It’s Peach Season

I love the taste of fresh peaches, especially old fashioned home canned peaches, but I’m a little too lazy for that, so I’ll have to be content enjoying them while they’re in season.

A friend gave us a big bag of delicious ripe peaches and I had to come up with ways to use them fast. So, I tried peach upside down cake. Think pineapple upside down cake with peaches instead of pineapple. I used this recipe, a dressed up cake mix…..love that, it was so good and pretty to look at. I added some nuts I had on hand to use them up.

After baking it looked like this.

And then it was gone.

Have you ever made peach salsa? I tried it with fish tacos, a recipe that came from a grocery store handout.

Fish Tacos*

*to make the peach salsa mix up, 2 large ripe, peeled, chopped peaches

1/4 c minced red bell pepper

1T fresh or 1 t.dried cilantro

the juice of 1 fresh squeezed lime

chopped onion and jalapeno, optional

*for the fish , sprinkle a mixture of 1 t chili powder, 1/2 t ground cumin and 1/4 t garlic powder, and some salt over 1 lb. tilapia filets. This recipe calls for steaming the fish but I cooked it in a pan with a little olive oil.

A soft tortilla, some shredded cheese and a little shredded cabbage for crunch and there it is. Pretty good!

I'm adding this post to Foodie Friday over at Designs by Gollum. You'll finds lots more recipes there.

Mantle Makeover

Remember when I was spray painting my bed bench and went crazy and starting painting everything in sight and remember the yard sale1$ frame ……….

When I started working on the frame, it practically fell apart, so good old wood glue to the rescue. That frame was destined to become part of a chalkboard, but when I tried it out , it was too wide for the space and I don’t have much wall space in my kitchen, so onto plan B.

The frame and the remodeled finials are now a new mantlescape.

(is the frame crooked?)

The finials got a glaze, some heavy and some a very light glaze.

Can you spot the difference?

Which do you prefer? The oval dark frame in the center or not?

Do you still have your faux plants? I got rid of almost all of mine and I’ve noticed that I miss the softening effect they create. This fern is real and soon will start dropping leaves, at least faux plants don’t do that.

For lots more projects visit Kimba's Do It Yourself Day at A Soft Place To Land.

Welcome to Mouse T#rd Manor

We’re taking a drive to Tioga county and eventually we’ll arrive at the Mouse T#rd manor, appropriately named by my daughter. Back six miles on a narrow and twisted dirt lane she sits.

There’s lots of beauty along the way, if you appreciate the woods, and I do. It’s just so darn pretty with hills, valleys, streams and wildlife.

We’re real close now and I can just begin to see the cabin.

Here we are, near what’s left of the historic town of Leetoina. The Mouse t#rd Manor is a hunting camp that my husband belonged to since 1975. There are a total of 10 members who don’t hunt much any more, it’s become more of a place to hang out. All around the area are great sites to see, like the PA Grand Canyon, trophy trout streams and lots of fun family activities, hiking, kayaking, Rails to Trails…any kind of outdoor activity and lots more on Route 6.

The sound of the stream across the road is so peaceful. On Christmas, 1990, the original camp burnt down to the ground. All that was left was part of the original stone wall. Arsonists set fire to several camps that year. In Spring 1991, the members bought logs from a local logger, stripped all the logs by hand and created the new camp. The slate floors are from a nearby slate mine.

Inside the cabin the accommodations are campish. Some of the furniture was made by hand from the leftover logs that were purchased to rebuild the camp. Ignore the dirt, dust and soot, please. There’s a fireplace and a big wood stove to heat the place in winter and chase out the dampness and musty smell, replacing it with a smoky smell that penetrates your clothes and your hair! All the furnishings are from yardsales or were castoffs. Around the fireplace you can see the original stone wall that was left standing after the fire.

This is the stairs going up to the sleeping area. The kids love climbing on the bunks. One of these out buildings is the tool shed, the other is my least favorite part of coming to camp. The dreaded outhouse! Oh, it IS dreaded…I hate it. Inside the camp there’s a bathroom that consists of a sink and a shower…at least we have running water.

Here’s Bill posing by the swimming hole which, at times, can be about 8 feet deep, but it’s so cold.

That’s a little tour of beautiful Tioga county in PA, hope you enjoyed it. And I’m lucky to be going back there again in August! Guess I have to start getting into my camp mindset!

I've added this post to Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Day Dreamer. Lots more to look at there!

