Little Angels

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great week. Things have been nice here. Warm temperatures and sunshine. I LOVE it! I know it won’t last but it sure is nice for now. We did build a fire yesterday and I already have one going this morning but it is December, right. I thought I would share with you all a fun craft we did at church Saturday.

But, of course, we had to eat first. Can you see the red striped dish in this picture? I would have never guess what that is. It is turnips!! I have never seen turnips that look like that. They were really good though. I would like to find out the name of them. That would be the type I would like to have next year. The lady who brought them didn’t know anything about them. She had bought them at a local store. If any of you know the name of them, I would appreciate you letting me know.

A lady from our church had all these little terra cotta pots. She painted them for us. Actually she did all the prep work for the craft day. All we had to do was put everything together. I wanted to get detailed pictures for you all but once we started on them, everything went too fast. Anyway, here is the finished product.

Aren’t they cute! I made the red one, Grace made the purple, Julie’s is next and we all worked on the pink one. It is for Jess. I think they are adorable. They are supposed to be ornaments but we don’t have our tree up yet. As of now, they are brightening up our dining room window sill.

Well, time for us to get started on school. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

December 6, 2012 6

The Bed

Hello ladies! We have been busy this weekend. The bed is finished. We loaded it up in the van and took it down to Dave and Jessica’s. The van was packed pretty full.

We got started putting it together as soon as we got there. Daniel was a great helper.

I tried to show the trim Hubby put on it. The pictures did not turn out as well as I had hoped.

The finished product. Jess said I should have wanted until she had it made up but I didn’t think about that. It looks really good with her comforter and everything on it. We stayed overnight at Jessica’s. It was late when we got it all put together and we were very tired. David helped Hubby work on the van today. They think they have the brake issue fixed. On the way down yesterday, we started having trouble with the battery on the van so they worked on it today too. Hopefully, all the vehicle issues are fixed for a while.

We came home this evening and hurried to fix a fire. The inside temperature was 55 degrees. Pretty cold. It is warming up nicely though. It was very nice down at Jessica’s. When we left, they were all outside on the porch and the boys were playing in the yard. Well, we have lots to get done. I wanted to show you all the pictures of the bed before I got too busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 4, 2011 7

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

Finished

The front porch is finished. I wanted to show you the finished product. I’m not sure the picture does a good job of showing it or not.

I rolled the blinds down some so you all could see them too. When we do school out here, we roll them down some to eliminate the glare. They also help keep it cooler in the summer. We now have cleaned and mopped the floor and returned all the furniture to the porch. It is so nice. Thanks, Hubby.

Yesterday was spent down at Jessica’s watching the boys while she went for her ultra sound. She saw the heart beat so all is well in Mama’s world. She is 8 weeks and her due date is Nov. 9th. Very close to Grace’s birthday. Today will be catch up at school and getting the house cleaned for tomorrow’s bible study. It is my turn for dessert and I am planning on making cinnamon rolls. We are going over to the Horn’s tomorrow evening to eat and visit with them. I am making enough cinnamon rolls to take over there as well.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 31, 2011 6

Cherry Pie

Today has been kinda a resting day. So much has been going on here lately, I thought the girls and I needed a day to rest. Of course, as all you know there is no such thing as a completely resting day. Especially during the week. Anyway, I decided as I was resting to make a cherry pie. I used the cherries we picked over the weekend. I put about 3 cups of pitted cherries and about 1/2 cup sugar. I brought this to a boil and let it boil down some. Then I thickened it with 2 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp. water.

Then I made my pie crust. The recipe I use is: 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil. Mix all this together, then add 2 1/3 cups sifted all purpose flour.

Then I divide the dough into 2 parts for the bottom crust and the top. I must warn you though this next picture is not too pretty. I have never been good at rolling out pie crust. I want to be, so I keep trying. Maybe someday.

The finished product. I know it doesn’t look too good but I believe it will taste great. Especially with that homemade vanilla ice cream I’m making. We are also having pork tenderloin, pinto beans and mashed potatoes. I think I will have cornbread with this. Today for lunch I had my first batch of wilted lettuce and green onions, so I had to bake cornbread to go with it. Now, where I from they would have said a “mess” of lettuce and onions but I didn’t want to confuse those of you who do not understand mountain talk. For you all who don’t know what this is, I’ll explain. First pick the lettuce and onion, fry some bacon. Then you wilt down the lettuce and onion with the hot bacon grease. Add a little salt and enjoy with cornbread. Hubby likes pinto beans with his. Anyway you fix it, it is good! My ice cream maker is finished, so I must go. Take care and God bless.

June 9, 2010 3