I Love Fall

You Might Be a Redneck If . . . . . .

You put Halloween decorations on your pokeweed.

Seriously, I haven't had such a goofy case of the giggles in a long time. Mike and I were in our hometown over the weekend, and were driving past a former neighbor's house. These particular neighbors have always had an unkempt lawn to say the least, and, well . . . . just strange ways in general. Mike was reminiscing (ranting) about the fact that growing up he always got jipped into mowing their side of the property line which they neglected. Mid-sentence he blurted, "Oh. I like how they decorated their pokeweed."

WHA!!!??? I burst out laughing. That had to be the most random and absurd thing I'd heard in I don't know how long. Decorated their pokeweed?

For those who may not know, this is pokeweed:




It's very common in rural areas. Rampant, in fact. It's just a big ugly weed and it gets pretty tall if you don't chop it down.


I looked and there it was. Two stark stalks of pokeweed standing in the front yard . . . . . with that fake green spiderweb stuff strung in between them. I don't know why it was so hilarious. I guess you just had to be there.

Yup, redneck. So.stinkin.funny.

A Tribute . . . . .

In Memorium . . . . . .

T-bone, we knew the day we brought you to our home that you would bring fulfillment to our lives.

You grew up gracefully . . . . . (sort of).

And then you met your fate.

T-bone, we love you more today than we did yesterday. You will live on in our freezer and there will always be a special place for you on our plates.

;-P

My Baby Einsteins

OK, can I just brag on my kiddos for a minute before my buttons bust? :-)

Isabel, at 21 months, can finish a peg puzzle in no time flat. We keep ALL our puzzle pieces in one basket. She can dig through and figure out which pieces go to which board. I think she might be ready for a 100 piece puzzle by Christmas. (Kidding!) She is also starting to recognize a few colors. She definitely knows "yeh-wo" , "ohnge" and "pank" (yes, she's an okie girl). :-) To top all that off, she can sing her ABCs -- er, something that sounds extremely close, anyway.

Isaac, 3 1/2, is beginning to read!! He is starting to sound out short words. He's been able to do his letter sounds for a while, but didn't understand how to put them together and I hadn't planned to push him on it for a while yet. It clicked for him this week when Isabel checked out a library book called "Quack Shack". It has 3 sections, words with the "ack", "ock" and "ick" families. Each section has several words with different letters in front. We were reading it together, and all the sudden he started spouting off some of the words before I read them!

This morning we were all 3 doing puzzles together and he started playing with his letter magnets. We did the same concept -- ack, at, og combinations, putting different letters in front of each one -- and he was able to read several words by himself!!! It's a great start! :-)

We've All Gone Nutty!

This week we enjoyed one of our favorite fall traditions -- picking up black walnuts. Mike has done this every other year since he was around 12 years old. This was the kids' first time going with Mike (and mine as well). We had a great time and filled two truckloads! I think Mike has met his match and partner for the next several walnut seasons . . . . . Isabel is quite a pro :-)

Isaac's favorite part was knocking walnuts from the tree. The one that fell in this picture conked his sister on the noggin. Double the fun. :-)


Little Miss Izzy showed us up! She filled her bucket five times over!



Isaac and Daddy picking up


These are stains from the hulls, they won't fade for several days

2.5 hours and 56 five-gallon buckets later . . . . . .

Filling the hopper and watching the walnuts go up the conveyer

Isaac and Isabel watching the hulling machine

Giving our weight receipt to Ms. Gail to calculate how much we made! Isaac and Izzy are excited to get a little candy money :-)

Fun Fall Project!

I was inspired to start making these t-shirt dresses when I saw something similar in a boutique catalogue. They are so easy and affordable to make, even for bumbling beginners like me! :-) Here is a tutorial:

Step 1. Start with a tee shirt of your choice. Cut off bottom of shirt straight across, to desired length. This dress will have a dropped-waist. For a higher, empire waist, cut off a couple of inches below the armpit seam.

Step 2. Cut a length of fabric twice as wide as of the bottom of the t-shirt.

Step 3. Cut off fabric to desired length, leaving 1 1/2"-2" for hem.

Step 4. Place fabric right sides together, pin and sew along each side of fabric.

Step 5. Sew a loose gathering stitch around the top of fabric. I do this by hand, it's quicker and easier than the machine, in my opinion. To do this on the machine, set your stitch length to the longest setting, stitch around, leave threads long, do not backstitch.

Step 6. Pull thread until fabric is the width of the bottom of the t-shirt, distribute gathers evenly, tie off thread.

Step 7. Pin right side of shirt to right side of fabric. Sew together.

Step 8. Turn dress inside out, turn hem twice (turn once then iron, turn again and iron). Sew around.

FINISHED!! Embellish as desired!

Recipe Time . . . . .

I had some overripe bananas on the counter, so I tried a new recipe and I had to share it:
(Besides, if I post the recipe here, I won't lose it, muahahaha)

Chocolate Banana Bread

1 1/2 C. flour (I used whole wheat)
1/4 C. cocoa (Of course I used a little more! It's chocolate!)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. butter
1 C. sugar (or 3/4 C. honey)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. mashed bananas

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and bananas. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Combine flour mixture with banana mixture and mix well. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 1 hr. Turn out of pan and let cool 10 minutes before cutting.

It was quite heavenly.