Mountain Mama… Country Living
Hubby and I were drinking our morning cup of coffee together on the glassed in porch and the Lord gave us the beautiful sunrise to enjoy. God is so good! We are still cold here. Temperatures in the mid to upper 20’s with wind chills in the teens. YUCK! I am not ready for temps this cold but the Lord knows what He is doing. Not much else going on here. Just staying warm, working on school and doing normal stuff.
I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Can you believe we are getting snow? Amazing!! I can’t remember ever getting snow in October in Floyd. Maybe years ago, but not since we have lived here. Anyway, we are getting it now. It is COLD here-well, maybe not real cold but cold compared to last week. It has been a drastic change in temperature. We are right now in the upper 20’s with wind gusts of 40 mph which makes it seem much colder. Needless to say, we are so thankful for a dry wood supply. Definitely makes all that hard work on Saturday seem worthwhile.
Last night we had an intruder in the meat chickens coop. It was an opossum or as we call them-possum. We leave off the o part. Jasper and Hubby took care of it though. He is definitely becoming a valuable part of our family. Shadow is getting too old for critter chasing. Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting school in just a little bit. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
A little while back, Hubby was working on a bathroom remodel. Him and the owner started talking about getting wood for winter and the owner showed him the wood splitter he made. He said he would be glad to come over and split our wood for us so today we took him up on the offer. It was an awesome machine.
He started around 1:00 and finished about 5:00. It is a really fast splitter.
Here they are just getting started. Notice our ever present helper, Shadow. He is always where we are. He’s such a good dog.
So while the men split the wood, us girls stacked it inside the building. We are now 3 rows deep and 1 side row. There is still much more to stack. Time ran out for today. Of course, they could split much quicker than we could stack.
This is where I would have liked to be. Oh well, sitting won’t keep us warm this winter. I’m just kidding, I really enjoy work especially when we are all working together. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Here is a picture of my lastest project. This picture is of one I did several years ago. Grace has requested one so I am working on hers now. I have finished the pink and blue rows and will be starting on the red. I also have found a new favorite way of making popcorn. I am not found of microwave popcorn. It always leaves a yucky taste in my mouth. I have been making this recipe for microwave kettle corn and we all love it. You can make it sweet like the recipe says or just leave out the sugar and make regular popcorn.
Much has been going on here for the last week. That’s one reason why I haven’t made a post in a while. First off, last week I threw my back out. I used my mom’s old cane to walk around the last part of the week. I am so thankful that I do not have chronic back problems. It was intensely painful. Then on Saturday we went down to Jessica’s for a pumpkin carving day. We have never carved pumpkins before. It was a lot of fun.
Jess made this cheesecake. It was the first cheesecake she had made. It was very good.
Everyone had a great time.
Then Saturday evening we went to the “Critter Chompin”. It is a wild game banquet that our church sponsors. We do door prizes and I won a new bible “The Story”. Have any of you ever heard of it? It is supposed to be the bible but told in a story form Later on that night though we had some bad news. Hubby Dad had been taken to Pikeville hospital with a heart attack. We went down to see him on Monday-11 hrs driving. Hard day in MANY ways. He is on a ventilator and unable to breathe on his own. Later in the week, he had to undergo surgery for a preforated bowel. Today he is still in extremely critical condition. I would ask if anyone feels led to pray, we would certainly appreciate your prayers. He is 81 years old, a Christian man, and wasn’t in very good health before all this happened. Hubby and I are praying for God’s will to be done.
Well, that’s about it. I will try to keep everyone posted. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Directions:
I got this recipe from http://content2be.blogspot.com/2011/11/homemade-kettle-corn-in-microwave.html
Not much going on here this morning. Grace is practicing piano and Julie has already practiced. Then we will do the regular morning chores of sweeping, shaking rugs, etc. Then time for school.
It is a beautiful day here. Lots of sunshine. We were a little cool last night-mid 30’s. I will probably have to build a fire by this evening. It is chilly in the house-62 degrees-but I am hoping it warms up in here as the day goes by. I have clothes in the washer ready to go on the line to dry.
I took this picture of Jasper this morning as he was on duty. There are calves that get out continuously. Jasper takes his duty very seriously. He makes sure they know their boundaries. He does not allow them in the yard. He has learned well this summer. I think he will be a very good farm dog.
Well, Grace is almost done practicing so I better get busy. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Hello everyone! I thought I would share a few pictures from along our beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. It is lovely this time of year.
I have always loved this church sitting upon the hill. Saturday was a wood cutting day here. Chuck and his family came over to help. We brought down 2 huge trees. We got them all cut and brought home. We still have to split them though. It was a really fun day. Chuck’s girlfriend had never been part of wood cutting. (She’s a town girl). I think she had a good time though. The kids had lots of fun.
Today the girls and I went to Roanoke to pick up a few things. We went walking through the mall, which is something we don’t do very often. I stepped into Macy’s-my first time. You all remember that I have been looking for a hard anodized pot to use for cooking down my sauces. One like Mrs. Sally let me borrow this summer. Well, they had one on sale for 1/2 price!! Yeah, me!!! I was very happy. I very seldom come across deals like that. I certainly am glad I walked into that store.
Well, that’s about all that’s been happening here. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.
Yesterday was David’s mom’s birthday. Jess is learning how to make and decorate cakes. She did this one for David’s mom. We think she did a very good job. It looked and tasted delicious. I did manage to get this picture of Katie while we were there.
Hard to believe but next month she’ll be a year old. Time marches on. We are chilly here this morning-30 degrees with wind. I built a fire as soon as we got up. It was 59 degrees in the house. I now have a big kettle of homemade soup on the woodstove simmering for supper tonight. The girls and I are going to do school and then heading outside to work. We need to dig potatoes, clean off the garden and clean out the chicken houses. I’m not sure all that will get done today but we hope to at least get some of it done. The sun is shining beautifully so I think it will be a good day to be outside.
Time for school. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Saturday we went to Tweetsie for the last time this season. We had a lot of fun. The fall colors were beautiful!
Sam was so excited. He loves riding the “choo choo”.
Daniel had a great time. He loves riding all the rides.
This guy has a magic show. The girls loved it. They have always been interested in magic tricks.
Friday we went bowling with the Horn’s. We had so much fun. On the first Friday of every month our bowling alley has homeschool day. They offer discounts on games and shoe rental is free. We are hoping to get to go again soon.
School is going good so far. Of course, the first week or so usually does as it is mostly review. I helped Hubby yesterday so we took our school to the job site, which is one of the reasons we love homeschooling.
Speaking of school, lunch break is almost over so I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.
1 lb ground beef, 1 lg onion-chopped, 1 med green pepper-chopped. Brown together in large skillet. Pour into large pot.
Add: 1 pt tomatoes or 1 qt home canned tomato juice, 1 small can tomato sauce or 1 small can tomato paste, 1 pkg chili seasoning mix (I prefer Chili-O brand), 1 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 3 cans kidney beans. If this looks too thick, add water till reach desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. I also add garlic salt.
To can this pressure pints 75 min, qts 90 min on 10 lb pressure.
Chili Seasoning Mix
3 tbsp chili powder, 1 tbsp ground cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 onion powder, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper( I use much less of the 2 hot ingredients), 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Merry Heart Crafts 