Sicily Yoder

I will be talking about Amish and Mennonite foods, Christmas traditions and culture tomorrow at the Orlando Public Library's Main location on Central Avenue at 2:00 PM ( Saturday.) Come on down and stock up on Sorghum, Pineapple Salsa, and Blackberry Jam, and last but not least, get your cookbook signed and sample my homemade foods!!

I had an awesome turn out at my Gaylord Event. There were so many people in the meeting room that people had to sit on the floor. People asked questions, and I made them laugh- it was a wonderful group!
I made it over The Mackinac Bridge!! It was beautiful, to say the least. I took the ferry across to Mackinaw Island where I sat next to the town Equine Veternarian. I talked with the wife of the Pasty Chef of The Grand on the way back and she bought a cookbook and a jar of Blackberry Jam. She was a very nice person! She is from Poland.
I also met another lady named Allison that works on The Island, as well as the cable guy and the AT &T guy. All were super friendly!
I look forward to staying at The Biltmore tomorrow night on my way down to Orlando. Hope to meet everyone from that area tommorrow- would be WONDERFDUL to meet DisneySteve!! (HINT)I love reading his posts. I wish I had been close enough to meet Campfrugal.

OK, I have had a blessed day, and the turn out at the presentations was just awesome! I drove in warmer weather, then sleet, then warmer weather again- very odd weather. I am driving over Mackinaw Bridge tomorrow!

I just arrived in Gaylord, Michigan and am so glad to be here. It is lightly falling small white snowflakes!!! I am tired but blessed. The drive took me 12 hours, but I stopped at a Mennonite community. Am very excited about meeting my readers in Harrisville and Alpena Village tomorrow, then Gaylord on Wednesday!

My house smells like the sweet aroma of cloves, cinnamon and fresh baked pumpkin!! I am baking pumpkin bread for my tour. Made a Whoopie Pie Casserole last night and will bake more banana bread before venturing off to my hotel in Indiana tonight. If I stay in Indiana tonight, it is a closer drive for me. I do admit I am a bit tired. I use no hand mixers, as I do things the old-fashioned way...by hand stroke. That is how the Amish cook, and until this weekend, I had forgotten how labor intensive it is; however, I am so proud to look at each set of four loaves of bread and glitter with how much joy the library patrons will feel when they bite into every morsel of that sweet baked bread!

I hope to finally get to meet some of my fellow bloggers in the 25-city Tour I am doing at Tractor Supply Stores. I will have the full list on the website when I get back the 9th from the library shows. So far I know for sure:

Nov. 20 Corydon, IN 10:00-1:00 PM

Nov. 21 Campbellsville, KY 10:00-1:00 PM

Nov. 28 Elizabethtown, KY 10:00-1:00 PM

Dec. 4 Hillview KY 10:00-1:00 PM

Dec. 5 Franklin, TN 10:00- 1:00 PM

I booked Alpena Village, an Independent Living Community in Alpena, Michigan for November 3rd at 11:00 AM. The tour booking is moving right along! Managed to get a lot done yesterday- need to buckle down and work a lot from home today. Hope to meet everyone from the areas:

Gaylord, MI
Alcona (Harrisville), MI
Aplena, MI
Orlando, FL
Charleston, SC
Ashville, NC
Hopkinsville, KY
Jeffersontown, KY

This week will be bread-baking week. I am baking Banana Bread, Pumpkin Rolls, Pumpkin Bread, Friendship Bread and homemade Amish crackers. Some are for gifts while others that I will back over the end of the week and weekend are for my tour. Will also try to get some latch-hook gifts made, too. Most of the ladies in my Mennonite community do latchhook and needle point crafts. It was warmer here today. I found a dime on the sidewalk. Have had a very blessed day!

I am offering my Amish jams, salsas, orange pickles and sorghum, as well as my cookbooks as a fundraiser for schools now. Since my cookbook is a teaching cookbook, I thought this would be a good idea. I will be baking Friendship Bread, Banana Bread and Pumpkin Rolls for my tour and the festivals.

