Lady in the Stone House is Celebrating

This week, ten years ago, I started blogging.  It all began with a pumpkin carving post and photo of my guys with Braden.  Blogging was a hot fad ten years ago and I jumped on that bandwagon.  Jerrie encouraged me and I started posting.

Some fun facts:

I have written 1,502 posts.  That is a lot of drivel!

There have been 3,879 comments.

Visitors from all over the world.  I originally had a different data tracker. So this isn't accurate.  If I combine the data there has been probably a million visits.  It's hard to believe that many people want a peek at posts of my everyday life.

United States	622819
Canada	14437
Russia	2935
France	785
Germany	631
United Kingdom	611
Australia	577
Ireland	497
Netherlands	320
Japan	266

Almond Joy Bread is my most popular post and still gets visitors every day. It has had 8,754 visitors.

Spinners for our Grad is my second most popular post with 1,563 visitors.

There have been many changes in ten years. The guys have grown up into men.  Good men. They continue to amaze me, humble me, and make me laugh.  Hubby and I are very blessed and grateful for God's love and protection over the last ten years.  Our guys have been all over the world.

There have been times when I am posting on a regular basis and times when life gets busy and difficult and then the posts slow down.  I have tried to keep it real and yet protect our privacy.

The guys have been good sports having their lives aired on the blog.

Hubby says it's a bit like walking around in your boxers. Everyone sees too much.

Max was spotted in the mall years ago by a reader, she exclaimed, "LOOK! It's Lucky Charms boy!"   Trust me, he wasn't impressed with the celebrity siting.

I made new friends.  Michelle and I finally met in passing last year.  We've been blog friends for years.  I got to visit Eloise in Texas. She was as delightful in real life as on her blog.  I've followed  Pioneer Woman since her beginning and it's been exciting to watch her blog grow into a show on Food Network, her published cookbooks and her Mercantile in Oklahoma. I am going to see her in a few weeks. She doesn't know that we are friends. Hee hee...

It is good to look back and see God's faithfulness in our lives.  The guys are out of the nest, Hubby and I have more fun than ever.  Ten years ago we were in the parenting trenches and now we are enjoying our vintage trailers and friends. I'm still cooking but not the volume of ten years ago.  We still live in the Stone House and have room for guests.

I considered calling it good after ten years of posting but in some ways it keeps my life more disciplined.  It keeps me writing, it keeps me trying new recipes, it makes me finish projects and I take more photos.

Thank you dear readers for coming along on this journey.  Good stuff, for sure!

Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese

Hubby and I hosted a birthday dinner party for a friend this fall.  I love an excuse to use my Grandma's wheat dishes and to try new recipes.  We served some fall favorites such as pork loin and stuffing and made some  new fall favorites.

To start the evening we enjoyed a beer tasting. I made new recipes for the appetizers. I made Maple Bacon Crack, it's popular on Pinterest.  And I made Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese.  It was the star of the show!

Sweet Potato Rounds with Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet potatoes large- I used three red sweet potatoes.
• 5 oz goat cheese
• 1/3 c candied walnuts or pecans- I didn't candy the pecans and I used chopped pecans
• 1/3 c cranberries dried
• 2 tbsp balsamic reduction *I used Nonna Pia's but Safeway Select has a good one too.
• 1 tsp sea salt + more to taste
• 1/2 tsp paprika sweet- I used regular paprika and I shook it a lot into the bag.
• 2 tbsp olive oil + more as needed
• 1 tbsp blood orange olive oil- Drizzle in Lynden carries this olive oil.  They ship.
• 3 tbsp wild honey- I used regular honey.
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 15 leaves basil small, for garnish-Can be skipped.

   Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F.

1. In a small bowl combine the olive oil, sea salt and paprika. *I used a gallon zip bag.
2. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 1 inch thick rounds.*I cut them less than one inch and the second time I made them I cut them to 1/2". I did this ahead of time and stored them in the fridge with the oil, salt and paprika in the bag.  When camping I roasted them before and then put them on my griddle in the trailer to reheat.
3. Take each sweet potato round and coat it in the olive oil mixture all over. Place them on a large baking tray without touching each other. *I put them on parchment paper for easy clean up.
4. Bake the sweet potato rounds for 8 to 10 minutes on each side until golden. *I baked them until they were done and caramelized.
5. Transfer to a serving tray and top with the goat cheese, candied pecans, and cranberries. Spoon a little bit of wild honey on top of each potato round and sprinkle with the lemon zest. *I used Safeway brand goat cheese. I used pecans because walnuts are not my favorite.  I used pieces of pecans but you could use whole and mine were not candied. I tapped the goat cheese, cranberries and pecans down a bit. Just to keep things together. I used the honey in a little bear. I'm not Martha so I didn't have time to run out and harvest some wild honey.
6. Just before serving finish with a light drizzle of orange infused olive oil, the balsamic glaze and garnish with the fresh basil leaves. *I forgot the basil leaves and no one noticed. When I took this recipe camping I didn't even pack my basil plant. One more thing might have tipped me over.
7. FYI- Since I used three potatoes I used more of the other ingredients and I cut them about a half inch so I ended up with more appetizers. I drizzled the honey, the balsamic glaze and the blood orange olive oil without measuring. I zest the lemon over the potatoes right before serving. 

