Random Musings

DISCLAIMER: Seeing as I'm having a puny day, I didn't actually photograph my jars, but found a  picture online that looks like mine. The purpose of chow-chow is to use up all your vegetables in the garden before the first frost. It is basically a relish, and can be made of whatever raw or unripe leftovers you have. You can make it hot and spicy, or you can make it sweet, or vinegary. I've seen recipes use green beans, cauliflower, broccoli...you name it. Below is the recipe I used. Ingredients: Onion (I used 1 red and 2 yellow, though my base recipe called for 10 green onions) Green peppers (which I also had some orange peppers I used as well) 1 cabbage 1/2 c canning salt 1 T celery seed 1 1/2 tsp tumeric 2 T mustard seed 6 c sugar 4 c vinegar Green tomatoes Chop or shred all your vegetables, and mix with canning salt. Let stand overnight. Rinse and drain well. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Heat until it boils, stirring occasionally. Put in jars. S...

Sometimes I think my high school teacher was right: we really do live in pockets of ignorance. Yesterday, while reading various chow-chow recipes, I kept coming across this ingredient: canning salt. Now, I know there are different types of salt: iodized table salt - what I use non-iodized table salt - looks the same, but without iodine in it or on the box sea salt - which comes from the sea, looks like little rocks and is very popular in France kosher salt - which I've only seen and heard of, but have no idea how salt could be clean or unclean and rock salt - which is absolutely necessary for making homemade ice cream :) So while I was at the grocery store, I looked, and sure enough there were boxes of canning salt. According to the box, it's best used when canning vegetables. For some reason the salt is absorbed better and doesn't discolor the veggies nor sink to the bottom of the jar. I decided to google it and see what more I could learn, but after reading one...

This week has had a lot of season changes. For our church family, as we faced a sad, but necessary decision.  For every thing there is a season ... For a friend, as she heard unwelcome words that sometimes love is a choice and any marriage is worth fighting for... a time to love, a time to heal, a time to cast away stones... For a Christian acquaintance , who bid her 7-year-old daughter farewell... a time to die, a time to mourn... For an old roommate who is grieving the loss of her triplets 13 years ago today... a time to be born, and a time to die... For a Christian blog friend , receiving bad news with a 2nd opinion... A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance... For my garden... a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. For something I didn't plant this year, my voluntary watermelon vine did quite well. Better than the vine I DID plant last year, actually. The three smaller melons aren't ripe yet, but seeing th...

You walk into the bathroom, and the toilet lid automatically lifts, playing music while the touch screen comes on. It has a seat warmer, a bidet with dryer (a sprayer that will wash you and then with the touch of the screen turn into a hair-dryer like apparatus to dry you), it requires occasional re-booting, has no levers, and is rectangular in shape. It also costs over $6,000 (just verified on the website...it's currently on sale for $4,000). To read more about this contraption you didn't know you needed and absolutely can't live without, here's a link to the article in yesterday's paper: toilet review .

the ever-growing stash glow sticks from Mr. Hanks candy and treats the gun the ammo: foam with suction cup "darts" the not quite finished turkey Friday is coming.

Drumroll, please! :) Even though I didn't finish my quilt in time to enter (but am already planning what I want to do for next year!), here's my personal favorites from the best exhibit of all times: quilting! Geometric designs are becoming more and more popular, especially as more men enter the quilting field. I love them! This quilt captures three of my favorites: country living, landscape, and a silhouette. Notice the tobacco leaf in the corners, and the detailing of the tilled soil. Someone spent a LOT of time on this.  Very deserving of its yellow ribbon (not sure what place that makes it). Stars aren't my favorite pattern, but I absolutely adore the colors here! The checkerboard/striped border adds to the playfulness, and reminds me of the Eric Carle line of fabrics. (He's the Hungry Caterpillar author and illustrator, for those not familiar with the name.) A very elegant black and white pattern. I recently had a request for a black and white qu...

The following pics are a mixture of exhibits from the Hobby & Crafts contest entries and the 4-H entries: For Kimberly, who loves fairies: A close up of a fairy with her mushroom...don't you love the acorn hat and leaf wings? Steps lead up to the pebble path and mailbox. And the walnut wheelbarrow with tiny vegetables... And the fairy in front of the grape vine porch and pebbled pool. An origami dragon..too cool!  I think this was in the youth division, but I didn't look to see what age range. The Temple of Heaven from China...one of my favorites! It was positioned too far away to read the tag, but I'm assuming adult level. Not sure if this is a wood carving or a stone/clay work. Either way, it makes me think of Lord of the Rings! I hate we didn't make it to the vegetable exhibit. One of my neighbors won the blue ribbon (2nd year in a row!) and set a new state record this year for his giant watermelon. He's already prepping...

Cake decorating...one of my many favorite "must see" exhibits at the fair.  Here's some of my personal favorites, though I don't think I saw any that weren't nicely decorated. From the 4-H youth division...LOVE the creativity here! I've heard of 'possum cakes before, but never a porcupine! One of my favorites...This cake is one of the two that looking at it makes you feel elegant! And this is the other elegant cake.  While I know they probably used the machine fondant cutter, it's still a lot of detail and time on the lace and ribbons! And I had to take this one for my family...you'd never know it was a cake! Look at the details! Who from my generation doesn't love the Smurfs? Makes me want to sing La-la-la-la-la.... Gorgeous fall basket. The baby with the apples behind it seemed to mix too many themes for my taste. Absolutely gorgeous...but how would you cut/eat it? And for the pirate lover....fabulous! L...

