Planning the garden. Part 1.

Spring is still a little late coming in KY this year. So, normally, I'd be a little behind planning the garden. But, this year, it's right on track. Many vegetables can't be planted outside until after danger of the last frost. Which is typically around Mother's Day for us.

The only real advice I want to offer is that you contact your local extension office or their resources on the Internet for planting.

Visiting local garden shows, I've collected printed information from the local extension offices and organized them in a 3 ring binder. I only grabbed those of interest to me so to streamline searching through the binder.

My approach to the vegetable garden planning is to make a "shopping list." What do I want out of my garden, what ingredients can I grow to cook fresh summer meals and preserve/store some fresh organically grown items for winter?

Here's a basic summary of my list. Though the actual preliminary list is pictured. My most basic goals are to store lots of tomato products (salsa, juice, paste, whole), pickles, beans, and others, to grow fresh salad ingredients, and my 10 year old son REALLY wants to grow some of our own pumpkins this year for Halloween. Going to try our best. (We'll share pics of progress, of course.)

I'm taking a different approach to salad items this year after doing some research over the winter. I plan to continually plant small amounts of items such as mixed lettuces, carrots and radishes each week. Once they start producing, I should be able to grow and harvest a steady amount of fresh salad for the entire growing season.

Another item I'm planting much more of this year is basil. We love pesto and I am looking forward to storing plenty!! If I could just find a cheaper resource for pine nuts!! Any tips?

A favorite vegetable of mine to grow is zucchini. It's easy We use it and yellow squash in many dishes: grill packets, stir fry, oven roasted veggies, raw with ranch dip. I like to freeze zucchini bread and muffins for winter treats also.

MY number one goal for the garden this summer: MORE STRAWBERRIES!!! You just can never have enough!!! :-) To walk out the back door, grab a couple to slice over cereal in the mornings....heavenly!

Looking forward to sharing some of my gardening journey this summer.

Joy!
Amy

For the love of Quilts. (Part 1)

My Grandmother, known lovingly as Mamaw Mary Helen recently celebrated a birthday. We had a VERY small (relatively speaking) gathering of some of her handy work to honor her. Wanted to share some of this with you. I will follow up with more  of her quilts later in future blogs.

The Raggedy Anns & Andys are just a few she's made through the years. We have been blessed with gifts of her handiwork. The traditions are that her grandbabies & great grandbabies receive a handmade stocking the first Christmas, a Raggedy doll the 2nd. She has 12 grandchildren & 24 great grandchildren. (That's a lot of stitching with love!!!)

Also, she's made each of her grandchildren a full size quilt as we graduated from high school. Each great grandchild has received a baby quilt. All of those until the most recent baby quilts were quilted by hand.

She would set the quilting loom up and whomever stopped by would add a few stitches as they talked. I am the oldest grandchild so I received the first one. I cherish it. It's not included in these photos but, will be in the future. Several of my great aunts, my Papaw, my mom, aunts & several of my cousins took time to quilt a bit of my quilt.

My original Raggedy Ann is bald from being loved to death. She's the second from the left. And, YES, Mamaw made me a new one. :)

This is my niece's Dutch Girl baby quilt. This pattern was handed down to my Mamaw from her Mother.

Ethan's Nine Patch Cowpoke.

Caden's Robot Nine Patch.

My cousin Angela's (designer of my logo & background) Ohio Star full size quilt.

Brother Matthew's Lone Star Quilt.

Brother Jason's Double Irish Chain full size quilt.

Nephew Garrett's simple white fabric with quilted sailboats.

 

Hope you enJOYed!!! And, hopefully, we don't need the quilts for warmth too much longer here in the Bluegrass State since we are seeing signs of Spring. However, they are always great to spread out for a picnic beside the lake in the Summertime!!!!

 

Joy, Amy

Handmade Gifts.

Recently celebrated a birthday. Handmade gifts are always a favorite when they come from my talented family. It's so special when someone not only takes time to think of you but, hand make a gift for you. Wanted to share a couple pretty pictures with you for inspiration in your endeavors.



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Cherry Pie from my Mamaw. She makes the BEST pies!! I don't eat anyone's apple pie but hers. Period. And, apple is the favorite of most of the family. But, she knows cherry is mine. She rolls the crust so thin and bastes it with milk and sprinkles with cinammon and sugar. So, yummy!!!! 



And, my talented sister-in-law Tina made this wreath. She's always so creative. I love the combination of colors she used. It will be a nice transitional piece for my front door between  late spring and early summer.

