HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today is  my birthday. I wish my grandgirls were here to celebrate with me. I sure do miss them. Their mom's birthday is also today. Now that's a birthday present! While my daughter was born on my birthday, I tried every year to make sure her's stood alone... was the more important... more celebrated.

My sister and brother in law will be here this afternoon. We're going to hang out, eat. .. I plan to bake a layered chocolate cake this morning. She is diabetic and I'm pre-diabetic but between her insulin and my vinegar tea we should be okay. Just lots of vegies in our future for the rest of the weekend.

Other than baking, which is something I love to do, I'm planning to do nothing but craft. My sister and I both make Junk Journals and we are deep into the September Stashbuster Junk Journal challenge right now. I believe she is working on a Disney album and I'm putting together an October Daily in preparation to document my favorite month full of activities - October!

Tomorrow, I'll have flowers to show off.
Blessings

HICKORY HORNED DEVIL

Yep, there is such a thing.

I had never seen this scary guy in my yard before. I thought he was quite beautiful, even with his spines and horns. I swear only a witch would appreciate this caterpillar.

Here's a video about his story:

I had seen the moths, but not the caterpillar. Also interesting to note that they burrow in the ground then emerge in their moth state. 

Maybe I should have saved this for an October post. LOL

TOMATOES EVERYWHERE!

This was the first meager picking of Early Girl tomatoes around the first of August. You can see a few cherry tomatoes in the bottom of the basket.

I've since put two 2-gallon bags of tomatoes in the freezer for turning into sauce this winter. I probably have about that many more out there.

In June when the girls first got here, I planted all the volunteer tomatoes Adrian and I could find while she planted the 24 Early Girl tomatoes. She really got her hands dirty!

She had never planted anything on her own before. I helped her place the plants along the bales, showed her how to do the first one then turned her loose. She was one tired girl when she was done. I was so proud of her!

Here's what her handiwork looked like about the second week in August... after she'd gone back home.

Now about those volunteers I planted... over 30 plants. And they all turned out to be cherry tomatoes. I can only eat so many and they hadn't started producing before the girls left (we hope to fix that next summer)

One of my projects before they are all gone is to put up a few jars of green tomato pickles. My stepmom canned some one year and I remember them being quite tasty.

Tomorrow, I have a mystery plant for you. Well, it was a mystery to me :-D

Happy Gardening!

FALL HAS ARRIVED!

Okay... not if you go by the thermometer. Today is the first day in weeks I've turned off the AC for the entire day and opened up the house. While the temp has been hovering around  80* inside and I've had the tower fan blowing on me, I refuse to turn on the AC. There is a gorgeous breeze blowing outside, billowing the curtains. Who needs the AC? Or the power bill?

When you begin seeing these lovely pieces of nature's art around your yard you know fall is just around the corner.

I usually get three to four of these beauties from the eve of the house to the top of the deck railing. I'm also guaranteed of seeing at least a couple stretch from the bird feeder to the clothes line - a distance of about 4'!

I haven't seen the garden zipper spiders yet. I keep watching. When they appear I know the garden is winding down and soon I'll be pulling up stakes and prepping for the quietness of winter.

Here in the Ozarks, we are about 15* above our normal temperatures and have seen barely any rain in 22 days! At least where I live. Springfield did get an inch or so last week. Lucky ducks!

For now, I'll just keep watering the garden. I'll have pictures tomorrow.

Thank you for all the views. Now if we could just make a little noise. If nothing else, say HI! LOL

Happy Gardening!

TIME MANAGEMENT

As you'll see below, if you don't know already, I am a Stampin' UP! demonstrator. I placed a reasonable order last week from Clearance to build up my future Etsy shop plus put in a big order (the largest I've EVER placed) on our pre-order in preparation for the 2019-2020 catalog releasing June 4th. I have to pay for that so I'm turning in all of my change.

I am also in the danger zone of a diabetic. I have to make some serious changes to my life in able to stay off medications. 

So I REALLY need to buckle down and get back to eating properly. 

Stress also raises glucose numbers and I've been stressed a lot trying to get time in the garden between rain drops, keep up with blogs (which I'm only succeeding on 2 at the moment), get the house straightened up before the girls' arrival and stay on top of office stuff in general. Did I mention writing Book 2 in the series? LOL

 So yeah.. something has to give!

Last week was a perfect example of how crazy things are here... and with the girls' arrival on June 1 the time allotments will only get tighter. I HAVE to cut some things.

June 1 - the girls arrive

June 4 - Stampin' UP! new catalog release

June 20thish - Launch Etsy shop

July 1 - Book 2 in my series releases

Mid-August - the girls go back home

August 25 - Contest entries due

September 4 - Stampin' UP! Holiday catalog launches

October 1 - Book 3 in series releases

November 1 - Nano begins.. and the process of writing Book 4

Then the holidays are upon us!

While I've not been consistent with my postings as I'd like, I have tried to share things of interest. My biggest motivation for keeping this blog going is if I were getting comments/ conversation, etc. I'm not getting comments/ feedback.. lots of voyeurism. I'm okay with that as long as I know what I'm sharing is of value.

So here's the deal..

While we are in tornado season, but have avoided any of the surrounding destruction ourselves, I still feel like I'm caught in a vortex. I have to 

STOP. BREATHE. EVALUATE.

