Peppermint Water

I wanted to share a great way to keep cool in this heat.  In TX it is very hot.  It is supposed to be 110 on Tues.  If I am in the heat for very long, I suffer from terrible, pounding headaches that make me useless for the rest of the day.  In fact my husband won't let me hold yard sales between June and September anymore because of my headaches.  As many of ya'll know, we went to Orlando and Charleston for the past two weeks.  I went to Sea World for a couple of hours by myself while my husband was working.  (He had a work conference and our hotel was across the street from Sea World and our tickets were good all week).  After just two hours my head was pounding and I couldn't enjoy the evening with my husband because of it.  I always carry a small spray bottle of peppermint water with me because of my asthma.  It is made with a few drops of peppermint essential oil http://stores.mybutterflyoils.com/-strse-76/Peppermint-Piperita-Mentha-Pure/Detail.bok and water.  It is also great for sanitizing the hotel room.  The next day I was in the heat and I could feel another headache coming on so I sprayed my face and the back of my neck with the spray frequently through the day.  I did not get a headache!  I did this the rest of my vacation and not only did it prevent the headaches but the peppermint in the water really helped keep me cool also! 
I know this was not anything about cooking or sewing, but I hope it helps to keep you cool.  I also included a link to buy a very high quality peppermint oil at a good price.
I don't have any pictures for this post so I'll share a picture of my Pippi.
Pippi sleeps with her tongue sticking out and I had just woken her up!

Vacation Food and boiled peanuts

After eating out for almost two weeks, I am very thankful for home cooked foods.  After a very long day at Sea World we just ate supper at the hotel.  I ordered organic chicken nachos, they were $12!  That is a lot of nachos, unfortunately my husband wouldn't share them with me.  They sure were good though!
For breakfast at the hotel on Mon. morning we shared a plate of organic orange souffle pancakes with an orange marmalade syrup.  They were delicious and just melted in your mouth.  The secret ingredient was ricotta cheese and melted butter instead of milk.  They also whipped stiff egg whites into the batter.  The chef gave me the recipe!  Forgot to take a picture of them though, sorry!

While Chris was working I walked up to an Indian restaurant with a buffet.  It was delicious!

They use this bread to eat their food.  I am definitely going to be making some for my husband.
We really enjoyed the guest luncheon at my friend  Cara's church.  We had homemade lasagna and German chocolate cake.  It was so nice to have a home cooked meal in the middle of our vacation.
I had boiled peanuts a couple of times and brought some green, raw peanuts home with me from Charleston to make some at home, and totally ruined them by adding too much salt!

To make boiled peanuts - green peanuts work best, but I can only find raw peanuts in TX, so that is what I use.  Put about 2 lbs of peanuts in a stock pot and boil for about 8-9 hours.  Add about 3/4 to one cup of salt at the beginning, depending on how salty you want them.  Let them sit for a couple of hours in the water after boiling if you want them to soak up more of the salt.  Or you can soak the peanuts for 24 hours and then boil for only 2-3 hours, I have not tried this way yet though.
To sum up my vacation photos, we were going to go to Charles Towne Landing the day we left, but it was storming, so my friend Cara and I went to the mall instead.  I didn't get any pictures of her!

 Here I am in the hotel room ready to go to Charles Towne Landing.  Remember this jumper that I made?  I was busy sewing clothes before my trip until I sprained my wrist!
Missy

I'm back!

I've been out of town.  My husband had a work conference in Orlando and while there we went to Sea World.  We also paid extra to pet the penguins.  I love penguins and was so excited!

This is Stephen, he is a king penguin and 17 years old.

This is Leon, he is a baby king penguin and only four months old.  He has not lost his baby feathers yet and is very soft and cuddly.

They are very friendly and like to nibble.  Stephen's feathers were very soft and he was suishy.

These were the only two penguins we were allowed to pet.

Here I am thanking my husband afterwards!

Here's my husband petting a sting ray.  They are very soft and velvetty.

We also rode the paddle boats which were kind of boring!  LOL

I hope ya'll don't mind me sharing some of my vac. pics on here!  I'll get back to regular blogging soon, I promise!
Missy

4th of July dresses

I'm sorry it's been so long since you have heard from me!  We had a 4th of July program at church on Monday and I helped sew two of the dresses.  I made some changes from the original pattern, it was from the 70's.  It had a high collar and long sleeves.  It took me a few tries to make the collar the way I wanted them.
My 15 year old nephew has been visiting this week and we went roller blading Tuesday morning.  There was a small hill, and I thought I would be fine, but I started going too fast and realized I needed to stop before I was going even faster.  To make a long story short, I ran into a trash can, knocked it over, landed on my bottom and sprained my wrist!  At least I'm pretty sure it is a sprain, I don't have insurance and nothing seems to be broken so I didn't get it checked.  Please pray the Lord heals it without any complications.
I'm going to Florida next week and I don't want to be encumbered by a sprained hand!  I also have an order for 5 aprons to make!
I hope you are enjoying your summer!
Missy