Mint Syrup

This has been a busy week for us. On Friday, the girls and I cut some mint to try a new recipe.

We wanted to make mint syrup. One cup water, one cup mint and one cup sugar. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat slightly, let simmer for 10 min. Turn off heat and let it cool to room temperature.

For a half gal of tea, we used 1 cup mint syrup and then filled up the half gallon with water. It is absolutely delicious!! I have been making mint tea for years and I definitely think this is the best.

After making the mint syrup, we all worked in the garden. We had to take down the old fence we had put up last year to keep the chickens out, pulled up the stakes and the tomato fence. Then we got the tiller out and started getting it tilled. We had high hopes of getting the plants in the ground but the rain was faster than we were. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow (or the next day). We have had rain all weekend.

Yesterday, we went to the Greensboro Science Center with Dave, Jess and kids. We had a great time!

So much to see and do!

Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting revival at church tonight so I guess I better be getting my crew ready to leave. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 19, 2013 1

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

Making Ugly Dolls

Yesterday was a fun day at church. All year, we had been doing something at church called “secret sister”. We each drawed a womans name and for the year that lady was our “secret sister”. We gave her small gifts, cards etc. Then yesterday we all got together and revealed who our sister sister was. We also had lots of food.

Then we did a craft. We made ugly dolls. I’m not sure why they are called that. I thought they turned out very pretty.

We are cold here. Our temperature is 42 degrees with wind chills in the 30’s. We have been cold, rainy and foggy all week. We have had to build a fire several days. Oh well,it won’t be long until we will be complaining about it being too hot.

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

May 5, 2013 3

Tuesday

Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well. Seems like the week rushes by here and I haven’t made a post. School is going along. Maybe even finishing a little early. I have been watching ebay like a crazy woman getting all our books for next year. Our science book is on the way and that finishes up all we need. YEAH!

Our weather cooled off a bit over the weekend-redbud winter. When the redbuds are in full bloom it always cools off some. We have been having a fire but today has nice. Hubby has been working on putting the vinyl siding on the new room. I helped him some after school. There always seems to be so much to get done in the spring.

Friday, Dave and Jess took us all out to eat to celebrate mine and Dave’s birthday. We had planned on doing a cookout at their house but the weather was too bad. We ate at a really cool restuarant. I think the name was Hillbilly Hideaway (I could be wrong on the name but it was something like that). They serve you family style. BIG bowls and platters of food. 3 types of meat and tons of veggies. It was really good. Thanks, Dave and Jess. Of course, Jess couldn’t resist telling the waitresses it was our birthday celebration so they sang happy birthday to us. It was a lot of fun. One of the waitresses and I were talking. She has several grandkids. She said “I like to watch them one at a time. I can’t handle them all at once,they wear me out, drive me crazy”. Sam looked at me with big eyes and said, “MawMaw, are you crazy?” I hugged him and said, “Yes, Sam, I think I am!” I know I’m crazy for all them. My children and my grandchildren are so important to me. I can understand though what she was saying. They sure do have lots more energy than I do.

Well, I guess that’s about all that’s going on here. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

April 23, 2013 3

Hello!

I thought I would share with you all a few pictures. Things are really coming to life here in Floyd. This is a field not too far from our home. Look at how green it is!!!

Yesterday, we went to check on a job. We took a few pictures along the way.

I love goldfinch. These were certainly enjoying their feeder.

Today is a nice day here in Floyd. Temperature is 66 degrees. The sky is overcast though. Dandelions are popping up all over the place. I think it is getting close time to make some dandelion jelly.

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

April 17, 2013 4

Last Thursday

I thought I would show you all what it looked like here last Thursday.

Can you believe it? Snow!

We ended up with about 3 inches! Amazing! It was very beautiful but I am ready for sunshine instead of snow. By Friday evening, most of it was gone except in some really shady areas. Saturday we went down to the Farmers Market in Greensboro. An old friend of ours, Retia, went with us. She had never been to Jess and Dave’s since they bought their home. We stopped there first. After coffee and a delicious pound cake Jess had made for us, we were off to the market. Jess found some beautiful ferns for her front porch and some herbs to plant. We had a great day with warm temperatures and sunshine. It was a perfect day for looking around at all the flowers and plants.

