Fun Experiment with Frozen Orbs

I saw this idea last year and was hoping to remember to do it with our great nieces this year.  You put some food coloring in a balloon (use bigger balloons - these are kind of small), put the opening of the balloon on the end of your faucet and fill with water.  Tie and then shake gently and put outside (or in your freezer) to freeze.  It takes quite a while to totally freeze them.  Like longer than overnight in 0 degrees.

When totally frozen, and with rubber gloves on, snip the balloon with scissors or a knife and peel the balloon off.  It comes off very easy.  If doing several colors, you'll need to rinse your gloves in between colors because the food coloring will get on your gloves and transfer to the next color.  You see some blue on my yellow one.

Most winters if we have snow it stays white everywhere all winter.  (I was used to it melting between snows in Indiana)  So I really like it that these will be colorful decorations in the snow by our front sidewalk all winter!  My favorite is the dark blue one and the yellow one on the right in the front.

I have a couple more out there that still have the balloons on.  I think one may be purple because the girls wanted to mix red and blue to try to make a purple one.  They thought it was fun. 

It will be fun to see how long we have them.  April?  Anyone want to guess?  Leave your guess in the comments below.  

Good Lesson

This was just shared on Facebook today, and I think it is worth sharing here.  I've been thinking that we need to make lots of memories for the bank account of memories while we can.


The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”
She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”
And with a smile, she said: “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less

Vacation Bible School

I remember going to Vacation Bible School (VBS) in our old church on the hill.  My favorite parts were singing and the good, homemade cookies we had.  Seems like we always had 2 cookies wrapped in a napkin - and lemonade or red Kool-Aid.  It's sad to me that now 1) they don't give kids anything red since it makes them hyper we now know and 2) they have "healthier" snacks/less sugar, no homemade cookies ever.   Everything comes from a box or bag and Walmart.

This is my church's VBS week.  We go from 8:45-noon.  I've been picking up our 2 great nieces and 2 friends in 2 locations in Pocahontas to go to VBS, and then when we get out, getting them to the summer free lunch at school in Pocahontas which closes at 12:30, then dropped back off at the 2 locations.  Kinda different for me!  Also helping with crafts at VBS which has gone very smoothly - we have lots of help.  I don't know the count for today, but we had 208 kids yesterday!   We had 52 at once in one of our time slots for crafts!   Lots of messy stuff that they love:  glitter, glue, paint, markers.

Here are some pictures from the week.  The older girls worked on their black canvases every day and got finished with applying 2 layers of Mod Podge today.  The girls were really creative with their pictures.    The older boys got to go out to the "shop" and make wooden flags with the men.

I think this was 5th & 6th grade

   

posing with part of the stage decor

Dad Would Be Proud

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a new dryer.  And we ended up getting a matching washer.  A couple weeks ago I noticed the lettering on the dryer was running or smearing.  Sometimes we hang a pair of Bill's dirty jeans off the top of the washer or dryer and spray all the oil and grease with Resolve.  So we figured the spray had gotten on the lettering and caused it to come off.   We could've wiped ALL the lettering off it was that bad.

I thought "oh no, brand new washer & dryer and messed up already".  But Bill thought I should mention it to our appliance dealer.  I remembered my new glass measuring cups I got last year and after the first run through the dishwasher the lettering was gone.  I e mailed the company (Corning?) just so they would know.  They ended up sending me a new one (I only told them about the 2 c. one and not the 1 c. too).  They have been through the dishwasher many times now and are fine.  Thought maybe that would be the case with this lettering.  Maybe a problem they have corrected.  Seilers, who have been in business in Pocahontas 39 years I think, said "sure, it's under warranty.  We'll get that panel and be out to put it on for you".

