Before and After

Hubby is almost finished with the farmhouse he has been working on. I thought I would show you all a few before and after pictures. Here is a picture of the stairway before.

And here are a few after pictures.

Here is the livingroom before.

After.

Dining room-kitchen area before.

Okay, so this area still looks really cluttered but I am hoping you can see the floors enough to tell how nice they look.

Of course, being an old farmhouse, none of the bedrooms had closets. He built closets in all three bedrooms.

Last is the bathroom. I could not find my before picture of it but this is the after.

The house is so DRAMTICALLY changed. It really looks like a new house inside, which I guess in a way it is. Everything was torn out except the outside walls. He did a great job. It was such a blessing to get this house remodel. Thank you, Lord! (Oh, by the way Lord, another one like this sure would be great!).

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. We went down to Dave and Jessica’s. It was a good day, full of good food and lots of grandbaby time. God sure is good to me.

We are warm here-low 50’s- with lots of sunshine. A beautiful day. Another blessing from the Lord. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

November 23, 2012 7

Monday

Little boys playing with toys!

Big boys playing with toys!

Chuck and his kids came over Saturday. He helped Hubby with some car maintenance. It was a fun day. He got here about 9:00 A.M. as he was wanting to eat breakfast with us. We had sausage and gravy, biscuits, fresh eggs, corn, canned apples and homemade waffles. We had a good day.

Grace was having trouble with her nose piece on her glasses so we made a trip to Rocky Mount to get it repaired. We did some grocery shopping while there. It ended up taking most of the day. We came home and worked on things that needed doing. We had planned on doing school today and then taking a break for the rest of the week. We’ll do school tomorrow instead and then break. I love the flexibiltiy of homeschooling.

Grace put one of our freshly butchered chickens in the crockpot today to cook while we were gone. When we got home it smelled so good in the house. We deboned it and make chicken and dumplings. They are delicious!! I think I am spoiled now to having our own chickens for meat. We plan on making stock tonight in the crockpot from the bones. YUMMY!

Well, I guess that’s about all that is happening here. My girls are wanting me to play a game of cards with them. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

November 19, 2012 5

Grandbabies

I am attempting to learn how to copy pictures from facebook and put them on my blog.

November 18, 2012 3

Friday

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful Friday. Things are good here. School is finished for the week. The girls and I are getting ready to clean out the chicken house. Definitely not a fun job but necessary. It is a nice day here in Floyd so that will make it a fairly pleasant job to do. We have been really cold here in the mornings though. Temperatures all this week have been mid to upper teens when we get up. CHILLY! However it warms up nicely during the day.

Chuck is coming tomorrow to help Hubby do some maintenance repairs on my car. I don’t think I have mentioned it before but please be in prayer for him as he is laid off from his work. We are praying he will get called back soon.

Well, I have lots to get done. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 16, 2012 6

Chicken Day

Friday was chicken butchering day for us and the Horns. We had a really good day, learned a lot and had lots of good fellowship. All together we butchered 10 roosters. We were kinda amazed at how big they looked before we butchered them versus how small they looked when finished. Huge difference. We are kinda talking about going with the bigger meat birds next year. We’re not sure yet though.

Our pastor made us these killing cones. They are really neat. I would recommend anyone butchering their own chickens to have one. They make it a lot easier. Saturday, the girls and I went down to Jessica’s. We watched the kids while Dave and Jess had a date afternoon to celebrate their anniversary. They have been married 12 years. They went to the movies and David brought us back sushi to try. We had never eaten it before. It was actually pretty good. Grace really liked it.

Sunday, I went to church alone as Julie, Grace and Hubby were not feeling very well. Julie and Grace seem to have a cold-congestion with lots of coughing. Hubby is having tummy troubles. Hopefully all will be well soon. Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine with temperatures in the mid 30’s. It could be a little warmer for my taste but the sun is beautiful. I have a pork tenderloin cooking away on top of the wood stove. It smells yummy. I think I will have potatoes, green beans and cornbread with it.

Well, we are starting school so I better get off. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

November 13, 2012 3

Katie’s Birthday Party

We celebrated Miss Katie’s first birthday this weekend. Her actual birthday was Friday but we partied on Saturday. Jess made these beautiful cupcakes for Katie. They were delicious.

We traveled to Pikeville Hospital Sunday to see George’s Dad. He is still in intensive care but seemed to be improving. I talked to George’s sister today, however, and she said his mind is coming and going now. I am so thankful that when we were there he knew us and even talked some to us.

