Dear Sweet Peas - The Cheese Stands Alone

 Hi Sweet Peas. Remember the cheeses I brought home from Germany? I only recently started carving on this one. He is so delicious! 

 I don't know why he'd have to stand alone. He looks quite handsome. He even has a few freckles. :)

I had forgotten my cheese had a face and glasses, so I took a photo for you. It reminded me of the song and game. The poor cheese stands alone at the end. I read that this song may have actually come from Germany. Get Mommy and Daddy to teach it to you and some friends sometime. You need a few people to play. Even if you don't have enough to play you can still sing it.

The Farmer in the Dell

The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell

The farmer takes a wife
The farmer takes a wife
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer takes a wife

The wife takes a child
The wife takes a child
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The wife takes a child

The child takes a nurse
The child takes a nurse
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The child takes a nurse

The nurse takes a dog
The nurse takes a dog
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The nurse takes a dog

The dog takes a cat
The dog takes a cat
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The dog takes a cat

The cat takes a rat
The cat takes a rat
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cat takes a rat

The mouse takes a cheese
The mouse takes a cheese
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The mouse takes a cheese

The cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The cheese stands alone 

"Poor lonesome cheese", says Nanny. "I'll eat you all up and then my tummy won't be lonely."

Form a circle holding hands around one who is chosen to be the farmer. Sing the first verse while moving around the farmer. When the verse is over everyone stops and the farmer makes her or his choice of a wife (sometimes without looking). The wife joins her or him in the center for her verse and so through the verses until either the cheese or dog is chosen.

Muffins on the Sly or Apple Bran "Cupcakes"

I say Muffins on the Sly because little grandson has been told by his mommy that any muffin/cupcake food item is a cupcake. That way a healthy muffin is as fun for him to eat as a cupcake because he loves cake and they're all cakey. So below is the yummy muffin recipe. I usually don't make them the same every time, but they came out so wonderful and moist yesterday I decided to write it down so I could repeat. I made two large batches. The first batch had mashed bananas in place of part of the applesauce. I have made them with honey. If you use honey increase flour a little. I forgot the honey in a batch once that had bananas in it, but they were still pretty wonderful. Just not as wonderful. You can use a little oat flour, or milled flax seed as part of the flour.

Normally you can see apple chunks. Nummy!

Apple Bran Muffins

• 2 c. bran cereal, crushed
• ½ c. milk
• 4 eggs
• ⅓ c. coconut oil, melted
• 2 c. applesauce
• ¾ c. Sugar in the Raw or honey
• 1 tsp. almond or vanilla flavoring
• 2 apples peeled & chopped
• ¼ c. chopped walnuts 
• 2 c. flour (I like King Aurthur whole wheat flour)
• 1½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt

Mix all the wet stuff, also including sugar, nuts and apples. Add all the dry stuff. Here's a tip: Crush soda or baking powder in your hand with the back of your measuring spoon. If you've ever bit into a baked item and had a hard crunch of baking soda you'll know this is important.

Mix all together. Don't over-mix. Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray. I used mini-muffin pans, regular, and heart pans yesterday. Bake at 350° until done. If you over bake them the bottoms will scorch and they won't be as moist.

Mental Marbles and Good Forgetting

This post is for those kindred spirits of mine with busy-ness and much on your minds. Maybe some days you worry like Toodles in the movie "Hook" that you've "lost your marbles". (They really were his marbles and his happy thoughts.)


If it makes you feel any better I was distracted this morning and pulled the dishwasher soap out of the cabinet and started toward Patty Dog's bowl with it, instead of the dishwasher. Anyone else might have had a small panic about their mental capacity. Not me. I just smiled at her and said, "You know better than to eat that if I ever made it to the bowl, don't you?"  Of course she does. It smells bad!

