Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. We certainly did. Saturday was a full day. All my kids and my grandkids here at our home. God is SO good. We enjoyed a good meal. We had ham, rolls, potatoes, green beans, corn and so many desserts I don’t think I could name them all. It was such a fun day.

We will be having our candlelight service this evening. We all look so forward to it. I think it is a beautiful service. I wish I could get pictures of it but my camera doesn’t take very good night time pictures.

I pray each and every one of you have a wonderful Christmas. God bless.

December 24, 2012 1

Mrs. Sally’s Decorations

We love to visit Mrs. Sally and see all her Christmas decorations. Her walls are covered with these beautiful wall hangings she has made.

She also has so many nativity scenes.

This one came from Israel. I think it is my favorite.

She has lots of snowmen.

We had a really nice visit. She cooked a beef roast with potatoes and carrots. I took fresh made rolls and an oatmeal pie.

Not much going on here. Just normal stuff. Hubby is gone to work and I am letting the girls sleep in a little bit. Clothes are in the machine washing and dishes are waiting.

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

December 19, 2012 6

Christmas Play

Sunday our youth performed their Christmas play. They always do such a great job.

It was hard to get a good picture that showed everyone. All the youth participate and even some of the adults. Our pastor said he thought this years play was the best one yet (of course, he says that every year!)

This beautiful kingfisher came by for a visit the other day. Grace did a good job of getting his picture.

She also took this picture of our sky the other day. We have been having beautiful weather here. We are in the low 50’s right now. It is cloudy today though with wind. I think we are supposed to get some rain later on. We are hoping it holds off for a little while as Hubby is working on my car. I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but my car is not working. Hubby thinks it might be the distributor cap. He is replacing that today. We are all praying that fixes it.

We have been doing school this morning, laundry, etc. All the things that seem to build up during busy weekends. I am making some homemade rolls to go with supper and I also am trying a new recipe for homemade yogurt. I’ll let you all know how it turns out. I really like the idea of homemade yogurt but I REALLY prefer the taste of flavored store bought yogurts. I am just not very fond of plain yogurt-kinda tastes like sour cream to me. Anyway, this recipe has jelly in it. We’ll see. I don’t want to say much about it until I have tested it.

Time for lunch for us. We are having homemade chicken noodle soup. Tonight’s supper will be meatloaf sandwiches (on homemade buns), fries (using our home grown potatoes) corn on the cob (frozen from our garden). I love it. Eating fresh made and home grown. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

December 10, 2012 7

Chicken Day

Friday was chicken butchering day for us and the Horns. We had a really good day, learned a lot and had lots of good fellowship. All together we butchered 10 roosters. We were kinda amazed at how big they looked before we butchered them versus how small they looked when finished. Huge difference. We are kinda talking about going with the bigger meat birds next year. We’re not sure yet though.

Our pastor made us these killing cones. They are really neat. I would recommend anyone butchering their own chickens to have one. They make it a lot easier. Saturday, the girls and I went down to Jessica’s. We watched the kids while Dave and Jess had a date afternoon to celebrate their anniversary. They have been married 12 years. They went to the movies and David brought us back sushi to try. We had never eaten it before. It was actually pretty good. Grace really liked it.

Sunday, I went to church alone as Julie, Grace and Hubby were not feeling very well. Julie and Grace seem to have a cold-congestion with lots of coughing. Hubby is having tummy troubles. Hopefully all will be well soon. Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine with temperatures in the mid 30’s. It could be a little warmer for my taste but the sun is beautiful. I have a pork tenderloin cooking away on top of the wood stove. It smells yummy. I think I will have potatoes, green beans and cornbread with it.

Well, we are starting school so I better get off. I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

November 13, 2012 3

Birthday Cake

Yesterday was David’s mom’s birthday. Jess is learning how to make and decorate cakes. She did this one for David’s mom. We think she did a very good job. It looked and tasted delicious. I did manage to get this picture of Katie while we were there.

Hard to believe but next month she’ll be a year old. Time marches on. We are chilly here this morning-30 degrees with wind. I built a fire as soon as we got up. It was 59 degrees in the house. I now have a big kettle of homemade soup on the woodstove simmering for supper tonight. The girls and I are going to do school and then heading outside to work. We need to dig potatoes, clean off the garden and clean out the chicken houses. I’m not sure all that will get done today but we hope to at least get some of it done. The sun is shining beautifully so I think it will be a good day to be outside.

Time for school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 11, 2012 5

Wednesday

Hi everyone. I’m sorry about no pictures lately but I have been having trouble with my computer. Hopefully all is fixed now. Saturday, Dave, Jess and kids came up for a visit. Dave and Hubby went to Pastor Tom’s shoot. They had a great time. Then on Saturday afternoon, Chuck and his kids came over too. I was one happy mawmaw. All my grandbabies here at one time. I hope this becomes a habit. We all went to cut wood. I so wish I had taken my camera. It was so cute seeing them all carrying wood to load in the truck. Everyone went. We even had Katie and Sam in the stroller, which did not make Sam happy. He kept saying, “I wanna help PawPaw too.” We thought Sam might be a little too much “help.”

