Cheesed....

I am completely cheesed...I work myself into an early bedtime last night, getting the front porch cleaned and re-arranged...putting my terracotta pumpkins out, taking the bunnies in...pavin' the way for my annual September 1st Celebration...the celebration that includes not just celebrating that September, an Official Month of Autumn, is here but that, thank you, August is gone...and that I made it through one more time without requiring Professional Medical Help or Legal Representation...

only to get up early to have a cup o' coffee and monkey around with my template...deleting Summer Green and adding Light Goldenrod(EEDD82), Dark Goldenrod 2 (EEAD0E), a little BloodOrange (CC1100)...to find it is still August...

oh the Gods of Irony are sniggerin'...

*****

well...I'm off to sulk now...Pumpkin Pixs and Stuff TOMORROW...

***Pumpkin Pixs update....well...to put it plainly...I lied...no pixs today or tomorrow and possibly Monday...DS & Fiancee borrowed my digital camera for their trip to Dragon Con...I've been to the Con a few times...If you are a fantasy or science fiction fan, then you must go to a Con some time...

Hubby & I took DS to the Con when he was in high school...mostly he was interested in the gaming competition (yes, the boy is good)...but we also took in some of the Tolkien Track...which, BTW, if you think you are a Tolkien Fanatic of the First Order, lemme tell ya'll...you ain't seen nothing until you attend a lecture on the Eleven Language of Tolkien's Word...and hear a room full of grown-ups burst into riotous applause over the Pronunction of a Vowel Sound based upon one of the appendices of the Silmarillion...it was like Tolkien Nerd Heaven...and I thoroughly enjoyed myself...

Of course, the Xena track had Ted Rami just across the hall...and they were hootin' and hollerin' it up too...both rooms packed to the gills, people linin' up around the perimeter of the rooms and stuffed into the doorways...people kept stoppin' to see just what Big Celeb was in our room...hah hah....

And then when the spy photos* came out...this was during the filming of Peter Jackson's LOTR movies...Mass Frenzy...what a blast...

So there...ya'll know...I'm a bit of a Nerd...

*spy photos largely consisted of a vague bump on the ground which was reported to be a part of Hobbiton...things like that....but it was still Great Fun...in fact, if air fare to New Zealand wasn't so outrageous, I'd probably take this tour...

Normal is as Normal Does...

to deliberately paraphrase that paragon of common sense Forrest Gump...

Jayedee (of life in the lost world ) tagged me to tell of what is Normal to me...and then pass the tag along to 3 other bloggers...

so here goes...

Normal is:

Constantly battling Fat Cells
Loving Christmas...and the realization that it is so much more than the lights, carols & packages
Always findin' room for One More Furry Baby
Too many books waiting in the To Be Read Stack
Buying a Special Ingredient for trying out a new recipe...and then losing the recipe

Being hopelessly addicted to about 15 movies...and watching them over & over & over again
Being also hopelessly addicted to Coffee, Cream Horns and Apple Pie
Always havin' a Home Project lined up...or two...or three
Cutting my hair off...and then growing it back out...and then cutting it back off
Pining for Autumn about 6 months out of the year

Hating when Life demands leaving #17 on Mondays
Deciding to be Frugal...and then desperately wanting a Beautiful New Grey Cashmere Sweater
Always ordering the same thing at a restaurant...after studying the menu for at least 20 mins
Forgetting a Really Good Joke...almost instantly
Loving the part of a cake that is between the Icing & the Cake...and Corner Brownies


Always sayin' a prayer when DH or DS leaves home
And Almost Always remembering to say one of thanks before I close my eyes at night

*************
Now...whom to tag? Serah of Honeysuckle & Cupcakes, Cathy of Domestic Bliss and DaisyJen at Daisy's Delight....ya'll are It :)


***oh...my bread starter has died...so we are breadless yet again...

Long Time No See...

I've been in one of my August Slumps...similar to a July Slump but accompanied by more anti-social tendencies...

But...I've picked up little signs that summer is waning...even if the thermometer is supposed to read 103*F by the time all is said and done this afternoon...even if the bleepin' a/c unit for the back of the house...read "Bedrooms"...has apparently decided today would be a lovely time to go on the blink...

Sheila's Top 5 Signs that Summer Will Be Gone*...after a while...

1. if I get up early enough in the morning and step onto the back deck, I can catch a soft cool breeze

2. the singing bugs (I have no idea..frogs? crickets?) are carryin' on something fierce...