Forgetfulness can be a blessing as I blogged awhile back about how I forget and how our Father is even better at it. I've personally known folks who remember every slight from years ago and keep account. What a horrible load of stuff to labor under. Those we hold grudges against probably go about their lives happily oblivious to our accounting methods. And then who is hurting? Who is agonizing and fretting? WE are. THAT is why He asks us to lay our burdens down. To forgive so that we may be forgiven. 
Thank you Father, that you don't keep a sin account on me! 


"And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." Mark 11:25 


The bible doesn't say to wait to forgive until we feel like it. Or to wait until we think we can forget, or to even wait until we're asked for forgiveness. Forgiving and praying for those who've hurt us is what we should do regardless of what others do. Right actions will bring right feelings. Even if right actions don't bring right feelings, we must do it anyway. I must open my fist and let things go, or they will poison me. 
 "Unforgiveness is like drinking poison, and waiting for your the other person to die."

Testing - Making a Pinterest Button - It Works!!!

  I tried for hours to get a Pinterest button to work to no avail.

 I was trying to get this gorgeous photo to show up and made a test. The box would pop up, but no photo would show up in the box. The photos in your blogger posts that you want others to be able to pin to their boards in Pinterest won't work with the "Pin it Button for Websites" that Pinterest has. So you have to follow the directions from Spice Up Your Blog  which I will repeat below for the basic button. Remember to ALWAYS back up your template before you make changes - Here's how:
 On the design page click your "edit HTML" button. Click "Proceed". Once the page is open check mark the box at the top that says, "Expand Widget Templates". Then highlight and copy ALL of that great gobbledy gook and paste it into Notepad or Notepad ++  Name it and save it. That way if you make big boo-boos you can go back to where we just copied that HTML from and paste the old one back in instead of looking for the specific mess up. 

Now, in that "edit HTML" box we just looked at on your blog you need to find the "data post body" code. To have the button at the top of each of your posts you need to copy and paste the Pin It Button Code, from Spice Up Your Blog directly above that "data post body" code in your HTML for your blog. Preview it before saving the template, and voilà the Pin It button will now work in Blogger!




 

Poor Man's Cobbler - (Easy Cobbler)

There's no rolling out cobbler crust for this. I grew up on this marvelous stuff, picking the blackberry seeds out of my teeth for days. You may have eaten a peach version of it at an area restaurant and I actually know the lady who makes it. I think we might be kin since her momma made it the same way. Momma is having a little trouble remembering recipes she once knew in her heart. I need to make a list of ALL the things I want to ask her. I fear there's not enough time to ask & write down everything I want to know. 

Help us Lord.

Momma used to say she didn't have any idea why this was called "poor" man's pie or cobbler because fruit was getting more and more expensive to buy at the orchard. I told her it was probably because people made it, like we did, from whatever fruit we had growing. Blackberries being the most common. Dad, Jana and I would pick the berries and Momma would make a cobbler. The rest she canned by barely covering with water and heating  to boiling, pouring into quart fruit jars, and maybe pressuring, but sometimes I think they were sealed without pressuring by turning them upside down. I DON'T recommend that method. See, it's a wonder we didn't get sick, but they always seemed fine. :) I freeze mine. But, back to the cobbler:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter
• Aprox. 2 lbs. or almost a of quart fresh, frozen, or canned fruit with part of that being liquid. You can use a large can of store bought peaches, juice and all. (I wanted to say store boughten). Blackberries, blueberries, apricots, cherries...I once did blackberries and peaches. I sometimes add some water and sugar to the fruit depending on how "dry" it is and how tart it is. Don't just throw dry fruit in there, you need some moisture. Make sure fruit is ready before you start the rest of the recipe.

Throw the stick of butter into a 9x13 pan and put on the oven to completely melt and get bubbling.

While that's heating, mix the dry ingredients with a big spoon and pour in the milk and mix. When the butter is melted and bubbly pour the batter over the hot butter. Don't worry about perfection, just get it pretty even and then quickly pour your fruit around on the top. DO NOT MIX. Place back in the oven and bake until done.


