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Another Cat Picture
Another picture of Stripes. Maybe she wants a shower. Grace took this picture of Stripes in one of her strange places. She lays in the sink quite frequently. She also loves to get a drink from the faucet. I think the word “spoiled” might come to mind. Yesterday was lots of fun. I went to my friend Vicki’s and we made our own hot cocoa mix. It is really good. Much better than the powdered mix bought from the store and I’m sure much healthier. We read the ingredients of the store bought instant mix and it contained lots of things we couldn’t pronounce. In case anyone is interested in making their own here is the recipe. 16 cups powdered dry milk, 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 5 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt. In a large bowl mix all ingredients well and store in an airtight container or zip lock bags. To use measure 1/3 cup of mix into a cup and add hot water, stir. This will make about 1 gal. of mix, perhaps a little over. Vicki and I halved this recipe. The powdered milk will be your biggest expense, so shop around for the best price. I hope you enjoy this as much as we have. God Bless.
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Christmas Cactus
What do you all think about my Christmas cactus? Ain’t it pretty? It was given to me several years ago by a dear friend. I’m not very good with indoor flowers but this one has been beautiful every year. I quess I just have it in a good location. Thanks, Barbara! I really enjoy it’s color so I thought I would share it with everyone. Today is a very dreary day in Floyd. Rainy, foggy, windy, chilly. Yuk. No outside activities today, except carry in some wood for the fire. Oh well, it could be much worse. School has went very well today. We are learning about writing reports in language. Not very exciting but necessary information. Tonight is church night and the girls always look forward to Team Kids. They have lots of fun and learn about scripture too, so it makes them and us happy. If anyone wants to learn more about Team Kids, it is a program through Lifeway. You can go to their web page and find out all about it. We are still doing the Beth Moore study on the Fruit of the Spirit on Wednesday night. Pretty good study. Well lunch break is over and I better get busy. God Bless.
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New Kitten
Isn’t she beautiful? The girls have named her Star. Remember when I found the kittens in the wood pile. She was one of the them. They are both very cute. The other one is a little more shy than this one. Sorry I haven’t posted in several days. We went down to Jessica’s last week and guess what? We are finished with the bathroom. It looks really great. I think she is going to post pictures soon on her blog. I know she is so glad to finally have it finished, however it is worth the wait. Hubby has gotten 2 deer this week. That’s right. 2. What a blessing. This helps out so much with the grocery bill. When I was growing up in the hills of Southwest Virginia there were no deer in our county. My dad had to go several hours away to hunt deer. He usually spent a week of his vacation hunting sometimes with success, sometimes not. The first time George went deer hunting my dad took him. That was 33 years ago. Sometimes it seems like yesterday. Anyway, thanks Babe. We appreciate all you do for us. I am canning deer now and it is time for a canner to come off, so I better get busy. God Bless.
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New Project
My latest project. Today has been a rainy, cold, windy, and just plain ucky day. So I decided it was a good day to start a new project. I worked on this quilt top all day. What do you think? The big pieces are called fat quarters. Those of you who quilt know all about these, but I am just learning. I think they are pretty neat. How else could someone who knows very little about quilting make a quilt top in one day. Hubby helped some with the design, then hurriedly left the room. Thanks Babe. Quilting is one of those things I wish I had learned to do at an earlier age, when I would have lots of instructors to help me learn. However I have had to basically teach myself what I know. I really enjoy doing it though. Hubby got a shot at a deer today, however the distance was too far. Better luck next time! Gotta get to work. God Bless.
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Wood
Here’s our wood supply so far. What do you think? Enough for winter? The back goes 7 rows deep. Lots of work thats for sure. But some surprises too. I found 2 little black kittens in the pile we were moving today. The mommy cat had them hid really well. They were scared but friendly and of course very cute. Weather was very nice for wood splitting. Short sleeve weather. Tomorrow is a slight chance of rain so I’m glad the wood is in the dry. I am baking amish friendship bread this evening. It has been a 10 day process but I think it is going to be worth it. It smells WONDERFUL. I can’t wait to taste it. Hubby didn’t get a deer yet but we did have one donated to us. Thanks, Eldon! We’ve had tenderloin and gravy for breakfast two days in a row. Good stuff. Well, I’m pretty tired, all that wood is hard work. God Bless.
