In the meantime, I found some cartoon bug fabric that I couldn't resist. I decided to buy it and make a quilt for a future baby.
Well, I finished it. I really like it. All I need now is that future baby.
Waiting patiently.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Bug Quilt
I have been working on a new quilt. I found the fabric while hunting for boat themed fabric for our newest granddaughter. She was just born this week and has her boating quilt waiting for her.
In the meantime, I found some cartoon bug fabric that I couldn't resist. I decided to buy it and make a quilt for a future baby.
Well, I finished it. I really like it. All I need now is that future baby.
Waiting patiently.
In the meantime, I found some cartoon bug fabric that I couldn't resist. I decided to buy it and make a quilt for a future baby.
Well, I finished it. I really like it. All I need now is that future baby.
Waiting patiently.
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Big Truck, Little Truck
Lee recently put the 1962 Corvair ramp side pickup he restored on a car trailer. It is the smallest truck we own.
Then he hooked it to our biggest truck, an antique cab over GMC diesel. I'm not sure I like the fact that a 1985 is an antique!
It's kind of cute, like a big brother pulling a little brother in a wagon. I bet he would get some interesting looks taking them both to a car show. I'm looking forward to it!
Friday, April 12, 2019
Moving
We have finally sold our house. It took awhile as it is a big house on about 57 acres. I will really miss this house and property. It is the finest home we have ever owned. But it is just too much house for us and we are having more and more trouble keeping up with the land.
We are moving to Northern Virginia. I wanted to downsize, and we did, but we still have over 4000 square feet of house and about 6 acres. I will only have 4 toilets to keep clean rather than 6.
Lee loves that there is grass to mow, but it is on a mostly level lot. Our current house has steep hills and we have to use a giant tractor to keep it up.
The new house has chickens in a fenced chicken yard. The current owners are moving across the country, so we offered to keep them. I had chickens growing up and they are so sweet. So now these are our chickens. And fresh eggs! Also, I will have animals that love kitchen scraps!
We will have a swimming pool. I hope this will help my back. At any rate it will be fun and hopefully encourage our daughter, who lives near the new house, to come for a lot of visits. At least during the warmer months!
We have more than a month until the move. So I am packing and Lee is taking a couple of trips a week to a storage unit near the new home. We decided to move all the small pieces and boxes ourselves. We will have movers pickup, store and then deliver our furniture.
This gives us something to do and it will hopefully save us a bunch of money. Our house looks like this now.
Now I have to figure out whether to rename this blog, and if so, what? Six acres does not a farm make. And we will no longer be in the Shenandoah Valley. Our new address is on Snickersville Turnpike. I have considered Snickers Doodles. Any suggestions?
We are moving to Northern Virginia. I wanted to downsize, and we did, but we still have over 4000 square feet of house and about 6 acres. I will only have 4 toilets to keep clean rather than 6.
Lee loves that there is grass to mow, but it is on a mostly level lot. Our current house has steep hills and we have to use a giant tractor to keep it up.
The new house has chickens in a fenced chicken yard. The current owners are moving across the country, so we offered to keep them. I had chickens growing up and they are so sweet. So now these are our chickens. And fresh eggs! Also, I will have animals that love kitchen scraps!
We will have a swimming pool. I hope this will help my back. At any rate it will be fun and hopefully encourage our daughter, who lives near the new house, to come for a lot of visits. At least during the warmer months!
We have more than a month until the move. So I am packing and Lee is taking a couple of trips a week to a storage unit near the new home. We decided to move all the small pieces and boxes ourselves. We will have movers pickup, store and then deliver our furniture.
This gives us something to do and it will hopefully save us a bunch of money. Our house looks like this now.
Now I have to figure out whether to rename this blog, and if so, what? Six acres does not a farm make. And we will no longer be in the Shenandoah Valley. Our new address is on Snickersville Turnpike. I have considered Snickers Doodles. Any suggestions?
Monday, February 25, 2019
The Cutest Visitors
Our neighbors have a farm that uses horses to help heal veterans. It is called New Freedom Farm. Many of the horses are rescued from slaughter or the BLM Mustangs.
They use the horses to help veterans deal with their invisible wounds. Please consider visiting their site and donating to this worthy cause.
We had 72 inches of rain last year and some of their pastures are wetter than wet. Our pastures are higher on a hill and have a slope, which helps with drainage. They are also currently unused.
So we offered to take a few of the horses from New Freedom Farm to allow their pastures to dry up and give the horses a new place to graze and run around.
Who wants to see the same thing all the time?
In the meantime, we have super cute visitors. There are mini horses, mini donkeys, a mini hinny (!), a mule and four horses.
I bet you don't have this many cute visitors at your house!
They use the horses to help veterans deal with their invisible wounds. Please consider visiting their site and donating to this worthy cause.
We had 72 inches of rain last year and some of their pastures are wetter than wet. Our pastures are higher on a hill and have a slope, which helps with drainage. They are also currently unused.
So we offered to take a few of the horses from New Freedom Farm to allow their pastures to dry up and give the horses a new place to graze and run around.
Who wants to see the same thing all the time?
In the meantime, we have super cute visitors. There are mini horses, mini donkeys, a mini hinny (!), a mule and four horses.
I bet you don't have this many cute visitors at your house!
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Baked Orange Donuts
I got up early Valentine's Day to make my husband some baked donuts for breakfast. I had just bought some oranges and decided that was a good change from baked lemon donuts I have made before. Besides, I didn't have any lemons!
Baking makes them a little less decadent, but they are still a special treat.
Baked Orange Donuts
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
zest from one orange
1/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
zest from one orange
Spray donut baking pans with Pam and preheat the oven to 425°.
Zest and squeeze two oranges.
