Apron

I finally finished the apron using one of the new patterns. What do you all think? I think my other apron pattern was a lot easier and faster but I know it is time to step it up a notch. My thanks to Grace for modeling for me. I used some material I already had to practice on. I’m not sure I like the rick rack, though. I have another pattern to try and then I will decide which one I want to use for the matching mother, daughter, doll aprons.

No church today due to bad weather conditions. Dave, Jess, and boys did get to come yesterday however the wind came also. It was just too cold for Daniel to play in the snow. Wind chills below zero. We had a good visit though. I made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and homemade rolls for “lupper”. For those of you confused by this term, this is when it is too late for lunch and too early for supper. We also had cushaw pie for dessert with whipped creme.

Now I must tell the story of why we had fried chicken for lupper. Earlier in the week, Jess had mentioned she would like to have fried chicken. As I knew they would not get to stay long, I thought something a little faster would be better. I decided on hot roast beef sandwiches with green beans. They called when they were on the way here and she jokingly said David would have liked fried chicken too. This conversation was on speaker phone. Hubby overhearing about the fried chicken, which happens to be his favorite meal, said “Oh, I didn’t know fried chicken was an option”. By this time I am feeling a little out numbered so I decided to give in and make the chicken. It was a wise choice. Everyone enjoyed the meal and that makes this mama’s heart happy.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 9, 2011 6

Our Mantle Nativity

This little Nativity set is the star attraction on our mantle during Christmas. It is already sitting in its place of honor. It has been to cold too go to the building to get out our other decorations but we did venture out to get the Nativity. Hopefully, it will warm up some so we can get the other stuff down soon. Very cold here last night. Acutual temperature 7 degrees with a wind chill of about -5. Our water is frozen. So sad. Hubby thought he had fixed every little crack that the wind could get into but I guess we were wrong. Remember last year, our bathroom water was frozen for about 1 1/2 months. We were hoping to avoid that this year. Well, this morning all the water is frozen, nothing coming into the house anywhere. Definitely not good. Hubby is going to work on it this evening as soon as he gets in. Pray it will not be too hard to get it running again. Then I guess we will just have to keep a small trinkle running at night to keep it from freezing again. I am so grateful I went up yesterday to the cellar and covered up our pototoes and our canned green beans with quilts. Hopefully they are in good shape. Last year they froze in the cellar. I do not want a repeat of that. The green beans are closest to the door so I guess there must be some wind that gets in at the door. Oh well, this is all part of winter, I know. I can’t say I like it though.

I do have good news. A local bakery, The Bread Basket, has graciously agreed to display my aprons for sale. I am so excited!!!!! I took her 9 aprons this morning. I pray they sell quickly and that perhaps I could bring her more. This would be so much better than trying to sell them myself. All in God’s hands.

Well, I have things to get done-not laundry though. Can’t do laundry without water. Stay warm and God bless.

December 7, 2010 2

Christmas Dishes

Our cheerful Christmas dishes. These were bought for us several years ago. We get them out every December to use. I love cheerful, happy dishes. After December, we get out our snowman dishes. We use them through winter.

Temperatures were too cold for any outside pictures today. After the snow, our Floyd county wind moved in. Gusts of 50-60 mph put the wind chills down at zero. I don’t think our actual temperature will get to 20 degrees today. Very cold! We didn’t have church yesterday, the roads were too slick. We spent the day snuggled in doing fun stuff and keeping warm. I watched a movie on INSP channel-The Perfect Gift. It was kinda like the “Joshua” books. It was a pretty good movie to watch.

I know I have showed pictures of rolls before but I don’t think I’ve ever shown loaf bread before. I use the same recipe as for the rolls. Actually, I use this recipe for lots of different breads. I tried a new hamburger bun recipe yesterday. We did not like it as much as our old recipe. I am cooking a beef roast on the woodstove today. I think I will add some potatoes and carrots in the pot. Then maybe open a can of homegrown green beans. Nice hot fresh baked bread. YUM! I also have a peach pie in the oven. I hope I made everyone hungry. I sure made myself hungry.

Well, school is calling. Take care and God bless.

December 6, 2010 4

Grandbabies

This MawMaw’s heart is full to overflowing. I have had lots of MawMaw time this weekend. Thank you Lord! First, a picture of Sam. It will not be long until this swing is too small for him but he sure does enjoy it.

Daniel and Gilbert taking a small rest. Gilbert is Daniel’s kittie, an early Christmas gift. He loves Gilbert very much-sometimes maybe a little too much. Gilbert is a very good kittie though and takes it all in stride.

Alexius and Branson. Playing with kitties. Kittens and kids just go so well together.

Landon-wearing PawPaw’s hat. We went down to Jessica’s for Thanksgiving. She had a wonderful meal. Turkey with all the trimmings. Of course, we all ate too much. Then we did a little shopping on Friday. When we came home Friday evening it was very cold here. A huge change in temperature. At her house it was fairly warm but not here. The wind was fierce with gusts of about 40 mph. Inside our house it was very cold, 56 degrees. Needless to say, we hurried up and built a fire.

Yesterday when we came back from practicing at church, we had a message on our machine. Chuck was coming for a visit! He lives in West Virginia so we do not get to see him or his babies very often. It was such a nice visit. We had canned deer, mashed potatoes, green beans, blackberry cobbler and homemade rolls.

Today, we will be doing the music at church. The girls will be playing a congregational each and each will be doing one special. Hubby and I will-with 3 others- will be doing 2 specials. Pray that all goes well. I hope you all enjoy your Sunday and God bless.

