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

Parkway View

We had a really nice weekend here in Floyd. Dave, Jess and the boys came up to celebrate Hubby’s birthday. Jess and I went to a yard sale in town. Later that evening they took us all out to eat at a local Mexican restuarant. We had a great time. On Sunday we went on a picnic down the parkway. This is a picture we took from one of the lookouts.

Today, we went down to watch the boys while Jess went to her doctors appointment. All is going well with her and the baby. Thank you, Lord. She will find out next month if she is having a girl or a boy. Daniel said they don’t want any “gwirls” there. Jess told him “but what about Mommy.” Daniel said “You’re not a “gwirl” , you’re Mommy. We are just praying for a healthy baby-boy or girl.

We have been getting lots of rain here. We have had a little sun this evening but mostly overcast. We still do not have our plants in the garden yet. It has just been too wet. We don’t have the brush pile burned or the lower garden tilled. I still have lots of flower seeds to get in the ground too. Oh well, all in God’s time.

Enjoy your evening and God bless.

May 16, 2011 3

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

Outdoor Fun

We decided to surprise the girls today and do a picnic lunch. This area is one of their favorite picnic spots and it is close to home. We had a great time. We took so many pictures. I will share them with you all over the next few days. This is the road leading into the park. After lunch we came home and had some difficulties with our stove. As you all know, we have been using it a lot this summer. Hubby only recently replaced all the stove eyes and their receptables. Well, today as the steamer/juicer was busy with our second batch of cider, the receptable shorted out and caught on fire. Praise the Lord, Hubby was here and got everything under control quickly. This does mean, however, that until he can fix it the biggest eye on my stove is not usable. Well, “all things worketh good”. He has been wanting to fix us a place outside to use the propane burner to can on. So today, prompted by need, he got the burner set up and I used it to cook the second batch of apples on. It works really well. I’m not sure how it will do using the pressure canner though. We haven’t tried that yet.

We now have 2 gal. of apple cider. YEAH! We have been running the apples that have cooked down through the roma sauce maker. Yesterday we just used it for applesauce. It is really thick though as all the juice has been cooked out. Today, we decided to try something a little different. We make applebutter out of it. No cooking involved-no simmering for hours praying it does not stick. Just added the sugar and spices AND put it in freezer bags and froze it. I’m not sure how it will be but it certainly was easier. It tasted just like applebutter that had simmered for a long time so I think it will be good.

Well, I am tired so I think I will rest for a while. Oh, I almost forgot, Hubby got the room painted today. I guess the next step is to lay down the rug. Getting closer every day. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

October 21, 2010 2

A Lesson Learned

We learned a valuable lesson yesterday. First I’ll start on Friday evening. As you all know we met at the pastor’s house to begin peeling apples for our apple butter. We peeled 6 bushel. We decided to put them in salt water overnight so they would not turn brown.

On Saturday morning about 8:00, we built the fire and loaded some of the apples into the kettle. As the apples cooked down, we would add more to the kettle.

All day we took turns stirring the apples in the kettle. Fun but hard work. We had a wonderful day of fellowship with a great meal. However, we did not get any applebutter. Before we added the sugar, (Thank you, Lord) we decided to taste the applesauce. YUCK!!!!!It tasted terrible. We reviewed all we had done and came to the conclusion our mistake was soaking the apples in the salt water overnight. The salt reacted with the cooper kettle and the apples were very bitter and metallic tasting. We ended up throwing them away. No applebutter, however, we did all have a GREAT time. It was a lot of fun. I would do it all again even with the same results. We are talking about trying again maybe in Oct. We’ll see.

Today is a rainy day here in Floyd. No complaints though. We really need the rain. Kinda chilly. Mid 50’s. We are not having bible study tonight so I think today is a snuggle in and relax evening. I hope your Sunday will be just as enjoyable. God bless.

September 26, 2010 2

A Resting Kind of Day

Today has been a kinda slow day. Julie went shooting at the shooting range with her Dad today. She had a really great time and says she wants to go again. Grace and I stayed home. We made applesauce muffins. I got the recipe from one of my blogger friends. Remember the “peach sauce” we made earlier in the summer, well, we used it instead of applesauce. They turned out really good. Then we made some homemade rolls to go with supper tonight. We will be having beef roast, corn from the garden and potatoes, with the homemade rolls of course. I think watermelon for dessert.

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Temperatures in the upper 70’s, low 80’s. One of those nice relaxing days. I thought the picture of the cat summed up how the day has been. Slow and lazy. Yesterday was bible study day. We only have one more lessons in I Corinthians and then we will start the Ruth study. I am really looking forward to it. I’m sure there will be lots to learn.

Time for me to go enjoy some of that nice weather. My green swing is calling me. Of course, the other cat will have to move over.

