Kitchen Solutions

When we bought our home a few yeas ago it was advertised with an 'eat in kitchen' with breakfast bar and a formal dining room.  Well after setting up the kitchen with a small table and chairs, we soon discovered we most often used the breakfast bar and the table was going unused and fast becoming a catch all space as we walked through the door.

We also discovered that we both hated 'digging' for appliances ~ so we solved two problems with the purchase of one cabinet.  It holds a lot of the appliances and being at fingertip level, no more digging. It even has two deep drawers for all the cake and pie pans.

Having several cookbooks we found it appropriate to add a small bookshelf in that same area.  The cabinet to the left holds the dishes used on a daily basis. I'm short and hate reaching for dishes, so these too are at a very accessible height.

and I love, love, love having my cookware within my sight and grasp. Most used utinsels hang alongside.  In case you didn't know ~ I love to cook and bake and I love my kitchen.  

Thanks for letting me share my 'kitchen solutions!'

A Flower Tale

Once upon a time there were four little seeds attached to a Christmas card.

Come spring those little seeds were planted with hopes that one day they would sprout into some healthy little plants.

They did sprout and they grew and grew and grew and then one day they blossomed ~ and blossomed.

At night they unfurled, one after another, they unfurled.

Amazing how they only show off their blooms

through the night,

 

  but then again they are called Moon flowers.

Thank you Dar, for my Christmas card.

Glad I Grew Glads

I'm so 'glad' I grew some 'GLADS'

Herding Cats

Trying to get a picture with all my brothers and sisters at a family wedding is like trying to herd up a bunch of stray cats.  We were all there, but by the time the cameras were pulled out ~ everyone was heading in a different direction! So we took some more casual pics the following day. The best I could do was to get MOST of us, but we are still missing our two brothers Doug and Randy whom I will have to work my magic and photo-shop them into the picture later.  Those two trouble - makers, I'll get them yet! lol

Front: Mom and our brother Eric

Back: From left to right

Cheryl (me) and Thom

Linda and Jim

Darla and Bill

Melody and Perry

Colleen and Mike

AND ... we finally had a nice pic of just the two of us taken:

~ thanks Staci ~

what a fantastic wedding my niece Sara and Don had

Sara is the daughter of Mel from http://www.upnorthwithmel.blogspot.com/

I will let Mel share the more detailed pics of the bride and groom

after all, it was their daughter's wedding. I love them all!!!

more later, time to can some green beans

Night's White Wonder

Just as the day is

bidding us goodnight

Out come Moon Flowers

night's wonder of white.

all photos property of CherShots

do not copy without permission

Aug 1 - Flowers, Vegetable Garden

I just wanted to share some updated pics of my garden and the flowers planted to attract the pollenators.  And look at the height of our peas!  Thom is just shy of 6' to give you a visual-meter. 

This year we extended our garden

the squash and tomatoes are loaded,

with more blossoms just wating to produce

I just love squash and pumpkin vines

Yes Mel, I planted pumpkins! Thanks for the tip.

and I can hardly wait for the three

hibiscus plants to bloom

and I'd also like to thank Dar

for the moon flower seeds!

My sisters rock!

What Happened to July???

OMG it's the last day of July already!

Enough said!

Little Pleasures, Little Surprises

 I like to 'treasure' hunt at flea markets, garage sales etc. I found this cute birdhouse wreath at our local Good Will store .  It certainly wasn't a  need, just a want because I liked it. It's what I call a 'little pleasure.'

I love the garden background and

the rock garden foreground.

Our bluebirds hatched out their second batch of babies. The first hatching was 4 eggs, this batch has 5. Yeah, Our bluebird population is booming!!

and in our 'peek-a-boo' birdhouse

we found this

have you figured out what it is yet?

it's a Cope's Gray Treefrog!

We took the house off its post and set it in the garden; he was gone the next morning.  I'm sure he's hanging around somewhere in their. Maybe hidden under the squash or pumpkin leaves ~ or in the beets or beans ~ maybe in the flowerbeds or tomatoes ~ corn or peas? Come out, come out where ever you are!

(All photos property of Cher Shots - please do not copy without permission)

Whoa! ~ What a Storm

KABOOM, over and over again

lightshow beyond belief

non stop thunder rolling

and torrential downpours

with little repreive in between

now this is what I call a storm!!

Rough storms tonight

sister called to see if we're alright

sweet of her

 I suggested she check agian

in the morning! 

