Catfishin' at the Riches Pond

The Riches have a lot of kids. The kids spend a lot of time swimming in their well stocked pond. Obviously the catfish get fat nibbling toes. They are monsters! My kids like to swim in here also, after seeing this fish maybe I whould worry a little.

an evening at the "Joe"

Am I too late to post about our 4th of July activities? No? Great. So here goes...

We have ended up with a tradition of going to a Charleston River Dog game around the 4th. The fireworks game. This year it was actually on July 3rd. For the past few years we have lamented that we can't seem to get off the beach and to the "Joe" until right when the game is going to start. This year we were there when they opened the gates. Ella went straight to guest services and asked to sign up for the Hula Hoop contest. Every year she wants to participate and we get there too late. Adrian even called the ballpark this year so we would know when the gates open.

She asked to sign up and they looked at her a little funny and said, "We don't have a Hula Hoop contest."

Epic Fail, as the teenagers say.

We were all bummed. So I asked what contest/competitions they were having.

"The only thing we have left open is the pie eating contest." she replied.

Pie eating contest? Now William is our pie maker and eater, but Rachel is our competitive pie eater, so I signed her up.

and here is the video of the results:

Harrison and Lucy looking thrilled

Always happy Ella



William

Grandpa and Harrison


Linda, Grif, and Lane

To the victor goes the spoils (in this case an apple pie from Harris Teeter)

I need a 12 Step program for fabric addiction

So when I was perusing the new Fabric Depot ad and wishing that I lived in Portland so I could actually shop at Fabric Depot I spotted this fabric.

OH MY GOSH!!! I love it!!! It is designed by Karen Snyder for Timeless Treasures.

This is the cutest fabric ever. Now I am going to sit and look...

William and Lucy riding Seadoos

Tubing in the Atlantic

The four younger kids have spent the week at my parents house. They convinced my brother to take them out on the ocean yesterday to go tubing. Ella called me so very excited that they had gone. She said, "I asked Uncle Pat and he said yeas and then I asked Grandma and she said yeas and then I told Uncle Pat and Grandma to talk to each other so that it would really happen."

She has obviously learned how life works!! Ha ha

The result of her perseverance was a day on the ocean!

Molly

Harrison

Harrison

Harrison

Ella

Ella?

Ella!!







Captain Uncle Pat and some of the ocean booty they scored (with Rachel looking on.)

And after an exhausting and fun day of tubing they were rewarded with a pod of dolphins that spent (according to Ella) 45 minutes playing right next to the boat. They even had babies!!!

Thanks Captain Uncle Pat for an EXCELLENT ADVENTURE!!!

William drumming at dance

This is dark since it was dark in the gym, but you can hear William, even if you cant see him. Adrian found that it helps if you stand up and look down at the monitor.
These others are after the dance when the lights were on.

Everyday Cake

What is it that makes cake so special? Cookies, pies, brownies... they are all nice and I actually prefer them most of the time over cake.


But cake is, well, cake!

Weddings, birthdays, baby showers, they all are celebrated with cake.

CAKE=CELEBRATION

And what better to celebrate than Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or even lowly Thursday!


I was reading Orangette and she had this Everyday Cake recipe. It is brilliant. It kind of had an eggy flavor. (3 eggs) We loved it.

And I had to make it because Adrian cracked an egg when he was removing them from the fridge to boil a few.

I had to make this cake. My husband left me no alternative.

He is a smart guy.

She made hers in a Springform but I opted for an Angel food pan. I also didn't have any white wheat ground and was too lazy to get the grinder out so I used Traditional (Hard Red) Wheat. Because of this I decreased the ratio. I used 1 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose and just 1/2 cup of whole wheat.

It was divine.

I was good and only had one piece the day I made it. And then one piece the next day.

I'm tweeting.

I guess.

Rechelle is my only follower so far. And some stranger. Why does a stranger care what I am saying on Twitter?

Of course Rechelle and I have never actually met each other. But we are BFF's.

