Spring

Forsythia in full bloom.

The only thing missing here is my bench!

Gooseberry bush.

More forsythia bloom.

I just love spring! I think yellow is such a bright, cheerful, happy color. Busy day here. Piano practice, shopping, a little school. Beautiful temperatures. I have clothes hanging on the line to dry. Everything is getting green quick. I pray things don’t get in too much of a hurry. Frost is still very likely. Tonights menu is shimp stir fry. Dessert will be jello with whipped creme. Simple. Easy. I hope to get some outside work done this evening so I want to keep the cooking at a minimum. Hopefully more spring pictures tomorrow. Take care and God bless.

April 5, 2010 0

Having Fun

Daniel is having fun on his new swing set. I think it was the highlight of his weekend. We had a great visit. Lots of good food and sunshine. The temperature was extremely nice which made for an easy time hiding and hunting for eggs. Temperature here is nice too. Mid 70’s. I love it. Flowers are popping up everywhere. It is so exciting! I pray everyone had a nice Easter. Take care and God bless.

April 4, 2010 0

Pickled Eggs

Here is how I make our pickled eggs. First I boil the eggs.

After they have cooled, peel them.

Put them into a large glass container. I use a wide mouth half gallon canning jar. Using a wide mouth jar makes it easier to get the eggs out. We grow beets in our garden. In the fall we harvest them and make pickled beets. I use the pickled beet juice to pour over the boiled eggs. If you don’t have your own pickled beets you can buy them from the store. If using store brought you will need to add pickling spice to the juice. About 1 tsp. per can.

As soon as you pour the juice over them, they turn this beautiful color. Put them in the fridge and they will be ready to eat in about a week. As I said yesterday, Hubby loves them. I think they are just okay so I consider making them an act of love. Last night’s supper menu was pork roast baked in a cast iron dutch oven, mashed potatoes, home canned corn, homemade rolls, and blackberry dumplings made from blackberries we canned last fall. Delicious! Today is sunshine, beautiful sunshine. Warmer temperatures are on the way. Jess is coming up tomorrow with Daniel. She has some shirts she needs altered. We also hope to go the the local greenhouse and check out the flowers. Lots of fun! The girls don’t know it yet but we are taking an Easter break. Half school today and then no school until Monday. They will be very happy. Well, now it’s time for a language test so I better get busy being Teacher. Take care and God bless.

March 31, 2010 1

Pioneer Lady

This is my friend Barbara. No, she is not a real pioneer lady. She is one of our Friday Ladies Study group. She needed an outfit for a Red Hat function and this is what we come up with. She looks so good! I made the skirt and the apron for her. She got the bonnet at Schoolhouse Fabrics here in Floyd. I had so much fun making the apron. I have never attempted an apron this this before. It was challenging for me but I so enjoyed doing it. I think I will make one for myself, maybe even the girls. We think this would be an excellent costume for Christfest (halloween alternative) at church. The sun is trying to shine here but the clouds seem to be winning the contest right now. Hopefully it will be warmer today. School as usual. We are almost finished with spelling, only two more word lists. This is when it starts getting exciting again. When you can see the end in sight. I have to make pickled eggs today. My hubby loves pickled eggs. I make some every year at Easter and Christmas and sometimes in between. I will try to document the process and post on it tomorrow. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 30, 2010 2

Snow!

Yes, we are getting snow! How about that? Well, it is March. I thought spring was here but I guess winter is still holding on. The snow has been gone long enough though that seeing it coming down was pretty exciting. I have come across a really easy homemade biscuit recipe. I have struggled for years to make good homemade biscuits and have never gotten it quite right. I think these are pretty good. Not as good as my grandmothers were but good. Perhaps that has been my problem. Too high a standard. Anyway here’s the recipe if anyone would like to try it. 2 1/4 cups self rising flour, 2/3 cup shortening or lard, 1 cup milk. Combine flour and shortening with pastry blender or fork until no large clumps of shortening appear. Add milk. (Your choice sweet or buttermilk). Stir. Turn out on floured surface. Add enough flour to make stiff dough. Pat out and cut biscuits. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes. When done, brush tops with melted butter. I like them because I don’t have to use a rolling pin and I can use self-rising flour. I have made some biscuit recipes that just took forever to make. These go very fast (both in making and in eating).

Here’s a picture of how they turned out. I think they look pretty good! I forgot to tell you the recipe will make about 9 biscuits this size. 2 are suspiciously missing from this picture. Well, I think it’s time to eat. Enjoy your day, take care and God bless.