I am leaving for Indiana. Going to be working in that area, so staying at Belterra Casino & Hotel. Will be gone for 2 days, but will have internet access. Hope to meet my blog buddies from Michigan and Orlando next month. Will be in Gaylord, Michigan on November 4th at 6:30 PM and Alcona ( Harrisville) Michigan November 3rd at 4:00 PM. Will be cooking at the Orlando Public Library's downtown location on November 7th at 2:00 PM. Hope to see you all there!! Need to have dental surgery, but will wait until I get back.

XOXO

SICILY

Today is cold and rainy- I actuall have the heat on, warm, long-sleeved carnigan sweater and warm fuzzy pants. My hot flashes sure are gone...for now. Last night I was sweating so much and had the thermastat on 62 degrees. I am waiting on the mail. I ate pizza for breakfast and had it late, so won't eat again until later. I think I will fix tuna salad and have fruit for dinner. Today is my third day of no sugary sodas. However, I did splurge on a sweet-iced tea from Talk of the Town, a local tea room because I am never at home when they are open and I absolutley love their tea.

I am under the weather today- very swollen and sore throat, so I am resting at home. Its from my allergies and sinus problems due to traveling so much. Well, at least we are getting storms all day, so it is a good day to rest. I haven't had much time to be on here. I have been very busy with my contracting business. Been packing a cooler with my sodas, so have been saving a lot with that little change.
My bestfriend, Jen, took a cheese sandwich yesterday from home. It brought back memories or first grade. I had a Hollie Hobbie lunchbox and mom packed us cheese and Miracle Whip sandwiches, a piece of fruit and we got 5 cent milk from the cafeteria. There were no chips back then in our little farmhouse. But we girls were healthier, too. It made me think of how often I eat a bag of chips when I could be eating a nutritious banana or orange.

A nice fellow in overalls was sat up along the highway in Ashland yesterday. He had pinto beans in a burlap bag-10 pounds for only $10.00. I called mom and she said to get them, plus some tomatoes. She fixed a fresh chef salad with the last of our green peppers and herbs from our "Back 40" garden. I love pinto beans. I make Haystacks, or corn-chip and veggie salads with them. Hope everyone has a good day.

I am tired today- I had to work in Wal-Marts- I am contracting for a company that does a lot of work in them. They were all packed today. Tomorrow I am working in more Wal-Marts. My grandbaby is still here. Its a little crazy, dealing with situations, but we will make it- I am going out of town and will have limited access to emails. I had to cancel all of September's cooking shows due to my family needs me right now- can't discuss on here, but hope to still make it to Oakland in October and Michigan and Orlando in November.
I at a turkey sandwich and tortilla chips from home for dinner. And an drinking a Sprite. Kroger has 12 packs for 4/$9.00 and I had a Kroger coupon for $1.50 off two, so I only paid $7.50 for 4 12 packs- not a bad deal at all.

I found two nickels in the store parking lot earlier!! But I dropped one of out my pocket, so I am five cents richer now. I took my own bagel and Propel water today, so saved $$$, but I had a free coupopn for Chik-Fil-A Chicken Minis ( and I LOVE THEM!!) so I swung by to get them and they were giving out free Cinnamon Twist Rolls. YUMMY!!! I got a chocolate Coke ( love them, too) and a cheeseburger during Happy Hour from DQ for $3.26, so I did spend a little today.

What frugal thing did everyone do today? I ate my own bagel and cream cheese as I was leaving for work and packed my own Sprite with me.

Today looks like it will be a pretty day. The sunny is coming out and it doesn't feel too muggy. I am grabbing a muffin and an OJ from the fridge and off I go on my merchandising route! Everyone have a nice day!

