Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is.....Stacey! Congratulations!

Please email me your address at gardenhoe1962@sbcglobal.net so I can mail you the towel.

Thank you everyone for commenting!

Friday Giveaway!

Happy Friday friends!

I've been so encouraged by all of your kind comments, that I wanted to do a little giveaway. Mother Plumtree (if you haven't met her yet, click here) has been busy stitching, and offered her first embroidered towel for the giveaway! I really thought Mrs. Puffington was going to have hers done, but she isn't finished yet!

It's just a little vintage style dishtowel, embroidered by a chicken.

All you need to do is leave a comment, telling me what celebrity you would like to look like. I'll announce a winner on Sunday morning. If you have trouble leaving a comment, please click on the 'Contact Me' link, and send me an email.

Here's a couple of other chicken photos from today. Aaron sure loves the girls too. He dotes on them all the time.

Fifi LeFew (click here if you've not met her yet!) started laying this week. The sweetest little blue eggs you've ever seen.

Thanks so much for stopping by my little corner of the world and reading my ramblings.

Garlic Pear Pasta

This recipe is just too good not to share. I've adapted a recipe from MaryJane Butters, adding my own little twists to it.

Isn't that blackboard cute?? 50 cents at a yardsale. I've always wanted a little blackboard to post notes, dinner of the day, etc. It's about 20" x 24". I love it!

With a few simple ingredients, you can have dinner on the table in about 10 minutes. You'll need:

• Angel hair pasta
• 3-4 ripe pears
• a pinch of red pepper flakes
• handful of fresh parsley (you can used dried too)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• handful of walnuts

Ok, there are no measurements to this recipe, cause I sorta made it up. This is what I did:

• Cook angel hair pasta according to package directions. Drain and liberally coat with olive oil.
• Toast the walnuts in a hot skillet (do not add oil) Remove them from the skillet when you can start to smell them....about five minutes. Stir them around often.
• In that same skillet, add about 1/4 cup of olive oil (this is what I did for four servings)

• Chop up your garlic (I did not mince mine) and with the heat on very low, add the garlic, keeping a close watch on it. You do not want to over brown the garlic, it will make it very bitter.
• Allowing about one pear per person, core the pears, but do not peel. Slice them about 1/4" thick, and put in the pan with the oil and garlic. Add your red pepper flakes, about 1/8 of a teaspoon, depending on your taste.
• Slowly saute this, just until the pears are fork tender, you don't want them mushy.
• Place noodles on dish, and top with a generous portion of pear/garlic mixture. Garnish with nuts and parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

Our after dinner entertainment consisted of trying to dress a chicken. My friends, don't attempt this at home. I'm a trained professional. Scooter tried to cooperate. Due to lighting issues and low shutter speeds, this is the best we could get. She promptly fell asleep after this. I think I've traumatized her.

Alrighty Then...

Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments. I truly appreciate them. I'll do what I 'feel' then. I have one more post about the house in my belly for now, tomorrow I'll share the Garlic Pear Pasta that I'm making for supper tonight, and then Friday is a giveaway! There! I've got my blogging mojo back. I think I figured out what was ailing me. I just didn't have enough time to be creative this week, and it had me frustrated. School has been a bit intense this week. I'm trying to get a lot done since I'm going to Missouri the last week of the month, and then have a little surgery the following week. I guess I'm feeling the pressure.

Last night I crocheted one of my chickens a hat and scarf. I almost wish I was joking, but I'm not. Perhaps an intervention is needed. Jen, your comment about the zipper and the snaps absolutely cracked me up! I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds zippers totally inappropriate on a chicken garment. I also decided that the chicken coop will have a Christmas tree, and lights, and little stockings for each of the girls. Call me crazy, but this thought brought me peace and joy. I slept like a baby.

Okee dok. The first pic of this post is Mrs. Tucker. I do not know her first name. She is the lady that owned this house for 80 years before I bought it from her daughter and son-in-law. I wish I could have known her. Everyone that I run into that did know her tells tales of her kindness and light hearted demeanor. Her daughter Darlene still lives up the hill, and if I had a brain in my skull I'd go pump her for ....um, I mean, I would go bring up a basket of muffins and casually bring up the subject of the house. How I would love to have that bike now! I would park it and fill the basket full of flowers.

