Yard Sale Foolishness

A couple of months ago, when the weather was cooler, my daughter and I went to a yard sale in my neighborhood and found some old tin toys. These were used and loved in the fifties by the homeowner's mother. Take a look at what I decided to do with them. The inspiration comes from The Farm Chicks and their book which is in the picture next to the frig.

I just love these. They are right up there among my all time favorites.

A New Blog

Please click over to my daughter's blog, http://atleastmymomthinksimfunny.blogspot.com .
She's the one who owns and sorta trains Bernie. She's also the creative one in the family and always has been. I am looking forward to reading her take on life from a young person's perspective.

Pets

I wanted to show some pictures of the family pets. I don't know why or if anyone cares, but at least they're there for posterity. This is Bernie, a malti-poo. He's my daughter's baby. He's a little more bald than usual because she had him shaved to stay cool. But he's a pistol.

And this is Maggie. Magnolia to be exact. She's the queen. Yes she really is that fat. She weighs about 20 lbs. She is old and cranky and rules the roost around here.

Summertime in the South or What I had for lunch

I'm having lunch a little late today but it's ok because dinner will be late, too. Not that you care. But I just had to share this pretty homegrown tomato stuffed with chicken salad. How long has it been since you had a stuffed tomato for lunch? I remember my mother ordering it at the Sears cafeteria when I was a kid. But those were usually stuffed with tuna salad. Later, I had them at the cafeteria at the Kresge store. Kresge went on to become Kmart and I think they had them, too. There are no more Kresge's and very few Kmarts and most of those don't have cafeterias or grills anymore. I know there are diners that offer them somewhere, but they are scattered around. So I made my own. My husband grew the tomato, by the way. I can't take credit for that. It's so perfectly cool, refreshing and filling all at the same time. Served with the requisite iced tea, of course.

Updated look

I am so excited to unveil this new look for the blog. I realize it's not devilish but it suits my personality. This blog is a way for me to learn and practice skills that may become useful one day. I doubt I will ever have the patience to master writing html code, but I'm learning bits as I go. Maybe now that it looks better I will want to post more often.

Cookie Decorating

In order to feel more useful while I'm unemployed, I decided to practice my cookie decorating skills. This recipe is from Southern Living for chocolate sugar cookies. I won't bother to repeat the recipe. It is available online or any sugar cookie recipe will do. These are made with all butter which makes a crisper, flatter cookie for decorating. I'm specifically trying to master the outline and flood technique. Based on these cookies, I still need more practice. I have a hard time figuring out how wet to make it so the icing will flow smoothly. These are o.k. but they could be better. I guess that just means I'll have to keep making cookies!

Stefanie thinks they're yummy!