March 26, 2010 2

Another Sign of Spring

Another indicator of spring. This flower is one of the early ones. I’m not sure what it is but it comes up early every year. Does anyone know it’s name? Anyway it is always such an uplifting sight to see it coming out of the ground. Today has been a little cool here, overcast, kinda dreary. Yesterday was georgeous. Windy but lots of sunshine. Today has been school as usual. We are all looking forward to finishing the year (hopefully) a little early. Our expectations are to be finished around the first of May. I guess that is if we don’t miss too many days between now and then. Spring is the hardest for us. We want to take too many days off and enjoy the sun. I’ve still been working on Grace’s quilt. I’m about 2/3 of the way finished. I really want to get it done soon so I can put the quilting frame away for summer. It always seems to me, spring is the time for new projects and it is hard to get old ones finished when so many new ones are calling. I MUST REMAIN FOCUSED! Tonight’s menu for supper is venison strips, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy and homemade biscuits. Dessert will probably be honey and butter swirled together and put on hot biscuits. YUM! Tomorrow is Ladies Bible Study day. It is going really well. A very good study. I highly recommend it. Well it is time for us to get some house cleaning done and then start on supper. Take care and God Bless.

March 25, 2010 0

Family

My girls. Ain’t they beautiful! The recital was Sunday and went very well. Call me impartial, but I think my girls were the BEST. It was great fun. Dave, Jess, and Daniel came up. Jess is responsible for “dolling” them up every year. She does a great job. They looked so grown up. It is hard for me to believe how fast they are becoming young ladies. I love you, girls (all 3). Can you believe this is the same girls that just the day before were fishing and catching lizards?

We also got a nice picture of Jess, David, and Daniel. It was such a nice weekend. We enjoyed chicken on the grill Saturday evening which we ate outside at the picnic table. We had planned to do a campfire but it was too windy. Hopefully next time. Our time together extended on to Monday. We went down with Jess on Sunday evening so I could go with her for her ultra sound on Monday. It was amazing! I actually got to see little Samuel blink his eyes. I could not believe it. Ulta sounds have really come a long way. It is cold here today, very windy. Snow flurries . Typical March weather. We saw lots of trees and flowers blooming this weekend though. Signs of encouragement for those of us who are soooooo ready for spring. Well, I better work on school. We’re learning about prepositions this week. What fun!!! Take care and God bless.

March 23, 2010 2

New Life

The field above our house has come to life. Several new calves have been born. They run and jump through the new grass. They have so much fun and are such a joy to watch. Today we worked outside most of the day, picking up in the yard, getting the garden ready. David, Jess, and Daniel came this afternoon. We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Ate them outside at the picnic table. The sun was shining brightly. A beautiful day.

The girls enjoyed some fishing time. It was one of those days that I just thank the Lord I live where I do. Clothes blowing dry in the wind. The birds are singing so beautiful. Frogs peeping. It makes me want to do all my work outside. I even open my window just a little bit at night so the frogs can sing me to sleep. Wonderful time of the year in Floyd. It’s been a really hard winter but spring in sweet. Just like life. Sometimes life is hard but the Lord is good and brings us through to spring. Well, I must go. My baby boy is here. Take care and God bless.

March 20, 2010 1

More Signs of Spring

I could hardly wait to post these pictures! The crocus are so bright and beautiful. The rhubarb is coming up nicely. I LOVE SPRING! This has been a busy week for us. All day Tuesday spent in Roanoke at the eye doctor. Wednesday was a fun day spent with our friends, the Horns. Today has been a beautiful day here. Temperature around 60 degrees. We can hardly believe it. I hung our clothes out on the line-they will smell sooooo good! I plan on having london broil on the grill tonight, probably home fries and corn on the cob (from our garden last year). I purchased some strawberries at the store today. I usually don’t do that this early in the season but they looked so good. Strawberry Shortcake for dessert tonight. We usually go down to Jessica’s in early May. There is a” pick your own” strawberry patch. We love it. We try to pick a lot, freeze them for winter. We also make lots of fresh strawberry jam. YUM! Anyway I have a praise. My truck is fixed!!!! Hubby and his brother worked until dark last night but we are back on the road. I never imagined how much I would miss that old truck until I had to jiggle my schedule with Hubby’s. One vehicle can be a little trying to say the least. The girls and I don’t go a lot of places but it sure is nice to be able to go when we want to. I guess I better get busy cooking supper, Hubby is looking in the pantry so he must be hungry. Take care and God bless.

March 18, 2010 2

Info about using dryers

I did some research on how much it cost to run a dryer. The info I got said an average of about 50 cents a load. I wash about 10 loads a week which means if I hang them all outside I will be saving about $5.00 a week. About $20.00 a month. I like that. I can do a lot with $20.00 extra dollars. I just wanted to let you ladies know this information. I thought it was very useful. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 15, 2010 2