Baseball and Apple Pie

A little baseball and some homemade apple pie. Yes, over the past weekend we have been doing a lot of this ... Friday and Saturday to be exact. My son plays softball in our local town. We've had a lot of rain this month so naturally we have rescheduled games again and again. Next week is supposed to be our last game. Yeah! I love it but I'm looking forward to doing other things.

These came in the mail via amazon on Friday. It started with the book on the left. I just love the name of it "The Lost Art of Pie Making." Then I saw the middle book on Aunt Ruthie's website and knew it had to be mine. On the inside cover are pictures of heirloom recipe cards. I'm already planning what I will make from this book. The last book (Secrets to a Tender Pie) was a little disappointing in that I thought it would be pie recipes and it's family heirloom recipes not all pies. I still think it will be a good book just not what I had in mind based on the title.

This is my first ever, that I can remember 2 crust pie without the premade kind of crust. So I'm pretty proud even though it's not perfect. My DD helped me with the apple top and she cringed when I started to put it on top of the bottom crust. I had to do it twice because my cute apple cutter wouldn't cooperate.

It was delicious. I used a lard crust (not something that's too good for you) but it came out when all the other ones I'd made flopped. I've used the recipe before for a one crust apple pie. It's an amish recipe and the pie never fails to give compliments. If people ask me to bring dessert I have baked this pie a lot. It calls for a streusel topping therefore I never made a top crust for that recipe. I made this using my dear friend Sam's recipe for apple pie. It was the perfect tender and flaky crust. I think I'll try crisco next. I'm not too crazy about the flavor it gives, and the health aspect. So until next time, I've got more pies to bake and some housework to do and two kids who need something to do while it rains, LOL!

Have a great day!

Carey

Chalkboard Love

Here's a few things I have been working on the past week besides making my kitchen neat and tidy. Check out FlyLady to see how. I now have alphabetized spices that aren't out of date and a clean oven! Yeah!

Then I stumbled across these cool little markers. It's probably the teacher in me that is so fascintated with them. I just love these new chalkboard markers. It all started when I read about it on Sugar Pie Farmhouse. Then I bought the markers at Michael's and some of the paint to make the chalkboards and the FarmChicks book. I'll report on the book later. Needless to say ladies I find myself admiring this Farmhouse style even wondering about my future decorating plans. Don't get too worried I'm not ready to toss all my pretty prims out just yet. I just really like the clean, fresh, lively colors that you find in farmhouse decorating. I am a big lover of red especially and combinations of yellow. I like many different styles of decorating even cottage and french country. About the only thing I don't care for is clean modern looking stark or asian styles. I like just about everything else. Anyway, I put this chalkboard that I was going to take to the thrift store and hung it on some woodwork by my fridge. This is kind of an unused space. I plan on using it to write notes to my family and grocery lists. The other little one I bought at Michael's. I'm sure you ladies have seen these a lot at yard sales or auctions etc. You can pick them up for next to nothing. I need to stain it or paint it yet. Hopefully, I will find someway to use up my chalkboard paint too. I told my kids I wanted to get them some for their rooms too. My daughter loves painting. The best part is it comes off with just water. If it's really stubborn Aunt Ruthie explains in her video that you can use BarKeeper's friend to remove it.

my repurposed chalkboard/family message center

the view from the side

I was just playing here, it shows too. I thought it was only appropriate since I've been working on homemade pies.

Have a great weekend!

Carey

My Prim Goodies and Antique shopping!

Today sitting on my porch was my order from Lisa at Prims from Above. I did a happy dance all the way into the house. She did a fabulous job ladies! I just love my signs. I'm not sure if I will keep them there or not but I may end up hanging my yellow ware sign up above my pie safe. We'll see! Until then I thought I would give you a glimpse of what they look like. If you want to check out more of her work check out her selling blog too Londonberry Primitives. She did a custom job on my yellow ware sign to match my bowls too. Isn't she fab? Thanks so much Lisa!

The olde crow sign


I put this on my little table in my bathroom.




I took the kids to the library for a sign language program this morning and then to lunch at our own little Antique station. I was on the hunt for some new things. You just never know what you might find. I found a great big wicker basket that I will probably use for laundry or to display some of my quilts. Then I find a vintage pyrex pie dish (score!) and some pretty little dessert cups. I made some yummy Strawberry Granitas the other night for dessert and didn't have a thing to serve them in so I think these little babies fit the bill. Also, I love this little batter pitcher. Something about it said take me home! Well, I'm off to go try another pie crust. If anyone wants to share I'd love some advice. I'm on a quest to perfect pie making. The crust is what's giving me trouble. So I'm trying to learn all I can about it so far I haven't made anything tender or flaky. Wish me luck!

