Country Life = Pumpkin Pie

That wonderful Thanksgiving meal must have done something to my head yesterday. I tried to post last night before going to bed, and it wouldn't accept my password. Possibly because this morning I realized it was the wrong one. HA!

I had a request for my moms Pumpkin Pie recipe, so here it is:

PUMPKIN PIE

Beat together in large bowl:

3 cups pumpkin (large can)
2 cups brown sugar
5 eggs
2 cups evaporated milk
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Pour in 2 pie shells. (9 inch)
Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn heat down to 325 degrees.
Continue baking until set, about 35 - 40 minutes.

Check for doneness my inserting knife just off center. If it comes out clean, the pie is done.

You can use frozen pie crusts. Or, we prefer our own:

PIE CRUST

Stir together:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt

Cut in:
3/4 cup shortening (we use the butter flavor shortening)

Sprinkle with:
5 - 6 Tbsp. cold water, adding 1 Tbsp. at a time
Stir the water in with a fork, until the dough sticks together enough to be rolled out.

Roll out dough on a floured surface, put in two 9 inch pie plates.

After the pie is baked, cool on wire racks. Then keep in fridge. The pie is much better cold!

Enjoy!

(I do!)

Lobster trap

 

Do you know what this is? It's a lobster trap.

 

Several people have asked how we ended up with a lobster trap in landlocked WV.

The answer? An auction, of course.

 

How the people who sold it at the auction ended up with it is another question.

The answer? We have no idea.

 

Our original price on it was $50. No takers so far, and it's taking up valuable space, so it's in the clearance corner for $20.

 

I was offered $15 for it, but we won't go that low. Instead, if it doesn't sell now, we will add casters to it and turn it into coffee table.

 

Where did that idea come from?

Pinterest. Where else? Ha!

 

I suppose we could use it for what one little fellow in the shop called it: a bad people trap.

 

Nah, better stick with the coffee table idea.

Snowman dishes

I picked these dishes up at a thrift store last summer, and tucked them away in my stash for future projects. The future is now so to speak! It's that time of year when anything & everything becomes a base for a snowman. A little paint. A little time. A whole new look.

I'm not sure what the dishes would have been used for originally. Baking? Serving?

I've been watch some cooking shows while I paint.
Shows like Chopped.
And Restaurant Impossible.
And Cutthroat Kitchen.

And the more I watch these shows, the more I realize how little I know about cooking!

I consider myself a pretty good cook.

Cook. Not chef.

Ahhh. Maybe that's the difference.

Let's just say I don't think I'll be competing on any of these shows anytime soon.

Country Life = When Life Gives You Lemons...

 

Did you ever learn a new word or phrase, & then it seems like you hear it ALL the time?

 

That's the way I feel about this phrase. I don't remember hearing it, until I started carrying it in the shop. Now I not only hear it all the time, I also say it all the time!

I suppose it was always there, I just didn't notice it.

We're dealing with some big situations in our lives right now that are out of our control.

We live in the heart of the Marcellus Shale gas & oil drilling. We feel like we've been plucked out of our nice, quiet, peaceful countryside, and thrown down into the middle of an industrial zone.

That was bad enough.

We found out a few days ago that the plant George works in is shutting down at the end of this year.

Well.

It is what it is.

And we don't like it.
Not one little bit.

But, we're trying hard to find the bright side.
We are debt free.
We have a safety net.
We have a can do attitude.

We have each other.
And... we have a God who we have a deep faith in.

Things have a funny way of working out, and we believe they will this time too.

We plan to bring lots of new things into the shop. We need it to go from being a little extra money to a lot of extra money!

Another old saying applies here....

You is kind.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie The Help.

One of the things that really struck me from this story is how recent it was.

It took place in the early 60's, which is when I was born.

It saddens me that racism was so prevalent that recently.

I will never understand why anyone thinks

skin color makes us unequal.

In the story, the children were brought up to believe that.

I'm so thankful that my own parents knew better.

My sister and I were raised to abhor racism.

I had this old cupboard door, and it seemed like a good spot

to feature Aibileen Clark's wise words to little Mae Mobley.

You is kind.

You is smart.

You is important.

Yes indeed. And so is you Aibileen.