Merry Christmas from the Redneck Homestead

Merry Christmas everyone!

sister came down on my birthday and we took some family photos

sister and daughter had a birthday on the 17th, mine is 18th, sons is 19th

sister with my daughter who share a birthday!

 daughter

youngest son

my brother and girlfriend

 oldest son, geesh behave

 son and girlfriend

 sister with her son

Mom and her boyfriend

all of us wish you a Merry Christmas!!

Cedar chest for mama

Today I want to show off a hand made cedar chest my hubby is making for my mama for Christmas, he builds things down at his brothers shop - he's my cabinet builder!!

isn't it pretty, just the base made so far, he will take it after I paint the panels and put the cedar lining in and put the lid on it

I have always loved painting and drawing, so when he made this for Mom I decided then and there I needed to customize it further for her, I start with just dabbing on the background color - something to make the flowers "pop" when I get to them

just dab the paint on, use your own judgement, you can even use stencils if you want or don't feel comfortable hand painting something, I use acrylic paints because of the wonderful range of colors I can find here in my area.

 Mom loves purples and blues, so that is why I chose those colors for her

start layering on the paint until you are satisfied with what you have turned out

 I use little fine brushes for the detail work, adding in layers

there, almost done, hubby needs to put the cedar lining in it, sealer on it and put the lid on it and it will be ready for under the Christmas tree, or ok, well beside it anyway

and just look at that pretty rainbow in December!

it's reveal time, it's finished and it's Christmas day 

yes, I think she likes it LOL

There is the finished product, she adores it, I am happy about that, now she can take it home and fill it up with those old quilts :)

Have a great day everyone!!

December Birthdays & Pizzelle cookies

It's December 2009 already!! We have lots of things to do to keep busy this month, birthdays for one, my father in law just turned 81, my sister and daughter share a birthday, my birthday and my sons as well!

That means it's time for a gathering here at the redneck homestead! 

Fun times, meet my father in law, 81 today, and of course, after I looked at the photos I had taken, who do I see in the background flying the bird? on yes it's cuz Ralphie, what a heathen!

who me? ~ yes, him there on the left, he's the guilty party! Gotta love them, HAR

that's ok, it appears that the santa cake is sticking his tongue out, geesh!

hubbs with his brothers

and yet another brother!

we were missing a sister and brother as one is in Florida and the other had to work, gotta love family gatherings, it's never a sane time when they are together!

Alright - let us talk a bit about my lovely new vintage mixer, I love this thing, I searched and searched for one of the old Hobart Kitchen Aid mixers and after a year I got one, it is awesome!

I know they have those new beautiful colored ones out there, and they are pretty and nice, however I would far rather have the old ones, they hold up and last so much longer, everything was made better back in the day! The gears are actually stronger, not the plastic they use in today's models.

It's pizzelle cookie making time!!

a pizzelle is an Italian wafer like cookie, since the family I married into is pure Italian, well you can guess what this Amish hick learned how to cook, yup, Italian foods, and I am loving every single minute of it let me say!

Pizzelle - Italian wafer cookie

(makes about 2 dozen)

 3 eggs

 3/4 cup white sugar

 1/2 cup butter, melted

 1 tablespoon anise flavoring (can use vanilla, lemon, almond, etc.)

 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

 2 teaspoons baking powder

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick. Stir in the melted butter and flavoring of your choice.

Sift together the flour and baking powder, and blend into the batter until smooth.

Heat the pizzelle press (I spray with Pam lightly). Drop about one tablespoon of batter onto each circle on the iron.

You may need to experiment with the amount of batter and baking time depending on the iron.

Bake for 20 to 45 seconds, or until steam is no longer coming out of the iron.

Carefully remove cookies from the press.

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

These make wonderful gifts for family and friends.

yes, my counter top still has not gotten the new laminate job done yet!

I mix up the batter, then my youngest son is the pizzelle master, he loves using the pizzelle press and it's his job every year, if you don't have a pizzelle press/iron, they can easily be purchased at your local Walmart store, at least they used to be available there . . . 

get them wafer cookes made and let them cool, time to sit back and enjoy our own company LOL

after they cool, we store in a huge tupperware cake container, works perfect until its time to package them up for gift giving. My daughter gets that job

What kind of family favorites do you have that you make each year? Would love to hear about them.

Next time I will be back with a hand painted cedar chest, it's a Christmas present for my mother, hubby builds the cedar chest, I paint it, then we clear coat it, we like to make our family gifts each year instead of buying items.

So see you back here next time . . .

Bunnies for meat and a stroll through Historic Schoenbrunn

Today I wanted to show off some of the bunnies from the farm, you all met John the neighbor before, what a critter he is, you just never know what he is going to do or get into! I always find "treasures" on my back porch that he thinks I will like, if it's something he is going to trash, he brings it to my porch instead just in case I want it LOL and Cora knows also that "Laurrie will take it", so she gives John the goods and he drags them over here, gotta love them!

the neighbors! We get our beef and lovely brown eggs from these folks (as well as all those treasures)

and like I said, you just NEVER have a clue what he will drag out of one of his barns or sheds, one day he showed up in our driveway on THIS! all proud as a peacock too LOL

 talk about vintage LOL

I guess you just have to get them out on occasion to keep the beasts running!

 now meet the "meat bunnies" they get HUGE, and are awesome in the freezer, yea I know, they are cute

but they do make some great suppers, at least we know what goes into them, and well, can I just say they are the best bunnies in my opinion :)

