A Lazy May Sunday.....for Baxter!

Oh, I just love Sunday!!  It's my favorite day of the week. I'd like to say it's my day off, but that's not really true.  But it is the day of the week when the shop is closed, the post office is closed so I don't feel like I need to get orders out.  I can just wake up, sip a cup of coffee with no rush!

Shop is closed today!

However, this morning I was up at 6:45, my head racing with everything I want to do.  I always make grand proclamations of all the things I'm going to get done in this day and if I'm lucky I get half done.  So, the morning was spent cleaning out my inbox.  That might not sound like a big deal, but it took me over an hour to go through everything and delete 2500 emails.  Then it was on to family finance, another two hours.  Then it was outside to unload the mulch we had bought yesterday and place it strategically in the yard where Mom wanted it (she rules the roost outside, we just do the heavy lifting), trimming bushes, tilling the veggie garden bed, picking up piles of weeds, hauling potting soil bags ( I have a feeling I'm going to need the heating pad tonight).  

Then it was inside to fulfill my domestic chores for the day.  It's Sunday, and you HAVE to have a Sunday dinner, so  I popped a pulled pork in the crock pot and threw together a raspberry/rhubarb pie.
I don't really like to cook much anymore, but gosh, sometimes you just need to bake a pie.  And those raspberries against my Bennigton pottery....well, it was just picture worthy.  

I'd love to show you a picture of the finished product but it's baking as I type.  I used a very easy, good old Betty Crocker recipe.  You can always count on Betty for the best recipes.  Here's the one I used:

Ingredients

3

cups fresh or frozen rhubarb

3

cups fresh or frozen raspberries

6

tablespoons butter, melted

2

tablespoons vanilla

1 1/2

cups sugar

1/2

cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

1

Pillsbury™ Pet-Ritz® frozen deep dish pie crust

1

Pillsbury™ refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box

1

quart vanilla ice cream

Directions

• Heat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix rhubarb, raspberries, 4 tablespoons of the butter, vanilla, 1 1/3 cups of the sugar and flour until all fruit is coated; spoon into deep dish pie crust.
• Slice a few small diamonds in refrigerated crust. Place crust on top of the pie.
• Using a small basting brush; spread remaining melted butter over the top crust. Sprinkle remaining sugar over top.
• Bake 30 minutes. Cover the top of the pie with loose layer of foil; return to oven for an additional 40 to 50 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the rhubarb mixture is bubbly.
• Remove from the oven; allow to cool 2 to 3 hours. Slice and serving with heaps of vanilla ice cream.

I like that last one, #5, serve with "heaps" of ice cream.....will do!!

The yard is really starting to come together.  The aroma of lilacs and lilies of the valley is just intoxicating....

...and the garden beds are shaping up nicely...

..and as usual, every spring we have persistent mother birds who insist on building their nests on our porch.  We have a robin and a little sparrow this year.  This little sparrow is....well....a slob.  Have you ever seen such a messy nest??

I prepped the veggie garden bed for these beauties.  My sister started tomato plants for us.  Lot of heirlooms she says and she only has 99 to plant for herself!

...and as usual the hands are never idle.  I've been toying with a couple new coverlet ideas.  This first one is probably not going to happen, but it is leading to something else...

I finished hooking my long door banner but will not show a picture of it yet because it just doesn't look good.  My stars are awful.  They look like....teeth!  Mom said, "it's ok, hang it out front, maybe people will think we are a dentist office!"  Very funny Mom!

So, I'm back to punching and loving the one I'm working on now.  What once was a doodle is now The Antique Crow.  It will have a grungy gold background and hints of barn red in the corners.  

 ...and we are continuing to prepare for upcoming shows.  I just loved how this stack of daisy kits looked!

Mom finished another one of my doodles, which will now be part of our regular pattern line and will be called "Sheep in the Meadow".  I LOVE this one!!!

and the day will be a success if I can get my sign painted.  I have had a big grungy flag on my sign post out front but no name.  This sign will proclaim proudly The Old Tattered Flag!  Then smaller signs will be under it saying: Rug Hooking, Woolens and Gifts.

So, all in all a very productive and satisfying day.  This was a day off for me.  I enjoy all these things that I normally don't get to do during a normal work day.  Baxter begs to differ, his perfect day involves a nap and he was none too pleased that I disturbed him.

I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday and are enjoying the aroma's of lilacs and chirping of birds!

Until next time.....