Farmgirl Sisterhood

I have to say that I am blessed to have met the ladies who have joined our Kfalls Chapter of farmgirls. They have big hearts and open arms. Everyone stepped up to the challenge of making chemo caps for the Klamath Falls Cancer Treatment Center here in town. We gathered up our coins and purchased material and yarn.

Those that could sew did so, and some were crocheted. They turned out so nice and were delivered today to the center. Thank you all for helping out where you could and sacrificing your time to do so. This was a true meaning of sisterhood.

Thanksgiving Blessings

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and my husband, myself and his oldest son will be going out to dinner. I would have made dinner at home but not only do I have oven problems right now, I would'nt feel good about not having all my family and friends around.

As some of you know, I have been making chemo caps to deliver this coming weekend with the other farmgirls in our chapter who have also made caps, to the Cancer Center in Kfalls.
This month is really an eye opener for me as, Julie, our new member needs "farmgirl hugs" big time. She is not well herself and can no longer work, and is about to lose her home as she is doing everything she can to raise money for her daughter, Georganne, who is only 28 years old, and going through chemo for stage three breast cancer. I have been very busy making items she can sell at a bizarre in December and will continue to put the word out there for anyone who can help this family.

We (Charming Chicks) have also chosen a family for Christmas to donate a tree, presents and dinner fixings. I have been busy shopping for them as well.

Now this morning I receive a call that my sis-in-law is hospitalized for bleeding and doctors don't know where its coming from. So she is going through many tests right now. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer over three years ago, so knows all too well about the chemo treatments and having to go to doctors all the time.

I just want to send out big hugs and prayers for these women and say that I am so thankful to be able to do what I can and wish it could be so much more.

Please send blessings and prayers to these families in their time of need. I hope everyone enjoys their families this Thanksgiving and cherish each moment you have with them.

Surprise Birthday

Went to Charming Chick meeting at Cheryl's house and was suprised with birthday goodies. What a great lunch and nice gifts I received. After the lunch I went to Ford and bought a Ford Flex. I had not planned on turning in my Buick but this was just, if not more comfortable as my Buick, plus I get 28 mpg versus the 18 in the Buick. A good day it was. I'm now a Senior and get my senior discounts. yahoo

Girls Night Out

Last night Faith and I went to the Ross Ragland Theatre and saw a group called Hotel California doing a Salute to the Eagles. If you ever get a chance to see them, you should. They were so good. They sing just like the Eagles, sound like them and play some fabulous guitar. It did'nt hurt that they were nice to look at either.
As I sat there looking around at all the people in the place, I realized that I'm older and still loving rock and roll. So many were dressed to the tee and some were ready to boogie to the music. After their final song, we had to get them back on stage for more. Out they came and got a lot of us out of our chairs and dancing to the music.
After nearly three hours of loud music, my ears a bit numb, I had to drive home wishing the night could continue. But then again, the minute my head hit the pillow, this old gal was out.
I have to say, it brought back many good memories of having live music in my home while my kids were growing up and many friends and family to share it with. I need to put more of this music back into my life as it keeps me feeling young at heart.

Buckaroo

This big buck was greeting me this morning when I was going out to let the chickens out of their coop and feed them. He did have about five ladies with him too. They have been coming around a lot this past week and seem to be eating anything I still have in the yard thats edible.

We've been getting rain and cold nights but they are hanging around until there is nothing left here to eat, I suppose.

Put A Log On Please

Onyx decided if Papa could sit in the only place where there was some good heat, she'd just have to join him. This little stinker can certainly tell you when she wants something and she's letting papa know its time to put another log on the fire.

She's got him trained real well. Then again he's got her doing roll overs for a treat. If she does'nt get what she wants she can get quite verbal. She sounds like the Star Track creature, that big frog thing that looks like a blob of poop. Anyway, she's cute when she talks to you.

Southern Pecan Bars

I got this recipe from a 'sister' farmgirl and she was right to say these are yummy! I've never made anything like this before and it was really easy to do. So for those of you who don't go on the MaryJane site, I will give you the recipe so you can try them yourself. You won't be dissapointed.

Best-ever Southern Pecan Bars

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt (optional)

2 cups all purpose flour

4 large eggs, beaten

1-1/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups pecan pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In large bowl beat butter, sugar, and salt at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add flour mixing well to combine. Press into the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking pan. (I lined the bottom with parchment paper). Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until crust is lightly golden.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Pour over baked crust. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer or until topping is set. Cool completely in pan. Cut into bars. Makes about 2 dozen bars.