While I didn't see half the exhibits I normally see while visiting the fair last night, I got to eat twice as much as I normally do! ;) Lydia, my friend who likes to pose in crazy positions with food, eating her traditional chicken pita wrap. And my special treat for the night...gator on a stick!  No, it didn't actually look like this, though it did taste a lot like chicken! :) Would you believe that ALL of these are cupcakes?  I got the hotdog one (center). The bread is actually the cake, and the dog and icing are chocolate icing and yellow-colored buttercream icing. Not only was it cool looking, but it tasted good, too! To help cut costs (and save our appetites), several of us split items, giving us the opportunity to try more things for less money!  My new fair favorite...mozzarella sticks.  I had tried them once in a restaurant and wasn't too crazy about them.  But the one I had at the fair was absolutely wonderful!  Deep-fried macaroni...

I recently ordered Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! (He's the creator of National Novel Writing Month.)  I absolutely loved the opening: The era, in retrospect, was very kind to dumb ideas...In a more grounded age, my novel in a month concept would have been reality checked right out of existence...We were in our mid-twenties, and we had no idea what we were doing. But we knew we loved books. And so we set out to write them. Later on in the book he addresses the very reason why the month-long, do or die, mentality seems to work for writing the first draft of a novel. And I found the following paragraph quite thought-provoking: In the workplace, the emphasis on professionalism makes great sense. No one wants to have his or her cerebellum doctored by a dilettante brain surgeon. But the the emphasis on mastery has certain unseen psychological ramifications on the rest of our lives. You'd think, for instance, that this workday obsession with competence would make our week...

When my husband was five, the church he grew up in celebrated their 100th anniversary. This past Sunday, at the age of 56, they celebrated their 200th anniversary. Confused? He was, though some of the materials and the historical play offered the explanation for the time travel forward/backward (however you want to look at it). Evidently, when an older member passed away, she had a box of papers she had saved from the church over the years, and the family gave it to the church leaders. Included were minutes from the early 1800s. In light of the information, the church decided to celebrate the time it was originally started, and not the time the first building was put on the current property. Here's some tidbits you might find interesting: The church was established sometime between 1805-1811 as Wake Bethel. 1825-1859    Men had to sit on one side of the church; women on the other. 1849             First...

Toward the end of last year we encountered a problem never had before: no medicine. I have to hand it to Target Pharmacy at White Oak...they did everything in their power to find it. The pharmacist was calling the manufacturing company herself twice a day (instead of going through Target headquarters), and ultimately started calling pharmacies in Wake and Johnston county until she found one that could fill the order. We've had insurance issues before, but never unavailability problems. A few months later we read a news article that hospitals were running out of certain medicines and having to tell patients to either switch drugs or stop treatments. We were a little alarmed, but then every month his refill was available...until now. I am so thankful for a pharmacy and its pharmacists who go above and beyond the call of duty in trying to find needed medicines, and I'm a bit puzzled as to the manufacturing "backlog".  If the reports are true, then I'm thankful cont...

Hawk & Eagle as babies (except then we called them Chip & Dale) Easter 2011 and Eagle grew up to be a true Easter Egger, laying blue-green eggs. and because she kept hiding her eggs, we had to incubate a batch. And here are her babies now. all but one huddling as a buzzard flies overhead. and cornered in the pen by their Momma and aunt, whom they don't know.

20 years ago, if anyone had told me I would be a person to seek out "designer" things, I would have laughed in their face. And now twice in the span of one year I have actively sought out fabric by a certain designer. Who'd a thunk it? One of my new favorite designers is Leann Anderson. During the Quilt Carolina! Stash Dash, I found a fat quarter (a small piece of fabric measuring 18"x22") of the most adorable Christmas fabric I have ever seen.  I recently went back to the shop to see if there was more in the line (many quilt fabrics have 4-6 matching prints in a design line), but the owner said other than the print above it was sold out and they had been unable to re-order it. I did get the name of the design line "The Great I AM" and googled it today. The designer is Leann Anderson, from Iowa, and she has an entire website . I am most impressed!  After seeing the entire fabric line, I hope to get some projects done and finalize a pattern in m...

My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers ...2 Chronicles 29:11 In 3 hours I go on call and begin my "work" for the next 2 days. Since 2004, I have worked with the Wake County Board of Elections. After the first two years, I went from a general worker to the "Help Table" (meaning I got to deal with all the non-traditional voters....names not in the poll book, unregistered, lost, etc).  I actually enjoyed that position. Then last year they asked me to step in as Coordinator while someone was on leave. In theory, it was for one election. Tomorrow will be my second election in this capacity, and I'm still a tad uncertain how I feel about it. It's one thing to follow step A, B, and C on a laptop with a phone by your side and a private number to dial should you have any questions. It's another thing entirely to drive from place to place and check out polling sites and assis...

Quilt update: My crazy animal quilt is not going to the NC State Fair. And I'm okay with that. Even after taking out the mistakes and feeling like there was potential for the quilt, life and time simply got in the way. I was afraid I'd feel disappointed if I didn't make the deadline, but realistically I know it's not a feasible task. AND, quilting is my hobby. It's okay if a hobby project has to be temporarily put aside. I have learned a few things in the process. One , the opinions and advice on sewing with invisible thread are all over the place. ( And if you want your husband to wonder about your sanity, ask him a question like, "Do you know how hard it is to take out invisible thread?" ) Some quilters say "don't use it". Others say "it's okay to use on top but never in the bobbin" (the thread that goes in the bottom of your machine). And some quilters say they use it in BOTH, but you have to play with the tension dia...