We certainly have had a lot of fun things going on here.   Thursday we went down to Jessica’s.  We got 2 more gallon of fresh strawberries.  We put 1 gal. into the freezer and just enjoyed the other gallon.  Friday was Hubby’s birthday and the girls piano recital.  We celebrated Hubby’s birthday with burgers and cake.  Then got ready for the recital.  Saturday, the ladies from our church made a trip to Bramwell WV.   It is a town where the extremely rich coal barons lived.  Very fancy and extravagant houses.    The above picture shows the town from one of the houses.

Our group-such fine looking ladies!

Most of the houses had amazing lawns-huge.  The kind you know had to have several gardeners just to keep them looking nice.

Several houses had cooper sinks in the kitchen.  When the wealthy were living there, they all had servants to do the work.

I think every house had stained glass windows.  This one was in a bathroom.

A cozy little nook in one of the houses.

One of the houses-notice the brick road.

Another house.  Altogether we toured 9 houses.  It took over 3 hrs to walk through them all.  On the third floor of one of the houses, there was a ballroom.  We did not get to see it though.

Every house had tables set with old dishes, Mrs. Faye.  You would have loved them. 

The old furniture in these houses was amazing.  The wood floors, cabinets, everything.  I have so many pictures it was hard to choose which ones to show you first.  We had a great day! 

I hope each and every one of you had a great Mother’s Day.  God bless.

We are finished with health!  Isn’t that great?  The girls decided yesterday that since we were so close to being finished, they would just work on through to the end.  (This decision was made all on their own, I didn’t even suggest it)  I think that is amazing in itself but so typical of homeschool kids. 

Today is a very nice day.  Lots of sunshine.  Temperatures are in the low 40′s.  Amazing!  I have clothes on the line, I love it.  The girls and I have been walking down to the barn to get milk this week.   Today’s walking should be fairly nice except for the mud.  I know, complain, complain.  But I really do not like walking in mud.  Good exercise though. 

Tonights menu will be kielbasa with sauteed mushrooms, onion, garlic and green peppers served over brown rice.  I haven’t decided what to have for dessert yet , maybe a peach cobbler.  I have made little progress on the matching aprons.  I am very frustrated with myself.  I made an unfixabe error on the little girl apron.  I will have to transform it into a doll apron.  At least, it will be usable for something.  Well, that’s how you learn, I reckon. 

I hope you all have lots of sunshine today and warm temperatures and that you are able to go outside and enjoy the beauty of the day.  God bless.

This is how the apron looked before changes.  I took off the pocket and the fabric at the bottom.

This is how it looks now.  I like this much better even if it did make the apron shorter.  What do you all think? 

We are getting some sunshine now, hopefully it will stay.  Temperatures are warm-mid 40′s.  Pretty nice.  Enjoy your day.  God bless.

Look at these beautiful little violas!  They were hidden away beside some other larger flowers.  I think they are so cute.  They reminded me about how sometimes the beautiful things of God are hidden.  He wants us to put forth a little effort to find them.  Reading and studying His word, praying.  These are all things He wants us to do in order to see His beauty.  But I think also He wants us to listen.  This seems to be the hardest part for me.  Satan obviously knows this because he continuously puts things in my path to distract me and, of course, I allow it to work.  I want to do better.  Spend more time with Him. 

What better place to spend more time with Him than right here.  My front yard-looking down at the field.  The cows are up for their morning snack.  The sun is shining and for today (just today) we are almost caught up with the canning.  The girls and I are going to have a “girl day”.  We have some errands to run and then maybe do some fun stuff in town.  We are thinking about going to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, maybe both.  We might even go to Books-A-Million.  I’m not sure yet what we will do, other than have fun.

One more flower picture.  I thought you all might be getting tired of seeing pictures of canning jars.  A little color was needed.  We’re off to enjoy our day.  God bless.

