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blogging, family, Hardware Store Life, holiday cooking, Home, Hometown Holidays, memories, old school hardware store, Shop Local, Southern food, southern living, Thanksgiving

Home for the Holidays… Gathering Around the Table: Hometown Holidays Series #1

November 22, 2024 hardwarelifewife 1 Comment

All I want for the holidays is FOOD!!! It’s all gravy, keep your holiday balanced, a cookie in each hand… all of these cute and funny food quotes stir up my appetite for a delicious holiday meal.

As they say, “All roads lead to home during the holidays” I must say, your Hometown. Wherever that might be. Yes, usually, most of us find the time and commit ourselves to winding our way back to our hometown during the winter holidays. According to AAA, close to 80 million people will travel at least 50 miles or more over the Thanksgiving holiday week in 2024.

Are you traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend???

Traveling back to your hometown and gathering with family over the holiday dinner table, allows time to reconnect with those we love… and hopefully time to enjoy and explore the beautiful landscape of nature that makes your hometown uniquely special. Offering the opportunity to “feed” your soul, not the just the body literally.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays are the two biggest holidays for the cook in the family. Special meals are often served over the family table and shared with extended family members who return home from all over the globe.

This beautiful table is featured inside Wilkes County Hardware, made by Keegan Watson.

Many hours of thought, shopping, prep, and cooking occur before the holiday meal is complete. Once these steps are finished, the entire family can gather together, ready to partake in the celebration of the “hometown holiday dinner”.

Whether the family is large or small, it is a process to gather together and share a meal over the holiday. Let’s include the time and journey to return home. The melding of unique personalities, coming together as one complete family. All, simply gathering around the table to “ break bread”, sharing memories of times past, and the enveloping sense of belonging, Home.

Let’s return to the process of preparation for the Hometown Holiday Gathering. The holidays are fast approaching! The clock is ticking away, it’s officially ONE week away now until Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving is one of the biggest food holidays of the year. Thanksgiving ranks as THE top food consumption holiday. Surprisingly, Super Bowl Sunday follows close behind.

Let’s just get it out there, we all have been there… do any of these holiday scenarios sound familiar to you???? Forgetting to prepare certain dishes, broken dishes, stressing over the lack of oven space, unexpected guests, slightly overcooked /burned foods, maybe the turkey did not thaw out in time for roasting… these ALL can happen and have happened during the holidays.

My hope is that IF you plan to cook over the holidays this year, success will reign supreme! Set yourself up for success before you begin cooking for the holidays. Have a definite meal plan and execute it accordingly and adjust as needed. Things will happen even to the most experienced cooks in the kitchen.

Cooking is art form. The artful cook can use ingredients masterfully, creating dishes that are delicious, and delightful in appearance. These artful hometown cooks have conquered these kitchen skills, will effortlessly make the most of the family gathering. A masterful cook can make and prepare a hometown homemade holiday gathering … a feast for the eyes. All the while, the aromatic goodness wafting through the kitchen welcoming you into the heart and soul of the kitchen, feeding your spirit. HOME.

**A hot dessert baking in the oven! What a way to be welcomed back home!!!! Dessert, a central ingredient for holiday dinners!**

Whether you find yourself in the master cook category or even if you consider yourself a cook still honing skills in the kitchen, having a plan for a successful Hometown Holiday Gathering can be accomplished with a few simple steps.

The perfect execution of the “roadmap of success” for a fantastic hometown holiday meal gathering can be achieved with the combination of assistance from family who might linger in the kitchen either to “sample the good stuff”. OR those in your family who wish to truly help in the effort to make the day fruitful and wholeheartedly worth the extra time and energy spent on making the hometown holiday meal a reality. Team in place, you can work together to create the ultimate holiday celebration for your entire crew.

Once the meal has arrived on the table, beautifully presented, the literal feast for your body can begin. Bringing balance and a bit of zen or comfort to your hometown holiday experience, and maybe even a good nap…. after all that turkey 😂😂. I couldn’t resist that one!

Another view of this gorgeous family table made by Keegan Watson.

It is also worth a mention that THE BIG Food holidays can leave you a bit frazzled, stressed, and worn out even if you fall into the “expert cook” category when it comes to food preparation. Everyone wants a “true zen experience” for their hometown holiday meal. So… What can you do prior to gathering that ensures a masterful experience this Thanksgiving or any other holiday for that matter?

This is where your hometown hardware store can assist you, believe it or not!

The time is come to prepare for the Thanksgiving Day Meal.