LIGHTNING STRIKES!!

not a good time to be on the phone

more storms on the way

(pics from net)

Surprise Visitor

we had a surprise visitor drop by

it was just a short visit

but a pleasant one

we've seen her mom before

but this is the first

we've seen of the fawn

all photos personal property of Cher Shots

do not copy without permission

Today ~ I Cooked

Around here, there is no such thing as 'scheduled' meals during the summer months.  Gardening and yard work among other projects just doesn't permit it. Winters are much more predictable.  But today - I cooked! 
There was a wonderful breeze so I whipped open the windows and let it fly through the house as I cooked!
I made stuffed cabbage rolls. Oh yeah, so worth the time and effort put into them.  So as long as I had the ingredients on hand and the time to do it I cooked a lot of them.  A roaster full plus a casserole full.  Enough for tonights meal, leftovers and several packages to freeze.  I cooked!

and then I made a wonderful fruit bowl for dessert!

Watermelon, bananas, black plums, kiwi fruit,

strawberries, bing and rainer cherries.

Supper was soooooo good because

 today I cooked!

I'm Back

Main Entry: be·wil·der

Pronunciation: \bi-ˈwil-dər, bē-\

Function: transitive verb

Inflected Form(s): be·wil·dered; be·wil·der·ing \-d(ə-)riŋ\

Date: 1684

1 : to cause to lose one's bearings

2 : to perplex or confuse especially by a complexity, variety, or multitude of objects or considerations

synonyms see puzzle

— be·wil·dered·ly adverb

— be·wil·dered·ness noun

— be·wil·der·ing·ly \-d(ə-)riŋ-lē\ adverb

                                                               

Yes, by now you're onto me ~ I'm BEWILDERED

I totally lost my way

I've been playing around off and on

for the past few weeks,

 trying to 'tweak' my blog ...

well in midst of my attempt,

I've lost some followers

 ~ BUMMER~

so hopefully they will find their way

 back to the 'old' me!

I guess they didn't like change

and neither do I 

although

I thought I might. 

World Renowned Organist came to Town

We were honored today for the second time since moving to Upper Michigan, to attend the performance of a world renowned organist David Wickerham. His performance is so amazing that it's hard to put into words.  A dear friend of ours introduced us to this wonder man a few years ago. Our friend and his father-in-law played a huge part in getting the organ into it's present home and in getting it into operating condition. So now our little hometown holds the largest pipe organ North of Chicago.

 Dave played it with excellence and ease.  After the first half of the program he said he would like to try something different... he had a notepad in the lobby during his break and he took requests.  Later he set the paper in front of him and he compiled a medley of the miscellaneous songs requested.  AMAZING doesn't even come close ... he played several tunes nonstop - one would have thought he had rehearsed them in order.  He is so astounding that it's hard to believe what we saw even after seeing it. 
The organ is a Moeller Theater Pipe Organ with over 1600 pipes, 3 rows of keys and who knows how many tabs. It is also magically connected to a player piano setting next to it so you can see just how fast and  how many keys he is playing... let alone the footwork involved.  WOW!! 
If you ever have the opportunity to see this man perform, DON'T MISS IT! 

Helpful Hints from Heloise - Not!

I know you are wondering what the heck I'm doing now, showing you a can of WD-40 ... but wait, there's a reason behind this blue and yellow shocker ~ IT CLEANS! 
Yesterday my dear man took the shower doors outside and sprayed them off with WD-40. It took care of the awful lime,calcium & crud buildup on the glass with very little scrubbing, and they shined up beautifully. He used Lime Out on the heavier deposits on the metal trim and corners of the glass. But ~ WOW ~ did they turn out nice! Just thought I'd share this helpful hint from "hell it's me!"  

Another Trash to Treasure

Some of you may know my sister Mel, if not it's your loss. She's so talented, very loving and lots of fun to be around. Anyways; we were talking about the great grill she won at a fundraiser drawing, and how she had promised her old grill to her son. So I told her how we had bought a new grill this spring and that my dear hubby built me a garden cart out of the old one. It works great.  

OOPS!

It's been a while since I looked for a change in backgrounds for this blog ... and I guess I should have left well enough alone.  Now I have my blog so screwed up and no matter how much I try to backpaddle, this canoe is heading downstream fast!!
I think I need to sleep on this one ... yeah, maybe after a good nights sleep, it will all come back to me and I can rectify my errors.  Until then, please bear with me as I try to stay afloat.
Change is a good thing right? Please say right ~ because I feel like there may be another change coming soon.
Goodnight!!