Beautiful Day

I'm loving this weather! It is going to be in the 60's today and low 70's tomorrow. This is well with my soul. As I drove to the store this morning, I was amazed, once again, by God's provision to me. The store's furnace broke the other day and a part is on order. It was at this time that the weather started warming up~hooray! I like to look at this as God knowing what I needed, warm weather, and He provided it. He is good! You know, He'd still be good even if it was freezing out.

Blessing

I met Oksana yesterday. Oksana is five years old and has some disabilities that affect her walking and development. I had the distinct pleasure of fitting her with some good shoes while carrying on a lively conversation. Oksana has a beautiful bubbly personality along with a strong sense of independence that will be very beneficial to her as she works with and through her disabilities. She is adopted from Ukraine. She has only been with her new family for 5 1/2 months. Her mom was telling me how much she has thrived since being in their household. You see, Oksana has lived her young life in an orphanage in Ukraine. At the orphanage she was not taken care of, she was not loved and was not nourished. My heart broke at hearing this but quickly recovered and rejoiced because she is now very well cared for, loved deeply, and is fed very well all because of this wonderful family who brought this disabled child from another country into their home. Her laughter and smile are contagious which made for a great time. If they had been my only customers all day it would have been well worth it. I was blessed beyond measure.

Inspiration

I am definitely on some creative streak or it could be I've been suppressing my creativity for all these years bringing up my two younguns that I'm now ready to explode. I have been buying yardage here and there because I like it. Some yardage I have designated for certain projects and some are just there waiting to be made into something. A couple are quilting projects Brianna started years ago and I'm thinking of finishing. This is just a sampling of my collection:

I'm comtemplating making myself some summer dresses because I can't seem to find what I want in stores. I think I'll have to go fabric shopping again.

Got Cake?

I had heard of a new pie place in town and I made it my ambition to try it. I got overly ambitious and, after looking over their pie list, determined that it would be one of my New Year's resolutions to go through their whole list of pie this year.

The first week of January the kids and I set out to find the pie place. We couldn't wait to sit down to pie. I LOVE pie! We arrived, on a rainy day, to a small walk-up stand. The only seating was a picnic table out in the rain. No menu, only a computer generated list of "pies for the day" with a couple already crossed out. We ordered our pies and had them, can you guess, to go. He was not set up with drinks nor did he have plasticware. Ugh! The pie was not impressive. I was sorely disappointed. I had coconut cream. The crust was interesting, not your normal crust and the filling, the filling, was only about half an inch high~no lie. The truth is is that I can make a better pie than this guy. This is why I didn't name the pie place, I didn't want to dis him over the computer.

After this experience, I changed my resolution. I will make a new cake and/or pie myself every month. Charles groaned and said I was going to kill us. It was then I had the brilliant idea to make them for other people. Who knows where this can lead!

This is my first new cake of the year. We had it on Epiphany. It is a Lemon Canadian Crown. Technically it's a frozen dessert but it's in my cake book so I'm not going to split hairs. Lady fingers line the sides of the pan and the bottom:

I forgot to take a picture of the next step which is the filling. This is the final product:

I think it it is beautiful. Yes, that is meringue on the top. The best meringue I've ever made. The fascinating thing about this cake is that it is stored in the freezer, even with the meringue! It's suggested to make it a few days before being served because the lemon intensifies while it sits. It really does. This is a piece:

It's slumping down because I lost track of time and let my piece sit a little too long and it got too soft. It was absolutely delicious.

Old Friends Part II

So I took my Old Friends to be sharpened at one place and after 4 weeks of waiting they had still not been picked up for sharpening. I picked them up and took them to another place that a friend told me about. I haven't used these Friends in quite a while but I took comfort in knowing they were in my drawer. For me, this process was taking just a little too long and I was getting anxious. Two weeks later I got the call to pick them up. The young man at the register pulled them out for me to look at and sign for. While doing this he picked up a pair and was looking them over. He then proclaimed, rather too boldly, "These look like ANTIQUES!" I took that very personal. I am only 46 and I bought those scissors brand new! They are a part of me and proclaiming them to be antiques is like proclaiming me...you get the picture. I left, speechless and shocked.

Something New

Arkansas was blessed with a snowy day today. Time just seems to stop for me on snowy days. I feel like I'm "allowed" to ignore the usual day to day stuff and do whatever I want. This is one of the things I did today:

I made myself a new apron! I wear an apron almost every time I cook because I think they're cool and because I wipe my hands down the front of me A LOT while I'm cooking. Now I have a new one to break in.

P.S. I'm also sporting a new haircut.

Old Friends

These scissors are old friends of mine:

I LOVE these scissors. They have been with me now for, oh, 25 odd years. Just recently I had them sharpened, that's a whole other story, and was without them for a month. I didn't necessarily need them, I just take comfort in knowing that they are there in my drawer.

The first two are my paper scissors that I use for patterns. The last pair is for fabric ONLY! My favorite pair is the one with the old ratty piece of fabric tied on. The ratty fabric has been there for about 25 years as well. Everyone in my household knows that these are OFF LIMITS to them. They are mine and mine alone.

I'm so excited about them being sharpened because I have projects piling up and am anxious to get creating. More on this in another blog.