Being Green

Can someone please tell me where this week has gone?  Wasn't Monday yesterday?  Oh well, bring on the weekend!

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I'm striving to be more 'green' or conservative, if you will.

But, I'm not going to talk about any of that today.

Nope.  I'm not even going to talk about Kermit the Frog being green (for all you Muppet fans!).

I'm just going to show you some green things around our property.

Mmmm!  My green peppers (compliments of the hillbilly compost bin) are still producing!  Ya gotta love free produce!

What's still green in your yard?

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!  No big plans here but it will still be good!

Till next time,

Productivity & an Award!

This morning I was rudely awakened at 4:46 a.m. by Country Boy having a slight panic attack and asking if today was Thursday and if he had to be at work today *sigh*.  I did manage to get back to sleep and we actually slept in... because he did not have to be at work today... his crazy schedule begins tomorrow and earlier than usual to boot.  Which is why, I guess, he woke up from a sound sleep and had a slight panic attack thinking that today was tomorrow and he was going to be late.  Ever had those moments, when you suddenly wake up and you think you forgot to set your alarm or it's late or for those who have wacky work schedules, you're not sure what day it is?  Yea, I have too and those mornings are no fun.  Needless to say, he had a little trouble getting back to sleep after that!

When we did finally manage to crawl out of bed we ended up getting quite a bit done today.  Nothing really exciting... some laundry, some shelves stained, some tree-trimming and re-arranging of our used car lot!   Country Boy decided he wanted to move the 5th wheel to another location on our property where it wouldn't be under so many trees.  Makes for a mess on the roof, mold on the outside and the possibility of a tree or tree branch damaging it.

The other day, Nancy from A Rural Journal awarded me with The Versatile Blogger award!  She's so nice and is a wonderful and creative photographer!  You should check out her blog!

Thank you Nancy!  I'm really excited and truly appreciate it!  Part of the deal for accepting this award is to:

1.  Thank the blogger who awarded me and link back to him/her.

2.  Share 7 things about myself and

3.  Pass the award along to 15 other newly discovered blogs.

That's it!  So, here goes 7 things:

1.  One of my first jobs was working for 'The Mouse' at Walt Disney World!  I started out behind an ice cream cart, worked in a restaurant and ended up in entertainment.  Fun job!

2.  I've been to England several times and traveled throughout Europe in my younger days.  Beautiful countrysides!

3.  I have a Lilliput Lane collection of cottages that I started collecting on my first trip to England.  I fell in love with them when I saw them in the store and have brought back one or two every time I visited!

4.  I was driving a boat long before I was old enough to drive a car.

5.  I managed to put my bottom teeth through my lower lip when I slipped on a trampoline and hit the metal bar.  Thankfully my teeth are strong but I still have a slight scar on my lip.

6.  I love seafood, Mexican food and anything with red sauce!  I'm not much of a meat eater though.

7.  I'm 'very' old-fashioned according to my hubby!  I would have to agree as I have old-fashioned values and am striving to live a more simple, old-fashioned life!

The following bloggers are fairly new bloggers that I follow and I would like to pass this award on to them because they have a great blog and are very versatile in their content!

Blue Country Magic

Homeschool on the Croft

Invited to the Kings Table

LIfe, Laughs, and the Click of a Shutter

Our Simple Life...

Seven Gates Farm

This Old House 2

Reasonable Chaos

Stop by and check them out and say hello!  You just might like what you see!

While participation in accepting these awards is purely voluntary, I do hope that the above-mentioned bloggers will accept their award as they are well-deserved and it's a great way to get to know some new people!

Till next time,

Morning By Morning

“Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!”

Thomas O. Chisholm & William M. Runyan –

“Great is Thy Faithfulness” 

I love this old hymn!  Even though it was written in the early 1900's, I think it's perfect for today and serves as a gentle reminder that God is still in control and faithful even during rough times.  He has continually provided for all of my needs and even a few of my wants in times past and during this rough, economical time.  He is so faithful even when I am not; for that, I am grateful!

It was foggy yesterday morning as Country Boy and I headed out to check our crops.  I ran back into the house and grabbed my camera because foggy mornings make for great picture taking!  

The sunrays peeking through our backyard.

Country Boy found these flowers yesterday climbing along the fence in the chicken run. I think they are morning glories because they close up in the evening, 

I was very excited about this plant because I've always wanted a climbing, flowering plant on my fences but have not had any success because of the shade and the sand.  I didn't want it in the chicken run though *laugh* because once we get our chickens, it will disappear!

