A morning for exploring

I decided that since this morning was gonna be quiet around the house, Chuck had to go to work for a little while and the boys were at school, that I would take sometime to explore around the area that I have been before. But the leaves weren't changing yet and I didn't want to drive down there now, and then again in a few weeks.

Yesterday, before I took Eric to the Dr's for a checkup, we went to the Sock Outlet to get some more socks, at .50 a pair, you can't beat that. So, while driving down the road I spotted this, but I didn't have my camera with me, so I decided to drive down the road again today to see if it was still there and it was.





I had some time to explore a bit before I had to be at school for lunch with PJ, which is now once a week. So, I decided that I would head straight at the 4 way stop that I never get to go down. And I am so glad I did. Dry Valley is a farm area, very quiet area, and some great shots. Today was a gorgeous day, I didn't want to waste the day sewing, and I am so glad that I went for my little ride.

The first thing I noticed was the Farm Machinery sign, ok, I have to admit that you don't see very many of those around this area anymore. But what I really didn't expect was the entire area. It hasn't been hit by subdivisions or huge brand new homes. Everything out there were the old farm houses, or some trailers that just got planted there 40 years ago. I was amazed at what I saw.

I spotted several things that I wanted to take pictures of, but I wanted to drive a bit and then turn around. Yes, I was glad that I did. It was a quiet, peaceful road, I wasn't in any hurry and I wasn't being pushed down the road by a truck or someone that just needed to be in a hurry.



And a view from the other side


On my way out to where I was gonna actually turn around, I spotted this, rather sad I have to say. On the other side of the trailer that was on this property, I spotted a little shed, but someone was home in the trailer, and I already had the sheriff pass me 3 times, so I didn't want to take any chances with taking a pic of the shed. This is sad to see, so much of someone's past, just falling down around, and no one there to care or even to finish tearing it down. So, they let it come down in time.



There was so much to see, and I was running out of time. I had a very important date that I had to be there on time. So, a few more shots, here and there, looking through the lens of a camera gives me such a new way to see things. To me they are no more buildings that are falling down, to me I see it as someone's life. Someone built that barn, that shed, someone worked on that tractor, someone worked day and night to make a living. And in comes the people that want it all gone to make the area more welcoming, more accepting, prettier with pretty houses, perfectly manicured lawns and flowers. To me, this is the stuff that is pretty. The open fields, the barns that had a life moving through it at one point. The other is to show that someone has money or they can live beyond their means, the latter is the people that worked for a real living, that lived within their means, that made things with their own hands. That is to be admired.





This is the only farm that I saw that I think is still operating. Considering the Farm Machinery crossing sign was right before I got to this farm. It is still in pretty good condition, I didn't see any sign of life, but right around the corner was a bunch of cows. Funny, seeing cows in Cleveland anymore is a rarity. But this is the last picture that I took for the day. I probably could have gone on longer, I think the next nice day that I have next week, I will take advantage of the longer ride, the changing colors, the view from the past, the life that was there way before I was there. And since gas has fallen to below $3 a gallon, I think I can spare a few dollars for a moment of peace and a time for reflection.

Time hits everything. Nothing is sacred from getting old. The past is all around us, we just have to open our eyes and see what was there before we got there.

I was parked taking a picture of the long shed, I didn't want to get to close because I don't know how stable the area was under it. I went around the back of the car to take a picture across the street of the operating farm, and here were the locks and bolts, haven't been touched in years, left there to rust, left there because someone just walked away from their life, foreclosure, relocation, death. Time touches us all at one point or another, time touches us all, in some form or another. Time touches everything, leaves nothing in it's path that it doesn't touch.

One Project completed

I have been so busy with work that for me to sit down and sew is just a challenge. I have gotten some patterns in the mail to quilt on, just finding the time, or more like the energy to do any of them, well, I just haven't had any luck with time or energy here lately.

I thought that if I took this job, I would be home more. Ok, I started out being home about 2 hours a week more, with delivering, you don't get out on time unless you are just so slow. That first few weeks, it was more like 42 hours a week. Since the economy has taken a downturn, we have been very slow, and now I am cut back to 32hours a week. Not good. I would rather work more hours to get more deliveries in, but it hasn't happened yet. That is one thing in this business, if it is slow, you get cut and go home. I don't like that, but it is part of it and eventually it does hurt, but it will pick up too.

I also thought that when I took this job I would have more time to work on projects, to clean house, or to make things. Yeah, no, that doesn't happen a whole lot. I feel that if I am home with Chuck, getting on the sewing machine isn't really fair. So, I don't do that much when he is home. That time is time for us alone, no kids and I guess I need that time to relax some more.