Dick came to do that today - at lunch time.  Bill had been trying to get a field sprayed before a bunch of rain hits later today so he was late getting home for lunch.  I was making boneless pork chops in the crock pot with a can of cheese soup like Diane does, homemade bread just out of the oven that was smelling good, green beans with ham, corn and peaches and happened to have just enough for three.  So I asked if he had had lunch and if not, would he like to eat with us.  He had not had lunch and was probably not going to and said "sure".  It was about 1:30. 

Dad always loved to have people over.  Mom and I are the types that want more notice and planning than this so I know Dad would be proud that I did this spur of the moment.  I'm trying to do that more.  It's supposed to be about the company and visiting right?  

Remember me mentioning learning good things from the blog "Reluctant Entertainer"?    

Busy!

It's been a long time since my last blog post I know.  We got done planting maybe two weeks ago at midnight before we started getting quite a bit of rain at 12:05 am.   With several days of rainy, cool weather ahead, everybody was contemplating whether they should try to get all of the beans in the ground or wait until warmer, drier weather or get them in quick in case it was going to be one of those springs when it keeps raining every couple of days with not enough time in between for the ground to get dry enough to plant again.

Turns out that is what is happening so we're very glad to be done.  Some here still aren't.  Now all of the fields have to be sprayed when it gets dry enough.  Bill says that may be tricky.  

My mom left today after being here for a week.  We kept busy while she was here.  I was finally able to take her to Carnegie Cafe in Lake City.  It's a very nice restaurant in an old Carnegie Library.  Diane and her girls, Diane's friend, Mom & I went to Storm Lake for pedicures or manicures and ate at the girls' favorite place, BozzWellz.  The little girls spent the night with us - Camry for 3 nights straight.  We made cards with my friend Deb and Bill's mom.  Mom got a lot done on her Christmas cards (lucky her!).  Trip to West Bend to the meat locker for Butter Braids (only $7 since they are made in that town and you can buy seconds at the grocery or meat locker), bacon, and steak & roast seasoning that's also good on asparagus.  Cookout here along with shooting practice for the guys and a Gator ride for the girls.  Church on Sun.  Supper and bowling at the bowling alley.  Mom was able to go to the last day of school for the talent show before she headed southeast.   

I have a P.E.O. convention to go to Fri.-Sun. in Des Moines.  Seems like we have lots of fun things on the calendar for the summer already.  

Happy May Day!

Did you get a May Day basket today?  I saw a friend post on Facebook today that it's too bad we don't still give May Day baskets.  Why not do it if you like that tradition?!  

Stampin' Up! came out with a berry basket die this year so I immediately got it knowing that I'd use it for various things for years to come.  All you do is put two sheets of card stock on the die and run it through the Big Shot and all the pieces (6) to make the basket, trim and handle are cut out in less than a minute.  (if you'd like to have one too, go to my web site - top right) Let me know if you have any questions. 

This first green one I dropped off on our neighbors' door this morning.  They have a daughter so want her to have memories of receiving May Day baskets.  The pink one is for Diane and girls.  I hope I can get it to their door before they get home from school, but if not, I'll do the ring the doorbell and go delivery.

We got a tenth of an inch of rain late morning which stopped our operation but the wind has been blowing and Bill and Tim think we can get going again now.  So I'll have to do the quick basket delivery and get back to the tractor.  We're close to being done planting corn.  Then we'll start beans but lots of rain in next week's forecast.

These are so quick and fun to do that I need to make up about 10 to have ready to give to several people next year!

sorry, blurry picture

 

Friends

These are the friends that the last post was about that I made the chicken salad for last week.  Today we had Bible Study here at our house, had taco salads and grasshopper pie for lunch and then went to Laurens.  These 3 had either never been there or it had been years ago.  There is a nice store there, Heart 'N Home, that we wanted to go to and that's where this picture was taken.  It has been a nice, sunny, relaxing day.  

So happy to have met these friends a year ago.  We're all free to go to lunch if we want to, road trips, and Deanne on the left lives on a lake and likes to take us out in her boat!  Sandi, 2nd from left, is going to take us to her mom's in a couple of weeks so we can see her collection of dishes.  Deb next to me is a stamper so we get together and make cards.

