Burn baby burn!

One of the biggest eyesores at the farm was an old, blown-down corn crib.
The weeds around it were over my head.
We weren't sure what kind of rodents might reside in the structure. As we cleaned out the inside of the farm house, most of the junk got thrown onto the crib.
I knew my hubby was anxious to set the thing a blaze.
On a rainy, dreary Monday the pipeliner called to tell me they had been rained out from work. Meet him at the farm, he was ready to start the fire.

I found him with his rain suit on, and the fire had been started!

In a matter of minutes the whole structure was up in flames.  It was kinda of eery listening to the crackle of the wood and fire spreading.

The fire over took the barn in a matter minutes. Nothing but a burning pile of wood.

This is what was left after just 15 minutes.

Glad that the eyesore is gone and we can move on to ther project around the farm!

Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

Sugar cookies have always been a huge hit in my kitchen. I think the tradition started with my grandmother. She always had those thick, melt-in-your mouth cookies waiting when we visited. The ones she made were simply rolled in sugar, dropped on the baking sheet and into the oven they went.

I have always liked those, but my kids preferred the cut-out type. Oh sure they started out helping me. Each one had their favorite cookie cutter. I would roll out the dough, and they would dip their cutter in the flour and press it into the mix.  I would have to help them cafefully transfer the creation onto the baking sheet. But after the first or second cookie sheet was filled, they began asking, when is it time to decorate?  Of course we all know the decorating is much more fun!

After receiving quite a few compliments on my sugar cookies, I decided to enter them in the local county fair.

Talk about a tough business there!  I had to compete with dozens of other women, who I am sure, thought they had the best sugar cookie. The highest honor I have won yet is 2nd place. But I am going to hang in there until I take home the blue ribbon!                                    

Valentines Day was a success! I finally got the house decorated for the big event.  Even got "cupids cabin" decorated.  

It started out as the left over gingerbread house from Christmas, but turned out much better than expected.