CD Envelope tutorial

Yay!  I actually got this one out on Friday...I'm way ahead of myself.  I think the wedding pic CD is a great idea.  Or you could make a CD with old pics of your family and give as gifts.  Everyone likes to look at old family photos if only to make fun of the clothes and hairstyles (what was she thinking?) LOL.

All of the Friday Freebies will now be MyMemories Suite Compatible. What does that mean??? It means that you can now load the freebies directly into your MyMemories Suite Software, and then completely customize them with any paper and embellishments that you have. If you don't have the software, you can still download the sample project and the elements, but you will not be able to customize your  project.



http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

CD Envelope Tutorial

1. Print your CD envelope and card on cardstock and gather supplies. (Recommended supplies: craft knife, cutting mat, metal edged ruler, small scissors, glue runner, bone folder)

2. Start with the card and fold on the fold guides in the middle of the page. You do not need to fold anywhere else for the card, because the rest will be cut off.


3. With the card folded in half, use the metal edged ruler and craft knife and cut along the bottom edge and the sides. Cut about ¼” in from the printed edge. This will make your card slightly smaller than the envelope so it will fit inside.



4. Now you have a finished card.

5. Next are the instructions on making the envelope. Take the printed envelope and fold on all fold lines. There should be a total of 4 folds.

6. Cut along the outside edges using scissors.


7. Fold the 2 side flaps in towards the middle and apply glue along the side edges of the back piece.


8. Push the back piece up to adhere the sides and the back together. This will form your envelope.


9. You can now write inside your card and put a name on the front of the envelope and you are ready to share your fun card and envelope. Enjoy!!

Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software. The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format. Play around with it ...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

Monsanto and Cargill messing with Mother Nature...Again

Well now they want to mess with the oceans, lakes and streams...

• The soy industry, Monsanto, Cargill and other agribusiness giants are trying to position GM soy as a “sustainable” choice for aquaculture (farmed fish) feed
• As soy is not a natural food found in the oceans, it poses serious risks of pollution, lack of nutrient content in seafood, and contamination of the oceans with herbicide-saturated GM soy
• There is also concern about adding GM soy to yet another area of the food supply; it’s already ubiquitous in processed food and factory-farmed meat
• By boycotting not only farmed fish but also GM soy, you’re taking a stand in support of natural, organic and independent community farms both on land and at sea

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/17/genetically-modified-soy-for-farmed-fish.aspx?e_cid=20120717_DNL_artNew_2

People are going to be dying from hunger in this country.  Taking all the nutrition from our food is NOT a good idea.  Shame on them for polluting our food chain and shame on us for buying what they're selling.

Check out this blog post

http://baconandeggs-scifichick.blogspot.com/2012/07/most-honest-312-minutes-of-television.html

Little update

GARDEN/HOUSE:
We finally got rain.  I could hear the plants and trees sighing, no actually I could, really.  The seeds we planted while waiting for rain all came up so looks like we might be having some cukes and beans after all.  DH has off this week and we are going to do some work around the house.  We want to finish the floors in the living room and two small bedrooms.  And we are going to tear out the carpeting in our bedroom and put down laminate in that room as well.  We also have to do all the closet floors.  Then DH is going to till the garden again and we are going to plant some more seeds for our fall garden.  We have never planted a fall garden so this is all new to us.  With the drought, there was one nice thing.  Not very many bugs.  But then there weren't very many plants either LOL.

I have been getting a lot of little peppers and tomatoes off the garden.  I have been freezing them until I have enough to can up some sketti sauce.  I found a recipe for hot sauce I want to try since the peppers that survived are all hot ones.

KITCHEN:
I actually canned some plum preserves the other day.  DH saw them and decided to buy them.  We brought them home, he tasted one and said they are sour and hard as a rock.  Yep he was right they are sour and hard as rocks.  After spending a couple of hours pitting and chopping them up, I told him do not EVER get these again.  My fingers were sore until the next day.  But and here's the thing, they made wonderful preserves.  I had to taste test them before they were canned LOL.  I put them in the slow cooker and let them go on high for about four hours.  That softened them up.  I still didn't use all of them either so I was thinking maybe I could put them with another fruit (blueberries or boysenberries since I have lots in the freezer) and make some jam.  Has anyone done this before?  I think they are Damson plums but I'm not sure.

I got some green peppers from the Amish last week and cut those up and put them in the freezer so I can make my grandma's pepper relish since we are on the last jar of that.  When I make up a batch it usually lasts a couple of years.  At this rate I won't have to make up any relish or jellies/jams/preserves for at least 2-3 years.

