MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

I thought I would show you all a picture of the apron I just finished today.  I think it looks so cheerful.  My friend, Vicki, found this pillowcase at a thrift store last summer.   I think it turned out really nice.  I like using old pillowcases  to make aprons.  They have a vintage look and the cost of material is greatly reduced.   My aprons have not sold as much in the fall and winter as they did in the summer.  I hope to make up quite a few this winter to have on hand for the upcoming summer.  

The girls went to the Horn’s yesterday to celebrate Bubby’s birthday.  They had a great time.  Hubby and I went to C-burg to get tires put on the car so I had to miss Bubby’s cake.  Our church collects fleece throws, lotion and socks for our local nursing home.  The pastor’s wife meet us in town so we could deliver them.  Today we have cleaned out the chicken house (YUCK!)  The temperature here is mid 30′s.  Not too bad.  I know it could be lots colder.  

Tonight’s menu is hamburgers on homemade buns, home fries and peach dumplings for dessert.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

Yesterday morning, we had a beautiful start to our morning.  I love sunrises and sunsets. 

After church, we came home to eat lunch.  We had hamburgers on homemade buns and fries.  We ate as quickly as possible and left for town to watch the Christmas Parade.  The parade is a big deal here in Floyd.  Lots and lots of people come to watch and participate.  Here are just a few pictures Grace took.

There are lots of old cars.

Marching bands.

Floats and

wagons pulled by horses.  We had a great time!   The girls are already anticipating next year’s parade.  We have rain here today with fog.  Not a good day for doing anything outside.  Hubby is working on the bed but he has to do it inside his shop.  He doesn’t have a lot of room in there so he doesn’t like to work inside.  He is getting very close to being finished however he still does not have his brakes fixed on the van.  He has taken the wheel off several times and did different things to it but it is still sticking.  He wanted to replace the wheel cyclinder today but it is just too wet to work on it.  Hopefully, this will fix it. 

Today, I made a spice tea mix.  I got the recipe from Nadine at http://nadinesnook.blogspot.com/  She also posted a recipe for chai tea mix that I want to make.  These will  make excellent gifts.   Well, our lunch break is almost over.  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.

Our forsynthia bush is in full bloom.  I love the bright yellow color, so cheerful.  Today is beautiful here in Floyd.  Temperature is mid 50′s, the sun is shining and the wind is not too aggressive.   Very nice.  I have one load of clothes on the line and another on the way.  We are busy with school and have plans for outside time this afternoon.  

Yesterday was a nice day too.  Church was very nice and our evening study went very well with lots of discussion.  Our menu last night was beef roast with potatoes and carrots, green beans, macaroni salad, cookies and peaches.  Very good.  We did hamburgers on the grill for lunch yesterday, with grilled onions and asparagus.  I love cooking on the grill.  I think it makes everything taste so good.   

Enjoy your day and God bless.

Here is a picture of the apple muffins I made this morning.  They were very good.  I definitely will be making them again.  Thanks for sharing the recipe, Cheryl.  Here is the recipe: 

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 cup apple juice, 1/3 cup oil, 1 egg and 1 cup diced apples.  Combine all ingredients and put into muffin pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min.  Next time I make it I will add nuts but I didn’t this time.  Anyway they were really good.

Today has been rain, rain, and then some more rain.  Extremely dreary.  Hubby is having trouble with the van  but has been unable to work on it because of the rain.  We did manage to sneak in a picnic lunch over at the park.  They have a shed there and we were fortunate enough to get to use the shed, otherwise we would have had to come home.  We had hamburgers on the grill, pasta salad and yogurt.  We got some more good pictures to share. 

I hope you all 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.

Friday evening we went to our Pastor’s house.  As I mentioned earlier, he gave us some peaches.  He has a small orchard at his house.  All his trees were so full of fruit.  It was beautiful.

These are only a few of the trees.  Grace took lots of pictures.  I will try to post more of them tomorrow.

This is a view from his yard.  Very pretty.  We also ate supper at his house.  Almost everything we had was home grown.  I love to eat this way.  We had hamburgers on the grill, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes from the garden, fresh homemade applesauce, and fresh peaches.  Delicious!