In a few minutes, the local high school, PAC, girls' basketball team will be playing in the semifinal State game in Des Moines.  We can watch it Live via thecube.com.  The team is pretty good and most of the girls are only sophomores so the next couple years should be exciting following them.

Girl Fun

Today I have a couple of friends coming over for Bible Study and then lunch.  I like to do "girl food" like this and make it pretty.  Have learned a lot about "garnishing" and  presentation from my friends Terri and Debbie.  Today we are missing one of our friends.  She is just getting a cold and if it's anything like what Bill and others have had, it's terrible and she'll have it for a while.   Bill is still coughing pretty bad.  He's had his cold and everything that went with it since just after Christmas.

Today's menu is homemade chicken salad with pecans and grapes in a waffle bowl, French Breakfast Muffins that melt in your mouth, and fresh fruit.  I'll post the Betty Crocker recipe for the muffins next.  They are so good.   

It was very cold yesterday so we had sun dogs.  The picture below was taken at sunset.  This morning the sun is shining brightly but the temp. is -8 and -21 wind chill even though the wind is only 6 mph.  Brrrrr. 

 

Decorah Eagles

It's that time of year again - the Decorah, Iowa eagles have been working on their nest and this week two eggs were delivered.  You can watch the live eagle cam here:  http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

This picture is the dad taking his first look at the eggs and getting ready to take his first turn sitting on them while the mother takes a break and gets some food.  Pretty amazing to be able to watch this whole thing!  Enjoy




 

Working On It

It's been a long time since I've posted anything here.  Our Internet connection has been super slow for several months which made loading the pictures for the blog posts take forever.  

Bill has just changed our provider and our speed is sooo much better.  

I'm just back last night from a couple of weeks in Naples, Florida with my mom and hope to get back to blogging soon when I get the pictures transferred from my phone to the laptop.  

Lots of nice beach and pool days in Florida, visiting Indiana friends and some shopping, walks and reading.  It's actually fun to shop for summer clothes there with lots more to pick from and in bright, fun colors.  Always like to take advantage of the fresh seafood too.

I flew on Allegiant from Punta Gorda, FL to Des Moines and saw that the ground was white as we got closer to home.  Quite a difference to go from everything green to white.  Always good to get away to a warmer place in the winter!      

Povitica

I was in Costco in Des Moines on Thurs. and there was a table filled with loaf sized boxes covered with pictures of strawberries and lots of people gathered around sampling something.  It turned out to be Povitica which we had just learned about last Thanksgiving when Peggy and Bill were at Bill's brother, Jim's, in Kansas City for Thanksgiving.  This Povitica is made in the Strawberry Hill community in Kansas City.  Costco was only going to have it for a short time at Christmas this year. 

I remembered that Bill and his mom had come home with a brochure showing this really neat looking bread that Bill said was good.  So I sampled the four flavors they had at Costco and bought an apple one.  They make English Walnut, Apple Cinnamon, Poppy Seed, Raisin Walnut, Cream Cheese, Strawberry Cream Cheese, Choc. Chip Cream Cheese, Cranberry Walnut, Blueberry Cream Cheese, Cokolada (Chocolate) and Pumpkin Spice.  We won't buy any more, but it was a fun thing to see, learn about and try.  Here is what the brochure says about it:

Pronounced Po-va-teet-sa, this traditional Eastern European "swirled bread" is handmade using our grandmother's old-world recipe.  We roll sweet dough into a thin "skin", cover it with layers of scrumptious fillings, hand roll into luscious loaves and bake to perfection.  In 1984, our father founded the company in Kansas City's tiny Strawberry Hill community.  He honored our family's traditions and his mother's passion by sharing her beloved Povitica with the world.

