Remember This

You all remember this little dress. I got it at Goodwill before we even knew what Jess was going to have. Well, this weekend when we went down for our Christmas get together, Jess had dressed her in it. She looked darling!

It amazes me every time I see her how much she has grown. The boys were too busy for me to get a picture of them. Maybe next time. We had a great visit with lots of good food.

Yesterday I put a deer roast on in the crockpot before we left for church. Pastor Tom’s message was very good. He preached from Isaiah 40:3-5. We had deer roast, french fries, green beans and homemade rolls for “lupper” with homemade candy for dessert. Then we just chilled for the rest of the day. Our church was going caroling and giving out fruit baskets last night. However, Julie is suffering from a head cold, so we did not go.

Well, that’s about it. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

December 19, 2011 5

Wednesday

Today has been a good day here in Floyd. The girls and I decided it was definitely time to put up the Christmas tree. We had lots of fun. We put on some Christmas music and got busy. They decorated the gingerbread house. Then we put up the tree, the nativity, and a few other decorations. Simple, nothing too complex. Temperatures here have been much warmer than normal. I like that.

Our van is fixed. YEAH! Dave, Jess and the kids came up Sunday so Dave could help Hubby work on it. Thanks so much, Dave! Hubby finished getting it all put back together Monday. Monday evening we rode it to the feed store to get chicken feed and everything worked fine. Yesterday, the girls and I rode it to Sam’s. No problems!! I am so glad.

Yesterday, the boys had a terrible stomach virus. They were both very sick. Daniel was hit especially hard. He told his mom he felt like he was living in a bad dream. Today they both seem on the mend. We are all praying no one else gets it. Jess said that baby Sam was calling for his “Maw” when he was sick in the night. You know that just touches my heart. We are hoping to go down Saturday to do Christmas with them. Lots of good food planned.

Well, I guess that’s about all that has been going on here. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 14, 2011 6

A Christmas Tin

Hello everyone! I thought I would show you one of my newest Christmas tins. I love these things. I think they look so cheerful and happy. I got this one at the Salvation Army store a little while back. I only paid .50 cents for it. Yesterday, after school, I decided it was time to start filling up some of these tins. I made pinwheel candy to put inside it. This is one of our favorite Christmas candies.

Several people on our gift list will be getting homemade candy this year. Chuck (oldest son) has already called and gave me his wish list for what he wants in his “goody basket”. I made some peanut butter and chocolate fudge over the weekend for Dave and Jess. I will post that recipe soon.

We will be doing school today as usual. We plan on taking a 2 week Christmas break starting on Dec.19th. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

December 6, 2011 7

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello ladies, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. For some reason, things have been busy around here and it’s been difficult for me to make a post. Grace is feeling better and I thank you all for your prayers for her. So far, we have been blessed that no one else has gotten sick.

We are on Thanksgiving break from school. The girls are very happy. Today is planned out as just a fun day. We will watch a movie, The Prince of Egypt, also play a few games, and listen to Christmas music. I will also be busy baking today. We are doing Thanksgiving at Jessica’s. Everyone is bringing something. I am to bring the rolls and the ingredients for punch. The punch we all love is called Angel Punch. Jessica’s grandmother, Marie would always make this punch at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We really like it.

My bread machine just beeped so it is time to start shaping the rolls. I better get busy. I pray you all have a safe and happy thanksgiving. God bless.

November 23, 2011 7

A Splash of Color

My Christmas cactus is blooming. I don’t think it has ever bloomed at Christmas but it’s very pretty no matter when it blooms. I love the bright pink color. It always makes me feel happy when I look at it.

Temperatures here this morning were mid 20’s with a heavy frost. It has warmed up already to low 30’s and the sun is shining. I think it will be a nice day. We will be doing school as usual, then we have some wood to unload. We also need to go into town to get some chicken feed. Thank the Lord, we have once again sold enough eggs to pay for the feed.

Jess and Katie are doing well and big brothers are adjusting nicely to having a little one in the house. Katie seems to be (as of right now) a very content little girl. She sleeps very well at night, 3-4 hrs between bottles. Amazing! David will be going back to work on Thursday. He took a week vacation during Katie’s birth.

Well, it is almost time for school and I have clothes to hang out. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 8, 2011 5

Making Butter

When I was living in Grundy, we would buy our milk, butter and buttermilk from a friend of ours who had cows. She made absolutely the best butter I’ve ever tasted. When we moved up here to Floyd, the butter they made tasted completely different. They call it “sweet cream butter” here. Well, don’t get me wrong, it’s really good. But just not the taste I’ve been hankering for. So the other day I called Margie, our friend in Grundy that made the butter. The cows here on the farm are Holsteins and don’t produce much cream so it takes a long time to save up. We wanted to make butter for the weekend for Jessica, so I cheated and bought heavy whipping cream from the store. Here is the recipe she gave me.