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Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl!! Yesterday was party day. Best Friends celebrating together. Life is good. Yellow cake with chocolate icing and only a few sprinkles (just the way she likes it). Yesterday, Hubby and his brother went out to cut more wood and today he is going with our friend from church. Hopefully lots to split and stack. He is deer hunting this morning , something he truly enjoys, and something we all truly enjoy eating. Good Luck, hon. I’m not sure what the girls and I will get into yet. There is always something to do around here. Tomorrow we hear another trial sermon from the candidate for pastor. We will have another fellowship meal after church. We also start our new study on Revelation from John MacArthur tomorrow. I think the book of Revelation is one of the hardest books in the bible to understand and probably the most misunderstood. Hopefully, I will know a little more about it when this study is finished. Next Sunday we will vote on the pastor. I’m still not sure how to vote Yes. or NO. I’m still praying. I think this is a very BIG decision and I want to make sure I’m on the same page as God. Pray that all will go well and that we, as a church, will vote according to God’s will. Well, better get busy. God Bless.
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More Fall Pictures
Here’s a few more fall pictures. The maple tree is in our yard close to the house. It gives wonderful shade to one of my swing areas. The other picture is in the field behind our house. The leaves are almost all gone now but the maple is still holding on to some color. Today is a big day in our house, my baby girl’s birthday. We will be having a little party tomorrow with friends. I let them off with half school today. You gotta do something special on birthdays. Another beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine, wind, (almost always wind) temperatures in the 50’s. Chilly enough to have a fire this evening-around 40 degrees now. Inside the house is nice and toasty thanks to our hard work yesterday. I think Saturday has been set aside as another wood cutting day, if weather permits. It is a wonderful feeling to enter winter knowing you have enough wood to keep you and your family warm. I think these are blessings we sometimes take for granted. Well time for me to get to work. God Bless.
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Christfest
Pictures from Christfest Saturday night. My girls wore puddle skirts, Daniel is Spider Man, David is Wafer Man and Jess is dressed as a devil. It was a GREAT surprise when they came to the party. I had thought they were going to stay at their house to give away candy. Change of plans, which made MawMaw very happy. Julie, Grace, and Daniel had a great time playing the games and getting candy. Everyone probably noticed I spelled the cats name wrong on my last post. I noticed it too, but did not know how to change it. Her name is Stripes. Anyway, I guess I need to use spell check. We went down to Dave and Jess’ for a few days, worked some more on their bathroom. The shower stall is now tiled. We have to put the grout on our next trip. We worked very hard today, splitting and stacking wood. No school today just work. The girls would rather do school than work this hard, but as I told them we will appreciate it this winter. I have been blessed with very good girls. They work hard and complain very little. They had fun too. They make work into a game and that makes it fun. It was a very beautiful day. Lots of sunshine, temperature around 50 degrees. Very nice for working outside. It’s 6:00 and already dark, however, I do like the fact that it gets daylight earlier. I have always been a morning person. Well, it time for me to get some stuff done. God Bless.
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StripesT
This is our kitty. You know, the one Mom said would never be in the house. Rule #1 Never say Never. The girls begged for an inside cat and finally we gave in. So now this furball is part of our life. She does occasionally have her good moments. However the girls love her dearly so I guess she stays. Thanks Grace for the picture. Today has been cool and overcast. Fog is, thankfully, gone. Hubby had a great time shooting yesterday. He hopes to go again soon. We have been without a pastor for several months. Today we heard a trial sermon from a prospective pastor, with a fellowship meal following the sermon. (Gotta have our food). He will preach again next Sunday. Then the church will vote. I’m not sure my feelings on this yet. I’m still praying. Tonight we will hear Mike Wingfield preach at a neighboring church. I’m sure it will be interesting. Gotta Go. God Bless.
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Cake
My accomplishment for the day. This cake goes by several different names. Some call it a stack cake. Some call it a lassie (molasses) cake. No matter what name you call it, it is just plain GOOD. When I was growing up in the mountains of southwest va, this cake was very popular among my mom’s family. You very seldom had any type of family get together that someone didn’t make this cake. Of course, as a young girl I took this for granted. Ate the cake and never thought about learning to make it myself. Then we moved away from family and of course I wanted me some stack cake. I called my aunt and got the recipe. It has taken much trial and error but I think I’ve just about got it right. This is a recipe I want to pass down to my girls. Old mountain recipes will be lost if we don’t teach the next generation how to make them (even if they don’t want to learn). If anyone is interested in the recipe, here it is: 1/2 cup oil, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/2 cup hot water, 1/2 cup molasses, 3 cups self-rising flour. Mix all ingredients together. Turn mixture onto floured surface. Knead until slightly stiff. Divide into 6 parts. Put wax paper into round cake pans. ( I do three at a time) Take each section of dough, spread out thinly in cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Romove from oven. Place on cooling rack. Repeat process for the other 3 sections. Spread apple butter between the sections. Let set overnight to allow the apple butter to moisten the cake layers. Then serve. Many enjoy this cake with buttermilk. Any questions, just leave a comment or e-mail me. Enjoy and God Bless.
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Merry Heart Crafts 