Sunday

Hello everyone! Definitely long time-no post. Not sure why it has been so long. I would say I have been busy but then we are always busy. I guess I am in a blogging slump! I just can’t seem to think of anything to say (I know, imagine that huh!!) Well, anyway, today is beautiful here. Our temperature is 55 degrees and we have lots of sunshine. We had snow Friday about 3 in. but it is all gone now. YEAH! I am so done with snow and cold weather. I am ready for picnics and hiking and fun stuff like that.

As I said I am in a blogging slump. Sitting here typing and I just can’t come up with much to write about. We are enjoying our new pastor. He really has some interesting messages-gets us to really thinking about things. School is going well. We finished history this week, now to double up on science and get it done.

I guess I better get started on my Sunday night bible study lesson. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

March 9, 2014 6

Rainbow

Hello everyone! I thought I would share a few pictures of a beautiful rainbow God gave us the other evening.

It was very pretty. Today we went to Pastor Tom’s to pick apples. We ended up picking about 11 bushels. I think you all can guess what we will be doing for a while. I also wanted to share with you all a great post I found this morning on making coffee creamer. This sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try them out. You can check out all the flavors here http://www.mrshappyhomemaker.com/2013/03/homemade-coffee-creamer-over-20-flavor-varieties.

Well, I better get off here. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

September 23, 2013 4

Tweetsie Trip

Hello everyone! I am sorry that it has been a while since I made a post. Seems like we have been super busy here. Last Tuesday, the girls and I went to Sam’s Club. Wednesday, we went to the Pastor’s. They gave us 2 bushels of grapes and I have no idea how much corn-enough to make 31 qts in the freezer. So, I guess you know what we did Thursday. Friday we finished up the grapes and corn, cleaned the church and started revival. Saturday, we decided it was time to play. We met Dave, Jess and kids at Tweetsie for a fun day. We left about 9:00 A.M. and got back home about 9:00 P.M. It was a long day but SO much fun. Sunday finished up our revival. Today we are making peach and grape jelly.

They have these horses all around Tweetsie. The boys climbed up on them as soon as we got there. They really enjoyed seeing MawMaw climb on one. My mother was such a fun person. She loved doing things out of the box. She always wore a hat. One of her favorites was a bright silver one. As soon as I climbed up on the horse, Jess said all I needed was a silver hat. I think that is how I want my children and grandchildren to remember me. I want to be a person who is fun to be with.

Some of you mentioned that you were interested in knowing how to cook the dried beans. I’m sure there are lots of ways to cook them but the way we always do is just put them in a kettle, cover with water, add some bacon grease, salt and pepper. Mom always added a some navy beans to cook with them. It takes a while for them to cook and you will have to add water as needed. In my opinion, these are best with corn bread, but then most things are.

Well, I better get busy. I have so many blogs to get caught up on reading. Enjoy your day and God bless.

September 9, 2013 4

Monday

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a good day. We have been busy here-wait, don’t I always say that? Well, its true but sometimes I think you all probably get tired of hearing it. Today we gathered the last of the early corn. It had gotten too hard to just eat so I cut it off the cob and put it into a crock to pickle. I love pickled corn! Also, we worked up a bushel of apples. We got them as cull apples and they were only $6.00. Not too bad and they really were pretty. Just a few spots and bruises, not many at all. We got 9 qts of applesauce and 4 half gal. of apple juice from them. On top of all of that, I have been dealing with some type of head cold or allergies or something. All I know is that I feel yucky , my nose is congested and my throat is sore. I do not, repeat-DO NOT- like being sick. I would not have been able to accomplish any of this today, if not for the help of my girls. They are such helpers. Thanks girls!

Well, the last canner is done. Time to start cooking supper. Enjoy your day and God bless.

UPDATE: My wonderful Hubby is bringing home subway for supper!! If I felt like it, I would do a happy dance.

August 12, 2013 4

Tuesday

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you all. We have been busy with canning and other misc. things. Seems to me time surely does go by quickly. Yesterday we canned pickles. We did 8 pts of bread and butter pickles. These are Hubby’s favorite. Then we did 12 pts of dill pickles. Today we are canning green beans.

I wanted to let you all know I made the refrigerator pickled beets last week and they are really good. I also made the Dutch oven bread. It was very good as well. We thought the bottom crust was a little tough. I think I may reduce the temperature in my oven next time and see if that makes a difference.

Jess had a spell with veritgo last week. It sure was rough on her. The girls and I went down Thursday and Friday to help out with the kids. They sure are a lot of fun. Daniel’s first day of school was yesterday. He was SO excited! He called me when he got home and told me all about it. Now, how sweet is that!!

We were pretty warm here last week but seem to have cooled down some this week. At least yesterday was cooler. Hopefully, today will be as well. Well, I guess those beans won’t can themselves. Enjoy your day and God bless.

July 23, 2013 4

Update

Hello everyone! I hope all is well in your life. I still do not have my computer back but I thought I would post a little update while I had access to a computer. The keyboard Dave ordered for Grace’s computer did not work so she is still using mine. Oh well, the things we do for our children!