 

Hope this inspires you to make something for someone special!

 

Joy!

Amy

If Lovers Place a Lock on a Bridge....Would You?

Who isn't a romantic at heart?!? Between my love for reading the romantic writers and dreaming of travelling to fabulous places, I am!!! The other night, my husband and I were watching a show on tv where a couple went to the Lover's Bridge in Paris. I teared up and said "that is so sweet!!! I've always wanted to go there one day and do that!!!" I've read articles about this bridge. I've posted photos on my online travel pinboard. Knowing that was a dream for now but, one day we could, that was the last I thought of it.

The idea of the Passerelle des Arts pedestrian bridge is that you and your lover place a lock on the bridge and throw the key in the Seine River. Here's a link to some photos of the bridge: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/lovers%20bridge.

Well!!!! My amazing husband never misses an opportunity to let me know that he listens and I had a birthday coming up!!! So he made this piece for me. I LOVE nothing more than homemade presents that let you know the person gets you!! Since we couldn't physically go there now, he brought the sentiment of the bridge to me!! I've shared photos below. :) <3

You're a birthday boy, Dr. Seuss!

Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss?!?! NO ONE!! :)  Saw a picture on Pinterest of "Thing 1" cupcakes. Wish I knew who thought of them first to give credit. But, I made these "pinspired" by that picture. I used red velvet cake, cream cheese icing, and blue raspberry cotton candy. They were yummy!! Just used cake mix and canned icing this time. Though, I have made these items from scratch before. I think either way is perfectly acceptable!! Just depends on your mood and time. At least it does for me anyway.

What are some of your favorite Dr. Seuss books and quotes? Here are some of mine:

"Adults are obsolete children."-Dr. Seuss


"In my world, everyone's a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!"-Dr. Seuss

"What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."-How the Grinch Stole Christmas (a favorite Christmas quote of mine!!)

 

"When you think things are bad, when you feel sour and blue, when you start to get mad... you should do what I do! Just tell yourself, Duckie, you're really quite lucky! Some people are much more... oh, ever so much more... oh, muchly much-much more unlucky than you!" -Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? One more thought for the day & my wish for you: "Today I shall behave, as if this is the day I will be remembered."-Dr. Seuss Joy! Amy

 

Valentine, Sweets and Whoopee(Cushions)

Had the best time dipping whatever we could find in Chocolate with Sawyer, my youngest son. And, we let the sprinkles flow. Every time I'd add sprinkles, he'd go behind me and add more. We sent these fun little sweets to his class today. Happy Valentine's Day!!! <3

Can never get enough uses out of the drink "machine" we found at WalMart last year. Taped a white heart doily to the front, filled with pink lemonade. Et voila!


Chocolate Covered Strawberry "Sundae" for the best teacher in the WHOLE world!!

Not exactly the most romantic Valentine. But, positive his elementary aged friends will love them. Sorry if you don't think it's in good taste. I grew up with 2 brothers and have 2 sons. Always try to be very lady like. But, hey, I get their humor!!! Found the free printable below at http://www.supermommoments.com/2013/01/my-funny-valentine/. Cute blog too!

Hope your heart is filled with love today and always! Find someone that needs a hug, hand or smile today!!

L<3ve and Joy,
Amy

Update: Unfortunately, the "whoopie cushion" that we purchased at a local super store, did not hold up well at all. Most of them burst the first time they were blown up. I recommend going with another brand of mini whoopee cushions. What I originally wanted was the pink ones. But, couldn't find in town and didn't leave myself enough time to order. I found several links online where you may order them.  

A Little Mardi Gras Fun

Wanted to share a little Mardi Gras fun with you guys and gals! As you know, we are in KY not LA. And we really don't have any reason to nor do we "celebrate" it. I just like to do some cultural things with dinner for fun occassionally! We have a local bakery that bakes King Cakes every year and we just have to have one. They do 3 flavors: Cinnamon, Butter Rum, and Strawberry. We are equal opportunists and like them all though we only order one each year. This year we went with cinnamon. :)

 

The story behind the King Cake originates from the visit of the 3 Kings to the baby Jesus. Whomever gets the piece of cake with the baby Jesus figure in it is supposed to host the next party or buy the next cake. If you want to read more here's a link to a website with the story:

 

General info from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake

 

A more in depth historical account: http://mardigrasunmasked.com/local-color-and-customs/king-cake-history/

 

I'm a bit of a history geek, so I'm always fascinated with the way customs start and evolve over time.

