Another beautiful fall day has come. It will not decide whether it wants to be cold or warm around here.
So it is making it hard for me to finish the costume for Halloween. I want them to be warm enough for the little ones but not so warm that everyone is sweating. At the some time I don't want them too cool either.
My DS wants to be Oggie Boogie from the Nightmare before Christmas . I plan on going as a Virginia Colonialist and the girls are goings as Disney characters. Missy Ginny will be Ariel and Miss Keira will be Tinker Bell, wings and all. What a group we will be. My DD said that she is goings as the tried SAHM. hehehe I don't know why she is tried, I'm doing all the sewing. LOL I'm still trying to get DH and SIL to dress up, but so far no go. DH said he plans on dressing warm, not crazy. Party Pooper!!
Well I'm off to Hobby Lobby for burlap and lace. Keep your fingers crossed, I'm doing the Oggie Boogie costume without a pattern. Wish me luck.

So until we meet again ~~smiles~~

I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me when I got back from several busy weeks away.

Marie from Cottage Homestead http://cottagehomestead.blogspot.com/ had awarded me the Honest Scrap Award

I love Marie's blog so must, she has some of the best recipes that I have ever tried. You must go and see her blog.
Here are the rules of the award.
1. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs to give this award to that you feel to be brilliant in contend and design.
2. Show the 7 winners links on your blog and leave a comment informing them that they have been given the "Honest Scrap"
3. List 10 honest things about yourself that people may not know.

Well, I'm pretty boring but here we go on the 10 things about me.

1. My favorite color is pink.
2. I would have a house full of girly-girl things like lace, roses, etc. but my husband said he couldn't live in house that was all pink. hehehe
3. I love this area of Virginia, the seasons change so nice here.
4. I'm a Latter-Day Saint (Mormon)
5. I don't have an average LDS family. We only have two children. (one of each)
6. We wanted a bigger family, but due to medical reasons this was not to be.
7. We are big on having a good food storage.
8. I always include my daughter and her family in our numbers, even thou she has her own storage.I know that if anything bad happens they will come to us.
9. I have the odds Christmas wish list. a hand crank food/wheat mill, a big black cooking pot for making soaps, canning jars and a jelly safe.
10. My son teases me that we are just as odds as my Christmas list. That we eat home-canned fruit off antique china.

The 7 blogs that I picked are ones that I go to time and time again. They along with Marie's blog are blogs to visit.
1. Between Naps on the porch http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
2. Blueberry Cottage http://blueberrycottage.blogspot.com/
3.Bunny Rose Cottage http://bunnyrosecottage.blogspot.com/
4.Coffee Tea Books and Me http://coffeeteabooksandme.blogspot.com/
5. Hospitality Lane http://hospitalitylane.blogspot.com/
6. The Stone House http://makeminegrilledplease.blogspot.com/
7. La Rea Rose http://larearose.blogspot.com/
So until we meet again ~~~smiles~~

Today I have been dreaming of food/butler pantries. I have been studying different books as well as web sites on pantries. I keep coming back to the old fashion ones. They seem to have more room and the lay out just seems to fit. One of my favorite is the one in the movie Practical Magic, I just love that kitchen, greenhouse, etc. I want that house!!! If anyone has the plans for that house, send them to me, please!!!

So until I get my dream house, maybe we will find an older house with an pantry. I can only dream. I would love to see what kind of pantries other bloggers have. I could use some ideas. So send me some links..

