Whoopie!!!!

Whoopie Pie, that is.  I wanted something sweet yesterday, so I got out my eighteen year old cookbook, published by our local television station.  Some of the best recipes come from your own home town, don't they.  Now that so many of our Moms and Grandmas are gone, we have to go to old recipe cards and cookbooks, as well as family and friends for recipes.  I know that the internet is F-U-L-L of interesting techniques and recipes, but it's comforting to use an older cookbook.  Something tried and true. You know that someone made this same recipe many, many times and it was successful enough to submit for publication.  Imagine how exciting that must be to have your recipe picked. Sorry, I digress.

Anyway, I try to keep basic ingredients on hand, as I love to cook and bake when I'm in between projects (or in between episodes of Cold Case), or if I'm just plain bored.  So here we have my latest creation...

I guess it made about thirty cookies when assembled.  If I had made the individual pieces larger it would have probably worked better.  I'm still learning my new electric range and how to adjust for dark pans or insulated cookie sheets and whatever, but I'm very happy with the results.

There are other recipes online that contain brown sugar if you want a sweeter cake/cookie.  For me, this worked...

I think this is the funniest recipe, because the cook automatically assumes that you know how to do this.  "Mix cookies in the order listed" certainly is less wordy than cream the sugar and shortening together, blah, blah, blah.  It's just like what your Mom or Auntie would have told you, knowing that you already knew the basics.  If you don't know the basics, this recipe may be confusing for you.  For me, even as much as I love to talk and type, sometimes the fewer words... the better. That's the way I feel about this recipe.  I did have extra filling left over, so next time I'll be more generous when putting them together. 


Hope you like them.

Odds and ends

Remember the picture that I took of Chelsea and her dad?  I decided to posterize it and make a watercolor portrait...

I had to make myself stop tweeking it and now that I've got it framed I see several areas that still need work. Grrrr.

Speaking of things that are almost complete, here is a shot of the screened porch.  All that is lacking is ceiling fan and outlets.  Then it can have the final inspection...

Of course, last but not least, here is the new driveway...

If you look closely, you can also see the newly installed ridge vent.  You may notice, no johnny house now.  The last thing that has to be done is a vinyl fence  which will be installed to hide my garbage can from view.  THEN, it should be complete. 

Don't know which were Odds and which were Ends, but there you go.

Be back soon.

Rainy day activities...

What to do on a rainy Saturday...

Buy very comfy boots.  Got some similar to these from Zappos, but the heel was way too high.  These are so comfortable I can't believe it.  Brand is Matisse, style is Winchester.  Got them at Shoe Carnival for $49.99.  Sending the Fryes back to Zappos, they were three times as much and didn't fit as well.

Wanted something sweet, so I searched the web for cake in a mug recipes and came up with this...

I added the whip cream and Hershey's syrup.  I found the recipe here.

Last but not least, I have been wanting to try putting chalk streaks in my hair, but never got around to it.  I didn't realize that it was done simply with artist chalk, so I pulled out my high dollar pan pastels, (leave it to me to go crazy when chalk from Michaels would work) and came up with this...

Chalking your hair is very temporary and can be messy, leaving puffs of color behind as you go about your business (I'm thinking Pig Pen with purple dust around him), but anyway, it was fun and will shampoo out (they say).

Well, that's it for today.  Hope everyone has a great weekend and remember to hug someone today.  Need a reason?  Just say it's from Peachy and that will suffice.

Susan McGyver

OK, y'all, now this is funny.  It could have been scary as all get out, but I laughed about it.  Yesterday, Willy and I went to the home improvement stores to purchase new doorknobs for all the inside doors that he and my cute handyman friend are changing out for me.  To make sure that we got the same kind, Willy took the doorknobs off of the main bathroom door (one of the first they fixed for me), leaving the mechanism in place and we headed off to load up on supplies.

We got what we wanted, came back and Willy worked around the house doing odd jobs until about 2:30 and after he left I decided to take a shower.  So I strip down and headed to the bathroom.  Keep in mind that I haven't had doorknobs for several weeks and I've gotten in the habit of slipping my fingers into the hole in the door and shutting it behind me.  Naturally, I did this yesterday and as soon as I heard a loud click I realized that I was now locked in the bathroom.  No phone, no tools, no doorknob...nothing but the realization that I'm now a naked idiot who just locked herself in.  I could see through the hole in the door and I knew it had to have a release on it to just press and unlock. 

I started looking through the vanity for makeshift tools to get my sweet little self out of this 5 x 8, 1969 olive green tiled bathroom.  I tried the handles of dental tools, I tried using the cardboard backing from a new toothbrush, I even tried to take the hinges off with the toilet paper holder.  Nothing would work. 

Now the funny thing about this incident and I can hardly type, for laughing at myself, is that when I was five years old, I locked my brother and myself in an service station bathroom and had to PRAY our way out.  This has been a joke in our family for years..."Susan, how did you and Mike get out of that bathroom?" ...the answer was always "we prayed".