I also have all those potatoes I got from the garden.  I'm thinking of canning most of those up.  I had canned some store bought potatoes in the fall and those were real handy to make some hashbrowns for breakfast.  I also have a bunch of hamburger I want to can up too.  I don't want to wait until we loose electricity and then say I should have canned it up.

CHICKENS:
The girls are doing fine.  We had been giving them watermelon and had a fan on them during the heatwave.  Maybe we were giving them a little too much watermelon cause they kind of got the squirts, poor things.  We have two that we are going to have to clean their butts up.  This is something that we always look forward to...next flock we get will be handled more cause chasing chickens is not a lot of fun.

CATS:
The cats are doing great except Roxy who seems to be feeling his age lately.  Penny is loving the outdoors and in all that heat she wanted to go out but she wouldn't come in when you called.  Crazy girl!  And she crawls under the door to the chickens fenced in area and stays with them.  I don't know maybe they have a girl get together :)  Tikki has been his lazy self but has been jumping up on the bed after DH leaves in the morning so I can make a fuss over him.

QUILTING:
I worked on a small quilt and got most of the quilting done on it.  I just have to bind it and it will be done.  I also started quilting on another one and almost have that done except the binding.  I knitted up a little pair of footies for me.  I only had one little ball of yarn in this particular colorway and thought I would try to make a pair.  I even had a little bit left over.  The ball only had about 200 yards in it which isn't quite enough to make a decent pair of socks.  I have a couple of more 200 yard balls in my stash so I think I will be making some more.

READING:
Right now I'm reading Uncle Tom's Cabin.  It's not bad and really interesting that it was written before the Civil War.  If you haven't read it, it's about slavery.  Some parts kind of slow down the narrative but when you think that the author actually lived during this time and saw these things going on it really makes you think.  I have a lot more to read after I get done with this one.  I checked my Kindle and I have 7 pages of books on there.  Each page is 10 books so that's 70 I have to read.  Like I don't have other things that have to get done...

NEW PLACE:
We called around to see how much it would be to put in a water well.  The two places we called it was going to be over $6000.  Crazy.  Of course, it was just a guesstimate because they really don't know how far down they have to drill but that price was the minimum.  We have a couple more places to call.  Hopefully we can find someone more reasonable.  We have decided to get a little cabin.  We looked at a few and really liked them.  DH is saying now maybe we should have bought a piece of land with a house and well already on it.  I could say I told him so but I won't ;)  He thought it would be cheaper to get a piece of property and put a cabin on it...ummm NO.  We went to Marvin's (a building supply store) today to look around.  And we kept saying we need one of those and a few of those and....you get the picture.  This cabin is just the shell.  If we have extra windows we want to be put in they will put them in for $50 extra but we have to buy the windows.  Marvin's has excellent prices but I told DH that we should check at Home Depot and Lowe's because they have returns and scratched and dented things that they put on sale.  Now of course I know that windows and doors can't be too dented.  You have to be able to open and close them but a few cosmetic scratches doesn't hurt the operation of them and I have seen some pretty good deals before in those stores.  Oh and the well situation, we asked about whether they douse (you know when someone goes around with a stick or two metal rods and locates water) and the one driller just laughed.  Hey if someone can find water and there is less ground to drill through I think we might try it.  Jeez Louise we all aren't made of money.  Anyway I remembered that one of my books in the Foxfire set had something about wells in it so I looked and yes in volume #4 there is all about dowsing and well digging.  So DH and I decided that we will try to douse.  We're not going to dig however.  That can be dangerous.  Wish us luck!  I'll let you know what we find if  anything.

Well I think I caught you up on everything for now.  I hope to get some pics up soon.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Purse Cards with Tutorial

I can't believe I haven't posted any freebies since April.  Here are some great little cards in the shape of purses.  If you have My Memories software you can download these into the software and change up all the elements and backgrounds to what you like!  But remember you don't have to have the software to enjoy these freebies the way they are shown in the pictures, just download to your computer and print them out.

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Purse Card Tutorial

1. Print your Purse Card templates on cardstock and gather supplies. (Recommended supplies: small craft scissors, bone folder, 8-12" of ribbon, stapler, tape or velcro)
TIP: To print your information on the inside create another page with the template in place. Put all your text and embellishments in (leaving a little room on the edges) and then remove the template right before exporting or printing the inside page on the back of the first. This will keep from having to worry about if the templates line up exactly when cutting out your card.