 

We didn't have a cajun dinner this year. But, have in the past. There's a wonderful place called Hebert's Meats where you can order and have it shipped on dry ice overnight. I really love their crawfish pie!! Here's the link to their page and menu:

 

http://www.hebertsmeats.com/ 

 

Joy and Bon Appetit! Thanks for stopping by.

Amy

 

 

A Little Fellas Super Bowl Party

Super Bowl was eventful at our house this year. Our favorite team the Patriots were not in the big game this time. So, my husband agreed that out son could have some 10 year old friends over to "watch" the game. Honestly, they really enjoyed it and while they didn't sit right in front of the tv watching every play. They all kept up with it in between shooting hoops and spontaneous wrestling matches or teasings about what girls they liked. It was a lot of fun.

My son fancies himself the party planner. His ideal party would have had all his nerf guns arranged in a circle in his bedroom floor so his friends could choose their weapon when the arrived in the spirit of the movie "The Hunger Games." He also wanted to have a pickle juice drinking contest. I vetoed both ideas. But, after hearing from his friends these would have been a big hit among 10 year old boys, his friends anyway. Still would not advise them. Wasn't in the mood to take one to the emergency room for a nerf accident or clean up, well you know, from a pickle juice induced illness. :)

I am going to share the mom approved ideas that we pulled off thanks to the help of the best production assistant ever, my husband, Brandon.

The centerpiece field goal. We used $3 worth or a 10' section of pvc pipe,  2 elbows and one tee. Brandon cut the post and both 'legs' of the post 2' each. The bottom sections connecting between the elbows and tee are 1' each. We just used a hand held, manual pipe cutting tool. Didn't even glue the joints together since we covered it in yellow duct tape. The duct tape was only because it was too cold outside for spray paint to have dried completely and not be tacky to the touch. Used a pail that we already had. Filled the bottom with floral foam and boxes for sturdiness. Stuck the post in and surrounded with green shredded paper. The football pinata was a fun find. Made the banner using markers, cardboard and clip art I found online.

Originally, I looked online for Super Bowl party supplies. but, frankly, I was too cheap to pay the huge shipping to get the items here in time. This is when I decided to have a split field style tablescape. So, I picked up plates, napkins and forks in each team color cheaply at a local party supply liquidation store. One of my favorite party shops! The party banner across the front was less then $2, 1 $1 green table cloth and used craft tape and stick on numbers to give the look of "the field."

A local bakery made cupcakes for us. Half in one team color and half in the other. The best part for the boys was the Super Bowl Ring topper.

So, I mustache you a question. Haha! The boys LOVED the mustaches. They could choose black for the Ravens or red for the Niners. We are from KY and UK basketball fans. So, we all love Anthony Davis and his unibrow. As soon as one of the boys decided to have not only a mustache but, another stache as a unibrow, they all did. Too much fun!!!

Food and Drink:


Found a wonderful webpage with free Super Bowl printables. It was very helpful. I used it to make labels and decorations. I found them on the website: http://catchmyparty.com/blog/free-super-bowl-party-printables-from-simply-create-designs. But, she originally found them from Simply Create Designs. They were free. But, Simply Create Designs also has some very cute party printables for sale reasonably. http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyCreateDesigns. We made up the names just to go along with the teams in the game. Comical how the boys had to declare their team loyalty if they chose to drink the opposite teams drink. Just used powdered drink mixes. Always a hit with the kids. And, cheap!!!! :)

Found the idea on Pinterest to arrange pepperoni as a football. Let's just say, it looked better on Pinterest. However, it tasted good. My husband and best assistant ever improvised with the field goal pizza. Not pretty. But, tasty and the idea was good. All pizza was eaten.

We used the Pampered Chef Taco Ring Recipe and cut the crescent roll dough into football shapes, filled and baked. Yummy. Again, not perfection on the first try. But, a huge hit. Will definitely improve on the look of these for tailgating next football season.

One of the moms, made these yummy rice krispie football treats. She used premade treats, cut them in the football shape, dipped in a caramel sauce and decorated with icing to look like footballs.

To keep the boys interest (though nothing did as much as the half time show. :)) We played a game. Made a grid of 100 squares. They each wrote their names equal numbers of times in the blank squares. After that was completed pregame, we randomly added numbers 0-9 on each side. Whatever the ending number of the ending quarterly score was and the name coordinating with that square won the prize for that quarter. The prizes were cheap trophies found at a local hobby store and a ribbon. Lucked out and found golf ribbons for 90 cents each at the party supply store. Covered them with a Super Bowl sticker. All the boys wanted to win one and kept up with the quarterly score totals. Loved all the math going into certain scoring situations as the quarter end got closer. They had no idea they were getting all the math practice.