Based on the afore mentioned schedule, I have to step back from the blogs that are not part of my income flow at the moment.  My summer is dedicated to book writing, new product launch, prepping for the Etsy grand opening and most of all - TIME WITH MY GIRLS! We will be doing all kinds of fun stuff. Abby's my crafter and Adrian is my garden buddy. Plus there will be field trips and library days, time at the creek... well, you get the idea.

So until September 1, this blog will be ON HIATUS. I KNOW I can't plan anything else.

In the mean time, I hope to get some other posts organized so I can get us through the rest of the year without fail.

By the end of this year I will know whether or not this blog continues into 2020....

... and a big part of that decision will come from you.

If you want this blog to continue, if you get anything from my posts I NEED to hear from you.

For now... I'm stepping back and Enjoying the Journey

Thank you for being here... and for understanding.

WEEKEND TRAVEL - Back to Van Buren

Note: I inadvertently posted this to an alternate blog last week.

Before I get into today's post I wanted to give you an update on Zoey.

She and Honey got along until Zoey and her long legs would overpower HB and pin him. He would growl, then she'd growl and the fight would begin. We found a shelter group that deals in Weimer's (which we are pretty sure she is).  I've never missed a temporary dog as much as I miss that girl.  But HB had to come first. 

Okay, on to today's post!

Good morning, everyone. Cool, damp start to our week. I will admit that while Bob and I did travel this past weekend, we just went into the city for some thrifting and time together before he heads back to work sometime this week. We are back on the day-to-day, waiting for the call routine.

A couple of weeks ago I drove to Van Buren to check out the Saturday Flea Market that Hannah, from Springhouse Cafe told me about. I decided to start my day with breakfast at the Springhouse:

The food was good, for the most part. Everything cooked to perfection. This is probably the only place I've eaten where they actually know how to cook an over-easy egg... the whites cooked and ALL of the yolk runny and delicious. The hash browns were perfectly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside and that slice of ham fed me that morning plus an addition to breakfast for Bob and I later in the week.  The only thing I wasn't impressed with was the biscuits and gravy. I knew ahead of time it was not 'sausage' gravy, but white pepper. The biscuits were tough on the bottom. I ordered them mainly to see how they were so I could tell Bob ahead of time. He does not like pepper, period so pepper gravy is definitely not an option for him.

Overall, we both have really liked the place. They're never overly busy, the waitresses are right on top of things and friendly.  Their food has always been good, making it hard to pick a favorite whenever we go back. We do like their 'handmade' burgers. Bob also liked their hand-pounded, hand-breaded pork tenderloin. There's usually at least one decadent dessert on the menu but I've avoided due to the sugar content, but their triple chocolate cake is drool-worth at $3 - $3.50 a slice, leaving me only to add that the prices are very reasonable. - Update (May 30, 2019) Bob and I caved and tried the Triple Chocolate Cake. Super Rich - Delicious - Decadent for sure! I suggest an glass of milk with this one!

To find The Springhouse Cafe, traveling West on Hwy 60 from Poplar Bluff (or St. Louis), turn right just as you come past the 55 mph sign (road just before McDonalds) You'll go about 1 to 1-1/2 miles and you'll see the place on your left.

Please tell them you heard about it on An Ozarks Journal blog. Doesn't get me anything, but I do like to let business owners know that the few minutes they took to chat with me was worth their time. Thanks to Nick Dorris for the friendly update. 

Where will you travel to this week.  Where ever you go, be safe and Enjoy the Adventure!

I have a big announcement coming tomorrow. Please stop by. 

Safe Travels!

WEEKEND TRAVEL - Dining Out

A couple of weeks ago I was headed to Poplar Bluff. On my way through Van Buren I had a taste for the chicken tenders.. good ones. Not those tasteless breaded things but real breast meat tenders battered and deep fried til golden. Crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside.  I knew just where to go...
The Float Stream Restaurant in Van Buren.

Bob and I've eaten there several times. They have the best Hot Roast Beef With I've had in awhile... the kind served with REAL mashed potatoes. We've done the all you can eat cat fish buffet and breakfast on occasion. We've always been happy.

Until a few weeks ago...
Bob was on his way to Poplar Bluff and decided to pull in for lunch. The hostess showed him his seat and gave him a menu.... fifteen minutes later he still hadn't been waited on. The waitress totally ignored him. He finally got up and left.

Now, I have to stress THIS IS NOT THE NORM at The Float Stream. Someone was just having an off day.

What I DO WANT TO STRESS... is that Joey Crafton will make anything right if you give him the chance. He never knew my husband had issues until I stopped in. Here's the thing... if an owner doesn't know there's a problem, he can't fix the problem. That doesn't mean throwing a fit and trash talking the establishment. What you do is have an adult conversation... remember those?

So I pulled in, order my tenders and iced tea... prepared to work on my manuscript over a quiet lunch. The waitress was friendly and right on top of things. I asked to speak to the manager and he was happy to come out and talk with me. Joey Crafton is a good guy. He wants his customers to have an enjoyable experience and good food... to walk away with a plan to come back again.. and bring friends.

So if you're ever passing through Van Buren MO on Hwy 60... stop in to The Float Stream and enjoy a  meal... Oh.. and leave room for dessert.