Archive for the ‘Encouraging Words’ Category


A Shout Out To Special
Neighbors

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

This past week was a really rough one for many Oklahomans in the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ Company area. A total of 25 tornadoes pummeled our communities that left homes, businesses and churches in shambles and thousands of people hurting and baffled. Many are still without electricity. We, here, got to play “Little House on the Prairie”, ourselves, for three days.

I am amazed at the Okie spirit that permeates the people here. No sooner had these wind monsters attacked and vanished, then neighbors, safe in storm shelters, emerged to check from home to home to make sure that fellow neighbors were OK. Just yesterday, we were amazed by the stories of two of our neighbors, one of whom we were helping to recover what was left of their yard and their home. It seems that the wife of this particular family sought shelter with her little boy in their cellar, only to have a tree fall on top of the cellar, while their house was being torn to bits. The two were trapped, unable to lift the door under the weight of the heavy tree. Another neighbor was checking each home and heard the wife screaming. With the help of others, the tree was removed and the scared and exhausted duo gratefully emerged to the shock of seeing their destroyed home.

The house immediately to their east looks like a giant game of “Pick-up Sticks” and the owner’s story is even more incredible. The same neighbor who discovered the two trapped in the cellar, saw that the only thing standing in the next home, was the very center of the home, next to where the garage had been and with door barely intact. Inside was the owner of the home. As his home disentegrated around him, this poor man was protected by the tiny closet in which he took refuge. He was obviously in shock when the neighbor found him, but he will be fine.

All across this area, friends, neighbors and even people from other cities have joined together in the cleanup effort, giving of time, money, food, clothes and household goods. In the subdivision where we worked on Wednesday and Thursday, alongside friends of ours, it was just amazing to see the tough resolve that the affected families exhibited. They cut downed trees, hauled load after load after load to the street curbs, piled bricks and two-by-fours, covered destroyed roofs if they had any roof left at all, starting at first light and finishing near dark, only to return to start again the next day. There was no anger and no bitterness, just a deep resolve to move on. The police officers at the entrance to the disaster areas have been friendly and sympathetic, asking for IDs, names and addresses in order to keep an accounting of people who enter and leave the areas. It has been announced that no looting has occurred. That is also amazing.

I just want to say that I am so proud to be an Oklahoman. We have been through so many tragedies including the Dust Bowl, the Oklahoma City bombing, the May 3rd, 1999 tornado that was the mother of all tornadoes, the collapse of the I-40 bridge at Gore and these tornadoes this week. Throughout this state’s history “True Grit” has been a characteristic and the character of the people who live here shines through every time. So here’s a shout out to the special people in the Sooner State. You know what the term “neighbor” really means!!

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Outside and inside of one of the homes nearby

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Debris across the road.


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Next door the owner was found in the one spot that was not destroyed.

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In another neighborhood, where we were able to help with a large group of friends, nearly every home was damaged.



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Many people willingly volunteered to do the dirty work of cutting up mangled and toppled trees, piling debris and fixing meals for those doing the dirty work. Thanks everybody!

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Posted in Encouraging Words, Explore Oklahoma | 6 Comments »






You Rip What You Sew

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
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Today is my mother’s birthday. She is 79 years old and among the many things she has taught us four girls and 6 grandchildren, she has proved that age is all about attitude. My mother is a member of Jazzercise, which she attends 3 days a week, and participates in national Jazzercise activities when they are close by. However, the most valuable lesson that she has given us is that joy is an inner peace in Jesus Christ that transcends circumstance and emotion. She is the picture of joy and her laughter is infectious even in the most serious of situations.
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I have written before about the traditions that are handed down in my family and I have usually shared those traditions passed on from my father’s branches of the family tree. There are also stories and skills from my mother’s side and there is one skill, in particular, that my mother passed on to us – the skill of sewing.

My mother is a seamstress deluxe. She has made my father suit coats, shirts, robes, etc. and made most of the clothes that we girls wore until we were old enough to make our own. Sixty years ago, she made her wedding dress. She has made quilts for all family members and knits and crochets to boot. Anybody remember those loosely knitted or crocheted vests of the 60’s and 70’s that were worn over a long-sleeved shirt and with a short, short skirt? Well, I have one. I still have it. My mom made it and I wore it with pride! I remember one shirt and short set that she made for the three of us older girls. The shorts were red and the tops were red gingham with appliqued cherries on the left bodice. I think that I would have been in around the third grade! Do I dare admit that this would have been in the 60’s too? We looked like we should have been the characters in a children’s sleuth series!

