Our Exciting Day Out

This was my last day off until the Professor and I get married next Friday.  I was secretly hoping for a quiet day at home.  Well the Professor, when given the opportunity to do something, wanted an outing.  We agreed to start at the Thrift Shop because there might just be wonderful treasures awaiting us.  We must have intuitively heard the sirens call because indeed we did find a couple of wonderful treasures.

I saw a crocheted throw for $3.50 and I dragged the Professor from the back of the shop clear up to the front to get his opinion and as you can see from the picture we purchased it.  We did run across a platform rocker with stool and it was $35.00.  The Professor's sensitive tush didn't like it so we passed on it.  Too bad because it was a nice oak color wood with a blue padded cushion which would have worked well with our sofa.

I spotted this lamp and I fell in love with it.  It really didn't fit this country look we have been wandering towards but I loved the shells in the base and they are well highlighted with blue paint.  There are tons of shells in it and it is heavy!

This is a close up with the Professor's camera which I love!  Our lamp was $7.00 and looks fab on the glass top table that holds our printer. One thing that I loved, when we checked out the volunteers and people in line were all making the biggest fuss about our lamp.  I am so glad we found it first.

As I was sitting at the dining table I noticed how wonderful the rose red in the crocheted afghan ties in with my beautiful flowers in my Lenox vase.  See I told you the Thrift Shop sirens were beckoning us to their depths!  The Professor found 2 nice ties and I found 6 mystery books for my Mom!

The Professor is a HUGE western genre movie and book lover.  He had expressed his desire to see the Big Muddy or the Missouri River which he had read so much about.  With all the news about the flooding on the Missouri, I had the brilliant idea to head out to the River Walk in Leavenworth Kansas.  This picture is on a high bluff above the river and there were some lovely river front homes in back of us.  You are seeing the riverbank of Missouri on the far side.

All of the old homes were well maintained and I could certainly picture myself living in one.

I imagine sitting on the front porch on a lazy summer evening watching the Mighty Mo cruise by.

Before we headed to the River Walk we stopped in for a bite to eat at the Pullman Cafe.  My Professor is also a train affectionado and the place was filled with train memorabilia.  We had slow service and the lemonade was from a mix, not fresh, but the sandwiches we ate were good. 

So we got to the park and the railroad crossing guards came flashing down but me being the daredevil danced across the tracks and turned around and stuck my tongue out at the slow Professor.  Yes the other strange man must have thought I was a lunatic or that I was flirting.

The river was about 4 feet below us and moving quite swiftly.  We saw 2 tug boat type crafts and they didn't even have their motors on, they were riding the swift current of the Mighty Mo'.  The people in the closest boat waved at us as they went flying by!  Yes the trees on the other side reside in the fine state of Missouri!

The water was way up over the normal mark and the base of all the trees on the banks were submerged.  The Professor said the river is up even higher today and some parts of the park that were open yesterday are now closed.

As the Professor was gawking at a Union Pacific train that went by I sat and marveled at what little boy wonderment he had in the trains and how sweet that is.  I looked up and was fascinated by the patterns of the slats, sun and trees. 

All of the sudden there was a huge burst of activity, people, a man in an Army uniform, police, men in suits and television cameramen and news reporters clamoured over the tracks and over to the railing next to the river.  I had no idea who or what was going on.

It was the governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback and the Army Corp of Engineers coming to check out and talk about the river and the flooding potential.  I tell you I had to ask who was so important and a lady had to tell me.  The Governor is the man slightly right (in profile) of center standing next to the wood pillar in the blue dress shirt with his right hand raised to head level. 

So even though I hate Kansas and everything Kansas it was sort of cool to have this unexpected event occur.

The Professor and I drove home the long way thru the beautiful rolling hills and farmland of my beloved state of Missouri.  We went to Mom's to check out her pond and drop off the books we had purchased at the Thrift Shop.  The pond looks lovely and the Brothers Two were shamed into helping Momma because soon to be brother in law scored huge bonus points by spending Sunday afternoon emptying and mucking out 12 years worth of rotten stuff at the bottom.  Brother One fixed the pump and Brother Two rearranged the rocks and Momma couldn't be more happy with the results.