I thought about adding a 'second fence' in the chicken run to keep the chickens away but I think I'll try to transplant it instead.

I just hope it survives the move!  Any suggestions on how to transplant a native plant?

So pretty!

Every morning offers us a fresh start... a chance to choose how our day is going to be.  An opportunity to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.  Is your glass going to be half full today?  Are you grateful that your needs are being met?

Till next time,

Raindrops

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Ours was pretty low-key and relaxing!

Quick post today... lots to do... OK, so there's a lot on the To-Do list... Country Boy has his list and I have mine... we'll see how much we actually get done *smile*!

We've had several nice rains lately which has been great for our fall garden. But, one thing I enjoy doing after a nice rain is walking around and enjoying the beauty of the raindrops on the plants and trees.  So, come walk around with me and let's see what beauty is out there!

Our pear tree reminding us that it is fall even though our temperatures haven't gotten the memo!

The underside of a leaf on our orange tree.

Pear tree leaves

Pine tree needles

Wishbone

We'll keep it a short walk since it is a Monday!

I'm off to tackle my list folks!  Have a great day!

Till next time,

Simply Saturday

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to make some cloth napkins to help in my 'greening up/frugal' efforts and several of you wanted to see them when they were done...

They are 100% cotton and are reversible.   I love this pattern... birds, fruit, the colors... perfect for me!  When I saw this pattern in the store, I knew I wanted to use it to make some napkins.  I mentioned this to my neighbor, who was with me at the time, and she got really excited about the idea and wanted to help me!   

Since I'm not much of a seamstress, I was thrilled with her offer to help!  We made up a dozen of these using this fabric and they turned out great!  Only problem is... we didn't think to wash the fabric first, (remember the, I'm not much of a seamstress part, *laugh*!) before cutting & sewing.  Needless to say, with 100% cotton, they shrunk after being washed!  They're still usable but I have since washed all the fabrics that I've purchased and will start making some fun and funky napkins to sell on Etsy!  More on that later!

My neighbor and I make a great team!  I measured and cut the fabric then sewed the two pieces together.  After turning them inside out and pressing them I handed them to her to do the top-stitching.  My cheapo machine is not always consistent so she did the finishing work!  Voila!  Pretty AND functional!  They look great paired with Country Boy's collection of Cherry Blossom depression glass!

This is just one more step towards living simply!

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Till next time,

This or That Thursday

Today I'm linking up with Deb Duty Photography for her first link up entitled This or That Thursday!

For those who follow me, you know that Country Boy and I just planted our fall garden.  It's coming along nicely and I'll post updates at a later date.  I wanted to show you a cucumber plant that Country Boy 'rescued' out of our hillbilly compost bin!

He planted it in a pot and it is throwing out all kinds of blooms.  We've even got some small cucumbers on it.

Mmmm, sweet gherkins come to mind!  Hopefully, I'll get enough to make a batch!

Stop by Deb's blog and check out some great photography and get inspired!

Till next time,

Nothin' Better

There is nothin' better to ease your frustrations than a little bit of manual labor!  For a brief moment today, I felt like for every one step forward we make we're thrown two steps back.  It was at that time that I went out and helped Country Boy do some more clearing of our woods.  Life's like that ya' know!  We all have our frustrating moments.  It all depends on how we handle those moments.  For me, it's a prayer and something physical to do and then I'm feelin' much better!

Needless to say, after all that manual labor, I'm just about too pooped to post!  So, I'll just show you some shots of some pine cones I saw on my walk around my brother-in-laws neighborhood in South Florida...

My squirrels would love these to munch on!

Have a wonderful evening!

Till next time,

What Did I Miss?

It seems like long time since I've been able to sit down and write a post or read my favorite blogs... I'm wondering what I missed and can't wait to 'catch-up'!  I do know that NE Texas FINALLY got some very much needed rain yesterday and last night and for that I am doing a happy dance for TexWisGirl!

Country Boy and I made a quick trip to South Florida this past weekend so he and his brother could play in the 18th Annual Anthony J. "Tony" Budreau Memorial Golf Classic for the fight against Lou Gehrig's Disease.  They have played every year for the past ten years or so.  Always a good time for a good cause!