I know He got a big laugh out of it when yesterday, I just looked up and said, "God, I'm sorry to ask again, but please help me get this door unlocked".  I wasn't scared, because I could see through the hole in the door.  For some reason in my craZy, naked thinking, that was comforting.  Believe me, the scenarios were flashing before my eyes like a Steven Spielberg movie. Scores of people finally realizing that I wasn't answering my phone and my doors were all locked and I wasn't where I was supposed to have been for hours and hours...well, you can imagine your own "locked in a box" scenes.

Basically I no longer wanted to figure out how to release the lock, I just wanted out. After ten minutes of trying to get out without destroying the lock, I said "what the hey" and just stuck the handle of my hairbrush into the hold and McGyvered myself out...

After I put some clothes on and realized I was OK, I got so tickled, I was almost rolling in the floor laughing.  I did call my friend and told him I was going to kill Willy when he got here. When they heard what had happened they could hardly stop laughing.  When they saw how I had demolished the new lock, they were really cracking up, in a subtle, shaking of the head kind of way.  They showed me where the quick release was on the (now broken) mechanism and really were quite astounded that I was able to get myself out at all, not knowing how to release the lock.

In the past two weeks, I have gotten my finger caught in the folding card table...no  phone, left hand not strong enough to release the offending spring that was about to dismember my digit.  Got out of that mess with pure adrenaline.   I stabbed my hand on the plastic cover on the inside of the new refrigerator when I went to catch a loaf of bread that was falling on my head.  That bled like crazy and the web of of my left hand is still sore and now I lock my stoopid self in the bathroom and have to break out.

Don't get me wrong, I like living by myself just fine, but it's weird not having someone to come to your rescue when you do something silly like, say, sew through your finger, or get the skirt of your dress caught in the vacuum cleaner or fall in a hole in a cave, or cut yourself on a new kitchen gadget. Such is my life.  I know that I need to regroup and not go off half cocked into everything that I do.  Think, woman, think.

Peri asked what I have learned from this latest incident...I guess keeping a phone in every room is the one thing I have learned... oh, and that prayer really can open those locked the doors in your life. 

Pretty good lesson, huh?

It takes time for a cure...

Yeah, I know, how punny is that?  The driveway is completed and I'm waiting for it to cure.  Of course, I have to photo-doc everything, so here goes...

I really didn't have that much confidence in this crew until the truck got here, but they switched into high gear and showed me that they knew their stuff.  It was like a crazy ballet with the dancers wearing rubber boots instead of pink beribboned shoes, but it was a performance that was applause worthy.

The show stopper was when the prima ballerina took to the stage with his screed.  As you can imagine I sat back, program in hand, opera glasses at the ready and enjoyed the matinee performance.

They flourished with a finish, a brush finish that is...

Now, as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers say, the waiting is the hardest part.  I can park my vehicle on it next weekend, but no big trucks for a least one month.  Whew, I'm glad that's done.  Now we can move forward with some other projects.

Speaking of moving forward, I think I'm ready to announce that I have a friend.  We haven't really been on a date, so to speak (I mean, what is a date anyway?), but we have hung out here at the house several times and I think it just may progress to us doing things together.  We've already talked about going to Georgia to visit his daughter, so I was  pleased that he wanted me to meet her when she came in this weekend.

Well, you know that my camera is always within reach and no one is safe from "pictures for my blog", so I present to you...

Chelsea and her Dad 

She is a sweetheart and very much a Daddy's Girl, but we clicked and when they left I sent her off with a bag of homemade peanut butter pinwheel candy and enough supplies to introduce her into my world of beading.  She's invited me to Georgia to visit them (she and her fiancee are stationed at Fort Stewart) and I told her if she wanted to, on her next visit she could help me with a yard sale (one of her favorite things to do) and I'd give her the money just to help get rid of some stuff. 

Well, that's the news from here on the hill.  Hope your weekend has been a fun one.  Take care and stay creative.

Just this for now...

Dear Neighbors,

I am sorry for this at 8:30 on a Wednesday morning,

but it has to be done.  My contractor came by yesterday and inspected the forming for the driveway and halted the Pour Schedule until they could neaten up the area where my driveway will meet the street.

So that's it for today, I'll keep you posted.

Isn't that just the way????

I've heard that this happens, but I didn't really "get it", until now.  What you may ask...the fact that everything I have had done on the house this summer has been fabulous, but (and that's a BIG BUT) now everything else looks like it is in need of repair or updating.  Yep, I had heard that this would happen.

One of the contractors suggested doing some of the inside work for me on the side, after his regular hours and on weekends.  I'm super fine with this, so our current project is my interior doors. I now have this...

Below you see my contractor(door wrangler)and his helper.  These guys have been so precise in their workmanship that I am astounded.  I don't know why I'm surprised, everything done thus far has been so close to perfect it's almost unbelievable...