Enjoy!

Beeswax candlemaking

Yesterday my daughter and granddaughter and myself went to EcoMart to learn how to make beeswax candles and lip balm. It was so interesting and a lot of fun to learn how to make these. My daughter and I decided we are going to make some more lip balm for gifts or for sale, so we purchased what we need to make up a pretty good batch of them. The balm is such a nice smooth refreshing feel on the lips and the peppermint is a tingly feel. Very easy to apply and pretty pink. I think this could be something we could do when we all need to have a new supply of lip balm. The candles were also easy to make and I love how they all turned out. It took some patience but very simple procedures.

Now I'm waiting for whatever their next class will be. I would love to learn how to make my own massage oils. There are so many wonderful oils on the market, one could go nuts. I'm even thinking of trying my own homemade soaps but I have so many I have purchased that I really need to use them up first.

Farmgirl Meeting Fun

What a great time we had chatting and eating and making laundry soap. April even showed a couple of the girls how to crochet as some of us will be making chemo caps to give to the cancer center here in Klamath Falls.

We only had two Artisan breads to taste as the other girls forgot to bring them or said they did'nt turn out well. We will wait to taste theirs another time. I made chili beans and cornbread for lunch today. We had wine and coffee to drink and for dessert we had Banana -cream cheesecake from a recipe in my Kraft book. For those of you who enjoyed the dessert, the recipe follows:

Banana-cream cheesecake

1 pkg white cake mix, divided

4 eggs, divided

3Tbsp. oil

2/3 cup packed brown sugar, divided

2 bananas, sliced

2 pkg. (8 oz each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups thawed Cool whip Whipped topping

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Reserve 1 cup dry cake mix. Mix remaining cake mix with 1 egg, oil and 1/3 cup sugar with mixer. (Mixture will be crumbly.) Press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of greased 13X9 inch baking pan; top with bananas.

Beat cream cheese and remaining sugar with mixer. Add reserved cake mix, remaining eggs and lemon juice; beat1 min. Blend in milk. (Batter will be thin.) Pour into crust.

Bake 45-50 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with whipped topping. Refrigerate leftovers.

San Francisco Style French Bread

It was time to bake my Artisan bread from my sourdough starter so I decided to try this recipe I found on the Mary Janes forum for bread making. It was posted by Ronna and it just sounded so good I had to give it a try. The last loaves I made were last winter and they turned out pretty ugly and way to sour in my opinion. I'll be tasteing this one on Friday when the other farmgirls come out for lunch. It really looks pretty and the smell is wonderful. You can't beat the smell of homemade bread.

Hope it tastes as nice as it looks. If this one turns out okay it will keep me going on baking some more and keeping my 'mother' going. This time 'mother' actually bubbled and smelled ucky.

My New Old Sink

After all day of really cleaning and wiping everything down in the kitchen, as it was covered in grease and dust, lo and behold I got to do it all over again. I was'nt thinking when my husband came home and proceded to install my new sink. First off he had to cut the countertop several times to make it fit as it was a bit bigger. Guess what? Yep, sawdust on everything, in everything and spread everywhere. Oh, I forgot to mention, he first had to chip away on the old sink, I think he put it down with liquid nails, and all the chipped porcelan pieces flew everywhere you could not even imagine. All in all it took him about 5 hours to complete the job. I vaccumed a little and left the rest for the next morning.

Boy I do love my new sink. Pray tell this is my last kitchen sink I want. Now I'm hoping for a new tub and shower. Guess I won't push that too fast. I can't even imagine what that project will look like.

Fall Cleaning

Well I've got the bug for cleaning house. Kinda like spring cleaning only its fall. I have scoured my kitchen top to bottom. Cleaning all the knick knacks, shelves and windows. While working on that I've also put up nine pints of apple butter, again, and five quarts of apples for pie filling for the freezer and I still have apples. I'm thinking a fresh pie would be nice.

I then proceded to go out and clean out my fish pond so they could breathe a little easier. That ought to get them through the winter before it will have to be cleaned again.

I have planned my menu for this Friday when members of Charming Chicks come for lunch and learn how to make laundry soap. I also made up cards with the recipe on them. It sounds like there will be around eight ladies coming. That should be a good cackling party.

Now its off to figure what to have for tonights dinner and watch my husband and daughter put in my new sink. Can't wait for that one.