MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

Praise the Lord!  Water is once again flowing in the Dawson home.  We got it unthawed this morning.  We are so happy. It truly is amazing how much water we use during the day.  Temperatures are still cold here.  8 degrees this morning with a wind chill below zero.  Tomorrow though it is supposed to warm up a little and not be too bad until Sunday, then it is supposed to turn cold again.  We will be having an all day play practice Saturday for the Youth Christmas play at church.  We will be doing the play on Sunday-weather permitting.

We have decided no school today.  We are going to our friends, the Horns, to make some more candy.  I will be making peanut butter balls and Vicki is going to make oreo truffles.  We are looking forward to a day of fun.  Hope your day is as blessed as mine has already been.  God bless.

Every year the girls and I try to do a gingerbread house for our centerpiece at Christmas time.  We did this one last night.  We always have so much fun decorating it and last night was no exception.  Good family memories.  I think it looks very festive on the table. 

We had a dusting of snow this morning.  Enough to excite the girls anyway.  It actually was warmer this morning than it has been.  We are already at 32 degrees.  I did my walk this morning, which felt really good.  I have had to do inside exercises this week due to the weather.  I much prefer outside but, you know, you got to go with the flow.  I am not dedicated enough to walk in 3″ of water with 40 mph wind gusts.  Maybe someday but not today.

Here is a picture of the new study we are starting today.  I think it will be very good.  This week’s lesson was on Eve.  Next week we will be studying Rahab and Mary Magdalene.  Well, I better get busy.  The ladies will be here in just a few minutes.  God bless.

I know many of you are thinking “what is this picture of”.  Did she make a mistake?  No, this is the view from my front porch this morning as I comtemplated my walk.  It was raining, the wind was blowing, everything was muddy and as you can see, it was foggy.  Today was the first test of my determination to walk every day.  It would have been so easy to just say YUCK!  I’m not going today.  I’ll do something else (which I knew I would not).  I did finally put on my raincoat, gloves, hiking boots-which of course was another excuse not to go because I do not like to wear all this.  I then stepped out in the yuck and began my walk.  Guess what?  It was exhilarating!!!!!!!!  I really did enjoy it.  Yes, I did get wet, my pants and my face and that was not too pleasant but it wasn’t too bad either.  I really want to walk as long as weather will permit so I know I just have to stick to it.   Pray that I will continue to be strong.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

I thought you all might enjoy seeing some of the things I see on my morning walk.  I have been trying to walk every morning now for 2 weeks.  My goal of course is (1) to lose some weight and (2) to lower my blood pressure.  I hope to keep up my walking as long as weather will permit, then I will have to come up with a different workout.  Anyway, this is the route I take.  This picture is at the beginning of the walk.  I walk on what we call the “tractor road” .

I walk past our pond.

A close up of the hill behind the pond.

The first little hill.

The second hill.

A view from top of second hill.

A little color still left.

One of my walking companions.  Okay so most days, he walks about 1/2 of the way then just lays down and waits for me to get back.  I have to keep reminding myself, he is not the young pup he used to be.  However, it is good to know he is close by.  Well, that’s some of the highlights of my walk.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I think these are such cheerful flowers.  I like their bright color.  They are among the last of the flowers to bloom in one of my flower gardens.  Fall is definitely in the air here in Floyd.  Cooler temperatures at night.  Upper 50′s lower 60′s.  We even spotted one tree that is starting to change colors.  I love fall!  Many people say summer has long lazy days.  This is usually not true for me.  Fall is more of a slow down time for us.  Most of the canning is done.  We can slow down and enjoy the cooler days.  I love it!  Of course,  I have had to slow down a little earlier than planned this year but I think I have learned a lot from this experience.  What have I learned?  I need to slow down a little, enjoy life more, laugh more, do more things with my girls.  There is much to be said for teaching my girls how to can and take care of the house but also there is much to be said for picnics under oak trees and hikes down favorite trails.  Balance-I think it is all about balance. 

Yesterday the girls and I made homemade vegetable beef soup with homemade rolls.  It is starting to feel like soup weather.  I told the girls the other day, these cooler temperatures makes me want to open up new school books.  Amazing-cooler temps does not have the same effect on them.   We wanted to make chocolate chip cookies yesterday but did not get them done.  I think that will be a project for today.  If we get to make them, I will try to post the recipe we use.  We have some corn that needs to be pulled and worked up so I guess that too will be on the list for today.  My list is not near as long as it was before the back pain.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

We did not get to have our breakfast picnic yesterday morning at the park.   Weather was too bad.  VERY foggy here.   Most people would not have been able to find the park .  Everything is wet, wet, wet.   We did move it to the church, however, so we still had breakfast.  Just not outside like originally planned.  Lots of good food though.  The pastors sermon was on the Lord’s Prayer.  It was a very good message.

