New Ladies Study

This is the new Friday Ladies Study. I think it will be really good. We have done one by this lady before. The study of Ruth. It was a really good so hopefully this one will be also. I love starting new studies-so exciting.

We are getting some rain today with high winds. I hung the clothes on the line outside but we had to hurry out and get them when the rain started. They got about half way dry though before that happened. Temperature is extremely warm for us, 57 degrees. I love warmer temps. Everything is starting to get green already. We traveled to a little town close by Saturday, Rocky Mount. On the way we saw some forsynthias blooming and a few Easter Lillies. We also saw fields that were really green. Very exciting.

Lunchbreak is almost over and I haven’t even ate yet. I better get off this computer and get busy eating. Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 28, 2011 2

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

My Christmas Tablecloth

I love to use this quilt every year as my tablecloth at Christmas. I did not make the quilt and to be honest I have had it so long I don’t really remember who did. I love it though. It looks so pretty on our table. I took the picture of it on the floor because I wanted you all to really see it good. I think if quilts could talk, this one would say cheerful, happy things.

Monday, I did some grocery shopping for our Christmas meal. We visited some with the Horns which is alway fun. Yesterday, I worked some more on my sewing machine. I am still not successful in getting it to work properly. I hope to work on it more today. I have many sewing projects I want to start on. I might have to get Hubby to look at it and see what he can do.

We are getting a drizzle of rain here this morning. Temperatures are warm-33 degrees. Hopefully it will just be rain and no ice. There is a chance of snow for tomorrow and predictions for a winter storm coming in on Friday night. If this happens, our Christmas meal plans will have to change. Chuck and his family are supposed to come tomorrow and Jess and her family are coming on Sunday. It is so hard to plan things in the winter. You never know what the weather will bring.

We are doing “half school” today and tomorrow. Then on Friday, we will start our Christmas break. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 22, 2010 5

Gilbert

Daniel’s little kitten, Gilbert, taking a much needed rest under the Christmas tree. He certainly is a cute kitten. Very fuzzy. Sam’s eyes light up every time he sees Gilbert. He would love to sink his chubby little hands into all that fur.

We had a fun day yesterday. We went over to our friends, the Horns. Vicki fixed us lunch, then while the kids played, we make some gingersnap cookies. They were very good. We also tried our hand at making some breakfast bars or as we call them energy bars. They did not turn out near as well as I had hoped. Not too bad just not as I envisoned them being. We all had a lot of fun though. God is so good to provide us with friends like the Horns. We feel very blessed that they are in our lives.

We had so much rain here the first of the week. I have no idea how much but I know it was a lot. Everything was soaking wet. Water was standing in so many places in our yard. After the rain, temperatures took a drop. It dropped about 20 degrees from yesterday morning till this morning. The sun is shining though so hopefully things will warm up some. I would like to hang my sheets on the line.

The girls and I have lots to get done today so we better get busy. God bless.

December 2, 2010 3

Our First Decoration

This is our first decoration of the season. I like to use decoration that will work for all winter, not just for Christmas. This is due to laziness on my part. I so enjoy putting them up but not so much taking them down. This way I get to leave them up longer. Both my girls are sick, so today has been a rather slow day for us. We only did what we call “half school” which was bible, math and language. Then we took a break, went up to the building and found our little village. This village sets every year on this table. When the girls were younger, it was continuously getting rearranged. They would play with the houses and the people for hours. My dad built this table for my mom when they first got married. There is a shelf underneath and when I was a little girl, my golden book collection sat on the lower shelf. Funny, the things we remember. After decorating, we enjoyed a game of cards and now they are upstairs playing a board game. I so enjoy days like today-just sorry my girls don’t feel well.

It is chilly here with rain moving in. A good day for enjoying the fire and each other. I pray your day has been as enjoyable as mine. God bless.

November 29, 2010 2

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

More Pictures

A few more fall pictures to enjoy!

Isn’t that sky a beautiful color!

Ain’t that two beautiful girls!

Yesterday was very nice here. Wonderful tempertures, beautiful sunshine. Our church sponsors, once a year, a sportmans banquet, or as we call it a “critter chompin” It is a lot of fun with lots of good fun. We had a guest speaker who brought a good message. We also had some funny stories but of course the highlight of the evening was the food. We really didn’t have much wild “critter” though. One bear dish, mostly deer and just regular food. I took tuna cakes, homemade rolls, a molasses (stack) cake, and some hot cider. There was so much food it would be impossible for me to name it all. I’m so sorry you missed it, Dave.

Today has been another beautiful day. I think though the forecasters are calling for rain the first of the week. I think I better hurry out to my “green swing” and enjoy the beauty that God has created. Take care and God bless.

October 24, 2010 1

Apple Cider

Today we made something new! I love doing new things. We made apple cider. After much research on the internet, we decided that what we were making is correctly called cider. Cider is homemade apple juice that hasn’t been filtered. Isn’t it such a pretty color. We used the steamer/juicer to make it. We got 3 qts of cider and 2 qts of applesauce from a little under a half bushel of apples. We plan to do more tomorrow.

The room is coming along nicely. Hubby put another coat of mud on today. It has rained here most of the day. We really needed rain. The sun started peeping through the clouds in late afternoon. Alll in all it has been a nice day. Temperatures around mid 50’s. I spent the first part of the day running errands. Not my favorite chore, but it has to be done.

Time to cook supper. Enjoy your evening and God bless.

October 20, 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