Honest!!

So if you Twitter please go and find me so I can feel validated.

Click HERE

I thought that I would go to the quilt shop

But it only took about 30 minutes for Adrian to have Lasik surgery today. We had to drive an hour to Cookeville (the closest city with a doctor that performs Lasik.) I dropped him off and went in to ask what the minimum amount of time he would be in the office.

One hour she replied.

The paperwork said to plan on being there two hours, but one was okay. I could go to Salvation Army and the quilt store.

Totally stoked!!


30 minutes later I have perused Salvation Army (all junk except a pair of tags on sandals for Adrian since he broke his a few weeks ago) and was pulling in at the quilt shop when my phone rings.

With Adrian's ring tone. {{SIGH}}

He's done.

At least tomorrow he has to go back for a post up check up.


Quilt Shop?
Cheddar's ?
Old Navy?
Hobby Lobby?

Probably not all of them, but I really am hoping they have some of the unicorn print that Heather Ross (I think) has out now.

Corn Chowder

I made this last week to use up the leftover ham from Easter. I hadn't made it in years and had forgotten how good it is. And how satisfying it is to have dinner completely ready at 9 am. How nice it would be to have everyday be so calm.

Corn Chowder

3 cups cubed ham

2 onions, diced

5 potatoes, diced (and peeled if you like)

3 stalks celery, sliced

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 can corn, with liquid

1 large can evaporated milk

salt and pepper to taste

This is so easy. Throw all the vegetables, ham, and bouillon cubes in the slow cooker. Cover with water. (I used 4 1/2 cups)Cook all day on low, or half a day on high. About 1/2 an hour before you want to eat pour the milk in. I did not add any salt but a couple of the kids added salt to their bowls. I think this would be good with carrots, too. I could have added our extra carrots!!

Carrot Muffins

We had leftover cooked carrots from Easter dinner and no one was going to eat them. Rather than waste them

I decided that I would play around with them and make muffins.

They turned out scrumptious. SO good, in fact that I may start making carrots that m=no one want s to eat for dinner more often!

Carrot Muffins

1 cup mashed cooked carrots

2 Tablespoons softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon. Add the carrots and then the eggs. Mix well. Add the white flour and then combine the rest of the dry ingredients together. Then add them to the wet being careful to not over mix it. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes. Yield: 14 muffins

I think it would be good to add some raisins that had been soaked in boiling water for a few minutes, but my family does not agree and I do not need to eat 14 muffins by myself!

Slather with LOTS of butter.

I just thought I would mention to you guys that there is a dead bird laying on my porch.

Why???

Easter wasn't just string eggs

It was also real brown eggs that Adrian and Molly blew out for me. And some speckled plastic eggs from Michaels.











Yes, I went to Michaels. I have not been there in over 20 years. Crazy, huh? Have I mentioned that I live REALLY far away from stuff like that? But it is okay, I do not need to go to Michaels and buy stuff. I don't need to spend the money and I do not need more stuff.

I turned the flash on for these last two pictures. I have such a love hate relationship with my camera. Pictures without the flash are supposed to be better, but I hate when my house looks yellow and dingy. I am all about light. And windows. I would ever hang any drapes if my husband didn't insist.

He would like our entire house to be one giant basement. UGH!!!

Those little yarn nests were supposed to be yarn bowls. All of the kids made one for FHE one night. My 17 and 13 year old sons really appreciate all the crafting I rope them into doing. haha

But we did not have much success with the bowls. We needed way more glue and my yarn was synthetic, because that is what was in my closet. Cotton or worsted would have worked MUCH better or just a lot more glue. They are very fragile, not sturdy at all. So they became my Easter egg nests and I love them! The technique is basically the same as the string eggs. Just a larger balloon and glue instead of starch. A friend at the fabric store said she has made giant Easter eggs out of Punching balloons and yarn. She wrapped them tightly and then rolled them in sugar water.

Messy, but interesting. Maybe next year!

