July 11, 2013

July 11 Photo of the Day
I Wore This!

I wore this when I was part of a press conference with Dolly Parton.  She was announcing the creation of the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation and how they were helping pay for Imagination Library Books for children ages birth to five in Tennessee.  My county was part of the original fourteen to participate.  Since then all ninety five counties in Tennessee are participating!
Yeah for books and for Dolly!
We didn't just meet her we got our picture with her.  This was all back in 2004 so some of us were skinnier and had more hair!

 

July 11 Slice of Life

Much of today was spent freezing corn and green beans.  This makes a mess to clean up.  Cooked a good supper of green beans, fried chicken, potatoes, and cornbread.  This makes a mess to clean up.  Had some lights fixed at the Visitor House.  This makes a mess to clean up.   The dishwasher and washing machine are going now working on cleaning up some of the messes.  The rest will be there tomorrow!  Or the day after.

July 10, 2013

Dearest handful of people who read this blog,
 It is 9:40 P.M. and I just picked up my computer for the first time today.  I just do not have a photo of the day or a slice of life left in me.  Some days are like that!
Love and sweet dreams,
Delilah

July 9, 2013

July 9 Photo of the Day
3 Things

Three things--goldfish the snack we took to the river today.  We like the colored ones, they are just better!

July 9 Slice of Life
Tonight while Parker was taking his bath he said, "Wasn't it nice of God to make the days longer and the nights shorter when it is warm? (meaning Summer)"  It's been a long and fun fulled summer day and I have just run out of energy so I am going to make it short.  We started the morning by freezing corn, after a quick lunch we headed for the Wolf River.  We played in the river, looked around in the grist mill, and stopped at the General Store for ice cream.  Made it home in time to clean up have a little supper and get to bible school.  Back at home it was time for chocolate ice cream cones while watching America's Got Talent and then bath time.  Headed for bed now because there is more corn in the morning and another big day planned.

July 8, 2013

July 8  Photo of the Day
Path

 

The Path to my back door.  Don't judge, you have a place like this too!

July 8   Slice of Life

I helped with crafts at VBS tonight.  It was outside.  It was humid.  There were 99 VBS students.  I got paint on me.  I got glue on me.  It's been a long time since I was at VBS! I forgot how messy crafts can be.  Parker had fun so we will be going back for more tomorrow night!

July 7, 2013

July 7 Photo of the Day
Where you are

Right now I'm in my living room with two of my favorite boys.  One is watching Scooby-Doo and the other is reading the newspaper.  Some other places I've been today are church, the Visitor House, Cookeville, and Sonic!

July 7 Slice of Life
Our church is having vacation bible school next week.  There is a Western theme. 
decorations were ready and a soundtrack of some of the songs was playing.  I couldn't help but remember when I was younger and looked forward to VBS.  It wasn't fancy, just a small group of kids the same age with one teacher, who also did our craft.  That craft was usually gluing macaroni to a cigar box and spray painting it gold.  We sang from the hymn book songs like Jesus Loves Me, Bring Them In,  Will There be Any Stars in My Crown and Wonderful Words of Life.  I looked today and those songs are not in the hymnal any more.  We had kool-aid and a cookie for refreshments and thought is was a great treat.  We played outside but I do not remember an adult planning it.  We just got together and decided whether to play Red Rover or Drop the Handkerchief or Freeze Tag.  Adults were watching I am sure.  It was just simple and I wonder if this "shiny" new type of VBS is better.  Then maybe its just me longing for the "good old days."

July 6, 2013

July 6 Photo of the Day
Fave Smell

My favorite smell is clean.  It doesn't matter which brand of detergent causes the clean smell. I like all of them! 

July 6 Slice of Life
The rain continues!  We decided to take a break from cleaning the Visitor House, but the rain was making us stir crazy so we decided to leave the Ponderosa for supplies and lunch!  We ended up in Somerset, KY.  While waiting for our lunch, we examined the room decorations and noticed an abundance of portraits in our area.  This lady was watching over our table.

 

It was a print from a studio in New York.  We could not help but wonder how did this portrait end up in a Cracker Barrel in Kentucky?  I just know there's a story here!

July 5, 2013

July 5 Photo of the Day
Love

I love this photo of these two.  They are playing a game where Brooks tells P-pa to make a noise like a certain animal or names someone he wants him to imitate.  It never gets old and every time Brooks makes this face! 

July 5 Slice of Life
It's been another rainy day and another day spent at the Visitor House cleaning!  Progress still being made and getting very close to opening the Visitor House to visitors!  We also had dinner with the Gibson Clan, which is always a good time!

