CHRISTMAS IN JUNE

I feel like it's Christmas at my house today. I have looked every time I was out for glasses with cherries. Earlier in the week I posted about it and I received a comment from a sweet friend, Kristen. I taught Kristen in the 2nd grade (many years ago). She told me that she had some glasses that had cherries on them and she'd send me a picture to see if they might be what I wanted. I loved them and told her to let me know how much she was asking for them. Her reply was, "You can have them because they are taking up space in my cabinets". There are 11 tall glasses and 2 juice glasses. Of course my husband wanted to know which glasses I was going to get rid of in my cabinets.....men just don't understand how much we love our dishes!

I LOVE these, Kristen. I will think about you every time I use them. Thanks so much.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

Tonight is Girls Night Out.....with my daughter, Amy. There aren't many times that just mom and daughter have together, so I treasure the times we do. This time it will be even better. We are going to see a special friend in the production of "The Sound of Music". I remember going to see this movie years ago and loved it. Now I will see Lisa as Maria. I have heard that she is awesome. We had planned to go earlier in the week but didn't get our tickets quickly enough.....many performance have sold out. So this morning at my house "The hills are alive.....with the Sound of Music"......CAN'T WAIT!!

TRIFT STORE FINDS

Late Saturday afternoon my daughter and I took a trip to one of our favorite places....The Thrift Store. When we first got there she said, "Mom, I love it when we aren't rushed and have time to look." I always go to the dishes and wooden items first. (I'm still looking for glasses with cherries). I spotted the bread box and put it in my shopping cart and then took it out. It cost $6.88 (where do they get these odd numbers?) I knew I wouldn't use it for a bread box but with a little (it didn't take much) encouragement from Amy, I decided it had to come home with me. It will be painted (black, of course) and I will use it to put my phone books in. Right now they are taking up one of my kitchen drawers but they fit perfectly inside. The other wooden item is an oval tray. It's scratched up pretty bad, but it'll be painted also. Amy suggested that I use it on my bathroom counter (between the two sinks). I'm trying to decide what color it should be...if I do use it there.

Here are the two treasures again. Look at the space inside that bread box and see the little legs on the bottom of the tray.....I loved that part. Yes, the tray only cost $1.48. The spray paint will come out this week and I'll share the make-over.

CHOCOLATE HEAVEN

TRUST ME.........this may be one of the best desserts I have ever put in my mouth! This is coming from someone who 'likes' chocolate but doesn't 'love' it. If given a choice I would probably choose lemon or coconut pie over chocolate any day. However, when I see a recipe that someone says is delicious (and easy) I usually try it. I wish I could tell you where I saw this recipe. I know it was on a blog that I visit regularly (but you don't want to know how many this actually is). Being a country girl....cobblers are a dessert of choice....but I've always made apple, peach, strawberry, etc. and never chocolate. I copied this recipe from the blog (sorry, again, that I can't give proper credit) and baked it for supper (yes, country again....at night it's called supper). I had all the ingredients already at home....bet you do to. Here's the recipe.

CHOCOLATE COBBLER

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a 9 X 13 dish

Mix the following together in a bowl:

1 1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 c self-rising flour

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c of milk (plus a smidgen---I used almost a cup)

Pour this over the melted butter. DO NOT STIR...just drizzle the above over the butter.

In another bowl mix the following:

1 c sugar

5 tbsp. cocoa

Just SPRINKLE this over the mixture (I used my fingers). Again DO NOT STIR....just sprinkle.

Now add 2 cups of boiling water over the top of all of the above. DO NOT MIX....just pour over (covering all the dry mixture you just sprinkled).

Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes.

Oh, my goodness!!!!! My son-in-law gave it top rating! Please let me know if you try this and like it.

37 YEARS AGO

37 years ago today I married the love of my life. We didn't actually start dating until January of his senior year in high school (I was a junior), but I had kept my eye on him for some time prior. He went away to college and in the summer of his junior year we were married. We had absolutely NO extra money but we were able to pay our bills and that was what mattered. I worked in the office at the university until his last quarter and decided then that I wanted to go back to school. I enrolled and took classes (while continuing to work). After graduation we moved back home where he began teaching and coaching. God has blessed us so much more than we deserve. We have two wonderful children, Amy and Chris, and six precious GRANDchildren. Have all the years been good? Absolutely not. There were many hard times. However, we both loved each other and knew that we could make it through those times with God's help. These 37 years have gone by so quickly. I pray that we have MANY more years together.