Using each door that they remove as a guide for the replacement, Tim and Willie marked and cut the new door to the proper length, marked and drilled the hole for the knob and marked and chiseled out the areas for the hinges. That's a lot of marking but they weren't taking any chances with these doors. They then hang the new door and do some kind of mystical mojo dance that requires one to be on the inside of the room and the other on the outside, as they opened and closed it while quietly listening and looking at the ceiling.  After this dance, the door is removed and taken back out to the driveway for tweaking (thank heaven they weren't twerking, but I digress).  After this tweaking they rehang the door and then begin the tweaking process on the door frame itself.  This required taking a block of wood and using it to hammer the door frame into the proper position.  This was not a difficult job for them, but oh, so time consuming. It was very interesting to watch.

I think I'm having driveway work done tomorrow and perhaps work on the porch, but as I just told Peri, I really wasn't listening to them when they were telling me.  Sometimes what I hear sounds very much like the adults on those Peanuts cartoon..."mwah, mwah, mwah mwah mwah, mwah".  I really do need to stop tuning things out.  I may have missed something important...yada, yada, right, right.

Anyway, something will happen tomorrow and I eventually will blog about it.  It's what I do, it's how I roll.
Peace out, y'all. Talk soon.

Talk about dramatic changes...

I have been trying for four months to find someone who would brush-cut my woods and remove the ivy.  The people that have been doing it charge me waaay to much, plus, they didn't like to work on the bank, so when I told one of the guys that has been remodeling my house my dilemma, he said leave it to me.

This is what they started out with...(I just had it done in May)

It was only a matter of three weeks before it looked like this again.  We had a lot of rain, and it just grows like crazy.

With the help of an 80 year old man on a tractor doing the brush hogging and two guys with lawn mowers I now have this...

These men mowed everything after the tractor work was done.  They totally man-handled the mowers into doing what they wanted them to do.  They honed the blades to a horror film sharpness and attacked the ivy like they were vine-hating animals.  I told them they were the mowing gods and that I had been told that this just couldn't be done.  They both replied at the same time that "a real man would have done it".

This brings me to something I'm only going to touch on here, as I'm moving forward with my life, and am not going to dwell in the past.  Over the past few weeks, several of the things I have told people who didn't know my husband, have brought forth reactions that I probably should have had for years. "He what???" and "you do know that's not right?"  I'm just realizing that not only was he often controlling and manipulative, but he was possibly waaaay more metro than hetero. Now that's something I didn't wanted to admit. 

Well, all has turned out for the best.  I'm happy and healthy and finding out that the things that are just too difficult to do by one person, can be made to look easy by others.  Meaning that those guys were bound and determined to make my back yard into what I wanted it to be.  Don't worry, all the critters in the woods survived the yard work and if my sudden lack of vegetation sends then into the woods of my neighbors, than I'm OK with that too.  Apparently these guys are planning on maintaining this new look with talk of moving rocks and stumps and other things.  Finally, someone that shares my vision for a back yard space.  I'll bet they will even plant things for me.

Well, that's it for today.  So far no workers today, it is Friday after all, but I'm sure I'll have driveway forms being built soon.  I'll keep you posted on everything. 

Take care, and TTFN.

Just when I thought the dramatic changes were over...

I suppose I had gotten so used to the deck looking like it did with the roof only...

That I just wasn't prepared for the dramatic difference adding the rails would make.  Here you see a portion of the railing that has been installed.  I went with white ceiling and beige/taupe rails and I love them...

You may remember this view from earlier in the summer...

 Now I have this...

I mean seriously, can you believe the difference?  Once the screen is installed, this is going to be THE place to hang out.  You know that moment when you really just want to kick back and soak in those night sounds of the woods... Imagine adding a ceiling fan and some comfy furniture into the mix and you've got it!  Girls' night out and you don't have to leave home.

Well, they are also removing my driveway today to make way for a new and improved one.  That's been interesting to say the least...

Well, just as Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose sang...it's too late to turn back now.  Let's just hope that falling in love applies to new driveways also.

That's it for this morning kiddos.  Love ya!!!

Wait, this is not beaded...

I had good intentions of doing some bead weaving and making some of my shoulder brushing earrings. I set up everything that I needed, I thought...

but, as luck would have it, (that and having my house in disarray for the last three months), I could not locate my beading needles and thread so it's off to Michael's I go.

Michael's really didn't have exactly what I wanted, but that didn't stop me from shopping which lead to getting some supplies for a fall wreath. 

Actually I think it's too full. Not enough of the grapevine showing, plus it needs some green.  I think I'll take a break before I go back to Michael's.  It's 4:30 and the temp has finally dropped back down under 90 degrees, so maybe if I wait it will cool down even more.

Please feel free to give me your take on the grapevine wreath wrapped with the leaf garlands.  I even hot glued faux gourds to the piece.  It's pretty, but not quite what I had envisioned (in the 33 seconds that I actually thought about it)  My mind was still pretty much on the finger that I had just gotten pinched in the leg of the card table as I tried to un fold it.  At least I didn't burn myself with the glue gun.

Well, that's it for now, except that my remodeling is continuing, as now the rest of the house looks sad and in need of updating, so one of the crew is going to take on the inside upgrades as a side job and will be working nights and weekends to save me some moolah.

I'll be posting pictures of that also.  Happy September, by the way and keep on keeping on!