Popcorn Balls

3.) Share a family favorite childhood recipe.  --Mama’s Losin’ It Blog

If my memory is to be reliable, which it some times isn’t according to some, we’ve been making these as a family since I was at least 9 years old.  It started with a gift of several different kinds of extracts.  I think there was a blueberry, maybe a lemon, but it was the cherry flavor that made these sweet balls of delicious-ness possible.  Now, every Christmas, the making of popcorn balls has become a tradition very much looked forward to.

Chili con yummy!

Chili yumminess!  I made this last night for my family and all of us loved it.  I rarely hear my boys ask, “can you make this every night?”  That’s just not something 9 year olds and a 6 year old will ask for unless I’m serving cookies for dinner.

Note step #2, it is not a “ground beef mixture” as I used stew meat instead.  Me no like ground beef or beans….

Blankies

Using up one’s fabric gives one the thrill and moral fortitude that comes with recycling one’s hundreds of diet Coke cans.  However, if I wasn’t such an addict of buying both of these things, I would not have to do either but, at the same time would most likely be missing out on this forced feel-good moment.  Anyway, I was glad I had the fabric so I could make these baby blankets for a friend who is now having identical twin boys.  The ironic thing is, she was one of two people who threw a baby shower for me when I was preparing to have my second set of twins.  Lesson to be learned:  don’t throw showers for twin bearers unless you have had a tubal ligation, hysterectomy, or you are male.  I jest, I think.

 

Them peaches

Before…

After.

Last night I deliriously posted in my other blog about the insanity of canning.

“Tonight I did an idiotic thing and started canning peaches. I bought a whole bushel today because I thought I might miss the season and they’d all be gone. I didn’t know it at the time, but that thought was a subliminal message piped into my little brain by the insane asylum’s testing center and I fell for it.”

Fortunately, today I believe I am ready to keep going. I’d better be because these peaches ain’t getting any younger.

Memory Board…in case you forget.

A nice alternative to the refrigerator.

 

A while ago, as a part of a church activity, we made several different crafts.  This was an idea I got from Martha Stewarts website about 5 years ago.  I adjusted it a little for my purposes and made instructions for those who wanted to make these but couldn’t finish it or do it at the activity.  Several times people who went to that activity have called for these instructions, again, and again, and   Here they are for all to see and print out.

Proof that I have been somewhat accomplished this summer.

Apricot Jam: 

I made the “less sugar” recipe this time and, wow, it was so good.  You could really taste the fruit as opposed to the regular kind where there’s so much sugar it’s overwhelming.  Thank you Erin for the fabulous fruit.  I’ll be anxiously awaiting the peach tree’s fruit.  What, you won’t be sharing those with me?

A Napping Blanket:

I made a blanket for my sister Dani’s birthday.  After seeing the finished product, I was so resisting the urge to forget her birthday this year.  She deserves it though, the lovely sister that she is.

Shelves:

“Shelves in the closet, happy thought indeed.”  Actually, these shelves went on the wall.  I was actually amazed at how easy they were to make as I am in no way a woodworker, carpenter, or an avid watcher of PBS’ Woodwright Shop.  Thanks to pre-made brackets, or whatever those things are called, the rest was a breeze.  Really, anyone could do it.

I had to put them pretty high up on the wall because of the baby-kins.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve got 3 boys and a little more than a year ago I had twin baby girls have gone goo-goo in Girly-land.

Hopefully more juices will flow in the months to come now that the boys are in school.  I’m working on a scrap quilt which has been a blast so far!

Till 2 am…