Quilted heart and simple rules to live by.

Sweet little heart I found on Pinterest...will be making some of these.  What a good way to use up those tiny scraps!  A few good words to live by me thinks!  Mr. Outdoors has a horrible summer cold...where he got it we don't know but hopefully he will be feeling better real soon!  Our weather has settled down some..at least the 100 degree days are lessening, only 96 today but in the 60's at night so excellent sleeping!  I am about 1/2 way done with a baby girls crochet blanket and I am still quilting on Granddaughter Hannah's wedding quilt...I really need to get these two things done so I can move onto other projects.  LOL!  Terrific Thursday!

Pickled green tomatoes

I am planning on canning green tomatoes when we get done with the red.  Played around with the recipe and it needs some tweaking for sure.  A little too much vinegar to our taste but I will keep after it!  

Roseville pottery

I am a collector of Roseville pottery.  This is my newest piece which I won at auction on Shopgoodwill.com.  Many years ago Mr. Outdoors was riding his horse along the river here in Kansas and came upon something green sticking out of the sand.  He dismounted and started digging and discovered a beautiful green vase, not a chip or crack, brought it home to me and I recognized the pattern as one my Great Aunts had a few pieces of, Roseville.  The river would flood a lot when heavy rains came and we assumed the piece was washed away when flooding occurred.  When my aunts both passed away I was the grateful recipient of their Roseville and thus my collection was formed...oh and I only collect the green.  Roseville comes in brown, blue, yellow, pink and my green.  Guess I am just drawn to the green and I could not afford to collect all the colors as the pieces are expensive to my way of thinking.  I am thrilled to add this piece to my collection!

Mennonite Girls Can Cook: O'Brien Hash Brown Chicken

Mennonite Girls Can Cook: O'Brien Hash Brown Chicken: Another version of a Ranch Dressing Crockpot Chicken we tried recently that was very satisfying. Summer is a great time to plug the crockp...Will be trying this soon...sounds sooo good!

"B" hand towel.

I went to one of my favorite thrift stores and found this ever so pretty hand towel with a "B" embroidered on it.  The store was having a 1/2 off sale so I got the towel for 59cents!  Wound up putting it on my dresser, couldn't bear to actually use it for a hand towel.  Love the look of it with my blue glass wear.  Guess I should add here although my name is Elizabeth, everyone calls me Beth...thus the "B".  

Mr. Outdoors Birthday

Mr. Outdoors had a Birthday today and we had a grand time celebrating.  Our Granddaughter drove for 3 hours to be here to surprise her Grandpa and surprised he was!  Our youngest son and his girlfriend and Grandson joined us for a good supper and it was so fun to be with our family...I think he had a great day!  Isn't he handsome...67 looks very good on him!

Cornbread salad

Have you ever made cornbread salad?  It is Mr. Outdoors favorite summer salad and we make it a lot.  Just make up your regular pan of cornbread ( I use Pioneer Womans recipe) let cornbread cool and crumble up fine.  Chop fresh tomatoes, onions and bell peppers.... toss with the cornbread and add mayo till it is moist.  Usually a 1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo will do just fine.  Enjoy!!

When they come for supper

Our #2 son came by for supper last night, here he is with Mr. outdoors.  When the children move away it is heartbreaking...for a longggg time.  Then you and your hubby kinda start enjoying the privacy you once had many many years ago before the babies arrived.  You find yourselves finally able to do and enjoy things you hadn't dreamed of in years.... but you know what...it's so grand when they come for supper and we sit and talk and laugh and discuss all the happenings in our lives.  He is such a good son , always has been and always will be.  He has his Dads hard work ethic and the wisdom of someone twice his age and just such a great guy!  I am so lucky!

Herbs to plant.

A couple of cute ideas for growing herbs...now that some of the heat has subsided Mr. Outdoors and I have been talking about a fall garden.  How about peas, broccoli, lettuce and herbs too!  I canned another 7 jars of tomatoes this morning and froze some more melon balls.  Work a little each day hand quilting Grandaughters wedding quilt and am 1/3 of the way done, Christmas will be here before we know it!  Happy Wednesday!

Summer canning still.......

I have been canning tomatoes for weeks now, we are so Thankful for them.  We have a bumper crop of cantaloupes this year and I have made pineapple/cantaloupe preserves....14 pints.  I will give some out for Christmas and we will eat the rest.  This is a new recipe for me to use and we like it.  Crushed pineapple, cantaloupe, juice of one lemon and sugar.  I just let it cook down to the right consistency and use the hot water bath canner...easy peasy.  Cantaloupe melon balls are in the freezer, I don't know how they will turn out but I am thinking we can always put them in smoothies if we don't like them.  I am wanting to make green tomato pickles and that may be right around the corner as Mr. outdoors tells me the tomatoes are on their way out.  In Arkansas they serve green tomato pickles with their catfish and they are one of my favorites....don't know if I like the catfish more or the pickles!  Our weather is cooling down some...as in 98 as opposed to 108...if you can call that cool....right?!