SNOW!!! and other stuff

Can you believe this?

This is what we woke up to this morning. A rarity around here in east Texas. It swooped through the Metroplex and it's still coming down even at 10:00 a.m. here at my office. Man, it's practically a blizzard! The roads are not frozen so we're okay. They might tonight if it gets below freezing, but we'll see.

On the way to work this morning, I swung through some country roads. It's always prettier in the country...

I'm really glad I went to the farm yesterday evening and covered my little broccoli and cabbage plants!  It's a redneck version of flower blankets. I turned my old metal lawn chairs upside down and put 'em between the rows, and then covered that whole stretch (about 35') with painters drop cloths and anchored 'em down on the edges with iron ore rocks.  In the country, you make do or do without ya know...  I hope those little plants make it. It's just about 32 degrees right now.  They might get cold, but at least they won't be gettin'wet or icy.

New topic -  Here's my garden all tilled up for this year.  We had about a 35' x 55' plot for the last two years, and we added another 12' x 20' specifically for corn this year. It's where it will get more direct sun all day. We added it kinda whonky-jawed to one side, cuz my hubby had transplanted an oak tree to the side of the main garden and we had to work around that.  Plus, this year, we're going to lay PVC pipe all around the garden to keep it watered. In the past we've had to set up sprinklers or do it all by hand which usually took at least an hour or two to do.

Here's my onions. They're about 6"-8" tall right now.

Here's either broccoli or cabbage. When they're this little, it's hard to tell them apart - at least for me.

My garden shed. I love my garden shed. It's a hunnerd years old probably, but Tony and our carpenter friend jacked it up and made some repairs and put in a new floor and it's super. I'd rather have this 'un than a new one anyday.  I've often thought of white-washing it or yellow-washing it, but I can't decide. What do ya'll think? Should I leave it just as it is?  All rustic-y and weathered?  I like it this way, too... We're gonna run water to it so I can use my old washtub and rinse my vegetables an' stuff.

The above picture may be disturbing and graphic for some. Caution is advised. Look away if you are horrified. There's 4-5 of my gopher traps on the left in this pic with which I maim and kill innocent little rodents with big hairy teeth that tear up my yard.  It's almost gopher season again!  Will have to re-set my counter on the sidebar...  

I wonder if there's a good recipe for gophers?  Man, I never thought of that!  We really could become self-sufficient on our farm with 75 acres and gophers running amok all under the surface!  All the gophers we could ever want and our garden, MAN!   Gopher stew or... hey I know --- Gopher Kabobs!  Skewer a gopher, some onion and bell peppers and wrap it all in some smoked bacon and I bet you'd have a doozy of a Kabob!  Maybe throw a little jalapeno pepper on there too, a wedge of Monterrey Jack or mozzerella????  My mouth is watering already!  Maybe chicken friend gopher!  With some gopher grease gravy & onions over mashed 'taters & greens! 

Ok, have I run you off yet?   If not, please continue...  sorry I get carried away sometimes... more junk in the shed...

Cool wooden boxes from the lumber yard that I haven't decided what to do with yet.

Shutters for future projects - they make great shelves and window boxes!

This is my thrifty nifty aluminum weather stripping container that I got at a garage sale. It's all wood and has slots on the top that I can drop my garden tools down into. It's so cool. It was once in a lumber yard, I don't know where, but it's worked out very nicely! My husband thought I'd really lost it when I came home with this - now he likes it!

Last, but certainly not least -  here's hard evidence that spring is right around the corner. The daffodils are coming up as well as my tulips.  They may freeze this weekend with the snow, but hopefully they are hardy and will make it!  I'm so excited to see them.  The paperwhites have already bloomed and faded. The quince is blooming right now, too, but I didn't get a picture.

Well, hope you enjoyed my random post this morning. Take care all you northerners in the snow. Ya'll had quite a storm up there in the northeast. Hunker down & stay warm, and as always, keep yer dress down!

GIVEAWAY!

Go check out Tara at New Day New Season!. She is having her 100th post giveaway and it's so COOL!!!

FLEA MARKET STYLE MAGAZINE

It's here!  At last, the long-awaited funky, junky, deco magazine we've all been anticipating with bated breath!  Flea Market Style Magazine!  With writers and partners in junk, Ki Nassauer & Matthew Mead!  They've got it all together and it's a doozy - you'll have to get one for yourself - THIS one's MINE!  At Barnes &Noble AND also at my dear friend's, Margo at Robojunker, at her booth at Our Little Corner in Tyler, Texas, and at Winnie & Tulula's in Athens!  I know there're probably some more places, but go to Margo's blog to find out!

I've been poring over my own private copy ever since I got it from Margo yesterday, and let me tell you, it's a beautiful magazine - even my hubby said so!  It's spilling over with luscious colorful JUNK, refurbished treasures for one-of-a-kind decor and practical and innovative (and did I mention CHEAP?) storage solutions.   Let me tease you with just a few pics...

