Long Gone

Just returned from a short vacation/wedding trip to Nashville, TN. A picture story...

Stopped at the Louisville Slugger Museum/Factory on the way down. The boys loved it, and I had pretty much no idea who anyone besides Babe Ruth was.

See? Babe Ruth. His real bat.

But I got a cute tee-shirt out of the deal!

Then we stopped at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. You wouldn't think this little door would lead you to these amazing caves.

Nate's brother Devon, and his wife, Heather, were our traveling companions.

It was a tight squeeze most of the way through the caves!

Our group exploring the caves.

Okay, well, not so much exploring, but more like being led in a tour. It was great all the same.

This has a very long story but will give you the shortened version. They called themselves an antique shop, but it was more like a junk shop with a few valuable items scattered inside. Now, I LOVE digging for goods among junk, so stopping was kind of fun. But there was a LOT of junk to dig though. I mean, a lot. We did find a few things of monetary and sentimental value though.

Once in Nashville, we stopped in at the Ryman Theater (uh, I had never even heard of it until we got to Nashville...). It was the original Grand Ole Opry, and many stars still sing there today. It's old and pretty cool.

Then we (well, Heather and I) made my favorite stop of the whole trip... Textile Fabrics. Ah-mazing. There  are not shops like that here in the Lower Penninsula, sadly. We ended up going twice (well, the boys did bring the xbox - it was a good excuse!). I am now a big fan of Riley Blake fabrics... so good for little boys!

This is the Carter house, where the battle of Franklin during the Civil War was fought. The entire battle took place around this house, and it was a sad battle.

There are still bullet holes in the sides of the house and outbuildings.

Then a stop at the Carnton Plantation, which was used as a Confederate Hospital during that same battle. Now, people usually grimace when I say that there are still some blood stains on the wood floors from the surgeries, but I think it's amazing. Pretty historical to me. And it's a GINMORMOUS house.

the garden at the Plantation.

Well, I stopped taking pictures after Saturday afternoon at the Plantation, and let Heather take picures of the real reason we were down there... Our cousin Taylor's wedding.

I'll try to get those up later.

And now we are home, trying to enjoy being back to real life. Real life that includes 6 loads of laundry, tornado warnings at work, and slicing part of my fingernail off while making dinner.

I did not enjoy that last part so much.

Will post my most recently finished quilt once I can get a picture of it!

Sneak Peak

This is all you get.

patience. just until next week.

Free Money, Anyone?

Today my husband, Nate, informed me that he's going to try to win $4,000.

For freeeeeEEE? (ever seen the movie Bedtime Stories?)

I'd be fine with that.

So while he's at a deacon's meeting, I am home with the delinquent doggie... trying to keep her from stealing more socks. This guy is my new best friend -

If you have ever met Macy, you know why i keep the spray bottle close. She's like a child and likes to test me. What mom, you said don't eat your socks?? Okay, I think i'll take just one pair. So far this bottle is the only thing that stops her from chewing things to pieces.



Macy, hoping for some pumpkin seeds to fall her way.



Oh, and there are some pumpkins in the oven. Soon to be turned into pumpkin bread.

That's all. Off to make a sandwich... a quilt sandwich, that is.

laura

In The Beginning...

Our first attempt at baking together turned into an almost disaster... but first we'll explain how we got there.

Go back 10 years.

High School.

Enough said.

Both got married.

Hubbies are friends.

We vacation together.

and now we have a blog.

Present day: We (Andrea and Laura) decided that it was bread-making day. We each have recently acquired bread machines, an abundance of bread flour, and occupied husbands. Laura has used her machine before, so there were no surprises. Andrea, a former prep cook (where all the bread was made by hand), was giving bread machine-ing a go.

We added the ingredients, pushed start on the machines (after a few glances at the manual) and went upstairs to watch a movie. We didn't really notice that Andrea's new machine was rocking and rolling all over the counter.

Fifteen minutes later, we hear and bang and a very loud THUD. Laura panics and thinks the worst of her machine. Husband number 1 runs downstairs to investigate. We then hear "Girls?!" Jumping up and running downstairs, we find...
Dough On The Floor.
Next to the bread machine... also on the floor.
and a bewildered group.

Andrea and hubby laugh. A lot.  Laura is appalled. Andrea scoops the doughy-lump up and throws it back into the machine. We find a new plug (on the floor) and the machine picks up where it left off. We eyed it warily for a minute, making sure all was in place.

No more incidents with it since, but it has also not made it out of the cupboard, either.

And so begins the adventures of two fun-loving, craft-seeking, home-making friends.

Well, neither of us was smart enough to take a picture of the real bread... this is all i've got.