APRONS 4 sale

Remember the little online shop I used to have? It was fun, but took lots of time to keep up. Well, I still have so many nice things that I'd love to sell, so take a look!

Here are 2 lovely kitchen towels that somebody lovingly stitched. There is a small amount of fraying on the inside but it's hardly noticeable. $9.00 for the set.
These aprons are sold.
How about these 2 gorgeous gingham aprons? Aprons are very collectable and make a nice display when they're hung together. I love old aprons and at one time thought of starting another collection........but I talked myself out of it, thankfully! I certainly don't need to start collecting another thing.

I'd love to have another house, a little vacation cottage that I could decorate with old linens and mismatched dishes, lace curtains and maybe a vintage kitchen table from the 50's. An apron collection would fit in perfectly. But, it's not happening so...

The aprons are $10.00 for the set. They've both got hand stitching on them and are in great shape.


If you're interested, you can comment or email me HERE. Next week I'll put up another 4sale post.

The DIY Show Off

The DIY Showoff blog, have you visited yet? What a great idea to put bloggers projects together in one place! Yesterday my bed bench was featured and today the kitchen island is featured. OK, I'm showin off!


The DIY Show Off
Before & Happily Ever After
Home Improvements, Decorating projects to inspire & motivate.......
Thank You Roeshel, who happens to be from PA! Another Pa blogger!



Click here to see more of the kitchen island?

Summer Meals

Summer means meals of salads loaded with fresh vegetables and grilled meats. Recently I've started grilling corn on the cob. Just pull back the husks to remove the silk, pull the husks back over the corn, soak in water for about an hour and put on grill. That's how I do it. The outer leaves get charred but the corn is great. I think you're supposed to tie the husks closed over the corn, so they steam, but I don't.

For the chicken, I made a marinade of honey, garlic, onions, fresh chives and oil. The honey really added flavor, but of course, Bill had to cover his chicken in cajun seasoning, he always does.

Fresh salad, homemade red potato salad, grilled corn and chicken breasts, it was delicious.

Since crab meat was on sale I made crab cakes with this mix from Old Bay. Have you tried it? It's pretty good, and fast to mix up. I added some diced red bell pepper.

I just plopped these beauties on foil on the grill........less clean up in the kitchen! And here'e another meal that screams Summer, crab cakes, salad and fresh broccoli.


Grilling in the Summer is one of my favorite ways to cook. It's fast, simple and always good. Enjoy your Summer meals outdoors if you can, winter comes quickly.



I've added this to Jen's Tasty Tuesday ,you'll see lots more good eats there.

The Smelly Washer winner!

Well, they didn't really win a smelly washer, but they did win a smelly washer cleaner called SMELLY WASHER CLEANER. Here are the three giveaway winners chosen with the random number generator.

Random number between 1 and 46, 20, Madge1967, please contact me
random between 1 and 46 12, Southern Belle, please contact me
random between 1 and 46 35, mishebe, I have sent you and email.



Thanks to everyone who entered! I wish I could give each of you who need this product a free bottle, but only have 3 to giveaway.


Madge1967 and Southern Belle, I couldn't find your email . Please contact me here.

Been Yardsaling?

Isn't this pretty?
I'll never understand why people get rid of these things. Somebody actually sat for hours stitching away and then someone else just gets rid of it. It even has their family name on it. It always makes me sad when I see cross stitch and needlework at yardsales.......anyway......it was in a FREE pile! I grabbed it and am planning to give it to some friends who are avid stitchers.
This old mirror frame was just 1$ after some haggling, the owner thought it was a valuable antique......I didn't think so, especially when it came apart when I tried to pick it up! Can you picture this as a blackboard? I sure can and know exactly where it will go. This will be an easy project, a little glue, a little paint and that's it!

A huge ironstone pitcher was just a buck too. It's got a bit of grazing on it, which I like. Maybe at one time it had a big wash bowl to match. There are no markings on the bottom.

For MiaKate, now this is so cute, all for 5$. A jumper with matching panties, red tights, red sweater and white onsie. I couldn't pass up the animal print with red accents.

Another dollar find, this burlap bag is sturdy and has a nice plastic lining. It's big enough to hold 2 grocery bags.

That's about it. For 50 cents, I got a "teenagers Bible", don't know why I got it...it just caught my eye. There weren't too many yardsales this weekend, but I spent a total of 8$ and had fun doing it.

There's more to see here Enjoy!