 I took this appetizer to my last camping trip.  It was easy to roast the potatoes and take them along ready to be topped.

Happy Fall Y'all!

2017 Hippies in the '60's

Last week I went on my last camping trip for 2017.  My first stop was to stay at Max's house in George, WA. I didn't even unhitch as I was only staying one night.

I made dinner and it was good to visit with him.

My next destination was at Mar Don Resort at the Potholes. I was attending rally with a '60's hippie theme with friends. Connie was our hostess and did a lot of planning.

I had picked a bouquet before leaving Max's place.  The leaves and the grasses were a pretty fall combination.

I made lunch and enjoyed the view.  I love that point in my trips when I am set up, relaxed and excited to enjoy the gathering.

My tribe showed up and set up camp too.  Jean had learned to play cribbage the weekend before and suggested we play.  We played with teams and ended up playing a lot over the weekend.

Once we started playing, we couldn't stop, and had some close games.

On Friday we went to Michaels on the Lake for lunch.  In the evening there was a potluck and a DJ for dancing. It was a silly, fun evening.

It was too windy to go on the water with the pontoon boats so we went to the Fancy Farmgirl Vintage Market in Moses Lake. Jean and I bought the Chalk Couture paint and stencils. Our next stop was Good Will to find something to paint and Shelly found four bulletin boards in a package. Perfect.

We had lunch at Ten Pin Brewing. And then back to camp to do a little crafting. 

It was good to be encouraged by other women, to enjoy a beautiful spot and to enjoy Annie.

It was a beautiful drive home, I took some back roads.  I stopped for coffee and breakfast at the Red Horse Diner in Ellensburg. 

I got home and actually got Annie backed in and unhitched before Hubby got home from work.

Our driveway is small and has a lot of trailers on it so I was feeling pretty proud of myself.

My hippie sunglasses were from Target and not from the costume department.  They are comfortable and actually great for driving when the sunshine is coming and going.  Hubby isn't impressed with my sunglasses, just my parking.  heehee

A Fall Weekend

Last weekend was Hubby's weekend off work and we decided to make the most of it.

We went to an estate sale on Friday morning.  Franny. the queen bee of estate sales, always comes out of the house and welcomes the shoppers and gives her safety speech before she opens the doors.  This time she said, "okay people, we have a bit of a hoarding situation here today..." Which is probably what she'll say when she runs my estate sale some day.  We found some treasures and then went home to hitch up Annie for a quick getaway.

 By lunch time we were enjoying taco soup at Silver Lake.

 After lunch Hubby took a nap and I took a hike.

 We had a good time hiking, playing cards, making meals together, reading by the fire and just relaxing.  We didn't pack everything for glamping, just for camping.

 Silver Lake is my happy place in the fall.

Saturday after lunch, we came home, unloaded Annie and got ready to go to Octoberfest at K2 Brewery.  Mark and Karen were picking us up and Kassie and her parents were going to join us there. As we were getting ready Hubby mentioned that the only thing that could improve Octoberfest was if Sam wasn't gone to National Guards and could join us. I had just been thinking that myself!

 So happy!  Sam showed up and all of his buddies too.  Sam got released early and Collin drove to Fort Lewis McChord get him.  It was a big night for Collin, Jonny, and Jesse as Kulshan had brewed one of their recipes and it was there for the tasting.

Congratulations guys!

Hubby is telling Max's future father-in-law that he did all he could and Max is his problem now.

I kid. 

On Sunday we went to church and then had dinner at my Mom's apartment with my family.  Kathi made yummy enchiladas and rice. And then it was nap time.

I subbed last week on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So when Holly suggested Pie Pals coming to her house on Tuesday, I was giddy.  Because there is NO better place to visit than Holly's house in the fall.  Besides peach pie she served grape juice.  Holly is superSusiehomemaker so she grew the grapes and canned the juice.  

 Everywhere I looked I saw beautiful fall vignettes in her home, on her porch, in the garden.  It was glorious fall!

 She gave us a spontaneous lesson on how to make cute, no sew pumpkins.  It was a fun Pie Pals gathering but we still miss our Becky.

I should have taken more photos of her autumn splendor because it's not so cute at the Stone House.

Though it was inspiring and I have now done a few things.

Enjoy Autumn!