Place the sugar and zest of one orange in a medium bowl, stir and let it sit to combine flavors.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
Stir the melted butter into the sugar mixture.
Add the beaten eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
Add half the sugar mixture and half the milk to the flour and stir. Then add the rest of the liquids to the batter and mix, just until combined.
You can try to spoon the batter into the donut shapes on the pans, but it can get messy. The easiest way is to fill a quart sized Ziploc bag with the batter and pipe it into the donut pan.
Roll the top of the bag down and scoop the batter into it. Grab the bag above the batter and snip of fa small bit of one corner. Then you can easily pipe the batter into the donut shapes without dripping all over the place. Then just toss the Ziploc bag.
Bake for 8-9 minutes. I needed 9 minutes.
Let the donuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Use a plastic knife to remove them to the cooling rack.
While the donuts bake, prepare the glaze. Whisk the zest and juice into the powdered sugar until smooth.
Place some waxed paper under the cooling rack to catch the drips from the glaze. Grab the donuts from the bottom and twist the tops in the glaze. Return them top side up to the rack. I had enough glaze to dip the donuts twice.
I served the donuts with scrambled eggs. It seemed like a (mostly) healthy meal to me!
Lee liked it, at least.
Baking makes them a little less decadent, but they are still a special treat.
Baked Orange Donuts
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
zest from one orange
1/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
zest from one orange
Spray donut baking pans with Pam and preheat the oven to 425°.
Zest and squeeze two oranges.
Place the sugar and zest of one orange in a medium bowl, stir and let it sit to combine flavors.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
Stir the melted butter into the sugar mixture.
Add the beaten eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
Add half the sugar mixture and half the milk to the flour and stir. Then add the rest of the liquids to the batter and mix, just until combined.
You can try to spoon the batter into the donut shapes on the pans, but it can get messy. The easiest way is to fill a quart sized Ziploc bag with the batter and pipe it into the donut pan.
Roll the top of the bag down and scoop the batter into it. Grab the bag above the batter and snip of fa small bit of one corner. Then you can easily pipe the batter into the donut shapes without dripping all over the place. Then just toss the Ziploc bag.
Bake for 8-9 minutes. I needed 9 minutes.
Let the donuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Use a plastic knife to remove them to the cooling rack.
While the donuts bake, prepare the glaze. Whisk the zest and juice into the powdered sugar until smooth.
Place some waxed paper under the cooling rack to catch the drips from the glaze. Grab the donuts from the bottom and twist the tops in the glaze. Return them top side up to the rack. I had enough glaze to dip the donuts twice.
I served the donuts with scrambled eggs. It seemed like a (mostly) healthy meal to me!
Lee liked it, at least.
Monday, February 18, 2019
Tea Party
I had a friend over recently. It was a good excuse to have a tea party! But then, I like any excuse to have a tea party.
I made cucumber sandwiches and baked maple pecan snickerdoodles, chocolate croissants, chocolate dipped strawberries, and strawberry puff pastry diamonds. And tea and coffee, of course!
There are recipes for these tidbits on this site if you want to search for them. I recommend trying them. These are all very nice.
And the company was lovely, too!
I made cucumber sandwiches and baked maple pecan snickerdoodles, chocolate croissants, chocolate dipped strawberries, and strawberry puff pastry diamonds. And tea and coffee, of course!
There are recipes for these tidbits on this site if you want to search for them. I recommend trying them. These are all very nice.
And the company was lovely, too!
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Lemon Sour Cream Pancakes
Not too long ago I made some Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. They were really good. I have also made pancakes using The Pioneer Woman's recipe for sour cream pancakes. So when I found myself with some extra sour cream and lemons, I thought I would try a Lemon Sour Cream Pancake. (Notice a theme? It seems I like an occasional pancake.)
Here is the end result of my experimentation. They were REALLY good. Good enough to go out and buy more lemons and sour cream to make them again as I didn't take pictures the first time. I wasn't sure they would be a blog worthy experiment, but they were!!
Lemon Sour Cream Pancakes
1 cup sour cream
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
oil for cooking
I use an electric griddle. They work great, cook a lot of food evenly and are cheap. So get one and set it up to preheat. I use about 350°.
Rather than measuring the zest and juice, I just used all that came from one medium sized lemon. Put the juice and zest in a medium bowl with the sour cream and mix. Allow the flavors to combine while you get out the rest of the ingredients.
Mix in the eggs. Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.
Let it sit while you set the table. It will get bubbly and poof up!
Heat some vegetable oil on the griddle and use about 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until the edges of the pancake are done and the top is covered in bubbles.
Gently turn the pancakes over to finish cooking. If you want to check to make sure they are done, use the corner of the spatula to stab the top of one pancake and peer inside.
Serve immediately with butter and syrup.
Here is the end result of my experimentation. They were REALLY good. Good enough to go out and buy more lemons and sour cream to make them again as I didn't take pictures the first time. I wasn't sure they would be a blog worthy experiment, but they were!!
Lemon Sour Cream Pancakes
1 cup sour cream
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
oil for cooking
I use an electric griddle. They work great, cook a lot of food evenly and are cheap. So get one and set it up to preheat. I use about 350°.
Rather than measuring the zest and juice, I just used all that came from one medium sized lemon. Put the juice and zest in a medium bowl with the sour cream and mix. Allow the flavors to combine while you get out the rest of the ingredients.
Mix in the eggs. Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.
Let it sit while you set the table. It will get bubbly and poof up!
Heat some vegetable oil on the griddle and use about 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until the edges of the pancake are done and the top is covered in bubbles.
Gently turn the pancakes over to finish cooking. If you want to check to make sure they are done, use the corner of the spatula to stab the top of one pancake and peer inside.
Serve immediately with butter and syrup.
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