They have a web site:  Povitica.com

P.E.O. Meeting

I had a P.E.O. meeting last night while we were having snow flurries.  We got to the house and Sandy had her yard light decorated so pretty.   She served three kinds of pie with or without ice cream:  peach, apple or pecan and hot apple cider and coffee.  She had made some turkey favors for each of us.  

I enjoy having this group in our home once a year and decorating and making special foods for them.  The next meeting I have is in March.

Today the wind chill was -1 when we got up, and we've had snow flurries off and on. 

Boys Cleaning Their Toys

While we've been having cold, sunny days, Bill and Uncle Tim have been working on cleaning equipment to get it done and put away before snow - which is in the forecast for Mon. as I listen to the news tonight.  We are all done, but there are farmers still getting their field work done.  

Tomorrow and Sat. I'll be working in the kitchen at church.  We're having an all day Women's Conference on Sat. with 530 women coming!   I don't know what the menu is yet, but there is always a nicely decorated table of mini cinnamon rolls and muffins with coffee when everyone arrives, a very nice lunch and then snacks done creatively in the afternoon. On Fri., we chop veggies and cut up fruit, etc. The decorating team was getting started tonight.  Lots of work to be done!

Freezer Full of Fresh Chickens

It was chicken butchering time at Diane's house again.  Her husband's dad likes to raise chickens as a hobby.  They have a flock for laying eggs and every fall they raise some for butchering.  Back in Oct. 2012 I went over and took some pictures for a blog post that you can see HERE.  It was the same setup basically so I didn't take the same pictures again.  We did have the feather plucking table and packaging sink and table inside their shed since it was really windy and a little chilly plus chance of rain.

Diane's husband gutting and trimming

It took about 4 hours or so to do 32 chickens.   With several helping and having done it a few times before, it wasn't bad at all.

 



This time they used a Foodsaver to package them rather than the huge Ziploc bags.  This should work better with getting all the air out.





The kids helped some, mostly plucking the few feathers that were left and played on the trampoline.

This picture was taken last night.  Bill and Tim were out combining beans until about 8:30 or so.  Some of the beans in a field will be ready but not all of them so it's a frustrating Fall to not be able to get complete fields done.   

Another Amazing Freedom Rock

A couple of years ago, Bill and I went to southwest Iowa on a little anniversary getaway.  On our way home, we made a point to go through Greenfield, Iowa to see the big Freedom Rock which is painted every year by Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II.  You may remember seeing a post here about it.

He is now also painting one in each of the 99 Iowa counties, and there are several already.  We have one here in our town which was one of the first to be done I think.  I recently went to lunch with friends, and we stopped to see the one in Rockwell City.  Wish you could see the details up close - amazing!

He is so talented.  Check out his web site HERE.  He says that he is doing this to honor America's veterans, promote Iowa tourism, and to provide for his family.  What a good guy!

Perfect Peaches

On my way home from a trip to Peoria, IL, I detoured just a little to stop in Muscatine, Iowa to get some canteloupes and a watermelon.  They were selling lots of other vegetables and Missouri peaches.  I bought a few peaches - you never know if they're going to be good.  Got home and everything was so good.  A couple weeks later Bill and I headed east to find and try a catfish place (another blog soon) and came home through Muscatine.  This time we got a whole box of peaches and every single one in the box were beautiful. 

 

I Googled how to freeze them since Bill loves peach pie almost as much as apple!  It sounded easy.  What I read said to let them ripen to the eating stage and then refrigerate them, not touching, for up to a week before freezing.  Then for easy peeling, lightly cut an X on the bottom of the peach and boil for 40 seconds.  Then put in a bowl of ice water.

I was amazed at how easy and fast it was to peel them with just my fingers!  And no waste this way!  I cut them in half and they pulled away from the seed perfect.  

I sliced them and then dunked them quickly into a bowl of water mixed with some Fruit Fresh (no picture).  This is supposed to keep them from turning brown when they thaw.  Some directions I read didn't mention doing this step.







