suitcase

My man and I stopped at a thrift store last Friday while we were doing errands and I found this treasure. It was way in the back along with some other unromantic suitcases. It is old--well loved and well worn--and came with two other smaller bags in the same tapestry fabric. They all have working zippers and smell fine; apparently the Mrs. Evelyn who had them before used them a lot but took good care of them. Delightful. Caleb let me take them home with me! I was thrilled. They will look nice in my room, and I most definitely plan on using them as my suitcases until they absolutely fall apart. The worn leather and tapestry fabric in such lovely colors make me so happy.

The lady at the counter at the thrift shop looked amused by my obvious delight. I told her, "They're just like something Anne of Green Gables would use!" Heh... She didn't look the sort to understand. Oh, well! :)

Maid-Rites

It was requested that I share how we make maid-rite sandwiches. Now I have never been to the original Maid-Rite cafe nor am I even from Iowa, so I hesitate to say how to make one. It's such a Iowan thing, you know? It was also mentioned that you do not serve them with ketchup. This I did know. I personally would never dream of messing up the particular taste that I love (meat, mustard, raw onion) with ketchup. The only reason it was in the picture in the previous post was because some of us are quite *ahem* attached to our ketchup and are thinking 'deconstructed hamburger' not 'maid-rite' when putting theirs together.

Well, all we do is brown hamburger, then salt it and add a small amount of flour so that it mixes with the grease from browning and helps it to hold together a bit. But only a bit. You'll have to make sure you cook it for a few minutes after that so it doesn't look or taste at all like flour. Then a few drops of Worcestershire sauce (roughly pronounced "wooster" ... pretend you have an English accent) and you're ready to put it in buns.

Aunt Karen, is that sacrilege or something like the real thing?

Miss Pink Prairie Bonnet

Mama and Papa are getting a new roof put on their house, so yesterday Caleb drove up to help (and of course Greta and I came along too). It turned out to be a very rainy day, so not as much was accomplished as had been hoped, but they still got quite a bit done. I very much enjoyed being cozy inside by Mama. She was busy, as usual, cooking and baking and other such Saturday things (cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast, maid-rites on homemade rolls for dinner, homemade pizza for supper ... sis also helped). There were a few afternoon moments for Greta to have some quiet Mimi time while pounding went on overhead and rain pattered on leaves outside of the window. It was a pleasant day. There was even time for a couple of us to watch an old Andy Griffith episode while we waited for supper. :) The new roof is a lovely shade of brown and will look so nice when done.

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I was delighted to find a page this afternoon that outlined the basics of crazy quilt stitching. Of course, I had to try it out right away on a project that I am working on. It looks so pretty. :) I believe I'm hooked. Crazy-quilting here I come!

{today}

temperature in the nineties, fans blowing
bread dough rising, roasted chicken cooling to be deboned, tea needs to be steeped
several loads of laundry to be caught up: two large lights, one dark
surfaces desperately need to be dusted, carpets call for a vacuum again
little girl teething so hard--only wants mama to snuggle and rock, finally asleep for a few minutes
garbages to take out, gardens to weed and water
how do I store coffee and cornmeal and rye flour and white flour, sugar and salt, kombucha jar and whole wheat flour neatly, all on my limited counter space and still have room to bake? ...oh, and onions
must make out grocery list for this weekend's trip to the store



...I think the diaper pail is almost full again.


I love being a wife and mommie!

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I got to spend a wonderful whole day at my parents house yesterday. It was my parents' 25th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Mama and Papa! I got to share the Rosebud's yumminess, have enjoyable conversations with everyone, learn a roll on my brother's new banjo, make a cake and set a pretty table with my sister, look at pictures from their trip. Caleb came after work and we all had a lovely supper together. I am so glad that I am able to do this. I love my people!

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pedestal cake plate

Pictures of the lovely cake plate that Grandma E. got for me, as promised. I love its distressed white painted metal lacey edging and little glass accents.

When I was little we got a pedestal cake plate that was my Great-Grandma's; I believe it was used when Grandma E. was a little girl. It was lovely--glass with little scallops on the edge. I have many good memories of getting ready for family birthdays and making a cake to go on it. Most often it was a bundt cake--chocolate, carrot. Mama would drizzle some yummy glaze on it, sometimes decorate it with flowers or frosted animal crackers for a younger sibling! In the later years we started making layer cakes, but my favorite is the bundt.

I look forward to making my own family traditions with this plate!

June birthday

Yesterday was sis-in-law Leah's birthday! ~':: In the evening we went boating together on the lake and then came back to our house to enjoy some delicious gourmet toast things that Caleb's mama made. Grandpa was holding Greta Rose at one point and discovered that a combination of Gill and Wells was the perfect chair height for her (see pictures!) :) We had a very nice time together, and Ana brought over some of her beautiful roses to brighten my home.

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::'~ ... ~'::

tea cupboard

My tea cupboard was organized at one point, but as teacups and boxes of tea multiplied it became a sort of happy, semi-organized jumble. This post isn't supposed to be something intensely meaningful, I just opened the cupboard to try to put some tea away, and this view made me smile!

My love and prayers are with my friend Melissa today as she becomes Mrs. Kyle Triplett.

May the Lord be always with you both as you live your life together for Him!

::'~ *~ ~* ~'::

Tractor Pull

Yogurt, red wagons, and BF Goodrich

I tried making yogurt for the first time this noon in order to use up this week's extra milk. It went together very easily, and it looks like it did its yogurt thing the way it was supposed to. I will have to taste it tomorrow. I love plain homemade yogurt. My favorite oatmeal breakfast porridge uses it. I haven't had any yogurt made up for the last week, and so have missed my oatmeal. :)

Do you see what Greta Rosebud got? A little red wagon! Now we can go to the library together and get books, or carry a picnic, or just have a nature walk. She had her very first ride in it with her daddy; Auntie Leah very kindly pulled them around a bit. Do you see the beauty beside the red wagon? Big, and new, and deep-treaded, with bright white lettering? The truck seriously needed tires, and today we were able to go to a nearby town to pick up Caleb's new BFs. Aren't they spiffy? The Tires Plus guys even jacked up the front end by a couple of inches to level out the body look, so it looks (and feels) quite a bit higher. Fancy, fancy.

It was hot out today but a beautiful evening. We were able to indulge in a lovely evening walk together again.

Thursday treasures

My little treasure kept me company this morning while I folded laundry (one of many things on the catch-up-on-housework-before-the-weekend list!) She had a good morning nap, so was rather cheery and "talked" to me the whole time.

I am embroidering a summer shawl for myself using some lovely iron-on transfer patterns that a friend gave me. Right now I am working on a corner with morning glories. It's a nice thing to work on while nursing Greta.

Grandma came over for a visit in the afternoon, and we had tea together with rhubarb muffins that she brought. It was lovely! She also took me down to the florist's shop here in town to get me something that I saw the other evening in the display window while on a walk with Caleb... but that will have to be for another post!