Yesterday, my baby girl Grace, turned 13 years old. My, my, how time does fly by. We didn’t celebrate yet as she had a sore throat and wanted to wait. We will be doing it on Friday. Friday will be a big day for us. We are butchering our spring roosters. The Horn’s are coming over and bringing their roosters. It will be a fun day. Our pastor and his wife are coming to help. They are the experts, we are novices. I plan on making a huge pot of 15 bean soup. Vicki is bringing drinks and making cupcakes which will serve as Grace’s birthday cake. Doesn’t every girl celebrate her 13th birthday with a chicken butchering day. Well, she’ll always remember it.

That’s about it for now. We are finished with school for the day. I cooked a beef roast on the wood stove for supper. I added some potatoes, turnips, onions, broccoli and carrots to the pot just a fewinutes ago. YUM!.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 6, 2012 6

Another Beautiful Sunrise

Hubby and I were drinking our morning cup of coffee together on the glassed in porch and the Lord gave us the beautiful sunrise to enjoy. God is so good! We are still cold here. Temperatures in the mid to upper 20’s with wind chills in the teens. YUCK! I am not ready for temps this cold but the Lord knows what He is doing. Not much else going on here. Just staying warm, working on school and doing normal stuff.

I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

October 31, 2012 7

Snow

Can you believe we are getting snow? Amazing!! I can’t remember ever getting snow in October in Floyd. Maybe years ago, but not since we have lived here. Anyway, we are getting it now. It is COLD here-well, maybe not real cold but cold compared to last week. It has been a drastic change in temperature. We are right now in the upper 20’s with wind gusts of 40 mph which makes it seem much colder. Needless to say, we are so thankful for a dry wood supply. Definitely makes all that hard work on Saturday seem worthwhile.

Last night we had an intruder in the meat chickens coop. It was an opossum or as we call them-possum. We leave off the o part. Jasper and Hubby took care of it though. He is definitely becoming a valuable part of our family. Shadow is getting too old for critter chasing. Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting school in just a little bit. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

October 29, 2012 6

Wood Splitting

A little while back, Hubby was working on a bathroom remodel. Him and the owner started talking about getting wood for winter and the owner showed him the wood splitter he made. He said he would be glad to come over and split our wood for us so today we took him up on the offer. It was an awesome machine.

He started around 1:00 and finished about 5:00. It is a really fast splitter.

Here they are just getting started. Notice our ever present helper, Shadow. He is always where we are. He’s such a good dog.

So while the men split the wood, us girls stacked it inside the building. We are now 3 rows deep and 1 side row. There is still much more to stack. Time ran out for today. Of course, they could split much quicker than we could stack.

This is where I would have liked to be. Oh well, sitting won’t keep us warm this winter. I’m just kidding, I really enjoy work especially when we are all working together. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 27, 2012 5

New Project

Here is a picture of my lastest project. This picture is of one I did several years ago. Grace has requested one so I am working on hers now. I have finished the pink and blue rows and will be starting on the red. I also have found a new favorite way of making popcorn. I am not found of microwave popcorn. It always leaves a yucky taste in my mouth. I have been making this recipe for microwave kettle corn and we all love it. You can make it sweet like the recipe says or just leave out the sugar and make regular popcorn.

Much has been going on here for the last week. That’s one reason why I haven’t made a post in a while. First off, last week I threw my back out. I used my mom’s old cane to walk around the last part of the week. I am so thankful that I do not have chronic back problems. It was intensely painful. Then on Saturday we went down to Jessica’s for a pumpkin carving day. We have never carved pumpkins before. It was a lot of fun.

Jess made this cheesecake. It was the first cheesecake she had made. It was very good.

Everyone had a great time.

Then Saturday evening we went to the “Critter Chompin”. It is a wild game banquet that our church sponsors. We do door prizes and I won a new bible “The Story”. Have any of you ever heard of it? It is supposed to be the bible but told in a story form Later on that night though we had some bad news. Hubby Dad had been taken to Pikeville hospital with a heart attack. We went down to see him on Monday-11 hrs driving. Hard day in MANY ways. He is on a ventilator and unable to breathe on his own. Later in the week, he had to undergo surgery for a preforated bowel. Today he is still in extremely critical condition. I would ask if anyone feels led to pray, we would certainly appreciate your prayers. He is 81 years old, a Christian man, and wasn’t in very good health before all this happened. Hubby and I are praying for God’s will to be done.

Well, that’s about it. I will try to keep everyone posted. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 26, 2012 3