Mom shared a few of her thoughts on plying the needle and I am posting them here for your enjoyment:

“Sewing is something I love to do for those I love. When your Dad and I were first married, I found some fabric printed with a design that looked like some of the little German villages we both loved when we were dating. I got enough of it to make him a shirt for his birthday.
It was the first man’s shirt I had ever made and I was so proud of it ….until he put it on. When he turned around, I realized that I had cut the back with the print going the wrong way and all the little houses in the village were standing on their heads. He was so pleased that I made something for him that he said, “It doesn’t matter.” He wore it happily until it wore out.

My grandmother Allen sewed dresses for me from the time I was a little girl. She made me my first long dress, a pink organdy one I wore when I was crowned “Queen of the 4th Grade.” My mother also sewed for me. One day I came home from high school and she was down on her hands and knees in the living room surrounded by beautiful wine-colored velvet. I said, “Oh, what a beautiful new rug!” I didn’t realize that she was cutting out a long dress for me to wear to a dance.

When I was about 9 years old, I decided to make some napkins for my mother. I pulled the threads on the edges to make a fringe and I hand appliqued a design of cherries on the corner of each. I wanted them to be a surprise, so I stayed in my bedroom to work on them. One day I was working on one and suddenly thought of a question I wanted to ask Mother, so I just walked into the kitchen with the napkin in my hand. That kind of ruined the “surprise”, but she loved the fact that I had thought of and made them all by myself.

Sewing has been handed down in our family from grandmother, mother to daughter to granddaughters and grandson I’ve enjoyed teaching not only my daughters and granddaughters and my grandson to sew, but also our Japanese friends. I helped Toshie make herself a cape and showed another Japanese friend how to alter her jeans so they fit her tiny waist. It’s great to be able to pass on a skill to the next generation.”

I still have the pillow that my son, at age 8 and the one grandson, made with my mother’s patient hand guiding him on the sewing machine. It made such an impression on him that he hand stitched another one and painted ‘MOM’ on the corner. I still have that one too. Oh, and he is now 26 years old! I’m sure that he loves my sharing this with you! The wine-colored velvet dress that my mother wore to the dance is still around as well. One of the granddaughters is now making the costumes for college video projects. And the tradition goes on.

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A Granddaugther Plays Dress-up In The Wine-Colored Gown
My first project involved a shift – remember shifts – you know, those dresses with all of five seams (one on each side, one down the back and one at each shoulder strap and two darts?) They could be worn with or without a blouse underneath and they were about as flattering as a flour sack that had a hole cut in the top for the head to go through. And just to add a final touch of ugly, one accessorized with a silver chain belt that dropped just to the top of the hipbone and left about a foot of chain to dangle and clink-clink with each stride. It was 1967 don’t you know?! Go-Go boots would have been the piece-de-resistance, but I wasn’t allowed to have those white, zippered treasures. I remember that the material of this dress was white with brightly colored flat, cutout-style flowers with round middles. I mean bright. Red, Yellow, Royal Blue, Green Green. Could I have tried any harder to destroy any semblance of taste that my parents had attempted to pass on to me? Hyacinth Bucket would have died. I am constantly reminded of this dress because my dear grandmother, who made beautiful quilts, used the scraps of the dresses that we made, to create all manner of fine works of art. I have a flower garden quilt that she lovingly pieced, by incorporating many scraps of my first attempt at dressmaking. These scraps were also used for my first try at hand-piecing a quilt, guided by my grandmother, when I was in my teens.
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A glimpse at the material from my first dress,
put into my first attempt at a bowtie quilt

I am happy to say that my sewing skills increased exponentially from that first project and my favorite machine is still my old Kenmore 15814300, a gift from my parents when I left for college in 1972. They just don’t make them like that anymore. It will sew through three layers of canvas without a single huff or puff. I still have many of my old patterns from the days of bell bottoms and mini skirts and I am so pleased to also have some of the patterns that were my grandmother’s – my mother’s mom.

Of those patterns from the past, a few are of the old aprons that my grandmother always wore. She made them for herself and I remember her ‘clothes pin’ apron that she would wear in the backyard as she hung out clothes to dry on the line. It is from these patterns that I am very excited to introduce a new item that is being offered on the shopping page, produced by a lovely young entrepreneur who’s first goal is to purchase a new sewing machine! She has taken my grandmother’s patterns and put her own artistic skills to color and design and has come up with some beautiful aprons. The aprons will be debuted at the Taste Of Home Cooking Show in Shawnee, Oklahoma on April 9th. They will then be available online at the Shopping Page

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Some of my grandmother’s patterns
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A new Spring apron from a vintage design!
So Mom, as you see, another generation and even another family tree is carrying on the tradition. Happy Birthday and thank you for all you’ve given us!

