The Cook Book

If you think your having deja vu, you are. This is a rewrite of an old post. Enjoy.

A few years ago, my husband had bought me a new camera for my birthday and it came with an offer from Shutterfly that I could not turn down. Well, I did turn it down until two days before it expired. I kept getting emails reminding me of my free photo album. I didn't know what kind of photo album I wanted to make but I didn't want my free offer to expire.

So, I went to the site and looked through what all they had to offer and there it was, "make your album into a cook book". I could do that! I only had two days to put it together to get it published and it took me every bit of that time. I wish I had looked into it sooner so I could have taken more time with it and make it more creative. Two weeks later, it came in the mail. I was pretty excited.

Most of the recipes are from the ones I have posted before on my blog. I didn't have much time to think it out a whole lot.
But here it is a sneak peak at a few pages in my twenty page cook book.

Does the cover look familiar? Yep, Its from one of my paintings I posted about earlier.

You can check it out again HERE.

Thanks Shutterfly!

One day I would love to go through some of the recipes I have collected from my mom and mother in law and create a big cookbook including all the recipes we love. That would be a big project. It would literally be like writing a book. I have so many recipe boxes around the kitchen it would take forever to go through them all. Maybe this could be a winter project to tackle. 

Sunday Tour

The weekend was so nice. We were able to get a nice walk in, do some shopping, and visited a camper show at the mall.  

Later we washed the cars and headed out to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants uptown. 

After church on Sunday, I suggested we attend a historical open house event that was going on near by. 
Most everyone from North and South Carolina has heard of Loray or Firestone mill. Its was the largest mill in Gaston county sitting at 600,000 square foot, 7 floors and over 110 years old.

The mill was originally named Firestone Mill and employed over 3,500 employees. It was the site of of Gastonia's bloody labor strike in 1929. It was later called Loray Mill. 

After sitting empty for years and an eye sore for most, they have turned it into residential and commercial space. There are 5 floors of residential loft apartments and two floors of available retail space including a brewery and a fitness club.

It was so neat to see the inside of this mill as they have kept most of the old structure in place. I fell in love with the rustic yet modern style in each apartment. 

We had a good time seeing some historic slide shows, listening to mill village style music and running into a few old friends. We ended up walking two hours and about three miles during our self tour. We also found the stairway the led to the top of the peak tower which was also housed a water tower at one time. It was needed in case this giant caught fire. 

From the top, you could see the mountains on one side and as far as Charlotte on the other. I'd say that's at lease a 20 mile view.

The halls were long, the ceilings were high and the first two floors were like a mall as you could look down over the railing. 

The retail spaces are still in process but the apartments are ready for rent. The prices range from 800 a month to 1800 a month. As much as we would love to live here, that price is a little steep for our budget right now. We'd rather invest in beach property. 

You can check out more photos and history of the old mill HERE.

Leaving the mill, we saw something else old. 

Nice huh?

Later we did some grocery shopping and then home for some salmon on the grill. It was a nice day. 

Gnome or No Gnome

I have never been interested in wanting a Gnome before. I always thought they were creepy.
However, I mentioned the other day that I wanted a Gnome for my little natural garden area in the front yard. I didn't want to buy one, I just wanted to find one.

While we were shopping the thrift store last week, My husband showed me a Gnome for sale. I was thrilled and said "I want it". It was only 1.99. It just needed some cleaning up, and painted. It was a sport themed Gnome that I didn't care for but knew I could give him an up-do.

My husband worked hard to get the logo off of his hat and then I let my daughter paint him more gnomish.

She did great! I love his new look and now he is ready to sit out in my garden.

OR is he?

Before I wrote this post, I went online to get a little history on these cute little dolls. But I could not find anything good about them. As a Christian, my conscience was now telling me to stay clear of such statues as they have no Biblical meaning but only have mystical meaning in which I've always been taught to stay away from. Same with fairies and trolls. I have even given up on the fairy garden idea for now.

After reading some History of gnomes., It has given me uneasy thoughts about placing one in my yard. However, I just think they are so darn cute and Its not like I believe in all that stuff anyway.

I may place him in my garden for a couple days just to see how I feel about it. I never thought of it as a bad thing. I just thought they were pretend garden luck. Just for fun. That's how I looked at it anyways. But now that I know different, I don't know. Maybe I just need a frog.

Here are a few fun facts about garden gnomes.

• The first gnomes were produced in Germany in the 1870's.
• Gnomes are known as symbols of good luck.
• Gnomes are mostly popular in the gardens of working class people.
• Gnomes is Latin for earth dweller and were thought to live underground. 
• They were even forbidden in some places.
• They are also called "Enchanting helpers'.

OK , yep, still creepy but I sorta like him so I'm going to leave him there for now.

BUT if he moves, hes OUT!!!

What do you think? Gnome or no Gnome?

Mantis Mania

You are fixing to read and see something really cool.

Back in January as I was inspecting my butterfly bush in the front yard, I noticed a sticky glob of something on one of the branches. It was stuck on there like a wad of bubble gum. I wondered "what in the world is that"? 

I showed it to my sister and we began investigating. She concluded that it was definitely a Praying Mantis nest. We began to search around inline to find out about them a little more. 

Come to find out that you can save them in a jar until they hatch. Some sell them or give them to schools for learning. Once they hatch, you will have hundreds of Mantis to scatter throughout your yard and gardens. These little creatures eat almost any bug it comes across, so they are your friend.

I don't really care much about bugs but I  remember how my sister used to find butterfly cocoons and save them until they would hatch. So, I asked her if she wanted the mantis nest. Of course she did.

I carefully broke off the limb it was attached to and placed it in a jar covered with cheesecloth and gave it to her. She kept it inside and placed it in a window where the sun would keep it warm.

Yesterday, my phone started going off. She had babies. Little Praying Mantis babies. Hundreds of them. She sent me several pictures of the new critters.

I thought it was creepy looking but really amazing at the same time. 

She took them outside to release them from the jar.  

hopefully she will have a bug free and blessed yard this summer. That is if the mantis do not eat all of each other!  

Eggsamining

I'm sitting here pondering about these eggs a customer sent my way yesterday.

I have never had fresh eggs right out of a chicken before that I know of. What if there's a chick inside? As I eggsamine [examine] them carefully, I'm wondering why they are not white? Iv'e heard of brown eggs but not  pink, green, blue, orange or grey eggs as I'm seeing all those colors here. But aren't they pretty?

I'm guessing my grandmother and maybe even my mom has used fresh eggs before. I'm not sure. I know grandma rung chicken necks and plucked them before she cooked up the best fried chicken ever. That does not bother me, but something about an egg that's not stamped with approval makes me skeptical.

I just noticed the Bible verse on the inside of the carton. I bet you don't see that at many stores.           Maybe that's my stamp of approval.
I get a feeling of guilt when I read that verse after I've complained all day.

I guess I'll take a leap of faith and crack some open for a tasty dish.
Is that all I do?
How do they differ from the ones in the store?
Does anyone know why they are different colors and if that has anything to do with flavor?
What is the expiration date?
Do I have to clean them somehow? I mean, you never know where the chicken has been.

Countryfied but confused.