Family Favorite

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One More!

One more reused, recycled, redecorated room; a girl's room this time...

with an awesome vintage screen for a headboard.

I've Crossed Over

Well it's no longer summer; the autumnal equinox was Monday and there is a faint nip in the air this morning. 

 You know that after retiring this spring, I struggled a bit with this new phase in my life, but as the seasons crossover I realize that my mindset about retirement has crossed over too...

Before: Worried my days wouldn't be full enough.
Now: Wish I didn't have as much going on during the week.

Before: Sunday afternoon anxiety attacks as I assessed how much I had         
             accomplished over the weekend and how much I had planned for the coming week.
Now: Sunday is truly a day of rest.

Before: Wore makeup six out of seven days of the week.
Now: Wear makeup one out of seven days.

Before: Woke up at 5:30 A.M. and tore out of here at 6:30.
Now: Wake up whenever and many days never leave the house.

Before: Kept up a wardrobe for work.
Now: Shorts and tennis shoes every day.

Before: Confined to school during the week.
Now: Travel whenever I want.

Before: Never had time or energy for exercise.
Now: Start each day with a walk.

Before: Go! Go! Go!
Now: Chill...chill....chill....

It took a while, but I've crossed over...................

                                                                                                Love ya'll, Shelli

There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. 

 ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

NOLA

www.nojazzband.com

I went to New Orleans this weekend to spend time with Katherine. 

 It was a great visit! 

Carole drove over from Mobile to join in the fun.

We stayed at a little place in the Bywater that we found on airbnb.  

Thank you Bruce and Donna!!

Katherine and Collin are great cooks and dished up a delicious meal on our first night in town.  I also got to see my granddog, Ody.

The following day we visited the Terrell House, the venue for Katherine and Collin's upcoming wedding.



www.terrellhouse.com

Then we met Collin's mom for lunch.

Later that afternoon, Carole and I attended Katherine's yoga class at Freret Street Yoga.

www.freretstreetyoga.com

Katherine is a great instructor and never made fun of her mother or aunt even though at one point everyone in the studio looked like this,

but Carole and I looked like this.

We ended the night sitting outside at The Joint, which was about four doors down from our house.

www.pinterest.com

www.tripadvisor.com

Across the street was a huge live oak with two swings...so unexpected...so wonderful!!  Carole and I have pushed each other on many a swing, but it had been a while.

Sunday morning Katherine and I met at Biscuits and Buns on Banks.

nola.eater.com

When we said good bye and she hopped on her bike to go home, I was overcome with feelings of pride and joy at the wonderful person she is and the happy life she has built for herself.

A mother's treasure is her daughter.  ~Catherine Pulsifer

There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. ~Salvador Dali

Love ya'll, Shelli

Stuck in the Mud with Blue Cheese and Onion Cornbread

My ultimate goal with this post is to give you the recipe for Blue Cheese and Onion Cornbread. It is a delicious variation on a traditional favorite and will be a great addition to your fall mustard greens and sweet potatoes.  But first you have to understand what we went through to get this recipe!!!

My sister, Carole, and I took our parents on a little road trip to Branson, MO last spring.  We stayed in a cute little log cabin and saw some good shows. Our favorite was the Sight and Sound production of Noah.  Oh my goodness, it was impressive!  The belly of the whale passed right over our heads. 

Anyway, on the way home we stopped at P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm.

www.pallensmith.com

 

P. Allen is the southern, male version of Martha Stewart without the criminal record, and because he is southern, without the condescension.  Here is a picture of his burlap project.  You and I, and Martha for that matter, might make a wreath out of burlap, but here is what P. Allen made:

My sweet parents make the burlap house all the cuter :)

You can spend at day on the farm touring P. Allen's house (he acts as the tour guide when he's there), gazing at pastures of daffodils, gawking at the chicken palace, shopping in the gift shop, and feasting on lunch from his vegetable garden.



I didn't realize until I saw this picture that I had a mullet haircut! Ouch!

Well we did all those things and had a delightful time in spite of the fact that it had started to rain during lunch.

Then we loaded up and got ready to head home.  On our way out, we passed by the road to the rose garden.  We had totally forgotten to visit it and had heard that it was 18,000 sq. ft. of awesomeness including Gothic garden houses with parapets. However, as we sat at the crossroad with our SUV idling in the now heavy rain, looking down a STEEP incline on a DIRT/MUD road, you would think that one of us supposedly sensible adults would have said, "We better not try that."  But, no!!!  Down we drove into the valley of the admittedly amazing rose garden. 

I'm sure you can see where I'm headed with this story and you're right; we got stuck!  Really stuck! So stuck that Dad had to walk back to the farm in the rain and get help.  Some farm hands came with a tractor and pulled us out of our mess, but even they couldn't pull us up the that steep hill. All they could do was pull us out of the ruts we had made, away from the deep ditch we had almost slid into, and position the vehicle so that we had ONE chance to gun it and get up the hill faster than we could slide back down!!

