ANOTHER GREAT GIVEAWAY...

CLICK HERE

You could win this wonderful snowman make do from

The Rusty Thimble!

 

 

Songleader in the making...

Shhh...listen really close and you might just hear "Jesus, You Are My Firm Foundation" being led by Tanner, our six year old grandson.  Once a month, the congregation where our son and his family worship lets the young men that want to lead a song. 

I am so proud...I am just about to "bust"!!  Just had to share.

Ain't she beautiful?

Best of all, she can be yours (hopefully, mine).  All you have to do is go to  the "By Your Hands" blog to enter the giveaway.  You can even get 3 chances to win! 

Julie of  "Prim Country Creations" hand-crafted "Abby".  And, as one of the ways to earn an extra chance in the giveaway, you will get to go to Julie's shop and see some of her other items.  I'm tellin' ya...everyone one of them is just as wonderful as  "Abby".

The gals at "By Your Hands" showcase the best giveaways you'll find, so you will definately want to become a follower of their blog. 

And, since all of you are such sweet, sharing people, you will absolutely want to share the "By Your Hands" link with all your blog friends. 

Okay,  now I have already given you the list of things to do to win "Abby"...so, why are you still here?  Click on one of the "By Your Hands" and get busy.  :-)

The 4th of July

Moccasin Holler Style

My sister, brother and I were lucky enough to have cousins our ages. They were the "city" cousins, but we never held that against them. They lived about 40 miles from us and we spent a lot of time together. The 4th was really special. The big ole washtub got drug off the back porch and filled with ice and sodas...something we didn't get very often. And, on the 4th we got to drink as many as we wanted. Unfortunately, they usually ran out before we drank our fill.

Our celebration actually started on the 3rd. Daddy would dig a pit in the back yard and Mama would bring out one of the grills from the oven to make sure the pit was the right size. Mama would get some pork steaks and pork chops out of the freezer. These were  from one of the hogs that we had butchered the fall before.  We had our own chickens and I'll tellin' you, those critters knew what was comin'.  Thankfully, there were always a few that couldn't outrun Daddy!!  There was always plenty to cook over that pit. Mama made her famous potato salad, our aunt brought her delicious strawberry shortcake and between the two of them we had all the fixins. Daddy would gather in a big basket of roastin' ears from the corn field and fix up another tub of ice water for the watermelons our uncle would be bringing.

By late afternoon of  the 3rd, the city kinfolk had arrived and the games began. We had relay races around the house, played Annie Over, Jacks and snuck boloney or bacon out of the refrigerator, tied pieces to a long piece of twine and fished for crawdads in the big ditch across the road. This went on pretty much all night. Finally, when we were too tired to go on, we headed to the tent. Now this wasn't just your ordinary tent...it was special!! We gathered up pieces of rope and strung it between trees then went inside to the quilt stack and drug out enough quilts to make the sides of the tent with flaps hanging in the front and back and to cover the ground inside the tent. We lit up the old kerosene lantern and went to sleep listening to Mama and Aunt Edith talk about their lives.

We woke up bright and early, but Mama was already fixin' breakfast outside. While she had the bacon and sausage cookin', we would go to the henhouse and gather up the eggs. I think I liked breakfast better than the 4th of July dinner (that's lunch to you northerners).

Those days were filled with wondrous things...sodas, hand-churned ice cream, roasted marshmallows, swimmin' in Little River and so much love that you couldn't stir it with a stick.

excerpt from "Moccasin Holler Memoirs" (c)

A great give-away from "The Old Cupboard Door"

I have started a new list on the left side bar so that I can get the news out on some of the great giveaways that are going on.  I am happy to have The Old Cupboard Door as my first.  

To go to Willa' s blog and enter to win this beautiful and collectible piece of art just click on "The Old Cupboard Door" in the left sidebar.

Baa, Baa...you gotta see my sheep!!

Don't you just love it?  It was made by an extremely talented artist who just happens to be one of my OFG sisters, Brenda of  "The Rusty Thimble".

I stumbled upon this beauty while checking out one of Brenda's sales.  (If you have never visited Brenda's sales, you have really missed out!)  I want to give Brenda a special "Thanks"...I am so, so happy with my little lamb!

Now, FYI, you can find more of Brenda's beauties and get the info on her sales and giveaways by just clicking on these links:

http://therustythimble.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/rustythimble
http://rustythimblesalesblog.blogspot.com
http://therustythimblewholesaleblog.blogspot.com
http://therustythimblesales2.blogspot.com

Thanks again, Brenda...I can't wait until your July sale!!

A REMEDY...

Have you ever had peeling nails?  I have to the point that my fingertips were painful.  Thankfully, a nice Nurse Practitioner did some research and found that sometimes the cause can be due to a kind of yeast infection.  And you are not going to believe the cure:

VINEGAR

Yep, just soak your fingers for 20 minutes each day in a mixture of vinegar and water.  She didn't know the exact ratio of vinegar to water, so I just dolloped some vinegar into a cup of water and soaked.    

I was amazed at how fast I could tell this was helping and soon the nails were beginning to clear up.  And, as a bonus, my very soft nails are now much stronger.

Don't be afraid to give this a try...the NP assured me that it couldn't hurt, even if there was no yeast infection. 

Hope this helps someone out there!!