So my beloved gentle readers we had a lovely day yesterday, one we shall long remember.  In 8 days I will become Mrs. Professor and I hope that you all will pray for God to Bless our marriage.  Professor is such a terrific Godly man and I am so blessed to have him want to spend his life with me.  So with lots of fond wishes for you from the Lilac Thicket, I will close, God Bless Us Everyone.

A New Arrangement with our Beloved Professor

For a change I thought I would start with something stitching related.  In working on the spare bedroom I found a stitching piece that I finished years ago.  I do not even remember the design name or the designer.  I laid it on the "sofa table" to photograph it and you can see the see the severe scratching on it.  More on that later. 

When the Professor and I were in the grocery on Wednesday, seed packs were marked down to a quarter a package.  I bought 12 packages consisting of herbs, flowers and vegetables for our 2012 garden.

Another bargain I got was a CVS filtered pitcher for water.  It was $18.00 but I get a 30% discount, so I paid $12.00.  I have to say the water that comes from this pitcher tastes much better than ANY bottled water I have bought, even Dasani!  So we will be saving money, no doubt! 

The Professor helped me move furniture around to accommodate our new acquisitions.  I wanted to divide the room into front room and dining room.  Did this by moving the sofa from against the wall to the middle of the room.  I put the "sofa table" (bottom of a china cabinet) behind the sofa and that faces the dining room table.  This view is from the hallway. 

This is the same furniture positions but from the front door.  You see the Professor standing in the kitchen entrance. 

This is the "sofa table" view from the dining room table, see the $10 rug?  I want to clean up the drawers and cabinets in the table.  I want kitchen towels in the drawers and mixing bowls and pans in the cabinets.  Our kitchen sadly lacks kitchen cabinets and so I welcome some more room for "stuff".

Here is a better view of our rug and you also see the spot that April now "hides". 

This is the view from the kitchen looking into our dining nook.  Things are really taking shape here in the heart of the Lilac Thicket.  The Professor said our new furniture arrangement makes our Thicket looks cozy and I have to agree with him.

Professor wants to grill this weekend.  I will call the fire department to put them on stand by.  I bought beef hot dogs and we have chicken & hamburger in the freezer we can thaw and grill also.  I want to make some potato salad and also bake a lemon cake. 

The week went by quickly but work was a beast this week.  I am ready for my days off.  May all of you my gentle readers enjoy a cozy weekend in your very own Thickets!  God Bless Us Everyone.

The proper use of wieners!

Oh I wish I was Weiner's wiener!

That is what I'd truly like to be...

For if I was Weiner's wiener...

The news would be all about me!

 

Anthony Weiner, 46 years old and one would think with the long list of perverted politicians who have previously failed at keeping their filthy little sex secrets secret, this Weiner would have been smart enough and savvy enough to realize he was doomed to failure.  I mean really, with his amazingly apparent thoughts that his genitalia was much more impressive then any of the men's listed below, all the women he was sharing it with, would NOT be able to keep to themselves the most amazing  weiner every beheld by womankind.  Seriously my gentle readers, I have not seen Weiner's junk and I don't want to see Weiner's junk and if he is really lucky the only woman (his suffering wife) he had committed to showing his junk to may want to kick him and his amazing equipment to the curb.


In this day and age a smart politician would have learned from the likes of:

 Silvio Berlusoni,

 Bill Clinton,

 John Edwards,

 Barney Frank,

 Eliot Spitzer,

 Larry Craig,

Mark Sanford,

Newt Gingrich,

and the amazing Arnold  Schwartenegger that low class women (and in Barney Franks' case, men) every where will always want to share the bounty of their good fortune with the media for $$$$!  I guess our elected representatives are pretty enamoured of themselves and their junk!  Quite frankly, if you seen one, you have seen them all, just like cucumbers at the market all oiled up and buff, we grab the biggest and best deal we can get when they go on sale at HyVee for the amazing price of 3/$1.00! 