I put them on a tray lined with paper towels to drain.

Then I layed them out on a tray lined with parchment paper so that they would freeze individually, and then I could bag them.  

This way if you'd want to just use part of them, they wouldn't be all stuck together.  I ended up with 4 bags/4 c. each of beautiful peach slices - enough for four pies I hope!  Such an easy thing to do - I will do this every year if I can find good peaches again!  We have a couple more in the refrigerator and they are still as good as when I put them in there.  

 

Restyled Barn Sale

On Friday's post I mentioned that my friend, Debbie, and I made plans to go to a barn sale together.  Actually it was called the Restyled Barn Sale and was west of Carmel (IN) out in the "country".  It was at the home and barn of a couple that I went to church with.  Here is Lori at her booth, Fancy That.  Fancy That can now be found at 488 Gradle Dr. at Carmel Midland (an arts & antiques market) for those in the Carmel area.

There were lots of booths inside and outside of the big barn

and a few of these trucks you could go in plus look at their stuff outside the truck.  (below)

I had been to our minister's daughter's wedding outside in a big grassy area near big trees, and the reception was in this barn.  Very nice wedding.  The barn looked great.

The only thing I was really looking for was a plant stand for our screened porch - and I found two or three that would've worked.  This is the one I chose (for a good price), and I love it.  I guess it's a good thing this plant isn't growing super fast! 

Nice Day with a Friend

Debbie and me at a barn sale

Back in June when I was in Indiana, I got to visit a friend at her new home in Noblesville.  Debbie and I have known each other since 7th grade (we liked the same boy in 7th grade!).  For several years, she and her husband lived up near Chicago so we didn't see each other much, but now she has moved back near where we grew up.

We made plans to get together, and she invited me to have lunch at her house.  I loved her lunch:  chicken salad in a waffle bowl, grapes, cheese and crackers, fruit cup, and she had made little loaves of blueberry bread.  Dessert was some yummy chocolate covered cheesecake bites.   Love all her garnishes and doilies.                                                    

chicken salad, fruit cup, blueberry bread

creamy cheesecake bites

Then after a tour of her beautiful home and this wonderful lunch, I got to shop!  Debbie is very artistic and can do lots of things.  **She is the one who introduced me to Stampin' Up! almost 20 years ago!!  And I'm thankful for that. 

For a few years now she's been making vintage jewelry.  Her business is called Old Tyme Adornments.  She buys various misc. pieces of old jewelry and chains and takes them apart and puts pieces together to come up with her own pieces of repurposed jewelry!  No two pieces are alike!  So interesting to see and hear about how she does this!  She mainly sells at vendor or craft shows.

I bought the necklace on the left below for myself (I like hearts), the necklace in the middle for a friend's birthday and the bracelet on the right for Diane.  Diane wears a necklace with a sideways cross so I think she'll like this.  (she doesn't read my blog!)  It's really special to have a piece that Debbie has made and special to give them for gifts.  (notice the detail in her packaging too) 

It was a really nice day that went too fast.  But we made plans to go to a barn sale together - pictures in a blog post soon.

Quick Shrub Removal

Yesterday's project for Bill and Uncle Tim was removing a row of big, round shrubs from the cemetery.  Last year Bill took out a row to the right of this one above.  They were hanging over the headstones and the hearse couldn't get through.  As you can see, the guy that takes care of the mowing already has grass growing where they were and it looks great.

On the other side of the cemetery was another row of them that needed to come out.  They already had most of them out and hauled away by the time I got there to take pictures.  Bill said they actually came out of the ground pretty easy.  

The driveways have been needing some gravel for a while so Bill is getting that done now too.  This one you can see is done.  Another project checked off the list.

Yesterday I went to Ft. Dodge to get the oil changed/tires rotated on the car, to Walmart, etc.  Today I'm going to be freezing sweet corn.