MarytheKaytheBlog

Farmers have Invaded my Kitchen!

I don't mean to alarm you...but farmers have invaded my kitchen.

Want to see what I mean?

My husband and daughters are starting a brand new gardening project tonight!  This summer our urban sports camp is going to sport a mighty fine vegetable garden.  Dave found some wonderful heirloom seeds from the nearby Baker Creek Seed Company, and has gotten some good advice from our local College of the Ozarks Landscaping Department.  He's hoping to supply our camp kitchens this summer with some home-grown vegetables--like lettuce, watermelon, tomatoes, spinach, peppers, chives, and basil.  We have lots of other hopes for our garden, too, including getting the inner-city campers involved!

But, for tonight, in this first week of March, there are farmers in my kitchen planting tiny seeds in some dark fertile soil.

Just like life, huh?  Sometimes you have to plan far in advance...planting tiny seeds along the way, lovingly watering and caring...and waiting for results that we won't get to enjoy for quite some time.

What have you been planting and cultivating lately?

Help me pick out some great beach reads (pretty please?)

Today, I need your help!  Our family is heading to the beach soon, and I'd love some great beach read suggestions!  My favorite beach book is a paperback, that is not too heavy (in subject matter)--but is also not too "fluffy."  I love a book that makes me think, and is fun to talk about with others.

Oh, and I almost forgot!  I only like fiction.  You think I'm kidding, right?  Nope.  I'm a sucker for a good story.

So--what do you think?  Do you have any great suggestions for me?  What have you read recently that you really loved?

(Psst!  Local friends--do you have any great books I could borrow?  I promise will try not to drop it in the pool, or anything...)

So...suggestions???

Spring Table Preview: Place Cards

I'm working on a longer post full of happy springy photos and ideas, but I thought I'd give you a little preview today...

Recently, I decorated a pretty Spring Table for a cooking class event at our church.  For my table, I focused on ideas that were EASY to do, INEXPENSIVE, yet PRETTY.  Ahh--3 of my favorite words!

The place cards hit all 3 of those wonderful words!  Want to know how easy they were?  I only did 4 things to create these Spring Place Cards...

1 - I bought a package of 8 yellow silicone baking cups at Hobby Lobby.  (They were $3.99--but 40% off!!)

2 - I filled each cup with jelly beans (after eating...quite a few!)

3 - I used a toothpick, and stuck it into 1 jelly bean.  Sometimes, I used my fingernail to "pierce" the jelly bean, if it was being stubborn.  I did break a couple of toothpicks before figuring out the fingernail piercing method.  (A highly technical process, as you can see!  Ha!)

4- I cut little rectangles out of plain notecards, wrote on the names, and taped to the toothpick.

That's it!  4 easy steps to creating darling little Spring Place Cards!  And won't your guests just love nibbling on the jelly beans?

What's your most recent EASY, INEXPENSIVE, and PRETTY idea??

After the Storm

I almost didn't write tonight.  But, since the last post I wrote was 2 days ago, and it was about the tornado that hit our little town, I figured I'd better post something, or you all would send in a search team to find me.  Only...you'd find me tidying up my messy house, doing a load of laundry, making a batch of strawberry freezer jam, and putting away approximately 42 pairs of my daughters' shoes they have strewn all over the house.

And none of those things are tornado-related.  I have no excuse for not writing after the tornado--except life.

We have power back at our house, and are SO thankful that no lives were lost in the tornado's destructive path.

We have friends who have lost trees in their yard, and lived through the tornado's terrifying roar, while destroying their neighbor's homes.  We know people who have lost their homes.  And we know people who have lost their jobs and their businesses to the tornado.

And yet, we have hope. 

Branson is a small town, with a mighty spirit.  Just ask anyone who lives here.

Oh, but we don't have any special formula for that hope.

There's no big secret why our town has such a mighty spirit. 

Once you get to know us, it's pretty clear... Whether times are good and our economy is booming and people are smiling; or times seem devastating, and crumbled buildings and homes and lives seem overwhelming...

We look to the One who created it all, created us all.  He will carry us through.  Good or bad, He will sustain us.  He will give us peace.

Our town worships a faithful God.  Inside brick churches and wood, big churches and little, wild and crazy churches and stuffy ones, and even a log cabin church or two.

And come Sunday--we will be worshipping Him again.  Thanking Him for life, and for protection.  Thanking Him for the strength to rebuild and renew.

Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope. 

 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. 
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”

-Lamentations 3:20-24

How do you stay hopeful?

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