NUTS, NUTS, NUTS

Sometimes I feel like a nut - Sometimes I don't!

Well, having said that, I' pretty sure it's true, but we actually worked with nuts today.

(Oh, before I forget - the picture in my header is an antique nut dispenser from the Chicago Nut Company but we have it on top of our refrigerator with pasta in it - just thought I'd throw that in)

Back a few months ago, LEA from FARMHOUSE BLESSINGS sent me a gift of HICKORY NUTS and today we finally got them cracked and picked.

I guess I should say my husband did the deed while I did other things. Bless his heart he never gave up even though I heard many squeals of pain from poking his fingers with the picks. But he did it!

Cracking the nuts


All cracked

After picking for 1/2 hour....lol


After 1 and 1/2 hours....LOL (sorry Doug)

But back to the nuts in a minute….

Thursday we’re going up north to my brother and sister in-laws and taking my sister along and then we are all going to a dinner theater at the Wisconsin Dells.
We’re seeing ‘Forever Plaid’ a funny play about 4 teenage boys who started a band in high school in the late 50’s and died in a car crash and miraculously come back to perform the concert that never was.
So we’ll be away for a few days if you don’t see me - they don’t have the internet at their place.

So, back to the nuts….I am making a white cake with homemade fudge frosting and the Hickory nuts are going on the fudge frosting.

Now here’s the story about the nuts and the cake.
When my brother, sister and myself were kids our mom always made a yummy white cake with homemade fudge frosting and piled the Hickory nuts on top of the fudge - oh man….you just gotta try it!
Our father was a Line Man for the Wisconsin Power & Light Company and he was always in areas where there were Hickory nut trees a plenty so home he would come with bags of them and we’d let them dry out in the garage and when they were dry we’d sit around and crack and pick!
Then when we were all married and had our little ones we’d go to a friends farm out into the woods…YES, Hickory nut trees…and the kids would spend the day picking up nuts, we’d have a picnic and go home.

THANKS TO LEA WE WILL RE-LIVE A PAST MEMORY.

Hopefully if I have a chance I’ll take a picture of the cake but it’s not going to be like mom’s - mine is going to be a sheet cake while hers was a layer cake.

I have to say a huge THANK YOU to CHAR from THE PICKLED PEPPER PATCH BLOG for these beautiful scented silicone tree lights. I won them a couple weeks ago on her blog and I chose the Ivory color with Orange/Clove scent - oh, you should smell them, they're delicious smelling. Thanks again Char!

Today was also TAG GRUNGING DAY…I was running low so that’s what I ended up doing besides sewing an order this morning.

I got some 100% wool penny circles in the mail yesterday and boy are they nice. I bought them on Etsy from TwoDancingCrows, I got 25 Penny circles of each color Ivory and Green.

That’s it for today - sorry this was such a long post which I try not to do often.

Karen

Birth Of A Boothlet

So the one~year anniversary of my shop closing is fast approaching, and I've been feeling a little off the beam so to speak lately. I realized that I needed and missed the design/decorating fix that I got on a regular basis when I had the shop, and at the persistent urging of a friend and fellow antique dealer I took a booth in a well~established shop in Maitland FL. Halley's has been around forever, as have the dealers there and it's rare to get a chance at a booth. And so my teeny,diminutive,petite booth is born~~hereafter referred to lovingly as my little boothlet as it is a mere 5X5 in size. Never fear for I am the master of small spaces and can always make it work. Mr. Sweet Pea is always skeptical, and will stand shaking his head and say,"You'll never get all that in there". And lo and behold I always do. I love small spaces. They're cozy and intimate. They require thought and the ability to know when enough is enough. And it's mine~~all mine...

Halley's Antique Mall
473 S. Orlando Ave.
Maitland,FL 32751
407.539.1066
Open 7 days a week
Mon thru Sat 10:30 til 5:30
Sun 1 til 4

The Times, They Are a'Changin.

So many things, I don't know where to start. But I'll start nonetheless.

First (and very happily), we're moving. Not a huge move... nothing like what we've done in the last few years (cross-world, multiple times), but still, a move. A new apartment to set up (the living room of which is pictured at right). New norms to become accustomed to. New friends to be made. New cabinets to organize. New neighbors to meet. New daily routines to figure out. New specifics in our house rules. New stores to find. New roads to get to know. New, new, new. All beginning this Friday! :)

Second (also very happily), I have begun a more intensive regimen for language study. You see, since we moved here, I have only gotten bits and pieces. Got a late start so that Doug could go great guns with it, then got a couple months' worth, then had our 4th child, and then time has been difficult to find ever since. Sometime this year, I'd also like to add in language study to our homeschool times as well, so that the kids can be more intentional in their language learning.

Anyway. This last week, I began lessons once again. And it feels good. But I can already tell that it may put a dent in how much time/energy/mental thought I can spend here. Until & unless you've tried to learn a foreign language in that setting, it is difficult to comprehend just how much of your brain power it consumes, and just how exhausting it can be. I know that spending my "free" moments here and there studying will all but eliminate my scouring of articles online, which means that Show & Tells will be scarce for a while (sorry to those of you who have said that's your favorite feature around here!). I hope to still have time to read-- for pleasure, spiritual growth, and being challenged-- but I'm not sure that I'll have time to do reviews of the books, unless I feel particularly impressed to do so.


ALL THIS TO SAY...
I don't know in what form Making Home will continue for this season. Writing is so much a part of who I am, how I de-stress, how I work through issues/concerns of life, and how I examine Scripture & spirituality... that I'm not of the opinion that I can ever just stop writing.

But where does any of this that I've listed above leave any time to write? I have no idea. I think this is going to be a season in which I'll grab time when I can. I still hope to write, realistically maybe once a week. But we'll just see. Real life comes first. And while Making Home is a part of "real life" for me-- a way for me to engage with others, grow & learn, and authentically share what I'm learning/doing-- right now, it will take a back seat to other more pressing real life demands.

I hope to still hear from you all. It's been 2 & 1/2 years since I started Making Home, as a way to just get out random thoughts, and what I've received back-- in terms of personal growth, friendship with so many women around the world, being challenged to think & write carefully, and encouragement from so many of you-- has been a treasure.

This post is not a goodbye, or even a "pause"... but it IS intended to be a note that says something like, "I don't know exactly what's coming, but looking at the future realistically, I don't think we'll be able to talk as often as we have... but I sincerely hope we can still be friends-- friends that can pick right back up where they left off, and enjoy intermittent, random moments strung together to make for meaningful interactions." :)

Blessings to you all! And I'll see ya when I see ya.