2. Using the scissors cut along outside line.



3. Fold card at indentations.
TIP: Using a bone folder will help you get crisp edges on your project.


4. Repeat by folding down top flap.


5. Staple ribbon to both sides of your card on the inside to look like a strap or handle.


6. Enjoy the finished cards and share. Don't forget to use your imagination. The possibilites are endless!

Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software. The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format. Play around with it ...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

Another cleaning tip

I had seen around the blogosphere that some people were using a mixture of dishwashing liquid and vinegar to get their tubs clean.  I decided to try it.  And boy does it work!  Here's what you do:

1/2 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid
1/2 cup white vinegar

Put the above mixture into a spray bottle and spray down your tub/shower.  Let it sit for an hour (I couldn't wait and only waited about 20 minutes) and then wipe off with a damp cleaning rag.  It takes off any soap scum and hard water stains.   I have to admit though if you have breathing problems you do NOT want to use this as it is very strong smelling.  I turned on my bathroom vent for about an hour afterwards just to clear the air but it does work and is a lot cheaper to use than the bathroom cleaners I have tried in the past which did not work so give it a try and let me know what you think of this.

PS:  Make sure you wipe your tub/shower down with water several times as this mixture can be slippery.  Be clean but also be safe :)

New cleaning tip

DH came up with this one all on his own!  We use big glass gallon jars with the small necks for our milk but this tip will work for any jars you might have.  He wanted to use one of the gallon jars but it had mold on the bottom and we had no way of getting that mold out until...he used this solution:

1/2 cup baking soda (he used a funnel to get it in the jar)
1/2 cup white vinegar

Just put the lid on and shake.  The mixture fizzes up and does a wonderful job of getting out any yuckies in the bottom of the jar.  Then just rinse out and flip the jar upside down to dry.

This worked great and it means we won't be throwing out any more small necked gallon jugs.  It also gets off  the dried milk that seems to form just under the curved edge of the jug.

Bee article

Interesting article on bees

• Earlier this year, the Illinois Department of Agriculture allegedly stole and destroyed a beekeeper’s hives and bees after inspectors claimed the hives had foulbrood, and that the beekeeper, Terrence Ingram, had failed to dispose of the hives as instructed. However, Ingram feels he could prove his hives did not suffer from the contagious disease, and that the Department acted without due process
• Mr. Ingram suspects the destruction of his bees may be more related to his research on Monsanto’s Roundup and his documented evidence that Roundup kills bees
• One of the forerunning theories of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is that it’s being caused by genetically engineered crops—either as a result of the crops themselves or the pesticides and herbicides applied on them, such as Monsanto’s Roundup
• Ingram has studied the effects of Roundup on honeybees for the past 15 years, and believes he had acquired sufficient amounts of data to show that Roundup not only causes bee die-offs, but may be the cause of CCD

To read the entire article go here:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/05/monsanto-roundup-effects-on-honeybees.aspx?e_cid=20120705_DNL_artNew_1

The best lemonade EVER!

I have to say that I am not a big fan of lemonade.  When I was growing up, my mom would make lemonade from Real Lemon and lots of sugar.  But I decided to make my hubby some lemonade this summer.  Now I used to use just regular lemons and sugar but since we have been trying to use as much local food unprocessed or very little processed, I decided to make lemonade with organic lemons and honey.  Wow what a difference!  I now love lemonade at least made this way.  Here is how I do it:

Honey Lemonade

3-4 organic lemons
1/4 cup raw local honey
Filtered water

Squeeze your lemons!  That kinda sounded naughty didn't it? LOL.  Take them out of the fridge and let them set for a half hour to warm up and roll them on the counter.  This gets more juice out of your lemon.  Cut them in half and squeeze them removing any seeds from the juice.  You can use a juicer if you want to but I just use my hands.  It gets the job done and my nails are so white now ;) though it does hurt if you have any cuts on your hands (ouch!)

You will need about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of juice depending upon how lemony you want it.  Pour it in your pitcher and add the honey and stir.  It will take a couple of minutes to dissolve the honey.  Then add your water up to the top of the pitcher.  Put it in the fridge to cool or if you are really thirsty add some ice cubes and drink up!

This is really good!  Now if it isn't sweet enough add more honey, Honey LOL.  If you really wanted to make it extra special, you could always freeze some of it into ice cubes and then your lemonade wouldn't be diluted.  You can always double and triple this recipe for any picnics this summer.  And since you haven't heated anything up, this will keep your kitchen cool and you haven't lost any of the nutrients from the honey.