We are fortunate enough to live near HISTORIC SCHOENBRUNN VILLAGE

in fact, my husband grew up real close to there, the park was his stomping grounds as a kid and now his brother actually owns a portion of the park area - we call it the family pond, there is an acre old gravel pit pond that we love to go swimming and have gatherings at during the hot summer months!

but for today I will show you the park area at Schoenbrunn, many a family walk has been taken there, family reunions held there too in this pavilion

so pretty and peaceful there (still have picnic tables in there too)

 the grounds used to be covered with picnic tables and little grills, today only one single grill remains, and the grill/grate portion is missing

 it's not used so much anymore and you can rarely find anyone down here, I used to mow this area as a volunteer every Monday :)

 then there is the "wishing well" it doesn't hold water any longer but it's still a gorgeous piece of history

lots of family photos taken around here

We even had a hog roast down here for one of our reunions, plenty of space for all the generations to play and run around, trails to walk and lots of wildlife to see

the road my brother in law made from his pond property over to the park, lovely fall walk :)

Hope you enjoyed your little visit ~ please stop back again soon.

Peel & Stick Laminate Flooring

Howdy folks, it's mid November and it's time for an update, we have been here at this home for 3 months and it's time for updating that kitchen linoleum I showed you in an earlier post, it was original from 1965 and it was well past its prime, was held together with tape!! worn through in areas and showed the underlayment, so I held off as long as I could to redo with nice flooring, but decided since my hubby is a cabinet builder, why not wait until he rebuilds the kitchen to do the "good floor?" so for my temporary fix, I purchased 3 boxes of inexpensive floor tile, $30 bucks for a cheap fix, oh yea I can handle that, and get it all done while hubby is at work, that's the best time, sneak things in and not tell him, then I can't get an argument out of him on what I am planning tee hee

so how about the before shot of the lovely floor we were blessed with when we moved in

remember this . . .

ahhh yes, I see you DO remember that lovely flooring, remember that washer and dryer stuff too don't ya? lol just remember it's gone already HA so there

so here we go, let's put down this tile, it's a piece of cake, 3 boxes of this stuff from no where else but Family Dollar store, cheapest I could find trust me, that way I am not out much if I don't like it or don't do a good job, at $10 a box, I only needed 3 boxes to complete both the kitchen and dining room side

 I chose something neutral with this pattern, I mean, after all this is a farm and there IS a LOT of dirt out there to be drug inside, so I wanted something that would at least appear pretty and hide some dirt if it got tracked inside

just sit yourself down after you clean the original flooring surface really good and let it dry, and simple as that - start along a wall and follow the little arrows on the back, peel that puppy and stick it in place!

look how pretty and new compared to the old stuff 

 told ya, see how easy this is!!

just press it down really good before you move onto the next one, keep your lines straight and follow the arrows and before a few hours pass, you will have a new floor!

I butted it right up there to the hardwood pine flooring that leads to the hallway, easy peasy, and see the "nook" where the washer and dryer used to be there behind the door, yup, it's gone, the fridge now is housed there and hubby built me pantry shelves!!! WOOT WOOT it's a very nice storage area for the canned goods and other odds n ends, eventually I wish to put doors on it but for now I am just happy with the storage space and NO washer/dryer behind that door!

do you also remember where the old stove top was in the countertop and the cabinets that hung above it, I said they had to go because it blocked off too much of the kitchen, I felt it needed gone so the rooms would feel more together instead of closed off from each other (and look at that old dirty wall paper up there!!!)

there ya go, the before kitchen cabinet with the stove top burners and the upper cabinets that blocked my view to the dining room . . . 

and here is after hubby removed the stove top, filled in with a piece of plywood until we get the laminate to redo the countertops, he has removed the upper cabinet and oven hood, we still need to patch the holes in the soffit and I will have to repaint that area (notice that old wallpaper is GONE), and those cabinets, yes I still think they are too orange colored, one of these days I am going to change them out!!!

You can also see that new floor, isn't it pretty? It needs walked on to get it all down good and sealed/adhered but I am more than happy with my $30 purchase!! Complete  in about 5 hours.

now how about some cookie making in this new area?

 14 years old, it's time she makes her own cookies, today it happens to be peanut butter, her favorite

Yummies

Want her recipe?

Peanut Butter Cookies

(about 2 dozen)

  1/2 cup granulated white sugar

  1/2 cup packed brown sugar

  1/2 cup butter softened

  1/2 cup peanut butter

    1 egg

1-1/4 cup flour

  3/4 teaspoon baking soda

  1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Beat the butter until creamy, add the sugars, beat for couple minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg.  Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir the dry  ingredients into the sugar butter mixture.

2. Wrap dough in plastic & refrigerate at least 3 hours. (we just cover the mixing bowl and set in fridge)

3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Roll in sugar if you want.

Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake til light brown (9-10 minutes).

Cool on baking sheet briefly then transfer to wire rack to cool.

For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes.

hubby was impressed with the new floor when he got home (and the cookies!!), I love not telling him anything about my projects until I do them HA like I said, he can't tell me no if they are complete when he walks in the door right?

Just have all your stuff planned out, get yourself started as soon as he is out the door for work and it will be all done for when he walks in the door after work!!

He might even like it and play you a tune :)

How about some Skynyrd babe???