Today has been overcast and hot. I am waiting on UPS with my order then heading out. Misty and April, my friends, are here and we just ate a yummy turkey-cranberry-cheddar bagel and Amish potato salad. I love potato salad. Well, new people have surfed the net and found those hyperinflated posts that my publicist friend did- remember all that mess??? I'm sure you do, well...its resurfaced and now I'm listed on that local "gossip" board again:
http://www.topix.com/city/lawrenceburg-ky

Renee added a poll to disprove this weirdo. He says he is an "Internet investigator", and his address shows Louisville, Ky. Well, he isn't with the Louisville PD thats for sure, we just found that out, so he must run a business from his home. And I'm not knocking that since I am a small business owner. Its been a very long time since I've had her represent me, and I wish all those posts would go away. I am truthful since I took my blog back and try to make friends, not enemies. I just told April not to post again because we are getting nowhere: this guy thinks he is right and that I am an imaginary person, let him think that, its his right.

OK, I know I have seemed like a hermit lately, but, to be honest, I have been busy with Twitter and Farmtown on Facebook, then I take Benadryl at night due to allergies and just can't seem to stay up as late as I used to, plus new grandsons add a lot of extra, but fun activity.

I have been packing a cooler for my lunch on days I can remember it, and I have been grabbing a bagel or cinnamon-toast and juice from home when I head out the door. I am using the saved money for vacation. Well, its actually a working vacation in Orlando, Florida in September. I am driving down and doing merchandising work for my business in Arkansas, then to pick my twin sister up in Beaumont before going to Orlando. I'm doing a cooking show at Orlando Public Library on September 12th.

Tomorrow is the Twitter Aquathon to raise money for Africa. For those who planned on buying signed copies of my Amish cookbook, tomorrow is the perfect time to do so. $1.00 from each purchase will go to Aquathon. Go to: http://www.freewebs.com/theamishgarden/emailform.htm
Actress Kirstie Alley will be streaming live for the event and prizes will be giving away. I am giving away an Amish gift basket:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM_cjbTwmx0

Visit LaGrange, Kentucky where trains travel through the middle of Main Street.
http://bit.ly/11lW2y

Here is a Father's Day cooking video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cug0B-HTAU8

I have been working very long days, so haven't posted. I saved a lot of money at Walgreens yesterday through coupons and register rewards. Met a real nice lady, whose son is at EKU, the college I graduated from many moons ago. They ahve cut out the federal work study, and I think that is so sad. I did work study every semester- i had to to survive. I was an RA in the dorms for years and worked every other weekend. I am off today, so cleaning the house and cooking for the week, as well as doing my sales tax forms- I hate doing those. Seems like I get more done with an organized house. The Twitterthon Aquathon is next month, so July will be very busy. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!!

Go to http://bbltwt.com/7iw9y

I wanted to say, "Thanks" to everyone that has always been there for me, especially on this forum:>)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH3dI28pb_Q

Here are pics of baby Gabriel Nathaniel. I can't wait to hold him next month.

Andrea is only half a cm away from having baby Gabriel!!! And dad is a bit nervous- talked to me, then his biological mom, my twin sis, and he is oK now- seems like Melissa can calm him down where I can't at all. Andrea is tired and ready to have baby Gabriel- he is a big baby already, and that was why she was induced.

Go to http://aquathon2009.blogspot.com/ to read about the twitterthon we are having. Twitterers Kirstie Alley and _SteveWoods have launched the site. In July we will be tweeting for 24 straight hours. Our goal is 3 million followers. I am donating $1.00 per cookbook sold, as I am on tour that week, so I am challenging all readers to give $1.00, too. The money goes to get clean water wells for Africa.

OK, another Kentucky romance author has got me craving cupcakes. She ate two at Gigi's yesterday and I am craving them. I am baking cookies in the test kitchen ( actually they are already done) as I had to film a video. But I want cupcakes, so I will have to venture out to get confectionary sugar, as I am out. I make my own buttercream icing- YUMMY!!

I want to change my blog password where only I can get into it. My friend ( and I love her dearly) was on my computer when she was in town AND I did tell her not to post on my blog ( she is my former publicist, too and has my passwords, but she did. I do admit, we are close, and she has my Yahoo password, but I also have helped her check email, too, when she was on a cruise. If she posted REAL things, I would be OK, but she is all glamour and glitz. Well... she did post about my new grandbaby for an online newspaper and got attacked for doing that because it looked like a word-salad. She means well...she is retired and works for a lot of clients for little pay, but she doesn't know when to listen to me.