We started a new bible study Sunday night at church. It is called “Experiencing God”. It is a really good study. Hubby and I have done it before. Some in our class have taken it and others have not. I am looking forward to all the Lord has planned to show us with this study. Every time I do it, I get something new and different from it.

This week has been absolutely beautiful here in Floyd. Temperatures in the low 70’s. I LOVE it!! Hubby tillered some of the lower garden yesterday. Today, he is working on building a raised bed. We have wanted to do raised beds for years. It just seems to be one of those things we talk about but never get around to doing. That is changing today. He already has it built and is working now on filling it with dirt. We will see how we like using this one and then decide if we want more.

The girls and I are almost finished with school for the day. All we lack is math. Then we are going outside to help. We need to get the upper garden ready for plowing. It will soon be time to get things in the ground. I hope to get some cabbage plants, onion sets, spinach seeds and lettuce seeds the next time we go into town.

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

April 9, 2013 5

Beautiful Sunrise

I know I share lots of sunrise pictures with you all but I thought this one was a little different from the others. I like the way it looks like a flame shooting up. That is not a trick of the camera. It actually looked like that. Our God is amazing!

I am making some more yogurt this morning. Today, I am trying the stawberry flavoring instead of vanilla. I’ll try to remember to let you all know how it turns out. We are still cold with flurries but I think it is supposed to be warmer by the weekend.

Supper tonight is crispy fried fish, oven roasted asparagus and rice. I guess it will really be lupper instead of supper. We plan on going to C-burg after we eat. Sally’s Beauty Supply has conditioner on sale in the gallon container. We want to pick up one of those and a few other things.

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

March 27, 2013 6

More Snow Pictures

I thought I would show you all a few more snow pictures. This picture is of our road.

Icicles hanging from the front porch. I love the blue of the sky!

Floyd is full of old barns.

Papa Goose standing guard. Mama Goose is already nesting! Hopefully, we will soon have lots of goslings swimming around. We are not sure of Mama Duck is nesting or not. I guess time will tell.

I am trying a new recipe for hamburger buns. I got the recipe from here. http://penniesandpancakes.blogspot.ca/ I’ll let you all know how they turn out. I am making them using all whole wheat flour. I’m not sure how that will go over with everyone. I usually do half whole wheat and half all purpose but I am hoping to move us over to more all whole wheat. We are having hamburgers (on the homemade buns), french fries and cole slaw for supper.

I also wanted to tell you all how much we like the new yogurt recipe I have been making. I have the recipe here vanilla yogurt. I am making another batch today for us and will be making one tomorrow to take down to Jessica when we go. This yogurt is kinda sweet and flavored. It is delicious served with fresh fruit. We like that much better than plain yogurt. I think I will substitute strawberry flavoring for the vanilla next time and see how that turns out.

Well, time for lunch. Enjoy your day and God bless.

March 26, 2013 1

Winter Wonderland

I thought I would share a few pictures of what it looks like here in Floyd. Maybe I shouldn’t say Floyd because from what I can understand not everywhere in Floyd looks like this. Some areas only got ice but we have snow on top of the ice.

Yesterday was spent not doing much of anything. Just chilling out, reading, playing games. Just a fun relaxing day. Watching it snow.

It is very beautiful, however, I do believe I am ready for warmer temperatures (I think I have said that before!) Next week, we are supposed to warm up considerably.

My hero! The first thing he does after a snow is to clear the vehicles and the walkway-just in case we want to get out. Thanks, babe! I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless.

March 25, 2013 4

Winter Isn’t Finished Yet

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a nice week. Ours seemed to go by quickly which is not unusual for us. No church today due to bad weather. This picture shows what it looked like about 20 minutes ago. Now it has changed from sleet to snow and is really peppering down. Thursday morning our temperature was 13 with a wind chill of 6 degrees. Wow, that feels more like January than March. I am hoping though that when April comes in it will feel like spring. I am definitely ready for spring temps. The girls were supposed to play their Easter specials today. I suppose they will have to wait until the Sunday after Easter now to play them as we always spend Easter down at Dave and Jessica’s. It is SO much warmer at her house than it is here.

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

March 24, 2013 3