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A Supermarket Education or “What I’ve Learned From Grocery Clerks”

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

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I probably spend the equivalent of two full days a month in grocery stores. To me, coupons are a legitimate form of currency and there is a certain kind of obsessive, competitive drive to my grocery shopping. I don’t care if my husband is out of coffee (I don’t drink the nasty stuff), if Folger’s isn’t on sale for $4.99 and I don’t have a coupon for an additional $1 off that can be doubled, hot tea or hot chocolate is just fine and dandy for breakfast until it does go on sale. Of course, I must add that this never happens since we have, at any given time, a full sixth month supply – all purchased on sale with coupons!

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I learned about stocked pantries and grocery deals from my dad, who was the grocery shopper extraordinaire in our home. My father used to take us girls with him (there were four of us) on Saturdays to go grocery shopping. I always supposed it was because he wanted our input into which cereals and candies we would prefer he purchased. Right. Today, I realize that he was just a glutton for punishment and that my mother was blessed. Ladies and Gents. Take lessons. My father was the original liberated man.

Dad taught me that one need not limit one’s focus to one store for all grocery needs. He searched ads from all of the local establishments, compared prices and made lists. He had a tight budget and lots of mouths. But I do remember buggies full to the brim and running over. My dad also taught me, by example, to get to know the checkers, managers and service people so that a shopping experience was not only pleasant and fun, but also if any problems arose they would be dealt with quickly and cordially. One might say that I inherited the family “bargain” gene on the DNA strand of competitive shopping. The game is, “find it cheap” and the rule is…well…there are no rules except “free is best”.

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Now, as the grocery shopper in my own family, I have come to realize that I continue to learn many unique truths on each excursion. The following are some of the things that I have learned. They are real. The names and dates have been omitted to protect the innocent:

1. The older you are and the younger the clerk the greater the chance that you will be called “honey” or “dear” or “sweetheart”. Live with it.

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2. If there is a bathtub in the store, hooked up as a decorative fountain, there is the possibility that people from other countries may assume that it is available for real baths for their small child, and that said child may bolt from said parent, running stark naked through the store, eventually attaching to your leg for cover. (Yep, really happened)

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3. Salmon comes in cans that are wider at the top and narrower at the bottom to accommodate the salmons’ little tails and big heads. (no joke – I really was informed of this by a young checkout clerk)

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4. If lemons are four for $1 and you buy three lemons, if your checkout clerk is under 30, you will cause him no end of mathematical grief.

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5. On a trip to Georgia, at a famous specialty grocery store – which shall go unnamed – I was enlightened by a fresh-faced, ponytailed, young man of the following: If Oklahoma is north of Texas (”It is, isn’t it?”), the reason that no famous specialty grocery store – which shall go unnamed – can be found in either state is because the trucks cannot make it over the mountains of Texas and Oklahoma. No kidding? “Oklahoma -where the wind comes whipping down the PLAIN“?

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The most important things that I have learned during grocery shopping outings, however, is patience and peace. No longer do I stress in long lines. No longer do I frown at a surly checkout clerk. No longer do I tap my foot impatiently at the person in the express lane with 50 items, or the newcomer at the self-checkout who can’t figure out how to enter the Fuji apples. I have learned that a long line means time to pray for each person in that line, a surly clerk is the opportunity to offer a smile and a kind word, and a shopper operating slowly at the self-checkout is an opportunity to extend a helping hand.

Yes, grocery store shopping has taught me that life is never too short for humor, kindness and a smile. Here’s hoping that your shopping experience is a pleasant one. And I promise that salmon are quite a bit bigger than those little, pink cans.

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Cooking Always Starts A Conversation

Monday, November 9th, 2009



(Don’t forget to leave a comment to enter the OPC Christmas Giveaway. Go to the Welcome Page to see the gift basket that will go to one lucky winner. OK, now read on!)



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When you find a store that has it all – charm, variety and uniqueness, with a kind and doting proprietor and assistants, you have to spread the word. Such is the case with Kaye’s Gifts at 8605 S. Western, just south of I-240 in Oklahoma City. Pam, Sharon and Joan will treat you as family and make suggestions that will get your creative juices flowing.

The store is stocked full of Made-in-Oklahoma products as well as all kinds of delicious confections from all over the country. Top these off with absolutely beautiful porcelain, knick-knacks and various other collectible items and you have the makings of a gift basket deluxe. And of course, they carry the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ as the single package or in our various gift bags.

