Happy, happy birthday

Five years ago today, I found this sweet baby in the road and brought her home with me, with intentions of finding her a good home.

Remember this face? Hubby kept saying this was a face that only a mother could love.....well I assure you, I grew to love her with all of my heart!

I called everyone that I could think of that may want a "dog". I begged, I pleaded....with everyone, and no one wanted her. Finally hubby said, "you need to stop trying to push that dog off on everyone that you talk to". So I said "well what am I suppose to do with her??" His answer was, "we will just keep her". Of coarse by this time, he was rocking her to sleep at night and hand feeding her.

Five years later, I simply cannot imagine life without her!

Happy Birthday Sophie, we love you!

A hutch full of love...

Ok, ok, so maybe it is not that mushy, but recently I asked the hubby to "build" me a hutch. His response was "show me a picture". Not a problem, I hop on my pinterest board and start showing him what I want. All of this time, he has thought that these "ideas" came from my head/imagination/creativity, lol.

 This is what he had to start with. It is an old dresser that was no longer in use. It is an odd size, but I just wasn't ready to let it go. Don't you just love it when you have those "AaaaaHaaaa" moments??

 We sketched out a plan and got to work. I wanted this top to match the wood that was going to be used for the shelving and back of the hutch, so it involved some stripping.....which I said that I would not do again the last time that I stripped. Stripping is tough at my age!!

 But just look at her, she was worth every bit of the stripping that I had to do in order to get her! Didn't he do a great job?? I just noticed in this picture that I have left off the knobs on the bottom four drawers. Don't you just love when your showing off and the pics show your "goofs"??

 She is massive, but this room needed massive. Our ceilings are 10ft tall, and he built her to be 8ft tall. Sorry for the poor pic quality, I think I need a new camera.

 I don't have a lot of expensive dishes, and never will because I just don't care anything about that sort of "stuff", so she is packed with junk and stuff.

I have never, ever liked this "formal" dining room...mainly because I am not a "formal" person. Every time I change this room, I hope this is it, and then I change it again, and again, and again. Well, I hope this works for us this time. I still have a list of things to do.....new lighting, rug, drapes, art....you know how that goes. I hope to have it complete by fall, wish me luck,

Fried green tomato sandwich

Be warned.....there are lots of pictures in this post. I am hoping you can smell and taste the goodness in them.

Have you ever heard of a Fried Green Tomato sandwich?

You will never think of a "regular" sandwich the same way again once you have tasted this cheesy, buttery, greasy, oohey, goohey sandwich.

It starts with velveeta.....as far as I am concerned, this just can't be substituted.

Instead of pimento's, I use roasted sweet red peppers. They just add a "kick" that the pimento's do not have. Did I forget to tell you that we are making home made pimento and cheese?? Ya'll know I get to rambling sometimes....

A heaping spoon of your favorite mayo, and a dash of lemon juice. Mix all together and YUM! Refrigerate until needed.

A slab or two of bacon...I did mine in the microwave. It is the quickest and easiest way for me.

A pan full of fried green tomatoes....or two pans, lol. You will need to sample numerous slices of these to make sure they are just right for this sandwich :)

Now, I am almost ashamed to tell you about the bread....as if this sandwich needs more calories,  I used a five cheese garlic bread (great value from walmart). Just toast to melt the cheesy goodness on top, and start piling the fixing's on.

So now we have home made pimento and cheese (made with sweet, red, roasted peppers), bacon, fried green tomatoes, all piled on this scrumptious cheesy/garlic bread.

You can use whatever type of bread you choose, but this greasy, cheesy garlic bread sure compliments these "fixings". Just look at that cheesy/greasy goodness on top...it is on the bottom piece too :)

There is this little "sandwich" shop in Tupelo called Sweet Tea and Biscuits that serves these sandwiches. I have no idea what their recipe is, but the sandwiches there are sooo good that I had to come up with something similiar to make at home. So far, this works very well.

Enjoy! 

Random farm happenings

It has been so busy here at the farm, as it always is this time of year....

 That is green beans in the bags. I am not canning anything that I don't have to this year!!! Snapping, washing, blanching and bagging was much easier and faster. I did numerous bags of corn too, I guess I didn't get pics of it. Actually, this is just the beginning of the canning/freezing.

 These are the sweet pickles that hubby thinks that he can't live without.