The back of this picture says "September 1945". Are those chickens I see in the background?

Mrs. Tucker is on the left. I do not know who the other people are. I wish I could step back in time and have a good look around.

I left you hanging last time with us in the basement with the realtor, making the decision to buy the house. My dream house, in nightmare condition. How crazy is it that we were buying the first house we even looked at? How often do you find someone that moved ONE time in their almost 50 years on earth, and will probably never move again. We've no plans of ever leaving.

We did the usual thing, made an offer on the house, counter offer, final offer. Did I neglect to tell you that we had about $50 in our pocket when we decided to move? Ohhhh, I did didn't I? You see, when we were self employed, all the money we made we pretty much put back into the business. Newer tools, ordering materials wholesale and in bulk, etc. We were pretty poor on paper. Now we needed a mortgage.

We had two things going against us. Number one...um, we were poor ass broke. Number two, the house was unmortgageable. (Is that the right spelling? Is that even a word?) No furnace, outdated electric, etc, etc. There wasn't a bank in town that would touch us. I bet George Bailey would have lent us the money. Unfortunately we lived in Potterstown.

Again, I felt the house slipping from my fingers. I'm really giving you all the condensed version, but there is nothing to say other than it was absolute providence that got us in this place. The owners agreed to sell us the house on a six-month balloon contract. We had six months to fix it up and get financing. What would happen if we still couldn't get a bank to loan us the money? I had a lot of fears back then. A lot of what if's. There wasn't too much time to meditate on it though, we had six months to make this place look like home. We drove back and forth from Chicago the entire six months, staying a few days in a row, going back to Chicago to work on the business. I'll tell you all about those things when I show you more before pics. Suffice it to say, you realize that we did in fact get the financing....I mean, I live here right?

We found a mortgage loan officer that decided to take a chance on us crazy young punks. I wrote a three page letter to the loan company saying how we absolutely loved the house, and planned on preserving the past, being active in our community, etc., etc. We were actually two weeks late in paying the neighbors our balloon payment. They absolutely could have walked in and taken the house back, thanking us for fixing it up for them, but they didn't. Thank you Roger and Darlene for that.

Another interesting note, the house originally was up for sale with 8 acres. We came to find out that Darlene and Roger were selling, but not really WANTING to sell, but needing to sell it. It broke our hearts. We decided, well, Glen decided, after having a dream, that we should only take three of the acres, and leave the other acreage so that Roger and Darlene could give it to their children.

I realize that this post is getting long. Just wanted to leave you with this. The day we took possession of the house. May 21, 1988. We were SO incredibly excited. We went up the hill and got our key. Our first house! We live in the country! Yay for us! Woooohooo.....

We pulled in the driveway and got out. The lawn was about 20" long. We excitedly went to the back door (I think the front one would have fallen off the hinges if we tried to open it), turned the key, walked in....and immediately left and went back up the hill.

Stay tuned.........Just to fast forward a little. Here is a pic from 2004. I was on the Lowell Garden Walk. See...we did get some of the work done!

Well?

You have been patient chicks.

Ok, here it is. I'm not sure what to blog about.

More of the house? Is it getting boring? Don't want to run that into the ground.

Chicken stories?

Recipes?

I do have a little giveaway in the works, should be up by Friday. Mrs. Puffington has been busy stitching the latest giveaway!

I'm still thinking.....

What would you like to read about?

PS...That is not my chicken pictured above. I would never put a zipper on a chicken. I'm just sayin'.

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

So the flies flew out my friends. I don't even remember the appearance of the man that answered the door, but he seemed 'off' to me. I remember grumpy, terse, rude....those types of adjectives.

Glen looked like he'd seen a ghost. It was Green Acres with no Zsa Zsa Gabor or Mr. Haney. I think Mr. Haney lived down the road. In the 1/2 mile stretch of road that we live on, there were only two other houses. I think we had about five miles of nothing but woods south of our house , and five miles of corn fields north. You have to remember that I was raised in the city, stacked on top of each other, and unable to stretch your arms fully between houses. In the summer, with windows open, you could hear your neighbors conversations, and forks hitting the plates at supper time. I remember a guy named Billy, that exercised every morning faithfully at 5am to the song 'Billie Jean'. I swear I felt like the bass line from that song would eventually knock me out of the bed.