Who'd of thunk you could make such beautiful centerpieces from old funnels? I guess the flea markets are going to have a run on funnels now...

Look at this cool cart - you could use it for just about anything! I want one! I can think of all sorts of things I could use this cart for!

Isn't this the most romantice and rustic and easy to live in barnhouse EVER?

Remember last fall when Ki came to Tyler at the invitation of our own resident Junk Lady, Margo, and Margo took her to Canton, Texas, to the Biggest Flea Market in the US?  Well, there is a 10 page article about Ki and Margo's adventure in Canton complete with pictures!  They had a ball, found some great junky bargains and wonderful carnival food, and Margo's son, Allen Arrick, was the official (and professional) photographer who documented this glorious trip!

This turquoise is my absolute favorite color in the whole wide world!  I had to show this picture, and that's all I'm going to show you - you'll have to get the magazine for yourself to see all the rest of the goodies!  I promise you won't be disappointed!!!  Hurry before they run out!!!

Want to see more?  Click the Flea Market Style Magazine button on my sidebar and it'll take you directly there to all the links you could possibly want!  Ki's and Matthew's and many more!

Super Bowl 2010

The Saints Did It!   Wasn't it GREAT???  I'm going to try to get around to visiting everyone, and I really appreciate your sweet comments! Keep 'em coming!

I didn't get to watch most of the game - I was in the kitchen alot, and trying to get around and visit with all the young people.  We had a house full! Our college age kids class at church, well they range from 18 to early 20's, single, and they've been slowly growing this class. Most of the kids that grew up at our church have gone off to college which  leaves a handful of "homies" and we're gradually picking up a few from UT-Tyler and Tyler Jr. College.  We had the class teacher/sponsor and his wife, another adult couple helping out with food and me and Tony AND about 20 young people.  Our church had an early evening service at 3:30 and everybody came over to our house after the devo.

I had ordered 4 family size pizzas from Papa Murphy's, which is the ONLY place to get pizza nowadays. THank goodness for a double oven! We went to Wingstop and picked up buckets of hot wings, we had smoked sausage in the chafing dish (which we don't get to use much so this was a great opportunity).  I had made a huge bowl of homemade salsa, tons of chips and layered Mexican dip, veggies and crackers and M&M's and "trash" all scattered around. AND we had 4 desserts.  My favorite was the Sopapilla Cheesecake that my son's girlfriend Lindsey made.  I personally taste-tested it 3-4 times to make sure it was edible for the kids to eat.  The cutest dessert prize goes to Tara!  She brought 2 homemade little single layer cakes that were decorated for each team!  One was white with a blue horseshoe and the other was gold with the black fleur de lis!  They were so cute & I appreciated her thoughtfulness and the time she put into those cakes!

The kids got a huge kick out of our "redneck cooler".  Tony put all the soft drinks and water bottles in the washing machine and iced 'em all down good.  The laundry room is right next to the kitchen, so it was fun to see the kids all digging in the washing machine getting their drinks!  Very easy, and easy to empty! No hassle whatsoever! And the washing machine is clean and you don't have to worry about cleaning out your cooler!

Sooooo, we all surfed the food island and bar and washing machine all evening and stuffed our faces and sprawled out on the couches, chairs and floor and hooted and hollered for our teams - it was a mixed crowd on teams.  Lots of yelling and shuffling and scuffling but can you believe it? NOTHING WAS SPILLED ON CARPET OR FURNITURE!  Wow - they did good!  I had even put a Mexican blanket on the coffee table so they could eat there & I wouldn't have to worry about it!  A couple of the guys played soccer out in the front yard until dark - they weren't real interested in the game.  I think everyone had a good time.

Sad part is --- don't be mad -  I left my stupid camera in my car which we had left at the church building. We had planned on going back to get it before the game and we ran out of time.  I'm so sad that I don't have any pictures to show you!!!  (I slyly thought that I'd put this part at the end of my post so you would have to read it all to the end to find the pictures.  If I put it at the beginning, you might not read the post! Sorry!)  So I'm going to post a picture for you that has absolutely NOTHING to do with this SuperBowl post!

I hope ya'll have a great day.  Looks like we're in for more bad weather.  I set out my potatoes Saturday and some cabbage and broccoli. May be too soon. I hope they make it - we're supposed to have freezing weather again this week.  Hey, Lowe's has the broccoli and cabbage plants setting outside already. Help me people - do you think they'll make it?

Happy SuperBowl!

Hey girlfriends!  Been purty busy the last few days - will be out of pocket for a few more - we've got LOTS to catch up on at the farm AND we're hosting a SuperBowl party for some of the young people from church at OUR house!  It should be fun but there's ALOT to do!  I'm sure they'll be HUNGRY!!!  Have a good weekend!