Let me know if you try it out and if you have any additional tips to pass on.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Headband to make

 A very pretty headband and easy to make too!

http://wildolive.blogspot.com/2012/04/project-lacy-eyelet-headband.html

Cute mug rug

Get the instructions to make this here:

http://wildolive.blogspot.com/2011/05/tea-time-mug-rug-with-embroidery.html

Cute embroidery

 This is called bee relaxed.  So cute.  You can find more here:  http://tipnut.com/busy-bees/

Please stop

Dear Blueberries,

No more, please I know you have really had a rough life and you have had a lot of good things happen this year but please don't make any more cause I'm running out of room and recipes ;)

Thank you!

PS.  If your feathered friends want to belly up to the bar, let them.  OK I'm done now LOL.

Trying to keep you updated...

On Saturday I canned six pints of pickled beets from the beets I got in Ethridge.  I made extra pickling juice cause it just didn't seem like enough so I made double.  I used the extra leftover juice to make pickled eggs.  And I picked more blueberries...I see a theme here.  I haven't done anything with them yet but I will and will post what I make with them.

Sunday was not a very good day.  It was raining well actually misting and I had the window open cause it was warmer inside than out.  I had a puzzle that I had glued and apparently when it gets humid these things curl up, maybe I should have put it in a frame,  anyway I had it on my fireplace mantel.  It was pretty and it was in back of some breakable things.  Yep you guessed it.  Puzzle curled up and breakable things went down on the ceramic tiles that are in front of the fireplace.  I had glass everywhere.  And to make matters worse, one of the things that broke was a temperature thingy that I got for hubby for his birthday.  It was filled with liquid and had these little globes in it that had a temperature on each of them.  When I started to clean it up it smelled like kerosene.  Yuck.  Then I was worried about the floor.  We had laid a laminate floor not too long ago and all I could think was this liquid whatever it is will eat through the finish.  So here I am mopping it up with my cleaning  clothes.  I almost went through all my cleaning clothes.  I wasn't going to try to clean them what with the glass and the liquid all over them.  What was weird was the little globes did not break!  So I saved them.  Maybe we can use an old jar and put them in regular water...don't know if that will work or not but we'll try it and see.  Guess I'll have to get hubby something else to make up for the broken temperature thingy.

 I found a pic of the temperature thingy but the one we had was on a base but its the same otherwise.  Kinda cool thing and hubby liked it.  It did work too.  Doggone

What I did on my summer vacation...

We took some time off from work and went on a little mini vacation (just overnight) to Pulaski, TN.  It was nice.  We couldn't stay away too long from home because of the chickens and overnight was a good little getaway for us.  We went to our land so DH could shoot some rounds and then went to the Bluebird Cafe for some lunch.  We then went looking for the motel we had looked up on the internet.  It was on the other side of Pulaski.  It wasn't much just a bed and bath.  Although they did have a microwave and fridge.  The beds were hard as rocks but we were so tired (why is it that driving around makes you tired?) that we didn't mind.  They had Dish on the TV so we got to watch some things we don't get to normally.  Then we went looking for a restaurant and found a wonderful one!  It is called the Rusty Spur and the food was fresh and tasted wonderful.        I had the chicken salad and hubby had to get a complete dinner.  The salad was HUGE!  It had fresh mushrooms, black olives, cheese, onions, carrots along with mixed greens (not all iceberg lettuce like most places) and a big piece of grilled chicken.  We also had fried mushroom appetizer.  Those mushrooms were really big.  I think you could have made a meal out of them as well but we were hungry so we ate the whole thing :)  

We got a paper while we were out to look at our new town's happenings.  When we were out at our land we went exploring.  We found a gun store not too far and a lot of Amish with signs up selling produce and such.  We also stopped and looked a these little cabins and garages in Ethridge.  They were very reasonable and the guy was not pushy.  I hate pushy salesmen.  He even told us to look the buildings over and then check out other businesses that sell the same type of buildings.  He said his were really well  built and after looking them over we agree.

That night we had a real light show.  It rained, it thundered and it lightning'd.  (Is that a word? LOL).  They had extremely high winds and so we really didn't sleep too well.  The next morning we got up and went to the Bluebird Cafe again but this time for breakfast.  We had biscuits and gravy and hash browns.  It was good and filling too!  Then we went back towards Ethridge and stopped at several Amish places to get milk,  cabbages, beets and a few odds and ends.  We came home then.  The next day we still had off from work so we weeded the garden.  I picked blueberries (OK I have enough now you can stop producing LOL).  We cleaned up the chicken yard.  I did four loads of washing and hung them out and then did a load of dishes.  We decided we needed to go back to work to rest up ;)

And that's how I spent my summer vacation...That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Cleaning tip

If you use like I do those mesh screens on your sink drain, here is how to clean them.

