Things About Me – #8

I’m not a girly girl.

I was my biological father’s only child. He and my mother divorced when I was 2, and I was raised by my stepfather. But I spent a lot of time with my biological father while growing up, and we became quite close as I grew to adulthood.

He was quite the outdoorsman…hunter, fisherman, etc. He taught me to drive his pickup truck when I was 8. That’s when I could actually reach the gear shift on the column to change gears and my legs were long enough to reach the gas pedal and clutch. He taught me to shoot around the same time, and I could bait a fishing hook long before that. We did a lot of hunting and fishing together through the years. There were many days spent on the lake, just the two of us, from sunrise to sunset, eating bologna sandwiches on gooey white bread with mayonnaise and drinking orange sodas (we are Southerners ), filling the boat up with fish for that much anticipated fish fry the next day. That’s how you really get to know someone.

He passed away 5 years ago, and I do miss him so much. I have all of his guns, bows, etc. I haven’t used them since he’s been gone, might have to get them out soon.

He told me on his deathbed, heavily medicated and out of it, that he always wanted a son. I knew that. Not instead of me, in addition to me. I’m pretty sure. .

Weekend in Review

Wow, what a wild, busy wonderful weekend here in the country.

Being off work Friday allowed me to get normal, mundane things done so that I could enjoy the weekend doing things I wanted to do to. On Saturday and Sunday there was roasting of pumpkins, roasting Cajun flavored pumpkin seeds, making cookies, cozying up and eating potato soup. There was attending the big holiday craft show at the civic center with my daugther and her boyfriend, where our big purchase was roasted pecans, and then going out to lunch afterwards.

For Mike it was a totally different weekend, and he was in his own little heaven. He tiled the floor area at the bottom of the steps going from the living room to the basement. He stained the master bedroom door. But his biggest accomplishment of the weekend was the installation of the rain chains. We decided when we built the house that we wanted rain chains rather than traditional downspouts. So we’ve had the rain chains for the front of the house since summer, but just haven’t had time to get them up.

This is what we’ve been using for downspouts. Pretty attractive, huh?

Big black rubber downspouts

So this was the next project in line. He got out the extension ladder, which I always hate to see coming out. He’s afraid it will sink in the ground because it’s wet, so he decides this is a perfectly safe way to do this. It may have been, but I wasn’t liking it one bit.

But on he went, I’m sure it was plenty safe or he wouldn’t have done it :-/.

The result was just awesome.

Rain Chains

Just in time for the Sunday morning rain.  

The chain ends into a copper pot at the bottom.  We have some landscaping to do…starting with gravel around the base.

I love them.

Next project…the mantle.  Mike had the cedar up from the basement playing with it today, and we ordered brackets for mounting it.  He says he’ll have it up for Christmas for sure…I’m betting next week.

I’m looking so forward to only two days at work this week, then Wednesday will be spent in the kitchen getting ready for Thursday.  That’s one of my favorite parts, the preparation the few days before Thanksgiving. 

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week, however you spend it.

I Do Love a Plan

I plan for everything. I have lists, notebooks, sticky notes everywhere. I do this all year round, but this time of year it is greatly increased, with Thanksgiving, Christmas, family get-togethers, holiday events.

I took off work today to rest from a week of not feeling great, and it’s good because I’ve been a bit anxious that all my Thanksgiving plans aren’t in place. Today I’ll spend a part of the day finalizing everything in my mind and in my handy little notebook, finalizing recipes and shopping lists, last minute invitations, making phone calls…all those things that are weighing on me. Then I’ll be a relaxed, happy camper for the weekend.

