MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

Jessica’s baby shower went very well.  We had lots of good food.

She got lots of nice gifts.

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Daniel wearing a pirate hat his Daddy made from tissue paper.

And baby Sam , well, just being baby Sam. 

We have had some cooler temeperatures here this weekend.  Saturday our low was 35 degrees, Sunday was 34 and this morning it was 38.  I built a fire Saturday and Sunday.  Last night, at church we started a new study.  We will be studying Phillipians.  We had lots of good food (of course).  Chips and dip, cheeseball, homemade rolls, kielbasa with peppers and onions, cole slaw, salmon cakes, chicken, cookies, cake, ice cream and apple dumplings.  As I said, lots of good food.  Well, it’s time for school to start for us.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

When Dave & Jess were up for the weekend, we all went riding in the “bumpy” truck.  This is one of Daniel’s favorite things to do when he comes to our house.  It also is one of Grace’s favorite things to do.  She took this beautiful picture of the sunset. 

Yesterday, we went to a friend’s house.  Her sister has thornless blackberries and she had said we could come and pick.  We picked about 1 gal.  They are very easy to pick.  No thorns-I really like that.  We then went back to my friend’s house and had a cookout.  We had hamburgers, pinto beans, cole slaw and watermelon.  It was a really nice day.  We got 3 pints of blackberry juice and 4 pts of blackberry jam, plus saved back about a quart to eat. 

I have some aprons to deliver today, then we will be going over to the Horn’s for a visit.  After that, the girls have piano lessons.  I need to get one more apron made before we leave so I guess I better get busy.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

This is a far off picture of the graveyard that is on the farm.  This picture was taken from the top of our driveway.

This is a closer shot.  Right beside the graveyard is a hay barn.

I’m sure Jess will recognize this picture.  On the left of this picture at the bottom of the hill is an old farmhouse.  Dave and Jess lived there for several years before they moved to N.C. 

Today will be school as usual, though we have not gotten our early start.  We are running a little behind as Hubby and I did not wake up as early as usual.   Saturday, we worked on cleaning up an area where we used to have the swimming pool.  This was a major job which required almost 5 hrs. to finish.  We had the back of the truck completely full of trash to haul to the dumpster.   We had to cut the pool liner in pieces.  It was too heavy to move in one solid piece.  We kept the parts of the pool we thought we might could reuse.  We were all muddy from head to toe, including the “bumpy truck”.  But I am so glad to get this job done.  Vicki and Quintin are giving us some strawberry plants and we plan on putting them in that space.

Yesterday’s menu at church was pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, green beans, cole slaw, beef strogonoff, key lime pie and cookies.  We started our new study on Galatians.  I think it will be a very good study.   I better get busy or school will be starting really late.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Look at these beautiful pears!  We went down to Jessica’s over the weekend and Saturday we went to David’s Moms.  She gave us lots of beautiful apples and pears.  We have 3 boxes of apples and 1 box of pears.  Thanks, Donna!  I think we will start on the pears today.  I am thinking I will freeze them.  They are very juicy pears.  I’m not sure if they would hold up to canning them.  The girls had a great time swimming Saturday afternoon in Donna’s pool.  Daniel is making great progress  learning to swim (with his lifejacket on).  He can move all around the pool by himself and of course does not want any help.  We also enjoyed hamburgers on the grill with corn on the cob and mac and cheese.  We had a lot of fun  but it was soon time to come home.  Time goes so quickly.

It was a very pleasant day here yesterday.  Sunshine and nice temperatures.  Upper 70′s to low 80′s.  After church, we came home and did our lesson for Sunday night class.   I spent some time reading outside on my swing.  For our evening meal at church we had polish sausage with peppers, onions and potatoes, sauerkraut, corn pudding, rolls, cucumbers, tomatoes, cole slaw, peach pie, pound cake with ice cream and brownies.  I think that’s all!  Really good food.  We have decided to do II Corinthians next.  We are almost finished with I Corinthians. 

Grace took this picture the other day.  I think she did a good job.  Yes, Jess, I know you do not like butterfly pictures.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

We have a new car.  Well, new to us.  It is a 1991 Ford Taurus and seems to be in excellent condition.  It gets really good gas mileage.  We took it down to Jessica’s yesterday and got about 27 mpg.  This sounds great to us as “ol Red” only gets about 8 mpg.  Please don’t get me wrong, we are very thankful for ol Red.  It is just not exactly a family vehicle.   The girls and I used ol Red as our vehicle to ride into town for piano and other things.   We have had to use the van (Hubby’s work vehicle) for work and leisure.  Not a lot of fun.  We had to unload all the tools when we were going somewhere, then reload them back when we got home.  Times have been hard.  These are choices you make in order to make ends meet.  But now by the grace of God we have another car.  Paid for-no payments.  Thank you, Lord.  Tonight’s menu at church is Ham loaf, deviled eggs, corn, green beans, cole slaw and corn bread.  I am bringing the green beans (home canned) and the corn bread.  I use my grinder and grind corn to make the corn meal.  It is baking in the oven now and smells soooooo good.  I also cut up some fresh strawberries from yesterday.  We are having pound cake with strawberries and ice cream for dessert.  It all sound delicious!  It has been very windy here today.  I wanted to work on my bible study outside but it was just too windy.  The girls say God is blow drying the earth when the wind blows like this.  I guess that’s as good a description as any.  Smells like my cornbread is done.  I better get it out of the oven.  Take care and God bless.

Today has been a really good day.  We had a quest speaker at church and he did such a great job.  A very humble man with a desire to preach the Word.  It was one of those days when you really didn’t want church to end.   Tonight we continue our Daniel study.  We’re almost finished with it and then we will begin Revelation.  A very hard book to understand.   Tonight’s menu  is sloppy joes, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, sweet potatoes, and who knows what else.  I am taking some hot pepper jelly with cream cheese on ritz crackers.   I know it doesn’t sound too good but it really is delicious.  Well we better get going.  God Bless.

Pumpkin growing in our garden

This year as a gift from God we have pumpkins.  Quite a lot of pumpkins.  We have decided to harvest them a little early as bugs have decided they like them too.    The pie was made completely from scratch as you probably can tell.  The crust is a very simple recipe that doesn’t require being rolled out.  I like things simple.  The filling recipe came from an old lady at a farmers market we visited years ago.   If anyone is interested in these recipes let me know and I will post them.  Today has been a good day.  The girls played piano at church today.  Grace played the special and Julie played the congregational.  Big step for Julie-playing while others sing with her.  They both did great.  When I hear them play like that I think all that money and time for lessons was REALLY worth it.   It’s almost time to leave for Sunday Night Bible Study at church.  We are using John MacArthur’s study on the book of Daniel.  It has been a very interesting study so far.  The pie is for church tonight.  After bible study we always eat(Its the Baptist way)  Tonight we will be having a feast.  Pinto beans, cornbread, onions, tomatoes, hot dogs, cole slaw, and pie.  Who could ask for more.  As I tell my oldest daughter, we really do study, the food is just extra.  Gotta go and God Bless.