Remembering

My 90 year old Grandfather died a couple months ago. 

He and Grandma had lived on their farm for 63 years.  My Grandpa raised MANY kinds of animals, and was a crop farmer as well.

He was a HARD worker.  And a man who knew A LOT about everything. 

I loved him dearly.

My Grandparents made plans before he died.  He wanted my Grandma to move off the farm, because it is too big for one person to handle.  They bought a house right in town, with easy access to everything. 

So, the other night, we went over and took one more walk through of the farm.

It made me remember so many things.

The times I was with Grandpa in his workshop (he made beautiful things out of wood), and the cats were swarming around our feet.

The times I played with my sister and cousins from Virginia (city kids!  :-) )out in the back shed.  We climbed for HOURS and had the best time.  Not caring how dirty or covered with spiderwebs we were.

The time my Grandpa rigged up a towing line to his tractor so me and my sister and cousins could sled down the hill to the pond, and be pulled back up.

The two doberman  dogs he kept that scared me so badly, I would fly from the car to the house everytime we visited, even though they were kept behind a fence.  (I just KNEW they were coming for me every time I went.)

And even when I would ride with him in the cab of his tractor and he would pop out his false teeth whenever I asked him to, just so I could scream everytime.

I drive past this farm every week when I go to get groceries.

It will forever be a part of my childhood.

Thanksgivings, Christmases, and Sunday afternoons visiting my Grandparents.

My children don't know this place like I do, but they had a little fun exploring the other night too, and posing for dramatic effect!

It really is a beautiful setting, my Grandparent's farm...

We had to keep pulling Brent away from all the equipment.  He kept exclaming, "Do you KNOW what this IS?"  Frankly darling, I don't, and I'm not sure that I care....

But HE was super excited!

At the time when I was a kid, I never knew any different, living on a farm was what I knew.  Visiting my Grandparents was just another HUGE yard for me to run around in.  The buildings were a place to explore.  When I got married, I wanted to move away from country living.  I wanted to be more worldly.
Little did I know, kids would change everything.  I wanted them to experience the freedom of being outside in a HUGE place like I had as a kid. 
I'm glad that kind of life was instilled in me, or I probably would've never come back to it.

It was nice remembering the other night. 

South of the Border

I could eat Mexican food EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.

Give me Hacienda.

Give me El Camino Real.

Give me Taco Bell even.

Or, I'll make it myself.

 Its the go to meal when I can't think of something for a night.

Tacos.  Sure.

Enchiladas.  Even better.

Taco Salad.  Brent's favorite.

Tonight...chicken enchiladas with homemade salsa and chips (not homemade, but Tostitos makes cantina style thin chips, and they are TO DIE FOR.

I got home from picking up Evan after football equipment turn-in, and got ready to start making enchiladas, only to discover I was out of enchilada sauce.

Gulp.

Race to Pinterest I did to find a recipe for enchilada sauce.  Turns out, there are quite a few varieties, but I went with the one I had all the ingredients for.  It turned out pretty good, so I'll share...

Homemade enchilada sauce:
1T vegetable oil
2T flour
2T chili powder
2 c water
3 oz. tomato paste
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t cayenne pepper
3/4 t salt

Mix the oil, flour and chili powder in a saucepan over med. until bubbly. Add the rest of the ingredients and still well to mix.  Stir until thickened a little, then remove from heat and use.

Chicken enchiladas:
10-12 tortillas (any kind, corn or flour, fajita size or regular)
2 cans chicken, or 3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
2 c shredded cheese (colby or mexican)
enchilada sauce (1 jar, or above recipe)

Pour half the jar (or 1/2 above recipe) into bottom of 9x13 pan, and spread all over the bottom.  Mix chicken and cheese in large bowl, and then spoon into tortillas, roll up, and place seam side down on top of enchilada sauce in pan.  Repeat until all the chicken/cheese mixture is used up.  Top with remaining enchilada sauce and some  cheese.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Top with whatever you like, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, lettuce, onions, peppers, etc.

Homemade Salsa (like Hacienda restaurant)
1 28 oz. can tomatoes (diced or halved, doesn't matter), drained
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
5-6 cut up slices of jalapenos (I used the kind in a jar already sliced), and 1T juice
1t sugar
Blend everything together in blender until slightly creamy, but not pulverized. 
Serve with your favorite tortilla chips

Ah, this meal is GOOD.  Evan LOVES enchiladas and gets super excited when I put it on the weekly menu.  He eats his totally plain with no toppings, the rest of us add LOTS.

Its' an easy weeknight meal to make.  Go make yourself some!

Gifts anyone?

I'm done with craft shows for the year.

Can't tell you how happy I am about that little part of my life.

It's a little stressful getting a large inventory ready to display, only to sit for hours, or days at a time, and hope someone comes to buy something.

Makes you feel a little unsure about yourself and your product at times.

Things seem to sell much better for me on Etsy.com.  I'm not sure why, but they do, and all I have to do is refill the shop a couple times every couple of months, and wait for things to sell. 