God bless.

August 28, 2010 1

Pears

Look at these beautiful pears! We went down to Jessica’s over the weekend and Saturday we went to David’s Moms. She gave us lots of beautiful apples and pears. We have 3 boxes of apples and 1 box of pears. Thanks, Donna! I think we will start on the pears today. I am thinking I will freeze them. They are very juicy pears. I’m not sure if they would hold up to canning them. The girls had a great time swimming Saturday afternoon in Donna’s pool. Daniel is making great progress learning to swim (with his lifejacket on). He can move all around the pool by himself and of course does not want any help. We also enjoyed hamburgers on the grill with corn on the cob and mac and cheese. We had a lot of fun but it was soon time to come home. Time goes so quickly.

It was a very pleasant day here yesterday. Sunshine and nice temperatures. Upper 70’s to low 80’s. After church, we came home and did our lesson for Sunday night class. I spent some time reading outside on my swing. For our evening meal at church we had polish sausage with peppers, onions and potatoes, sauerkraut, corn pudding, rolls, cucumbers, tomatoes, cole slaw, peach pie, pound cake with ice cream and brownies. I think that’s all! Really good food. We have decided to do II Corinthians next. We are almost finished with I Corinthians.

Grace took this picture the other day. I think she did a good job. Yes, Jess, I know you do not like butterfly pictures.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 9, 2010 2

A Fun Day

Yesterday was a fun day. Baby Sam came to MawMaw’s house for the very first time.

He seemed to enjoy himself. I know MawMaw and PawPaw certainly did enjoy it.

Sam investigating the world from PawPaw’s shoulder.

Just one more picture. Don’t he look content and happy.

Daniel had a great time with a bottle sprayer filled with water. All MawMaw’s plants needed a drink and he had a great time giving it to them.

I think this is my favorite picture of the day. Ain’t he soooooo cute?

What do you think they are looking at?

A frog of course.

My Julie. The gift my Lord surprised me with at 40.

At 41 my Lord gave me another gift. Grace. I never imagined the Lord had more babies for me. My daughters(all 3) have taught me so much about life and love. I am such a blessed woman. Such joy He has given me. My family is so important to me and I cannot never thank the Lord enough for allowing me to be part of their lives. God is so good. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 11, 2010 3

A Good Job

We were extremely impressed with the food strainer. It was super fast compared to the old food mill and had very little waste. We processed a bushel of apples in about 4 1/2 hours. We used both big canners. We got 12 qts and 24 pints. YUM! I have always used the hot water bath canner to process applesauce. However, I read in my Mennonite cookbook, they could be processed in the pressure canner. We tried that yesterday and it went very fast. 15 min. on 5 lb. pressure. Much faster than using a bath canner. Vicki and I had a great time and of course the kids had fun. It is so much more pleasant sharing canning with a friend. I am so thankful the Lord placed our families together. Good friends are sometimes hard to find and I consider Vicki one of the best.

The girls and I are planning a “girl day” out today. We are going into C-burg to run some errands. This will include Wal-Mart and Goodwill. Temperatures have been very warm here in Floyd. On the farm though, it isn’t near as bad as it is in town. We are usually a few degrees cooler. In the summer this is a plus, in the winter not so good. Thankfully, we have quite a few shade trees in the yard and that really helps.

Time for us to get ready to leave. Enjoy your day and God bless.

June 23, 2010 1

Flowers

This lily has had a rough beginning. In early spring, it was trampled and broken by a big footed pup. It seems to have survived nicely though. I have waited all spring to see what it would look like. I think it looks pretty next to the purple flowers. I most definitely will have to separate some of these flowers next year. The bed is extremely crowded. Yesterday was a busy day. The girls and I cleaned out both of the big freezers-making room for this year’s harvest. This took a major portion of the day. Then I helped Hubby by mowing some before he came in from work. For supper, I used some of the pork tenderloin I had cooked the day before. I like to cook a large amount of meat at one time and then use it in different dishes for another meal. So I put the tenderloin in the oven with some potatoes and roasted them. We also had corn on the cob from our freezer, biscuits with butter and homemade blackberry jam for dessert. Today is starting out to be a beautiful day here is Floyd. Lots of sunshine. Tomorrow our church is doing a horseshoe tournament down by the river. We will play horseshoes, eat lots of good food, listen to good music and in general have a great time. It amazes me some people think Christian life is boring. We have a blast at my church! We are small in number but we do lots of things together. We are family. I will try to get some pictures to post of our activities. This is the first year we have done this and we are hoping many will come. Baby Sam and Mom are still doing good. Daniel says he loves his baby brother. Thanks so much for your prayers. I hope to go down to see them soon and get more pictures. Take care and God bless.

June 11, 2010 1