My yellow ware sign





the big basket (only 4 bucks!)

dessert cups and pie plate

the little pitcher

Hugs to all,
Carey

Old Glory and a Give Away

Hey bloggers don't forget flag day is coming up and let's show everyone how we feel about it! I'm going to get mine up I have a new one that I want to go up on our pole and some other bunting across my front porch. Flag day is Sunday this year according to Farmhouse Primitives so make sure you get yours out there waving high. I wanted to give a shout out to another blogging gal who has some really neat stuff. Check it out here and then you can be entered for her give away on Monday.

"Long may she wave..."

Have a great day!

Carey

Happy = Homemaker

Good morning blog friends! I had a very busy weekend gals. Between my son's softball games, daughter's bridging ceremony and dinner after church it left little time to blog. Sorry, I don't really have any new prim things to share with you. Hopefully later in the week though!

I have been reading Aunt Ruthie's Sugar Pie Farmhouse I have been doing a little soul searching. I love how inspiring she is through her love of cooking for her family and discussions about raising children and spirtuality. I find myself questioning my role as a mother and teacher. I love being a teacher. I taught for 6 years in MO where we lived for a remarkable 10 years and had both our babies. I have not worked full time since our move from Missouri to North Dakota in 2004. North Dakota has a lot fewer people. I don't know if any of you have lived there or traveled up there but it is sparsely populated. This means fewer teachers, thus jobs. When we moved our kids were 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 so daycare would have been quite expensive. My DD had to wait another year before starting kindergarden because she has a September birthday. I also found out that North Dakota wanted me to take several classes and it would cost about 500 dollars just to get my license etc. All of the teachers at Minot (where we were stationed) were local people. So even though there were two elementary schools on our base I had zero job prospects. They didn't even have openings during the 3 years we lived there. This began my journey as a stay at home mom. I had stayed home when my son was born in 01' previously for a year and decided it wasn't for me. We lived in the country and I was so lonely and didn't have any support. If only I knew back then what I know today I'm positive things would have been different. Anyway, to make a long story short I went back to work and then my DH got orders. Fast forward 3 years after that my mom was sick with cancer and we got humanitarian orders for our current base in IL. I basically went through the same thing. I had to take two IL tests that took 2 days and finally got my IL teaching license. I have been a substitute here for the last two years at my children's school. Last year there was an opening that I was fully qualified for and I didn't get the position. Even though I have made friends with the teachers, subbed at the last minute countless times, all the kids really liked me. I still didn't get hired. They hired a first year just out of college teacher. Can you tell I'm a little sore about this subject? I have let go of this and given it to God but I was upset for a while. I have become good friends with the staff at school and they all told me how sorry they were about the choice. We had a new principal this year and he did not know me from anyone else last summer. I even had 2 board members who would have recommended me but I guess he had the final say. Anyway, I have come to see what a blessing this is to be with my family and how much time I do have compared to some moms. I have done just about all the parties at school and almost every field trip for my son who will be a 2nd grader and my daughter who will be a 4th grader, yikes next year. I think that is pretty great. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

There is just one problem with all of this. It took me 5 years to earn my teaching degree and countless money spent on transcript analysis, criminial background checking, tests etc. and now I can't find a teaching job in IL or our future IN home. This year I mailed out about 12 resumes alone in both states. When do I decide that this just won't happen again for me?? Maybe I'm not meant to be a teacher?? I'm in the process of making a decision. My cut off for this is next Fall. I told my Dh I'm willing to try again for one more year and then I think I should either stay home or go back to school and persue something else. The only bad part is like a lot of families my dh doesn't make a ton of money. We will have to settle for a smaller house etc. We do ok financially but not for a what we invision for a 3000 square foot, farm house with a keeping room, great room and plenty of land for my dh to hunt etc. When I talk about staying home he reminds me it won't come without sacrifices. Without my teaching job what we can afford on his salary won't be our dream home. I do love staying home though and after much soul searching I think this is what makes me happiest. I still love teaching and would be more than happy to get a job. However, I love cooking for my family, being present for them, baking cookies when the kids come home from school. Even though I don't really like cleaning there is something so satifying about knowing I have a clean nest to come home to because I have everything taken care of. When I'm substituting a lot I don't get nearly as much done and I get cranky and tired (hopefully you all can relate) I'm much happier when I am at home than when I'm trying to strike a balance.