I have been told this strange looking flower is called a Naked Lady.  The name suits it.  There are no leaves on it what so ever.  Just a tall stem and then the flower.  They have filled out more since I took this picture however I could not get a new picture.  It is too foggy and dreary today.  The girls and I will be busy making more salsa.  I did not like the recipe in the Ball canning book as much as I like my old recipe.  It was given to me by a Mennonite friend, Judy.  So today we are making her recipe.  Much better.  Temperatures have been cooler here.  Low’s in the upper 50′s, high’s in the low to mid 60′s.  Wet, foggy.  Nice days for doing work inside or just curling up with a good book.  I think I’ll try to work both of these activities in today.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

The girls and I finished the apples yesterday.  You can check out our logs at the right to see our total.  I really like cooking the apples in the microwave.  So much easier.  It makes the applesauce thicker too.  When I cook them on the stove, I have to add a little water to keep them from sticking, so it makes the applesauce a little thinner.   Today we will be canning a bushel of green beans.   Also working on cleaning the house  as tomorrow is bible study day. 

Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week.  When we got up this morning about 6:00, the temperature was 59 degrees.  This makes it so much more comfortable for sleeping.  I would guess yesterdays high was in the low 80′s.  Very nice.  Days like we have been having remind me why I like living in Floyd and especially here on the farm.  God was very good to bring us to this place.  Thank you Lord.

The birds are singing such beautiful praises this morning.  I think I’ll join them in their worship.  Breakfast outside sounds wonderful.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I thought it would be nice to look back and remember how things were just a few short months ago.  This picture was taken this morning.  Then I looked back and found another picture of the same scene.

Personally I like this morning’s picture better but to each his own.  Yesterday was busy for us.  The girls and I went to pick apples.  A friend from church offered us his early apples from his tree.  We were very thankful to get them.  After we came home, we started processing them.  Yesterday we got 11 quarts of applesauce made and still have more to work with today.  Sally, our pastors wife, told us she puts her apples in the microwave to cook them.  This was much easier as we didn’t have to worry about them burning.  Then she puts hers through her food strainer and puts them in the freezer.  I had never put applesauce in the freezer, only apples.  We tried that yesterday.  It was a lot faster and didn’t heat up the house. 

 Beautiful weather here in Floyd this week.  Much cooler temperatures with a wonderful breeze.    We have had several little rains which we really needed.  I picked green beans Monday and dug some young potatoes.  They were delicious.  I think I’ll be able to pick some more beans by tomorrow.  YUM!   I love fresh produce. 

 Did you all notice my canning and freezing logs Dave put on my blog?  Thanks Dave.  I really like being able to look at it and see what I’ve got done and what I still need.  I better get working on those apples.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

My girls.  Ain’t they beautiful!  The recital was Sunday and went very well.  Call me impartial, but I think my girls were the BEST.  It was great fun.  Dave,  Jess, and Daniel came up.  Jess is responsible for “dolling” them up every year.  She does a great job.  They looked so grown up.  It is hard for me to believe how fast they are becoming young ladies.  I love you, girls (all 3). Can you believe this is the same girls that just the day before were fishing and catching lizards? 

We also got a nice picture of Jess, David, and Daniel.  It was such a nice weekend. We enjoyed chicken on the grill Saturday evening which we ate outside at the picnic table.  We had planned to do a campfire but it was too windy.  Hopefully next time.  Our time together extended on to Monday.  We went down with Jess on Sunday evening so I could go with her for her ultra sound on Monday.  It was amazing!  I actually got to see little Samuel blink his eyes.  I could not believe it.  Ulta sounds have really come a long way.   It is cold here today, very windy.  Snow flurries .  Typical March weather.  We saw lots of trees and flowers blooming this weekend though.  Signs of encouragement for those of us who are soooooo ready for spring.  Well, I better work on school.  We’re learning about prepositions this week.  What fun!!!  Take care and God bless.

Miss you, already!  We are back from our visit.  The weather was beautiful, 58 degrees when we left this afternoon.  Pretty nice here too, 45 degrees.  The sun is shining and lots of snow has melted.  We actually have a front yard now.  Our little man was sick this weekend.  He has the same thing Julie and Grace have had.  YUCKY!  However,  as we were playing in his toy room this weekend, he looked up at me and said “I love you, MawMaw”.  Well of course my heart melted.  I have tried since he began talking to get him to say that, and just like that he says it.  No prompting from me, nothing.  Just straight from his heart to mine.   Everything in God’s time.  That of course was the highlight of my trip.  We had lots of great food to eat, did some shopping.  I found the girls a dress for piano recital at Goodwill.  Could not find shoes though.  Hopefully we will find some before the recital.  It’s time for us to leave for church.  I just wanted to share with you all my sweet words from my special boy.  Take care and God bless.