1. Put equal amounts of cream and buttermilk in a jar. I used 1 pt cream and 1 pint buttermilk.

2. Let jar sit out on counter overnight or until it becomes very thick-I mean really, really thick.

3. Her instructions were then to churn it. As we do not have a churn, I poured the thickened cream into my mixer with the whisk attachment on-You know my beautiful mixer my wonderful hubby surprised me with at Christmas.

4. Llet this mix about 5 min. (I’m not really sure of the time, it could have been less or more.) This is what it will look like when the butter is ready.

6. Then you do what Margie called “gather” the butter. I put it into a container, added a little salt, took a spoon and worked it around and all the excess buttermilk came out. Drain off the buttermilk as you gather the butter.

The finished product. Chill and enjoy!! Of course, I had to sample it before this. I wanted to make sure it was good before serving it to my family. (lol) It tastes just like Margie’s. Yeah!!!! I am so happy. I am making fresh rolls today for the weekend. Won’t they be good with butter spread on them.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 1, 2011 6

Pickled Eggs

Every year at Easter and Christmas, I make pickled eggs as a special treat for my Hubby. He and David both like them so I will be taking them down with me for our Easter dinner. Don’t they look so colorful in the jar?

Yesterday we had some pretty hard wind. Our plastic is still on our greenhouse, YEAH. I had clothes on the line drying and looked out our dining room window and a pair of Hubby’s jeans had blown off the line and into the dogwood tree. I should have taken a picture of them hanging from the limb but I didn’t think of it in time. Anyway, the wind is not as bad today. Our clothes are all still on the line. Hubby and his brother are working on the van window. Hopefully, they will be able to fix it. It has been more difficult than he first thought it would be.

Well, time for us to start back on school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

April 21, 2011 3

Christmas in March

I think my Christmas Cactus is confused. It bloomed around Christmas time and has decided (to our great pleasure) to bloom again. It looks so cheerful and happy in the room.

Todays temperature was a little warmer when we got up, 26 degrees. It is a little overcast but the sun is coming through. It is now about 30 degrees. I have one load of clothes on the line and am getting ready to take another. They are predicting rain for tomorrow.

On the menu for tonight is pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and kale. I think I will do homemade biscuits with it and have cooked apples for dessert. Time for us to start school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 8, 2011 5

My Christmas Tablecloth

I love to use this quilt every year as my tablecloth at Christmas. I did not make the quilt and to be honest I have had it so long I don’t really remember who did. I love it though. It looks so pretty on our table. I took the picture of it on the floor because I wanted you all to really see it good. I think if quilts could talk, this one would say cheerful, happy things.

Monday, I did some grocery shopping for our Christmas meal. We visited some with the Horns which is alway fun. Yesterday, I worked some more on my sewing machine. I am still not successful in getting it to work properly. I hope to work on it more today. I have many sewing projects I want to start on. I might have to get Hubby to look at it and see what he can do.

We are getting a drizzle of rain here this morning. Temperatures are warm-33 degrees. Hopefully it will just be rain and no ice. There is a chance of snow for tomorrow and predictions for a winter storm coming in on Friday night. If this happens, our Christmas meal plans will have to change. Chuck and his family are supposed to come tomorrow and Jess and her family are coming on Sunday. It is so hard to plan things in the winter. You never know what the weather will bring.

We are doing “half school” today and tomorrow. Then on Friday, we will start our Christmas break. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 22, 2010 5

Sunday

Yesterday was such a fun day for us. We decided to take the girls to the movies as part of their Christmas gift. As we very seldom go to the movies, this was a big treat. We found (thanks to our friends, the Horns) a movie theater that is affordable and family friendly. We watched The Chronicles of Narnia-Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was a very good movie and we all had a great time. Grace has read the book and Julie is in process now of reading it.

Also, as my aprons are now being sold in a local store, I thought it would be nice to try out some different patterns. I had been told it would be nice if I could do matching aprons. One for Mom (or MawMaw)and one for a little girl. I found a pattern I like pretty well. Here is a picture of it.

Not exactly what I was looking for but a good place to start.

This is the material I picked out. The floral will be the main material and the striped will be the contrasting material. What do you all think? I am having difficulties with my sewing maching, so pray I can get it up and running soon. (Could be the operator, who knows!) Anyway, I am excited to start a new project and upping my abilities. I have not made many things from a real pattern. Usually, its something I just figure out on my own or I alter the pattern so that it fits my abilities. Sally, our pastor’s wife, has agreed to help me if I get in over my head. I don’t think I will though. It looks pretty easy on paper. I will show you the finished results when done.

I think I’ll go check out my machine. Take care and God bless.

December 19, 2010 4