I am making a correction to our temperature this morning. We saw a friend of ours in Wal-mart today. They live close to us. He has a machine that tells him all types of weather. It registers not just temperature but wind chill temps. He said it was -26 degrees wind chill this morning. Now I know for sure that is COLD. Just wanted you all to know. God bless.
COLD!!!
I took this picture this morning looking out from our enclosed front porch. Yes, it really is as cold as it looks. Actual temperature this morning was zero with wind chills about -15. Maybe its warmer up north. We certainly were thankful for the added warmth of the gas logs. We went yesterday to get the tires on the car. When we returned our water was frozen. This never happens during day time hours. We hooked up the heat light and PRAISE THE LORD it started running again around 8:30 P.M. Needless to say, we left it on slightly last night.
We have to take the car back today. Something isn’t quite right with the right tire. The car has a bad vibration in it. I must say I do not look forward to going out in this cold weather but it has to be done.
I know I’ve already posted a picture of the village but I thought it looked so good with the frost on the window behind it. Enjoy your day, stay warm and God bless.
Martha Washington Balls
I know this picture looks just like the picture of the peanut butter balls but it really is a different picture. These are the Martha Washington Balls. The recipe is:
2 boxes powdered sugar, 1 stick butter softened, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp. vanilla. Using mixer, blend ingredients together. Mixture will be stiff. Add 4 cups chopped pecans. Put powdered sugar on hands and roll into small balls. Chill. Dip balls into melted chocolate. Use 4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 block parafin wax. DELICIOUS!
Temperatures are super cold here. Wind chill is close to zero again with gusts of about 50 mph but we are toasty warm inside with a nice fire going. Hubby was able to get propane for the gas logs Saturday. This really helps keep the house warm. Our little woodstove is a work horse. However it was severely overworked last week trying to do the job all by itself with zero temps. Pray our water doesn’t freeze again.
We are going to get some tires put on the front of the car. Hubby didn’t work today, so he is going with us. I’m glad. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Daniel
Yesterday Dave, Jess and the boys came for a quick visit. They had purchased a butchered hog in Burnt Chimney, which is kinda close to here. They had one of the hams cured for a country ham. It has to hang for 3 months. They brought it by here to hang in one of our buildings. They also generously shared some of the pork with us. Thanks! We enjoyed fresh sausage this morning with our eggs and cooked pears. Sooooooo good!!!
Daniel is ready to go to work in this picture. He has his hat on and my shovel in his hand. This picture was my first attempt at learning how to crop pictures on my computer. I should have made it bigger but I’m just learning. We had some ice fall during the night, now we are getting snow. Hopefully, it will just be snow from now on. I really do not like ice. No church today. I think it will be a snuggle in day. Make some candy or cookies-maybe both.
Enjoy your day and God bless.
Candy
We had so much fun yesterday making candy. When we got to Vicki’s, she had already made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. They loved it. After lunch, we made oreo truffles, then peanut butter balls and last we dipped oreo cookies in white chocolate. It was such a fun day. The recipe I use to make the peanut butter balls is:
1 stick butter-softened, 1 lb powdered sugar. Mix these together. Then add 2 cups creamy peanut butter. Mix everything together. You will need to add about 1/4 cup water to this. Just add a little at a time until it is a little creamy. Be careful not to add too much water. Form into balls. In a double boiler, put 2 cups chocolate chips and 1/4 block parafin wax. Heat until chocolate is creamy. Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate. Place on wax papered cookie sheet. Refrigerate and enjoy. These are much better after they chill. I want to make Martha Washington balls next. I think they are my favorite.
Time for us to leave for piano practice. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Praise!
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.
Our Mantle Nativity
This little Nativity set is the star attraction on our mantle during Christmas. It is already sitting in its place of honor. It has been to cold too go to the building to get out our other decorations but we did venture out to get the Nativity. Hopefully, it will warm up some so we can get the other stuff down soon. Very cold here last night. Acutual temperature 7 degrees with a wind chill of about -5. Our water is frozen. So sad. Hubby thought he had fixed every little crack that the wind could get into but I guess we were wrong. Remember last year, our bathroom water was frozen for about 1 1/2 months. We were hoping to avoid that this year. Well, this morning all the water is frozen, nothing coming into the house anywhere. Definitely not good. Hubby is going to work on it this evening as soon as he gets in. Pray it will not be too hard to get it running again. Then I guess we will just have to keep a small trinkle running at night to keep it from freezing again. I am so grateful I went up yesterday to the cellar and covered up our pototoes and our canned green beans with quilts. Hopefully they are in good shape. Last year they froze in the cellar. I do not want a repeat of that. The green beans are closest to the door so I guess there must be some wind that gets in at the door. Oh well, this is all part of winter, I know. I can’t say I like it though.
I do have good news. A local bakery, The Bread Basket, has graciously agreed to display my aprons for sale. I am so excited!!!!! I took her 9 aprons this morning. I pray they sell quickly and that perhaps I could bring her more. This would be so much better than trying to sell them myself. All in God’s hands.
Well, I have things to get done-not laundry though. Can’t do laundry without water. Stay warm and God bless.
Christmas Dishes
Our cheerful Christmas dishes. These were bought for us several years ago. We get them out every December to use. I love cheerful, happy dishes. After December, we get out our snowman dishes. We use them through winter.
Temperatures were too cold for any outside pictures today. After the snow, our Floyd county wind moved in. Gusts of 50-60 mph put the wind chills down at zero. I don’t think our actual temperature will get to 20 degrees today. Very cold! We didn’t have church yesterday, the roads were too slick. We spent the day snuggled in doing fun stuff and keeping warm. I watched a movie on INSP channel-The Perfect Gift. It was kinda like the “Joshua” books. It was a pretty good movie to watch.
I know I have showed pictures of rolls before but I don’t think I’ve ever shown loaf bread before. I use the same recipe as for the rolls. Actually, I use this recipe for lots of different breads. I tried a new hamburger bun recipe yesterday. We did not like it as much as our old recipe. I am cooking a beef roast on the woodstove today. I think I will add some potatoes and carrots in the pot. Then maybe open a can of homegrown green beans. Nice hot fresh baked bread. YUM! I also have a peach pie in the oven. I hope I made everyone hungry. I sure made myself hungry.
Well, school is calling. Take care and God bless.
Snow
We’re getting snow! The girls and I went to Roanoke today to do some shopping at Sam’s. We knew the forecast was for snow so we didn’t take too long. It started to snow just as we were leaving. We decided not to take the parkway because we know how dangerous it can get. We enjoyed a nice ride home. The snow was beautiful. However, by the time we got home the roads were started to get a little slick. I’m glad we left when we did.
Beautiful! I feel the urge to make cookies and drink some hot cocoa. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Gingerbread House
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.
Merry Heart Crafts 