Use an old toothbrush!  It is fast and easy and keeps all the gunk from gumming up the screening.  Just use hot water and scrub away.

And still more pics!

I think this is the last of them on my camera for now.

DH on the mower.  This part of the land is really stony.  He's already hit a few rocks and will need to sharpen the blades soon.   Oh for you guys out there, it's a John Deere.

Two views of our new land the second time DH mowed.  We've been going out every other week.

My Christmas cactus blooming in May.  I put it outside on my porch every year for the summer.  It loves the heat and humidity but has never bloomed out there.

This is my other lavender.  This is what I use for my lavender jelly.  If you look really closely you might see the bees.  We have a lot of mason bees but not too many honey bees.  That's OK we love all the pollinators ;)

Isn't this pretty!  The blooms have just started on this.  I will try to get a pic when all the blooms are out.

Our grapes.  We need a few more rains for them to plump up.  These are concord grapes.

This is my frog I have in with my lavender...DH got a little carried away with the weed eater.  He came in and said he took the eyes off my frog.  We have a little toad that lives in our backyard and I thought he meant that he had hurt the toad.  I was very upset but then when he showed it to me I just laughed.  The frog is just a decoration, the toad on the other hand eats the bugs.  I love my toad but only like my frog.  Guess Mr. Froggy is going to have to visit the garbage can...LOL.  (Oh and I don't know what happened to his eyes, I couldn't find them.  Maybe the weed eater pulverized them)

Here are my sunflowers.  These are the first ones that I have had that are short and stocky.  I didn't plant them.  These are from the sunflower seeds that the chicks didn't eat.  We had about six come up.  These ones here and three in the chicken pasture.  Needless to say the ones in the chick area did not make it.  They ate them down to nubs.  When these get big enough and start to dry out in the fall, we'll put the seeds into the chicken feed.  I might scatter a few in with the oats DH grows.  Amazing he didn't mow these down LOL.  

These are our blueberries.  They are starting to come off now and I am overloaded with them.  Whatever we don't eat fresh will be frozen to be canned later.  The branches are so loaded with berries they are hanging on the ground.  I pick them every day.

More pics

More pics - I'm on a roll now...

The girls getting some early morning sun.

This is our new land.  That's my DH out there on the new riding lawn mower.  My official job when he's mowing is picking up sticks and branches and watching him.  It's a tough job but I think I'm highly qualified for it LOL. Really if he got hurt my job is to take him to the ER.  The land has about three acres cleared and the rest is woods.  On the left side of the pic is the woods and then there is a big gully.  It might have been a stream at one point back in the past but not now.  When we first looked at the land you could walk down to the gully and back up but not now.  Those trees and underbrush are thick!  

Finally here is a pic of the dried beans I canned.  Very easy to do and wonderful that when you want to make something with the beans they are already done   so no soaking!  Gotta love that.  These are black beans.  They lighten up when you can them.  I've done kidney beans, black eyed beans, Anasazi beans and northern beans now.  I'm all beaned out!

Raspberries in April.  I have picked most of them  now.

Roxy.  He's our oldest now and a very good mouser.

Blueberries in April.  I just started picking them this week and boy are the branches loaded this year.

These are the boysenberries in April.  I have picked all of them and the branches were really full of berries and this is only two bushes!  These have really big thorns on the branches too.

These are my walking onions with scapes on the tops.  You just pick those off and saute them in a little butter or oil.  Very light tasting onion flavor.  Yum!

My lilac bush (really a tree) that my mom brought  me from PA a couple of years ago.  This is what happens when your DH mows it down the first year you have it LOL.  It actually is about 7 foot tall and has leaves down on the lower half not shown in the pic.  It got flowers on it for the first time this year but they didn't open up.  I think it got a bad frost this spring and it killed them before they could open up.  I'm hoping to get some more branches on that bare middle.  Poor thing she's kind of top heavy and bottom heavy not unlike me rotflmbo....

This is a bush I got at Tractor Supply one year.  It's about three years old now.  I pruned it back this past winter and it really gave me beautiful blooms.  I think it is a weigela (sorry not sure of the spelling).  It blooms in April.

I won!

I forgot to say that I won!  Yes I won a beautiful apron and tea towel from http://lemonlanecottage.blogspot.com/   Can't wait to get it and use it!  Thanks Patty!

If you go to her site look at May 24th post.  There is a pic of it.  Ain't it purdy!

Pics

Just thought you might like some random photos since I haven't posted any lately:

DH with Lucy.  I think they have something going on out there in the chicken coop she gets so much attention ;)

Penny wanting back in

One of these things is not like the others.  It was the size of a quarter.

