The Mountain Thymes

According to Cliff's weather station, the temperature reached 69 degrees today.  I needed this.  Even the house plants asked to go out on the porch and bask in the sun.  Maxine has been sleeping with one eye opened keeping it on the birds.  We were able to stain the TV cabinet that we bought unfinished back in the fall at our furniture store in Marble. Next warm day, we'll take it back out on the porch and polyurethane it.  And maxine has been on mole patrol all day.  This is her favorite kind of weather.  Lauria's kindergarteners have a project for their class so after we went to the diner for coffee and breakfast this morning, we headed into town.  Hayden's snowman has come to visit us and see where we live. We took the snowman to the Cherokee Historical Museum and collected some other pictures to send back to the school for the project. I love these kinds of assignments and they are fun for the children. As I was picking the meat off th...

Jim Cantore is predicting more snow Tuesday and Wednesday!!!    help!  I need spring!   Made this spring dress today.  Not for me...............................

Last night Cliff was at fire school again so I was flipping through the TV channels looking for something light and mindless without drama or adrenalin.  I stopped on channel 4, which is our local Murphy broadcast station, when I heard a familiar voice.  Even the face looked like someone I had seen before but couldn't place how I knew that woman.  She and the gentleman wore white lab coats and stood behind a large table surrounded by herb mixtures.  Suddenly it hit me who they were.  They were the "owl lady" and her husband, "turtleman" who own and run The Whole Store in Ranger (20 yrs) where we buy all our pure fish oil and other supplements.  They have a time slot each Thursday night when they talk about herbal medicine, promote a healthy organic lifestyle, and answer questions from their audience.  At Wal-Mart and some other stores, in order to keep prices cheap,  many vitamins and supplements come from countries where there are no safety stand...

The cold snowy weather has been great for business!  I've been busy making lined drapes and curtains since the Christmas snow and the last snowstorm we just had.  These lined curtains are a winter-white and the customer may order more for all her windows if she likes how they make the room feel.  It's foggy and 45 degrees today.  Rain has melted more of the ice/snow mess on our mountain road so now we have mushy slippery clay but we're thankful we don't have to walk dogs.  The people who have dogs up here have to bath them daily after every walk.   We love our new little Tacoma and the freedom it has given us.

Made these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies last week when I found this recipe under "lifescript...healthy living for women." These oatmeal cookies have the familiar flavors of brown sugar and chocolate, but get a sophisticated twist from tahini (sesame paste).  Tahini helps lower the saturated fat by more than 66% while adding a nutty flavor. I combined Splenda and white sugar for the 2/3 cup of sugar and used all Splenda brown for the packed brown.  If you use Splenda brown, read the back of the package because you use less than regular brown.  I never add salt to my recipes. Also I threw in a couple of tbls. of wheat germ, also heart-healthy.  I like wheat pastry flour and use it often in recipes.  Most supermarkets carry tahini and whole-wheat pastry flour now.  They can both be found in health food stores. These are good cookies.  OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES  Ingredients : 2 cups old-fashioned oats (not quick-cook) 1/2 cup whole whe...

In order to fit into the rural community profile, we have added another vehicle to our driveway.  It's not a discarded old school bus or a rusty tractor, but we're looking for some of those to add to our collection.  What do you guys look for under the hood.......do you know? This was the most laid back car purchase experience we've ever had.  No pressure, no leaches approaching you with the sales pitch.  When we took the truck for a test drive, the salesperson didn't want to hold Cliff's car keys or make a xerox copy of his license.  We drove to an icy snowy parking lot andCliff liked the way the truck handled in 4-wheel drive so decided to buy it.  We drove off the lot with this temporary tag.....no numbers, no expiration date.   We even drove to CVS in Blairsville, Georgia to pick up our Rx and never got pulled over.  After signing papers, Cliff gave the dealer a check for the whole amount to hold until the money transfers on Wednesday...

How did I miss it?  Friday was National Dress-Up-Your-Pet Day!  Every Morning I "feed" the cats and dogs some kibble on freekibble.com after answering a trivia question.  Today's question started out with the fact that Friday was National Dress-Up-Your-Pet Day.  What stunning outfit did Chissie wear? (Larry and Pat's cat has her own closet full of fashionable wear for each holiday.)  Chissie even had her picture taken with Santa. OK.................who volunteers to put clothes on Maxine?! Yesterday turned out to be heavenly!The sun was with us all day which allowed the temperature to reach 51, normal here for January.  Saturday I received my new Lang calendar from Amazon.  Last year for Christmas, Lauria gave me a gorgeous calendar that featured colorful images of herb gardens.  As the end of December approached, a sadness come over me because I would have to say good-bye to my year of watercolor herb images and recipes.  Even more than ...