COUNTRY LIFE

Simple pleasures...

CHRISTMAS IN JULY BLOG PARTY

Did you know that there are only 157 days until Christmas!

Why am I thinking of Christmas when most of the country is sweltering in a heat wave? It is hard to Fa-La-La and Deck The Halls while working on our tans or watering the garden...

TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS #5

Bloggers are a great community of creative, innovative and industrious people!!! I am always amazed and thrilled by our collective talent!

Just look at a few of these great posts from last week's TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS...

SHOW ME YOUR LABEL MAKER!

I hope all of your are running to get one of your most prized possessions, your LABEL MAKER...  wave it in front of your computer screen! Look at those beauties!

How can one little machine bring such joy to my heart... and sanity to my life? I love the sound of a label being printed out and sticking the neat, clearly lettered label to something to give it order and a name!

Here are some tips and tidbits to help you get organized using your label maker...

GABLE ROOM CURTAINS

I had a busy and productive weekend! I made my very first pair of fully lined "professional" curtains and matching euro shams.  The project was time consuming but very easy and rewarding. It was a BIG job! The hardest part of the project was thinking things through! Measure twice  sixteen times cut and sew once!

I think this room, our Gable Guest Bedroom, is a little gem! It is such a cozy room. Many of our repeat guests say that the Gable Room is there favorite room to stay in. With it's hight vaulted ceiling and big window that pours in light, it is cozy and bright all at the same time...

ON THE MENU MONDAY~ WEEK OF JULY 16, 2012

This week I am going to the spa! Not the place I get a pedicure... but a big time, fluffy robe and slippers luxury spa! I have never been to a spa... and I have mixed emotions.

 I can't wait for a couple hours of decedent pampering and being fussed over. BUT there is something in the back of my mind that makes me want to giggle! A very sophomoric giggle that breaks out into a fall-on-the-floor-gasp-for-breath belly laugh!

A Spa would be great settings for sitcom! I can  picture Lucille Ball doing a hilarious segment with she and Ethel wrapped in seaweed, eating their eye cucumbers and slinging Dead Sea mud at each other.  My husband says I have the Lucille Ball "factor"! Oh, dear!


I know that spa-ing is therapeutic but I think it is just a wee bit silly and pretentious (oh, boy... I bet I get so many spa lovers e-mailing me). I am sure once I get there I will change my mind... but if they play white noise music and burn patchouli...

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ JULY 15, 2012

LOOKING FOR SOFA PERFECTION

I have been on a journey... a very L-O-N-G journey!

I have been on the search for the perfect sofa.  It has taken me to every furniture store and specialty shop within a 150 mile radius.

I have looked at dozens of catalogs and design books!

And, NOTHING! I could not find THE ONE!  Close... but not exactly what I wanted!

 I get an idea of exactly what I want and cannot get it out of my mind! But it is more than an idea... it is a FEELING! It has to feel just right! NO compromising...

ROASTED TOMATO MINI PIES

Need a quick dinner? But not just a quick dinner... a dinner that is scrumptious? And not just a scrumptious dinner... but a dinner full of fresh flavor? And not just a dinner full of fresh flavors... but a dinner with a flaky crispy crunch? And not just a dinner with a flaky crispy crunch... but a dinner with WOW factor...

Then this is the recipe... it is fast, scrumptious, fresh, flaky and WOW worthy...

TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS #4

The internet is filled with so many creative bloggers! Since TUTORIALS, TIPS AND TIDBITS began  I guess I have been focusing on blogger's DYI's! We can make, build, cook, upcycle, sew, weld (well, I haven't found that one yet but I am sure it is out there) decorate, demolish, knit, paint, copy, modge podge,  tie-dye,  frame, weave, stain, transfer, stencil, grow... and a whole lot more!

We are a talented group!

Here are a few posts to prove it...

FREEZING ZUCCHINI TUTORIAL, REALLY?

A LITTLE REMINDER BEFORE WE BEGIN...

TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS goes live this evening at 8:00

Join us with your great tutorials, helpful tips and any tidbit you want to just show off and show us!

FREEZING ZUCCHINI TUTORIAL...

I love growing zucchini... and picking it... and cooking with it! But I hate freezing it!

Since I have a garden and grow zucchini, it only makes sense that I have an OVERabundance of zucchini.

And that means freezing... what a thankless job~ it is such a mess! Grating, and bagging~ my countertops, floors and clothes are covered with zucchini shards!

THERE'S GOTTA BE A BETTER WAY!

UPSCALE SHELLS

Summer is the time for shells, beach cottages and all things surf and sand! I pour over magazines who's beach  homes are graced with views of bright blue water and white sandy beaches.

Homes filled with bleached linens, outdoor showers and lots of beachy elements! Things that are swoon worthy... but do not work with my Lancaster County home! 

Determined not to miss out on the summery feel of beach life, I am upscaling shells to make them feel at home in my family room decor...

