Monday

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. Things were kinda slow for us-just the way we like it. We didn’t do much of anything on Saturday, just normal cleaning chores. Yesterday, we had a nice day at church. My Secret Sister gave me a tin of homemade cake pops. They were delicious. We came home, ate lunch and then the girls and I went to the movie theater. We very seldom go to the theater. It is reserved for big treats. We usually try to go at Christmas time as part of their Christmas gift. We then went to Wal-Mart and finished up some shopping. Everyone is coming to our house Saturday for our Christmas get together.

Not much else going on here. I am making another batch of homemade yogurt. This time using the pureed fruit. Supper tonight is cabbage casserole, pintos and cornbread. We are warm here today-mid 40’s. I do not have a fire as of yet. We are holding off as long as possible.

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

December 17, 2012 3

Grapes

The girls and I are starting on our grapes today. We picked 1/2 bushel this morning. We plan on making mostly jelly from these. Tomorrow we will start making juice. Yesterday I went to our friend Mrs. Faye. I helped her with her grapes. She wanted to make jelly and juice. Last year, they purchased a steam canner and a steam juicer like ours but they were not too confident with using them. So I went over to help them a little. It was a fun day. We had green beans, corn, cucumbers, cole slaw and cornbread for lunch. YUM!

Not much else going on here. Just mostly canning. We plan on picking more tomatoes this evening. We have been blessed with lots of beautiful tomatoes. Our temperatures have been cooler at night here. You can feel fall in the air. The dogwood trees are starting to turn colors. Apples will soon be ready. I love fall. As I am sitting here typing this post, the sweet smell of grapes fills my home. God is so good to us.

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

August 28, 2012 2

Goslings

I thought I would show you all how big these goslings are. It always amazes me how fast they grow. They are however ravenous eaters. We also have ducklings (we think). She hatched them off and took them up into the field. We have not seen them since. Mama and Papa Duck are still around though so we are confident the ducklings are too. Mama is just keeping them well hidden.

I forgot to mention in yesterdays post about the chick house, all the planks and the door are from the old farmhouse we are working on. He said we could have all the old wood. We have been thinking of ways to reuse it. I think some of it will go to box in the remainder of our back porch. Today is a nice day here in Floyd. Temperature is 66 degrees. We have had some sun but it is overcast now and I think rain is coming.

Tonights menu at church is kraut and weiners, pinto beans, cornbread, cole slaw and strawberry rhubarb pie. (Thats just what I know about). For a class of 10-12 people, we sure do eat good. Time for me to start getting everything ready. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

April 29, 2012 4

Little Chicks New Home

We’ve been busy getting the little chicks new home ready for them. They are growing so fast. They have outgrown their little coup and are in need of a bigger home. We decided this building would work great for them. It was a metal shed we built several years ago to store the lawn mower in. It needed planks on the inside to keep it warm in the winter. The girls and I put them up Friday evening. Then this morning, we all went out and got started fixing the front. It now has a nice door and a window and is fully enclosed. All we lack now is making some nests for them and putting up the fence and building the gate. Okay, so that sounds like we lack quite a bit but we are one step closer now than we were yesterday. You can see one of the old hens in front of the house. They were so curious as to why we were blocking off the shed as it is one of their favorite places to take a dust bath.

Today was cool here. Temperatures were in the high 40’s-lower 50’s. We wore light jackets all day while we were working. We came in and ate supper. I knew today would be a long day outside working so this morning I put some pork in the crockpot and some pinto beans in another crockpot. All I had to do when we came in was fry some potatoes and make cornbread. I then decided to build a fire as it was about 60 degrees in the house. We are nice and warm now. There is just something very comforting about a wood fire. So relaxing.

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

April 28, 2012 4

Birds

The birds are starting to come in to the feeders now. Different ones than we get in the winter. They make such a joyful sound to the Lord. As soon as I get up in the morning, they are already singing. I go hang clothes on the line, their music fills the air. Such blessings the Lord gives.

Our weekend weather was a little different. It started to rain about 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. It rained all day Saturday, all night Saturday night and most of the day Sunday. All our little creeks were overflowing. Several places the creek was running across the road when we came back from church Sunday afternoon. Then it started to ice, then it snowed some and finally it got bitter cold. When we came out from church last night, the side doors to the van were frozen shut. Julie and Grace had to get in the the front doors. We had some fierce wind so I guess that made the doors freeze. This morning it was 20 degrees when we got up. The wind has slowed down to a more manageable breeze, the sun is shining and hopefully it will get warmer. I just checked and it is 32 degrees now. I already have 2 loads of clothes on the line and another load ready to go out. I love clothes dried outside.

We finished our study of II Corinthians last night. Next week we will begin in Galatians. Our supper menu last night was pigs in a blanket, mashed potatoes, corn, baked beans, cornbread and a sour creme pound cake for dessert. I tell you, we sure do eat good. Our pastor says if you like to eat and shoot this is the church for you. As you may remember, our church does a lot of clay shoots as a men’s outreach. Lots of the women shoot too. We certainly have a lot of fun at our church. Hopefully, I haven’t made it sound like a social club. We are very dedicated to worshipping and serving the Lord. We just believe the Lord wants us to have fun too.

Well, it is time for school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 7, 2011 3

More Daniel and Sam

So here are the other pictures I could not get to load yesterday.