July 4, 2013

July 4
Photo of day--Red, white or blue

 

This is a bowl of decorations left from our 4th of July party that happened last Sunday!  The weather then was perfect--today not so good for cook outs!

July 4th--Slice of Life

Most of this day has been filled with rain--lots of rain--a downpour making it a soggy, dreary, muddy day!  

This was the radar about 4 P.M.  It's not going to be a good night for sparklers or fireworks.  Thankfully we celebrated over the week end and had no plans today.  I do feel bad for those who had looked forward to a day off work and fun with friends.  We celebrated by working a few more hours at the Visitor House and eating a supper from Dairy Queen!  

Happy Independence Day!

July 3, 2013

July 3--Photo Challenge
Cold

The first thing I thought of when i saw the prompt cold was my freezer.  When I opened the freezer to take a picture I saw some of my stash of frozen strawberries.  This made me want to make a Strawberry Julius, but I'm out of milk and too lazy to go to the store.  In case you want one here's the recipe:
Strawberry Julius
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 lb. Strawberries
1 tray Ice (about 2 cups)

Mix all of the ingredients in the blender until smooth. Enjoy!!!





July 3 Slice of Life
We spent another day working on the Visitor House.  Today I found a tin picnic basket in the corner of the dining room.  I could tell it had something inside from the movement and the weight.  It was full of recipes, hundreds of recipes.  Some were torn from magazines, others were handwritten on scraps of paper, index cards and notebook paper.  Some were even printed on an old mimeograph machine.  When I find a collection like this I have to wonder where did they come from?  What's the story behind each one?  Some were carefully written in script, others were hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper. I don't believe it was a collection that belonged to just one person,  because many different people's handwriting was represented and there was no organization--just tossed together.  I looked through it, but decided to toss it out since old paper really doesn't smell very good and I already have a huge recipe collection.  But I couldn't help wonder about the people who wrote out the recipes and how they came to be in a box together in an old house in Tennessee!

July 2, 2013

Today's photo is shoes.

This time of year my shoe of choice is my flip flops.  I have some in every color, but these are my favorite brand.  They are Sanuk made from the same material as yoga mats, so they are very soft and squishy!

July 2  Slice of Life
Our Tuesday on the Ponderosa
Today was spent at the Visitor House cleaning.  We went over after breakfast and worked in the living room until one o'clock when we took a lunch break.  For me it was also a watch Days of Our Lives break.  We returned and worked until 6 o'clock, it was a productive afternoon.  We have almost completed cleaning the living room.  When finished it will make three completely clean rooms.  Completely clean means that all the walls, floors and windows have been vacuumed and washed and any spider webs have been removed!  It also means that I have taken all the "stuff" out of the room, cleaned it and packed it for consigning at the antique store.  Hopefully the Visitor House will soon be ready for visitors.  Who wants to be first?

July 1, 2013

The photo challenge for today
Happiness is

Happiness is fresh green beans from the Ponderosa garden for supper.  Also on the menu was cornbread, potatoes and my Dad's famous barbecued chicken, a left over piece that I am certain Stephanie and Jay forgot to take in their haste to get to their appointment this morning!

July 1 Slice of Life

A Report from the Ponderosa
*Today has been laundry day, with me washing everything and ironing even the pillowcases.  My children laugh at me for ironing them, but I like to sleep on a good smooth surface.  Who wants to wake with wrinkle lines on their face?
*The Ponderosa Garden is having a tough year, with deer attacks and disease.  One squash plant just wilted to the ground because of pythium stem rot and the beans look like they may have blight.  Despite this, Peanut gathered squash, tomatoes, okra, eggplant and pepper for our visitors to take home and enjoy!
*Here's something I never thought I would say, "We received a check from Silver Bell Antiques for some of the items we have been consigning."  We were very pleased with the amount for the first month.  For the last few weeks we have been clearing out the house we bought back in the spring.  It was full of vintage and antique items and we are cleaning them and taking them to the local antique store.  Since we have limited knowledge about these items we leave it to the experts to price them.  It is certainly true that one person's junk is another one's treasure! 

Plans for July

What happened to June?  Where did it go?  We were having so much fun on the Ponderosa and other places that I was too tired to write about it!  So. . . . . . . . . . I am going to challenge myself to do better by posting my intentions to do a quick blog post each day this month and to add a photo each day from the challenge for July!  Here's my list for the photos, the post will be a slice of life --a little thought from my day like I did in March.  I'll get started later today!