer and Google "free blog sites", ( I got the freebie just starting out ). OHHHH, the choices I was faced with! So many sites to choose from, trying to decide which was the best, which was the coolest and so on. Decisions, Decisions!! After happily choosing TUMBLR, I make myself a name (after going through, what seemed like HOURS with the TUMBLR name~generator, to see if a name is "taken" already) and call it a night. THEN the next morning I wake up, full of piss and vinegar, as my Mammy would say, eager to get this ball rolling and what happens?? I forgot what name and password I used to start the account with...grrrrrr! So much for "how hard could it possibly be?" Anyone that knows me, knows I have absolutely NO patience at all, I didn't want to have to WAIT for the site to send me back the info so, I find ANOTHER blog site and well...here I sit....on my new Weebly blog site. There are a whole SLEW of intimidating-looking buttons and stuff that I'm suppose to use. I figured out the TEXT button of course. But I have no clue what those others are used for and what they do. Title, gallery, slideshow, embed code (I don't EVEN want to know what that one is, sounds way to complicated!)...and map...why would I need a map to blog?! By now, I'm pretty sure it would have been a good idea to watch that "Getting Started" video the site provided after all. I'm thinking this whole blog idea might not be as easy as it seemed! Like I mentioned earlier, no patience at ALL and this is the kind of trouble I get into. I'll see if I can add a few of my pics here, wish me luck!! :) YAYYYY! I did it! I GOT this :)
These are just a few mushrooms pics I took after we got a LOT of heavy rain the other day. I am totally FASCINATED by mushrooms. When I was a little girl, my mom and step~dad would go out "mushroom hunting". I can remember looking at what they brought home and there were SOOOO many different types and all different kinds of textures and to me, they were pretty. That's why I love taking pics... to take something simple, unassuming and and find the beauty in it. Kind of like life itself. It's just taking that little bit of extra TIME to stop and find the beauty that's all around us. It doesn't really take that long at all. I hope you all are enjoying your day and thank you for stopping by! Just MAYBE, if you come back tomorrow, I'll have more of this "blog stuff" figured out :) Be good and be pretty and as always.... ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ God Bless ✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ |
HI! My name is Lori and I am a self~ proclaimed agoraphobic and rarely leave my home. My blog is a place for me to come and embrace my Edith Bunker tendencies and to share a few of the things I love. Stories, recipes and crafts, all with a little humor thrown in along the way! ღღ
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