Thanks for letting me vent, I shared a lot of personal things but I feel like I know all of my followers and it feels good to be able to get some things off my chest. Sorry this is so long I try to keep things short and sweet. If you could take time in the comments section I'd love to hear back from everyone. Tell me if you're currently a homemaker and if so for how long. Also, how did you make the decision to stay home.

Have a great day,

Carey

My Little House and a new Cookbook

Hello bloggers, I've been a little busy. I did the happy dance today when the mail showed up today. It was a very good mail day. My little house I ordered from Kindra arrived safe and sound. It is so nice ladies. She does wonderful work. I can't wait to see it all lit up tonight. Thank you so much Kindra, I just love it! I'm not sure if it will stay there. I have to tweak a little bit to see if I like it for awhile.

the cranberry house on top of my pie safe



a close-up of the house

Next, Robert and I baked up some sugary goodness. I got the new Martha cupcake book today and this cute cupcake apron. It's so darn cute, I can't stand it. We made chocolate chunk cupcakes and they were delicious. I already have the cookie cook book and couldn't wait till this one came out. I go in spurts and love to bake. I have started channeling my inner vintage housewife. If you can't tell from my new button on my blog. It's a real pick me up and putting on an apron really puts you in mood to get something done. I don't know what it is but I just love an apron and I've been picking up some new ones on etsy. They have about everything you could imagine, really neat fabrics. I ordered a cherry one, matching ones for my daughter and me and then one just for my DS. His has cupckes and his name on it. I can't wait to surprise him with it. My DD has one just like mine already and he always felt left out so I think he will like this.

So I challenge you to go tie on an apron ladies just like our grandmother's and bake something sweet for your family soon!

Have a great night!

Carey

Kids and Pie, Oh My!

Yesterday it rained on and off almost all day. Other than basketball camp we had no plans I heard those dreaded words that you here almost right away when school is out for summer. "Mom, I'm bored" These were heard from my DS. My DH decided to ground him from his favorite things electronic games, computers and TV. Yeah me!!! Anyway, it was for his behavior the day before on our shopping trip. He doesn't like to go places at all especially shopping and he was having one of his moments. I pulled out the flip flops you color to do after their school work was done. They enjoyed that for about 20 minutes. I decided after reading an article from Aunt Ruthie's Farmhouse that I would try a list of chores again. I had done this before but we called it a chore chart, I thought Happy To-Do list sounded much better. I told my DH that I think we focus on being more positive with them. Parenting is the hardest job in the world isn't it?? So I gave this to them after basketball yesterday and they were excited. I told them that if they got less than 3 not checked off we would have a special outing or do a treasure hunt. Hopefully, we will have smooth summer. I think I have kids who crave structure, they love to do imaginative play but it only lasts so long and they start fighting.

Later on in the day I decided I would attempt a rhubarb pie. My son really enjoyed helping me too. I've made them before but I'm trying to work on my inner Vintage housewife and get it down pat. Well, let me tell you crusts aren't easy. I think I know what I did wrong at least. I used Aunt Ruthie's crust. My family enjoyed it and it was very good. The pie recipe came from a general store under the Arch in St. Louis. I have a whole bunch of pie recipes in my Amish cookbook collection and some of them are the similiar to the ones in this book. I thought this was great because they're all together. The title is Old Fashioned Pie Recipes by Bear Wallow Books. They have a website if you're interested http://www.bearwallowbooks.com/

Rachel's Rhubarb Pie p. 14

1 9 inch unbaked double crust, one cut into lattice strips

4 cups of rhubarb

1 2/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp quick cooking tapioca

1 tsp lemon juice

grated rind of 1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp. butter

dash of nutmeg

Scrape and wash rhubarb and pat dry. Cut into half inch pieces. In mixing bowl combine ingredients except last two. Pour into pie shell and dot with flecks of butter and dash with nutmeg. Arrange the latticework of dough strips over filling. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Let me tell you it was pure heaven and sugary goodness, I think the lemon made all the difference.

Have a wonderful day ladies!

Carey