MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

I thought I would show you all how big these goslings are.  It always amazes me how fast they grow.  They are however ravenous eaters.  We also have ducklings (we think).  She hatched them off and took them up into the field.  We have not seen them since.  Mama  and Papa Duck are still around though so we are confident the ducklings are too.  Mama is just keeping them well hidden.

I forgot to mention in yesterdays post about the chick house, all the planks and the door are from the old farmhouse we are working on.  He said we could have all the old wood.  We have been thinking of ways to reuse it.  I think some of it will go to box in the remainder of our back porch.  Today is a nice day here in Floyd.  Temperature is 66 degrees.  We have had some sun but it is overcast now and I think rain is coming. 

Tonights menu at church is kraut and weiners, pinto beans, cornbread, cole slaw and strawberry rhubarb pie. (Thats just what I know about).  For a class of 10-12 people, we sure do eat good.   Time for me to start getting everything ready.  Enjoy your evening and God bless.

Our grapevine is coming along nicely.    Remember last year we cut it back too much and didn’t get not one single grape from it.  We are hoping for lots and lots of grapes this year.

We have been busy this week with school and other miscellaneous things.  Nothing too big.  We went to help Hubby yesterday.  The room he is working on needs lots of work on the floor.  It is sagging very badly.  He has to take the floor up and get under the house to jack it up.   It had little linoleum squares on it that had been put on with some kind of heavy duty glue.  We had to take the heat gun to each individual square and then use a shovel to get them up.  It took most of the day. 

We are having a little cold spell here.  We call it dogwood winter as the dogwoods are in full bloom.  We have been in the upper 20′s at night with frost.  Yesterday’s high was low 40′s with lots of wind.  Chilly but today has been nice.  Sun and temperatures in the low 60′s.  I like that much better. 

Well, that’s about all that is happening here.  I hope you all have a wonderful evening and God bless.

Our apple tree is in full bloom.  It certainly looks like we will have lots of apples on it-if the warmer weather holds out with no frost.  Our temperature was 36 degrees this morning.  It has already warmed up to lower 50′s.  As I type, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, clothes are drying on the line.  I truly have a blessed life.  Thank you, Lord!

We will be starting school in a little bit.  After school, I need to go into our little town and get a few things.  Then hopefully get home and get a few things done here.  I want to get our seeds started this week.  Tomorrow, Julie has an eye appointment in C-burg.  This usually is an all day thing.  We want to visit Goodwill while we’re over there.  The girls are hoping to find a few books.  Our Goodwill has an actual used book store in a separate building.  It will be a fun girls day out. 

Our back road is full of wild spring flowers.  We see something new blooming every time we travel that way.  Yesterday, the columbine was blooming.  I so enjoy seeing all the spring flowers come to life.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

I posted this picture on March 11, 2012. 

10 days later it looks like this.  Amazing!  Things are really popping out here and I am so glad.  Monday and Tuesday, I had to help Hubby with the electrical at the the job site.  Today, I am very glad to be here at home.  We are hoping to get some outside work done this afternoon after school.  I’m not sure though.  The morning has been chilly with lots of fog.  The fog is lifting now and the sun is starting to lighten things up.  It is looking hopeful for outside work.

I wanted to share with you all something I just recently purchased for our kitchen.  It is called a butter keeper.  Are any of you familar with them?  Well I just love it.  I love using real butter but do not like the fact that it is so hard to spread when kept in the fridge.  Well, this butter keeper allows me to leave the butter sitting on the table without spoiling.  And it looks cute, too.

Here’s how it works.  Every couple of days, I put cold water in the bottom of the crock.  The butter then stays nice and cool but spreadable.  I really like it. 

Well, it is time for me to give a history test.  I hope you all have a wonderful evening and God bless.

Daniel is SO into Star Wars right now.  He has a light saber and everything.  He earned his light saber.    He has just recently been promoted to a booster seat and was having trouble getting his seat belt to buckle.  His mom told him if he could buckle himself in 10 times on his own, they would buy him a light saber.  Motivation, you know.  Well, it took him a while but he has it down pat now.   He was super excited because when they went to purchase his light saber, they found a place on line where they could get 3 light sabers for the same price as one at Wal-Mart.  Daniel says he got himself one, Daddy one, and Sam one so they can all be Jedi.  Way to go, Daniel.

Today is a BEAUTIFUL day here in Floyd.  The sun is shining and the temperature is already 40 degrees.  We have gotten a great start on our day.  The house chores are done and we even have a few minutes of relaxation before school starts.  I was wondering if any of you ladies make kefir and if you do, do you use the powdered starter or the grains?  I have made it a lot using the powdered starter but am wondering if the grains would be better.  Any opinions?

I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

Hello ladies.  It has been very cold here in Floyd today.  Temperatures have been in the upper 30′s but the wind has made it seem like 20′s.  We had snow flurries yesterday but nothing stuck to the ground.  This morning was extremely overcast but by late afternoon the sun came out for a little while.

