Sugar Pie Farmhouse » Warm Pie Happy Home

Yoo Hoo! I am back in Missouri with lots of photos

of my trip to Sunny California (my home state).

The fabulous Barn Sale–La Maison Rustique,

located in the wine country of Temecula California.

My sister Sherry from Prairie Home and Linda

the owner of the Barn, are the hostesses for this

monthly grand event.

Lots of creative talent and eye candy everywhere!

I met my dear friend Denise,

I hadn’t seen her in so long!

We had fun shopping!

My sister Sherry and I, we both have our

California Cowgirl boots on!

Linda made these amazing brownies,

they just melt in your mouth!

Sherry, Linda and my new adorable friend Joy, from The Vintage Rabbit, are in Chocolate Heaven eating these luxurious, still warm, confections. Oh Yes, and not to be missed, Linda’s Barn is featured in the newest issue of Romantic Country magazine! Good for You Linda and Sherry! Check out Sherry’s blog and Joy’s to read all about it!

Here is the recipe:
Bakers One Bowl Brownies

4 Squares Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13×9 pan.

Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on High 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and nuts; mix well. Spread into greased pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake).

Chocolate Icing:

6 tablespoons butter, softened

2 2/3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa or 1 Bakers square, melted

1/3 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamy. Add sugar and cocoa, mix well. Stir in milk slowly, while stirring. Add vanilla. Spread on Brownies and eat up!

Went to lunch with Sherry

and a good friend of mine Catiena from

The Vintage Housewife.

She was my next-door neighbor for a time.

Catiena is new to Blogland, check out her blog!

Had real Mexican food one night. Yum!

Here is my college son J.J. on left, (just turned 21!)

and my daughter Ashley and her husband Glen.

Went to Disneyland and had a blast!

Love that Tink!

Dark storm clouds rolled in and created a magnificent

background for this enchanting land of adventure….

Here are my gorgeous girls! Sweet as Cotton Candy,

Summer Rose (age 9) and

Ashley Ann (23).

They really are as delightful as they look!

I am sooooo blessed with great kids!

This tea-cup photo was taken with my daughter’s new Canon camera. You can take black and white photos and choose one color as an accent. So Cool!! I think all the new Canons have that option. I’m pretty sure I need one.

Another cool thing………..above this Firehouse on Main Street, is an apartment that Walt Disney would stay at when he came to visit. In the middle window, behind lace curtains, stands a Victorian lamp. Whenever Walt was staying there he would leave the light on, shining through the window, to let people know he was in the park. They keep the lamp lit at all times now, in honor of him. Unfortunately the glare on the glass does not allow the lamp to be seen during the day. At dusk, though, during the parade, sure enough, I looked up and the lamp was glowing!

Well, girls, it’s always good to be back home!

I need to get to my pie baking!

Thanks for stopping by for blog-pie!

Hugs,

Ruthann

P.S. Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments! I just love reading them!They are such a blessing and warm my heart! Keep them coming! I love it!

33 Comments Leave a Comment

With the gleeful anticipation of Spring just around the corner, I’ve been sprucing up the nooks and crannies of my home……The Theme: American Farmhouse Fresh!
It seems fitting because my home is built on an old cattle farm, which had been in the same family since the Civil War. When we purchased the property, the cows still roamed the hillside. They were so cute! I always thought it would be fun to have a cow of my own, I would tie a bell around her neck with a yellow gingham bow, and name her Daisy Mae!

You know how the Bible says that if you “delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart”? Well, ever since I was a little California girl, I’ve wanted to live in the Midwest. I just loved the idea of a small hometown and a charming farm life. Well, if you look at the map of the U.S. you will see that Missouri is smack dab in the middle! It truly is the Midwest! How cool is that!…thank you Lord!

