Laundry Soap For Sale

Today I will be taking some of my homemade laundry soap to a store here in Floyd to see if it will sell. This is what the package looks like. What do you all think? I got the recipe and the package idea from a blogger friend of mine. You can read her blog at http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/. I really like this soap and I am hoping others will too.

I also want to get out all my old schoolbooks. Vicki is going to help me try to sell them on ebay. Later today, we plan on doing a picnic with them at Smartsview Park. FUN, FUN, FUN.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 10, 2011 5

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Just a few pictures today to show the progress of our upper garden. It is finally starting to look like a garden.

We have been enjoying lettuce and onions for a while now.

The peas are starting to bloom. I really love fresh garden peas.

These are the plants we started under the greenhouse. We decided since we were not having much success transplanting them, we would just leave them where they were. They seem to be doing great.

Cucumbers blooming. I love fresh garden cucumbers.

Squash blooming. I love fresh garden squash.

A closer look at the cabbage. I love fresh garden cabbage. Can you tell ? I just love ALL fresh garden food!!!!!

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 9, 2011 8

Baby Ducks

We finally managed to get some pictures of the baby ducks. They have grown so much. When she first brought them off the nest, they were so tiny. We could hardly see them in the grass.

She is getting very brave with them now. In these pictures, she is in the edge of the yard. Maybe not too smart with all the cats we have running around here.

Today has been rather hot here. Hubby worked some on putting the vinyl siding on the new room we built last fall. He almost got it all finished. We washed clothes and hung them out. They dried pretty quick. Todays “lupper” was wilted lettuce and onions with crumbled bacon, pinto beans and corn on the cob. I also baked some corn bread and made some flitters, watermelon for dessert.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 7, 2011 5

Our Latest Find

Here’s a picture of our latest yard sale find. Saturday we went down to Jessica’s to celebrate Sam’s first birthday. Happy birthday, baby boy. We ended up not getting to stay for the party as Grace was not feeling well. When we got down there, though, one of her neighbors was having a yard sale. We walked over with Dave to check it out and found these books. I could not believe it when she told me the price. $5.00! Yeah, I was one happy mama. 10 childrens classics. I love old books.

Yesterday was my beautiful Julie’s 13th birthday. Happy birthday my darling girl. After church we went out to eat and then went to the movies. We watched Kung Fu Panda 2. Going to the movies is still a big treat for us. We don’t do it very often because we want it to remain special and because there are very few good movies to go see. Anyway we had a fun but busy weekend.

We got a little rain last night. Hopefully enough to get the garden growing. Sunshine today with comfortable temperatures. Saturday morning we were down in the 40’s but I think that will be the last of the cooler mornings. Well, I have clothes to hang out and school to do. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 6, 2011 6

A Pretty View

This is the view from my favorite sitting place.

This, of course, is my favorite sitting place. Hubby and I spend each morning here in this swing drinking our coffee together. Notice the rose bush running up in the tree. It took me a long time to train it to go up there.

I think God is ever so wonderful to allow me to have this beautiful place to live. Thank you, Lord!

Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 3, 2011 6

Dumpster Treasures

Look what I found today at the dumpster. Beautiful! I should tell you all that at our dumpsters people set things out beside the dumpster for others to get. It is amazing the things you will find. It is not uncommon to find appliances like dryers, etc. Sometimes they will even put a paper on it telling you what is wrong with it. We call it “greenbox shopping” (our dumpsters are green). Anyway, today when I stopped to put the trash in, there was a box with this beautiful teacup in it.

Also this set of old teacups. No saucers though. Oh well, I guess you can’t have everything.

And this old sugar bowl. I could hardly wait to get home and clean them up. I love old dishes.

