Sisters

Baby Presents

Since it's been too hot to work outside in the middle of the day, I've been working on a couple of things in the craft room. A pram cover... And a little bag that holds some wipes and a couple of diapers...

You can just stuff it in your purse or grab it when you're going for a short trip in the car. Isn't this fabric cute?

Easy Recipe Holder

Last week some of the ladies from our church got together for a salad dinner and craft night. AKA Enrichment Night. The salads were delicious and I'm looking forward to making a few of the new recipes. And speaking of recipes, we made these cute and easy recipe holders. The little clipboards are new from the craft store, but I'm going to be looking for some used ones at garage sales or thrift stores. It'll really cut the cost down if I can find some. We started out by taking the clip off the board. Then cut out and modpodged the scrapbook paper on the board.

Replace the clip, add the vinyl lettering and you're done. Total time if you're not talking and laughing or eating some jello salad with fudge stripe cookies in it? Probably 30 minutes for all three. My kind of project.

Stacey

I'd like to say how sorry I am to hear about Stacey from The Thrifty Chick. I don't know if any of you ever read her blog but she was the thrift store/yard sale/scrapbooking queen. She had a stroke and passed away on July 14th. She leaves a husband and four young children, the youngest less than a month old. Her sister wrote a wonderful tribute here. Our thoughts and prayers are with her precious family. Go on over and leave a comment. I'm sure it will comfort her family in some small way.
Mimi

Sunday Sayings

"Bless those who are pleasant to live with."
Anonymous

Pioneer Day

Here in Utah we love our holidays. So, exactly three weeks after the 4th of July, we have another big extravaganza. On July 24th we celebrate Pioneer Day. More parades, barbecues, picnics, big family gatherings and yes, more fireworks. In the heat of summer. Pioneer Day is to honor and celebrate the day Brigham Young and his wagon train came through the mountains and took one look at the Salt Lake Valley and declared, "This is the place."

They came to the Utah territories, (a desert then), seeking a place where they could practice their religion without being persecuted. Many, many of them died and the hardships were tremendous. So thank you pioneers. We honor you.

"Pioneers did more than make soap, they packed up their troubles and walked toward the future." Anon

Apricot Jam

One of my adorable neighbors brought me a box of overly ripe apricots and told me his favorite jam was apricot. I got the hint. I got out my grandma's ugly but oh so wonderful aluminum pan.

I chopped up the apricots, added the pectin, stirred and stirred, in went the sugar, (lots and lots of sugar), stirred some more and then...

Apricot jam! I love making jam. It's one of my favorite things to do. I use the recipe in the pectin box and I'm never disappointed. I've made all kinds but I think my favorite is blackberry. The store bought kind does not compare. You should try it.

Somebody Get Me A Lottery Ticket!

OK, remember how I said I never win anything? Well, I won another giveaway. This is the third one this year. I simply can't believe it! But the proof came in the mail today! Rachel, over at Made With Love and Glue, had a giveaway a few weeks ago and I was one of the lucky winners. I'm so happy! She sent me one of her handcrafted fabric flowers with a pin backing, but you can get a hair clip too. She has a bunch in her etsy shop. They'd make great gifts or a cute little hair doodle for the first day of school.

Here's my new pin on my jean jacket waiting patiently til the weather gets out of the 90's. Cute, no? LOVE IT! Thank you again, Rachel. Since I'm on a winning streak I guess my next win will be the ten million from Publisher's Clearing House! YAHOO!