Can you see that I raided Memaw's hydrangea bush?? She said that I could. I need some prettiness in the kitchen as much time as I spend in here.

 My sweet Sophie and I did a 5K in Oxford on the morning of July 4th for the Oxford/Lafayette animal shelter. Those people are the best!! From here on, we will be participating in all that we can to help them out. This was Sophie before the race.......

 This was Sophie after the race. You would think she actually had to walk, but all that she did was ride. I knew something wasn't right because normally she would have been talking to everyone that looked at her, but she didn't. Come to find out, she was sick, and stayed sick for the next two days....poor thing, and I had her out socializing her.

 Now....look at this doll baby. This is Tootsie. She is a six month old mini golden doodle. Oh so sweet!! She was the life of the place. She knows that she is a doll, and she didn't meet a stranger anywhere. She was also very well behaved. She knew her commands, and did as her mom told her, with the sweetest smile on her face each and every time. Yes......I tried to bring her home with me, but her mom just wasn't cooperative!

 She didn't even know this lady in this picture, but she gave her sugars and was so happy to do so.
Just a doll!!!

Yes, I just had to throw this pic in here, as I am huge Rebel fan. Isn't it pretty?? To me, the whole town of Oxford is so pretty. It is full of character, and charming houses with beautiful yards/landscaping. The town is not too big, and not too small. I drooled the whole run/walk at the houses that we went past, but didn't get any pics of them.

I hope everyone had a great fourth of July!! 

Our Sweet Annie, and the accident

I told you in my last post that I would tell you about the mama and babies that we recently rescued, but it is sort of a sad story, and I don't feel like re-living it.  Annie needs a little extra attention right now soooo, this post is about her. Warning....picture overload!

If you remember, Annie was a rescue. My nephew says that he found her on the side of the road, and then just happened to stop by our house with her, but I have never really felt that he was telling the truth. Nonetheless, we kept her and fell completely in love with her.

She would follow me to the cabin when I would work on furniture, and make every step that I made until she just couldn't go anymore, then she would get in this old drawer and take a little power nap. Look how cute!

Annie just loves her humans, and would follow hubby to his shop, garden, or anywhere else that he went.

This is Annie all grown up now, and of coarse ya'll know Sophie Parsons. Annie even loves Soph, and Sophie is not always nice to poor Annie. Annie is always so tolerant and forgiving of Sophie, but this is just part of Annie's personality. Annie has unconditional love for everyone that she meets.

This is Annie and her marshmallow. She loves a roasted marshmallow. I will build a fire sometimes and roast her marshmallows, and she inhales them, but she likes them not roasted also. She had this one buried in the dirt, as you can see. The only time Annie has ever stood up to Sophie was when Sophie tried to take her marshmallow.

This is Annie and the pups that were rescued. When I first brought the pups home, I wouldn't let Annie in the backyard with them and the new mom. Annie was beside herself, shaking, howling, and cutting up side ways to get to the pups.....but I had no idea what she would do if she got to them.  I should have known,  because Annie is one of  the sweetest dogs that I have ever owned.  Anyhoo, I think this was the second day that she was with the pups, and she acts more like their mom than the mama dog does.

Annie hasn't spent a night away from the babies since she was allowed to interact with them, until Monday night, and the accident. They love her, and she loves them. She loves the mama dog as well, and they are like a long lost family. It is almost like this mama dog and her pups have made Annie's life complete. It is so sweet how Annie has welcomed them into her world.

Monday night, Annie and the mama dog (Dolly) were running and playing, and Annie knows only one speed, which is HYPER. She ran into this blade with these sharp points, and when she did, they went under her skin and tore her right side pretty much off. I have pictures, but won't share due to it is not pretty. We ended up at our Vet's office that night, and she had to keep Annie due to the extent of her injury.

This is Annie and the pups when she arrived home the next day. These babies were sooo happy to see their Annie, and so was I!

She has to wear the cone because of the sutures and the drainage tubes, but it really hasn't slowed her down. She was in the pool the day she came home, but we had to help her out because she was still too sedated and tired to swim.  She is on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for now, but you can't keep a good dog down. We are so glad that our Annie is ok, and I can't imagine our farm without her!!

