Vintage Thingies Thursday

This is my first week to participate in Vintage Thingies Thursday. I've been looking at past posts and pictures and have decided to commit.

This week, I would like to share a vintage cookie jar. This is the newest addition to my vintage things as I got it last weekend at an auction. The auctioneer said it was Hall, but I usually don't believe what he says. There are no markings on the bottom, so I don't know the maker. I'm still researching.

Of course, a vintage cookie jar needs to be filled with cookies! This week's cookies are Double Butterscotch Cookies.

Make sure you check out all the pictures from the other participants of this week's VTT at Coloradolady. Thanks for hosting this weekly event, Suzanne!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. PORTER PANTS!

It is hard to believe our grandson, Porter, turns one today! He was born six weeks early and had us all so worried. Now he is doing all the things a one year old boy should do. And he is quite the ham. Must take after Grandpa.


Happy Birthday, Porter! With lots of kisses and hugs from Grandpa and GramsBea!

RECIPE - My Momma's Oatmeal Cake

Before Christmas, I was thinking about all the yummy treats my mom baked when I was growing up. This cake was one of my favorites. It seems like it has been decades since I had this cake. Then I started thinking about when the last time was...probably junior high or earlier. So yes, it has been decades!

I made this cake last weekend and it is every bit as good as I remember it. It is also quick and easy.

Oatmeal Cake

1 c. quick oats
1 1/2 c. boiling water
1/2 c. butter (1 stick), softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Topping
4 TBS. butter, melted
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 c. flaked coconut
1c. chopped nuts (Mom's recipe does not call for nuts, but I add nuts to almost everything!)

Preheat oven to 350F. Add the boiling water to the oats and let stand while mixing the other ingredients. Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and mix well. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. Add oats and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

While cake is baking, mix together the butter, brown sugar and milk for the topping. When cake is done remove from oven. Pour topping over hot cake. Sprinkle with coconut and nuts, if desired. Place cake under broiler until coconut begins to brown. Watch carefully, as once it starts, it browns quickly.

If you can wait, allow cake to cool before serving.

In the Pink

Like many North Carolinians, Larry and I are wearing pink today. We chose to wear pink in honor of Coach Kay Yow, head coach of the North Carolina State Wolfpack women's basketball team. She lost her long battle with breast cancer on Saturday.

photo courtesy of USA Today

I'm not a NCState fan (although better them then UNC or Duke!). But I am a fan of strong, influential women. Coach Yow influenced a lot of people on and off the basketball court in a very public campaign against breast cancer since she was first diagnosed with the disease in 1987.

It seems trite to say that Coach Yow's strength and spirit will live on in the lives she touched. But she has touched so many lives, she will be heard for many years to come.

Oh, the Things We Find

Larry took a look into the attic space in preparation for the installation of the HVAC unit in the upstairs. This is what was right above his head. They are no longer active and who knows how long they have been there.

Speaking of HVAC...We are finally getting it installed! It has been a long, cold winter and we have survived without too much whining. The company installing the system said it would take two to three weeks. Now this seemed like a long time to me. I was thinking a week, ten days tops.

The two man crew arrived last Tuesday at around 10 AM. After walking through the house for twenty to thirty minutes, they left to get some equipment. An hour and a half later, they returned. They cut the holes in the floors for the registers and called it a day at around 3:00. On Wednesday, they never showed. It was cold that day. Maybe too cold for them to work?

Thursday they got here around 10:00 again. They put in a good day's work, shoveling dirt out from the crawl space and getting the equipment put down in the basement. I began to think that we might be able to be warm by the first part of this week. But then they were no shows on Friday. I'm getting a little bit perturbed.

I knew when we decided to renovate this place I would have to put up with a lot of mess from time to time. Currently, there is a thick layer of dust and grit covering everything on the first floor. This is due to the digging done in the crawl space on Thursday and from the sanding Larry is doing on the woodwork in the front parlor. I was spending a lot of time in my studio upstairs because it was almost dust free. But that all ended Saturday when Larry broke through the plaster ceiling in preparation for the installation of the attic ladder.

I hate having all my stuff in disorder!

Fire and Ice

Tuesday morning we awoke to snow. About an inch had fallen. It was no surprise to as they had been predicting this snowfall for several days. What was a surprise was that schools in our county had been canceled by the 11:00 news on Monday night. Before any snow had fallen.

Being from Kansas, I find it hilarious the way the southerners deal with snow. They don't. Everyone stays home no matter how much snow falls. There is another reason they stay home. No one knows how to drive in snow and or ice. If you're smart, you stay home to avoid the stupid people who think they know how to drive in the winter weather.

Thursday afternoon, Larry and I were both working upstairs. He hollered at me and said, "There is smoke coming from Ta's house." When I looked out the upstairs window, I could see heavy smoke rolling from the back of the house. Seconds later, glass shattered and flames began shooting out the kitchen window. Also at that time, the fire department arrived. They had the fire out within ten minutes.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. Ta's dad, Ralph (I call him Papa Ta), was the only one home at the time. He put his lunch on the stove to warm then went into the living room and fell asleep. A smoke alarm went off waking Papa Ta and he got out of the house.

This is the second fire for this family. Several years ago, they had a house fire. Ralph about died in that fire. His leg was so badly burned he ended up losing it and now wears a prosthesis.

Ta came over late in the afternoon to ask if we would keep an eye on their house while they were away. The Red Cross would put them up in a motel for three days. After that, they will stay with family and friends until they can get the house repaired.

Ta seemed to be dealing with the situation well. He was telling us how the fire happened. He said, "My daddy heard the smoke alarm and he ran out of the house. I can't see my daddy runnin' but that's what he said." Larry and I had to laugh.

Larry got some really good pictures of the fire. They can be found on my Flickr page.

Post Holiday Happenings

It's been a while since I posted. Christmas kept me very busy. Somewhere around the end of October, I decided to make aprons for my girlfriends. In the search for the perfect fabric for each, I found fabrics that reminded me of other important ladies in my life; daughters and daughter-in-law, mother and mother-in-law. Twelve aprons in all. Pictures of all these aprons can be found on my Flickr page.

Then there was the rag quilt I decided to make for Larry's mom's birthday. Follow that with rag quilts for both grandsons for Christmas. Check out the pictures of these quilts on my Flickr page.

Then there was all the baking. Fifty dozen cookies and twenty loaves of quick breads.

And somewhere in there, we closed on the sale of our house in Kansas.

And we can't forget our ninth anniversary on January 1...

I've been in a layed back, no rush January. Time to get back to a schedule.