Wilkes County Hardware, Helping You Find Hometown Holiday Success:

If you are having overnight guests for the Thanksgiving holiday, get your home in order, cleaned and prepare for your guests arrival. Don’t forget to make sure that you are stocked up on toilet paper, paper towels, dish washer tablets, Clorox wipes, etc! You don’t want to run to store during the holiday weekend and fight the crowds or find yourself running low on essentials with guests in house!

When you shop small businesses, you can beat the chaos of the box store, during the holidays AND find a friendly greeting as you enter the store. *WCH Tip: Your Guests appreciate the extra touches, like the great smelling soap in the bathroom. Wilkes County Hardware has a fantastic selection of Meyers products*

Always have extra paper products on hand with guests over the busy holiday weekends. ***When you shop small businesses, $68 out of every $100 will stay in your local community.***

2. Set your menu and grocery shop. As you are planning your menu for Thanksgiving or the holiday meal, think about how each dish should be prepared. Will you have enough oven space and time??? How could these dishes be altered or prepared differently, if the answer was No… A masterful cook will explore other techniques for food preparation, like using the grill or smoker to prepare your meats, using a crockpot, toaster oven to warm up pre-made casseroles, preparing dishes ahead of time, asking others to pitch and bringing food to the gathering… the list is long! Lastly, as a masterful cook, explore our selection of sauces and rubs to enhance your holiday meal.

*Traeger Grills are a great resource for holiday food preparation! Stop by to learn more or pick up your flavorful pellets before next Thursday!*

3. Inventory your kitchen utensils and other equipment. Make sure you have the necessary tools for your biggest kitchen day of the year! Nothing is worse than a dull knife on Thanksgiving Day to complicate the task of carving the turkey. Wilkes County Hardware sharpens knives as a continuing service to our customers. Wilkes County Hardware has a good selection of basic kitchen equipment that can help make your holiday meal plan come together.

4. Lastly, think about the gathering itself. Gathering around the table, what will it look like??? A formal affair??? Mom’s finest china, silver, and crystal??? If so, a good cleaning might be required. Stop by Wilkes County Hardware to pick up silver polish, or Brasso, or any other cleaning products to keep your beautiful heirlooms looking great on the family table this holiday season.

A more casual family hometown holiday dinner??? Stop by to find some classic handmade items to complement your decor.

It’s amazing how ONE new anchor piece can spark great dinner conversation, especially when it’s locally made!

Ultimately, Gathering around the hometown holiday table, enjoying each other’s company creates the atmosphere where people linger around the table, stories are told, and memories made. Glimpses and Snapshots of joy, and laughter, radiating across the table. Life simply couldn’t be better. The holiday meal has moved from pure sustenance to an amiable experience and soulfully satisfying. Nothing could be better💕! The essence of Hometown for the Holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!

Autumn, blogging, Fall, Hardware Store Life, Home, seaonal change, service oriented hardware store, Shop Local, southern living, Time change

“Fall Back” Maintenance

November 1, 2024 hardwarelifewife Leave a comment

Acorns are in abundance this year, according to experts were having a Mast year.

Daylight Saving Time has come to a close for the year. Our clocks turned back one hour this weekend. With this shift in time, we gain an extra hour of sleep, and gradually see those beautiful evening sunsets around 6pm. Darkness will find us earlier and the shift is often hard if you’re not prepared for it.

The “Fall Back” sunsets at Wilkes County Hardware are often spectacular!

That being said, It’s time to think about a few things that should be done around the time change of “Falling Back”, making the shift much more manageable. Sharing a few maintenance tips on the blog today for the “Fall Back” time change.

Around the House (Interior Maintenance)

Check and Change all of your batteries in your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detectors. Time changes are the best time to check these devices to make sure they are functioning properly.

It’s also good to Note: Smoke Detectors should be replaced EVERY 10 years!!!

2. Review your house and car key inventory. Make sure you have extra keys for yourself and those who need them. This is a simple one BUT, no one ever wants to be locked out of the house on a cold and wet wintry day. 😬

All types of keys are made daily inside Wilkes County Hardware… house, car, motorcycle, boat, RV, ATV keys and more!

3. Evaluate all of your light fixtures and replace any light bulbs that need replacing (indoor and outdoor) Nightfall comes much more quickly with the Fall time shift.

These are a wonderful addition to your emergency prep list!!!

**Add** **timers** to your lamps for extra safety if you arrive home after darkness has settled in for the day

4. Find your flashlights and replace batteries as needed. Prep your winter emergency kit.

Great selection of flashlights and emergency lighting at WCH

5. Replace furnace filter. Ask us to help you find your size.

An abundant supply of furnace filter sizes are available at Wilkes County Hardware.