Over the summer the locally owned fabric store went out of business. Good thing she did at that time, because now she would have been really hard hit. She was opened for one year and had some good times, but ultimately, she just couldn't take the financial hit anymore. I got there when the pickins weren't so slim, and I found this material. Oh how I love it, just wondering what to make with it.


Last year when Hancock was going out of business, my neighbor spotted this little patterns. I bought them for a $1 each and they sat there until this year, when I decided to make some of them. I am still learning some things, so it does take me a little longer to figure things out.



I got 2 or 3 done and then realized that I don't know how to applique, and I have to learn how to make the rest of them. I thought about making scented trivets out of these, how cute would that be!

While I was over at Christie's when she was going out of business, I saw this pattern. Now, if you have a black and white kitchen, let me know. I do believe I can make this out of the black and white material that I bought.


So, now on to the one project that I have gotten completed. I have never ever done the quilting that is on a preprinted fabric. So, when I ordered this stuff from Keepsake, I figured it wouldn't be too hard and would be good for a beginner like me. I loved the 4 that I did get and want more. But I started on the one, and I had a time with it. I didn't read the instructions, you know the thing always say read instructions before doing anything. I washed the material like it said to do, but when it came to the batting, and putting it all together, I didn't do it right, not only the first time, but the second time too. Finally, I did it right. Now to sew it for the third time. And I did it, turned it and sewed the opening closed. That was a challege too, 2 times it took me to get it right. It didn't go well for me on this one.

I don't have a walking foot for my machine, so, it makes it a little harder to quilt without it moving, and trust me, with batting this stuff moves. I thought that quilting it would make it nicer, make the pattern "pop" more. Make it look like a quilt. I could have tied it, but that wouldn't have been a challenge for me. I like some challenges. And this was one for me.

I am really inexperienced in quiliting, so this is a learning process for me. And if you ever get something like this as a gift from me, just look as it was made out of love. I will get better as I do more of this.
If I could have gotten a picture of the fabric closer, you all would be able to see that the purple as all kinds of cats on it. I didn't notice it, my neighbor pointed it out to me. I thought it was so cool. I wish I could have gotten a better shot of it.

Now, this is good material. They don't sell this stuff at Walmart. My neighbor told me that this stuff goes for about $9 a yard. Wow! I don't ever buy that stuff! I find stuff on sale, I am kinda picky about that. I know that buying good material produces a nice quilt, so it is smart to either buy the stuff in a kit, that way I have everything.

I love the back of this quilt. The pattern is so pretty

There are some parts that it moved on me, and I made a few mistakes. But I think this is really cute. I am happy with it. It is a little throw or a wall hanging, or just something over the couch or chair. I don't know what it really it. I like it though.

So, that is one thing done. I think tomorrow I will look at the patterns for the place mats. I have everything for it and I have the time alone too. So, breakfast with Chuck, lunch with PJ, dinner of Chicken Enchiladas with all of us, and sometime in between to cut and read patterns.

I don't understand

What don't I understand? Well, it isn't about the economy or the election. It isn't about world issues or things like that. It is simple, it really is, why is it that people can't make a healthy meal for dinner?

I was talking to Chuck last week about dinners and that I was getting tired of the same things, burgers, hotdogs, chicken, Subway, and Pizza Hut (ew!) I am tired of bringing something home that is not good for me anyways. Now, granted, we were without a fridge for a total of about 20 days. So making dinners was a challenge. I needed to make things that didn't produce leftovers, because I had no way of storing them.

I have searched and searched through all my books and the internet for things that I know the family will like. So, 2 weeks ago I made a healthy dinner in less than 30 minutes, thank you Rachael Ray! And then the meal that I made this week, well, boiling the water for the pasta took the longest. How hard is it to open a can of tomoatoes and open a bag of grilled chicken strips? Not really. Made a delicious, once again, healthy dinner in less than 15 minutes.

Tonight I have to work until 7. I don't want the boys to have to eat something that isn't good for them. So, I found a recipe that was way too easy to make. Actually, all I had to do was brown the ground beef. It is a dip, but it sounded pretty good. It is ground beef, velvetta, Rotel tomatoes and some cumin. That is it, nothing else. Brown the ground beef, and Eric has to put it in the crock pot, along with everything else, cook on high for 30 minutes and dinner is done. Serve with tortilla chips, that is all there is to it. They will like it, doesn't sound too bad. Everything in one pot, but it has everything in it too. Beef, dairy, vegetables, starch.

