Sideboard

Sideboard: a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers placed along a wall and used for storing dishes, glasses, and table linen. Also known as my favorite piece of furniture ever! Two weekends ago while Joe held down the fort, I combed all the flea markets in the area for something to hold our school supplies in the dining room. Considering my long held addiction to dishes, there just wasn't enough room in my kitchen cabinets for the beloved dishes and the growing collection of school supplies and books. So I found this.

It's a cedar sideboard, some call it a buffet but I'm calling it a sideboard. It seems to be handmade and has glass drawer pulls. The cabinet doors have old clasps that are mounted crooked and that makes me love it all the more. I love to think about a man making it for his wife to put in her farmhouse dining room to hold her china and hand embroidered linens. Linens much like the one shown here, oh it makes my heart sing!

Buttercup

Recently on a family walk Little Sister noticed this flower growing by the trail. She bent down and inspected it with delight. Every little dew drop was examined and she was thrilled with how delicate and bright it was. I was equally delighted with how delicate and bright she was. What a joy to live with and know this tiny girl and her no so tiny personality. She lights up our whole home!

Costumes in Review

The Wee Little Pumpkin. Oh he gets me with his tiny finger like that.
We had a lovely Monarch Butterfly with soft blonde hair. It cracks me up that one of her ponytails always flops down.
Here is the lovely Cinderella. She was very sad that I couldn't make her any ballerina slippers. I made this dress out of one of my old dresses and she has worn every minutes since I sewed on the last button, except when it was in the wash. It was very difficult for her to be parted with the dress while it was in the laundry but she made it through.
Above you can see Batman and Power Dude. It was necessary for Batman to put down his pumpkin bucket to assume the proper pose. He is extremely serious about both the costume and the pose. By the way, Joe and I dressed up as Harried Parents.

War Eagle Mill

A few weekends ago, we ventured out to visit one of my favorite places in our state. It's called War Eagle Mill. There is a little something for everyone, an amazing old building, food, history, a river with a spillway, and lots of rocks to throw in the water. That cover the major interests of everyone in our family so a trip to War Eagle makes everyone happy. I'll let you guess which parts I like the best. The drive out there is beautiful with windy mountain roads and fabulous views. As you approach the mill you cross over an old one lane bridge and from there you get the best view of the water wheel. This is one of the only operating grist mills left in the country and the history of the place is quite an education. Three times the building has been destroyed and rebuilt. The current owners run the mill, a large store and on the third floor, a restaurant called the Bean Palace. That name just makes me happy.

On the first floor is where the flour, cornmeal, jams, jelly, honey and other things are sold. All the flour and cornmeal is packaged in cotton prints that really add to the charm of the store. I bought a 10 pound sack of yellow corn meal for myself after Big Sister chose the flour sack material she preferred. She has a collection of flour sacks from War Eagle that she uses alternately for doll beds and bags. After she viewed all the choices she settled on a pink flowered stripe pattern. That girl knows her fabric!

Here is a view of Baby and the mill. The corn falls down in the funnel shaped thing and the grindstones are underneath it. The big wheel in the background is powered by the belt that runs down below to the waterwheel. It's pretty loud in there when it's running but the kids love it. They have displays of different grains and what the flour they each make.

This is a side view of the mill. You see the funnel thing with the corn in it? Well, below that on the floor is a gray box that collects all the cornmeal. And this is no ordinary cornmeal. When you pick up a pinch of it you can feel different size pieces in it. Cornbread made from this is something to write home about, as my Mamaw would say. Around here, we use it for baking and for making big pots of cheese grits. Creamy with a little bite to it, my kids devour it!

Head up the worn wooden stairs, I love worn treads on stairs, and you find a whole different shop. Up here they sell pottery, enameled dishes and pans, cast iron, wooden toys and trinkets, jewelry, quilts and other odds and ends. The kids always love the miniature cooking utensils and of course the boys love the pocket knife display.
These polished rocks are a favorite to dig into and find a special stone. My mom is a rock collector so whenever I see all those colors I think of her.
Here is Little Sister looking out the window at the water wheel and the river. She was busy running from one thing to the next in complete amazement. Almost wore her Grandma out.
Outside you can see the water wheel up close. I love the moss that grows on it when it is not being used. Speaking of that, I have only been there one time when the wheel wasn't turning and grinding corn. Big Brother pointed out the DANGER sign to me as he poked his head through the bars to get a better view. Thanks!
When you go down below the bridge to throw rocks in the water, what you say everyone doesn't go down and throw rocks in the water? Tell that to my boys! Anyway, when you are down there you can really get a feel for the size of the wheel. That thing is big! You can also get a feel of the spray from 30 feet away. All in all, it's just about my ideal day trip, rock throwing included.

