Sunday, August 21, 2011

Just Plugging along

Today we finally have our family celebration of Papa Pea's birthday. Admittedly three days late, but it will be a special day nonetheless. Chicken Mama is preparing meat loaf (or buffaloaf as she's using ground buffalo meat) and mashed potatoes which her dad requested, and I'm making the gravy, spinach for a veggie and Freshy's Blueberry Pie for dessert, also requested by the Birthday Boy.

I have to take time to tell a little story that I think about every single time I make this particular pie. A while back one of my fellow quilter's family was going through a tough time. I made and took over a meal and a pot of soup for them. I also took this pie which was a big hit. D asked me for the recipe which I gladly shared with her. Months later she came to a quilt meeting with her hand swaddled in one honkin' big bandage. She explained that while making Freshy's Blueberry Pie for a special family get together, she had (get ready for this . . . ) stuck her thumb into the electric beaters when she was making the whipped cream. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Her thumbnail is now a little funny looking but otherwise she's okay. So that's why I think of D whenever I make this pie. (I'm also super-careful when whipping the cream!)

Besides Papa Pea's special meal, what else does he want to do to celebrate? Well, he's currently out doing some much needed weed whipping (oh gosh, I'd better go stand in front of the clematis!), and I have a sneaky suspicion he'd really like time to work on our out-of-commission lawn mower. The repair parts finally arrived yesterday and he'd be glad to get them installed and cross that little job off his list. (Hey, it's his birthday celebration day and if that's what he wants do do, who am I to stop him?)

I have a deadline of Tuesday night to get the kitchen walls repainted. B can give us time on Wednesday and we plan on using her expertise to help install the kitchen floor tile and fireproof tile under the wood stove. Hubby and I have laid our share of tile before but this one may be a little tricky. We're working with a very uneven floor and some special prep work needs to be done prior to laying the tiles. When you consider that this part of the house was originally a resort's bunkhouse on a lake about 35 miles from here, is it any wonder the floor might be a little wonky in spots?

We need to disconnect and move our wood stove out. First of all, it needs to be moved so we can install the fireproof tiles under it at the same time as we lay the new kitchen tiles, and hubby also wants to give it a new coat of paint while he has it out of the house.

Okay, what am I doing still sitting here? I need to get on with things. Our weather has been just loverly . . . sunny and warm during the day with a lilting breeze and cooling down enough at night to make sleeping snuggled under the covers delightful. We've both had two consecutive nights of good, long-enough sleep and it feels wonderful. Hope your weather is good, too.

16 comments:

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Tell papa pea to have a very happy birthday weekend even if it does involve a lawnmower and amputation inducing pie.

Lorie said...

Have a wonderful celebration. Happy belated birthday Papa Pea.

judy said...

ouch pie---have another lovely day you 3. how long do you think we can rely on this beautiful, gorgeous spectacular , nice weather?

Sparkless said...

Glad to hear Papa Pea is getting his birthday celebration, Happy Belated Birthday!

Moving a stove sounds like one of those really messy jobs. Good luck getting all the stuff done.

Dirt Lover said...

Happy Birthday, Papa P!! Glad you get to do what you want on your birthday celebration, and also get what you want to eat. A buffaloaf? Sounds great! We make, I guess you would call it, elkaloaf. A new name! I'll remember that! Maybe tonight for dinner! And mashed potatoes. Mmmm, I love knowing what we're going to have this early in the day.
~~Lori

Patty said...

Happy birthday, Papa Pea! Sounds like you're keeping really busy. OUCH! I'll be remembering to keep my thumbs away from the mixer blades. ;)

Mama Pea said...

Jane - Thanks for the b-d wishes. Just finished a great meal . . . after he finished mowing the lawn!

Lorie - Thanks so much!

judy - It sure has a feel of fall in the air . . . which is much, much better than that hot, humid yuck!

Sparkless - Yup, stove pipe will undoubtedly let go of all kinds of dirty stuff. Thanks for b-d wishes for Papa Pea.

Lori - Our buffaloaf was delicious! How was your elkaloaf?? ;o}

Patty - Thanks, Patty. We are busy these days, that's for sure!

Erin said...

Ouch, what a story! Good that you pay tribute in the pie's name to the whole traumatic event LOL! I hope you all had a great day and Papa Pea got to do something else besides fix the mower :) So... did you or the former owner have the bunkhouse hauled in from said resort or was it a satellite property owned by the resort? Your place just gets better and better, I love hearing all these bits and pieces of the history, hopefully I can grill you about it in person in the coming year! (especially the story about the druggies and wasn't it a fake grave you found? LOL....)

Judy T said...

I hope Papa Pea had a fabulous celebration. I think everyone needs at least a week of celebrations.
Good luck with the tiling. NOT one of my favorite jobs.
Judy

Anonymous said...

So if it's made with beef, its a beefaloaf, right? Hope Papa had a wonderful birthday and you got all your chores done...

Anonymous said...

Wow, busy busy! Hope it all goes smoothly :)

Susan said...

A day late and a dollar short - as usual - but I hope you all had a wonderful time. I am with Papa Pea. I think that doing something - ANYTHING - that doesn't have to do with remodeling would be fun! I swear your house is going to be marvelous!

The Apple Pie Gal said...

No wonder you laugh everytime you make that pie. Well it could be worse, it could have been her tongue!

I think when it's your birthday, you should be able to do whatever makes you happy. Which is why I often like to be left alone :o) Ahhh...peace!

Happy Birthday to Papa! xoxoxo

Hope the clematis survived!

Sue said...

Sounds like the perfect celebration--let em do what he wants. I've been known to WEED on my birthday. And yes. I like to!
Enjoy the beautiful weather!!!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Your questions would make for a good post . . . or maybe not. Don't know how interested other readers would be. So when are you guys heading up again????

Yep, the "bunk house" was brought here by a previous owner who planned on using it for a shop while he built a real house . . . which never happened.

Judy - At this point, I can think of other jobs I like less than tiling!!

Ruth - Methinks we could go on and on with this . . . beefaloaf, vealaloaf, lambaload, porkaload!

Stephanie - Yup, busy, busy for sure! But aren't well in one way or another?

APG - Glad to report clematis is intact.

First rule of baking, always turn off the mixer before licking the beaters.

Sue - I know exactly what you mean. One year for my birthday (early spring) I asked my daughter to help me for a day prepping in the garden!

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Oops, I skipped right over your comment. (I got up too early this morning?) Thank you, m'dear, for your kind words. I'm hoping this week brings some "see-able" progress once again. I need that to keep me going!