Friday and Saturday was Kaye’s Gifts annual Christmas open house and anyone who attended received a lovely Christmas ornament with any purchase. I joined in with a demonstration “In My Own Little Corner on My Own Little Chair” (thanks to Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella) where I met many fun and interesting people and got to talk about my favorite subject: cooking! Since the store is packed with tasting stations throughout, for the festive weekend, I introduced my recipe for blueberry cobbler made with Shawnee Mills Blueberry Muffin mix. It was a hit. The men, especially, seemed to gravitate to the cobbler. Ladies, it really is true – “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” There are a lot of men out there who cook, I discovered, but they will head toward a home-cooked treat everytime!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, who purchased the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ and gift sets or who just took the time to chat. It was a great weekend. And “thank you” to the three lovely ladies who make Kaye’s such a special place to shop.

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The sun shone brightly on Kaye’s Gifts at 8605 S. Western in OKC

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A nostalgic Santa Clause and inviting place to sit

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Joan mans the juice and soup tasting. 		ImageHost.org]
Sharon is the Cookie Expert. 		ImageHost.org
Pam (the owner), Joan and Sharon


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A countertop full of Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ gift sets
~~Introducing the Child’s pastry cloth cooking set~~


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It was a pretty tight squeeze, but just enough room to dish out cobbler, bread sticks and chit-chat


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Life Can Be A Jar Of Pickled Peppers

Monday, August 17th, 2009

I’m trying to decide which is worse – vacuuming or cleaning out the refrigerator. Today, I decided to do the latter and am pretty certain that it would qualify as worse. I know that I hate doing it.

My grandmother always used to tell us grandchildren, as we helped her clean the table after dinner, that her mother told her, regarding leftovers, to “put them in the refrigerator and I’ll throw them out next week.” Right. Only my leftovers manage to stay in there for a month or two because I hate to clean the refrigerator. But I think I already said that. Somehow, whatever was leftover from Monday’s dinner a month ago, gets pushed to the back behind Sunday’s roast beef of two weeks ago, which is, of course, behind Saturday’s quiche from last weekend that I plan on freezing when I finish dividing and freezing the Papa Murphy’s pizza from yesterday – which is on top of three opened jars of apple butter.

You are probably thinking, “Three opened jars of apple butter?” Well, you must realize that there is a good explanation for three opened jars of apple butter. The first jar got lost behind the mayonnaise and so my husband assumed there was no apple butter and opened a new one. Then, my son came home and found some homemade biscuits in the freezer that heated up quite nicely in the oven and he had to have apple butter to ladle over melted butter on hot biscuits! He couldn’t find apple butter jar number one or two and so he assumed there was no opened apple butter and opened a third jar. Now you might ask why he would be able to find a third jar of apple butter to open. Right? The answer is simple. Our lodi apple tree was full and so I made three cases of apple butter. It is therefore conceivable that family and friends could contribute a dozen or so more opened jars to my refrigerator shelves if they are too timid to rummage through the four opened jars of pickled peppers (call me Peter Piper), the two bags of blueberry bagels, rows of condiments and spreads and the plastic refrigerator dishes balancing on top of one another. I suspect that my penicillin mold experiment that is my last piece of flatbread and the black fungus incubator that once was corn might be a deterrent, however, one would think that moving things around with a wooden spoon to avoid contact, could reveal at least one errant jar of apple butter.

Now, I really can’t explain the saran wrapped baglet of two tablespoons of leftover fried okra. I’m sure that I had plans for it, but now I forget what that was. The same goes for the one ounce bite of salmon from the other night. I’m on a diet and I’m trying to cut portions. I’m sure that I saved that for lunch one day – maybe to go with the two tablespoons of okra. The wrinkled cherries are another matter. I just forgot about them. And they were good too. Oh well.

As I scrubbed away at the porcelain walls, it occurred to me that my refrigerator is a picture of life. We have all of this stuff in us that needs to be thrown out and we know it…but it is no fun and we hate dealing with it. That refrigerator dish of anger at a co-worker gets stacked on top of another full of resentment toward a family member. A baggie of materialism is shoved behind a larger box of jealousy which is beside a whole row of jars of past indiscretions. Even those little bitty saran wrapped nuggets of smugness and complaint get kept for some later use.

For the past five weeks I’ve been participating in a study by Nancy Leigh Demoss called “Seeking Him” and it is slowly helping me to toss out all of the moldy leftovers in my life. I’m starting to feel pretty clean and sparkly inside and I’m not missing any of those things that I’ve been hanging onto for so long. It is amazing how cluttered we allow our lives to become. It is a good thing to take time out, on a regular basis, to assess where we are and what we need to get rid of. And it is a good thing to keep a box of baking soda – scripture – opened to keep away the odor of bad attitudes!!