3. the crows from the woods next door are, well, more crow-ish

4. the evenings are softer...still hot as...but now the evening light cuts across the pines with a soft gold colour...lingers a while...and then slowly dark comes on, fading in from a soft-then-deep purple...In high summer, the evenings are more like Hot & Bright Then Bam Dark...

5. I'm getting in the mood for baking...and deep cleaning...and making "things"...early stage prep work for holidays and cool weather nesting...

The evidence:

Faux sourdough bread...from a recipe from a friend that uses a starter made of instant potato flakes! well, I never...I managed to goof this recipe half a dozen ways and the bread still came out wonderful...I'll post the recipe if any one wants it...

half of one of the loaves disappeared like *this* [imagine snapping fingers]...part of that, I'm sure, was the great bread...the other part was, I imagine, due to the fact I would not buy any bread at the grocery store...I was determined the next loaf of bread used at #17 would be made my own 8 fingers and 2 thumbs...and since I kept goofing up the time table, we were without bread for, oh, just over a week or so...

the most heard question/remark at #17 this past week: "Are you baking the bread today?"...and then I'd lie and say "yes"...because I kept thinkin' I could bake the bread...until I dragged the recipe out and re-read the directions...and the bread is resting in a new-to-me bowl bought from the Antique Mall up the road...love it...I want to branch out my yellow ware collection into the green bowls, but still love the yellow ones so much that this is sort of a compromise bowl...sort of a transition piece...

oh yes...it is possible to justify just about anything, isn't it?

movin' smartly along, I finally washed the fabric I will use to begin a quilt...I was thinking "yo-yo", but maybe I should just do a patchwork...this is going to be my first quilt...but I still need to iron the fabric...that fabric has been sitting waiting on the iron for over a week now...I hate to iron...well, that isn't true...I just hate wrestling with the ironing board...

and here is Mr. Brown...he came by way of Gretel and her Marchpane Pig etsy shop...and, by the way, reading Mrs. Appleyard and I, led me to uncover what "marchpane"** means! I'm feelin' a bit smug about that right now...Mr. Brown is an example of scherenschnitte...but more importantly, the moment I saw Mr. Brown and his companions out and about in the evenin' time, his story popped into my mind...and I love when a piece of art just comes to life like that :)

bless his heart...I wish we could all be so self-satisfied as Mr. Brown...

now I'm off to refresh my coffee...actually, to turn it into an iced coffee...and catch up on my blog reading!

___________________________________________________

*feel free to share any signs you have seen that autumn might be comin' along here shortly

**adding "marchpane" to My List of Favourite Words

AND...I forgot to mention Toni awarded me with this! Thanks, Miss Toni and I should pass it along? I believe this is the first award I have won since my Senior Superlative...(should I share that? is that mildly-to-awfully embarrassing?)

wait...is a Senior Superlative even really an award?............................................

Faux Sourdough Recipe, courtesy of Miss Suzanne over at Southern Inspiration

Starter:
1/2 c. sugar
1 pkg. yeast
3 T. instant potatoes (flakes)
1 c. warm water
Mix in jar. Let stay 3 to 5 days in refrigerator. Use 1 cup to make bread.

Part 1
1/2 c. sugar
3 T. instant potatoes
1 c. very warm water
Remove starter from refrigerator in the evening and set on cabinet overnight. Next morning, mix Part 1 ingredients well and add to starter. Let stand out of refrigerator all day. (It will bubble) At the end of the day, use 1 cup to make bread. Return remaining starter to refrigerator, covered with foil. Keep in refrigerator 3 to 5 days (I usually waited a week and started bread on the same day every week) and feed again. If not making bread, give 1 cup to a friend or throw away. Starter must be fed every 3 to 5 days (or weekly as I mentioned).

Part 2
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. corn oil
1 T. salt
1 c. starter
1 1/2 c. very warm water
6 cups bread flour ( I used a combo of reg. white and whole wheat....usually about 1/3 to 1/2 of wheat flour; didn't use bread flour)

In a large bowl, make stiff batter of Part 2 ingredients. Grease large bowl. Put dough in and turn over (the batter, silly, not you!) Cover lightly with plastic wrap. Next morning punch down and knead 3 to 4 times. Divide into 3 parts and knead on floured board 8 to 10 times. Put in greased loaf pans. Brush with oil. Let rise 4 or 5 hours (or all day), covered with wax paper(spray the wax paper with cooking spray to minimize chance of the paper sticking to the dough). Bake 30 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and brush with butter (I didn't do this.)