A Good Day

I have had a great day. Not exactly sure what has made it great, but I feel compelled to let you all know about it. Really it was mundane, nothing that should be blog worthy, but here goes.

I cleaned out the linen closet in my bathroom. Now it has lots of open space since it had not been purged in a couple of years. I realized that I do not need to look at thrift stores for vintage sheets, i had some of my own and they are lovely. I would like to make grocery bags out of them.

I cooked a new recipe for lunch. Eggs Puffs. They had a slightly sweet, creamy richness to them. Remind me to post the recipe ;-)

I played Pandora all afternoon while I puttered around. I usually play Broadway tunes but today I picked Duran Duran. Wow. It was 80's heaven.( A place that I really needed to visit, I guess) Depeche Mode, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, it just went on and on. Fabulous.

I snagged several new blogs and am trying them out. You may or may not see me move sometime soon.

I gave Pebbles a bath. She is our last little Maltese and she seems to have moved inside to keep Bandit company. Not too much of a problem except that her favorite fragrance is poop. She rolls in it. YUCK. Bandit seems to dig it, though. haha

I sorted and ironed about 20 different bits of fabric I have pre-washed for several different projects that have stalled after fabric selection. I feel a total cleanup of the sewing corner of my bedroom coming on. That will let me get back to playing with fabric, which makes me so happy. And sometimes makes me cry.

Now the boys have left for an overnight Boy Scout activity and the girls and I are headed to Redbox to pick up Bedtime Stories and maybe some ice cream!

It's funny. Adrian was a Scoutmaster when we first got married for several years and I hated it. He was always gone when I needed him most. Bedtime with 4 kids under 4 years old was a trying time. Now I LOVE that he is Scoutmaster. Of course the difference is that he is with our boys and now it is all fun/no work being home alone with the girls. Like right now Lucy is making Oatmeal Scotchies to drop of for the boys. I had the idea earlier that it might be nice to make them something, and all I had to do was ask someone to do it.

I hope your day has been as enjoyable as mine.

This has been one of my favorite crafts

Water balloons.

Embroidery floss.

Starch.

Let them dry overnight and viola! String eggs to hang on my stick holiday tree.

I am a little stumped as to what should be hung on here now. I am thinking about tiny, cheerful Quilt blocks.

Or maybe some little embroidered flowers? The next real "holiday" is either Memorial Day or Independence Day and I can use flags for both of those... Any ideas?

Alfred Hitchcock must have lived at our house once upon a time

Actually, I am 100% sure that he never lived here, but he dreamed of my house.

Because of the BIRDS.

Big ones, small ones, pretty ones, creepy ones. They are every where. Sometimes they move through in a sun darkening mass.

They blot out the sun. And the noise is deafening.

oh, and the mess. yuck

When they are just being sort of normal they hang out in the trees. I can handle that. But this time of year is the worst.

Because they are twitterpated. Yes, twitterpated. Have you seen Bambi?? Of course you have, it came out in the 40's. Everyone has seen Bambi! And right now the birds are twitterpated and trying to build nests. Their favorite places?

Funny you should ask, because I have the answer.

My gutters and my chimney.

We have 6 inch gutters and they seem to think if they just slink down in them a bit it will be a dandy home.

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

They end up getting caught and sliding down and then we hear birds fighting for their lives in the gutter.

And sometimes we don't hear them and they lose the fight. Case in point: Last spring I heard a bird in the gutter. I got William to help me take off the bottom curvy piece so said bird could get out.

5 birds came out. 3 deader than a doornail. 1 with a broken neck. (died a few hours later) 1 flew away.

This happens all the time.

Now to the chimney. Of course the only way out of the chimney is to open the flue and somehow get the bird out of Adrian's office. Here is how it went on Saturday:

see him on the picture frame on the wall?

Yes, you are very handsome, but you belong outside. Now, you are not going to like the big red net right now, but you will thank us later.

hey, come down

gotcha!

yes, you look unhappy, but in a second you will be free

send us a postcard....