Friday, September 30, 2016

Allenton Volunteer Fire Department Wetdown Cake





A long standing tradition in the fire service, a "wet-down" is a ritual celebrated by many fire departments in the United States in which firefighters commission a new fire apparatus by anointing it with water sprayed from the retiring pumper's tank water or from a neighboring firehouse's apparatus. The ritual dates back to the late 1800's when horse drawn pumpers were used throughout the nation's Fire Service.
Horses that were commissioned for service would be washed along with the pumper at their newly assigned firehouse and backed into the firehouse bay. The firefighters would then fit the new horse with its harness placing the company in service. After every run, firefighters had to hand push their pumpers back into the bay and ready themselves for the next alarm.

When new horses or pumpers were purchased neighboring firehouses, department chiefs, and citizens from the surrounding community would attend the ceremony to celebrate the new powerful addition to their neighborhood firehouse. Local clergy came to bestow blessings upon the horse throwing holy water unto it for long life, strength, speed and good health. The blessing would serve to ward off any evil spirits or "gremlins" that could affect the firehouse's newest addition.

Today, fire departments continue to celebrate this tradition with the help of a driver in the seat and the company's transmission in reverse. After being wet-down and blessed, the company is slowly rolled backwards into the bay while firefighters assist by pushing upfront. Nowadays, the integration of Fire and medical services, Rescue Trucks have earned the right to be included in the ritual. 









I  was honored to do the cake...


 Glitter water and marshmallow tires..oh my





 Dozens of local residents  joined the Allenton  Fire Department on  September 28 2016, to dedicate a new fire truck.


It’s not a common occasion—it’s only once every several years that the city can afford such a purchase—but it was an eye-opening and touching ceremony that has a proud tradition.



Tuesday, September 20, 2016

CHICKEN NO PEEK made with Aldi's ingredients...



O.k ...so I see this wonderful recipe for no peek chicken..I save it, and decide tonight is the night I am going to make it...so off to the grocery store I go...



WAIT...but I shop at Aldi's so their products are mostly all different than other grocery stores, but I know I will find something comparable....much cheaper and more organic I might add..so off I go on the hunt. 


No Uncle Ben's there, but I do find a box of wonderful long grain dirty rice with green and red peppers...yummmm [Hubby isn't a fan of wild rice anyway...
he calls it  'THAT CHEWY RICE'....lol
They do have the cream soups, and the chicken breasts or tenders, and the chicken broth, so ya, I scored...



Uncle Ben's is a 6 ounce box, and Aldi's  Dirty Rice is a 4 ounce box, so I added 2 ounces brown rice to my Aldi's dirty rice box to get the same amount for the recipe. 
2 oz of brown rice is about 5 Tbsp or about 1/4 cup.






1 box Aldi's Dirty Rice Box
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 clove Garlic
Chicken breasts or tenders
1/2 stick of butter cut into squares added to top

How to make it :
In a greased 9 x 13 pan, mix the box of rice, cans of celery and mushroom soup. Worcestershire, garlic, and chicken broth


Arrange the raw chicken on top of the rice mixture…. add butter dots all over the top.


Cover and seal with foil……

Bake at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours and “Don’t Peek!”

Your house will smell amazing!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Recycled Glass Windows {crystal privacy}

I have a front porch on my Victorian Farmhouse that has one wall of widow panes...I love it for the fact I get awesome natural daylight ...I hate them because you can see straight thru to the house if you are at the front door.



Over the years I have put curtains up which were just too heavy looking, and even tried that stick on window film that is frosted, which didn't let enough light in....and frankly looked a bit tacky.You can see it in the above picture...

One day I looked at a box of crystal glassware I acquired thru the years from grandma, my mom, and even just gifts...hmmmmm....others on Pinterest had don it with lids, so why not give it a whirl???

The only snag I could see was that they all did one pane of window, that they could lay flat...ya , this was not an option for me after spending a ton on reglazing all of them recently...

I did figure out a way to do it vertical...You must start at the bottom and work your way up the window...for gravity sake...

If you run a bead of E6000 glue around the edge of your piece, then apply the piece to the window, you must tack it in 4 places with a  bit of hot glue. Hold the piece for 1 minute til the hot glue cools and sets, then you can let go, and after your E6000 dries for 24 hours it will be permanent...

I love E6000 for durability and the fact that it dries crystal clear.




The glass globs are from The Dollar Store....you get quite a few in a bag, and I got large size and small size clear. You could use colored ones if you so choose. My house just has enough color going on already...

Start by putting all the large pieces , then follow with the large glass globs, then fill in all gaps with the small ones...oh and make sure you Windex all your pieces before applying. Not only does it make the glass sparkle, but it also removes any oil from your hands for best glue adhesion.






















See the video here...

Best believe if I did not have new windows in my house, I would be doing my kitchen with pink depression glass for sure!