We women all got out in the rain and watched from the sidelines as Dad got behind the wheel. Driving like a crazed Mario Andretti, he floored it and fishtailed his way up and out!!  Relief overcame our drenched spirits and clothing. 

I will forever feel a wet chill, smell mud, and remember the determined set of my Dad's jaw when I open the P. Allen Smith cookbook I bought earlier that day. 

And now your recipe:

P. Allen Smith's Blue Cheese and Onion Cornbread

1 Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped

pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups white cornmeal

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

4 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 cup crumbled blue cheese

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 bacon (I used two)

Place cast-iron skillet into the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat, and add the onions, pinches or salt and pepper.

Caramelize onions and set aside.

Combine next six ingredients.

In separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and butter.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Fold in blue cheese and onions.

Fry or microwave bacon and gather drippings.

Carefully remove the hot cast-iron skillet from oven and add 1 Tbsp. bacon drippings to it.

Swirl drippings so that they coat half-way up the sides of the skillet.

Place the skillet on top of the stove and pour the batter into it.

Bake for 20 min or until center is firm to the touch and the top is golden brown.

Remove from oven, cool, and cut into wedges.

                                                                                                 Love ya'll, Shelli

 



    

The Teaching Profession

 

 

 Disparaging the teaching profession, George Bernard Shaw said, "Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach."

 

Exalting the teaching profession,  Albert Einstein said, " You don't really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother."

 

George Bernard Shaw was a writer. 

 

 Albert Einstein was Albert Einstein.

 

Enough said!

 

 

The Wily Weed

bloomintolandscaping.com

So this week's Master Gardener topic was weeds and where as plant pathology left me feeling frustrated and defeated (see previous post), this week I left the lecture feeling informed and optimistic. I'm ready to 'lock and load', and eradicate the weeds in my yard.


Here are a few of my notes:

1. Monkey grass is a lily!! This means you can spray Grass-B-Gone on it because Grass-B-Gone only kills grasses!!!

2. Nut grasses isn't a grass!  It is a sedge.  That's why spraying it with Round Up isn't doing the trick. Use a product called Sedgehammer. (I know! Isn't it a great name!)  Nut sedge is the number one weed problem in the world. Seriously!

3. The active ingredient in Round Up is glyphosate.  Wal Mart's brand, "Eliminator", contains a higher percentage of the active ingredient that Round UP.  Also, "the ready to use" mix has a longer shelf life than the concentrate that you mix at home.

4. Got nasty vines growing up your trees?  Follow these steps:
                                                                              a. Cut vine at the base.
                                                                              b. Pull vine away from the tree at the
                                                                                  bottom
                                                                              c. Apply Fertilome Cut Vine and Stump  
                                                                                  Killer to both cut ends of the vine. 
                                                                                  **Do not get this on the tree!
                                                                                  This also works on unwanted trees
                                                                                   coming uo in your yard.
                                                                                  Cut them down, then apply
                                                                                   product to the stump.)

5. Dollar weed problem?  Mix 6 oz. Atrazine (10%), 2 oz. Weed-B-Gone, and 1 gallon water.  Spray your dollar weed once between November and April.

6. For summer weed control in your lawn, spread Scotts "Halt" on March 1st and then again in May.

7. Starting a new bed? Follow these steps:    a. Apply Round Up to the area.
                                                                        b. Add layer of new soil.
                                                                        c. Apply Preen.
                                                                        d. Layer on your mulch.
 In an existing bed, add Preen on top of old mulch before adding layer of new mulch.
Preen Garden is made for vegetable gardens.

8. St. Augustine grass must be cut at a height of three inches and fertilized three times a year: April, June, and August.
    Centipede grass responds to varied cutting heights through the mowing year, at times only 1 1/2 inches.  It needs to be fertilized only twice: April and July.

9. Brown Spot problems in your grass? It is a fungus in the soil and is best treated with "Heritage", (active ingredient - azoxy strobin).

Well, there you have it......Happy hunting!!
                                                                      Shelli

Death and Destruction

Last week's Master Gardener topic was plant pathology, the scientific study of the nature of plant disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences.  Well it was just horrible because apparently I have done everything wrong in my yard, each plant is doomed, and death is imminent.

My murderous offenses:

1. Pruning my pear trees. Well they were scraping the top of my truck when I drove out of the driveway!! What was I supposed to do! According to MG, they will now begin to rot from the cuts I made.  This necrosis will travel inward to the trunk and they will die a grisly death; they've got two years at the most.  (If rot doesn't get them, fire blight will.  Say good bye to your pears too!)

2. Mixing my chemicals too strong.  Well, you know, if lime juice and cilantro are your favorite ingredients in salsa, what do you do? Add more! Right?! And if Oil of Olay prevents wrinkles, then twice as much will prevent twice as many wrinkles! I mean who doesn't live by this maxim?  Well apparently toxic substances don't.  Doubling up on the amount of fungicide, herbicide, and insecticide will kill your plants as well as the fungus, weeds, and bugs!