This bread is very flexible...can use varying flours, can stretch the times it suggests, and you can use 2 larger pans than 3 regular for bigger size loaves. Try it --it makes a moist, kind of dense bread that is good for sandwiches and toast!!!

Suzanne says you can also use this dough to make cinnamon rolls...I was so caught up in just tryin' to get the bread done I completely forgot all about that...but I'll remember for next time ....thanks, Suzanne :)

When Will I Ever Learn?

nothing a human being does should ever shock me after livin' on this planet for 42 years-and-some-odd months...and yet...time and time again, I have to ask myself how a person or, in this case, people can be so lackin' in anything remotely possible of being called Compassion or Love...

some people just need to get outta the Gene Pool...

this is an excerpt from the Ozark Mountain Basset Rescue Group's home page...

"On Friday, July 27th, Sherry, OMBR’s President, received a call about a man running a puppy mill in Oklahoma who was disposing of 30 adult bassets and assorted puppies from 9 weeks old and up. Sherry was told that if we did not pick up these bassets by Monday morning, he would shoot the ones that were left. So on Sunday afternoon, Sherry, her son Matt, and Phil, OMBR’s founder, went out to pick up these dogs. We didn’t know where we were going to put them – all our foster homes are full – but we couldn’t’ let them just be killed. So Sunday at 8 a.m., OMBR had 19 bassets in its care. By Sunday at 5 p.m., we had added 24 more – we had more than doubled our numbers!!!! The miller had given and sold breeding pairs, groups, and puppies to anyone who would take them. At this point, only 14 adults remained"

To read the rest of the story click here...

and if you're in the area, maybe you could find yourself a beautiful new basset hound to love...

or maybe ya'll would like to make a donation to help OMBR deal with this huge influx of bassets all at one time...I decided to fore go a new Southern Living at Home Door Basket and a Real Simple subscription (love that mag, but not like I don't have a flood of magazines comin' to Number 17 anyhow...) so I could send a little pocket change their way...

I'm just dying to bring home one of these little babies home to Number 17...but we're kind of Full-Up here right now...9 beautiful tiny little Red & White bassie babies! can't hardly stand it, can ya'll? LOL...I like the little fat one 4th from the right in the group photograph...well, "like" isn't really the word, is it? I absolutely love that little chub...

Signed,

Mom to 3 Wonderfully Amazing Rescue Bassets and Others (Including the Perfect Gillie the Corgi)...a.k.a. the Woman Who Would Occasionally Like to Sit on Her Sofa...

Bowls Bowls Bowls

What is it about bowls that makes so many of us love them? collect them? um, hoard them?

There must be some genetic coding passing down through the ages that creates a Bowl Collector...of course, that means there was a Very First Bowl Collector...wonder who she was?

But, in reality, I figger (love typing "figger"...such a grammatical no-no...but I do say "figger" so why not write "figger"?) the Whole Bowl Thing probably ties into memories of our older women kinfolk working in the kitchen with their Workaday bowls to fix up somethin' good to eat...and maybe special Holiday Bowls that came out for Holidays and Company...and maybe even the Old-Wooden-Dough-Bowl-Cum-the-Kitchen-Table's-Fruit-Bowl creates some buried (or not so buried) memories we attempt to revive through our own collecting of bowls...

I expect there are volumes writ about The Bowl and all of the Meaning tied to it as a symbol...fortunately, I haven't given it all that much thought...so ya'll lucked out this time...or maybe not...

When I stop to think about Significant Bowls of My Past I only come up with a few examples to share...There was Pink Granma's set of 4 different coloured Pyrex Bowls...the ubiquitous Yellow, Green, Red and Blue Set...Yellow was always used for Potato Salad (and at Christmas, ambrosia)...that's it...just Potato Salad...and my Granma made a Killer Potato Salad...her potatoes were never ever mushy, a problem I still struggle with...I get bored and wander off, leaving the potatoes to their own devices and wind up with Potato Sludge...that means, of course, Mashed Potatoes instead of Potato Salad (I have recently solved this little problem by roasting red potatoes for salad...always...instead of even trying to boil potatoes)...the Green Bowl was primarily for Mixing Up Ingredients...the Blue Bowl always held Early Little Green Peas or Yellow Corn...the only 2 vegetables Brother One would eat...peas & corn...to this day, I dislike peas and corn...and Veg-All Vegetables...but that is another story...

