In this edition of Saturday Snippets…..
It’s Independence Day here in the U.S.A!
Happy 4th of July to us.
The quintessential summer holiday marked with sunny skies, warm to horribly hot weather, kids in swimming pools, family gatherings with potluck foods of all types, tasty desserts, and after darkness finally falls on a long summer day, glorious fireworks. 
My family is no different as we will gather to celebrate and observe the wonderful freedoms we’ve been given and of course, enjoy some good food.
I thought I’d share a recipe with you I found years ago in an ice cream cookbook ( uh, do you call ice cream, cooking??)
Anyway, it was a huge success and it’s been made for many July 4th celebrations. Not only is it amazingly delicious, it is beyond simple to assemble and then let the ice cream machine do the rest of the work.
*** on a side note, as I write this, said machine is making awful noises and I’m praying it will limp through one more go round of ice cream making.*** 😱
My scrawled happy face in the corner years ago is the thumbs up of approval for making again.
Nothing says summer coolness like real cream and fresh strawberries, and a little sugar thrown in for fun.
As we celebrate this year it is hard not to be mindful of all of the upheaval and concerns in our country.
However, even in the mix of difficulties, and overall unknowns with some things in our world, I still believe I live in the greatest country.
I’m proud to be an American and am blessed by all we have, the opportunities available, and most of all, our freedom.
Happy Independence Day!
Tell me, do you like to make homemade ice cream?
Tag: summer
Monday Musings
Welcome to another edition of Monday Musings, and not just another Monday but Labor Day here in the states. Labor day holiday weekend is the symbolic final salute to summer before heading into fall.
Unless you’re in south Texas then its just more summer till like…January.
I’m ready to send summer on outta here as it’s been crazy hot, with nothing more exciting than work and more work.
A change of season might offer up something a little more interesting.
Ah, Fall. It’s hard not to anticipate those cooler mornings, milder days, and favorite fall weather meals.
Speaking of fall… Starbucks needs to seriously cool their heels on the pumpkin spice thing.
They released it in August this year.
August.
I hate to say this but while I’m sweating just breathing I’m not wanting to cozy up to a warm beverage more suited to over sized cozy sweaters and boots.
They need to stop being so greedy and wait for their season to actually arrive.
Anyone with me on that?
And no, I don’t actually drink mentioned beverage as I find it to sweet.
I could be lured into temptation with a pumpkin spice scone though 😉
What beverage am I currently loving ?
The new nitro cold brew. I was informed I couldn’t get one larger than a grande due to the caffeine in it 😱
What is nitro cold brew you may wonder? It’s a cold brew coffee charged with nitrogen to give it a rich creamy head, similar to nitro draft beer like Guinness.
Whatever.
It’s chilled, rich and even black like I prefer, its smooth and almost creamy.
I pace myself though cause tasty or not, they are a little pricey.
Meh. So they butchered my name. I’ll still come when they call.
Speaking of work….
I’ve mentioned before I have a little vintage business with a large part of that flipping old, usually beat up, or discarded antique and vintage furniture. Not only am I doing pieces for my shop, I’ve been doing custom orders too. I did a rocking chair this week for a customer. It was her great grandparents and 100 years old!
I was privileged to work on this family heirloom.
This is what it looked like when I got it…
And then after…. Customer requested paint and finish and I was thrilled with how it came out…
I felt a connection with this piece and had to remind myself I had to give it back 🤣
I also got this cute antique half table this week.
It looked like this….
But then I did a little magic on it and now…
It looks sweet right?
Ok one more.
I scored this antique armoire today. It was a definite fixer upper. It had so many new things added to it…and things broken and needing to be put back together. At least she had all the parts.
This is what it looked like coming home…sad and needy…
I desperately wanted to jump into it but was committed to finishing a piece I was working on….so hubby jumped into it and…..
A couple hours later……
Doors glued together and put back on, mirror door rebuilt and mirror installed, and all of the added shelving removed inside.
The only thing long gone was the original back. We pulled off the cheap flimsy board on back ( which had lots of holes cut into it) and will replace with something a bit nicer.
I estimate this piece roughly turn of the century. I was happy it still had all of its castors (wheels)
Now it’s ready for me to do some magic on it. It just makes me happy seeing it more like it should be, closer to its original look.
In the world of health and wellness
Once again I noticed on a “health” product that it proclaimed to suppress your appetite.
Which kinda had me scratching my head. I never get that.
Can I make a wild statement here?
Your body gets hungry for a reason. Those hunger pangs are natural given signals to feed your body.
Food is fuel.
To ignore those signals or to attempt to suppress them is disordered thinking at best.
A healthy approach is to honor your body, it needs fuel. Eat an appropriate amount to satisfy your hunger with healthy foods and move on.
To ignore or attempt to suppress it will keep keep your mind on food and may lead to binge eating later.
Speaking of food
As I mentioned earlier, fall is coming and it’s hard not to think of tasty fall treats. I love baking so recently I went to my dessert file on Pinterest to see what treats might be a good experimental fall recipe.
So many choices! With pumpkin everything aways getting noticed I thought I’d dive into something apple oriented.
It had rave reviews….give it a try 😁 do you have any fall desserts that are a favorite?
Tell me …are you ready to wrap up summer? Do you enjoy changing seasons? What is your current ( new) favorite beverage?
Parades, Small Towns, And County Fairs
So this past weekend we celebrated Labor Day weekend in the good ‘ol U.S. of A. This holiday weekend typically signals the end of summer, the start of fall and school activities, and a general wind down of simple, lazy summer days.
The town I’ve lived and grown up in has its county fair all weekend long and on Saturday the streets are literally closed off for the fair parade. This was the 111th year for all the shenanigans.
The parade, like the fair, has definitely changed a lot over the years, but then so has the town. It’s not so small anymore and some of the small town things have given way to a bigger town growth and ideas.
One thing that remains with the Saturday morning parade is the gathering of families, a relaxed fun morning and an opportunity to run into friends you might not see all the time.
Oh, not to mention hanging out at the local bakery, drinking coffee and indulging in a rare pastry 😉
The parade has it’s usual variety of local business advertisements, some actual and real parade floats, bands, dance teams, military representation, and of course a plethora of clowns.
I’ve found over time people fall into two camps with clowns.
They love them… or hate them.
Then you have grown men that speed around on things like this…. this is what scares me… well not really… not anymore as they’ve made them kinda tame down their crazy speed circles they used to do…. right at the crowds…
Ok and you only see a few pictured here… there really are like… thousands of them… in their loud lil cars, doing donuts and stuff…
Of course it’s not really a country parade without… you know….tractors….
It is worth mentioning, we actually roll up the streets like, three times a year, for parades. June is a German heritage celebration, then in December of course it’s a Christmas parade.
I will freely admit the Christmas is my most favorite. Our town is full of white lights and is so beautiful. Every entry in the parade is light covered and there’s just a fun spirit in the air.
Well, wait. Maybe that’s the kettlecorn I’m smelling. And oh my gosh, if you’ve never had it… I’m sorry…. really I am.
It’s this amazing combo of sweet and salty and I always want them to bag it for me right after it’s finished. Truthfully though, it’s always fresh as there’s a line waiting for it.
Some years the weather is the right amount of crisp, cold. Other years, you can wear shorts 😛
Gosh, hard to imagine we’ll be at that parade in a few shorts months…
Ah yes. Small town USA. Even though we’re not so really small anymore, during parades and town celebrations it still has that wonderful vibe.
And no matter what, it’s home, and everything always feels good when you’re home.
sassyfitnesschick 