Surprise!

Yesterday, we went down to watch the boys while Jess went for her ultrasound. This time the baby was not shy. Jess will be having a little girl in November. All seems healthy which of course is the most important thing. About 2 months ago, while in Goodwill, I found this darling little dress. I thought it was so cute I just had to buy it. You know, just in case it was a girl. I figured I could always give it as a gift to someone.

We had quite a lot of rain last night and today has been alternately overcast and then sun. I have clothes on the line hoping to get them dry. It is very humid here with a temperature of 90 but we do still have a slight breeze.

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

July 6, 2011 9

Fun Weekend

We had a really fun visit with Dave, Jess, and the boys this weekend. Our hammock got lots of attention. This is Sam and Daddy. Sam says he’s not ready for a nap yet.

Looks like Daddy won!

As I said, the hammock got lots of attention this weekend. I hope you all have a great 4th of July. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 4, 2011 6

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

VBS

Our VBS went very well last night. Our theme is “Christ Under the Big Top”. I think they did a great job with decorating.

Here we are getting ready to play our first game of the week. The game was called “dress the clown.” Our pastor and his wife volunteered to be the clowns.

Don’t they look great? We are so blessed to have a pastor who loves kids.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 27, 2011 4

Horseshoe Picnic

Yesterday was our second annual horseshoe pitching picnic. I thought I would share a few pictures with you all. We had a great time with lots of good food (of course), good fellowship and good music. I think that hammock is calling my name!

A few of the people sitting around enjoying themselves.

What do you think he might be looking at?

Deer, right across the river from where we were.

The creek.

The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day.

Our VBS starts tonight. The girls will be playing the music all 5 nights. Julie is in charge of the games tomorrow night. When did my babies become workers instead of just participants? Well, it does this mama’s heart good to see them serving the Lord.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 26, 2011 4

Our First Harvest

We are starting to enjoy the fruit of our labor. I know its a small amount but the first is always the best. We love it when the garden starts coming in.

Yesterday we went over to the Horn’s. Vicki put some of my old schoolbooks on ebay for me. I have never sold anything on ebay. They only allowed us to put 10 items. Hopefully, they will sell and then we will put more. We’ll see. Anyway, thanks again Vicki, for helping me. The girls had a great time playing as usual. Vicki showed me some pictures of projects she wants to do this summer. It was a really good visit. After that we had piano lessons. While the girls did their lessons, I did some grocery shopping. We were out of chick feed so I picked some up. They are starting on the layer crumbles now. Hopefully, soon, we will be gathering eggs. So exciting.

I better get busy. Clothes to hang on the line (as usual). Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 21, 2011 4

Raspberries

Our raspberries are getting ripe! YUMMY!!!! Black raspberries are one of my favorite fruits. We have a few vines we have been working on getting established and it looks like this year we might get enough to make a cobbler at least. (if we can keep the birds out of them)

Yesterday was a nice day. We came back from church and cooked steak on the grill in honor of Dad’s day. Steak on the grill is Hubby’s favorite meal. We had fries with it, rolls and ice cream for dessert. Our pastor’s sermon was very good. It was of course directed mostly to the men in the church. He preached on Ezekiel 22:30. The verse says “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land but I found none.” He challenged our men to be the one that could stand in the gap. It was a very powerful message.

Temperature here this morning is wonderful. Low 60’s with a pretty strong wind. Great for drying clothes. I have one load ready to hang out and several more to go. The girls and I have many errands to run today plus piano lessons. I guess I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 20, 2011 5

Update on Sell

Hello ladies. I thought I would give you all a quick update on how things went today. Not near as good as I hoped but I know it could have been worse. I sold $22.50. The rolls were the big hit. I sold all of them and 1 bag of laundry soap. No dishcloths sold or aprons. Well, at least I know now what to take next time. My friend told me I could set up anytime. So I think next time I’ll make rolls and cinnamon rolls. Anyway, I’m $22.50 richer than I was this morning and it really was a good day. I got to visit with my friend and her family and meet lots of diffferent people. I definitely will do it again, maybe even next week.

Enjoy your evening and God bless.

June 18, 2011 3

I’m Going Selling

You all will never guess what happened yesterday. I took the apron in to my friend, Retia Meade. She owns The Book End, a local Christian book store. She is the one who will be selling some of my stuff. Anyway, tomorrow is a big day here in Floyd (I can’t remember what they call it exactly) but it is a festival of sorts. She told me I could bring my goods in and set up a table in her store to sell. AT NO CHARGE!!!!! So I have been busy all day getting things made and priced and ready to go. I have 17 bags of laundry soap, 10 dischloths, 1 set of cotton napkins, 2 aprons and 6 pans of homemade rolls. Pray for me, ladies. This is such a blessed opportunity. My thanks to Retia for this gift.

Well, that’s all for today. I have much still to get done. I’ll let you all know how (or if) everything sells. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 17, 2011 5

Sunset

Monday evening Julie and I were outside letting the chicks run free for a while and this is what we saw. God is so good to show us glimpses of His glory.

Sorry I did not make a post yesterday. As you know we went down to Jessica’s on Monday for her ultrasound appointment. Well, this baby did not cooperate. He or she decided no one was going to look that day. All kinds of movement but legs crossed. They told her they would do one more a little later on. I guess this is a shy one or stubborn-not sure which.

Yesterday the girls and I went with Hubby to help him work. He is doing the sheetrock on a remodeling job. He can do it all by himself except hang ceilings. That is just too hard to do alone. The house is in a beautiful location. If we go back with him another day, I’ll try to remember to take the camera so you all can see some pictures of it.

Today we’ll work on catching up here at home. How can a house get so dirty when no one is home? This morning was very chilly here-42 degrees when we got up this morning. Yesterday was really nice. Hubby’s van tells the outside temperature and it was 70 degrees when we left the job site yesterday around 3:00.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 15, 2011 3