As I walked around, I envisioned chickens scratching, and quilts on the clothesline. Sweating glasses of iced tea and herb gardens. Laughter and memories. Glen envisioned a lot of trips to Home Depot, power tools, and endless hours of hard labor. Go figure.

We went back to the realtor's office with my eyes as big as saucers, pulling Glen behind me. "I'd like to see inside please". She promised me she'd arrange it. This was early March 1988.

I suppose there are such things called 'renter's rights'. This man apparently knew all of them. To the best of my memory, it was nearly the end of March when we finally got to see the house. We were told to be at the house on a Sunday afternoon about 1pm. I guess anyone and everyone that wanted to see the house was going to be there that day. When we got here, we were about the fifth car in line to see the house. I remember being absolutely beside myself thinking that we were too late, that someone else would see the soul of this house and it was going to slip from my fingers before I ever got to raise a chicken, or hang out the sheets to dry.

One by one, the people would go in the house and be out within a matter of seconds. One, two, three, four........within five minutes we were IN THE HOUSE! We didn't leave. We stayed. We looked. Upstairs, downstairs, in each room. I'd never seen anything like it. It was filthy. It had odors I didn't know existed. Led Zeppelin was blasting on a scratchy stereo. Each room had an electric heater plugged in it. The man living here never spoke. I stood in the living room for a moment and blocked everything out. I looked at the way the sun was coming in the windows. In my mind's eye, and in my heart, I could hear the ticking of an antique clock, and smell a Sunday roast. I could hear laughter. I could feel safe. This was home.

We went down in the basement with the realtor. It was damp. It looked like he'd been raising chickens down there. There were bird droppings and feathers everywhere. Glen looked at me and said 'Honey, if you really want it, we'll get it'. I just smiled.

The next installment: I Cain't Get No Financin'

Harrison Ford's Fault

I was born in 1962 on the Southeast Side of Chicago. It was a melting pot of a neighborhood. Serbian, German, Italian, Polish, Hispanic, (help me out here Peggy), every nationality you can imagine. My father and mother moved to that area from the South for my dad to work at the steel mills. It was an incredibly industrial area. Two blocks from Lake Michigan, surrounded by steel mills and ship yards. I have fond memories of growing up on Ewing Ave. Running with a pack of kids. Outside from dawn to dusk, only home to eat and sometimes pee. I usually peed in the alley. There it is. Another soul cleansing fact. Mrs. Buttersworth, and now this.

I lived in the same apartment building, the basement flat my entire childhood. My parents bought the building when I was 12 years old. My mom moved me upstairs when I was 18 and started developing film in the kitchen sink. When Glen and I married, we lived in that little apartment for five years. Then, then I saw Witness.

Behold the reason I moved to the country. The name is Book, John Book. In 1985 I saw the movie Witness. I still swoon when I think of Harrison Ford drinking that lemonade. Holy moly. I fell in love with the Amish lifestyle. I started taking trips to Shipshewana Indiana. I bought anything that had a buggy wheel on it. It was an obsession. I started quilting, canning, baking, and frying chickens. I wanted to wear a bonnet, but even I realized that was pushing the envelope. When you are living on the Southeast Side of Chicago, you won't get too far dressed like an Amish gal.

I was working as a secretary in Chicago, commuting on the train daily. I started sewing Amish dolls and Glen made little wooden benches for them (oh, I know how silly this sounds now, but trust me....they sold like hotcakes!) I actually started a little line of crafts. I walked into the Chicago Merchandise Mart with my Amish dolls and benches and a representative took them, and sold them all over the country. We were in business! Ended up quitting my job as a secretary, and Glen quit his job a year later, and we worked doing 'crafts' for six years. By that time, we'd been renting out the middle apartment from my parents as well, to run the business.