Took me a while to recall what went into the Red Bowl...it was Granma's Gumbo...after there wasn't enough to have in the Big Pot or even the Green Bowl...Granma's Gumbo was out of this world...I wish I knew how to make it...well, technically I do...but I don't even waste time tryin' because I believe the secret probably laid with that Huge Old Pressure Cooker...with the wooden handles...there was a Layer of Black on the bottom of that thing that would not come out...and when Granma's pressure cooker started whistlin' and shaking on the stove, I could find somewhere else to be...

To this day, when I think about that pressure cooker I am still amazed the thing didn't just blow up one day and kill somebody...or a lot of somebodys...that didn't have the sense God gave a rock to get outta the kitchen when that cooker got to movin' about on the burner...

My mom cannot really cook so not a lot of FFM (Fond Food Memories) or Bowls filled to the brim with Um Um Good Things there...she can bake, but I have only 5 words for ya'll...Hamburger Helper & Fish Sticks...the 2 main food sources of my childhood...until we got a Sam's and a microwave...then microwaveable corn dogs became the favourite item of the household...

Well, there was a Really Huge McCoy pottery bowl that for the dogs' water...that bowl was the very devil to lift, clean, rinse and fill...but at least there wasn't a problem with the Dogs' Water getting knocked over...slopped over maybe...when I would try to fill it so full that I didn't have to go through all that routine to refill it again any time soon...

Okay...in all fairness, I guess maybe if the Kitchen Aid Mixer Bowl counts, I'd say that would be the Significant Bowl Memory tied to my mom's kitchen...because since she did bake a lot that thing was constantly in use...and I was constantly pressed into service to help her clean up...Kitchen Aid mixer bowl and all...but that should have logically driven me screamin' in the other direction from Bowl Collecting since 1) our kitchen was a tiny tacked-on affair at the rear of our old shambling Victorian and 2) cleaning up behind a messy baker is not one of Life's Big Fun Moments...more often that not, I ended up with a couple of weeks' worth of restriction for runnin' my smart mouth...I believe I largely spent the years 14, 15 and 16 on restriction just for mouthin' off...

My Granny had poor health, bless her heart, so there wasn't a lot of cookin' going on...but 1 day a couple of years before she passed on, I was cleaning up around the place and moved onto the utility shed (hey...when I get bored, I clean)...where I found 2 old wooden dough bowls...one of her mama's and one was hers from days gone by...I asked if I might have 1 and it now sits on the dining room table...

And then there is Aunt Cat's dough bowl...when my Aunt Cat's estate was being divided, I asked for a few things...a few old kitchen utensils and her dough bowl...one of the old hand-chipped shallow wide bowls...I believe my relatives thought I'd lost my mind...I have that bowl sitting in a stand on the drop-leaf in the dining room...Aunt Cat was a Hoot...quick to speak her mind and living in a neat & tidy little Mill House in Experiment, Georgia long after her husband passed on...with a mean little Chihuahua named Chiquita...Chiquita had a Bite First, Ask Questions Later thing going on...mean little dog...but the apple of Aunt Cat's eye so I'm glad they had one another...

Well...long story short...Darla over at Bay Side to Mountain Side showed off her newest Bowl and I took that as a sign that I should share my favourite bowls...

love yellow ware bowls with blue striping...there are more but, say it with me, I take such rotten photos that I gave up getting a good shot of the stack o' bowls sitting at the bottom of the cabinet bookshelf...that shot involves kneeling on hard tile and holding the camera out in front of me where I can't see the viewer and clicking...not good...


Granny and Aunt Cat's dough bowls...and Mungo, of course...because Mungo wants to be...and tries to be...in every photo taken in the house...and I love him so much that I can't shoo him too often...and because after you shoo him too often, Mungo takes offense, drops to the ground and rolls over so he can attach hands and feet to my shooing hand...and then he hangs on...

Little Cheapie Bowl from HomeGoods...but I love it...the colour is much richer (see above mention about crappy photo skills) and it is the perfect size for grabbin' for lots of use in the kitchen...and I'm a Bowl Hog so I bought two...

(oooh, and those are two little Buffalo China dishes sittin' to the left of the Everyday Bowl...you can't see the 2 little BC custard dishes because those are in the drain basket...I have a problem, don't I?)

Proof Positive

Need I say Anything at All?

Harry Potter and an Orange Cat...

DS's fiance relaxin' in my new chair with Henri Henri and Harry Potter...

apparently, my new chair is the Hot Spot at Number 17...