Notice the mustache stuck to the top. Just can't go wrong with a fake stache and a bunch of boys. :)

The prizes. Also, notice the color coordinated candy. It was hilarious how they wouldn't eat the candy or food if it wasn't their team colors.

We had so much fun planning and partying!! Hope you enjoyed looking through the fun we planned. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Joy!
Thee Alley Kat

A Summer BBQ/Birthday

Hello Friends,

Spring and summer are the craziest times of year for my family. I have 2 sons (and a husband coach) that LOVE, LOVE baseball and I enjoy watching them have fun tremendously. After all, the most important part of our little family unit is that we support each other in our endeavors. And, they do support me as well. Team Alley is a well oiled and loving machine. :)

Anyway, just wanted to share a few pics of my oldest son's birthday. It was a very low key family summer cookout. Just what he wanted.

The Mac N Cheese is a recipe that my family loves from Naomi Judd's cookbook called "Naomi's Home Companion." I add extra cheese and mix cheddar and Velveeta. http://www.amazon.com/Naomis-Home-Companion-Treasury-Favorite/dp/1577192710

A local lady baked the cake from pictures of his favorite glove. She did an amazing job and it was yummy!

An Afternoon on River St

Several years ago, I was in Savannah, Ga on St Patrick's Day. If you don't know, this is one of the largest and longest running St Pat's celebrations in the States. It was neat. EVERYTHING was green!! Since, I've long wanted to have time to go back.

Recently, we were able to stop there for an afternoon. I'm so glad we did and can't wait to go back for hopefully a weekend. Savannah is a gorgeous city chalked full of history. Want to share a few highlights and also some thoughts on where I'll stop next time I'm in town.

To the left is a view of River St as we make a pass through in the car. I love all the levels on the buildings. When we were there for St Pat's, people were standing on the balconies dressed in green of course.

Notice the pineapples. A sign that you are welcome. I love Southern hospitality!!

This was a glance up a side street. There were architectural interests everywhere. Isn't the cobblestone gorgeous!?

The gentleman on the left was making beautiful hand crafted items out of palm fronds. I had to have the cross with the rose. Coincidentally, this was the Friday before Palm Sunday. He was very friendly but didn't have much time to talk, he was busy, busy. I could have watched him for an hour. There were several street vendors. I noticed they each had a business license/id around their neck. This appeared to be closely monitored by the local law enforcement.

River Street Sweets!!! This is a must! Their pralines are delish. You must stop by the kitchen and get a fresh, hot sample of one. When we were there, the gentleman was making chocolate pralines. They were good. But, the plain ones are the best in my book.



A praline from River St Sweets. My dessert after having lunch at One Eyed Lizzy's.

Several years ago, my oldest son started a pressed penny collection. This is our favorite memento when travelling. We stopped a couple of places and made one. This machine was inside River St. Sweets.

I always love neat signs. Found the Masonic Temple No. 1 cornerstone very interesting. First and oldest one in the Western Hemisphere. And the Mad Hatter sign...isn't he adorable?

This was taken in front of the open air market. Found lots of neat items there. I bought a beautiful hair clip made in So. Africa. There were many fun vendors and craftspeople.

This was just too pretty. Had to snap a photo. It was the front porch to one of the homes in downtown.

Wish I'd gotten a photo of the outside of this ice cream parlor.  Here's a link to their web page: www.leopoldsicecream.com/. It was a long line but passed by quickly. One of the proprietors brought a pitcher of water and cups around to all who were waiting. My brother had visited Leopold's last summer and said the kids would love it. Well, so did the adults. I tried Rum Bisque Ice Cream. One word...yum! We could also have eaten lunch here.

When I was there many years ago, we ate at a local restaurant named Love's. Wanted to go back, but it would have delayed our trip further. It was about a 20 minute drive South from River St. However, I highly recommend it. The outside of the restaurant was used in a scene from the movie Forrest Gump.

Two restaurants we noted to try next time are The Pink House and The Pirate House. Both were a couple blocks off River St. Would also, like to visit a couple of the older cemeteries. Not for any reason other than they are absolutely beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed the day with us!

Talk to you soon. Until then, enJoy!

The Alley Kat