6. Do a quick maintenance walk around your windows. Look for visual signs that windows have gaps or cracks that could impact your heating system this winter. Use caulk, gap/crack filler as a barrier to prevent cold air from penetrating into your home. Replace any broken windows or screens.

Brr!!! No one wants to be caught in the cold! 🥶

7. Fall is a good time to tackle the dryer venting system. A clean out is in order! If you haven’t cleaned out your dryer vent system in a while, now is the time to do it!

8. As cooler weather approaches, don’t forget to reverse the direction of your ceiling fans and replace batteries in your fan remote if needed. Clean fan blades.

Need a new pull chain for your ceiling fan??? We have those too!!

9. As the holidays will be approaching soon, your stove and refrigerator will appreciate a good cleaning. A total clean out of your refrigerator BEFORE the holiday season begins, the easiest way to begin the holiday cooking season! Check water filter systems on your refrigerator and replace if necessary.

Large variety of cleaning products in stock at Wilkes County Hardware

Only $3.99 for the pack!!! Great for cleaning 🧽

Works great as a stove cleaner…without heating up your oven

10. Check the function of every toilet in your home. Do you need to replace a handle, flapper or do a complete overhaul of the “guts” of the toilet???? Now is the perfect time to replace these ahead the holidays… no one wants to be plunging into that messy job with company in house.

Our plumbing area is always busy at WCH!

11. Do a quick assessment on your heating system. Do you need a supplemental heating unit? What maintenance is necessary??? Many of our customers use this time of year to prepare for cooler temperatures. Kerosene heaters are brought in for repairs/new wicks. Replace aging stove pipe, and more!

Cold weather essentials available year round at WCH

Now’s let get outside the home and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather and check out a few other things around the exterior of the property of your home.

Hope y’all can find time to unwind and relax and enjoy the beautiful Fall season!!

Around the House (Exterior Maintenance)

Add a faucet cover to your outdoor faucets. Water hoses should be stored for the winter.

A necessity before the freeze 🥶 sits in!!!

Throw away old leaky water hoses. Plan ahead… Replace them at WCH and be ready for the next season!

2. Clean Gutters of all leaves and debris

3. Complete any remaining Fall Lawn Maintenance tasks… clear leaves, other debris, etc.

4. Put away and clean lawn hand tools for the winter months.

WD-40 works great after **HAND** tools are cleaned and dirt/grime removed , spray WD-40 onto surface, let sit for a few seconds, wipe again to clean. If you need to remove rust, let it sit for a while, and then use steel wool to clean surface. It is not recommended to use this cleaning method for power tools.

5. Clean the Grill- As the grilling season begins to come to an end, for some, Fall is a great time to get your hands dirty and get that grill clean before your store it away for the winter if you don’t grill much in the colder months.

6. Be mindful of Pests! As the cooler months begin, rodents, spiders, stink bugs, and a host of others will look for ways to make way indoors. Keep debris away from house, seal gaps and cracks and be ready with pest control options if you see or hear them.

Bugs will look for places to come inside as the weather turns cold!

Car Maintenance

Tire pressure sensors often go off during the cooler months. Be ready, for those mornings to check your tire pressure with a new tire pressure gauge.

2. Be prepared and go ahead and do a Fluids check… oil, windshield wiper fluid, antifreeze, etc

3. Frosty mornings will be here to stay! Check your car for a ice/snow scraper

4. Do you have a battery charger or charger cables in your vehicle? No one wants to be out in the cold with a nonfunctional car. 😬

Air compressor and battery charger in one!!!

5. Check and replace old windshield wiper blades!

I hope that you find these tips useful as the next phase of time change occurs. What other things do you do to prepare for yourself for the time shift???

Please stop by Wilkes County Hardware for all of your hardware needs or questions. We will be glad to assist.

**Wilkes County Hardware Store Hours 8am to 6pm Monday through Friday 9am to 3pm Saturday**

August, blogging, Dog Days of Summer, finding inspiration, flowers, Foggy Morning, gardening, Hardware Store Life, Home, journey in life, Life experiences, Life In Wilkes, memories, Natural World, photography favorites, rescue pups, southern living, Summer, Summer Photography, sunrise photography

August

September 1, 2024 hardwarelifewife 1 Comment

August… the sizzling summer heat lingers, foggy mornings equate to snowy days in the winter, rolling thunderstorms, and the quest for those cooler days and nights will slowly become our reality. August IS the “Sunday of Summer”. Once it arrives, it seems to go by quickly and a new month is upon you. Sharing a few of my everyday photo favorites to summarize a small portion of this “Sunday of Summer”, August 2024. I hope you will enjoy. Thanks for sharing my blog with friends and family and sending your comments to me. Looking forward to September!