My early lavender.  Don't know what kind it is but I brought it with me from PA and it's doing really well down here in AL.  It gets really big heads on it, it blooms in April and the bees love it. (yes most of these pics are from Feb-March)  So sad I'm so slow on posting pics really it is.

Wow who knew...

I have a large following in Russia.  Don't know why, just do...

I think I have this too - Do you?

http://baconandeggs-scifichick.blogspot.com/2012/05/preservitis-new-disorder-identified.html

The Lies You've Been Told...

The Lies You've Been Told...

Exposure to genetically modified foods and companion pesticides has been linked to a number of health risks including infertility, neurological disorders, birth defects and cancer. Yet despite all the evidence, the collusion between industry and our political leadership and various regulatory agencies has created a system in which industry interests win at every turn. Until or unless enough Americans recognize this, and not only demand change, but also actually change their own habits, the system will continue unabated.
The first challenge is to realize that you've been lied to. The entire model of genetically engineered crops as a not only viable but preferable food source is based on a series of lies and misconceptions that have enriched a select few at the expense of everyone else. These myths include:

• Genetically engineered foods are equivalent to conventional foods.This is simply not true, as no conventional food in the history of mankind has ever been able to splice bacteria, viruses or genetic material from unrelated species into itself. For thousands of years, farmers have selected and saved the best seeds, which has led to improved varieties. But never have they been able to cross a plant with an animal, for example. Nature does not allow this sort of trans-genetic transfer.
  Gene splicing is an imprecise and unpredictable science, and the potential hazards are enormous. The primary motive behind genetically engineered crops is the ability to patent it and claim ownership of it in perpetuity. And the concept of patenting crops and other foods tells you the truth about whether or not they're really equivalent to conventional foods—you cannot get a patent on something that is too similar to something already in existence.
• Genetically engineered crops were created for an altruistic purpose; to save a starving world from hunger by increasing yield.Even the statistics from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) demonstrate that this is a promise that cannot be fulfilled. Genetically engineered crops do not produce higher yields. In fact, numerous studies have shown that their yield is lower than that of conventional or organic yields. There are literally hundreds of studies in the developing world demonstrating that organic farming, specifically, outproduces chemical farming and genetically engineered crops by a factor of anywhere between 10-100 to 1.
  Genetically engineering food crops is but a tactic to starve the world into submission. And, it guarantees outrageous profits for perpetuity as farmers world-wide must depend on giant transnational corporations in order to eat, and there's nothing altruistic about that.
• Genetically engineered foods are more nutritious.No patented GE crop has ever made the commercial claim to be more nutritious, so this idea was popularized without any factual support whatsoever. Agricultural scientist are, however, warning that genetically engineered crops are nutritionally inferior to both organics and conventionally-grown crops.

Read the rest of the article here:
 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/22/gmo-on-treatment-of-human-disease.aspx?e_cid=20120522_DNL_art_1

Kay's Career Cake

This is a recipe from the Snyder Family Cookbook

Kay's Career Cake:

1 pkg cake mix

Follow directions on box.

My cousin Kay is not the best cook in the world but she makes a mean tomato soup (from the can) and toasted cheese sandwich.

Sloppy Joe Recipe

This is a sloppy Joe recipe that my cousin, Kim put in the Snyder recipe book:

1 lb. hamburger
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 medium onion
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup ketchup or 1 can tomato sauce

Fry hamburger and drain.  Add celery and onion.  Add rest and simmer.

I have also made this without the meat.  It tastes great so if you are a vegetarian give this recipe a try without the hamburger.  You can also substitute spaghetti sauce for the ketchup or even use diced tomatoes.  Simmer down until it is the consistency that you like for your sloppy joes.

My mom's barbecue sauce recipe

Thought you might enjoy this one.  It's great for family reunions or any family gathering.

Barbecue Sauce for Spare Ribs

1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
1 cup tomato juice or spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup ketchup

Simmer sauce 15 minutes or til slightly thickened.  Pour over spare ribs which have been salted and peppered and placed in crock pot.  Place chopped onions on top of ribs.  Start crock pot on high for 1-2 hours and then reduce to low for 5-6 hours.

Colorful Quinoa Salad

I made this yesterday and we LOOOOOOOVVVVVVVE it!  DH said we could have had just this and nothing else and it would have made a meal.  He's right.  Here is the recipe:

1 cup of quinoa cooked (see below on how to cook)
1/2 cup green pepper diced (you can use red pepper as well)
1 small sweet onion diced
2 carrots shredded
1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 can of corn drained

Dressing:
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 T garlic minced
3 drops Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger

Mix together the sauce and add to the other ingredients.  Yum!