In 1988 my mom told me that they were putting the apartment building up for sale. It needed to be done. The area had declined. My mom was mugged. We all needed to get out of there. Where to go? I kid you not, I got a Home Magazine from the corner store, opened it up, and there it was, the first house I layed my eyes on...this one. The ad read '100 year old farmhouse on 8 acres, needs everything you can think of to fix it up, once in a lifetime opportunity'. I called the number...next thing I know, we are driving out to see it. All I can remember from that drive is thinking 'This could be the way to my house". It was so pretty! So country! I was so used to city life.

We pulled into the driveway. There was a sign in the yard that said 'Pitbull's for Sale'. The place was a hellhole. As soon as I put my foot on the ground, I knew it was mine. I wish I had a picture of Glen's face!

I thought out of courtesy, I would tap on the door and let whoever living here know that I was going to to have a look around. When he opened the door.....flies flew OUT.

To be continued.....

This Old House

A picture of our house in 1988.

Thought I would finally introduce you to my house today. It's drizzly, it's cold, and Aaron is absent from school today. My goodness, I've got uninterrupted time on my hands! I can't remember the last time this happened.

I started cleaning out my desk, and found my old photo albums. That lead to one thing after another...without further blatherings...here's the house. I'll introduce you room by room over the next few months ok?

The first picture at the top really isn't a good representation of when we first bought the house. We'd already done some work on it at that point. The following picture IS a good representation of the back of my house. Remember my sis-in-law that came by last weekend? That's her there! (Sorry Sherie. Love the socks.). She helped us quite a lot.

This is exactly what the house looked like the day we took possession in May of 1988. Playpen and all.

Here's a more accurate pic of the front of the house when we first got it. What I do know about the house: It was built in 1869. The Tucker Family owed it for 80 years, and it was Darlene Tucker (Marvel) that lives in the house up the hill that we bought it from. It was being used as a rental when we purchased it. It's a happy house. I can't put my finger on it, but there are good vibes here. About 1990, on a cold wintry December night, a frail old figure appeared at my doorstep. I opened the door to a wisp of a woman, looked like she was 90, if a day. She told me she'd grown up here and she'd love to see inside again. I whisked her in as quickly as I could. She said the house has pretty much remained exactly the same. She told me a few things about the house that confirmed some suspicions that we'd had. My bathroom (the room you'll see today) had been a pantry. One of the bedrooms had been two bedrooms. Makes sense that there were two doors going into one room. I could tell a wall had been knocked out.

Here's a pic of me, standing in the threshold of the bathroom and kitchen. I remember feeling a tad overwhelmed in this photo. Isn't the kitchen wallpaper lovely? This is what the kitchen looked like when we first bought the house. There wasn't a bank in town that would give us a mortgage on this house, because of the condition it was in. We bought it on a six month balloon contract from the owners. We had six months to make it livable. I'm not going to go into all the detail about the house right now, this post is going to be long enough. Suffice it to say, I ran to the mailbox, cause I didn't want anyone to know that I lived here. It has certainly been an adventure.

The bathroom, upon arrival. Yep, that is orange glued down carpeting. It was so lovely. (insert sarcasm here)

If you are eating or drinking anything right now, please put it down.

Here is the toilet the day we walked in. Seriously. I had to clean that thing. We didn't have money to buy a new toilet. Once we ripped up the carpet, we found that the toilet was falling through the floor. It was just about in the basement. The original oak plank flooring was under all of that carpet. It was ruined by water. The entire floor was torn out and replaced.

Now, here are the afters. I took these pics today. It's so gloomy outside that I had to use a really high ISO, and try to hold the camera extra still. Sorry for the poor quality.

Here is that same spot that I stood in 20 years ago. My house has gone through MANY changes. This is how it looks today, it probably will look a lot different in a couple years. I change things....alot.

When we tore out the floor and finally replaced the toilet, Glen put it in on an angle. I like it like that alot! Now, I do think this is the fourth or fifth 'look' my bathroom has had. It was very primitive country at one time, rather traditional once, and now this. There are some things I don't like about it, but I'm letting it go. I've bigger fish to fry that to worry if I should have something on the back of my toilet. Should I? Oh crap...now I wonder....I also realllly hate how close the bathroom is to the stove. I just can't think about it. It's an old house. I'm not remodeling. It's just is what it is. Oh, it's also the only bathroom in the house.

