New Study

This is a picture of the book for our new study on Sunday night at church. We are working our way through the New Testament. They have all been good studies so far. We also will be starting a new study for the Friday Ladies Group. I will try to take a picture of that book tomorrow to show you all.

Today has been very windy here. We started out the morning with rain, then some sun, then rain again. After that it has been fairly sunny. Our wind has been about 30 mph with gusts of about 50 mph. I have towels on the line. The hardest part is keeping them on the line. They will be so soft when they dry with all that wind.

Tonights supper is pizza and bread sticks. This is a favorite of the girls. Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 25, 2011 3

Jerky

Monday we made jerky. Jerky is one of our favorite things to dehydrate. As some of you may remember, we were blessed last year to have a beef given to us. As it was an old bull , we made hamburger out of most of it. Above is a picture of our dehydrator, our jerky shooter and the type of jerky mix we use. All this came from Wal-Mart. There a lots of jerky mixes out there, this is just the one we use.

This is what it looks like after it has dried. The rack is not necessary. I just put it on it to take the picture. I thought it would show the jerky better.

When finished, it all fits neatly back into this basket and off the the attic it goes to be stored until next time. We have dehydrated apples and peppers too, a few bananas and grapes. We used to dry our green beans on a string in the attic when we lived in Grundy. I wonder how green beans would be dried in a dehydrator. Anyone out there ever tried this? I think I will try it this summer and see how it turns out. We just called them fodder beans but I have heard them referred to as leather britches. I know they are good no matter what you call them.

We did get a storm last night but it was only rain. YEAH! Temperatures are very nice today. Mid 40’s already. Lots of sunshine. I have clothes outside on the line. The wind is supposed to pick up after lunch, about 30 mph with gusts in the 50 mph range. Typical wind for Floyd. It helps the clothes dry and makes them soft as long as you can keep them on the line.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 2, 2011 5

Apron

This is my first little girl apron. I made this one for my granddaughter, Alexius. I am sure there are many things I did wrong as I am just learning how to read patterns. Most of the time, I did not know what the pattern was telling me to do so I just figured it out my way and did it. I used some old material I had, just in case I messed up. I thought it would be better to practice some with the new machine.

Temperatures are very cold here again. Wind chill this morning was -10 degrees. The wind has been whipping all day, gusts up in the 50 mph range. Our snow is now blown into 2-3 ft drifts. The predictions are, though, for it to warm up by the weekend. I certainly hope so.

I think I will go work on another apron pattern. This time, I think I will try the pattern I am wanting to make to sell. I need to practice on it some and besides I can always enjoy a new apron. Take care and God bless.

December 27, 2010 6

Martha Washington Balls

I know this picture looks just like the picture of the peanut butter balls but it really is a different picture. These are the Martha Washington Balls. The recipe is:

2 boxes powdered sugar, 1 stick butter softened, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp. vanilla. Using mixer, blend ingredients together. Mixture will be stiff. Add 4 cups chopped pecans. Put powdered sugar on hands and roll into small balls. Chill. Dip balls into melted chocolate. Use 4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 block parafin wax. DELICIOUS!

Temperatures are super cold here. Wind chill is close to zero again with gusts of about 50 mph but we are toasty warm inside with a nice fire going. Hubby was able to get propane for the gas logs Saturday. This really helps keep the house warm. Our little woodstove is a work horse. However it was severely overworked last week trying to do the job all by itself with zero temps. Pray our water doesn’t freeze again.

We are going to get some tires put on the front of the car. Hubby didn’t work today, so he is going with us. I’m glad. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 13, 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

New Aprons

Here are two new aprons I just finished. I think the red polka dot is so cheerful. I think it would make anyone happy wearing it around doing household chores, don’t you? Today has not been a very pleasant day here in our little section of God’s creation. High wind has been the main issue today. Gusts up to about 70 mph and a steady wind of about 40-50 mph. We tried to go down to the barn a little while ago to get milk. The drifts were too high for our old 86 Chevy truck to get through even in 4wheel low. The wind is blowing so hard, the chimney is having a hard time drawing, so it has been a challenge keeping the fire going. If you look outside, you would think we live in Alaska. Of course, I’ve never been to Alaska, but it looks like the pictures I’ ve saw. We awoke this morning to single digit temperatures with below zero wind chills. The temperatures did not come out of the teens all day and the wind has continued to blow stronger. The weatherman says we are in a “nor’easter” ( I’m not sure I spelled that correct) until sometime tomorrow afternoon and then the wind will calm to about 20-30 mph. Oh well, that’s winter. Okay, I’ve complained enough about the weather for one day. I know things could be so much worse. We still have electricity, the water isn’t frozen and it’s warm inside our home. God is good! As my step-grandmother used to say “Praise the name of my King” I pray you all will keep warm and safe this night. God Bless.

February 10, 2010 3

Birds

We have been entertained all day today by these beautiful birds. Many, many birds. Every time I looked out my dining room window, I would see 50-60 birds in our yard. Probably 20 of these were doves. We love feeding the birds. They love sunflower seeds. This morning as Hubby and I were sharing our coffee together, we listened as they sang morning praises to the Lord. Beautiful! We take care of them by feeding them and they take care of us by providing beautiful praise music. I think that’s a fair trade. It was a little distracting doing school and watching the birds, though. Well, the fog has moved in here. Super foggy. High wind warnings for tomorrow and Thursday 25-30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. This will be for Wednesday and Thursday. I never knew what fog and wind could be like until we moved to Floyd. No church tomorrow night-it’s already cancelled. I guess it isn’t done snowing yet. I just looked out and the snow is pouring down. Oh well. We are warm inside our home, our tummy’s are full and our children are happy. Life is good! God Bless.

February 9, 2010 0