Let's not even go into the sports world and look at the sports celebrities like Tiger Woods and wonder, what in the hell are these men thinking?  My pity meter is not even registering for these idiots!  When will we learn, not just politicians, movie stars, sports celebrities, when will we, the human being, the spiritual, God loving people learn that if we partake of this sin that we will be revealed, we will be embarrassed, humiliated and humbled.  They say that the most powerful instinct we have is to reproduce and I believe it.  Look around, the evidence is in our communities, churches, neighborhoods and families of the destruction that our sexual desires wrought. 

This is just my humble idea, my prescription to stay out of wiener trouble...

Please, please keep your wieners in a hermetically sealed package until they are ready to be cooked and eaten in the proper way. 


Please pass the relish.............


Enjoy reading this article about the same scandal:  http://thyblackman.com/2011/06/06/rep-anthony-weiner-gop-barney-frank-newt-gingrich-and-more-sexual-deeds-come-to-light/comment-page-1/

Bug bite boom, gal grows green goodies, Professor prunes perfect pouf

It is definitely warming up here at the Lilac Thicket.  Our first full June weekend was a warm and sunny one.  I spent the weekend curled up inside in the splendid coolness of our hard working air conditioner. 

Saturday my coconut pie was an unqualified disaster.  I followed directions exactly and the inside was soup, no sweet creamy coconut goodness.  I don't have any idea what I did wrong but clearly something went wrong.  The teriyaki chicken was very good as were the southwest vegetables mixed in brown rice. 

Sitting outside in Thicket is not the most pleasant of times.  The days are hot and in the evening I get bitten by mosquitoes and I have lots of itchy bumps.  Rose hasn't wanted to come in day or night.  Yesterday, she didn't want to eat which is totally unRose like behavior. 

The tomato starts are really coming along.  We spoke to a lady at the Farmer's Market and she said that Heirloom Tomatoes are slower at everything than our Hybrids so I will not become disheartened when I see plants at the stores 2 foot high already.  Next year I will definitely start my seeds much earlier. 

When we brought our petunia hanging baskets at Lowe's one fell off the basket and a stem broke off.  I picked it up and plopped it in a cup of water.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled it out of the water and it had roots.  Wow!!!! Didn't know it propagated that way.  I am really developing a green thumb! 

We have a new avian feature here in the Thicket.  Our bird feeder has been found by enough winged visitors that they are now fighting with one another to get the best seat to belly up to the bar!  The Professor is learning the names of the birds and I will get the down low from him when he sees a new one visiting. 

Yes our sad Dollar General patio furniture.  I sat on it and the plastic back cracked.  Yes I know I am on the rotund side but after 6 years sitting outside in all seasons I suppose that the plastic has grown brittle. 

I wanted to buy pink duct tape but I knew that my neighbors would hate me even more so I bought the white and have tried to repair the cracks to try extend the life of my beloved love seat.

i

As I slept yesterday morning the Professor was outside our bedroom window cleaning up the crap corner.  Branches, leaves and shrub clippings were left there from a fellow my landlord hired to do said clipping and clean-up.  Some of the soil has eroded and it has become a mud wallow for the girlz when they sit out there in the rain.  I had an idea. 

Decorative rock!  Arkansas River Rock!  On the way home from Mom's yesterday we stopped at Westlake just to look at the rock because we had no idea how much it was.  It was $3.99 a bag and the broken/torn bags were half price.  There were 4 torn bags and we purchased them. 

The professor decided to try out his Father's Day gift.  I bought him a nice set of hair clippers as he was in disbelief that they charge $20 a cut here.  I am sure there was some sticker shock considering he had some California beautician who cut his hair for free because she had a crush on him.  I am certain she was looking forward to trimming more than his hair! 

Actually he did a great job for the first time he did it himself.  I did a little trimming on the nape of his neck that he could not see and reach.