3. Not rotating my crops often enough.  But seriously, everybody knows that corn and okra need to be grown in the back garden plots because they are tall, while squash and zucchini get the front plots.  This creates a pleasing aesthetic and carries your eye through the garden creating depth and dimension. It also apparently fosters root knot nematodes and Southern Blight in your soil.   Who knew that in gardening, practicality trumps beauty?

4. Not getting a head start.  I thought you sprayed for plant disease when the plant got diseased, but no!  You have to spray before the plant shows signs of disease.  Apparently, you should start spraying your roses for black spot on Christmas morning.

5. Having a limited vocabulary of symptoms.  Apparently it isn't good enough to recognize that your plant is "sick".  You must know if it has blotch, blight, scorch, canker, wilt, scab, dieback, rot, stunt, gall, leaf curl, or blister.

Well, I'd like to think things were going to get better, but this week our topic is weeds. I'm sure we've been invaded by hordes of weeds the spread of which will rival the Roman Empire. 

                                                                                       Until then, Shelli

P.S. - Well, apparently I used the words "well" and "apparently" a lot in this post. Well, I really don't care because apparently I have more important problems at hand.

**Fun fact:  That weird orange spaghetti looking stuff you sometimes see growing on the side of the road is a parasitic plant called "dodder".  It starts off growing in the soil, with roots and everything, but as soon as it can reach up and curl around its host plant, the roots shrivel up and the plant lives solely off nutrients it sucks out of the host. Who knew??

Let's Smile (The Women)

The men had their turn; now let's let the ladies make us smile:

Erma Bombeck:

I haven't trusted polls since I read that 62% of women had affairs during their lunch hour. I've never met a woman in my life who would give up lunch for sex.

Anybody who watches three games of football in a row should be declared brain dead

The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heaving breathing again.

When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it is a mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway.

Lady Astor (who by the way was an American):

I refuse to admit that I am more than 52, even if that makes my sons illegitimate.

I married beneath me - all women do.

The only thing I like about rich people is their money.

One reason why I don't drink is because I wish to know when I am having a good time.

Tallulah Bankhead:

I'm as pure as the driven slush.

It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.

The less I behave like Whistler's mother the night before, the more I look like her the morning after.

Mae West:

I used to be Snow White... but I drifted.

His mother should have thrown him away...and kept the stork

Lily Tomlin:

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?

Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.

Paula Poundstone:

Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they're looking for ideas.

I have no money. I don’t even have a savings account cause I don’t know my mother’s maiden name and apparently that’s the key to whole thing

."Inside [the Pop-Tarts Box] there are three pouches of two. This is what happens to me: I open the first pouch, and I eat one tart, and I enjoy it very much, as naturally I would. And then I feel, “Well, I have to eat the second one or it will go stale.” Well, now I’ve eaten two, and it’s no longer just a snack, it’s a meal. I figure I may as well eat two more. And then finally I’m just like, “Well h-ll, I don’t just want two pop tarts hangin’ out in a box.” I eat the last two just to tidy up, really’"

Dorothy Parker:

If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.

The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant -- and let the air out of the tires


Nora Ephron:

Beware of men who cry. It's true that men who cry are sensitive to and in touch with feelings, but the only feelings they tend to be sensitive to is their own.

 

The desire to get married, which - I regret to say, I believe is basic and primal in women - is followed almost immediately by an equally basic and primal urge - which is to be single again.

 

With any child entering adolescence, one hunts for signs of health, is desperate for the smallest indication that the child's problems will never be important enough for a television movie.

                                  Love ya'll, Shelli

Let's Smile (The Men)

Today, let's smile with these quotes from some famous men:

Winston Churchill:

A young man after seeing Churchill leave the bathroom without washing his hands: "At Eton they taught us to wash our hands after using the toilet." Churchill: "At Harrow they taught us not to piss on our hands."

Bessie Braddock: "Sir, you are drunk."
Churchill: "Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.

Churchill: "Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?" Socialite: "My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course... "
Churchill: "Would you sleep with me for five pounds?"
Socialite: "Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!" Churchill: "Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price."

Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."
Churchill: "Nancy, if I were your husband, I'd drink it."

Oscar Wilde:

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.
              
Some cause happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go.
               
P.J. O'Rourke:

You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going.

Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.

After all, what is your host's purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

W. C. Fields:

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.

 

Ambrose Bierce:

 

The covers of this book are too far apart.

 

SAINT, n. A dead sinner revised and edited.

 

LOVE, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder.

 

George Bernard Shaw:

 

The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech

 

Dancing: The vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music

 

Mark Twain:

 

Classic- a book which people praise and don't read.

Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any, but that wrongs the jackass.

If you can't sleep, try lying on the end of the bed. Then you might drop off.

Let us swear while we may, for in heaven it won't be allowed.

Will Rogers:

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?
.

A fool and his money are soon elected.
 

The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.

 

***Tomorrow, the women!

 

                                             Love ya'll, Shelli