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.

Hubby has been working on my Christmas gift.  I love it!!!

This is a side view.

Front view and

all folded up.  It will hold lots and lots of clothes.  I will take a picture later of it full of clothes. 

He has also been working on Chuck’s gift. 

A porch swing.  I think it is very pretty.  I really like the two colors together.    Chuck and his family are coming up tomorrow.  I have to get busy today to finish his “goodie basket”.  We will be having ham, mashed potatoes, green beans and homemade rolls.

The Horn’s are coming over this evening.   For supper, we will be having 15 bean soup, rolls and a peppermint cake.  I got the recipe from http://nadinesnook.blogspot.com/2011/12/peppermint-cake.html  I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

Yesterday we went with the Horn’s to Bottom Creek Gorge.  It was absolutely beautiful!  So many beautiful colors.

We stopped at an overlook and I took these pictures.

We had a great time.  We hiked and then came back on the Parkway to picnic.  Such a wonderful day.  I have so many beautiful pictures to show you all.   Enjoy your day and God bless.

Beautiful grapes!  Last night a friend of ours called and said they had some grapes that we could have if we wanted them.  They had already used all they wanted so we loaded up and went over to pick.  We picked about 3 bushels.  The girls and I have been busy all day, processing them.    We are using the steam juicer.  I think we will end up with about 20 qts, maybe more.    What a blessing.  God is so good!

Guess what?  We have a broody hen!  Well, where I come from we call them setting hens but here most folks call them broody.  Anyway, she is only 4 months old.  I don’t think I have ever known one to set that young.  We have kept Mr. Rooster separate from the hens so her eggs would not hatch but she doesn’t seem to know that.  The girls and I wanted to put her back in the coup with Mr. Rooster so we could let her set but Hubby said no.  No more chickens-(this year).  Anyway, we moved her out into her own little coup for a few days.  The other hens were glad as she was hogging the only nest they will use.  They have two other nests but for some reason they all prefer to use just this one. 

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

Our plants are growing.  YEAH!  Today makes 2 weeks since we planted the seeds.  I think they are doing really well.

The tomatoes and peppers seem to be the slower growing.   The cucumbers and squash are the fastest.  The broccoli and okra are growing pretty fast too. 

Today is overcast and windy.  The temperature is 60 degrees though so that is very nice.  I have clothes on the line outside.  We worked on school yesterday and then went into the library and piano practice.   I found a book at the library.  It is written by Ree Drummond.  She has a blog www.thepioneerwoman.com If you have never been to her blog I am sure you would enjoy it.  She has some excellent recipes and many interesting stories.  The book I got at the library is about her and her husbands courtship and marriage.  I think it will be very good.

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

Yes, I know, I have another bird picture but I couldn’t help myself.  He and the Mrs. come every morning to our catawba tree.  They swoop down get a bite of something and go back up to their limb.  It is always entertaining to watch.  Sorry about the flash glare that is present in his eye.  I did not know how to correct that.  Anyway, the picture shows how brilliant his color his.

We had some major storms come through here last night.    Jess called to tell us we had a tornado warning for our area.  Thank the Lord, that didn’t happen.  We did have lots of lightning and some rain.  This morning is calm but the fog is very thick.  Grace tells me she likes fog so today will be her kind of day.  We are supposed to go do our annual spring cleaning at church today.  I’m not sure if we will still be doing it or not.  We could clean inside but I don’t think we will be doing any outside cleaning. 

Yesterday we went to pick up Grace’s new glasses.  We did a little shopping in Sam’s and then came on home.  I didn’t want to overdue as Grace is still not back to 100 percent.  Hopefully today she will be feeling much better.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

Our spirea bush is also in full bloom.  I love spring!

Yesterday, my Grace did not feel well.  She felt worse as the day progressed.  I finally ended up taking her to Urgent Care late yesterday evening.  She has strep throat.  Not good.  We are praying for a speedy recovery and that the rest of us do not get it.