The girls and I did not get to can our beets yesterday.  As it was raining most of the day, we decided to run a few errands in town instead.  Jess had given me some coupons she had for canning jars and lids.  We decided to go to Wal-Mart and get these.  They are a little cheaper there than there are at our local supermarket.  We will be canning the beets today. 

The sun is shining here nicely today.  Temperatures have cooled down some, thanks to the rain yesterday.  Outside temperature is about 80 degrees.  This is one of those weeks when things begin to start building up.  Much to do.  Beans are ready to pick, berries are ready, beets are ready and I think we might have enough tomatoes ripe to make a batch of salsa.  I love to can and put away food for my family however when I start getting behind, it is easy for me to allow that to become a stressor in my life.  I do not want this to happen.  God has given us this bounty and I thank Him for it.  When I was growing up,  the garden and canning controlled our summers.  I do not want that for my girls.  I want the garden and all it involves to be enjoyable and fun for my girls.  I want to keep a balance.  This is hard, as old habits are sometimes difficult to break.  Pray that I will do this well-that my girls will have a love for gardening and canning and not see it as just hard work. 

Enjoy your day and God bless.

Here’s a picture of the baby geese.  We have 6 of them.  Ain’t they cute!  I have been hoping to get a better picture of them but so far this is as good as it gets.  We have been really busy around here.  I had to take Grace to the doctor Thursday.  She fell and we thought she might have broken a bone in her foot.  Thank the Lord, it was not broken just a sprain.   She is feeling much better today.  We went down to Jessica’s today for a short visit.  We fixed hamburgers on the grill for lunch. There is just something special about sharing food fixed on the grill with family.  I love eating outside and today was a beautiful day for it.  We also went down to a pick your own strawberry patch that is close to her house.  We got 4 gal. for us and 2 gal. for our friend Vicki.  We ate 1 of our gal. on the way home.  They were delicious!  When we got home, we went up on the hill above our house and starting cutting wood for this winter.  We got 1 truck load cut, brought it down and unloaded it.  Many, many more loads to go but it is a start.    We will split it later.  So of course, all of me is tired.  Hubby is mowing and I am ready for a shower.  Take care and God bless.

The field above our house has come to life.  Several new calves have been born.  They run and jump through the new grass.  They have so much fun and are such a joy to watch.  Today we worked outside most of the day,  picking up in the yard, getting the garden ready.  David, Jess, and Daniel came this afternoon.  We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.  Ate them outside at the picnic table.  The sun was shining brightly.  A beautiful day. 

The girls enjoyed some fishing time.  It was one of those days that I just thank the Lord I live where I do.  Clothes blowing dry in the wind.  The birds are singing so  beautiful.  Frogs peeping.  It makes me want to do all my work outside.  I even open my window just a little bit at night so the frogs can sing me to sleep.   Wonderful time of the year in Floyd.  It’s been a really hard winter but spring in sweet.  Just like life.   Sometimes life is hard but the Lord is good and brings us through to spring.  Well, I must go.  My baby boy is here.  Take care and God bless.

Here is Julie’s wall hanging.  What do you all think?  I think maybe for a beginner it might not be too bad.  It really was a lot of fun.  There was a little more guilting involved than I first anticipated but I think it turned out okay.  I am going to start Grace’s hopefully this week.  More snow today.  We have had more snow this winter than we have had since we have lived here at the farm-6 yrs. now.  I hope this makes for an excellent garden year.  Hopefully lots of good veggies and fresh fruit.  Fruit trees in our area did not do well last year and we really missed all those good apples, pears, and peaches. 

Another project I worked on today.  Making our own hamburger buns.  This batch turned out much better than the first batch.  At least these look like buns.  We’ll find out this evening how they taste.  I think hamburgers and fries for supper.  School has been a little slow today, sometimes this happens when we take a day off.  Of course, the snow outside didn’t help any.  The forecast is calling for another storm to come in over the weekend.  I guess this will mean no MawMaw time.  Maybe the next weekend.  Well break time is over.  Time for school.   Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting.  God Bless.