November 28, 2010 3

Pretty Blue Flowers

This pretty little stream runs through one of the fields below our house. A few blue flowers are still holding on. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Today however we may get some rain. Pretty windy and overcast. The pastors sermon yesterday was on David and Goliath and facing the giants in our own life. It was an excellent sermon. Last nights menu was mostly leftovers from the “critter chompin”. We had a cornbeard casserole, potato cakes, green beans, baked beans, fresh homemade bread, chips and dip, and cake. We always eat sooooo good!

Today, hopefully, we will get some more of our apples worked up, along with school. I am doing laundry but it will have to be dried inside-so sad. I really miss hanging clothes outside. I think they smell so good. Well, I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 25, 2010 1

Potatoes

The girls and I took the morning off from school to dig our potatoes. If we did not count wrong, we had 8 drywall buckets of potatoes. YEAH! I think homegrown potatoes are so much better than store bought. But then I think everything homegrown is better. The temperature here is still chilly. Around 50 degrees. Feels like fall. I guess I will have to build another fire this evening. The girls and I also gathered about 2 gal. of peppers this morning. We just gathered them all as it is sure to frost here soon.

I think tonights menu will be hot roast beef sandwiches with green beans. Maybe some chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Take care and God bless.

October 5, 2010 1

New Babies

Our newest addition. Ain’t they cute! The girls are soooooo excited. They never thought of having kittens to play with this late in the year. They belong to “Stripes”. You all have seen pictures of her in previous posts. They seem to be very healthy and she is a wonderful mama.

Today we had to go to Roanoke to the dentist. Afterward we went to Sam’s club. Sam’s does this thing called click and pull. You can go on line, order your stuff and they will pull it for you. They will have it waiting at customer service. All you have to do is walk in, give them your name, pay for it and walk out the door. Pretty amazing, I think. This made our day so much easier. We even made it home it time to do some school.

Yesterday, for supper, we had chicken and dumplings with green beans. I used the remainder of the chicken and made southwest chicken soup for supper tonight. Easy stuff. We will be having mexican cornbread with this and honey baked apples for dessert.

We just finished having a tremendous hail storm here. Lots of rain and high winds. The temperature dropped about 14 degrees in just a few minutes. It had been very warm before the storm came through. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

September 22, 2010 3

An Unplanned Visit

Yesterday was a fun day. At the spur of the moment, we decided to travel down to Grundy and visit Hubby’s parents. We took food for lunch. We took canned beef, green beans, corn, and peaches. We also dug some potatoes, gathered some tomatoes, cabbage and grapes. This was a special treat for them as they are no longer able to raise a garden. While we were there, she gave me some more empy canning jars. This way hopefully we won’t have to buy any to finish up the canning.

She does have, though, growing on her hill a huge cushaw vine. This is one of the hidden treasures it contains. I really like cushaw, probably more than pumpkin. I think it makes a better pie than pumpkin. We really had a good visit. We took the scenic route home. I’ll post some of those pictures hopefully tomorrow.

Today will be spent catching up and enjoying the day. We will be starting school next Monday, so this is kinda our vacation week. Take care and God bless.

August 31, 2010 2

Our Church

This is a picture of our church. It is a very small church that is out in the country. My kind of church. Today the pastor’s message was about what makes up a church. It was a very good message.

This is the view from the backside. Isn’t that grapevine pretty? You can’t really see it but there is a nice garden behind the grape vine and over to the right is a nice small orchard with apples, pears, and plums. A very nice setting.

We came home from church and for lunch we had homemade bbq using the rolls Grace and I made yesterday for the buns. We also had fresh corn from the garden and I made a macaroni salad. For dessert we had the applesauce muffins we made yesterday. Tonight’s menu at church will be pigs in a blanket, chicken casserole, green beans, potatoes, with pie and a cake for dessert. Tonight will be our last lesson on I Corinthians. We will start II Corinthians on Sept. 19.

Today has been another nice day here in Floyd. Temperature right now is 82 degrees with a slight breeze. Very enjoyable. Time for me to go enjoy some of that nice weather. God bless.

August 29, 2010 1

Blackberries

Our blackberries are doing much better than I thought they would. Today makes 3 gal. I’ve picked. YUM!

Yesterday we finished the pears. Later, we went up to the garden and SURPRISE! Lots of beans were ready. We canned 15 quarts and had enough for dinner and lunch today.

Tomorrow we will be going down to Jessica’s. Sam has a doctors appointment so the girls and I will be playing with Daniel. Jess is going to make supper for us before we come back home. Last night’s menu was fried chicken, green beans, and rice. We had cantalope and watermelon for dessert. It certainly has been hot here for the last few days. Hotter than usual I think. Oh well, fall will be here soon and everyone knows what follows fall. I think we better enjoy these hot, summer days. Cold winter days will be here before we know it.

I think the girls and I will make pizza sauce to can today from the tomatoes we picked yesterday. The recipe I use is:

1/2 cup oil, 4 med. onions chopped, 4 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup dried parsley, 1 gal. tomato juice, 2-12 oz cans tomato paste, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp. oregano, salt, and basil, 2 bay leaves, 3/4 tsp. black pepper. mix all ingredients, simmer about 2 hours. Process pints 30 min on 10 lb pressure. Yields about 12 pts. I will be adding banana peppers and some hot peppers to mine today as I have quite a few of these in the garden.

I guess I better get busy with these projects. Enjoy your day and God bless.

August 11, 2010 1