Sky Watch

**Fog Hug…** August Mornings can bring fog and it is hanging in the trees tightly this morning

After The Storm

Tree Study

I love to photograph a good tree, so when the opportunity presents itself, I will stop and take a moment to take a few pictures. Sometimes they turn out pretty well, sometimes not so much. But, I have learned that multiple shots of the image can make all the difference. Here’s a few of my favorites from this month …

Hand building projects completed

Instant gratification isn’t the goal with hand building pottery. Slow and gradual progress is what you see when you begin with raw clay. The processes of creating with clay from shaping/making your piece, which could could take hours or even days… to the first bisque fire, then glazing, going through the kiln again… all take time but the end result is worth the wait! These pieces have been in the works for a while, glad to see them finally finished and grateful for an amazing teacher!!

**Bird Bath Complete!! The absolute largest piece made to date! A HUGE thank you to Kim Anderson Reid for her guidance and patience in making this large piece and excellent advice on how to glaze!**

**Aug-tober begins!** That’s right, I heard this phrase for the first time this month. I didn’t know it was an actual thing, but it is! All the fall feels in August! Longing for Autumn… well in the world of pottery, the processes of hand building takes a bit of time, and producing fall pieces begins in August and September.

A Pup Interlude

Our son has been traveling for work over the last month or so. When he’s gone from home for an extended period of time, I always try to send him a few pictures of his two favorite pups everyday. He really enjoys seeing them in all of their quirky little daily adventures. Here’s two captured moments from August.

The Greenway

Sweet Surprises and Finds

This next group of pictures are interesting finds from August… from trimming bushes and finding a little bird nest inside, to a long walk around the neighborhood at Mom and Dad’s house… you just never know what you will encounter!

Ahoy Mate!

August, blogging, Cornbread, family, hardware store, Hardware Store Life, Home, memories, old hardware stores, recipe, southern cooking, Southern food, southern living, supper

“A-Maized” by Cornbread

August 8, 2024 hardwarelifewife 2 Comments

Cornbread, is strongly rooted in Native American tradition. Maize, or corn as we know it today, at its most natural form, fed and nourished the earliest settlers in our state. Native American “cornbread” was originally known as Corn Pone (meal, water, salt). Cornbread became a popular staple daily bread for many Southerners centuries ago when corn was a food source that everyone grew for themselves and could be used in a variety of ways.

I would venture to guess that cornbread made centuries ago is vastly different from what is served on our Southern tables and in local restaurants today. In order to have a tasty cornbread AND to keep the “A-Maized” factor high, view the slice of what makes cornbread so delicious and extra special…

Non-Negotiables for A-Maizing Cornbread

In need of a new cornbread pan? Wilkes County Hardware has got it!

1. Begin with a HOT and well seasoned Lodge Cast Iron Skillet. I always preheat my oven and melt my butter (or oil) in my cast iron skillet while I’m mixing up my cornbread.

2. Hot cornbread freshly baked from oven tastes the best! Enough said right???

3. The outer, crispy crust and the center must be cooked through. Nothing is worse than a cornbread that sticks to skillet or isn’t cooked all the way through. Ugh!

Now that we have a few of the absolutes out of the way, there are some things that are absolutely up for debate regarding cornbread, depending on how you were brought up, and your palate preferences.

Cornbread, An “A-Maizing” Debate

1. Yellow versus white cornmeal- The ultimate question… which do you prefer? People seem to have a definite preference over one or the other. My family prefers the white cornmeal overall and that was my personal experience with cornbread growing up.

2. Sweet, savory, or simple cornbread- the choices are endless! Most folks are probably in the sweet cornbread camp OR the simple cornbread crowd… I grew up with the simple cornbread without any sweetness attached. Savory cornbread adds flavor to any meal. Which do you prefer? Love all three???

3. Biscuits or Cornbread– why decide right??? Just eat both!

4. Box mix or Mill ground– Sorry y’all, for me, there is definitely preference. I don’t think I have ever made a box cornbread mix before. I’m sure they are perfectly fine, but it is not what I’m accustomed to making. Linny’s Mill cornmeal has always been a family favorite.

