Apron

Well, ladies, I finally finished the apron I was working on. This is the one I told you all I was making from an old pillowcase. I think it turned out really well. I am looking forward to making more aprons from pillowcases. Now I need everyone’s opinion. I always pin these little tags on my aprons.

So now I am wondering what to say on the aprons made from old pillowcases. I think it would be neat for people to know their apron was made from an old pillowcase but then I’m not sure and if I did how would I word it? I would appreciate your ideas on this.

Have any of you ever seen a mushroom that looks like this? Hubby was mowing around the pond and found this one. We have never seen one before. It is definitely strange looking.

Anyway, here is Shadow doing one of his most favorite things. He doesn’t swim but he certainly loves to wade in the pond. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

September 22, 2011 6

Old Books

I love old books, especially old school books. I thought I would share a few of them. I thought I might share how our school days “normally” go. I usually wake the girls around 7:00 A.M. They get dressed, make their beds and come downstairs by 7:30. Sometimes they fix their own breakfast and sometimes I do. It mostly depends on what they are having and how our time is running. I begin cleaning up the kitchen and they start piano practice. They practice 30 min. each. While one is practicing the other one is helping me and then vice versa. We shake the rugs and sweep the floors every morning. We have certain days that we do other things, clean bathroom, dust. I have a chart made with the days of the week on it and the designated chores for that day. We try to have all the house chores finished before we start school. It is so difficult for me to concentrate on school if these things are not already done. Laundry gets worked in every day. We are normally finished with all this around 9:15. They then get a 15 min. break to do whatever they want. We try to start school by 9:30. We say our pledges, pray and then begin. Bible is always first. Then they take turns chosing what subject they want to do. Our subjects are bible, spelling, history, science, math and language. Most days we are half way through by lunch time. We break an hour for lunch. Free time for everyone (except Mom). We then finish up somewhere between 1:00 and whenever. Yesterday was a long day for us. It was about 3:30 when we finished. Julie’s math was very long. Today is an easier day. It is now lunch time and all we lack is math. I’m glad as we need to work up an 1/2 bushel of apples. I already have them in the steam juicer and I want to make applesauce from them. Well, our lunch break is almost over. I hope I didn’t bore you all too much. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 21, 2011 7

A Candle Kind of Day

Today is the kind of day that just begs me to light candles. I love candles. I think they make any day a little brighter but especially dark, gloomy, rainy days like today. This is a picture of our mantle. My good friend, Vicki, bought me this candle holder. See how the light reflects from the mirror.

These candles are in our “sitting room”. We call it that because it is a wonderful place to just sit. The view from the windows is beautiful. When I took this picture, my Grace was sitting there enjoying reading a good book. She dearly loves to read.

And this is the view from the window that you see in this picture.

We are so blessed. Well, time for school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 20, 2011 6

Pirate in Training

Sorry, I have no picture to share today. We went down to Jessica’s yesterday for Daniel’s birthday party and I forgot to put the card in the camera, so no pictures. He had a great party though. At this point, pirates are very big in his world so he had a pirate party. Now I’m getting ready to tell you what was (in my opinion) the best part of the party. Jess had bought “pirate sword and shields” for all the kids at the party. There was about 8 kids there. They are all playing pirate and here comes Daniel with a sword and a shield for MawMaw. “Come on, MawMaw, we got pirates to get”. So here we go around the house with our swords and shields ready. I am sneak attacked by a pirate. I said to Daniel, “help, I’m under attack!” Here he comes, so serious. “Don’t worry, MawMaw. I’ll save you”. Now how cool is that. All those kids to play with and he wanted to play with MawMaw. God is so good. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 18, 2011 7

Stack Cake

It’s not very often I make two posts in one day, but I thought this was worth sharing. Tomorrow we will be going down to play with the boys while Jess has another doctor’s appointment. She asked me if I could make her a stack cake. This cake goes by different names. Some call it a stack cake, others a “lassie” cake (molasses). No matter what you call it, it is GOOD! In the mountains where I grew up, this cake was common at most all family get-togethers. It is not as common now, as the art of making them has all but disappeared. It took me many years of trial and error, but I finally got it. (I think, anyway.) These cakes are best eaten the next day. Most like them with a cold glass of buttermilk. In Grundy, these sell for $15.00-$20.00 and worth every penny. The layers are thin and between them is a good amount of homemade applebutter. Well, I just wanted to show you all my accomplishment for the day. Just kidding, it didn’t take me all day to make it but it did take a long time to clean up afterward. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 15, 2011 8