OUTDOOR CHANDELIER

I have to show you a birthday gift from my best friend, Jane. She always gives me something that she would like herself (and there have been times that she might buy two---one for me and one for her). However, when she brought my gift this year she said, "I have your gift in the car and wanted one for myself but only bought one!" I LOVED it! I had knew exactly where it would hang. My deck has been covered and we hung it out there. I haven't lit the candles (yet) but one of these nights I plan on doing so. I love it ....almost as much as I love her!

MIXED UP

I know that it's ok to mix things up at times when you are in a hurry....I've been guilty of wearing a brown shoe and black shoe to work all day and not notice it until late in the day (does it help that they were the exact shoe other than the color?) I know of some people who have worn different socks (by mistake) when they were rushing.......but I have never seen hydrangeas with different colored blooms on the same bush. I have always heard that the color of your bloom would be determined by the soil (something about acid???).....well.....I think my hydrangea bush just blew that theory out the window.

I have one bush that has the most beautiful blooms you have ever seen and some are blue and some are pink. This has never happened to me before. The blooms have always been blue on this bush. I sure wish I had a better camera (I know it's the camera and not the photographer) but you could see just how beautiful it is with the two colors. Maybe you have a bush like this.....but I am excited that this year I am blessed with "twin" hydrangeas.....a boy and a girl!

WEEKEND FUN

On Saturday we had a church wide fellowship at our house. The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we had a great number to come.....I counted 87 but might have missed someone. We (my husband) grilled hotdogs and each family was to bring either a salad, dessert, baked bean dish and drink. Oh my goodness at the food!!! We had horseshoes, a bean bag toss, football toss, and cornhole game. This is a game I found directions for making online and my husband made. It was quite a hit! I think we'll enjoy playing it ourselves when no one is here.

Look at the picture of the table of sin (dessert table).....OH MY!!! There were so many choices and all (that I tried) were delicious! Don't you just love having so many choices? I think that I must try some of all.....so I won't hurt anyone's feelings, right??

Salads and beans! There were salads I had never tried before and they were yummy, too! Grape salad, corn salad, sweet potato salad are some new ones for me! I had a wonderful time with my church family. We are having a fellowship each month during the summer. I'm already looking forward to the one in July....more good food and fun!

OH, BROTHER!

Four brothers.....my husband (2nd from left) and his three brothers. This picture was taken last night after we been out celebrating my husband's oldest brother's birthday. These guys don't all get together very often because one of them lives far away, but the love they have for each other and family is strong. If a problem arose there is no doubt that any of these four would drop what he was doing and be there for the other. Thanksgiving is the one holiday when all are here but other than that, the times are rare. I have told you that these guys and their wives started taking a yearly trip together last year and you wouldn't believe how much we laughed. I am so blessed that God chose this family for me to be a part of. Life is short....spend time with those you love.....and let them know you love them!

OH, THE PLACES YOU WILL GROW!

Sure wish my photography skills/camera was better! Remember the old grocery buggy from several posts back. Here it is today with different plants growing in it. I put moss in the bottom to keep the soil from falling through and planted these shade loving plants. They are already showing signs of growth since last week when they were first planted. I had intended to plant something on the bottom rack of the buggy but couldn't find a way. I may just put a tray on there to hold things I may need. I think it'll really look good when the ivy starts spreading.

Here's the old wheel barrow (flat tire and all). It is amazing how much beauty plants bring to old objects.

I'll admit that I don't usually have fresh squeezed lemonade on the table, but my husband was working on a project for the weekend and I fixed a pitcher for him. I told him not to pour any in his glass before I could make my picture....blog came first!!! We're having a churchwide fellowship here on Saturday and he has been making some games that we'll play. I will be sure and post about it later.