Fred the Basset Hound makes no bones about his liking my chair...gives me a flat very unfriendly stare whenever I sit in it and he is relegated to the floor...

in fact, this morning when I rounded the corner into the kitchen (which is where The Chair resides), there he was...in my chair...head flopped over the side...for all the world lookin' like a great big innocent furry spotted rag dog...and yet managing to give me a Deep Freeze look which was worth a thousand words...

or at least a couple of choice ones...

but that's ok-tay...because when Fred's chubby butt got down for breakfast I flopped two big cushions into the seat so no more Basset Hound Butt in there for at least a while...

the bassets already lay claim to the sofa...and the reading chair...and our bed if they can manage it...I did insist Mr G do away with the bed ramp...

seriously...havin' to try to beat 3 bassets and a corgi into bed every night so I could claim the very edge of the bed just wore thin...especially when many a night I would awake to find my left leg hangin' off of the bed, bracing myself so I wouldn't fall onto the floor...

this chair will be mine...

Over the Garden Gate...

or, in this case, the Chain Link Fence...that if I weren't tryin' to curtail my use of spray paint would have already been sprayed Black...

this is the Kitchen Garden...called so not because it is, obviously so, where we veggie garden, but because I can see it out of the Kitchen Window...

Kitchen Windows are important...a woman spends a lot of time standin' at a kitchen sink...so I hope ya'll have wonderful views out of yours :) for about 13 years, my kitchen sink had a lovely view of a Flat Kitchen Wall...that was our first home...and being so, there were lots of things it never crossed my mind to find issue with...at home, our sink looked out over the backyard...I didn't realize how much I'd miss a Kitchen Window until I found myself staring at Painted Sheetrock...under one of those loverly fluorescent lights used beneath a kitchen cabinet...ummmm, booooyyyyy

So....Kitchen Sink with View became an Important Item on the Ever Growing Mental List of If We Ever Build a Home...right along with No Bathtubs Right Up Against the Dang Toilet...Particularly the End of the Tub Where One's Head is Resting During a Soak...that can ruin a good hot water soak faster than just about anything else...I mean, I keep a pretty clean house...but ugh...the Funk that Finds Its Way to Rest on those little ledges at the base of toilets...

And I don't care to have my head restin' eye level with a toilet seat during a soak...just ruins the whole atmosphere of the thing...

So...Kitchen Window View and Toilet/Tub Thingie are Big on the List...

Now, I'm always takin' notes so feel free to pass along any of the items on ya'lls lists if you want to :)

More Pixs from #17 this morning:

Mr Toad laid claim to the bottom of the cracked terracotta pot I use to elevate the FBDs food bowl (you should always elevate your dog's feedin' bowl so 1) the poor little things don't get a pain in the neck and 2)you reduce the risk of bloat...something certain breeds are more prone to than others...but why even take the smallest risk?...anyhoo...movin' back along to the point)...I carted him down the yard a few days ago...apparently, my eviction notice didn't make much of an impression...oh well...

(SOOOOO CUTE)...just looks disgruntled, doesn't he? I imagine I'd be disgruntled too if some Big Honkin' Lady yanked the lid off my house and then blinded me with a SuperNova Camera Flash...

The Feeding Pot's new location...

(edited to add: I do not feed the FBDs out of the mouldy old saucer...that is just where to rest the food bowls)

One of my Shade Tents decided to take a rest...what a pain...I tried to get it righted...but it is a 2-person job...Mr G, unbeknownst to him, signed up as my helper for this evening...




and one of our Visiting Hummers...last year, I think I had only 1 Hummer all summer long...now several visit every day...

this is one of the little females...there is an even smaller female who comes and I just love her...she brings out my Protective Mother side...

Last year, the 1 Lone Hummer would come by once in a while & not even stay but for a few seconds...no photo ops...now the Hummers come for a sip, sit & rest a while and even perch up in the dogwood once in a blue moon...and they've gotten very comfortable with me movin' about in the kitchen...

The Cats Who Love to Hang Out in the Window are, naturally, ecstatic about this turn of events...Mungo & Henri Henri (nee Henry) spends hours perched in the window waiting for their Hummers to pop in for a drink...I'll get a pix of Mungo one day...it is pretty darn funny how he leans up on the sill, arms folded and stares out of the window...

That's all (did you think I'd ever shut up? :)

******

(oh...still on the fence about the sweet potato pie recipe...I'm not sure I'm wild about it...it is good for a light fix when you have to have some Pie...luv pie...but it def isn't a Blue Ribbon sort of Pie)