Until we meet again. ~~~smiles~~~

Another beautiful fall day to add to the list. We had a great weekend, our granddaughter spent it with us. I always enjoy having the girls over, they see things from such a different light than grown-ups do. I went and got them on Fri. so we could get some shopping done. My oldest granddaughter Miss Ginny loves little pets, so her idea of shopping was the toy department. Miss Keria's idea of shopping is chicken nuggets. So we usually end up going from one side of the store to the other, I should get points for miles walked. hehehe

Saturday was spent at the park. We have several in the area, but the one the girls love the best is the one that has a big playground and ducks. Again the only problem with this is the play area is on one side of the very large park and the duck are on the other side. DH and the girls plus the dog (General Lee) decide they would walk to the ducks. Now we are talking about a three year old and a five year old walking close to a mile and a half one way to get to the ducks. Within a very short time they want to rest. Than they wanted to go back to the car and drive to the ducks, but by that point we were in middle it was just as far to the ducks as it was to the car, so on we went. Finally we made it to the ducks , and with a giant bag of bread pieces the girls and Pop feed the duck, the General and I had to sit up by the trail because the ducks wouldn't come near the dog. The girls had a great time until we had to go back, Miss Keria wanted nothing to do with walking and had to be carried. By the end both girls were being carried and Nana and Pop were done. I think Pops will have to rethink the walking issue.


Sunday the whole family was going to go to church, but I some how putted my back during the night and was unable to get up to go. My DD and SIL meet us at the house and took the children with them while Nana stayed in bed. I'm feeling much better today, but I'm taking it easy to make sure. I think it was all that walking. hehehe Until we meet again ~~~smiles~~

It looks like I'm not the only one that is away from blogging land. I'm sure is must be because of the time of year. The starting of school and fall beginning the harvest.
I, myself, have been either out running trying to get things ready for fall and winter or in a corner reading. I can't seem to find a happy medium for what I need. Lately I have been drawn to books about being prepared. I'm not usually the type to get all hung up about one thing. But the more my husband and I look for and talk about what we want in a piece of land the more these things come to mind.
We plan to build our house, but have looked at several lots and farms that have houses on them. This brings up different questions. 1. Do we live in and fix up the house already there or 2. live in the house as is and use the money for the new house. 3.are we willing to give up some of the things we want, to get most of what we want.
We are working on a five year plan. To be on the land and have our dream house finished or close to being finish. The only problem is agreeing on the land to buy. I gave myself and DH a deadline of May 2010 to buy the land, no if and or buts!!! So if it doesn't have the pond he wants on it, he can dig it, period!! So until we meet again ~~smiles~~

It has been a busy last few days. I really enjoyed the freedom that not working has given me. I was able to go out of town with my DH on a business trip. While he worked, I got to play, this was so cool. This was one of the first business trip that I wasn't the one doing all the work and keeping the long hours. It was my dream that I could stay home and not worry to much about money. There were days when it seemed as if it cost more to go to work than what I was making. We planned long and hard for this day, but even with the planning I stopped working a little a head of the plan. It still worked out alright, because it wasn't a surprise.

One of the first thing we planned for was to have a good food storage that was to our family's needs. We also know just how much money we have and what we need to use each month. But the two biggest things we ever did was paid off
our house that we live in now and we have no credit cards. So if tomorrow cames and there were no jobs, no money coming in, we will have a place to live and food to eat. That makes it easy to sleep at night.

For now we are taking one day at a time, enjoying the cool weather and getting ready to look for fall apples to add to our pantry. So until we meet again. ~~~smiles~~~

This time of the years has me thing about building up my food storage for the winter. I'm usually like the ant working on it all year round. But there is something about knowing that winter is a lot closer than it was just a few months ago. It is in this time I get the grasshopper quilts, did I do enough, did I forget something, have I not used something that should have been used so it won't go bad.


I just purchase a book Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel. I have always wish for three things in our military moving life. 1.) A root cellar ( this bring memories of fresh veggie during long cold winters) 2.) A big walk in food pantry. ( I even had one once in an old house that we lived in off base. It was the first time I didn't want to move onto base.) 3.) a greenhouse. ( this brings memories of England with old stone or brick houses and garden greenhouse next to the houses. So I just had to purchase this book. A root cellar that you could do your-self (even in your basement ) and the does and don't of how to store. Buy it, you'll love it!
My next great idea is to have rolls and rolls of filled canning jars and a full pantry of the foods that my family loves and will eat. I think that is where a lot of people go wrong. They think that they have to have tons and tons of wheat and grains. But they don't really think of what their family will eat. Don't get me wrong I do store wheat and grains, but I also store tuna and chocolate, I wouldn't even try to tell you how many jars of peanut butter that I have stored or used over these many years. My granddaughter Miss Ginny could eat and live on peanut butter alone. I think that best food storage is the one that has the most variety that you can handle.