It's another work week here at the Lilac Thicket and of course I would prefer to stay home and read or sew or stitch.  I hope all of my gentle readers have a great week and we will check in again soon.  God Bless Us Everyone!

Fun Thrifty Finds

Summer solstice is 18 days away here at the Lilac Thicket.  Today is one of those humid and warm days where the sky seems to be filled with a foggy dust even though you can see the sun in the sky.  Life in the Thicket is wonderful as per usual and our dear, darling Professor has been fighting some sort of a stomach and intestinal virus. 

I hope to get up to the Price Chopper after work as they have the frozen chicken breasts, skinless and boneless for 99¢ per pound and I want to make some teriyaki chicken tomorrow for his Royal Professorship.  He is a fruit lover and I guess that isn't surprising since he is a Caribbean boy all the way through and they also have fresh Bing Cherries for $2.88 per pound.  I was at HyVee this morning and got myself some Kraft Mac and Cheese for 59¢ a box, no limit.  I was a piggie and got 6 boxes.  I picked up a few other things bagged salad greens and vine tomatoes, both on sale.  I want to bake some lemon cookies and a coconut pie for my fella too!  I found 2 easy and yummy sounding recipes and if they are good I will share them with you.

The strawberry and banana jelly I purchased at the Farmer's Market on Wednesday is to die for!  Oh my gosh I want to get some more.  I am thinking these would make some lovely little gifts for friends or relatives in a nice little basket with other little goodies.

Yesterday the Professor IM'd me to tell me he had walked up to the Thrift Shop and had seen a nice recliner chair for $35.  I told him that we could go look at it today.  So this morning we got up a little bit early and filled the bird feeder, watered our tomato plants and flowers and headed up there.  We passed an interesting garage sale and I told him we would stop on the way home.

I looked at the 2 chairs, the one was worn and even if it didn't look it you could tell when you sat on it that someone's butt cheeks had occupied that space frequently.  It was a dark country blue with little dots of color woven into the fabric which was like a heavy double knit, it was hard to tell how clean or dirty it was.  I saw one that was a beige color and although comfy to sit in, it had pet hair all over it.

Professor found a tie for a buck and I found this cute picture frame with chickens and grapes for $2.50 and when we went up to pay for it we found out everything was 50% off today.  Well I went back and got a lovely Lenox vase for $4.25.  I quickly put my flowers in the vase and it is sort of hard to see but if you click on the pic you will get a bigger view.  Below is a better pic of the frame.  I was thinking it would be a cute gift with a picture of maybe me and the Professor!

The frame was originally $9.99 at Hobby Lobby, the original sticker is still on the back.  The grapes actually hang off the frame so it is different.  Then we loaded our 3 treasures in the car and headed back home.  As promised we stopped at the garage sale.  Professor found some flatware for $5.00 and then I saw the rug below.

We had talked about a rug and this one isn't quite the same style as our sofa I really like it.  It is 5' by 8' and it is really clean, as I told Professor the back is clean as a whistle.  Now it is actually not as light as you see here, it is more of a vintage hued brown.  It was $10!  Rugs like this go for $100, on sale even.  I really like it and it could go under our dining room table too! 

I am making great progress on the guest bedroom and think I will finish it up this weekend.  Then I will start on my computer/craft room.  I saw this "student mail box" piece and immediately thought of it as a great organizational piece.  It is about 3 foot by 4 foot and it was $10.  My Mom and sister have similar pieces for their card stock as they are into card making/scrap booking. 

There were also a nice selection of Christian books and they had DVD's too, all of them a buck a piece.  The movies were Professor's choice, books were my choice. I also found a clipboard for 25¢ to help manage my grocery lists when I shop.  The best buy for the Professor was a set of head phones and a small radio that will attach to his waist band.  He wanted something like this so he could listen to music while he worked outside.  I had purchased a cheap one at Dollar General for $6.00 and it went back to the store because it didn't work.  Well his garage sale find was $2.00 WITH the batteries in it.  He couldn't wait to get home so he try them out.