8 Years and Still Going Strong!

This weekend we are headed back to the little cabin in the woods for a little getaway in honor of our eighth anniversary. The big difference between this weekend and the one earlier this summer is that we will have only one of our delightful offspring with us. Our brave and wonderful Grandma will be entertaining the four big ones so remember her in your prayers. And don't worry Grandma, we will come back, just take some Motrin and everything will be fine. As for us, I have some snacks packed along with some double dark chocolate Ghiradelli cookie dough to bake and serve with cold milk, I'm taking some books we are reading and a sewing project to work on. I'm excited and ready for some relative quiet and chocolate cookies!

Fun Food Friday! Pizza

Is there any food more fun than pizza? My husband loves fun food. Every weekend we must eat fun food. During the week he will gladly consume lentil soup and chicken and dumplings but come the weekend and anything not deemed to be fun food will be frowned upon. Pizza is the best fun food weapon in a frugal mom's arsenal. Above you can see my latest creation, yellow squash pizza. The name just makes me laugh. Over the years I have been weaning Joe off of man-pizza, crust piled with a pound of meat and fifty thousand toppings. My hard work paid off when everyone happily gobbled down yellow squash pizza. The kids all made their own pizzas and I baked two large ones with leftovers in mind, silly old me, they disappeared as fast I could slice them. If you've never made homemade pizza, you are in for a treat. And they make $20 take-out pizza that you have to blot orange grease off of look pretty bad. First you have to make your crust.
Mix up a batch of My Favorite Bread, after it rises, divide it in two pieces and roll it out. After years of making rectangular pizzas on cookie sheets I finally bought two bona-fide pizza pans from a restaurant supply store. Don't know what took me so long, but it's great to finally be so cool and all.
Lightly oil the pans and sprinkle with cornmeal, then put your rolled out crust on them. The bread recipe makes two thinnish crusts that bake quickly and are divine.
Spread sauce on the crust, I usually just mix up a can of tomato sauce with garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and a pinch of sugar. This step is where the fun begins. You can use anything you like, red sauce, olive oil, pesto, salsa, sausage, pepperoni, chicken, canadian bacon, fresh pineapple, artichokes, olives, onions, black beans, tomatoes, squash, broccoli, on and on. Really, anything that's not moving or nailed down can be put on a pizza. If you like it, go for it! After you have everything arranged just so, slide the pizza into a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. My oven is about the size of a Suzy Bake Oven so I bake two pizzas for 10 minutes then switch them in the oven so they each bake 10 minutes on the top rack and 10 minutes on the bottom.
Take them out and slice 'em up. Feed to all the starving people that are now clustered around the kitchen drooling and begging. By the way, Bren, this recipe's for you!

The Great Mushroom Adventure

Yesterday we loaded up the five chickadees and headed over to a trail in the nearby national forest. Joe carried Baby on his back and I held the sisters hands as we ventured into the Big Forest. Big Sister was quite apprehensive of the Big Forest and pleaded to stay with me in the car. Since I wasn't staying in the car, she had no choice but to step into the unknown. After a few moments she was engrossed in finding flowers and mushrooms along with Little Sister. All the unending rain in these parts had caused an incredible variety of mushrooms to spring up from the spongy forest floor. Literally every other step would reveal a new color or type of mushroom. The memory card maxed out on mushrooms before we finished our hike. Never have I seen so many colors of mushrooms, sizes too. Little Sister was mesmerized with the small ones and kept calling us over to see the "tiny baby mushrooms". Despite our constant warnings to not even touch a mushroom, I was still nervous that someone might eat one. If you knew my kids, you would worry too. There's almost nothing they won't eat. Last year before venturing out to the grocery store with all four external kids and one in utero, I took a few minutes to go over the Rules of the Store. They recited the usual, "Don't ask for stuff", "Don't run away from Mom", "Don't grab stuff and put it in the cart". Then Little Brother piped up with, "DO NOT eat poisonous mushrooms!". So yesterday, in the midst of the cries of wonder and delight, deep in the majestic forest, you could hear a mother call out, "DO NOT eat poisonous mushrooms!!!".