To cook quinoa - Add 1 cup of quinoa to 1 1/2 cups of water in saucepan.  Heat to boiling, turn down heat and cover simmering for 15 more minutes or until the water is mostly gone.  Take off burner and let sit for another 5 minutes.  Uncover and fluff with fork.

If you don't have quinoa, you can use couscous for the above recipe or even barley.  It has an Italian flavor with some Indian spice mixed in.  Let me know how you liked it.

Ok not good...

when your printer will not grab the paper to feed it through...It has officially bit the dust LOL.  So today I ordered another one off Staples.com.  I had a coupon what can I say?  ;)  They were going to deliver it on Monday but DH has a doctor's appointment in the afternoon so I called their customer service to see if I could reschedule it for another day next week.  Boy was the rep nice!  She had the delivery day changed in a couple of minutes and so friendly.  All customer service should be this way.  I had ordered some supplies from them last week (I was out of paper...umm yeah right like that's a problem now) and it was delivered by the local Staples store instead of coming from a warehouse in another state.  Very good idea.  They delivered it the next day too.  I think customer service is the deal breaker for me with some stores.  You have people who do not want to be there working for you, you NEED TO GET RID OF THEM!  Honestly there are a lot of good people out there who really want to work and are willing to go the extra mile and they hire nasty people who would rather be texting than waiting on customers, I don't get it.

Anyway I got a HP 8600.  Anybody out there have any comments on this printer all-in-one?  It looked like a good one.  I have always had Lexmarks but the toner on them is sooooo overpriced.  I liked the fact that HP toner is pretty reasonable so if you have any comments please leave them and not just about printers OK?  I really like hearing from all of you.  If you're a lurker, come out of the closet :)

I really would like to know what you enjoy or dislike about my blog and if you have any questions you think I might have answers for, ask away!  Do you like the scrapbooking things I was putting on here?  I know I have been pretty lapse about putting them up but if no one likes scrapbooking then I will stop putting them up or maybe I should put them on a different page?  What do you think?

Waiting to hear from all of you

Denise

You were a very good cat...

RIP Molly
1990-2012

Wow whata week...

Last week I...

Went to the dentist to get out some metal fillings and have them replaced with non metal fillings.

Signed the papers for the new piece of property in TN.

Took my hubby to the doctor and then to the emergency room and then he had to be admitted to the hospital.

Picked up hubby from the hospital yesterday.

Repotted all the houseplants today and potted up the tomatoes and peppers in bigger pots.

In between all of that, I cleaned the house, washed dishes and did laundry not to mention cleaned up after my old cat who is on his last legs.  He is dribbling and peeing when he sleeps and so he has been barred from the bedroom and we even gave him a bath last week but looks like we will have to do another bath soon.  I think he has cancer, he smells so bad but his pee actually doesn't.  He's alert and still eating and drinking although he is dragging his foot some and is kind of dizzy sometimes, poor old thing.  He doesn't seem to be hurting though or in any kind of pain.  It's a wait and see thing I guess.

If I am repeating myself on some of this, sorry but I'm kind of worn out....hoping this week is better.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Scrapbooking catch up time!

Yes I know I'm really late and behind with these but here are some freebies for you!  First off some bookmarks:




http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3



http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Then a gift bag.  I'll post another this Friday.



http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Yay all done!  At least until Friday :)

Been away from the blog for a while...

To update everyone on how much I've been doing...and how exciting my life is...

The chickens are laying again...a lot.  I have several dozen eggs in the fridge.  We eat eggs almost every day for breakfast and I even made some egg salad the other day for lunch.  I really don't want to eat them for supper too, really I don't.

We planted cabbages, peas, lettuce, basil, potatoes in the garden.  I guess too early cause guess what, we're getting a freeze tonight and tomorrow night...hmmm hope we don't lose the blueberries and grapes.  I wanted to cover them tonight but hubby said they should be OK since it's a light freeze so he can't blame me if they freeze and all the berries drop off.

Dad and mom called yesterday to let me know that they had to rush to the hospital cause mom was having chest pains at 1 a.m.  Turns out she has a hiatal hernia and not having a heart attack.

We close on some new property we are buying tomorrow.  5 acres of land in Tennessee!  No house on it but we are planning on building one or getting a trailer (I don't like trailers, been there, done that and don't want to do it again :)  Hubby was thinking we might just build a pole building and then do the inside like we want but he wants to have a garage door...what?  Anyway he says then it will be easier to move in the furniture and appliances.  Guess  you can't argue with that logic huh?