We have been busy here. The garden is doing fairly well. We have had tons of rain though. We have been harvesting beets, cucumbers, carrots and such. We planted a new type of beet this year. They are called Chioggia beets or candy striped beets. They look like this http://www.rareseeds.com/chioggia-bassano-beet. They are really pretty. I will definitely be planted them again. I want to try out a new pickled beet recipe refrigerator pickled beets.

We picked blueberries last week. We made blueberry freezer jam using the pomona pectin. I really like using it. Thanks, Cheryl, for telling me about it. We also made homemade blueberry ice cream. So good!!!

I’m sure there is lots more going on around here but I just can’t seem to remember it all. That’s what happens I guess when I don’t do a post for a long time. I hope you all have a great Sunday and God bless.

July 14, 2013 5

VBS

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a good week so far. Last week was pretty busy for us. Seems like VBS is always a busy time. Our theme this year was “Hip Hopping for Jesus”. The kids all seemed to have a great time.

Julie dressed for the part. All the workers dressed in 50’s style. I somehow didn’t get a picture of Grace.

We enjoyed our moon last week and finally (after years of trying) managed to get a good moon picture. Our place was so bright at night, we had a cat bird that sang all night. I guess he didn’t know if it was night or day.

We have also been enjoying some of our fresh produce from the garden. So far we have had salad greens, green onions, beets, radishes, carrots, yellow squash and a few cucumbers. We love it!!

I hope you all have a good evening and God bless.

July 1, 2013 4

Thursday

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great today. We are kinda warm here in Floyd-86 degrees but we do have a very pleasant wind so it doesn’t seem so bad. At least, not if you are in the shade!

We worked in the garden this morning. We started early but it still got pretty hot before we were done. This is a picture of the first raised bed. We have been enjoying the salad greens and green onions for a while now.

We had a great visit yesterday with my Uncle John and Aunt Elaine. They live in Mighigan and had never been to the farm before. Jess and her kids came up. Everyone went for a ride in the bumpy truck. It was so good to get to see them.

Our grapevine seems to be doing okay now. I was a little worried about it as it got frostbite by the last frost we had. We won’t have as many grapes as last year but it looks like there will be a few.

The roses are blooming and look very beautiful in the tree. We spent most of the evening sitting here yesterday enjoying the view and time spent with family. I wanted to tell you all about something beautiful I saw last night. I almost ALWAYS have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom. Well, last night when I got up I looked out our bedroom window and the sight I saw was totally amazing. The stars were shining so bright in the sky and underneath them the lightning bugs were everywhere! So many it looked like blinking Christmas lights. I stood there watching it all thinking how good our God is to allow me to see something like that!

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

June 13, 2013 5

Beach Trip

Hello everyone! I’m sure you can guess from the title of this post where we have been. We went with Dave and Jess to Jekyll Island GA for a week. We had so much fun. The girls had never been to the beach before and I have only been a few times. Some friends from our church recommended Jekyll Island and we loved it. It is not too crowded and has lots of fun things to do.

We took a trolley tour of some of the old houses. It was very interested. So many of the “rich and famous” lived in these homes.

We also rode a bicycle around the island.

This took most of one day but it was so much fun. We saw so many things we normally would not have seen.

We did a dolphin tour one day. Little Sam saw his first dolphin on his third bithday. Then the motion of the boat did him in. He had to take a short nap. We also celebrated my Julie’s 15th birthday while we were there. Amazing to me how fast they grow up.

On the island they call this driftwood beach. It is very pretty.

Saturday morning as we were leaving we made a last trip down to driftwood beach and guess what we saw-a dolphin! Amazing! It was just swimming around looking beautiful.

While we were there a tropical storm can through. It was AWESOME! We went down to the beach that evening before it came in and the waves were so pretty. The wind was whipping and the sound was like a roar. I LOVED it!!!! On Thursday, it rained something fierce so we went down to Jacksonville FL to the Museum of Science and History. It was a fun trip with lots of things to look at.

I guess I could go on and on about all the fun things we did but I don’t want to bore you all too much. It was a great week and we are very thankful to Dave and Jess for taking us along with them. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 10, 2013 5

Wedding

Hello everyone! Whew, what a busy weekend we have had. Fun, but busy. Our son, Chuck, was married yesterday. I couldn’t wait to get home today and check out this picture. I have wanted a picture of all of us together for a long time. I guess it took a wedding to make it happen. And just look, we’re all dressed up too!

After the reception, we played in the hotel pool for a while before bed. We had to do something to let the kids wind down after being still for so long. Sam amazed us all by sitting still and quiet beside his Grace the whole time the ceremony was going on.

We stopped on the way home and enjoyed a picnic. The weather was cool but it was still nice.

Most things are green here now.

We have definitely been cool though. We have freeze warnings for tonight and tomorrow night. Hopefully, though, when this little cool spell is over things will warm up for a while.

Little boys wishing it was warm enough that they could get in that water. Well, I better get busy. I have lots to get done. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 12, 2013 5