Dear Gus-Gus

To my dearest sister Gus-Gus,

I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for having the desire to take a dreadful memory of mine and turn it into a warm and loving one. Although no one remembered my birthday the first time I turned thirteen you made sure my second thirteenth birthday party was a blast and proved to me how much truly loved I am.

You are such a thoughtful person

and I am so grateful to have you as my sister. 

Sisters truly are a blessing from God. I love you dearly.

Love,
Me

P.S. Did I ever tell you about my 14th birthday?

They're The Same Thing Mom.

In our bathroom, unbeknownst to me, a party had been called simply because I wanted to use the facilities.

"Girls may I have a little privacy please?"

Thumbelina-Ballerina, stepping further into the bathroom, silently closed the door.

"Oh wait," I mused sarcastically to myself "I forgot, I gave up privacy when I gave birth."

To which Thumbelina-Ballerina-Josephina replied: "Well, you can have privacy tomorrow."

Oh, well that makes it all better, please invite the neighbors.

Thumbelina, looking out the kitchen window this morning.

"Mom, that dog is going home, his home doesn't have a cat in it. That cat is going home too, OH now the dog is coming back, now the cat is going in the other erection."

"Honey, don't you mean the other direction?"

"They're the same thing mom."

Things Are Blooming

My dream home is a modest sized home with room to grow, on five to ten acres, with a creek and enough room for a cow or two, chickens, an outside cat and a kitchen large enough to have a breakfast booth and a bird cage for zebra finch. Instead I live in a small city house with a modest sized yard and an amazing view. Rather than be bitter, ahem, I have decided to "bloom where I am planted." So we have tried our best to create a sense of the country on our city lot. It works pretty well, aside from the occasional sirens, airplanes, and close neighbors.

On our homestead in the city things are blooming, despite the city noise, which isn't all that bad most of the time.

In the garden our peas are coming in strong and I can't wait to taste some garden fresh peas.

The green beans are coming along nicely as well and I would show you the corn but there aren't any ears growing yet so it's not that exciting. Our tomatoes are not that impressive either.

I just love peas.

Here is a pretty little weed I found in the garden while weeding this afternoon.

Here is another pretty little flower playing in the play house

Would you like hot apple pie with that? Chicken and rice? . . . You got it!

After two years we are finally getting apples on our Columnar Apple Tree. I can't wait to taste them.  If they are good I wouldn't mind having an whole orchard of them.  I think they would make a nice barrier along the fence.

Hope your blooming where you're planted too.

~And So That's What She Did.

Biscuits and Egg Gravy

Here it is, my Egg Gravy Recipe.

This recipe apparently came from my Mom's Grandma who according to my Mom:

 Was not a vegetarian by a long shot! She was an awesome cook, and very southern. I don't recall that she ever put sausage or any meat in it, but she might have from time to time. She also had a can of bacon grease on the stove that she used in her cooking.

Today I am only cooking for my girls and I, so you may want to double this, usually I do. But here is what I used today.

Start with 1 tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoons to 1/8 cup flour, 1 cup + of milk, 3 eggs and salt and pepper.

Heat your pan. . . remove child from stove top area.

Hi all!

Take a drink of coffee.

Place some delicious homemade biscuits on a pan to reheat in the oven.

Set your oven at 350, pop them in there before you start your gravy, they'll be nice and warm when you are done.

Melt your butter.

Once it is bubbly, add your flour,

blend it in.

Take another drink of coffee,

Add most of the milk,

Look for older child, make sure she isn't getting into trouble.

whisk milk into butter and flour,

wait for it to thicken and become bubbly

add your eggs, sometimes I will beat them first but I was feeling lazy today.

Mix it in, 

check on children again. Yep their safe next to the sharp knives. Great back to the gravy,

whisk your gravy until the eggs are cooked, add salt,

add pepper, remove from heat

Put your biscuits in a basket, pot, bowl whatever and keep them warm.

divide the biscuits onto plates, top pour slather biscuits with gravy,

forget to take a picture.

Eye spoon longingly,

Lick it clean,

close eyes in delight.

Look curiously at the pan,

lick the pan.

Immediately regret licking pan,

reach for cold water,

accidently grab hot coffee.

 Spit hot coffee across kitchen,

chug water direct from faucet,

breath a sigh of relief.