Yep. Cleaning refrigerators and lives is about equally appealing. However, there’s nothing like that glistening, white, neatly arranged interior of a newly disinfected frig and there’s certainly nothing like the joy of a life back on track. I hope that I have encouraged you in your life journey but I can assure you that I won’t be offering to help you with your frigidaire!

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Three jars of apple butter       Still Life in a Refrigerator
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Treasures to Trash – er – Trashmen

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

Yesterday and today, July 17th and 18th, I had the privilege of participating in the Christmas in July extravaganza at Kaye’s Gifts at 8605 S. Western in Oklahoma City. There were lots of goodies to sample! It was fun seeing lots of new faces and some familiar ones and to demonstrate what I love; the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth. I introduced the new cookbook that just arrived from the printer on Thursday (they are in!!) and our new Bride’s Gift Basket.

I just love Oklahoma. The people are so friendly and so eager to share their own joy. I heard plenty of funny stories and experiences and I am hoping that people will email me their favorite funny cooking experiences or decorating adventures to share with all of you. If you have one that you would like to share, please submit it on the email page. Make us laugh!!

In the meantime, I just have to share one idea that was related to me by a lovely visitor to my booth. She is an avid baker and she described her love for making cookies. We both commiserated over the fact that it is hard to bake cookies when there are just two or one of you in the household – it just isn’t the greatest thing for the waistline! – so she explained to me what she has done to solve that problem.

Every week she bakes a full recipe of whatever cookie is her choice for the week, specifically on trash day. Then, she makes up a disposable plate of cookies, wraps them and when she hears the trash truck, she hurries out to meet her trashman as he picks up her refuse. She also gives cookies to her postman, but she makes an extra special effort to catch her trashman. She laughed that a few weeks ago she almost missed him and sprinted out to catch the truck. As she handed the trashman his plate of goodies, he grinned and said something to the effect of, “Thank goodness! I dreamed about these cookies last night! ”

This kind woman told me that people recognize our policemen and our firemen and many times, our postmen, but she said that those who pick up our trash are often forgotten and overlooked. How true! And yet, they perform a most basic and critical service. So this coming Tuesday, I will be baking cookies and heading for the road and I can’t wait to see the look of surprise on our trashman’s face when I hand him a plateful. Thanks to this woman for such a generous idea.

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All set up and ready to roll out the dough!

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May Is For Mothers – and Children and Dads and Grandparents and…

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

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She looked accusingly at me with those big, brown, second-grade eyes. I knew what she was thinking. My daughter thought I was totally wasting her time trying to explain why subtraction was a necessity of life. She got addition. She had that down pat but in her young mind, if you knew how to add things, why in the world would you want to take them away?

Slices of apple were strewn on the table; browning remnants of my explanation of “whole” and “part”. She was obviously bored. “Cooking!” I thought. My daughter loved to help me cook. I got out the chocolate chips and measured out one cup.

“OK. I’m going to make some cookies. My recipe calls for two cups of chocolate chips but I only have one cup. How many more cups of chocolate chips do I need to buy at the store?”

She perked up with a know-it-all look and matter-of-factly explained, “Enough to make the cookies!”

This month we honor a job that outshines most others – Motherhood. Proverbs 31 tells us about the wife and mother of noble character and that her children and her husband call her blessed. She is no small, wilting flower either. She sews and spins, cooks, buys real estate, runs a business, cares for the poor and needy, provides clothing and warmth for her household, tends to the affairs of her family, is never idle and is always faithful. Whew!! I know I do all of those things! (right) Don’t you? Ok, well actually, the joke in my home has always been that if the smoke alarm goes off, dinner is ready. In my defense, our smoke alarm is very sensitive!

I am an “empty-nester”, between teenagers and grandchildren. I have such wonderful memories of our children growing up and I hope they do too. I want to encourage you, this month and in this time of economic downturn, to slow down the pace of your life to make some memories. Moms – and Dads too - let your children see you cooking for them, encouraging them to help you read recipes, chop veggies, stir broths and knead doughs. Give them the chance to say to each other, “Do you remember walking into the house after school and it smelled like hot, chocolate chip cookies or freshly baked bread? Remember how Mom would let us have the end off of the hot bread all slathered with real butter? Yum.”

If you haven’t done much cooking, make the effort to try at least one new recipe a week and practice the art. Artists know that artwork is 1% talent and 99% knowledge and hard work. The same goes for cooking. Practice makes perfect and even then there are flubs! Look at your table as a big canvas and then paint it with all of the colors that are your dinnerware and your culinary creations! Sit around the table and laugh – and remember that time does fly when you are having fun. Happy Mother’s Day!

Peach tree in bloom

Peach tree in bloom

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