Being A Pack Rat

All my life I have had a hard time getting rid of things. Last week I finally threw away the feather pillow I have had since I was three years old. I wasn't using it, it was just taking up space on my bed with some other pillows. Years ago I left it at a motel in North Platte, Nebraska. On our trip back through I stopped and picked it up. It had been stored where there was lots of cigarette smoke, so it smelled terrible. When the covers wore out, I would make another one. The original mattress ticking was long gone. So I threw a part of me away last week. One thing I do have is my Great Grandma Effie Bird Crawley's vintage aprons that she made long ago. I probably have about ten or so. She made her meager little living out of selling these aprons. She was a widow for many years. When I found these aprons when I was cleaning out my grandparents Daley's home, I found them in a drawer, all starched and in tissue paper, ready to be sold, or given to someone.

Going Green

I read this article every Sunday in the Salt Lake Tribune. It is by Mary Jane Buttars, who lives on a farm in Moscow, Idaho. She was born in Ogden, Utah, and is the most interesting person I have ever read about. She is a believer in organic and going green. I made this laundry soap:

2 cups powdered hand soap (Borax suggested)
1 cup washing soda (Arm and Hammer)
1 cup Borax (20 Mule Team Borax Natural Laundry booster

Mix all ingredients well and store in an airtight plastic container. Use 1/4 cup per load of laundry. I bought all of the ingredients at Macey grocery store. This will save you $$$$$$, and it gets your clothes REALLY clean.

Brown Bag Apple Pie

I inherited (or took) Joel's mom's recipes when she died. She had some great recipes from her days at BYU (that would be during the fab fifties)and recipe collecting from all the LDS wards that have published cookbooks. Here is one of them that was clipped from a newspaper:

Brown Bag Apple Pie
Crust: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup oil, 2 T. cold milk. Combine and mix until blended. Pat into the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate.
Filling:
4 cups slices apples, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 T. flour, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp.
Cinnamon. Combine dry ingredients and loss them lightly with the apples, Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Add topping (below).

Topping: 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup butter, room temperature, 1/2 cup sugar. Combine and mix with fingers until crumbly. Put the pie in a large brown paper grocery bag. Fold to seal, staple shut. Bake @ 350& for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove from oven and let cool in the bag.

I need to get with it!

I haven't posted anything for so long. I don't know why, maybe because of all the many things that have been going on since the death of my dad. There was Memorial Day, which used to be called "Decoration Day". Our family decorated lots of graves at the Provo Cemetery. We even "geo-cached" at the Provo Cemetery. Jenny found a "micro" there and was really thrilled. Dad and Gayle's grave (at the Orem Cemetery) do not have markers yet, but they both had tons of flowers and remembrances. It has rained so much this past month, that we have not done a whole lot of things. I planted wildflowers from seeds, and they are doing well. I have a small garden with tomatoes and peppers. Dave came from Palm Springs for a weekend visit and we did the Brick Oven Pizza thing. My grandson Brady had a "jumping on the bed" accident and lost his four bottom teeth. Jenny was tending him and was right there folding clothes, and he hit his jaw on the bed frame when Jenny caught him. It was traumatic for everyone concerned, but he mended and things are great. I reminded his mother Ashleigh that she lost her four top front teeth to an accident on her bike, and she survived. I am thankful that things are back to normal now and thankful for our many blessings.