Take plates to the table,

 eat breakfast clean up coffee later.

Enjoy,

~And So That's What She Did.

Your Guess is as Good as Mine, Winner!

And the winner is . . . Crystal!!!

Here is how her scenario went:

OMG, I think she farted,oh . . . IT STINKS . . . SOMEBODY ROLL DOWN THIS WINDOW!

Holy cow, that was bad. . I think i'm gonna be sick

What Thumbelina, it's gone. . . ok, I'll. . .

Oh, no it's not, I'm outta' here.

I think she knows my husband. . . although in case you were wondering the 5th comment was his, cheater. Don't worry I wouldn't let him pick himself.

Crystal if you would please let me know which fabric you would like, I will mail out your prize shortly.

A few things I love.

I love picking up games that encourage learning or that I remember from my school days.

This is one of those things.

Honestly I just bought it to have an excuse to use the words, rhombus and trapezoid.

Do you know how to remember which shape is a trapezoid?

Simple, if it fell on you you would be trapped. . . well okay to me it looks like one of those traps that is often dropped on cartoon characters.

Here is a trapezoid . . . see what I mean? No? Well just agree with me for today.

It also looks like an anvil but that won't help you remember it's name.

 

I love sitting on the back porch reading and I am so glad that my girls share this love.

My little scholar breaking out The Red Badge of Courage.

I also love sisters playing in boxes in their pajamas.

I was sitting at my computer one day, kind of like today, and I heard a small voice behind me saying, "Mom, take a picture." How could I resist?

"Oh Suzanna, don't you cry for me . . ." Why cry when you can dance a jig.

~And So That's What She Did.



Tadpoles

Today, my Beloved brought home some tadpoles for the pond. The tadpoles are in various stages of development. The youngest one is just getting legs.

Look closely at the edge and you will see one little guy.

What is it about ponds that tend to mesmerize people?

There are a few around the leaves here, hiding from the fish.

Our camera is dying a slow painful death. Well it is slow and painful for me. The screen no longer shows what you are looking at and there is no view finder so I just have to point and guess that I am going to get what I want. So please excuse my pictures it really is the best I can do at the moment.

This one is a little harder to spot. He's right under the sun glare.

Have a fascinating evening.

~And So That's What She Did.

Butter Burst Pancakes

This is my new favorite breakfast food. In fact I like it so much, I often eat the leftovers as a snack that afternoon.

I decided to expand on my regular pancake recipe. The thought occurred to me that I would like butter pockets in my pancakes and so Butter Burst Pancakes were born.

Start with 1 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 4 count 'em four tablespoons of COLD butter. 1 cup milk and 1 beaten egg also go into the mix but not yet.(the other bottle is vanilla I originally added about a 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of this but that's just if you want an extra sweetness.)

Mix all of your dry ingredients together and then using a pastry blender, cut in the butter but not too much you want lots of chunks for your butter pockets.

Like this or even a little more chunky is fine.

In a separate container whisk or fork your wet ingredients together (that was 1 cup milk and 1 beaten egg and an optional 1/2 or 1 teaspoon vanilla).

Just before you are ready to start the cooking process mix it together. Not completely just a few swirls around to coat the flour but DO NOT disturb the butter. This picture is actually a little over stirred so go for chunkier.

Using a 1/8 cup measure pour on your medium-high skillet.

If you want these to taste like the real deal Hollifield you need to use a well seasoned cast iron skillet but if you don't mind second best use any kind of skillet that you want. I've used both and they turn out fine. Granny always used the former.

The butter pools into delicious pockets of creamy goodness. . . yummy!

Once the edges are no longer shiny and the bubbles in the center have started to pop go ahead and flip it over. This should take about 1-3 minutes depending on the heat of your pan.

Ooooh pretty.

Pile them high and serve alone or with someone . . . or with syrup.

I hope that you enjoy these as much as I do. . . I think I'll go make more right now.

~And So That's What She Did.

P.S. If you have kiddos who loves things multi-colored. simply pour individual pancake servings into small bowls, add food coloring and swirl, not too much, you don't want to disturb the butter. Pour onto your hot pan and cook like normal. Avoid looking them directly in the eye as they tend to mesmerize.

P.P.S. Rainbow Burst Pancake(see P.S.) tend to turn out a little thinner than their cousins Butter Burst Pancakes, just so you know.