Nik's Log Homes: Custom Built for You!  

Posted by ~Jill

2 Fridays ago we had our monthly hymn sing with a few families from BCA. (Boerne Christian Assembly) Some of the little boys discovered the giant basket of Lincoln logs... This is Josiah Hyslop and his log home I built.


Ah, I dearly love a cottage, complete with 2 horses of course! This is the house I built for myself :) I was Josiah's nearest neighbor. He had my little cowboy dude over for some burgers. MMMMM!!

Behold Isobella Grady, infant phenomenon! Someone gave her a violin,and I grabbed a camera!
Josiah is my little buddy <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzsLSCnRRUV5LvAngabtBpkBdw4KbR2H_8RaEbRyjJzSNL6cdoTp2_lsOYI2GYSVcroOnCEIueCAJy5niDtUTq9_1_47DQweC1SJ0t3sGesUEx1GtyCh03IegXRs0PvHvsUzXk-Mxow/s1600-h/IMG_7380.JPG">And this little one is Gracianna Hope Hyslop. I held her when she was a newborn :) I can't believe how much these precious ones grow :'(

So, there's a post 2 weeks late :)

laters!
~Jill


THE SCARY PIE  

Posted by ~Jill

So, I dug myself into a nice huge crater the size of Alaska a few days ago by telling my Grampa during his hospital visit "If you're good for the doctor, when we get home I'll make you a strawberry rhubarb pie!" That is his favorite kind. My word!!! I don't bake pies!!! Unless sorely provoked... The last pie I made was also a strawberry rhubarb pie, and that was in September 2 years ago, after my Grampa had major cancer surgery.

Rule NO. 1
If all else fails, Grandfathers can always be persuaded with pie... Actually any guy can (I think...)

LOL! Anyways, yeah! So, the only problem with telling my Grampa that, was that I forgot rhubarb actually has a growing season... which starts around July...
And it happens to be April.

Instructions for use:
Put foot in mouth. Bite down hard.

Rule No.2
NEVER... I mean ALWAYS check to make sure pie filling of choice is in season before offering it to a man.

So, Annick's free spirit brain begins to spin "how in the world am I going to get out of this mess..." Here I promised my Grampa something that isn't even growing yet. That is really bad! it will break his heart if he doesn't get it.

Weyall....
I started wondering if it was possible to substitute something for the rhubarb, that was similar in taste, texture, etc.

(snicker)Heh heh heh... Guess what I came up with?

Yep, CELERY!!!!!
Peeled really well, boiled in lemon juice with a few strawberries, until it turns pinkish... then drained and mixed with the strawberries and some sugar. Tada!!!! It really does look &taste like rhubarb... I think (not that I really know)

So, the humor of the situation is that my Grampa is legally blind. So, I'm hoping he won't be able to tell the difference between rhubarb and what-annick-decided-to-put-in-the-pie. Yes.

Now, I'm just hoping that my Grampa will just eat the pie and say "It's good..." Just like usual. What I'm dreading is this " why does the pie taste weird?"

Oh brother... This is going to be bad... Perhaps I should not give up my day job. For real!!!!

Guess I'll tell you later what happened ;)

Until then,
Don't fall off the edge of your chair!!

~Jill (I'll post a picture of the scary pie later...)

Now that I'm here...  

Posted by ~Jill

Greetings, my fellow Americans :)

Just a few lines to let y'all know that I've arrived all safe and sound here in sunny Arizona. Its good to be here, both to see my grandparents, and to help them out with projects around the house, cook, bake, clean, fix the garbage disposal, etc. 
So far today, I was up until 2 am coughing ( sudden allergies for the first time here on this earth, thanks to something or other in TX...) After waking up somewhat grumpy and definatly exhausted, I went running even though I was still half asleep ( that's always entertaining ;)... )
Had breakfast, then tried to sleep for an hour or so outside in the sunshine... that was nice :) Made lunch, went to the library got a really good book by Chuck Norris (YEAH!!!!)  Came home, read for an hour and then made a martini.And now I'm making dinner... Or waiting for it to finish :) Hungry? Come on over !  We are having sweet potato fries, my special green beans  (yes the recipe is  a secret) and chicken sausages. I might make some biscuits or something, we'll see. Well, that's about all for now, we'll see what pans out later :) Be blessed my friends :)


OH, and I KNOW you were wondering about the martini... Don't worry, it was for my Grampa, I can't stomach the stuff ;)

Miss you all so much :'(,
~Jill