We had a great supper of pork, pintos, mashed potatoes, rolls, peaches and pears. After cutting, loading and unloading two truck loads of wood, everyone was hungry. As they were leaving, I gave them all an apple for the road. Alexius was getting in the car and got her finger shut in the car door. Chuck asked her how she managed to do that and she said, “I was trying to hold my apple and I wanted to give MawMaw another hug”. I felt so sorry for her.

I have been helping Hubby all this week with a bathroom remodel. We finished it today. Tomorrow, he will start installing the cabinets at the old farmhouse he has been working on. We plan on going with the Horn’s this Saturday to Grayson Highlands for their fall festival. We are looking forward to it. It sounds like lots of fun. Well, I think that’s about all that is happening around here. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

September 26, 2012 3

Jelly Update

Okay ladies, yesterday we made blackberry jelly. I used the stainless steel kettle and the pomona pectin. It turned out perfect!!! We were very happy. Maybe it was the kettle all along. Wouldn’t that be something? I never thought the type of kettle used could make a difference but I do know yesterday’s jelly turned out perfect. I will definitely be using this kettle every time. I was very impressed with the pomona pectin. If you haven’t ever tried it, I suggest you give it a try. You use about 1/2 the sugar that you would use with sure jell or certo, which saves money. I will be using it from now on.

First thing this morning, we had some errands to run in little town. We paid a few bills and then went to the library for a while. When we came back we starting making bread and butter pickles. These are Hubby’s favorite. We ended up with 10 pts which is probably all we’ll need. We do not eat a lot of pickles. I am thinking if the cucumbers keep producing, we will try making sweet pickle relish. I do make a lot of egg salad and I thought it would be nice to have homemade relish to put in it. Have any of you ever made it?

Supper tonight is chicken, potatoes and squash all fixed on the grill. I love cooking on the grill. Less clean up and less heat in the house. Hubby is mowing while supper is getting ready and the girls are taking a short break upstairs. Well, time to check on the grill. I hope you all have a wonderful evening and God bless.

July 19, 2012 4

Dollywood

Wednesday, we had a GREAT time!! We went with the Horn’s to Dollywood. They had bought season tickets and got free one day passes to take a friend. We were their friends. Thanks again, guys. We left Floyd at 7:00 that morning and got back home around midnight. It was a long day but filled with fun. Everyone was tired but happy. Please be in prayer for Vicki and Quentin. Quentin’s grandfather passed away yesterday morning.

Yesterday was a dry day here in Floyd so I jumped in and started working on the garden.

I tillered both gardens and got them ready for planting. It was a full day. This morning I started getting the plants in the ground. So far, I have planted the potatoes, corn, onions, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. After lunch, beans and tomatoes. The girls will be helping me with them. They have been inside doing the housework this morning while I worked outside.

These are the seeds the girls and I planted in the greenhouse. They have done really well. Maybe all we needed all along was a greenhouse. They certainly look the best of any seeds we have started before. Hopefully, they will do good when transferred into the garden.

The squash and cucumbers have really grown. Speaking of growing, look how big the goslings are.

They were up in the field watching me while I worked. Well, I think that’s about it. I better get back into the garden. Enjoy your day and God bless.

May 18, 2012 5

Little Chicks New Home

We’ve been busy getting the little chicks new home ready for them. They are growing so fast. They have outgrown their little coup and are in need of a bigger home. We decided this building would work great for them. It was a metal shed we built several years ago to store the lawn mower in. It needed planks on the inside to keep it warm in the winter. The girls and I put them up Friday evening. Then this morning, we all went out and got started fixing the front. It now has a nice door and a window and is fully enclosed. All we lack now is making some nests for them and putting up the fence and building the gate. Okay, so that sounds like we lack quite a bit but we are one step closer now than we were yesterday. You can see one of the old hens in front of the house. They were so curious as to why we were blocking off the shed as it is one of their favorite places to take a dust bath.

Today was cool here. Temperatures were in the high 40’s-lower 50’s. We wore light jackets all day while we were working. We came in and ate supper. I knew today would be a long day outside working so this morning I put some pork in the crockpot and some pinto beans in another crockpot. All I had to do when we came in was fry some potatoes and make cornbread. I then decided to build a fire as it was about 60 degrees in the house. We are nice and warm now. There is just something very comforting about a wood fire. So relaxing.

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

April 28, 2012 4

Egg Hunt

Yesterday we went down to Jessica’s to celebrate Easter with them. We enjoyed a great meal of honey baked ham and turkey, potato salad, green beans, potatoes, baked beans, deviled eggs and several different types of dessert. After we ate, the kids were ready to hunt eggs. I think the look on Sam’s face says it all.

On the way back home we stopped at this little spot on the parkway. Grace wanted to get a few pictures.

I have forgotten the name of this little spot but I think it was a grist mill at one time.

Grace and Julie. It’s not very often I get a picture of them together. We then went for a little walk down to the creek. It was very pretty.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

April 9, 2012 6