We enjoyed Friday evening with his brother and his wife and then early Saturday morning, the boys were off for a day of golf, a delicious buffet and lots of give-aways!  Meanwhile, I meandered around their neighborhood and shot some photos in the morning and then my sister-in-law and I hung out by (and in) the pool all afternoon!

It was mid-morning when I began meandering and the sun was bright but the moon was still out.

I don't know what kind of tree this is or what the buds/blooms are but the bees sure were lovin' it!

There were also lots of White Peacock butterflies.

White Peacock butterflies

The scientific name is Anartia jatrophae.

The sun was strong and has washed out a lot of the pretty blue that was on these butterflies.  I believe the white dot on the leaf below is a White Peacock butterfly egg.

I snapped several more photos but the sun was getting hot so I headed back to the house, put my swimsuit on and headed for the pool!

While I was there, I started the huge task of rating, deleting and categorizing my 6,500+ photos *sigh*.  I have made some progress but it's going to take some time.  Once I get the remaining photos that I want to keep organized and copied onto my external hard drive it will be easier to keep up with it if I rate, delete and categorize them every time I upload a batch of photos.... at least, that's my plan and what I'm telling myself!

I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!  I'm off to get the laundry in off the line and maybe start 'catching-up' with my bloggy friends!

Till next time,

Pumpkin Spiced Latte

One of my favorite things about fall is all the pumpkin flavored goodies that are out to torture my waistline!  Pumpkin loafs, pumpkin cakes (for a yummy tasting pumpkin pound cake recipe check out Happier Than A Pig In Mud), pumpkin doughnuts and pumpkin spiced lattes.... YUM!

Recently, I have spent some hard-earned money on a couple of Pumpkin Spiced Lattes at our local Dunkin' Donuts.  I have a difficult time spending that much money on a cup of flavored coffee (but they're SOOoo yummy and only come around once a year!)  So instead of doing without or spending that much money I decided to go online and find a recipe that I could make at home (sorry T, it's a recipe *smile*!).  I found several of them, made one, didn't care for it, so I tried a second one.  Step aside DD... you've got nothin' on this recipe!  And, the price is right!  Check it out if you like anything pumpkin!

Pumpkin Spiced Latte


Ingredients
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used pure vanilla)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger brewed espresso (this country girl has no clue what that is so I brewed my coffee the regular way but doubled the amount of grounds I would normally use)

Directions

Brew your 'espresso'.  Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk together the pumpkin, vanilla, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and milk.  Warm over medium heat, whisking constantly, until hot and frothy.  Do not bring to a boil.  Pour the espresso into a mug and pour the pumpkin spiced milk over it.

Makes 1 serving.

Pumpkin Spiced Latte while blogging!

Mmmm!  I can't tell you how many times I said that while drinking it....  I couldn't help it!  Country Boy was laughing at me!

I haven't dug out my fall decorations yet.  It's still too hot even though we've had the house opened up all week.  It needs to be a tad cooler before I'll get into the decorating mode although, I did manage to put a fall arrangement out that I made a few years ago...

I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

Till next time,

Life Is Good

This time of year is always so refreshing.  The cooler temps seem to bring along with them a sense of relief from the hot summer months, a feeling of anticipation (or dread!) for the winter months and everything seems to be more alive!  Life is Good!

My yard is a flurry of action today with the squirrels eating shrooms, acorns and the squirrel feed I put out for them; the birds are fluttering around the feeders; the mourning doves are on the ground cleaning up what the other birds dropped, I even saw a mourning dove on one of the feeders... a first for me as I've always seen them on the ground; squirrels and birds taking turns getting a drink from the bird bath; hummingbirds taking long drinks of sweet nectar from their feeders; an occasional butterfly floating by and the dreaded love bugs are back.  Life is Good!

My husband has a job; I am able to stay home and pursue my dreams; our bills are being paid; we have a roof over our heads; clothes on our backs; good health; family and friends and food on the table.  Life is Good!

The fall garden is ready for planting and our dream of having a hobby farm/homestead are being realized one step-at-a-time.  Life is Good!

What I'm NOT saying is that our lives are perfect.  What I AM saying is that we are counting our blessings rather than our struggles.

Try listing your blessings.  It will change your outlook on life!

These are Wishbone flowers and they come back every year.  (You can read more about them HERE).  I need to get a new natural liner for them as the current ones are disintegrating to almost nothing, and yet, they still came back!  Life is Good!

Bloom where you are planted!

Till next time,