Today we are getting much needed rain. The fog has already come in so it promises to be a dreary day here in Floyd, a good day for a inside project. Temperature is about 35 degrees. Hopefully, this will all be rain. I am hoping next week to get some outside work done here. All the trees and bushes need trimming, along with the grapevines. We also need to do some cleanup in the blackberries. Not my favorite job. The thorns are hard to work with but it has to be done if we want to enjoy the berries. I love outside work. In my opinion, so much more fun than cleaning house. I am already looking forward to enjoying fresh fruit and veggies.

I added a little bit to my menu last night. One of our favorite things to eat in the spring is wilted lettuce and green onions. Hubby likes pinto beans with his. So I purchased some fresh baby greens at the store, put a little chopped onion on top. Then I heated olive oil (shameful but I did not have bacon grease). Next step is to pour some of the hot oil on top of the greens and onions, then top it off with pinto beans. A big chunk of cornbread finished it up. It was not as good as it would have been fresh from our garden but it definitely was good.

Enjoy your weekend and God bless.

March 5, 2011 4

Having Fun

Fishing. Such great fun for two little boys on a warm Sunday afternoon. Temperatures here today are amazing. Mid 50’s. The sun is shining beautifully. The mother of these two boys had called while we were at church. She wanted to know if she could bring the boys to fish for a while. They had a great time.

I fixed a new recipe for lunch today. I got it from a blogger friend. It is called Amish 13 Bean and Sausage Chowder.

2 cups of 13 Bean Blend
1 qt. fresh water
2 tsp. butter
1 tsp. lemon juice
4 tsp chicken broth
4 cups potatoes (diced)
2 cups onions (diced)
1 1/2 cups celery (sliced with leaves)
1 can (15oz) yellow corn
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 qt whole milk
1 cup light cream
1 egg
3 Tbsp. Corn Starch
2 Tbsp. Flour
2 lbs of smoked sausage (sliced 3/8″)

1. Soak Bean in water overnight and drain.
2. Simmer the first 5 ingredients together in a heavy kettle for 30 minutes
3. Add the next 5 ingredients and cook another 15 minutes till potatoes are tender. (Do not stir much)
4. Add garlic salt, sage, black pepper & milk (Do not let boil)
5. Blend light cream, egg, corn starch & flour together in a bowl with a whip till smooth.
6. Slowly add the step #5 mixture and heat gently to thicken. Add sausage and Serve.

We liked it very much. I am taking the rest of it tonight to church for our fellowship meal. We will be having the soup, cornbread, pigs in a blanket, cake and ice cream. We have 3 more weeks after tonight on our study of II Corinthians.

Enjoy your evening and God bless.

January 30, 2011 4

Beautiful Sky

Today has been a very pretty day here in Floyd. Beautiful sunshine and as you can see the sky is just amazing. Such a bright, vibrant blue. It is warmer than it has been. 25 degrees with very little wind. All in all, this makes for a fairly nice day.
I wanted to put a picture of my latest apron on, but for some reason I am having difficulties with my pictures. I think I will need some help, Dave.
Tonights menu will be pinto beans(cooked on the wood stove) Kielbasa with cabbage, cornbread and the buttermilk chocolate cake for dessert. Pintos cooked on the wood stove are just sooooo good. I guess they prefer slow cooking.
Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 14, 2011 3

Tuesday

Today we are getting back into the swing of school. We had too many errands yesterday to start. We also visited some with the Horn’s yesterday. For Christmas, the Horn girls had received a kit from Wal-Mart to make a little girl apron and a little doll apron. I took some interfacing over and Vicki and I traced out the pattern. So I now have a little doll apron pattern to make. I want to make a mother, daughter, and doll apron to match.

Temperatures here are much nicer than they have been however yesterday morning was pretty cold. Temperature yesterday was 14 when we got up but it did warm up nicely with lots of sunshine. Cloudy today though, of course, because I am home and could hang our clothes on the line today. Oh well, thats how it goes. Hubby worked on getting some more wood yesterday while the girls and I ran errands.

Tonights menu is something I really don’t have a name for. I brown hamburger meat, add onions, cabbage, and potatoes. The options are limitless as to what you can add. I sometimes add fresh peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms. I like fresh baked cornbread with it. I got some cushaw from the freezer this morning. I think I will make a pie for dessert.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 4, 2011 3

A Slight Breeze

We have a slight breeze here in Floyd today. Well, okay maybe more than a slight breeze but not a hard wind. Just perfect for drying clothes on the line. When the wind is blowing like this, the clothes are so soft when they get dry. We had a busy weekend but lots of fun. The girls and I went to Sam’s Club Saturday and picked up a few things. Before that we went to one of our local malls and walked around, just looking. This is something we never do, so that made it special. They have already started putting up their Christmas stuff. It was so much fun. Yesterday was church day. The pastors sermon was very good. He compared being a soldier in the Armed Forces with being a soldier in God’s army. He did a really good job. Last nights menu was soup, pinto beans, cornbread, tator tot casserole, cooked apples and carrot cake. Very good.

Today we are doing Grace’s birthday party. We are going over to our friends the Horns to celebrate. Vicki is making the cake and I am taking some homemade chicken noodle soup. We are all looking forward to a great day. I know I have said it before, but we are very blessed by the Lord to have the Horns in our life. We so appreciate their friendship.

Well, I gotta go party. Take care and God bless.

November 8, 2010 2