I've taken a lot of the things I currently have left from some of my shows, and listed them tonight.

Took me a couple of hours to get everything photographed, measured, described, etc. 

Want to see some things?

Magnets made out of vintage milk bottle toppers.

 Mason jars re-purposed as soap dispensers.

 Quirky photo albums embellished with fabric flowers and rick rack.

 Recipe organizers made out of journals.

 Zippered Pouches embellished with removable fabric flower pins.

 Large trays painted with chalkboard paint and used for a chalkboard or magnet board.

 Pin cushions placed in tin cupcake holders.

 Rustic frames outfitted with cork.

Ah, so many of these things I would/could keep for my home, but I have so much already, and I do love to create things, change ordinary things into more embellished things.

Hopefully they will sell on Etsy.com. 

Hopefully.

What this post is really about...apparently NOT about me

I won't tell you that this past Saturday, Grace and I traveled 1 1/2 hours south to a craft show that I was a vendor at.

It was hosted by a lady I met at an antique garage sale this summer...who asked if my cousin and I had a store of our own.

Turns out my cousin couldn't attend this weekend, so I paid, and went with Grace.

It was the perfect setting...and we were in a barn with our booth.

 

(But Brent is telling me that this blog is getting boring, and there isn't enough about him in it...)

Grace even made a new friend while we I set up the booth.

(He's telling me that I get more comments on the blog when there is a story about him.  He's quite full of himself most of the time.)

At the sale, there were many vendors, and the owner of the farm made a giant batch of chili and passed it around free of charge.

The weather was beautiful, and there were TONS of people who went through the sale.

(He wants me to share with you how funny he is, and how EVERY Sunday when he gets in the van to drive...which is the only day of the week he usually drives my van...he says, "I wonder what circus monkey was driving this last!"  Hilarious reference to me being much smaller than him.  The kids, however, laugh EVERY time.  EVERY TIME.)

The sale wasn't my best, but it was the last one for me this year, and that's quite a relief.  When I have a little time this week, I will add everything I have left to my Etsy store.  

(Any man who carves a bit of snow into a tractor and is SO proud of himself has something not quite right with him...right.  I'm glad we're in agreement.  Also any man who on a daily basis names us all ridiculous names, and sings songs CONSTANTLY to every one's utter annoyance is not quite right...right?  And lastly, any man who relates each piece of my clothing to an article of food is most definitely not quite right.  Absolutely.)

I have bulletin boards and picture frames, and a pillow, and candle holders, etc.  I KNOW you can use something as a gift with the holidays coming up, right.

(So, as he reads this the next time, I can just hear him in my mind..."It's about time you spice up this blog with more about me...that's what your readers want anyway."   His FAVORITE line of all time, which he sing songs is, "It's not about you, it's all about ME!"  Yep, that's pretty much his motto.)

Yes, this man is my husband.  Yes, on a daily basis he drives me CA-RA-ZY, yes his annoys ALL of us with his constant teasing and his songs...but on the other hand, he makes me laugh at the stupidest times, and he's loyal, and he's a hard worker (when he's not napping), and he's my children's father.  He takes the worst of me, and I take the worst of him, and we share everything in between.  

The singing however, MUST GO.  I'm NOT kidding.  

So see, this really wasn't about a craft show this weekend, it was about Brent.  

Hope you're happy darling.

Football, cheerleaders, and ah...memories

You know, there's something about a good football game.

And sitting beside friends while you watch it...

And people watching...

And Homecoming.

Oh, and NO RAIN while you watch.

We had all these this week.

Evan's 7th grade football team is 5-1 now.  They are really pretty good, and I'm excited to see how well they do as 8th graders next year.

Ev plays linebacker.  He's #2.

  Grace cheers at his games.

This year, she's captain along with one of her best friends.  They lead the 8th grade squad.

I sit on the front row, for every game...I'm the cheer coach, and it's a job keeping 14 teenage cheerleaders in line... but they are good girls, and they've improved so very much.

Last night, we went to the high school football game.  It was Homecoming.

It reminds me so much of my Homecoming, yikes, 21 years ago.  It was VERY windy, and cool, and the girls in the homecoming court rode on very nice cars around the track, only to be dropped off at the gate before the announcement.  (sadly, they don't ride on cars, OR floats at all anymore.) 

My favorite English teacher was the announcer that night, and after he announced all of us, he named the prince and princess, and then took an excruciatingly long time announcing who the king and queen were. 

As a total surprise, my name was called for Queen, and my friend Tony's name was called for King.  I was so excited!

and my hair was SO BIG!

Last night, our friend's son was named king, and his girlfriend, who is a sweet girl who goes to our church, was named Queen.
 We won the game 48-10, and then they had fireworks after the game.
Cool as always.

It was a great night, and we only got sprinkled on once. 

We laughed ALOT, and had a great time.  This is how to spend a Friday night!