52 Week Money Challenge

I have been wanting to start a special savings plan and I found this on the internet.  I did not do all of this work but I think that it makes cents.  Next year I would like to take a vacation to England and this could help with this goal.  This is doable!!!  Might have to plan ahead toward the end as the amounts get larger.

This is the first week of July so I'm going to start it now.  If anyone would like to join in then send me a comment and let me know what your goal is and then keep me update on how you are doing. 

I did find a Facebbok Page that is doing this.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/344214249020179/

DISCLAIMER: I didn’t create this chart, it was the image that was in my news feed, so thank you to whoever drafted this because it serves as a great visual to see the overall idea of the challenge.

You can link to this post if you'd like to share this on your blog,

I started my first week today and I put $5.00 in it as when I can I'd like to add some extra.  Tomorrow will start another week and I'll see what I have but I think I'll do another $5.00.  My dream is to go to England and Scotland and spend a month.  That will take a lot of money. 

What would be the use for your savings?

Edit - Pinterest has a lot of good ideas for saving money and here is a blog that is good
http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/saving-money/

July 4th Activities and Quiche

This is my friend Wilma and on the 4th we went to Brown Co. State Park so that I could take some photos.  She had just gotten done telling me that her hair was too flat and I turned around to tell her that her hair looked nice.

This was the view we were looking at during the first photo.  It was a drizzly day as it would sprinkle some then quit but the sun never did come out.

I love photos of trees against the sky.

The woods along the little creek that was below when the creek curved

Another shot of the stream.  If it had been warm I would have went wading!!  Remember doing that as a child?

We were standing under this huge tree and all at once it just pored the rain.  We did not get wet at all as that tree was full of leaves and gave great protection.

These lake photos are of Ogle lake which is part of the park.  There is a trail that is about 1.5 miles around the lake but in this weather we did not attempt it.

Another area of the lake with this tree across.  This would make a good landscape quilt.  Maybe one of these days I'll try it.

I loved the contrast in greens of these trees.  Nature is amazing and beautiful!!

These two photos are what I did yesterday.  I had seen on Pinterest where you can make small quiches in cupcake pans so that is what I did.  I froze all of these and can use them for breakfast or lunch at work.

I don't really have a recipe for quiche.  But this is approximately what I do

4 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup milk, cream whatever you have

In this one I added cut up cherry tomatoes and asparagus

I use a lot of cheese - 2 cups and I either shake them in a bag with a tablespoon of flour or add a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch for thickener right in the egg mixture an stir good.  If you add flour into the mixture you will get lumps so that's the reason that I do it this way.

Sometimes I put less shredded cheese and take fresh mozzarella and slice it in the quiche (GOOD!!)

I bake at 350 until it's done and that's around 30 - 40 minutes

Sometimes I add fresh herbs like basil, thyme and rosemary and sometime not.

 

I'm a cook that does not always follow a recipe or add or delete items.  I don't do this with baking of course as you have to be more exact or you have a big flop!! LOL

 

I've been sewing some but mostly trying to organize as it's that time of the year.  I've sold a few things on E-Bay as I need money for a quilt retreat that I would like to go to in November.  Or I may save the money for the International Quilt Festival in April.  That one I like to take classes.

 

I hope the sun is shining in your part of the world as it sure isn't here today.  A good day to clean and I want to get in the sewing room as I need to sell some of this fabric!!!  Don't we all??

 

Janice Holt Giles

When I went to Kentucky a few weeks ago I finally made time to go and visit the home of author, Janice Holt Giles.  She married a man from KY and they lived there the rest of their lives.  To get to their place you drive maybe 10 - 12 miles along a two lane road and then you turn off on another road and then onto a very narrow road that leads to her home.

It's a log cabin that was moved here (I believe) and then they built onto it and there is a pond in front of the house and it's surrounded by a lot of woods.  Very quiet, peaceful and picturesque.

Road that goes off the main road

Rocks on the side of the road

Sign by the road that leads to her house

This is what you see when you drive up

This is the house and the little house on the right is I assume the caretakers house

This is the front porch

The swing on the front porch

View from the swing

Side porch that also looks onto the pond

Little caretakers house

The pond and their dock

 

Are there others out there that have read her books?  Been here?  Collect her books?