Today was busy running errands and shopping. We have been gone all day. Thank the good Lord our car has air conditioning as it is hot again today. Grace has a dentist appointment tomorrow so we will be gone most of the day again. Well, it is past time for us to eat supper so I better get busy. Tonight’s menu is garlic bread and baked spaghetti with cantalope for dessert. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

June 1, 2011 5

Home School

How much more fun is school when you can sit outside under a big shady tree and watch the kittens play? We have had hot temperatures here for the last few days. Not as hot as it is at Jessica’s but hot for us, anyway. I went out early this morning in the garden to work. Hoping to get it finished before it got too hot. I left Julie and Grace inside doing dishes and other inside chores. I much gather work outside than in, even if it is hot. Anyway, I got the garden finished weeding, replanted some tomato plants, planted some beans and some corn. Everything is in the ground now so we’ll see how it does.

I thought you all might enjoy seeing how big the baby geese are. They are almost as big as their parents. Geese are definitely good parents. They are very watchful and protective-always together.

We have piano practice this afternoon so I better get busy. We have another load of clothes to put on the line before we leave and a folded basket to put away. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 31, 2011 5

Cherries

Look at these beautiful cherries. David’s mother has 2 of these cherries trees in her yard. She graciously gave them to us. Thank you, Donna. We went down Friday morning as Hubby was having difficulties with his computer too. While Dave and Hubby worked on the computer, Jess and I with the kids went to pick cherries. We picked 3 gal. and didn’t even hardly take a step.

Look at how the limbs are just bowed down to the ground. You could just stand and pick. No tree or ladder climbing. I really liked that.

We ended up staying Friday night and most of the day Saturday getting Hubby’s computer up and going. When we came home I put the cherries in our steamer juicer. We got 5 1/2 qts of juice.

Sunday morning just before we left to go to church, Jess calls and says Dave needs Hubby’s help. Their shower drain has come loose and flooded under the house and the heat pump was not working. This of course means no air conditioner and for a pregnant woman that was bad. It is really hot where they live with lots of humidity. Well, we changed clothes and headed down to help Dave. While the men went to Lowes, the girls and I went to pick more cherries. We got 2 1/2 gal. I have one batch in the steamer juicer now. I think I will make jelly from some of the juice and then just can the rest. It is very good. We had fresh cherry juice with our breakfast this morning. The Lord is so good to provide us with treats like that.

Well, I have clothes to go on the line and much to do today. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 30, 2011 4

Wild Roses

Remember the rose bush up by the fence that had not bloomed yet. Well, this is it. It is full of tiny white bloom. Very pretty.

I thought I would share with you all how my plants look. This is what the cucumbers looked like before we transplanted them.

This is what they look like now and this is one of the better looking ones. Oh well, live and learn. I am going today to a local greenhouse and hopefully get some cucumber plants. Yesterday, after school, the girls and I worked on weeded some of our flower beds. We planted some cosmos seed, some columbine and some seeds that just said “cut flowers”. It is a little late getting the seeds in the ground but I think they will still have time to make flowers.

Temperature here is beautiful. 70 with sunshine and a good steady wind. I have clothes ready for the line and another load to wash. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 26, 2011 3

Irises

Here is a picture of our irises that are blooming in the green swing area. These were given to me several years ago by a good friend who attends our Friday Ladies Study. Thanks again, Barbara. I just love their purple color.

Yesterday, I made buttermilk. I have attempted several times to make cottage cheese but I keep doing something wrong. So I decided yesterday to change gears a little and try making buttermilk. It turned out great. It tastes a lot like kefir. Here’s what I did. I used almost a qt. of our raw milk. I did not skim off the cream. I then added 1/4 cup of whole milk buttermilk I had purchased from the store. I shook it up and sit it out on the counter for about 20 hrs. I was told there is no set time for how long to leave it out. It all depends on the temperature of your house. This same rule applies to kefir. The warmer the temperature the quicker it will set. It is ready when you turn the jar over and it all leaves the side of the jar in one clump. Shake the jar for about 5 min and put in the refridgerator to chill. I am very happy with the results and definitely will be making more.

This is a picture I never get tired of seeing. I LOVE hanging my clothes on the line. I LOVE seeing them hanging on the line and I LOVE smelling them after they have dried hanging on the line. To me, drying my clothes on the line is one of the luxuries of being a stay at home wife and mother.

I hope you all enjoy your day and God bless.

May 25, 2011 3