Trick or Treat

I have discovered that I'm not so good with my camera.  It's served us well for many years and others take great pictures.  I seem to need a steadier hand maybe.  Maybe more practice is what I need.

Halloween with Meemaw & Peeps

 

 

Fall Crafts

Friends came to craft  last Thursday.  We experimented with wax, ground cinnamon, instant coffee and squirrel corn.  We made the most fantastic smelling squirrel corn ever, but we're not letting the squirrels have it back.

We also stirred up a jar of pumpkin spice sugar scrub for each of us.

Meanwhile, Peeps worked on a great knife holder for his old wooden handled roast slicers.  He made it out of pecan wood, salvaged from Mr. Shank's old wood working shop.

 

 Peeps cut out a couple of punkins from a board and I painted.

Cheesy-Beefy Melt Burritos...Eat Your Heart Out Taco Bell

So Taco Bell discontinued our favorite 99cent burrito.  If you didn't know, the Cheesy Beefy Melt Burrito was a classic and a favorite of mine at this fast food place.  So my husband and I decided, who needs 'em?  No more fast food!

Here's how we did it:

8 flour tortillas
1 lb. ground beef
1 can of nacho cheese
1 package of taco bell taco seasoning
Sour cream
1 package of Lipton's Mexican Rice

Prepare all as indicated on the package...and TA-DA! You have your very own amazing Cheesy Beefy Melt Burritos.

I'm Not Canadian

Well, Eggs and I have brought a new partner in crime into our midst.  It's no longer just the two of us...

Meet Bacon, the sweetest little love pig I've ever met.

Junken Finds With MeeMaw and Peeps

So if you didn't already know, I'm a giraffe lover.  My husband is a giraffe lover...even Eggs is a giraffe lover.

MeeMaw and Peeps (aka- Mom & Dad) came down a few weeks ago to help Mike and I celebrate the nuptials and the knot and yada, yada, yada.

Well, also, if you didn't know.  I come from a long line of "Junkers".  Grandma Jo had me digging in garage sale bins from the time I could crawl and MeeMaw and Peeps have cultivated the fine art of junken' into our genetics.

Above you will find my most valued and recent junk finds.  First is a giraffe ceramic jewelry box.  No, I will not put jewelry in it.  It has found a home on our coffee table to collect useless junk inside.

Next, forgive the sideways photograph.  For "Blogspot" isn't being nice to me today.  It is indeed a giraffe.  And it is a planter.  I dare say an ivy vine shall plant roots in this fella before he knows it!
Eggs is rather fond of his springy neck.  He spends hours bouncing the poor guy's head around and even knocking it off.

Stay tuned for more junk.

'Twas The Nightmare Before Christmas

One of my favorite things about Halloween means it's actually the beginning of the holiday season.  Yes, I just said Halloween was a holiday.  So deal with it.

I've always been a fan of Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

If you've never seen it it's time to look it up, otherwise you won't understand what I'm about to do!

I love white pumpkins...and I love Jack Skeleton.

So here's what happened...

Jack will be joining us for yet another Halloween.
Do yourself a favor and buy a pumpkin.
Save your self the trouble and don't carve the dumb thing.
It's all about the paint.
Your pumpkin will last longer.
You won't stick your hands in a slimy mess.
AND if you screw up it washes off with a little bit of rag and elbow grease ;)

Enjoy!

Grandma Jo's Zucchini Bread

One of my favorite treats at Grandma's house has always been warm zucchini bread.  She'd go out to Dad's garden every summer and pick fresh zucchini's and always, always made zucchini bread.  Mind you, it wasn't every day, or every week for that matter.  It was always a special treat...and I have been cravin' that good stuff for weeks!  So today, I finally got around to it.  I made Grandma Jo's Zucchini Bread.

Now, you must remember, Grandma lives 1500 miles away.  Thank goodness for telephones, or else I may never enjoy the deliciousness for quite some time.  But, with today's wonders, I was able to call her and make my own recipe card.  So blame me for the poor directions.

Yes, that's butter melting on top.  Paula Dean would be proud.

And Grandma said use TWO pans...well, I only had one.  So I had to improvise.

It's bite sized...It's fresh...and it's smothered in butter!  Why yes ladies and gentlemen, I give you the ZUCCHINI BREAD MUFFIN!

Mike loved them...and I'm sure Eggs would too if I ever let him get his paws on them!

Georgia Junken

On our recent trip to Valdosta, Georgia to attend the nuptials of Mr. & Mrs. Michael Vine, we found time to enjoy a little junken trip. Our first stop was to the Lucas County Flea Market. It is a bit primitive for our farmgirl Jessica, but she stuck it out.

I'll start with the treasure I brought home. What can I say? It spoke to me. Obviously it spoke to Ivy too. After I picked it up, looked it over and set it back down again and walked off, she did the same. I did let her know as soon as she touched it, I was taking it home with me if the proprietor and I could agree on a price. (We did!)







This must be real special to the owner. Last time Ivy was there, it was too. Price tag was a little steep for me.






It's really hard to see in this picture (I don't have one of those fancy phones with a super duper camera) there is a old cast iron wood burning cookstove.






This woven backed rocker looked handmade, but someone obviously loved the green paint.





And who doesn't want an old rusted grocery cart? Well, no price tag, but I knew I didn't want to share the back seat home with it!






This ice box was in pretty good shape, but someone had painted the outside at one time.








This one was cleaner inside, but everything was covered with a layer of dust, this place makes my house look almost clean!








Farmgirl Jessica was in the mood to buy one of these, but the owner really wasn't in the mood to bargain with us. That's ok Jessica, Dad found one for you in Concordia at A Simple Life for 15 dollhairs.





Next we visited Ivy's place of employment and they had these WONDERFUL HUGE ferns out front. The grounds were absolutely beautiful.







We stopped at the Goodwill store next. Don't ya just love those stores? I don't have pictures of our treasures from there, but I found Ivy a cute little picture frame (giraffe shaped of course). I think Jessica found a prize there too. Next stop on the way was a little spot where Ivy made a friend with a new neighbor, but I'll let her tell you about that. They had many treasures in that antique store including a big John Wayne posted Jessica admired, but she only took home the great peach pie plate.




After refreshments from Sonic, we found the produce markets on the south end of town. Loved the cotton fields and would have liked to bring home a couple of plants from this market.



















I took this picture for Jordan and Granddad. Lovely little squirrel, stuffed and on a board right above all the veggies in the market.








I would love this sink in my kitchen. However it stayed at the market.



































Back home to Mr. Vine and a crockpot full of his special chicken wings. YUMYUM!