June, 2019

This rambling rose blooms in our west yard every June.  It's been here for years and no one remembers planting it.  

I spent most of this month painting our kitchen cupboards.  To say this was an overly ambitious undertaking for my skill level is to understate things.  My only explanation for how the project ended well is that the Lord helped me.

We had rain, rain, and more rain this month, so that for the first time we can recall since John and I were married 45 years ago, he has been unable to get our soybeans into the ground by this date.  It finally stopped raining last Monday and my farmer went into action, aided by our son.  Our soybeans are being planted late, but they are finally getting a chance to grow.  The corn planted in May was washed away by rain and we did manage to get it replanted a couple of weeks ago in between rains.

Our community celebrated the Fourth of July early, completing lots of fun activities for kids and adults alike this past Saturday and Sunday.  Fun times!

I'm liking the lighter colored cupboards, and am relieved that the apple border is gone (although my grandkids were sad to see it go).

This guy was my right hand man during the cupboard project.  

When your 91-year-old grandma asks you to be on the float that she has spent 6 months crafting all by herself, you get onto that float.  Our adult son and daughter plus three of our grandchildren rode this float in the 4th of July parade.  It was over 90 degrees out but everyone seemed to have a great time.  

Grandkid dogpile. There are four children in this photo. 

We will close with a photo of a 65-year-old woman standing on a kitchen counter, removing a wallpaper border (as I said, the Lord definitely helped me--in retrospect I can see that flip-flops might not have been the wisest choice of footwear here):  

 All's well that ends well!  

Garage Sale Day

Our small community stages a community garage sale day once and occasionally, twice, a year.  For those who have zest for flea market finds, it is a golden day.  The excitement begins the night before as early shoppers begin driving through town.  Early this morning my daughter texted that her sale had already sold several large items that she was feeling relieved that she would not have to carry back into the house at the end of the day.  

I do not enjoy garage sales, or really, shopping in any form.  I don't even like a girls' day of shopping for new shoes and treasures found at sale prices; I prefer to nurture my friendships while seated in comfortable chairs, sipping coffee.  But, in order to support both the sellers and shoppers in my family on this day, I have prepared lunch.  This is a tradition begun by my mother-in-law who always had lunch ready us all each garage sale day (and every other special occasion and holiday in between).

My menu isn't original.  We are having Rachael Ray's sloppy joes, (which I unwisely increased by multiplying each ingredient by 5 or so, but all's well because I now have a batch to put into the freezer), Taste of Home's Slow Cooked Bean Medley (to which, not able to leave healthy enough alone, I added 12 ounces of minced, cooked and drained bacon), watermelon, chips, and boughten potato salad.  Yes, boughten potato salad.  Several family members who will not be named here prefer boughten to homemade potato salad.  And it isn't because my mother-in-law's potato salad isn't the best thing you've ever put into your mouth, it's just an odd preference that is easier to accommodate than making potato salad from scratch...

I did make my no wheat, no peanut, no chocolate, no dairy, no bake cookies.  Yes, we have allergies.  And yes, one of us is even allergic to chocolate if you can imagine that.  I've included that recipe below.

It is nearly time to pack all this food up and head to my daughter's house to follow tradition by feeding anyone who stops in and looks hungry around lunchtime today...here is that recipe for the allergen free cookies.  They are surprisingly yummy!

Bring the following ingredients to a boil, stirring until smooth.  Boil for 1 minute.  

1/2 cup Earth Balance soy free margarine 

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup rice milk

Remove milk mixture from heat and stir in the following:  

1/2 cup sunflower nut butter

3 cups quick oats

1.5 teaspoons vanilla

A few drops of almond flavoring (go easy here, but this adds a little more flavor)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Drop onto wax paper, let cool until set before you try to remove them.