 

I have been saying for over 20 years that I'm going to go but I'm usually with others and they are in a hurry.  Finally I go alone and get to see it.  They have it open at times where you can tour the house but not on the day that I was there.

 

Have a great day!!

 

Trip to Kentucky - Views of the Homes I lived in as a Child - Relative in the War of 1776

In June I made a trip to Kentucky to do some research on our family history.  I was with my cousin Marian who is 85 and a delightful lady.  She has been working on family history for about 50 years.  She has an unbelievable amount of information.  I know you don't want to hear about our family so I'll let you see some of the photos I took and maybe a little about the family. 

The above photo is the view from my mother, father and grandfather's grave site.  They have all been gone over 40 years and I see this as a beautiful place to lie.

The weather was amazing and the sky was so blue with big puffy clouds every day I was there.

This grave stone has been replaced - look at the dates and he was in the war in 1776!

Another relative who the family had the original gravestone replaced.  The original stones are still there. 

This cemetery which was a small one off a gravel road and shaded by trees was so pretty and peaceful.   I looked up to see  the amazing sky.

This is downtown of this tiny town I was raised in and it was hard to get a good photo.  There isn't much there.

This is the grade school that I went to but the part of the building to the right was not there in the 50's and 60's.  It's not a grade school anymore.

This is one of the houses that I lived in growing up.  My father built all of our homes.

The last house we lived in and the highway runs in front so I ended up taking a photo of a car going by.

This is the little house that I came home from the hospital to.  We called it the block house since the exterior was concrete block but now they had siding on it.

This house sits back off the road and I didn't want to get too close and bother the people.  This was a beautiful home and still is.

 

Well that is this part of the trip.  I also visited Janice Holt Giles home as she has always been a favorite author of mine.  I never seem to have the time to visit her home place so this time I made the time to do it.

 

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday - I'm on vacation the rest of this week and this morning I started working on the garage.  After the remodel last year I just gave up and now it's time to get cleaned out and get rid of some items.

 

Anyone else having a lot of rain?  It's raining in Indiana every day and I said I wouldn't have to go to Ireland to see the green as we are so green here!!

 

I've started back sewing after a spell where I was just not interested.  I have one top (easy) done and another half done.  I'll show you soon!!

 

 

Trip to Bloomington and State Park

I have my granddaughters for 4.5 days and today we went to Bloomington Indiana to some bookstores and the Japanese Grocery.  The following are photos on the way and when we came back by Nashville we drove through the State Park.  We've had lots of rain and everything is so green.  I hope you enjoy my photos and I take these as I drive.  I just hold up the camera and click.  I suggest you try it sometime as you can end up with some good photos.  You see so much more than when you're going along at 60mph. 

Starting our trip

Love the sky today

 I need to dust in my car!!

Gnaw Bone Indiana is a real place!!

We'll need to turn for Bloomington

Starting up the big hill

Aren't the trees beautiful and I love the shadows

A shelf at the used bookstore.  Very unique store and it's like something out of a movie.

State Park Photos now

I hope you get a chance to go to Brown County State Park in Nashville Indiana It's a beautiful park with lots of deer and wildlife.  There is a camp area, a camp area for you to bring your horses, nice Inn, restaurant, and all the trails you could ever want.

I hope you enjoyed our day with us.  We had a great time and got home before the rain came.

 

Quiet Week and More Quilt Show Photos

Not much going on in my life this week.  I worked every day and I've just felt kinda lethargic.  Anyone else have weeks like that?  I thought I'd share more photos from the International Quilt Festival.  Wouldn't it be nice if I could say I was sharing photos from Paducah KY?

This quilt below was representing our very dry summer last year.  I must say that is how I felt and I sure hope we don't have that dry of a summer this year.

This is some 10x10 squares that I would like to use in a quilt and I keep trying them out in different ways on my design wall.  This is the first time I've used layer cakes and this is two of them.  Any suggestions?  Should I put the yellow and blue together with white and the others together with a white or should I use other colors? 

 

 

Should I divide them up and use some of all the colors in both quilts?  Lots of decisions!!  Or maybe I need to take them down and put them in a drawer again?  LOL  I'm sure no one else ever does that.  I love these bright strong colors but just not sure!!!

It's in the 50's and cloudy today.  I did go out and pull some weeds.  Never a problem with the weed crop!

Have a great day/evening!!!!!!!!!!!!!