Remember This

You all remember this little dress. I got it at Goodwill before we even knew what Jess was going to have. Well, this weekend when we went down for our Christmas get together, Jess had dressed her in it. She looked darling!

It amazes me every time I see her how much she has grown. The boys were too busy for me to get a picture of them. Maybe next time. We had a great visit with lots of good food.

Yesterday I put a deer roast on in the crockpot before we left for church. Pastor Tom’s message was very good. He preached from Isaiah 40:3-5. We had deer roast, french fries, green beans and homemade rolls for “lupper” with homemade candy for dessert. Then we just chilled for the rest of the day. Our church was going caroling and giving out fruit baskets last night. However, Julie is suffering from a head cold, so we did not go.

Well, that’s about it. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

December 19, 2011 5

Geese

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. The sun is shining. Temperature is 55 degrees. I LOVE IT! I know there are lots of people who enjoy winter and cold weather. I am not one of them. For my part, it could just stay like this until spring. I’m pretty sure it won’t though. We have lots of geese on the pond today. Probably close to 50. They seem to be enjoying the warmer temps too.

We have been busy today making treats for Jessica’s “goodie” basket. So far, we have made chocolate chip cookies and Russian tea cakes. We still have Martha Washington balls and peanut butter balls to make. She always wants ritz crackers with peanut butter spread between them, dipped in white chocolate with an m & m on top(I have no idea what this is called but it is one of her favorites). Tomorrow I will be baking a ham and making homemade rolls. Other things on the menu (as of right now)-pasta salad, green beans, cocktail weiner, angel punch and sausage balls.

I guess I better get busy-more candy to make. I love this time of year. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 15, 2011 6

Wednesday

Today has been a good day here in Floyd. The girls and I decided it was definitely time to put up the Christmas tree. We had lots of fun. We put on some Christmas music and got busy. They decorated the gingerbread house. Then we put up the tree, the nativity, and a few other decorations. Simple, nothing too complex. Temperatures here have been much warmer than normal. I like that.

Our van is fixed. YEAH! Dave, Jess and the kids came up Sunday so Dave could help Hubby work on it. Thanks so much, Dave! Hubby finished getting it all put back together Monday. Monday evening we rode it to the feed store to get chicken feed and everything worked fine. Yesterday, the girls and I rode it to Sam’s. No problems!! I am so glad.

Yesterday, the boys had a terrible stomach virus. They were both very sick. Daniel was hit especially hard. He told his mom he felt like he was living in a bad dream. Today they both seem on the mend. We are all praying no one else gets it. Jess said that baby Sam was calling for his “Maw” when he was sick in the night. You know that just touches my heart. We are hoping to go down Saturday to do Christmas with them. Lots of good food planned.

Well, I guess that’s about all that has been going on here. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 14, 2011 6

Mrs. Sally’s Home

Thursday evening we went to our pastor’s home for a visit. We ate supper with them and had a wonderful visit. Mrs. Sally, pastor’s wife, had lots of beautiful Christmas decorations up. This nativity scene was purchased in Israel. It is made of olive wood. Very pretty.

This carousel came from Germany. You can’t really see it but on top of the carousel are propellers. The heat from the candles cause the carousel to go around.

This is Miss Izzy. Pastor Tom tells her all the time she is the most beautiful cat God ever created. I think she believes him.

Julie and Sadie had a great time together.

Mrs. Sally is a great seamstress. I think I have mentioned before she is teaching my girls to sew. This quilt was so bright and colorful. I thought you all would enjoy seeing it too.

We have still been having vehicle troubles. Today, we took the girls over to church for play practice. Our youth christmas play is tomorrow. Hubby thought the alternator was going bad on the van. We were going over to C-burg to Auto Zone to have them check it. We started having more serious trouble with it, so Hubby thought we should just try to make it home. We didn’t make it. About 4 miles from home, the van decided that was just all it could do. It stopped right in the middle of the road. I’m here to tell you all God is good! Not more that 5 min. after the van quit a young man came by that we used to go to church with. He went up to his Grandpaws and got a pickup truck and a chain. He and Hubby hooked the van up to the truck and he pulled us all the way home. No charge! Anyway, it is the alternator. So I guess the van will have to be parked for a few days until Hubby can get it fixed.

Well, that’s been our day. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

December 10, 2011 8

Flavored Coffees

You all know what a big fan I am of flavored coffee creamers. Well, I also love flavored coffees. They are expensive though. My lovely daughter (Jess) bought me a subscription to Kraft Foods Food & Family magazine. I love it! Here are two flavored coffee recipes I got from the magazine. I made this one yesterday.

Maple Cinnamon Coffee

6 tbsp. ground coffee, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 cup pancake syrup, 4 1/2 cups cold water, 6 tbsp thawed cool whip. Place coffee in filter in brew basket of coffee maker, sprinkle with cinnamon. Pour pancake syrup into empty coffee pot. Add water to coffee maker, brew. When brewing is complete , stir until well blended. Top with cool whip. I did not follow their recipe exact. I just made us 6 cups of coffee, using the amount of ground coffee I always do. Adjust it to your taste. I did not top mine with cool whip. I did however use coffee creamer. This is good with gingerbread creamer but you could use whatever you like. There are lots of new flavors available right now.