The plan this year is a bit different from past years. I always cook Thanksgiving dinner, and we always have 15 – 20 + people show up throughout the day. What happens though, is that some folks have other things to do that day also, or can’t be with us for a specific sit-down dinner time, so a lot of times there’s cold food by the time people arrive, or not enough just munchy food in case someone isn’t terribly hungry. This year I decided to remedy that by having a Thanksgiving Open House. Right now the plan is to have:

Turkey
Cornbread Dressing – Southern style of course
Side dishes including garlic smashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans which will be kept warm in crock pots.
Cranberry salad
Home made rolls

For the snackers who may have already had a meal, or will have one later:

Brie with apricots (crock pot)
Meat balls (crock pot)
Deviled eggs
Veg tray with dip (gherkins, carrots, peppers, olives, celery/cream cheese etc.)
Cream cheese topped with pepper jelly
Spinach balls

Caramel Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding – I saw this at Chickens in the Road and have to try it
Pecan Pie
Apple Cake
Assorted Cookies (samples I’ll be making in order to decide what to make for my holiday cookie swap this year)

Today my plan is to get my shopping list made, make rolls to freeze for Thursday, make at least one batch of cookies to freeze, get placemats, tablecloths, table decorations, etc. out. Then I’ll ready for a relaxing weekend.

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Got none? Stop by the giant wooden house, there’s always room for one more.

Weekend in Review – Beautiful Weather and Other Fun Stuff

Summer time in the South can be brutal, but the Fall can be awesome. Like this year. We had beautiful sunny weather in the 70’s this weekend, and enjoyed every minute of it.

There was baking. I made a new recipe, Wheatberry Bread. It turned out pretty well for a first effort, will definitely be making it again.

Mike had the biggest project, and as always it turned out great. Our front door was lovely when we bought it. Our builder found it for us at a surplus type store, and it was a great price, and was unfinished. We loved it, thought it would go great with the farmhouse, and knew we could stain it when we were ready. The overzealous workers made a bit of a mistake though, deciding to install it before the roof was totally dried in, so the summer rains came and our beautiful door got a few water stains. I was very upset, even though Mike told me he was pretty sure he could fix it.

So this was the weekend. We decided to use Tung oil on it, as we really just wanted to bring out the natural beauty of the wood. There was one other issue…it was a bit too long, and a little hard to open, and the rubber on the bottom was tearing off. So…the door came off, and onto sawhorses on the front porch. First he trimmed the bottom so it would fit better.

As you can see, it was in pretty rough shape.

Then he sanded and prepared to put the Tung oil on. The sidelights (I think that’s what they are called?) had to be done also.

He put two coats on, and it has a gorgeous low luster. We will periodically apply more Tung oil through the years as needed. I couldn’t believe how it came out, I never imagined it would look so good and there would be no sign of the water stains.

Here’ the ‘before’:

And the ‘after’:

He’s awesome. Next…the mantle? The little area at the bottom of the stairs going to the basement that needs to be tiled? There are a lot of options, we’re just hoping this beautiful Fall weather continues a bit longer before the cold sets in.

Hope you had a happy, productive weekend as well.

Weekend in Review

It was great fun as well as productive at the farm this weekend. My BFF came out Friday night and spent the night and hung out Saturday. We laughed, laughed and laughed some more, as always. Her coming out is great therapy for all of us.

On Saturday night friends Andrew and Jenny and their two little ones, plus friend Jason came out for dinner. I made Cajun red beans and rice and we ate until we couldn’t move, then visited and played. We haven’t seen them in so long, and it was so much fun catching up. The little boys are so stinking cute, and of course my camera battery was dead .

On the project front, Mike finished up his current one…painting and staining the railing and stairs that lead to the basement. He stained the steps to match the railing, and painted the risers white, matching the spindles on the railing. I think it turned out just beautifully.

Now on to the next project. There are so many to choose from, but I’m thinking the front door gets stained next.

Happy Saturday!

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Visit me over at Homemakers Who Work today for ideas on getting ready for your overnight holiday guests.

He Thinks He’s So Smart

So we have this little game we play. Been doing it for 9 1/2 years, but he just added a twist to it last week.

He chews. Everything. One of his favorite past-times is to get all comfortable on his bed, gather a big soft bunch of it up in his paws and start chewing. He goes into a trance almost.

mmmmm, this is soooo yummy

Then one of us sees him, and yells…OZZIE!!

Whaaaat??? I'm doing nothiiiiing, why are you always yelling at me???

Most of the time he immediately starts licking, without even looking up, acting like he was only licking all along. Or, he’ll jump up and go away, come back when he thinks we aren’t looking, and start again.

Last week, he got another idea.

If I can't see you, you likely can't see me.

Brat.