A Slice of Cornbread Perfection: Memories of Cornbread and More

A blog post from 2020: Cornbread & Caregiving

Growing up at home, when I opened the pantry or refrigerator, I knew exactly which container to go for in order to find the cornmeal. As a hungry kid learning the kitchen basics, helping my mom cook, cornmeal was a standard pantry staple. I could easily navigate the cabinets to find the cornmeal in a tall, bright, Tangerine orange Tupperware container. Out the container would come, and learning to mix up a simple cornbread with Mom…we were well on our way to getting dinner finished and the cornbread sliced, perfectly wedged and onto the kitchen table.

My memories of helping in the kitchen are strong. I spent many hours prepping alongside my Mom for family meals. I recall Mom didn’t always make the traditional simple cornbread baked in the hot skillet. That’s the nice thing about using diverse ingredients like cornmeal. Many variations of the same basic recipe can be made. Mom often made variations of Cornbread… corn muffins, hush puppies, cornbread fritters, and my Dad even sometimes crumbled the last piece of cornbread in milk.

My favorite way Mom used cornmeal was in making cornbread fritters. Cornbread fritters are a fried version of cornbread, and they are scrumptious and flat like a pancake. These fritters were a summer staple to supplement our supper, going alongside the freshly picked summer garden vegetables. I’m getting hungry as I write this!

I feel sure we ate more cornbread fritters than cornbread that way the oven stayed off, not heating up the kitchen unnecessarily on those long, hot, sultry, humid summer days.

The one cornmeal variety that I have memories of BUT not made or personally experienced is cornmeal mush. My Granny used to talk about making cornmeal mush for her dad often. He would request cornmeal mush when he just needed a little something to eat for a meal. It was just enough to sustain him.

I had heard the stories about him wanting cornmeal mush so often, that I would relate to Granny when she was feeling poorly before she passed away. She would often tell me she wasn’t hungry or didn’t feel like eating much… The cornmeal mush was a story we shared… so when I told her that I would not make her cornmeal mush, and I would smile as I said it… she would always smile back, we both knew of course, if she really wanted it, I would have made it. We always giggled about it then went onto discuss other options for her supper, keeping things simple, as she needed them to be. I miss her everyday.

Cornmeal is such a versatile ingredient in the Southern kitchen. Roll fresh okra, squash, zucchini in cornmeal before frying.

All that being said, Cornmeal is a simple staple that can guide you into many different directions in the kitchen by creating Casseroles, dressing, and even a cornbread salad. Cornmeal has been also used in many Southern kitchens as a breading for fried squash, okra, zucchini, and let’s not forget about fish as well! The potential for new recipes are unlimited!

Cornmeal is used as a base in this fish fry and yummy hush puppies.

Ahhh Shucks, Cornmeal A Versatile Ingredient

The key ingredients that our ancestors used centuries ago, to make a Corn Pone (meal, water, salt), have been tweaked and refined in order to make the perfect slice of cornbread in the 21st century . As a result, your favorite cornbread is probably a bit more flavorful.

Whether you are adding in savory ingredients, flour, sugar, egg, milk, buttermilk, or simply using water or milk/buttermilk to mix… cornbread has definitely changed over time. Making cornbread is definitely not quite as simple as it used to be and the flavors and variations are limitless!

The Cornbread Mentality

Our memories of how cornbread be… it is my gut feeling that those memories of cornbread are strongly tied to our family experiences and traditions regarding cornbread. We make, what we love to eat, and what’s comforting to our hearts and minds.

Your personal routines about making cornbread are deeply rooted in the way your Grandparents and Parents made cornbread…hence what I’m calling, The cornbread mentality exists in my own personal opinion.

My guess, your basic cornbread recipe is similar to what you grew up eating and loving about cornbread. AND that is your traditional cornbread recipe, always. No specific formula or recipe exists for all cornbread, making it the heart of the cornbread mentality… defining it as your own personal cornbread story. Ahhh, shucks y’all!

blogging, Dog Days of Summer, finding inspiration, flowers, garden, gardening, grilling, hardware store, Hardware Store Life, Home, July, Life experiences, Life In Wilkes, memories, Natural World, old hardware stores, photography favorites, recipe, Sonker, southern cooking, Southern food, southern living, Summer, Summer Fruits, summer garden, Summer Photography, sunrise photography

July

July 31, 2024 hardwarelifewife Leave a comment

A bit of magic of the summer season integrated into my photographic lens from this past month. I have truly enjoyed the simplicity of the photographic blog posts each month that I began earlier this year. Photos do tell their own story. July, it’s been a warm month… in memories and temperatures. Thanks for tagging along with me!

I have linked a few other blog posts from this month in here as well. Take your time with this one folks and find all the other blog posts within, coming back to them as you can. I so appreciate your continued support! I hope you enjoy these special July memories in photographic form.

A Walk Around Kerr Scott