Finally, A Stone Fireplace

 Ok....on to our latest DIY project. I have wanted a stone fireplace forever. Hubby even went so far as to contact the brick layers that did our brick, and they said no way. The stone would be too heavy because our slab wasn't built for it in the beginning. So...what's a girl suppose to do..just give up?? No way! There are several kinds of "faux" stone out there. Some still require "professional" installation, but some don't. Well, take a look at my "faux" stone fireplace, that I did myself.

It is airstone, from Lowe's. It is really easy to install, and doesn't require a wet saw to cut.

 

There may be a few "imperfections", but what real stone is perfect?

 We started by tearing out the cabinets where the tv was,  over the gas fireplace, and closing in the top of the bookcases. I knew that it would look more "massive" going all the way up to the ceiling, and I was sick of trying to find things to decorate above the bookshelves with.

 After hubby closed in the area above the fireplace so that I could lay the stone work, I painted it black so that if there were any cracks in between the stone, the black wouldn't be as obvious as the unpainted plywood....only to end up using grout for a more "real" look, so painting the plywood black was a waste of time.

 Then off I went! I wanted the stone all the way to the ceiling for that "massive" look. That was all that I had on my mind when I started!

 Oh, did I mention that the bottom part never really crossed my mind until I finished the top?? Oh no, It never crossed my mind to start from the bottom. Nope! So then I start ripping the bottom apart only to find a huge hole, with nothing but the gas insert sitting there. The two pieces of wood on the sides are the only thing holding this whole outfit up.

But hubby came thru as usual. He had to rebuild the whole bottom part, and I was so thankful that the top part didn't come crumbling down!! I will start from the bottom and go up on the next one....yes, I already have plans for a next one.

This is a pic of one of the before looks of the fireplace and surround. The picture is covering a huge hole where the tv once was. The mantle is not deep at all, and very difficult to decorate due to being so small. That has all changed now, and I cannot wait for fall....to decorate my new mantle!

 I am not being paid to do this post for airstone, and I am going to speak the truth. The stone comes in a box, and the particular stone that I used came with 12 wrapped packs. Well guess what, only 4 of the packs were colored, the other eight were the colorless concrete color. Very plain with no personality whatsoever. The stones were broke in most every box, which didn't bother me, but the lack of color did! I got out several different paint colors and stains and went to work. Every box was like this, so it was a very time consuming project having to paint/stain every stone before you could apply it to the wall.

These are the ones I started with, then narrowed it down to the colors that I liked best. 
This stone fireplace has really "cozied" up this room, although it has no furniture in it at this point. I just haven't found that perfect, oversized sofa yet, that is affordable, but I will!

I couldn't leave without showing you our sweet Annie, that is all grown up now. If you don't remember Annie, you can view that post Here
Sophie was probably picking on her in this pitiful looking picture, she does that a lot.

These are Annie's new friends. I rescued a mama dog and her eight puppies, and Annie has been in Doggie Heaven since they came to live on the farm with us, but more on that in another post. I just wanted to show everyone what a wonderful and sweet personality Annie has, and I don't regret for a second taking her in!!

Cold weather comfort food

Our weather guys here are really encouraging us to take them seriously about the ice storm that they have been predicting for days. Well, all of you that know me, know that I will use any excuse to get in the kitchen and cook. This is not one of my favorite meals, but it fits the weather, and was hubby's request. Supper at 6, come have a bite. 

 A large crock pot of homemade veggie soup, thrown together and slow cooked all day. Easily warmed up later if we do lose power like they are predicting.

 Homemade pimento and cheese, oh YUM!! This is one of my fav's!! Just grate some velveeta, add a jar of pimento's, and a jar of sweet red peppers, both drained of coarse, and a capful of lemon juice, a heaping scoop of your favorite mayo, mix together and it just doesn't get any better.

 Not very pretty, but I like the crust cut off of my bread. If your looking to impress someone, you could use a cookie cutter and make the bread a little prettier. The heart cookie cutter would be really cute this time of year :)

 When all done putting the sandwiches together, just throw in a ziploc bag and refrigerate....oh so moist! It doesn't hurt to have a bottle of cheap wine sitting around, either. :)

If your not a wine person, what about a cup of rich hot chocolate, made from milk, and topped off with cool whip and chocolate chips. 

Enjoy and stay warm! Thanks to all of you have e mailed me to see if I am still alive.