Glen made these built in corner cabinets for me cause I always had so much junk to display. He also made the base cabinets and counter tops. I'd like to change them, but it just doesn't seem too important to me anymore. I just keep painting them different colors. :-)

I know what you are thinking. Yes, we actually use this tub and shower. Yes, it's wood. Yes, yes yes. Wonderful story about this tub. My sister-in-law Sherie and I were shopping in Shipshewana, Indiana and she found this tub filled with pillows. It was $110 I think. Might as well been $1100.00 at that time, we were so broke. Couldn't pass it up though. It's from the Civil War era. General Grant's home in Galena, IL has the same tub! When I look back at it now, I feel like we stole the tub, it was so cheap.

Did you know that most of my furnishing are from the trash? Yeppers. This lovely little chest was part of a dresser that I found in the garbage. Someone started to strip it, but didn't finish. I love it just like it is. One of my favorite things.

A closer look at the tub. It's lined in .....I'm not sure.....tin? Copper? All I know is I love it. The drain and overflow are so lovely and detailed. When you sit in it, you can have water up to your chin. Several friends have come over just to take a bath. I light candles for them, bake cookies and serve them tea or wine. It's a spiritual experience. I'm not kidding. There is healing in this tub!

Glen, in his infinite craftiness, put an old pump for the water to fill the tub. I love it so much it hurts. I started to clean up all my 'product', but hey...gotta keep it real.

A couple of my favorite little vignettes in the bathroom. You do know it's all about the vignette don't you? A little card that a friend gave to me, framed. My gardening soap and hand brush, and a couple of old bottles. I love old bottles. I have a little collection.

I light the candles on this shelf when I bathe sometimes. It lights up all the little bottles. It's very beautiful, and calming. Sigh. Then I see that Glen left the Blue Lagoon ladder out in the middle of the yard. Nice.

If you are interested in what brought a girl from the Southside of Chicago, out to the sticks of NW Indiana, how I slept with an axe for the first two weeks here, how the flies didn't even want to live here........tune in next time.........

Shopping Tips

As I was perusing Aldi today, I thought about a few tips that you might find handy.

Why not start stocking up now on flour, sugar, nuts and baking spices? It'll be easier on the budget to spread it out over the next couple of months instead of going out and getting it all at once. Also, you can start watching for sales. That's always a good time to stock up.

I also wanted to share a couple of things at Aldi that I'm loving right now. It's a Special Purchase, so I'm assuming it's not around forever. Black Forest Ham, and Black Forest Smoked Turkey. It's $8.99 for 3#. It's pretty delicious. Been making panini's like they are going out of style. I'm pretty picky about my deli meats, so this was a gamble for me to buy these.

Just stay away from the Smoked Sausage at Aldi. Don't ask. Just don't ask. It's frightening.

Are there any things that you love or hate at Aldi? Do share!

Cooking Club!

If I'm not careful, this blog will be about nothing but food. I suppose since it's such a large part of my life, it's only natural. Food is such an integral part of my life. It's how I comfort, nurture and show love to the people I love. It evokes memories and satisfies my soul.

Today I wanted to introduce you to my Cooking Club. If you've been reading since I started this blog a few months ago, you'll notice that I'm in two cooking clubs. Well, I was in two. I had to let one go, it was just a bit too much. I already regret it somewhat.

It's a nerve wracking time. You fret. You worry. You wonder if the recipes seem cohesive as a meal. Is the house clean enough? Oh why do I have to live in such a small mess of a house? I should go out and buy a new set of dishes. I need new carpeting! These are the things that go through your head. Then, the girls come in, one by one, and we start eating, and then you don't care. You're having such a great time.

Terry was the host of this month's group. She has a LOVELY home in Lowell. Her garden, well...it's paradise. I have no idea how she does as much as she does. She used to be the President of the Lowell Garden Club. She's stepped down for a bit. She loves to junk as much as I do. Going into her house made me miss all my 'stuff'. I simplified my house a few years ago, and got rid of a lot of things on Ebay. When I see her collections of pie birds and the like, it makes me really regret what I've done.

The club meets Feb, March, April May, June, September and October. There are six of us in the club, so each of us get a turn to host the club. The host picks out the menu and assigns each of us a recipe. She also provides the drinks and bread if appropriate.