I made this recipe today. Spiced Orange Coffee. Into the brew basket I added the ground coffee, enough to make 6 cups. Add to the coffee grounds, 1 tbsp orange zest, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Put 1/3 cup packed brown sugar into empty coffee pot. Brew. Stir until sugar is well blended. Both these coffees were very good. I know many of you don’t like coffee but maybe you could use these recipes with tea or even hot chocolate.

We have gotten tons of rain yesterday and today. They are forecasted us to get snow flurries tonight. We’ll see. Right now, it is just gloomy and soggy wet. Temperature is mid 40’s though so that is nice. School is finished for the day so I guess I better get busy doing other things. Supper tonight is fried chicken, biscuits, gravy, corn and homemade jam for dessert. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

December 7, 2011 6

A Christmas Tin

Hello everyone! I thought I would show you one of my newest Christmas tins. I love these things. I think they look so cheerful and happy. I got this one at the Salvation Army store a little while back. I only paid .50 cents for it. Yesterday, after school, I decided it was time to start filling up some of these tins. I made pinwheel candy to put inside it. This is one of our favorite Christmas candies.

Several people on our gift list will be getting homemade candy this year. Chuck (oldest son) has already called and gave me his wish list for what he wants in his “goody basket”. I made some peanut butter and chocolate fudge over the weekend for Dave and Jess. I will post that recipe soon.

We will be doing school today as usual. We plan on taking a 2 week Christmas break starting on Dec.19th. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

December 6, 2011 7

The Bed

Hello ladies! We have been busy this weekend. The bed is finished. We loaded it up in the van and took it down to Dave and Jessica’s. The van was packed pretty full.

We got started putting it together as soon as we got there. Daniel was a great helper.

I tried to show the trim Hubby put on it. The pictures did not turn out as well as I had hoped.

The finished product. Jess said I should have wanted until she had it made up but I didn’t think about that. It looks really good with her comforter and everything on it. We stayed overnight at Jessica’s. It was late when we got it all put together and we were very tired. David helped Hubby work on the van today. They think they have the brake issue fixed. On the way down yesterday, we started having trouble with the battery on the van so they worked on it today too. Hopefully, all the vehicle issues are fixed for a while.

We came home this evening and hurried to fix a fire. The inside temperature was 55 degrees. Pretty cold. It is warming up nicely though. It was very nice down at Jessica’s. When we left, they were all outside on the porch and the boys were playing in the yard. Well, we have lots to get done. I wanted to show you all the pictures of the bed before I got too busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 4, 2011 7

Wednesday

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.

November 30, 2011 5

A Beautiful Sky

Yesterday morning, we had a beautiful start to our morning. I love sunrises and sunsets.

After church, we came home to eat lunch. We had hamburgers on homemade buns and fries. We ate as quickly as possible and left for town to watch the Christmas Parade. The parade is a big deal here in Floyd. Lots and lots of people come to watch and participate. Here are just a few pictures Grace took.

There are lots of old cars.

Marching bands.

Floats and

wagons pulled by horses. We had a great time! The girls are already anticipating next year’s parade. We have rain here today with fog. Not a good day for doing anything outside. Hubby is working on the bed but he has to do it inside his shop. He doesn’t have a lot of room in there so he doesn’t like to work inside. He is getting very close to being finished however he still does not have his brakes fixed on the van. He has taken the wheel off several times and did different things to it but it is still sticking. He wanted to replace the wheel cyclinder today but it is just too wet to work on it. Hopefully, this will fix it.

Today, I made a spice tea mix. I got the recipe from Nadine at http://nadinesnook.blogspot.com/ She also posted a recipe for chai tea mix that I want to make. These will make excellent gifts. Well, our lunch break is almost over. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 28, 2011 5

Katie’s First Thanksgiving

I thought I would share with you all a few pictures from our Thanksgiving. Katie spend most of the time doing what she does best. Ain’t she beautiful!

Next two very handsome boys. Sam loves to have his picture taken. When he sees the camera, he will stop whatever he is doing and sit down for you to take his picture. Then he wants you to show it to him.

Then my “baby” girls. I am such a blessed woman. Thank you, Lord!

You will notice I am doing something a little different on the blog. I have wanted to do this for a long time and yesterday David fixed it for me. I now have a recipe link on the sidebar. Hopefully, I will be able to remember how to make it work. Today, I put the recipe for Oatmeal Muffins on. (Are you proud of me, Dave?) I got this recipe from my friend Cheryl at http://holcombhappenings.wordpress.com/ and it is one of my favorite breakfast muffins.

We will be working on Dave and Jessica’s bed today. Hubby hopes to get it finished this weekend. I hope you all enjoy your day and God bless.

November 25, 2011 9