Now that Fall is here, I can use the crockpot more. I love my crockpot, not as much as the Crockpot Lady. But when I can use it, I do. It makes a meal for the boys when I am running late, it makes a meal for all of us, without me having to stand in the kitchen all day long. Also, I have 2 Rachael Ray's books, so I can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes.

With the age of the internet, there is no reason why we can't have good meals on the table without sacraficing time. There are meals that are for people on a budget and they are healthy stuff. Not junk.

I may just start putting the recipes that I have been using on my blog. I tried that once before and got side tracked. But for those of you out there that don't cook, this stuff is easy to make!

Damn It, It is still LEAKING!

Nuff Said, nothing else. Take it to the back and put it out of our misery!
Sorry to offend!

Field Trippin

Oh yeah, I went on the best field trip that I have ever been on with either one of the boys, EVER!

Ok, we got to school and I decided that since I was going, I would drive. And lil ole me got to drive the sexy red MB! I thought it would be nice to take PJ's friend's dad with me too. That way we both didn't have to spend the gas money, and we didn't have to drive with the snooty moms either.

We take off before the bus, get half way through Knoxville and thought I was going in the wrong direction. Turn around, get all the way to Loudon and realized I was heading the right way after all. I thought I knew where this place was, turns out I did. I just forgot that I 40E leads you to I 75 N, heading to Lexington. We did get there eventually, about 10 minutes after the bus got there, so we didn't miss anything.


We went to the Museum of Appalachia in Norris TN. It has been around for years and is a great place for a field trip, and a great place to go back to take Eric one day. I really wish the leaves were changing, but they weren't. The weather was perfect and the kids were great.

We were greeted with the woman playing the fiddle. She was an excellent story teller.

We walked by this amazing fireplace on the way it.


She had the children come up and pick-a-pocket. Each one had different things in it to make a story. She explained that since they didn't have a good way of keeping their stories, they would make up a song.

She had several of the children up there. They would put on hats and they would help make up parts of the songs.







This was a time when they made up the instruments. They had washboards, spoons, and a washtub that actually made a bass. It was funny. The kids had a blast and all of us really enjoyed the fun that they provided


Our storyteller would tell us about the things around the room. Like the auger that was against the wall. Or how about this one:

Apparently Granny Toothman didn't waste a single hair from anything. She made things from even the tongue of a whale. Gross, but they had to be resourceful. They were smart, they used everything that came their way, because this was all they had. They didn't have the modern things that we have today.

The boys collected their paper for the scavenger hunt they had to do. They had to answer 10 questions to get extra credit. And then we were off.

There were about 35 different exhibits that we had to travel through. We spent the most time in the Hall of Fame and the Discovery House. The Hall of Fame held the artifacts of people that lived in Appalachia and actually became famous, Sgt Alvin York was one of them. They had a guitar from Roy Acuff, and many other things that the boys did not find the least bit interesting.

The Discovery House was a different story, they loved it. When they got inside and started "discovering" what was back then, they didn't want to leave. We spent more time there than any other place.

They saw the spear and arrowheads, the tools that they used to make everything with. Me, well the quilts were amazing to me.



This place was full of things that you wouldn't imagine. It was the stuff that they collected from all over. Now, what I didn't realize until I got further into this place, was that they moved houses, churches and schools from different parts of Appalachia to make this musuem what it is today. I can't imagine the time that went into all of thisI would love to show all the pics, but I can't. There are most of them on the slideshow. Please click and visit.

Anyway we traveled upstairs, past the quilts and found so many unique and interesting things. I noticed that they had several player pianos or pump pianos. That was a form of entertainment for them when they went out, very rarely was that.

While upstairs one of the little girls in PJ's class stopped to show me something. She was so amazed by this, that she didn't stop talking about it. I love to see that kind of enthusiasm in children. But she showed me this Matchstick Chapel. It was made entirely from matchsticks. Of course they didn't have radios, tvs or computers, so their form of entertainment was a hobby that they picked up. Like I said, some quilted, some made toys,
some made Matchstick Chapels.

PJ went around one corner that he wasn't supposed to and found a butter churn. We all have seen butter churns and to me it was no big deal. I need to let him churn some butter one day. He won't ever complain again. But downstairs, this caught my eye,

On the way out I spotted this, how the boys missed it is beyond me. It was their post office. Now we all remember Little House on the Prairie, this looked just like what was in that show.