Pictured left to right, seated: Teri, Barbara. Standing: Mari, Terry, Debbie. You could look high and low and you wouldn't find a better bunch of ladies.

My recipe was a Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Pecan Crust and Marshmallow Sour Cream topping. Do you think I got a photo of it? Of course not. Funny story about the cheesecake. Pulling it out of the oven, I misjudged the height of the puffed up cake and tore the top off of it with the oven rack. No problem I thought, the marshmallow topping will cover a multitude of sins. And it did. Until, when putting it in the car to transport it, I shoved my elbow into it. Nice.

The recipe I want to share with you today is for the Pumpkin Soup that we had. There is a mental barrier for me and pumpkin served in any other way than a pie, a bread or cookie. It's like eating shrimp cake...I don't know how to describe it.

I'm glad I got over my issues and ate this soup. It was lovely. So good. The relish on the top really made it special. I hope that you'll give it a go this year!

Here's a link to the recipe. That way you can print it out easily.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pumpkin-soup-with-chili-cran- apple-relish-recipe/index.html

To my cooking club girls...if you are reading this....I love you all dearly. You all hold such a special place in my heart, and I look up to each and every one of you.

'Fried' Chicken

Ok. I've been sitting here for 2+ hours and this lame blog post is all I've got to show for it! I've been trying to catch up on friends blogs and emails. Dogwood, I tried in vain to leave you comments! I wanted to post about my cooking club last week, and my flea market excursion yesterday.

Is that too much to ask?

My computer is acting crazy, my bowels are all cattywompus, and I can sit no more! Add to that, in the time I spent watching the hourglass on the computer, waiting for things to download I searched in vain for Portugal on the map. IN SOUTH AMERICA. Yep. A regular scholar here.

Aaron's education is in my hands.

The poor dude is screwed.

Saturday Musings....

It was another wet, gloomy, damp cold day here in Northwest Indiana. I didn't mind it too much, but it's getting a 'bit' old. I started the day, the usual way. Bacon and coffee. Food of the Gods. Elixer of life. Nectar....well, you get the idea.

I've been cleaning and organizing my head off. The first week I 'had more free time' (translated....FIRED) I slept about 12 hours a day. I didn't realize I was so exhausted. The second week, I just really craved solitude for some reason. This is my third week. I'm ready to tear the house apart and start scrubbing things with toothbrushes.

Here's the corner of my office. It's always been such a place to dump things. I would always cringe if someone walked in here. I finally got it organized and cleaned up. Doesn't it look pretty? Don't you love things in jars?

I liked the way the light was hitting things this morning. Thought it was so pretty. The window in here is an eastern exposure, so the sunrise always blinds me when I'm on the computer.

My sister-in-law and niece stopped over unexpectedly for a visit yesterday. I loved it! I had just finished making a big pot of Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower Soup and baking bread. Perfect timing. The soup was wonderful by the way. You really should try it.

We decided to venture out to County Line Orchards in Hobart. I have to tell you, I won't go back there. It's just too commercialized. I didn't even take photos. $85 for a bushel of Honeycrisp apples. $60 for a bushel of 'all other apples'. I don't know...have I been living under a rock? When did the prices get that high? $1.69 a lb you pick! It was so crowded, so commercial. Ack. I didn't like it one bit. When we were camping a few weeks ago, we happened upon the sweetest little orchard, with the sweetest little man. There was a sign hanging in the shed that said 'Please don't let him keep you talking past 6pm. Tell him it's time to come home for supper'. His wife had written it. I couldn't stand it. I wanted to take them both home with me.

We did drive to the lake. Lake Michigan. It's so beautiful at this time of year.

This is my sister-in-law and her daughter. We got home well past dark. I made smoked turkey and apple panini's with gouda cheese. Had some more soup. Oh what a nice day.

I'm off to the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, Illinois this morning. Gotta run for now.....

If you've left me a comment in a previous post, I've tried to reply to it in the comments. If you've sent me an email...I'll get to those tonight.....if you're having trouble leaving me a comment, please click on 'contact me' and let me know. I'm trying to work all the bugs out.

Thanks so much! Happy Sunday!