MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

Today has been a kinda slow day.  Julie went shooting at the shooting range with her Dad today. She had a really great time and says she wants to go again.  Grace and I stayed home.  We made applesauce muffins.  I got the recipe from one of my blogger friends.  Remember the “peach sauce” we made earlier in the summer, well, we used it instead of applesauce.  They turned out really good.  Then we made some homemade rolls to go with supper tonight.  We will be having beef roast, corn from the garden and potatoes, with the homemade rolls of course.  I think watermelon for dessert. 

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd.  Temperatures in the upper 70′s, low 80′s.  One of those nice relaxing days.  I thought the picture of the cat summed up how the day has been.  Slow and lazy.  Yesterday was bible study day.  We only have one more lessons in I Corinthians and then we will start the Ruth study.  I am really looking forward to it.  I’m sure there will be lots to learn. 

Time for me to go enjoy some of that nice weather.  My green swing is calling me.  Of course, the other cat will have to move over. 

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.

Yesterday was a fun day.  Baby Sam came to MawMaw’s house for the very first time.

He seemed to enjoy himself.  I know MawMaw and PawPaw certainly did enjoy it.

Sam investigating the world from PawPaw’s shoulder.

Just one more picture.  Don’t he look content and happy.

Daniel had a great time with a bottle sprayer filled with water.  All MawMaw’s plants needed a drink and he had a great time giving it to them.

I think this is my favorite picture of the day.  Ain’t he soooooo cute?

What do you think they are looking at?

A frog of course.

My Julie.  The gift my Lord surprised me with at 40.

At 41 my Lord gave me another gift.  Grace.  I never imagined the Lord had more babies for me.  My daughters(all 3) have taught me so much about life and love.    I am such a blessed woman.  Such joy He has given me.  My family is so important to me and I cannot never thank the Lord enough for allowing me to be part of their lives.  God is so good.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

We were extremely impressed with the food strainer.  It was super fast compared to the old food mill and had very little waste.  We processed a bushel of apples in about 4 1/2 hours.  We used both big canners.  We got 12 qts and 24 pints.  YUM!  I have always used the hot water bath canner to process applesauce.  However, I read in my Mennonite cookbook, they could be processed in the pressure canner.  We tried that yesterday and it went very fast.  15 min. on 5 lb. pressure.  Much faster than using a bath canner.  Vicki and I had a great time and of course the kids had fun.  It is so much more pleasant sharing canning with a friend.  I am so thankful the Lord placed our families together.  Good friends are sometimes hard to find and I consider Vicki one of the best.

  The girls and I are planning a “girl day” out today.  We are going into C-burg to run some errands.  This will include Wal-Mart and Goodwill.  Temperatures have been very warm here in Floyd.  On the farm though, it isn’t near as bad as it is in town.  We are usually a few degrees cooler.  In the summer this is a plus, in the winter not so good.  Thankfully, we have quite a few shade trees in the yard and that really helps. 

Time for us to get ready to leave.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

This lily has had a rough beginning.  In early spring, it was trampled and broken by a big footed pup.  It seems to have survived nicely though.  I have waited all spring to see what it would look like.  I think it looks pretty next to the purple flowers.  I most definitely will have to separate some of these flowers next year.  The bed is extremely crowded.  Yesterday was a busy day.  The girls and I cleaned out both of the big freezers-making room for this year’s harvest.  This took a major portion of the day.  Then I helped Hubby by mowing some before he came in from work.  For supper, I used some of the pork tenderloin I had cooked the day before.  I like to cook a large amount of meat at one time and then use it in different dishes for another meal.  So I put the tenderloin in the oven with some potatoes and roasted them.  We also had corn on the cob from our freezer, biscuits with butter and homemade blackberry jam for dessert.  Today is starting out to be a beautiful day here is Floyd.  Lots of sunshine.  Tomorrow our church is doing a horseshoe tournament down by the river.   We will play horseshoes, eat lots of good food, listen to good music and in general have a great time.  It amazes me some people think Christian life is boring.  We have a blast at my church!  We are small in number but we do lots of things together.  We are family.  I will try to get some pictures to post of our activities.  This is the first year we have done this and we are hoping many will come.  Baby Sam and Mom are still doing good.  Daniel says he loves his baby brother. Thanks so much for your prayers.  I hope to go down to see them soon and get more pictures.  Take care and God bless.

Yesterday was my Julie’s birthday.  We celebrated by having a picnic lunch at Groundhog Mountain with our friends, the Horns.  The building you see behind the kids is the lookout tower.

This is one of the things you can see from where the tower is.  The mountain in the distance is called Buffalo Mountain.  I think you can probably guess why.

We had birthday cake, hot dogs, chips and all the things that go with it.  We are so blessed to have friends like the Horns.  Their kids and our kids have so much fun together.

After the picnic, it was time for some work.  We went to Levering Orchard in Ararat, Va.  Time to pick some cherries.  We had a great time.  It is a pick your own orchard or you can purchase them already picked.  It is, of course, cheaper if you pick.  Besides who would want to miss all that fun.  We picked almost 9 lb. or the equivalent of 2 gal.  They are very good.  After getting all hot picking cherries, we stopped on the way back at this little store for an ice cream cone.  It certainly tasted delicious.   All in all, it was a great birthday day.  Prayerfully tomorrow I will be making a post about a beautiful new baby boy, with lots of pictures.  I am making sure I have my camera with me.  We are getting ready to leave as I type this.  I need to be there by 5:00, as she is scheduled to be at the hospital by 7:00.  I know I have asked before, but remember to pray for us.  Take care and God bless.