It was getting close to lunch time and I didn't want to get into another part and then haul it back for lunch, so we turned around and headed back to the pavillion. Now, let me stop here and say this, if I had KNOWN that they served lunch here, I would have gotten it. This man walked by me with cream corn, new potatoes, corn bread and homemade chicken and dumplings!!!!! Oh man, here I am eating a turkey sandwich, snacking on fig newtons. NUTS! Plus, if I got that, PJ would be all over it!
It felt like a wonderful Fall day. The breeze was blowing cool air, the sun was just strong enough to be warm, the air was fresh and clean. It was a perfect day for all of us to be out there, in light weight jackets, not sweating, just comfortable.





Ok, now we started our scavenger hunt after lunch. The questions were things like, "In the Arnwine Cabin, they used this for cooking______" There were a list of words to pick from, things like iron stove, smokehouse, fireplace. Well, the boys got a little ahead of themselves and wrote down answers before we got there.

I thought that it would take us longer to see the rest of the houses, but it didn't. All it was, you walk in, if allowed and then you take the path to the next house. Mark Twain's house, Daniel Boone's house, the Whiskey Still used during Prohibition, Big Tater Valley School house, the church, the house that showed they actually had some form of money, the original pictures on the walls, the original needlepoint. All of this amazed me, the boys thought it was too cool too.

The church was amazing, along with the school house. The books, original hymnals,
the pews where they sat, the benches where they learned, the distration out the windows,where the teacher stood all just enthralled me. But what really amazed me was how both of the boys really showed an interest in this trip. That was wonderful to see.

We got done early and headed back to the pavillion where the teacher was at. She told us that we had enough time to do whatever we wanted and then we would spend time in the gift shop. Those 2 boys begged and begged to go back through one more quick time. And, so we did.

This trip through the Discovery House, I noticed this, how I missed it the first time, I don't know.

Our next stop was the People's Church. Strange little place, in my very humble opinion. They taught the hell, fire and brimstone from this place. But they had other things in there too. Rather different, but it was part of the tour.

We missed some questions on the paper, and decided to head to the cabin that had several answers. Apparently General Bunch was well off, he had a larger than normal house, garden and smokehouse. I am sure there were others that would have loved to have that stuff.He had pantries full of food, a hutch of some sorts and a quilt loom over the table. you can see it over the table.
Neat!
I had to explain to the boys that the people then were smaller in stature than we are today, they weren't as wide either. They rode bikes, if they had the money for one, they played outside all the time, and they did their chores, not just sweeping the floor. It was things like milking the cow, chopping wood, cleaning out the pig sty, collecting eggs, churning butter. They had to help out around the house, the mother stayed home, but that doesn't mean she had time to do it all.

If I went through all 35 houses on this blog, I would be here forever. But it is long enough as it is. I took 165 pictures in all. Didn't realize that I did. Spent $87 in the gift shop. Some things for Christmas, some things for fun, some things that I just wanted. I bought Eric a Civil War puzzle in a bottle, handmade woven coasters, 2 rubber band guns for the boys (they had a blast with them last night), a cookbook for me (can't go up there and not buy one), and a few other things that caught my eye.

PJ and I needed something to drink before we left, so we headed to the snack shop and got a diet coke and coke in the glass bottles. The woman said that the bottle opener was on the machine. Yep, I should have gotten a pic of that. I remember my step great-grandfather having one of those in his little store. PJ was amazed at how I knew how to use that thing.

We left with our fellow riders and headed home. It was an awesome trip. I learned so much. Growing up in New Jersey, you don't learn things like that. We learned about the Appalachian Mountains, only because of geography, we didn't learn about the people that lived there. We didn't learn about Appalachia and the states that was considered Appalachia. We learned about the Northern things, never anything about the South, only that the South lost the Civil War. I am so sorry that I missed out on this stuff growing up, but I have the chance now to learn new things. And this trip was amazing. The children were WONDERFUL, the time was fun, the step back in time was an eye opener.

One last picture. I am still learning to take different things, loving life through the camera lens.

There were dates on everything that they had. But what amazed me is that people lived this way up until the 1940's, 68 years ago. A time that we thought they lived a little better. But in Appalachia, this was the norm. My parents lived in a house with electricity in the 40's. They had gas heat, they had radios, so to see that they lived like this up until this point, well, it floored me. Growing up, I thought that it was all like it was up North, I lived in a shell, I thought every place was as advanced as we were in middle part of the century. It wasn't, people didn't have electricity in some places, they kept warm by the fireplace, cooked in a cast iron pot directly in the fire. Such a wonderful history lesson for me. I can't wait to take Eric up there now!

Thank you for enduring the journey. I really hope you enjoy the pictures.