The girls and I worked on school in the morning and then we helped Hubby set up Jessica’s bed.  No pictures yet as he has not put the headboard and footboard on.  He says we will have to put them on after we take it down to Jess.  It would be too big to fit in the van if we put it together here.  We are thinking we will take it down to them Saturday, if all goes well. 

Yesterday, the girls and I went down to Jessica’s.  Sam and Katie had appointments so we went to help.  On the way back home, Sam feel asleep.  I carried him up to his crib, we ate lunch and then left.  Sam was very upset when  he woke up and found out MawMaw was gone.  Jess had to call me and let him talk to me on the phone.

I hope you all have a great evening.  God bless.

My Christmas cactus is blooming.  I don’t think it has ever bloomed at Christmas but it’s very pretty no matter when it blooms.  I love the bright pink color.  It always makes me feel happy when I look at it.

Temperatures here this morning were mid 20′s with a heavy frost.  It has warmed up already to low 30′s and the sun is shining.  I think it will be a nice day.  We will be doing school as usual, then we have some wood to unload.  We also need to go into town to get some chicken feed.  Thank the Lord, we have once again sold enough eggs to pay for the feed. 

Jess and Katie are doing well and big brothers are adjusting nicely to having a little one in the house.  Katie seems to be (as of right now) a very content little girl.  She sleeps very well at night, 3-4 hrs between bottles.  Amazing!  David will be going back to work on Thursday.  He took a week vacation during Katie’s birth. 

Well, it is almost time for school and I have clothes to hang out.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Here are a few more fall pictures.  These was taken last Saturday during our hike at Bottom Creek Gorge.

Fall is such a beautiful time of the year.  We have been working on school, cleaning up the garden for fall plowing and working on an afgan.  Not a lot going on.  Yesterday evening we gave Mr. Rooster away.  YEAH!  We gave him to a family that wants to hatch baby chicks for their young daughter to take of.   He will be so happy.

Yesterday, it was rainy and foggy here.  Then the temperatures dropped quite a bit during the night.  It was 36 degrees this morning when we got up.  The sun is out now though and it looks like it will be a beautiful day.  Yesterday, I was reading a blogger friend’s post, http://theboydbunch.wordpress.com/, and she was having crockpot parmesan chicken for supper.  I thought that sounded good and I had already planned on having chicken for supper so I looked up a recipe for it.  I’m not sure if this is the same recipe she used or not but it was really good.  I got my recipe from betty crocker.  I did make a few changes. 

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan with Penne Pasta

1 egg, 1/3 cup bread crumbs, 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp. italian seasoning, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, 2 2/3 cups penne pasta.

1.  Spray crockpot

2.  In a small bowl, beat egg until foamy.  In another bowl, mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Dip chicken into egg, then coat with bread crumb mixture.  place in crockpot.  Cover chicken with spaghetti sauce.

3.  Cover and  cook on low for 5 to 6 hrs.   (I cooked mine on high for 4 1/2 hrs.)

4.  Cook and drain pasta.  Serve chicken on top of pasta.   Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.  (I used mozarella).

Makes 4 servings.

I hope you all enjoy your day and God bless.

We had such fun day yesterday.  We went with the Horn’s to Natural Bridge.  I have lots of pictures to show you all.  We’ll start today with the bridge itself.  Isn’t it beautiful?

This picture shows how big the bridge actually is. 

I love this picture of Grace.  I wanted one of Julie too but she was ahead of us with the Horns. 

I wanted to tell you all the amazing blessing we had on Friday.  We went with Hubby to check on a job and were coming home from C-burg.  We had some rain and then the sun came out.  When this happens, we are always on the lookout for rainbows.  Well, we found not one but two.  The girls and I had never seen a double rainbow.  These both were complete arches reaching from one end of the sky to the other.  They were so huge.  Sometimes it seemed as if we were driving right into them.  We got to see them for at least 15 min.  It was so amazing.  We were so excited.  I wish I had my camera with us to take pictures but it probably would not have done any good.  Vicki was at home with her camera but she couldn’t get a picture of it.  She said it was too  big to get it all.   Isn’t God good to show us something like that. 

I’ll show you all more pictures of our trip next time I post.    I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

Yesterday, we went down to watch the boys while Jess went for her ultrasound.  This time the baby was not shy.  Jess will  be having a little girl in  November.  All seems healthy which of course is the most important thing.  About 2 months ago, while in Goodwill, I found this darling little dress.  I thought it was so cute  I just had to buy  it.  You know,  just in case it was a girl.  I figured I could always give it as a gift to someone.  

We had quite a lot of rain last night and today has been alternately overcast and then sun.  I have clothes on the line hoping to get them dry.  It is very humid here with a temperature of 90 but we do still have a slight breeze. 

I hope you all have a great day and God bless.