On now to more pleasant things.  We have lots of sunshine today and the forecast is for warmer temperatures.  Yesterday was a mix of rain, snow, and wind.  It was chilly all day.  We are looking forward to warmer temperatures the rest of the week.  Last nights menu was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls.  Grace, however, did not eat very much as her throat was hurting.

I plan on only doing half school today.  Sickness and school do not go well together.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

As you all know, I love old things.  My mother-in-law gave me this old lamp while we were down helping her move.  It needed a new shade and a little cleaning.  Grace cleaned it for me and we are on the lookout for a shade that will do it honor.   I have it on top of my treadle sewing machine for now. 

We are getting some much needed rain here today.  I understand we are about 4 in. below normal on our water level.  It seems very cozy, the rain on the tin roof, a warm fire.   I think I need to light some candles to make it even cozier.

We are working on school today.  Also cleaning house.  The ladies will be coming tomorrow for bible study.  Tomorrow will be our last lesson in this study, “Women who believed God”.  It has been a good study.  Tonight’s menu is sloppy joes, french fries, green beans and a peach pie with homemade whipped creme for dessert.  YUM!

I hope you all have wonderful day and God bless.

P.S.  In answer to the question about what sassafras tea tastes like, it resembles a root beer or birch beer taste.  You can drink it hot or cold.  We prefer hot but it is good cold.

Yesterday, I decided I just could not fix my machine.  We decided we should not be having all that trouble with a new machine so we took the machine back to Wal-Mart where we had purchased it.  As you all recall, I had not had the machine very long at all and it has always given me trouble.  Anyway, Wal-Mart took it back and we exchanged it for this machine.  As soon as I started sewing on it, it was obvious this is a better machine.  I have never used a Singer before but I definitely pray we will be getting better service from this one than from the Brother.  I finished the sewing project that I had previously started.

This is for my little man, Daniel, who loves, loves, loves to help his mom in the kitchen.  I hope it looks like a little boy apron.  I wanted something with tractors on it but blue jean material was all I had that looked boyish.  Weather permitted they will be coming up Sunday.  Chuck and his family may come also.  This would be a first-all my grandkids in the house at the same time.  WOW!  They are calling for some snow to hit here tomorrow and Sunday so we’ll just have to wait and see.

We will be having our candlelight service at church tonight.  This is such a beautiful service.  We have these little shelves on the walls and on top of the shelves we have oil lamps.  All the oil lamps are lit and the electric lights are turned off.  It is absolutely beautiful.  We have communion and the pastor has a message.  Then we all light our individual candles, gather around in a circle and sing Christmas hymms.  It is such a special time and we all look forward to it.  I pray you will all have a wonderfully blessed Christmas Eve as well. 

Celebrate the birth of our Savior.  May He bless each of you with a special portion of His presence on this wonderful day-Christ’s birthday.   God bless.

We learned a valuable lesson yesterday.  First I’ll start on Friday evening.  As you all know we met at the pastor’s house to begin peeling apples for our apple butter.  We peeled 6 bushel.  We decided to put them in salt water overnight so they would not turn brown.

On Saturday morning about 8:00, we built the fire and loaded some of the apples into the kettle.  As the apples cooked down, we would add more to the kettle.

All day we took turns stirring the apples in the kettle.  Fun but hard work.  We had a wonderful day of fellowship with a great meal.  However, we did not get any applebutter.  Before we added the sugar, (Thank you, Lord) we decided to taste the applesauce.  YUCK!!!!!It tasted terrible.  We reviewed all we had done and came to the conclusion our mistake was soaking the apples in the salt water overnight.  The salt reacted with the cooper kettle and the apples were very bitter and metallic tasting.  We ended up throwing them away.  No applebutter, however, we did all have a GREAT time.  It was a lot of fun.  I would do it all again even with the same results.  We are talking about trying again maybe in Oct.  We’ll see. 

Today is a rainy day here in Floyd. No complaints though.   We really need the rain.  Kinda chilly.  Mid 50′s.  We are not having bible study tonight so I think today is a snuggle in and relax evening.  I hope your Sunday will be just as enjoyable.  God bless.