Laundry Weekend!

Now that school has started, weekends are housecleaning and laundry time! Here in South Texas, September doesn't mean fall. It means that summer will be here a little longer. The heat really dries the laundry quickly! If I was smarter, I would get the laundry washed and hung out before the sun was too high in the sky. Instead, I linger over coffee and the Sunday paper! Then I get to hang the laundry out in the heat!

Ya'll Come Back Now!

Lorilee

Aretha's First Egg!

I was so excited to find 2 eggs in Cackleberry Cottage today! Ethel has been laying an egg a day for weeks now! This is Aretha's first. I love the way it is speckled. I think Lucy will be next! It has been really hot here lately, so I haven't been spending much time outdoors. I have also been busy with school. The first few weeks are always the most hectic. My 13 year old son, is playing football. He has practice until 5:30 each afternoon. I was upset to find out that my school's PTO Open House is on the same day and time as my son's first football game! boo-hoo!

Ya'll Come Back Now!

Lorilee

My Creative Space!

Brenda at thebrendablog.blogspot.com had the wonderful idea of inviting bloggers to share their spaces for creating! Mine is definitely a "work in progress". Sadly it has been "in progress" for several years. Since my oldest son moved out we have a spare bedroom. I didn't do much with it the first year, in case things didn't work out for my son. Since I teach, I really only work on it in the summer. Last summer I did the most "fixing up". I bought the jelly cabinet and wooden rolling chair on sale at a local unfinished furniture store. I found the sewing table at an antique store. It is an old tavern table that can be disassembled without tools! I found the cutting/craft table at the local Hancock Fabrics. Everything else is just a hodgepodge of stuff we've had for awhile. I hope to get the books thinned out soon. That will give me more storage and display space. I had never used Mod Podge until I read about it on blogs! I plan to cover shoe boxes for cheap storage. I love having a place to leave my projects out and just close the door until I can get back to it! I would love to have it look nicer, but I am happy to just have the space. There is a window, although it is not pictured!
I use a laptop for my actual blogging which means Ido that just about anywhere. This morning, I was working on the patio. I also spend time on the sofa next to my husband while he is on HIS laptop.
Thanks for dropping in!
Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

Look What I Found!

Wow, it is hot down here in South Texas! I spent a couple of hours helping serve up BBQ plates- to-go at a neighborhood fundraiser. Lucky for us it was overcast most of the time since we were in a church parking lot. I still got some "sun" on my arms!
This evening, my son and I made a quick trip to the local Academy. He needs cleats for football on Monday. He also want a punching bag. He says we can hang it on the patio where the hammock swing is hanging. Yeah, sure, I want to look out my window at a punching bag! As we were waiting our turn at the check-0ut, I spotted the Chicken Poop lip balm. Considering my recent fascination with anything "chicken", I was thrilled. The display was cute too! It was a cardboard chicken with the lip balm coming out of the backside of the chicken!
Ya'll bome back now, ya hear!
Lorilee

Ready for Students! Well, almost ready.

After several days of working hard, I think the room looks much better. As the year progresses, the room gets to be a bit more cluttered. We have to spend time on rules and procedures before we overwhelm the 4 year olds with too many choices and "things". Our school uses the Success for All program developed by Johns Hopkins University. I use the part of the program called Curiosty Corner. There is a cat puppet in a basket on the corner of my desk. She is named Curiosity and introduces the topic each day. They love her! They listen best when she does the talking! I am also involved in the Texas Early Education Model program with the University of Texas. It is amazing how quickly those little minds can learn! I will be meeting many of my students at our Gator Gathering on Friday. Our school mascot is the Alligator! The Gator Gathering is a time for students to see their room, meet their teacher and bring their school supplies.
Ya'll Come Back Now Ya Hear!
Lorilee

Apron Give Away at mywoodenspoon.com

Check out this site http://mywoodenspoon.com/2008/08/19/an-apron-a-day-keeps-the-grime-away/#comment-9451 for an apron give away!
Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
Lorilee

AAAH Where do I start?

That is my feeling when I enter my classroom for the first time after summer vacation. Since I am teaching Pre-K, I have an assistant to help me out. After 18 years in Kinder without help, it is wonderful! We had the room looking pretty good after the first afternoon of work. We spent the morning in a faculty meeting. I uploaded the photos earlier this evening, but I had to stop to attend a neighborhood meeting and am just now getting back to my blog! This will probably be the way it goes for awhile for me! The beginning of the school year is pretty hectic. I am on a neighborhood committee that is trying to raise money to replace the subdivision's entrance signs. They are getting quite dilapidated and unsightly. We are having a fund raising barbecue this Saturday.
Back to the room, I will upload some "after" photos soon! Hopefully, my visitors will see it as an improvement!
Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
Lorilee

"Spirits" label collection

I wanted to get this post and photos up on Friday after seeing another blogger's Show and Tell blog and link. I took the photos and started putting them on the computer. Then I ran out of time. I couldn't be late for Bunco with the gals! Maybe I'll be on-time next week. I really love the collection. I am not sure how my Mum's Dad managed to get the labels unused! I hope everyone enjoys looking at them as much as I do!
Thank you for dropping in for a visit! Come again soon!
Lorilee

Frantic Sewing!