ON THE MENU MONDAY~ WEEK OF JULY 9, 2012

The farm to fork craze has captured the nation in recent years. Also known as farm to table or eating in season... this is nothing new for the avid backyard gardener.

No matter the size of our gardens...a couple of tomato plants in patio planters or a big swath filled with rows of vegetables, we eat from the land. Everything tastes so much better when we grow it ourselves!

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ JULY 8, 2012

Synagogue ruins, Israel

Watch what God does, and then you do it... like children who learn proper behavior from your parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love.

Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious, but extravagant! 

He did not love us to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. 

LOVE LIKE THAT!

Ephesians 5:1-2, The Message

BEE SKEPS ON THE BACK PORCH

The summer heatwave has taken it's toll on many of my fragile porch plants. Dispite watering and tending, the heat is just too much for their shallow roots.

Replacing them gives me a chance to bring new mid-summer decor to the potting bench...

DUTCH BABIES... mini version

Isn't everything better in a mini version? I sure think so. There is just something about babies!  And DUTCH BABIES are no exception!

Dutch Babies are little pillowy clouds filled with fruity sweetness! A cross between a pancake and a crepe... eggy deliciousness...

TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS #3

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE!  Thank you so much for joining this new venture with me!
I have had so many kind and supportive comments about TTT~ thanks everyone. It's so nice to know that in blogland there is room for ONE MORE linky party!

So let's get this party started!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY...

FRESH AS A DAISY TABLESCAPE

The table is set for a breakfast for two on the porch. It is one of those rare summer days around here...softly warm but no humidity! A real gift.

(I thought you might enjoy this table now that so many of us are in the middle of a heatwave!!!)

A little table was set to enjoy the weather, the food, the view and the special company...

ON HE MENU MONDAY~ Week of July 2, 2012

Are you hot yet?  Most of the country has been gripped by a triple digit heat wave! And here at StoneGable we are trying to keep cool ... the heat has chased us into the air conditioning. Oh, thank goodness for AC!

This week's menu reflects the steamy weather. I am keeping things light and fresh!

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ JULY 1, 2012

KEEPING COOL

While a heatwave is gripping most of the country I thought I help cool you off with some images of one of my favorite spots...

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD

What's a girl to do when her garden is being taken over by zucchinis? When your garden gives you zucchinis... make zucchini bread!

I know there are HUNDREDS of great zucchini bread recipes and most of them taste pretty good!  Just so you could have one hundred-one recipes... here's another ( and it is scrumptious... just sayin')...

TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS # 2 AND GIVEAWAY WINNER

A big hug and hearty thank you to everyone for making the first TUTORIAL TIPS AND TIDBITS a great success! We had  76 participants and lots of creative ideas and helpful tips.  I think it was a great first turnout!  

There were many tutorials I would love to try and great tips that made me say, "Why didn't I think of that!".

Here are a few...

DRESSER DREAMING

Some peoples dreams are filled with replayed stories of their day... unrequited love... epic battles between good and evil... being chased... being naked in public.. or falling.

My reoccurring dreams are about HOUSES... usually. But lately my dreams, awake and asleep, are all about...

BACK PORCH SITTING

When the weather is warm but not too humid you just might find me back porch sitting! Either on my swing or rocking in our back porch rockers. Come on over... let me show you around!

New black rockers were tucked on either side of our back door bump-out. People gravitate towards rockers! Talking is better... reading is better... and sitting is better when you can rock...

ON THE MENU MONDAY~ Week Of June 25, 2012

Eggplant blossom and tiny developing Eggplant


My garden has taken off! The head lettuce are large and plump... the peppers and tomatoes are growing and maturing nicely and the zucchini is taking over the garden and may only be outdone by the cucumbers!  The eggplant are showing off the prettiest flowers! Life is good in the garden!

I look forward to walking in my garden in the morning and evening... watching the progress, picking weeds here and there and gathering in produce!  Right now my zucchinis are going crazy.

 I just love zucchini attitude! They try SO hard! You plant them... and once acclimated to their surrounds they go about growing and producing and fulfilling their veggie destiny with such GUSTO! They want to do a good job... give it all they've got ... they are like the little engine that could... well sorta.

SUNDAY SCRIPTURE~ June 24, 2012

Wailing Wall, Temple Mount Jerusalum

Paper written with prayers and stuck between the stone of the Wailing Wall... mine are there too!

Please pray for the people of Syria and Egypt.

SALAD DRESSING PRIMER and GIVEAWAY

Cool, fresh and colorful is the way we want to eat when the temperature begins to soar! And there is an abundance of garden and farm stand veggies to make spectacular salads... just what we crave in the summer!

Why make a salad with all of that just-picked flavor and put a bottled salad dressing on it? Enhance your salad's in-season taste with a dressing as fresh as your salad!

Here are some of my favorite salad dressing recipes and  handy formulas for making your own...