Apron

Here is a picture of the apron I just finished. I am hoping to take it to the Bread Basket today. I am working on another apron that I am making from an old pillowcase. I will take a picture of it when it is finished. We have been busy with school this week. It seems to be going pretty well. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies because school is just not school without cookies-or so I have been told. We have had fairly nice weather here this week. I think though rain is in the forecast and cooler temps. We’ll see. Well, it actually started to sprinkle as I typed this, so the girls and I had to make a run out to the clothesline to get them off before they got too wet.

It is corn cutting time. For several weeks, this is a familar site here on the farm. They started cutting above the house this morning. Well, our lunch break is over. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 15, 2011 5

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to my baby boy!!! MawMaw loves you so very much. You will never know the joy you have brought into all our lives. I pray for you every day. There are no words to describe how happy my heart is when you look at me and say those magic words “I love you, MawMaw!”

September 13, 2011 6

Flowers

I thought I would share some flower pictures with you all. This picture was taken at the Bread Basket the other day when I delivered the aprons. These are a type of sunflowers.

I’m not sure what these are but they are pretty.

All these pretty flowers surround her store.

In the fall, this is one of my favorite wildflowers. I love the brightness of goldenrod. I think goldenrod and ironweed mixed together makes a beautiful bouquet. However, I couldn’t get a picture of ironweed to show you.

And, of course, this dainty little daisy.

Our homecoming this morning went very well. Our guest singers did a really nice job. Our pastor’s message was about home, our real home, Heaven. Then we had a wonderful meal with all kinds of good food. Tonight will start our revival. I have not heard our guest speaker before. He will speak for all 3 nights but we will have different singers every night. I am looking forward to hearing both speaker and singers.

I have a question for you ladies. Remember last week when I made the hot pepper jelly. Well, I have never had this happen before but for some reason, it did not set up. Any ideas about what I could do? I have thought about opening all the jars and re-heating it, adding more sure jell. What do you all think? Please let me know any ideas you may have.

I hope you all have a great Sunday. God bless.

September 11, 2011 6

Saturday

Hello, ladies. Seems like we have been busy here for the last few days. Friday, I worked all day (in my spare time) on aprons. I managed to get two finished. I took them down to the Bread Basket for selling. She had sold all my aprons except one. YEAH! This month is our month to clean the church and mow the churchyard. We went Friday evening to do this. Grace took this picture of the sky on our way over to the church. Hubby did the mowing and weed eating while the girls and I cleaned inside. Our homecoming is tomorrow morning and then our revival starts tomorrow evening. Here is a picture of the inside of our church.

Twice a year, our church sponsors a clay shoot at the Coonhunter Club here in Floyd. Today we had about 25 shooters. The girls and I stayed for a while and then we had to go to C-burg to buy ink. Monday we will be starting school and I needed a few supplies.

I guess I better get busy. We will be having a fellowship meal following services tomorrow. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 10, 2011 6

Spaghetti Sauce

Today, we worked on making spaghetti sauce. I got this recipe from Sally, our pastor’s wife. We really like it.

Spaghetti Sauce

Scald and peel half a bushel of tomatoes (we used our food strainer instead), 6 cups chopped onions, 4 chopped green peppers, 1 clove of garlic. Cook for 1 and a half hours, stirring frequently. Add 1 pt olive oil, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup salt, 1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp crushed basil leaves, 1 tbsp italian seasoning, 1 tbsp parsley, 5-12 oz cans tomato paste, 4 jalopeno peppers. Cook another 45 min stirring frequently. Put in jars. Heat lids and seals to boiling. Put lids and seals on jars. Cover jars with towel and let sit overnight.

The sauce simmering in the pot. Can anyone guess what we are having for supper?

Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 7, 2011 6