Pinterest Strikes Again!

I absolutely LOVE Pinterest! It is my crafting and cooking dream. I find myself pinning everything cutesy and delicious looking. I am one of those people who pin a ton of stuff and hardly do any of it. Not because I don't want to but mostly because I don't have time.
The week before school started this year I decided I needed a cute wreath for August-September and a Halloween wreath. So I looked at my pins and found two amazing tutorials. Here are the results. Pretty amazing and I finished BOTH in one day.

I know they both are kind of fall-esque...but I love them and they were SO easy! The burlap wreath was super easy it only took like a half hour. The pumpkin one was more time consuming. I think it took me about 1-2 hours.

Skunk Debacle

A couple of weeks ago Jersee woke up in the middle of the night at 2 am needing to go out and use the bathroom. Mike being the wonderful husband that he is got up and took the dogs out. He is very vigilant at night making sure they don't bark. When they come back in our entire house immediately smelled like tires were on fire in our house. Kali came up and got in bed with me and my nose was on fire. I couldn't place the smell that is how bad it was. I got out of bed and looked at Kali and she had saliva dripping out of her mouth. This only happens when she throws up repeatedly. I went and got some toilet paper to wipe of the excess saliva and immediately it was replaced by a fresh batch...also irregular. It then clicked that my poor baby had been sprayed by a skunk. I went out in a panic to talk to Mike and I see Jersee dry heaving next to her kennel and rubbing her nose of the carpet and trying to scratch the smell out of her nose. I tried finding out how to get rid of the smell and I only looked at one site which said to just wash them over and over again. Mike being so wonderful washed Kali 3 times and Jersee twice. We put them back in their kennels and opened all of the windows in our house. I couldn't sleep because of the smell and I can't fall asleep when I breath through my mouth. I tried using Sunbreeze (which is basically like Vicks Vapor Rub) thinking that putting the strong smelling liquid on my chest would help drown out the smell. Nope couldn't even catch a whiff of it. I then resorted to spraying my pillow with perfume. That seemed to do the trick as long as I kept my nose in the same area of my pillow.
The next day I researched some more and found a miracle solution. 1 quart hydrogen peroxide 1/4 C baking soda and 2 tsp. dawn dish soap. You then give your dog a bath with this mixture and let it set for 5 minutes. It worked like a charm. And my dogs were back to smelling like normal the next day (well all except for Jersee's snout where she got the brunt of the spray).
Because the smell was so bad it imbedded in all of our soft fabrics. This began the great washing of 2012. We had to wash all of our pillows clothes and bedding. We bough Nature's Miracle Skunk Deodorizer from the store which you put in with your laundry soap. This also worked like a charm. The dogs bedding which had come in contact with the oil-like spray had to be washed multiple times but they smell great now.
We are still finding things in our house that have to be washed but our house is almost back to a normal smell after 2 weeks. I can't believe how bad our luck was that night. What are the chances that our dogs would need to use the restroom at the exact time that a skunk decided to come and take a tour of our FENCED back yard? Oh well, lesson learned and now I'll know what to do if it ever happens again. One things for sure. The dogs won't be allowed back in the house until they have been washed down OUTSIDE with the miracle mixture. At least all of our clothes are clean:)

Peach Summer

Last year I bough peaches at Allred Orchards and I jarred them. They didn't last long. I had to tell Mike to stop eating them because we were going to run out before winter actually set in. This year I bought double the amount. I was able to try two different kinds of peaches. I jarred peaches again but we also had enough to freeze for smoothies and enough to make two of the most delicious fruit pies ever!

My bother Merlin always makes fresh fruit pies and they ROCK! I forget the recipe every year when I go to make this peach pie. This is the recipe.

Fresh Peach, Pear, or Strawberry Pie

(Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book)

8 cups medium strawberries or 6 cups sliced peeled peaches or pears

2/3 C. Water

2/3 C. Sugar

2 T. Cornstarch

Baked pie shell

For glaze, in a blender container or food processor bowl combine 1 C of fruit and water. Cover and blend until smooth. Add enough additional water to equal 1 1/2 C. In a medium saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in blended berry mixture. (My bother also adds a dash of kosher salt and a squeeze of lemon). Cook and stir over medium heat till mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Cool for 10 minutes without stirring.

Spread about 1/4 cup of the glaze over bottom and sides of baked pie shell. Arrange half of the fruit in the shell. Spoon half of the remaining glaze over fruit, thoroughly covering each piece of fruit. Arrange remaining fruit over first layer. Spoon remaining glaze over fruit covering each piece. Chill for 1 to 2 hours. Garnish with whipped cream ( I add a little almond extract in the cream and it pairs with the peaches wonderfully!).

Last weekend Mike and I was able to go to the Farmers' Market. I LOVE going each year. One of the things I look forward to getting is the fresh flavored lemonades. This year we tried peach and strawberry. They have blended fresh fruit and they spoon that over the ice and them fill it with fresh squeezed lemonade. We also got two crepes with the same fresh strawberry topping. SO GOOD! I typically don't enjoy fruit drizzle over crepes because it just tastes like sugar and nothing else. This tasted like fresh strawberries. Not too sweet at all.

Aren't those BEAUTIFUL!