As you can see as I left for work he had them on and the lawn mower was roaring away as I drove off.  Now he will have another distraction when he cuts the front yard under the highly suspect supervision of Rose.  Yes her supervision was SO good she was 2 houses down before the Professor noticed she was gone.  Now being further distracted, she will be 4 houses down before he notices.

This is the doll that the Professor fell in love with on one of HIS unsupervised visits to the Thrift Shop.  As you can see she matches our sofa well.  He said when we finish with the guest room she can occupy that room.  You know something?  I sure do love that man!  God Bless Us Everyone.

Junk-mart, Jam, Joy, Joplin

I thought that my gentle readers needed an updated picture of the Lilac Thicket.  As I leave and come home each day I marvel that somehow my secluded niche looks different.  I suppose it could be the careful tending that the yard is now enjoying. 

Or it could be the flower baskets that hang from the eaves and smell lovely as one steps onto the porch.

It could be the coleus babies that have been tenderly planted around the bird bath.

Yes the pink flowers in the flower basket in the backyard are certainly inviting and pleasant to see. 

But honestly I think the entire abode seemingly smiles with joy and love because the Professor has come into it's life.  He seems to bring his special touch to the Lilac Thicket and that makes all of us more peace filled and contented. 

Yes my gentle readers, I think that even Rosie Roo-Roo has enjoyed the attention of the Professor with her evening walks and his companionship while I am hard at work.

The Professor and I went to the Farmer's Market this morning and it was quite a bit smaller than it normally is but we did come home with some treats.  Strawberry-Banana Jelly is to die for.  It was $5.00, but I will enjoy every tasty drop of this home-made jelly. 

The farm fresh eggs were $3.00 a dozen.  Yes that is much more then the mass produced eggs one purchases in the grocery but have you ever tasted eggs from a chicken that free ranges?  'nough said! 

This treat Gooseberry Jam was $3.00 and the Professor wondered if our Gooseberries tasted anything like the Gooseberries in his Guyana.  You see the spoon?  The answer is yes, Ozark gooseberries are definitely better that Guyanese gooseberries.  Any good Missourian could have told you that!

I have a bread maker, and have had it for 8 years or so, never used it. But I think with these wonderful jams and jellies we purchased today that I should learn to use it because these deserve homemade bread!

The Professor was lamenting the high prices at the Farmer's Market.  Frankly I don't mind spending extra to buy locally produced food products.  The taste is so much better and to support our local growers and producers is a concept I really like.  In Europe they eat locally produced foods and many restaurant's menus reflect produce that is available in the different seasons of the year. I am willing to pay a little more and really enjoy my food and help my local community.

I am slowly learning that in order to help my community and my country grow strong again, I need to rethink some of the choices I make.  I don't always want to buy something because it is cheaper.  Sometimes quality is worth the higher price.  I am not going to become a zealot because my pocketbook is NOT bottomless but I want to begin to think quality and not quantity.

The Professor and I decided we wanted a charcoal grill.  We did a little shopping around and found a really cheap one at "China-mart" (Wal-Mart).  It looked cheap and was made in China, we then decided we wanted an American made grill.  Do you know how hard it is to find American made stuff?  At Lowes' they had an Aussie Walkabout grill.  We couldn't figure out if it WAS American made.  We asked and the staff didn't know and we forced the issue and they did a little research, it was made in Tennessee, so it came home with us.  My thought is a store could really make a name and rep for itself if it advertised with little American flags on it's products that are 100% American made.  I think consumers would embrace those products and make better choices to benefit the USA.

Well my beloved readers another month of this glorious year has begun and I will ask you to please pray for those in Joplin Missouri.  The images of the destruction really upset me.  All over this metro area and I am certain all over this wonderful state of Missouri, fellow Missourians are working to help our Joplin residents clean-up and eventually rebuild.  The Professor is all ready to go down there and help and I know his church is organizing something.  I pray that something like this NEVER happens again but I know that it will and the next time it could be me.  Prayers my glorious readers, prayers!