Sunday Sayings

"Weather is a great metaphor for life-sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella." Pepper Giardino

Free Paint

The Fed Ex man brought me a free quart of paint today. All you had to do was go to the Glidden website and order the color you wanted and they'd send you a can of paint for free. So I did and they did. It's called Geranium. Edited to say...The promotion ended July 2nd! I wish I'd let you know a couple of weeks sooner. Sorry...Mimi

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

The other day when I was out watering, my wonderful neighbor brought us some produce from her garden. We got kind of a late start on our vegetable garden because we were out cruising instead of planting. She brought tomatoes, a Japanese cucumber, a yellow summer squash and a zucchini. I usually don't plant zucchini because we always get plenty from all the gardeners who think six zucchini plants should be just about right for a family of four! Anyway, we do like zucchini and eat it in several different ways but this is one of our favorites.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 c margarine

1/2 c oil

1 2/3 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c flour

1/4 c cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c buttermilk

2 c zucchini, shredded

1 (6 oz) bag semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat margarine, oil and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix until well blended. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Stir in margarine mixture, then add buttermilk and zucchini. Pour batter into a greased and floured

9 x 13 baking pan. Sprinkle nuts and chocolate chips on top. Bake for 55 minutes.

It's very moist and if you grate the zucchini small enough you can't even tell it's in there. Kind of a sneaky way to get some more vegetables in your diet.

Yard Sale-ing 2009

This has been a strange year for yard sales. In our cold climate we don't have sales year round like some of you warmer weather girls. So when it's spring time we do a little happy dance and off we go. Only this year it has rained almost every. single. weekend. Until two weeks ago when it was the 4th of July! Last week we finally had a dry, warm, non-holiday weekend. There were 2,463 yard sales listed on Craig's List here on the Wasatch Front. The first sale I hit was about 20 minutes away. It was advertised as an estate sale. The woman who had lived there had just been admitted to a care center and some "relatives" were cleaning out her house. I found this bag in the garage and took a peek. It was filled with vintage linens...

Most of it was hand embroidered, some had tatted or crocheted edgings. There were four or five of those old card tablecloths with matching napkins. I remember my grandma having a few sets used only when her friends came over to play canasta.
I Love Lucy would've loved this apron...
I found a package with a linen piece in it from Hawaii. The post mark was 1942 and there was a stamp on it that said Passed by Army Censor. I wonder if this was from a husband or boyfriend. The woman never had any children, could he have been killed during WWII?

It was still in the package. Could it have been too painful for her to use it? Can you tell I love a good mystery?

Most of it's in pretty bad shape, yellowing, stains, mouse damage, but I'm getting out the oxiclean and starting to work.

I found a few other things at the estate sale. An old ice cream maker and a lard bucket made out of wood. They both need a plant in them, don't you think?

An old suitcase...

A red child size folding table and a croquet set...

Total cost for all these treasures? Ten dollars. Don't you love finding a great yard sale?

Sunday Sayings

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

I'm One Lucky Girl

Remember when I told you that I wasn't very lucky? I hadn't won anything since 4th grade when I won a rubber tree at a raffle. Well ladies, since I started blogging that has all changed. First I won a mosaic heart from the adorable Anne Fannie. Then, last week, the UPS man rang my doorbell and look what he brought...

This gorgeous hand dyed silk pillow! Kellee Katillac spotlighted silk artist and color spiritualist, Beth Harrison and picked me for her giveaway. The pillow is the most beautiful aquaish color that shimmers and glows depending on what light it's sitting in. I LOVE it. It feels wonderful too. I could just sit and pet it for hours.

Thank you Kellee and Beth! It's a treasure!

It's So Quiet Around Here

The beds are stripped and the sheets are being washed. We've put away the toys and the kids movies. I can't bear to wash the little fingerprints off the french door, but I did mop up the stickiness from the kitchen floor. I walk around the house and it seems so empty now that the little sweetpeas and their parents have gone back to California. They left yesterday and I miss them so much. But while they were here we had a lot of fun... The cousins liked to play in the blow-up pool...

One day we went to the Cherry Hill water park...

On July 3rd is the mommy's birthday. She wanted to go to the lake, so we did...
Can you tell the mommy was a ballerina? Look at her graceful foot!
On the 4th we started with a big parade...



At home we had a little parade of our own... That evening we had a Bar B Que with family and friends and then the mister, and the son, and the son in laws had a great time with the fireworks...
And the kids had fun with the sparklers...