I've been trying to explore some crafty things that I could do to help bring in a little extra income for our family.

One thing I love in my home is a candle burning.

There are so many things to love about it.

They smell amazing, bring coziness to the home and add light without electricity. (Ok that last one was obvious.)

One thing I don't love about candles is how pricey they are.

One brand in particular,that we all know and love and rhymes with "stanky" can cost $25 for a large candle! 

Say whaaaaaat?!?!

I could seriously go broke buying candles and other fragrancy things to make my casa smell muy bueno!

So I googled candle making.

And like all subjects that get googled there was a bazillion items to look at.

So I chose a couple of You Tube Videos.

They are kind of lengthy, but worth the watch for someone who has no clue.

That would be me by the way.

These are just a couple, there are seriously a TON to choose from.

In these days when I can feel Fall right around the corner, all I want to do is drink coffee, bake, read and have yummy smelling candles lighting up the house.

I think I'm going to jump in and try candle making.

Have you ever tried it? Any good tips?

New Additions

Have I told you that a couple of cute visitors have stopped by the Jeter Casa?
They were meowing and meowing and very hungry.
And even though I'm not crazy about cats, I started feeding them.
I couldn't help myself.
So if you are ever hungry or needing care, just show up at my door meowing or barking and I will feed you. :)
#butpleasedon'ttellalltheneighborhoodcatsanddogsthis

This one is named "Old Yeller" .

Can you see the Dew on her sweet face? She loves climbing the trees in the back yard and adventuring thru the overgrown grassy areas.

And luckily Charlie likes her. He doesn't know that dogs aren't supposed to like cats.

He just knows how to love. Sigh.

Now the neighbor's dog who thinks she is our dog, well that's something else.

She has a little side kick too, but this one is pretty shy and won't let you get to close. Unless you have food, that's another story.

They like the garden and search out bugs.

Good job kitties.

The bigger one, always tries coming into the house.

I'm not really interested in that idea.

I had two cats in a previous life. It ended badly.

And that's all we're going to say about that.

On a side note, when I was younger my mother told me to never play in a sandbox because no doubt all the neighborhood cats used it as a litter box. 

Did your mother ever say that to you?

How do they know these things?

Still to this day, I think that when I see a sand box.

And I also remember her saying never to run or walk fast in flip flops because I would surely slip and fall and break my neck.

Thanks Mom.

Remember last week when I told you we were going to see The Odd Life of Timothy Green?? 

It was by far the BEST movie I have seen in a loooooong time.

It was a great date night choice for this couple.

We held hands and giggled at each other like when we first started dating and the newness of being in love was so REAL.

It didn't have bad language- it's a Disney movie.

The colors and outfits and setting was beautiful.

The story takes place during fall which as I hope you know is my FAVORITE SEASON of all time!

To say that I cried my eyes out is an understatement.

Thank goodness we got extra napkins for the popcorn, which was fatteningly delicious thank you.

You must see it.

Really.

Hello Tuesday

Well Hello There.....

How are you today?

Anything exciting going on in your neck of the woods/city/country/suburb?

Over here it's a run of the mill, ordinary day. 

Alone at the house, hoping to get some organizing of my mess stuff done, maybe even purging of the closets type stuff too.

And let's talk about that for a minute can we?

Do you purge your closets? 

I generally try to go by a rule of if I haven't worn it in a year or it doesn't make me feel pretty or comfortable I donate it. Unless it has holes or bad stains, then I just toss or save for rag pile.

But what if you're going thru a time when you are trying to slim down, and you have several clothes in smaller sizes? Do you hold onto them for when you slim down, or get rid of them?

Does your answer change if I tell you that I have kept these clothes for possibly years expecting to "slim down"?

So, over the weekend my monthly Better Homes and Gardens came in and these Happy Taffy Apples jumped into my cart at the grocery store. Ok not really. I got them for a little treat for the hubs and I.

Well turns out, he doesn't really care for them. Whaaaaaaaaat? I know, I was suprised too. So I may or may not have finished all four of them by myself over the course of 2 days. Don't judge. At the core, they are apples after all. 

I also tried no heat curls over the weekend. 

It kind of worked. 

I waited until my hair was damp, added a little gel, then wrapped my hair around a stretchy head band.

But then the hubby came home from chopping wood and was pooped, so we took a nap and I woke up with crazy hair.

So much for curls.

Have any of you tried this?

Any good tips?

Speaking of wood chopping.

I want to give my hard working hubby a shout out.

He works full time, on the road, away from home during the week.

Then he comes home and takes on extra jobs to provide for our family.

Between his full time job, the A/C work on the weekends and the occassional wood chopping, he is a busy guy working hard for us.

We have a friend who always says " Well somebody's got to keep the lights on...." and my hubby always says that he works the extra jobs so we can buy bones from our Charlie boy. 

Is he a keeper or what?!

On that note, anybody need any firewood?? :)

As I headed outside to water the garden this morning, I noticed the beautiful flowers near the a/c unit.

A lot of things are dying out because of how dry it's been, but these keep thriving even without being watered.

That little door goes under our house, but in this picture it looks much more interesting than that doesn't it?

In addition to the hubby being a hard worker and busy as a bee, he also made time to plant a fall crop.

We're hoping to take advantage of the hot weather Arkansas has into October.

So he has planted us squash, lettuces, turnips, radishes and a few other things.

And after 2 weeks, these little squash plants are coming right along.

When I don't blog, I really do miss it. And you guys.