On the mantel, above my cook-top, I have arranged some vintage “Market Fresh” provisions and produce from the “Piggly Wiggly” ….you know, that adorable corner grocery store from one of my favorite movies…. Driving Miss Daisy! Milk, eggs, bread, butter, fruit, vegetables, and a few canned goods would have been on the market list of any American homemaker in the 1940’s. This is an actual clipping of a Piggly Wiggly advertisement, probably from the late 1940’s…..a 25 pound bag of sugar costs only $1.50!
I love the simplicity of how life was back in those vintage years. A Homemaker (let’s call her…Mable…) did her grocery shopping without the interruption of cell phones! Mable gathered her goods, dashing a check-mark next to each item on her list, dreaming up the delicious, comforting, home-cooked meals she would serve her family.

I can imagine, tucked inside her leather pocketbook, with the snap closure, just as a reminder to buy extra sugar, she held a time-worn, vanilla stained recipe card that revealed the secret ingredients to her signature Sugar Peach Pie, that she would bake-n-take to the Church potluck later that week. Everyone loved it when Mable showed up.

Back then the typical homemaker, like Mable, kept things simple, taking care of the home and family came first, other obligations and activities came second.

Home arts were in full force, gardening, canning, sewing, baking, housekeeping.

Today we are so busy with too many obligations and demands on our time. We become easily overwhelmed and frustrated because things at home are showing neglect.

I‘m sure you would agree, as homemakers dedicated to nurturing our homes and families, we still want to create that same cozy nest for our families. A place of safety, warmth and love, so our dear ones feel treasured, understood and significant. But, that will only happen if we keep them our top priority.

One way I try to do this, is to get all of my work finished before little Summer Rose (age 9) gets home from school. That way, she has my undivided attention, and lots hugs and kisses! At dinner time she is in the kitchen along side me, learning and laughing. I also have a Daily Planner notebook (Franklin-Covey) so I can make sure I don’t serve up slices of my time and energy to other things or people, leaving only crumbs for my kids and husband. Hey, they want a piece or two of the Mama Pie!

Embellishing my home with vingtage elements and simple old fashioned goodness, remind me to slow down and smell the hot apple pie with caramel topping (even if it’s just a scented candle burning!). Little touches like, 3 mason jars in a row filled with red geraniums, placed in the middle of the kitchen table on a freshly starched vintage tablecloth, or a white bowl filled to the brim with shiny green apples. Simple but sweet! It makes a house feel like home.

“Our family members will carry the atmosphere we create in our homes for the rest of their lives.” ~Mrs. Dunwoody

Speaking of Miss Daisy, last time I was in California, I found the most adorable hat that would have been perfect on her, at the Barn Sale that my sister Sherry and friends have each month in the Wine Country of Temecula California.

Look at the dear little daisies and black velvet ribbon! Love it!

Back to the Kitchen! I love anything with polka-dots! So, I decided to add some to these plain-jane flower pails. They are so cheery, and look sassy, especially in lipstick-red!

Here at my “Betty Baking Center” (named after Betty Crocker, “America’s First Lady Of Food”) I painted the back wall Farmhouse White. Before, it was a wood-stained, medium brown color. It adds so much more light and really does look sun-fresh and scrubbed clean! Do you see on the left side, the cutest little red vegetable bin? Well, my sister-in-law Linda was at an antique store and called me right away to tell me about it. She said “you have to have it! It is so you!” She was so right! That same day I found a white-washed Victorian table on wheels, to set it on.

This way, I can see if I am getting low on potatoes and onions, so now, I never have to question if I have them or not when I’m shopping at the “Piggly Wiggly”! Goodness knows, I want to be a smart shopper, and not buy more than I need!

I also hung these light-as-air lacy curtains, adorned with garlands and tiny dots! (From J.C. Penny) They look like the kind you would find at a sweet rosy-cheeked Grandmas house, fluttering in the crisp spring breeze, fanning a hot pie on the window sill.

On my kitchen island sits a picnic basket topped with my favorite “4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie” lamp (designed after the vintage children’s poem)

Say gals! Check out these fab T-shirts my sister Sherry designed! They are so darling with a pair of jeans and some sparkly bling!

You can purchase them on her blog ………at Prairie Home! You can also find out about the next barn sale coming up this weekend….and I am so excited because I am going to be there!!! Wooo hooooo!

” ‘If I can just get home, everything will be all right.’ What a blessing it would be if every member of your family and mine knew that there is one place on earth where everything will be all right!”