My brother is moving to New York.  Dad and mom finally got him on the phone, hadn't heard from him for over two weeks.  I had left a message a couple of days after he had called me drunk.  He's an alcoholic and fell off the wagon again.  Glad he's OK.  Wish he would get his act together.

Our geriatric cat is on his last legs I'm afraid.  He's dragging his back leg and peed on our bed the other day.      I couldn't yell at him or anything, he's so old.  If he gets any worse, we'll probably have to take him to be put to sleep.  As long as he's eating and drinking, we'll keep him and love on him as long as possible.  Had to give him a bath tonight though he stunk so bad (all the peeing I think).  He's good about going to the litter box usually though.  I have shut him out of the bedroom.  I had the devil of a time getting the top pillow top clean (we have an air bed) and the top zips off.  It is so bulky and barely fits in the washer.  I put it outside to dry.

Hubby has been sick  but won't go to the doctor until after we sign the papers for the land.  I'm calling the doc to make an appointment when he's outside tomorrow...sneaky huh?

I got one cross stitched picture done.  I need to take some pics of it.  It's a fruit label and I'm making quite a few others to go with it.  I think I will make a quilted hanging out of them.  I'm still working on several sweaters and a pair of socks as well.  I get bored with one project and go to another one.

Well that's all I can think of for now.  Hope you had a very nice Easter!

Denise

Blog Giveaway!

Nope, not mine but Texan's got one going on right now.  Go the below address and enter to win.  Good luck!

http://texan.blogspot.com/2012/03/giveaway-from-my-etsy-shop-and-triplets.html

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Another set of candy wrappers to use for any special occasion.  Be sure to check out the last Scrapbooking Freebie post for a different set of candy wrappers.







Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software. The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format. Play around with it ...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.


All my friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1


These are for making candy wrappers.  Just design and then wrap around a candy bar for any occasion, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birth announcement, birthday.  Lots of different occasions you can use these for even weddings (use as a favor by each place setting)  Just type in the names and dates, couldnt be easier.

Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software. The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format. Play around with it ...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.


All my friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

Over the hump day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bow1hgjBgU8

Wish I could play like him...
This is a pretty good video!  Enjoy.

Quilting Problems

http://blog.craftsy.com/2012/03/advice-from-the-experts-quilting-sewing-trouble/

Check out the above Craftsy blog for some great answers to some of the most common quilting problems.  If you havent checked out Craftsy's classes, you should.  I have signed up for a few and they never expire and are very informative.  They are in video format with pdf's you can print out.  They have classes on quilting, sewing, gardening, jewelry making, weaving, etc.  I really like them and hope you check them out and find something you want to learn.  If you sign up for their emails, they send out 1/2 price class lists every so often.  I'm all for 1/2 price LOL ;).   Here is their site:  http://www.craftsy.com/


I received no compensation from the above recommendation... just thought you might be interested.

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday - Late sorry! (really, really late)

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3





http://mymemories.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2db59f577e9668b002ca5c0af&id=8cac320d4c&e=aaa5ac808b

Ok, Ok I know I'm really late with this one so I included both on one post, one for last week and one for this past Friday.  Beat me with a wet noodle ;)

Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Please note that all of these are .png files only, not MyMemories Suite Templates. They are usable in any software. The elements and QuickPages are.png and the papers are .jpg format. These Quick Pages will not autoinstall into the software itself, but are used by adding to your project as you would a photo, and then layering your photo behind the open box. Play around with it ...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.


All my friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

I felt like Dorothy...

Well  not quite but almost.  The tornadoes tore through here on Friday.  They do sound like freight trains or jet planes ask me how I know.  Yep it came close just down the road about a mile in fact.  They didnt declare it a federal disaster area so all those folks will not be getting help from the government to rebuild.  The official numbers for the tornadoes were F1 to F2.  Not as bad as April and it seemed to jump over fields and go right into the rural areas.  I had to go to therapy again today and the roads were open when I left but coming back I had to detour around some roads as they were taking down trees and loading them on trucks.  Just down the road several cement telephone poles were laying down.  The winds just ripped them down.  We lost electric for about 10 hours but that is nothing like losing your entire house.  Several schools were damaged and we lost an entire restaurant down the main highway.  It's just gone, poof like it was never there.  Mother Nature is really having a bad year this year.  This is early for tornadoes and the most in one day that we have ever had since we moved here.  Guess what?  There's another batch of storms rolling in on this Friday.  I think I need to make a nice little place in the closet again ;)

Hope everyone stays safe this year!