Progress

Here’s our progress so far. The outside is finished except for the siding. Hubby calls this “dried in”. Anyway we are glad we got this far yesterday as it is raining today. We will be working on the inside of the room today. I think we will be moving some of the plumbing over and putting up the insulation. Maybe even working on some of the electrical.

Sunday was Pastor Appreciation Day at our church. We had a potluck dinner (of course). We take advantage of every chance we have to eat! It was a nice day. We didn’t have Sunday night study as we were there so late for the dinner. Sunday evening we went down to Jessica’s for a surprise visit. They did not know we were coming. Hubby needed the little window that you see in the picture of the room. There is a place near Jess that sells used windows at a good price so we went down to get the window. We spent the night with Jess then went and got the window Monday morning and heading back home. It was a good visit. She was so surprised when she came to the door and saw us standing there. I love surprises!

Well, I guess I better get busy. Hubby is ready to work. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 13, 2010 2

Laundry Room

We finally have the time and money to begin framing our new laundry room. Hubby had put down new flooring for it earlier in the summer. Then work stopped for a while. Yesterday we framed it up. Today we will be going to get the OSB for the walls and begin putting them up. I am so excited. Hopefully, we will be able to get it done before it gets too cold to work on it. We will be moving the washer and dryer out in this room. Hubby is also putting in a small bathroom area. One bathroom is hard sometimes. Our laundry room now is very small and crowded. It will be so nice to have extra room. We had a really nice day yesterday to work. It was a little windy, kept blowing away our tools, but other than that really nice.

Beautiful sunshine. Temperature in the upper 60’s. A really nice day. Well, I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 8, 2010 2

Potatoes

The girls and I took the morning off from school to dig our potatoes. If we did not count wrong, we had 8 drywall buckets of potatoes. YEAH! I think homegrown potatoes are so much better than store bought. But then I think everything homegrown is better. The temperature here is still chilly. Around 50 degrees. Feels like fall. I guess I will have to build another fire this evening. The girls and I also gathered about 2 gal. of peppers this morning. We just gathered them all as it is sure to frost here soon.

I think tonights menu will be hot roast beef sandwiches with green beans. Maybe some chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Take care and God bless.

October 5, 2010 1

Our First Fire

Okay, so it finally got cold enough to build a fire. The temperature inside the house was 61 and I decided we really did need a fire. This stove may look small but it is a real workhorse. It heats our old farmhouse, keeps us toasty warm. We do use the gas logs some when it gets really cold but most of the heat comes from this little stove. It even keeps the upstairs warm. We are very blessed to have it. A few years back, Hubby and I traded some electrical work for this stove. I think we made a good bargain.

We had to make a run down to Jessica’s today. She has been sick over the weekend with strep and thought the boys might be getting it too. Praise the Lord, Daniel just has an ear infection, which is bad but not as bad as strep. Sam seemed to be okay, just congested. We had a good visit anyway and she made some awesome chicken noodle soup for lunch.

Well, I think I will relax and enjoy the coziness of our fire. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

October 4, 2010 2

Chilly morning

The girls and I are off to Sam’s Club this morning. I think I am going to like this click and pull idea. I just wanted to post our temperature this morning. 37 degrees. I think we might need to wear long sleeves today. I’m sure it will warm up as the day goes on. Take care and God bless.

October 2, 2010 2

Searching For Treasure

Today will be a busy day. We will be doing our bible study, then cleaning the church and of course, school. This is our last week of cleaning until next August. After we clean, we will be going to a friend’s house to gather pears. She has generously offered us all the pears we want. Thank you, Becky.

Yesterday, we did school and then we had to go to C-burg to pick up a few things. Our printer was out of ink, Hubby needed some banjo strings and some shells for the Saturday shoot. Temperatures are still a little cool here but very beautiful. Low 50’s, lots of wind and lots of sunshine. I like that.

Better get busy. I am doing a applesauce pie for dessert today for the ladies. Take care and God bless.

October 1, 2010 1

Apple Butter

I started first with fresh picked apples. I sliced them, and put them into the microwave for about 10 min. or until tender.

Next, I put the apples through my Roma sauce maker. A food mill will work too. Then I put the applesauce into a pan and put them in the oven. Sorry I forgot to get a picture of this step. You can put them on the stove to cook or cook them overnight in a crockpot. I use the oven method, but am thinking of trying the crockpot. Here is my recipe that I use. I got it from the Mennonite cookbook.

Apple Butter

1 gal. applesauce, 6 3/4 cup brown sugar (this can be adjusted to taste), 1 cup apple cider or vinegar, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. allspice, 1/4 tsp. ground cloves. Mix ingredients together. If using oven, put into an oven safe pot, bake at 350 degrees for 3 hrs. stirring frequently. I stir mine about every 30 min. If using top of stove, cook on low for 1 1/2 hrs. stirring much more frequently as the stove top method is more likely to stick to the kettle. If using the crockpot method, put in the crockpot and cook overnight. Stirring only occasionally.

The result. Beautiful applebutter. I like this recipe much better than any other I have tried. I have used a recipe that called for cinnamon red hots. It makes the applebutter a red color. We prefer the dark brown color. This recipe is very friendly. You can purchase store bought applesauce, use the crockpot method and it requires very little effort to have delicious applebutter. You also can freeze this instead of canning it.

Temperature here this morning is rather chilly. Mid 40’s with clouds and rain. No fog yet. I guess I’ll be drying clothes inside today. Take care and God bless.

September 29, 2010 2

Young Farmer

I thought this was such a cute picture. This young man had just been out to the barn with our pastor. He spent some time sitting on the tractor and then they were on their way back to the house. They both look very content. Simple things in life seem to bring the most contentment.

Yesterday was rainy and foggy here. Very dense fog. Temperatures were still in the mid 50’s. The sun is shining this morning and it promises to be a nice day. Hopefully, we will get to hang our clothes on the line today to dry.

I better get busy. We are planning to make applebutter today after school. Take care and God bless.

September 28, 2010 1

A Lesson Learned

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.

September 26, 2010 2

Morning

These pictures were taken just as the sun was coming up. Isn’t it a beautiful color? We certainly get some beautiful sunrises and sunsets here on the farm. Today is ladies bible study day. We will be beginning the study on Ruth by Kelly Minter. It promises already to be a great study. So many things she has pointed out just in the first week that I had never thought of. I love studies like that. They make me think and help me apply bible lessons to everyday life.

This evening we will be going to the Pastor’s house to start our applebutter making. I am looking forward to it. I have never made applebutter outside before. I think, though, it will be a lot of work. This evening we will be eating sloppy joes, chips and cookies. Tomorrow will be pot luck. We need to be at his house by 8:00 a.m. We will need to leave here by 6:45 to get there on time. I hopefully will get lots of pictures to share.

I better get busy. It’s almost time for the ladies to get here. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 24, 2010 3