With school about to start for me, I have been in a frantic sewing mode. I am working on a gingham apron for the apron challenge. I found some adorable brown and pink gingham at Hobby Lobby. My only complaint is that there is no 100% cotton gingham locally! Sewing it is proving tricky since the gingham lines don't always run true to the grain of the fabric. I am also trying Chicken Scratch for the first time!
I found some pretty retro feel fabric at Hancock on the 60% off table. I think it was originally $8.99 a yard. The more expensive fabric definitely has a better feel to it. My husband laughs at the way I like to test the feel of fabric! My plan is to use the fabric for prize aprons for the Cookie Exchange Party my sister-in-law and I host in December. I posted a photo of the fabric further down the site.

Crazy 8 Facts!

Joanne at My Little Cottage in the Making started the Crazy 8 Club. The challenge is to list 8 Crazy Facts about yourself on your blog. Eventhough I am basically a pretty boring person, I will give it a try!

1. I have only been out of my home state of Texas 3 times in my life and only one of those was as an adult! When I was about 4 years old, my family went to Monterey, Mexico. When I was 5 years old, my family went to New Mexico and Colorado. As an adult, I have only crossed the border into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico for a few hours. It is a 6+ hour drive to the Texas border from where I live!
2. I started clogging in January. I absolutely love it!
3. I come from a hunting family and have helped skin deer and wild hogs. In fact, we get together to make our own venison and pork sausage in January after deer season. My Dad put a motor onto a meat grinder to make the job easier. We have a hand crank sausage stuffer, and we smoke it in a "pump house". We start in the morning with the deboning of the meat and finish wrapping it around midnight.
4. My husband, two sons and I have been going to the Renaissance Festival in Plantersville, for 10 years now. We all go in costume. I have made all of my costumes and parts of the guys' costumes. They buy the leather boots, belts, jerkins, etc.
5. I have a bathouse in my backyard with about 200 bats living in it. I have held baby bats in my hand when they were first born and fell out of the house. (There is a photo if you scroll down)
6. I'm 42 years old and have not yet gotten a traffic ticket. I have gotten one warning. (Knock on wood)haha!
7. For the last 10 years, we have used our computer to design our family Christmas card.
8. My Dad and I both developed kidney stones in 1998. NOT a fun thing to have in common with someone!

First Egg!

I have been waiting for this. I first brought home my 4 chicks on April 3. I have 2 Production Reds--Lucy and Ethel, and 2 Black Australorps--Aretha and Oprah. They grew so fast. They are now about 18 weeks old. Lucy and Ethel will let me rub under their chins. They all will eat food from my hand. They have even snatched a bug from my leg! They come running any time I enter the chicken run, to see if I've brought a treat. The first egg is a bit small, but the eggs will increase in size as the hens mature. My Granny always had White Leghorn chickens. She kept the family supplied with fresh farm eggs. I really missed those. The store-bought eggs are so PALE. Now I need to make a trip to TSC to get some laying feed and oyster shell grit to keep the shells nice and hard!

Girls Day Out

Tuesday was "girls day out" for my sister-in-law and I . We each grew up without a sister, so we are both thrilled to now have a sister. We started our day by going to see "Mama Mia". We loved it. Now I need the soundtrack! Next we drove to Cuero to check out the neat shops. One of my favorites is "The Cooking Depot". Another favorite is Wagner's Hardware/Gram's Attic. The photos below of the glass were taken at Gram's attic. We stopped in several other store's before returning home. We have another "day out" scheduled for September 6. That is the date of the local Master Gardeners' Plant sale.

The Heat is On!

Wow, we are definitely in the HOT part of summer in South Texas. BUNCO was a success. All the new recipes were a hit. Right now I'm reveling in a house that is cleaned up for company. Too bad it can't always be this way. My sister-in-law, Marie, and I were discussing how we have to throw parties every so often so we get the house really cleaned up!
I have had some interest in my bat house. My brother and I have started a second house since our current house is filled to capacity. I am posting some photos below of a bat hanging onto the "landing pad" of the house. The landing pad consists of screening over wood. Aluminum screen should not be used because it reacts with the bat guano. If you look above the bat, you can just see the "baffles" or dividers in the house. They remind me of the panels in a beehive with a bit more room in between. The house should be mounted a specific height and facing a specific direction. I purchased the kit for my first house from Bat Conservation International. The other photo is my brother and oldest son erecting the bathouse on its pole. This requires some muscle since it is quite heavy!