I miss the comments and the interaction.

So I'm working into my new schedule, and figuring out how to best manage my time.

And since a blog is a great place to talk or ask questions, do any of you know of a good and LEGIT work from home opportunity? Even if it's just part time? Something that doesn't involve selling?

I hope you are all having a great day!

Hello Friday

I'm at the beginning of a 3 day weekend and loving the open, free as a bird feeling.
OK, yes there are dishes that need to be done and laundry that needs folding and probably some dusting and  straightening up to be done. But they can be done when and as I feel fit. Does that make sense?

During the week I've been staying with my parents while I work. So it feels like a vacation from home, which is sort of good and sort of bad. I miss my bed and being at home, but it's nice to be with my parents as well.

So not much new is happening. I'm thankful for the cooler temps around here. I seriously don 't like HOT weather. Like not at all.

I was introduced to some tasty Gelato that we sell at my work. And let me say that it's dangerously delicious.

It's so creamy and practically melts in your mouth. And probably straight to my hips too.


When we got married, my sister bought us this really great Cuisinart Coffee pot that ground the beans for you.
Well two years later, it stopped working :(
And we have started using our percolator full time now.

We will never go back to a plastic coffee pot.
This percolator is old and still percolating.
The taste of coffee brewed with a percolator is THE BEST. A percolator can get the water REALLY hot, which is the secret to brewing great coffee. And of course you have to have quality beans and grind those fresh as well. 
The bag in the above pic is from a local roasting company and this particular roast is called "Dang Good Decaf". It totally lives up to it's name.

And here is out method of grinding. A hand crank.
The hubby loves it, probably because it's like a toy.
It smells the house up with yummy coffee goodness.
( You can see the old coffee pot behind the grinder before it's burial. RIP Cuisinart. )

Maybe this post should have been labeled "Ode to Coffee"???


These cooler temps here in Arkansas are making me have FALL FEVER something fierce! 
I'm so ready for the pumpkins and apple pie, cooler nights, bonfires and sweaters!
Come on Fall, we're ready for you!

I hope you are enjoying your Friday!:}

I'm Baaaaaaack

Good Sunday to you!!

I know, I know.

Once again I left the the blog world for a little bit.

It wasn't on purpose, just kind of happened.

I was at my parents for the week, because I started a new job in their town and it was easier to stay at their house then have a 2 hour round trip commute. And have you guys seen the gas prices lately? Sheesh!

So thankful my parents let me crash at their house. And it will probably be the same scene this week too, but I will try and blog.

Sound good?

Ok.

So what have I been doing with my time you ask?

Well.........ummmmmmm..............

I got crafty and made my first ever banner!

So easy! I used random pieces of fabric, some ribbon and scissors and my hot glue.

Awesome!

It felt so good to get crafty. I really need to make more time for it.

I also made some fridge pickles.

Once again, so EASY!

And seriously, I prefer these pickles to all others. No joke.

Maybe I can add pickle maker to my resume? Ha!

My recipe for fridge pickles is this:

Cucumbers, as much or as little. I had about 5 medium sized cucumbers and it made 2 large mason jars.

I washed them and cut them up. You can slice them or cut them up chunky or leave them whole. It really just depends on what you prefer.

In a bowl I added some apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, whole peppercorns and mix all that up.

Then I cut up chunks of onion from the garden and peeled some garlic. I put those into the jars. Again, as much or as little as you like.

Then I added the cucumbers to the mason jars, poured the mixture evenly into the jars. There was some room left so I added water to fill up the jars. I gave a few REALLY good shakes, put the lids on and VOILA! 

Put them in the fridge and the next day they tasted good. The day after that, even better. Ideally you could wait 4 days and they will be great! But who can wait that long? Not this girl!

They will last for several weeks in the fridge, and just keep using the same liquid when you run out of cucumbers. But I would say that after 3-4 weeks, change out the liquid.

None of this is scientific, just google a recipe for Fridge pickles and there you go! :)

Ok, next up......

Home made whip cream!

It was so easy, I'm ashamed at my laziness and the fact that I haven't done it sooner.

Pictures below is some pound cake that I bought from the farmer's market, some organic raspberries, melted chocolate chips and whip cream!

I took a small container or organic heavy whipping cream, added about half a cup of sugar, a dash of vanilla and turned my hand mixer on full blast!

It took about 3 minutes until fluffy perfection.

It was also good on coffee the next day, or served plain with fruit.

But who am I kidding? Like I need to tell any of you how delicious whip cream is or what to do with it?!

Dear Canned Whip Cream/Cool Whip, 

We had a nice run, but your services are no longer needed. 

Love, 

The no longer going to be lazy in this department foodie.

Farmageddon finally came to our house. 

We have been waiting a few months!

It's been in our Netflix que with a "long wait time frame".

That tells me two things.

1. It's super popular.

2. Netflix has one copy for all 18 million of it's users to share.

I think it's #1.

If you have any desire to eat locally, shop at farmer's market, help local farmers or where your food comes from- WATCH THIS!

I mean it. I hope it will open your eyes and feel motivated to act.

On a lighter note, I signed up for a mug swap.

I'm kind of a mugaholic. I love mugs. I like to change them up and use a different one constantly. But then there are days where I use the same one, like a comforting hug in mug. Ha! :)

And since I'm on a roll, I saw a preview for this movie.

And I can't wait for it to come out next week.

So I hope to be back to blog sometime this week.

Thanks for those of you who have missed me. I've missed you too.

See you soon!