I've seen recipes where they try to pour the batter on top. It doesn't matter, it's gonna end up on the bottom anyway, then it slowly rises to the top and browns. You can sprinkle a little sugar on the top when it's almost done if you like.

Dear Sweet Peas - Patty Dog

  Patty Dog and Pappy played fetch Saturday after we worked in the yard all day. I thought you might like to see her. She was soooo hot and thirsty, but she wouldn't stop to drink, so your Pappy poured water out of his cup onto her face and she finally drank some.

He made her lay down and rest a moment.

Her tongue was REALLY hanging out! Pretty funny.

Pretty Please?

She's probably saying, "Okay, I'm ready, I'm ready! Lets' Go!"

The ball is high in the air, her tail is moving so fast you can't see it, and she's waiting....waiting...

to CATCH IT!

She's bringing it back to Pappy. Her funny back legs are off the ground.

Dear Sweet Peas

  I wanted to write about your Pappy. He's a pretty great guy, as you probably already know. Benji, when you were quite little you used to sit with Pappy in his big Pappy Bear chair and watch the racy cars with him. He was there when you were born! His first grandchild. Lucy, your Pappy was very tickled that he showed you how to scrunch up your nose to make a "mean face" last summer. He coached you how to do it, and demonstrated. You watched carefully and tried a little, but after you went home you showed that face off. We can't wait to visit with you both again real soon!


   Your Pappy has always built and fixed things, or taught himself how, if he didn't know. He built our house. He prepared and poured the foundation, shingled the roof, and everything in between! He also has a giving heart. He has helped people with his repairing and building skills. I wanted to show you what your Pappy has been up to lately. His current project is building a retaining wall (that is a wall that will hold back water or soil. It retains it in place), for the driveway. That will keep the driveway from washing away when it rains. That is so Uncle Aaron has a better place to park. The other project is for a boy who has a sick mommy. Pappy wanted to help the family by pouring a cement pad for the boy to play basketball. It's just a nice thing, to do something for people without expecting to be paid. 

 Here he is planning his projects.

 Here he's using a hammer to pound on the wooden forms to make the air bubbles come out of the cement.

 You can see the part of the wall that is completely dry and finished. 

Aaron is using this mixer to mix the bags of dry cement with water. The mixer turns just like a big cement mixer and then they dump it into a wheelbarrow and take it wherever they need it. Aaron is a good helper like you are for your daddy, Benjamin.

T-Shirt Rag Rug

  Remember the old loop potholders we all made as kids? If you ever tried to use one of those potholders you'd burn your fingers. Well this project is MUCH more fun, actually looks nice, and is functional! 
Unless you tell, no one would know it was old t-shirts.
  It's a rug made on a hula hoop! The idea came from Pinterest, where someone pinned the idea from 
Family Fun Magazine online.


  You'll need around 12 old t-shirts, scissors (or a cutting mat and rotary cutter), and a hula hoop or other large hoop. After you make one you'll be thinking about what else you could use for a loom. Such as an large, old frame, or begging your honey to make you something. I can see a rectangular rug in my future. :)


11 Loops go on the frame like spokes on a wheel. These are the warp. The material you weave with is the weft. So you start with 22 warp. You need an uneven number for the weave to come out right, so you push 2 of the spokes together and treat them as one. For now you treat both of the double strings of each loop as one.

8 inches of weaving is where you will begin treating 
each warp spoke as two individual strips instead of a single unit.

Soooo much easier than crocheting!

Just about finished!

Now I'm scouring closets for more old t-shirts, and seeing loom possibilities everywhere. Here's my Pinterest site For full directions go to 
Family Fun here. 

                                                                             
                                                                          The tie off 

This rug is not yours, Miss Patty Dog.

Maybe we can share.

I like this recycled old bed sheet rug.
And this braided rug, no-sew!