I thought this was just the cutest picture.  This little girl was so intent on her fishing pole.  Look close you can see her little bare toes sticking out from under her dress.  You can also notice her hair is wet.  She sat on this drain pipe through a little shower we had.  She did not want to give up her spot.  I heard we had over 100 people there Saturday. I think they said about 300 lbs. of trout were caught.  The kids had a great time.  Lots of fun and fellowship.  Afterward, we went shopping for a few things.  Hubby needed to replenish some of his electrical supplies.  Yesterday was church, went into town to pick up some ink for the printer.  When we got home, I made some baked beans to take to Sunday Evening Class.  Then we worked some on our homework.   Sunday Night’s menu was pigs in the blanket, baked beans, chips and  homemade dip, a pasta dish, coleslaw.  For dessert peach pie, ice cream and a dessert that Becky makes that I forgot the name of.  (Happens as I get older)  Temperatures have been cool here with quite a lot of rain.  We haven’t gotten all of our garden planted because it has just been too wet.  Hopefully this week we will get it finished.  I am, of course, washing clothes today.  Lots of clothes!  I guess they will have to be dried inside as it looks like the sun will not shine today. Tomorrow the girls and I are going down to Jessica’s to watch Daniel while she goes for an ultra sound.  Samuel is just about ready to be here.  Just a couple more weeks, maybe sooner.  Pray for a healthy and easy delivery for him and for her.  I better get busy.  Take care and God bless.

We received our new school books for next year.  This is always an exciting time for us.  We love looking at them to see what the next year will be about.  Of course, about half way through them they will not be near as exciting.  Oh well, enjoy the moment, right.  Temperatures have been rather chilly here.  30 degrees this morning with scattered frost.  Hopefully no damage done.  We spent the weekend at Jessica’s.  Saturday was her baby shower day.  She received many nice things but of course I forgot my camera, so no pictures.  Her mother-in-law got her a really nice bassinet.  She is going to use this upstairs in the bedroom for a while.  Then they will put up his crib.   We also celebrated Hubby’s birthday while we were there.  Hot dogs with all the fixin’s and birthday cake.  We had a great time.  As usual, though, it goes by too quick.  When we came home last night, it was pretty chilly in the house.  We hurried and built a fire.  We still have one going today but I think it is going to warm up nicely.  The sun is shining and it looks beautiful outside.  Hubby and I are going to get another load of wood while the girls stay here and work on school.  Dale-a friend from church- is bringing over his wood splitter this evening to let us borrow.  Thank you Dale and thank you Lord for provided us with such good friends.  We are truly blessed.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Okay, so our visit went by much too quick.  Monday evening when they first arrived it seemed like such a long time, but now it is Thursday and they are gone.  I miss them already.  We had so much fun. We went to a park here in town.  When the girls were little they called it “the colored swings.”  We, of course, still call them that.  Tuesday was a beautiful day, we packed a picnic lunch and headed into town.  We had a great time.  Wednesday was cool here.  Not much outside activity.  Today however is gorgeous.  Nice and warm with lots of sunshine.

Doesn’t he look like he is having fun!

The girls had a great time keeping up with him.  Well, maybe not a great time but they did have fun.

No fear-no gain.  Tuesday evening while we were outside burning off the garden, Daniel had lots of fun playing Superman.   As I have said before he is all boy.  Time for me to start supper.  I think tonight’s menu will be sloppy joes and fries.  Something easy.  MawMaw needs to rest.  (Just kidding)  I don’t think anything makes me feel any younger than being around small children.  They love so freely and completely.  No wonder Christ said for us to come to Him as a little child.  Take care and God bless.

Pictures from Christfest Saturday night.  My girls wore puddle skirts,  Daniel is Spider Man, David is Wafer Man and Jess is dressed as a devil.  It was a GREAT surprise when they came to the party.  I had thought they were going to stay at their house to give away candy.  Change of plans, which made MawMaw very happy.  Julie, Grace, and Daniel had a great time playing the games and getting candy.  Everyone probably noticed I spelled the cats name wrong on my last post.  I noticed it too, but did not know how to change it.  Her name is Stripes.  Anyway, I guess I need to use spell check.  We went down to Dave and Jess’ for a few days, worked some more on their bathroom.  The shower stall is now tiled.  We have to put the grout on our next trip.   We worked very  hard today, splitting and stacking wood.  No school today just work.  The girls would rather do school than work this hard, but as I told them we will appreciate it this winter.  I have been blessed with very good girls.  They work hard and complain very little.   They had fun too.  They make work into a game and that makes it fun.  It was a very beautiful day.  Lots of sunshine, temperature around 50 degrees.  Very nice for working outside.   It’s 6:00 and already dark, however, I do like the fact that it gets daylight earlier.  I have always been a morning person.  Well, it time for me to get some stuff done.  God Bless.