What a difference a day can make.  Yesterday the snow was falling.  Today is equally as beautiful but in a different way.  The sun is shining and as you can see the sky is a georgeous blue.  It occurred to me that sometimes life is like that too.  Each day brings a different type of beauty.  Sometimes we have to look deeper to find the beauty and sometimes it is easier to find.  I believe God has a treasure for us each day, it is our responsiblity to search and find it.    Today will be another snuggle in day.  Church at home.  Maybe play some games with our girls.  Fun stuff.  Family stuff.  The things memories are made of.  I love days like these.  I wanted to tell everyone that I now have a comment link on each post.  If you want to leave a comment just click on the link.  It is always exciting when someone leaves a comment.  Thanks Dave for fixing this for me.  I want to take a minute to let you all know what a great son-in-law I have.  The Lord did a great job picking him out.  He is always ready to help us (no matter how dirty the job).  I just wanted you to know, Dave, we’re glad you are part of our family.  Okay enough of that, I don’t want his head to get too big.  Todays menus is venison roast cooking on the wood stove and also some beans.  I think maybe biscuits and fried potatoes would be good with this.  I try to cook on our wood stove as often as possible.  I think the food tastes better and of course it saves on the electric bill.  I’m always for saving money.  Well, I think I’ll get busy enjoying my day.  God Bless.

Well the forecast for freezing rain was correct.  Not as much as they first thought but enough.  The first picture is from my dining room window.  It shows the accumulation on the trees.  The second picture is from our kitchen door.  Yes, I know it looks like water running down the yard but it is actually ice.  I’m not very good at guessing ice accumulation but I would think at least a 1/4 of an inch.  Oh well, temperatures are supposed to get above freezing tomorrow so maybe this storm will be short-lived.  More rain coming in on Sunday, though.  School has went very well this week.  We have stayed on schedule and this always makes school more fun.  No bible study today because of the ice.  I certainly do miss those ladies.  It’s been several weeks since we met.  This does happen frequently though in January.   I guess I better get busy.  No bible study means school day.  God Bless.

It appears as if winter might be here to stay.  We awoke this morning to ice.  Not too bad but enough to be pretty.  I would much rather have the snow from the weekend but I’ll have to take whatever God sends our way.  Not a lot happening here in Floyd.  Just winter coming on.  School as usual.  Getting ready for Christmas.  The tree and all the decorations are up.  Christmas music, which I love, playing on the radio.  Life if good!  I know I say that a lot but I really believe it.  I am so blessed.  God has given me so many blessings.  My husband, my kid, my grandkids.  I live in a beautiful home and have a wonderful church.  For me, life really is good and I am thankful to God for His blessings.  (My sermon for the day).  The ice is melting quickly and temperatures are warming up.  Our next  spell of winter mix is for Saturday.  I had hoped to go visit Jess on Saturday but I guess that might not happen.  Depends on the weather.  Well, break time is over and school time begins.  Have a wonderful day.  God Bless.

Today has been a wet, foggy day in Floyd.  Temperatures only about 60 for the high.  Not much can be done outside when the weather is like this.   So today we settled in for a day of half school.  This means we only do half our normal lessons which made the girls very happy.  A day for reading, baking, and enjoying being a stay at home wife.  I believe blessings come in disquise sometimes, just to see if we’ll recognize them.  Thank you Lord, that I can stay at home, teach my girls and snuggle in for a foggy day.  God Bless.

Our biggest accomplishment for today was getting the chimney fixed.  High winds in early spring had blown down the chimney and as I have said it is starting to get cool at night here in Floyd.  My brother-in-law came over to help us fix it.  We were very blessed to find this aluminum pipe down at the barn and it just fit perfectly over the stainless steel pipe that fits in the brick part of the chimney.  This all sounds complicated and in some ways it is.  The original chimney( as you can tell) is very old and was not useable.  We had to line it with a stainless steel pipe which was not tall enough.  The chimney must be above the ridgeline of the house or it will not draw.  Every year we have to replace the pipes that extend on above the ridgeline.  Hopefully this won’t happen now as aluminum does not rust.  Therefore it should last much longer.  I certainly pray so.  George was very glad to get this off his to-do list.   Today is busy with school and getting ready for church tonight.  Hope everyone has a great day.  God Bless.