I wonder how I can talk my DH into digging a root cellar in my basement. Well I guess I will have to start cooking all his favorites and soften him up. hehehe I'll let you know how it goes.

So until we meet again ~~~smiles~~

We are having the best weather today. Even if it is still raining, it is cool. We have shut off the air and open some windows. Fall can come anytime now. This is the best time of the year. Nice days with cool nights. Cool enough that you have to use a quilt, but not so cold that you have to have four layers to keep you warm. I have started to bring all my fall quilts and decorating items out and putting all my spring and summer items away.

I live in an older house/cottage that needs lots of work, but each year we pick one big thing to do just before fall. Last year it was putting up the carpet in the dinning room and do the floors and walls in there. DH was kind enough to do all the hard work while I did all the supervising. hehehe. This year we are doing the same in the living room as well as replacing the windows on the front of the house.

By the end of Sept. we will be in full Fall decor and adding our Halloween goodies to the mix. I'm also taking the time to look at other blog to see what great ideas they have. I so love all the Fall colors and all the wonderful decorating that people do during this time.


I'm now looking for a Fall background for my blog as well as fall topper. Any good ideas? Well I'm off to look for more ideas. Until we meet again ~~smiles~~

It has been raining on and off for several days, so I was trying my hand at learn more about my computer. You see, computers and I are not on the best of terms. I'm the kind of person who can make light bulbs commit suicide, and don't get me started on what I make poor wristwatches do. I think one of the reasons I like the Victorian Era is that there wasn't anything that I could make short circuit. My sister as well as my son keep trying to bring me into the 22nd. century, but I feel so much safer in the 1880's. If you ask my dear husband what he truly think happen to our old computer he would say that I used it. hehehe Many people have given me ways to work on the computer with out frying it. But the best has to be ....typing with my bare feet on the wooden floor. I guess that grounds the computer or me. LOL So far, so good. Maybe I'll try taking pictures bare foot as well. Do you think I'll need to carry a few pieces of wood flooring with me as well? With that in mine, I think it's a Victorian life for me. Until we meet again. ~~smiles~~

I have been working on my garden alot lately. It seems to be one of the few places I can go and just have quiet time for me. DH was kind enough to make me several hummingbird stepping stones as well as some very pretty pavers for my garden. I took many pictures but the only one to come out clear was this one. Good thing I don't make my living as a photographer. hehehe Well it would be a great way to lose weight being a starving artist. I will have to try and get some better pictures of the great garden items. We (DH and I) drove all around town trying to find a pot to fit a stand that an older friend gave me. It has two rings for plants or plates, I wanted a clay pot for the smaller ring and a glazing ball for the larger top ring. Every pot we tried was ever too small or too big, I felt like Goldilocks. Also at the same time we were trying out glazing balls, again the same problem. We finally found a pot that fit the bottom ring and was a color that I could live with, but needed a few added pretties. The glazing ball was not to be found, so off to the web to look. I think we may have found just what I want. So when it comes I will try (key word) and get a picture. Keep your fingers crossed. A course by the time I finish all the little special things I want for my garden it will be Fall and I'll have to put everything up for next year.... Sigh... DH said to just make it Fall looking and go from there, I'll have to see how that would work. So until we meet again. ~~~smiles~~~

I'm back from the land of the dead computer and crazy lives. It has been a whirling world of growing granddaughters, who getting bigger and prettier everyday. My DS was busy with college, friends and pretty girls. Dear poor old mom has the house all to herself most of the time, but to tell the truth I love it. So now I plan to get my badly neglected blog back up on its feet. So until we meet again ~~smiles~~