Majestic Mountains, Rolling Hills, Gentle Streams

Books: A world of Pleasure!

2009-01-24T17:11:00.030-05:00

Books bring me the greatest pleasure and I am surrounded by them. I don't think there is a room in the house where I don't have some books displayed. I love to read and I love to learn about new things, or about peoples lives who have lived in the past or about different periods of time and the history of those different periods. I like all kinds of books: history, biographies, auto-biographies, fiction, poetry, historical novels, mysteries, missionary stories, devotionals, commentaries, etc.

If you don't believe me when I say I have books in every room, let me show you.

Books in the hallway ....

In the guest room...

I have so many books on this bookshelf that I'm covering up the ones in back on two separate shelves.

In my office......

These are just two of the walls....there is a third one but I have things setting in front of it and it looks to messy to show right now.

In my livingroom....there are more shelves where the books are not so visable because there behind glass doors and on the otherside of the entertainment center, there are also more books. Basically, there are two more book shelves similar to these plus the ones behind the glass doors.

Books in my bedroom.....

on the wall....

Behind my chair and

In the kitchen with .....

a whole cabinet devoted to cookbooks.

I simply love books and now that I'm going to the gym, I even get to read while I'm on the treadmill before and after working out. What a luxury!

I share my books with friends who enjoy reading as much as I do and especially those who return them promptly and take care of them while they are in their possession. I would miss my books if I didn't have them. You are probably wondering if I have read them all. The answer is no but I probably have read at least half of them and am working on the other half.

If I run out of reading material, there is always the Library. We have an excellent library in our town and believe it or not, sometimes, I take books out of the library even though I have my own. That's how much I enjoy reading! But the book that gets my most attention is my Bible!

The Snow has Gone

2009-01-22T16:06:00.014-05:00

It has only been two days and the snow has disappeared as I told you it would. The only place where there is any snow is on my deck and it will stay there for several days if I don't shovel it off because the sun doesn't quite reach my deck in the winter.

You can compare these pictures with the previous posting to see the change from just two days ago. Actually it has only taken one day for it to disappear but I didn't take pictures until just now.

The only place there is any snow in this picture is on my deck table on on that area of ground near the deck that doesn't get the sun in the winter time.

And of course, there is snow on the deck itself. This looks kind of pretty with the afternoon sun adding a blue hue to the snow in this picture. It has been a beautiful day here today but a little chilly. The temperatures only got to 50 degrees today but the sun makes it feel warmer than it is.

No snow in the front yard at all.

The purple hue in the above picture comes from the sun. It was shining really bright in my camera lens and I got this streak of purple.

You can actually see the rays from the sun in this picture.

I went to prayer meeting at the church this morning and left the house at 9:15 AM. From there I went to the school at 11 AM and cooked through the two lunch periods and then helped with the clean-up. I left the school at about 2:15 pm and then went to the store, getting home around 3 pm. That is when I took the pictures and put them on this post.

We had spaghetti at school today and had quite a bit left over so I brought some home and that is what we are going to have for supper. I bought a little extra spaghetti sauce, some sausage and some garlic bread to go with it and I will cook up some zucchini to have as a side dish. So supper tonight will be fairly easy to make. We are not allowed to keep any food left over and rather than waste it, I brought it home and put some money in the cash box to pay for it because it helps out the school.

Now, I'm off to clean the bathroom! Have a marvelous evening, Ladies.

First Snow of the Year

2009-01-20T17:30:00.016-05:00

Overnight we received the first snow of the 2008-2009 Winter. We received approximately 2" of snow and was snowing when we got up and stopped around 10 o'clock this morning. I thought I would share some pictures with you.

This was taken from our deck and is a picture of our backyard.

This is of our deck and to the right of the deck taking in our arborvitae and our neighbor's shed.

Taken from the french doors of our livingroom onto the deck.

This was taken from our front porch. It is a cloudy day but everything is covered with this blanket of white. Very pretty!

A picture of my neighbor's house across the street from us.

And this one is to the right of the previous one.

This one was taken to the right of the front porch.

Though this is all very pretty as soon as the sun comes out, it will be gone in a day. You all will probably be showing pictures of snow several feet deep and put my poor pictures to shame.

A New Year and A New President

2009-01-19T16:00:00.006-05:00

We are in a new year which I think will bring a lot of new changes to the United States. Things in our country are in a real mess right now. Our dollar has lost its value and our economy is in shambles. Job losses are increasing by the day and our unemployment rates are at an all time high.

Now, I know that this kind of talk sounds kind of depressing to those of you who will be reading this but that is not the tone that I want to leave in this message because I am not feeling the least bit depressed right now. Why, you might ask? Then, I would have to say that I have a great God who is able to do all things and even though things look bad, I am willing to put my life in his hands and believe that He will take us through this time of hardship.

Those of us who put their trust in Christ should know that nothing has to happen as far as prophecy is concerned to have Christ return for his people. I am looking forward to that day and it could be any day now or it could be many years but the most important thing is to know where you will spend Eternity and be ready for that day when ever it may appear.

But in the meantime, we should be reaching out to any that we know who do not know Christ because if He should come tomorrow, it would be disastrous for them. We all have people who are our friends, in our families, our neighbors and acquaintances who do not know Jesus. Now is the day of Salvation for them and we need to be reaching out to them so that they can be part of our family in Christ. So let's do our part to assure as many a place in heaven as we can.

If Christ should delay in coming, we might be required to tighten the belt a bit. But I think in this country at least, that we have become like fattened calves as spoken by Amos 4:1 to the Samaratans. We have so much and have become so spoiled that it actually might do us some good to experience what many people across this world have to experience every day.

We spend fortunes on our children with the modern day video games, designer jeans, and high-end sports shoes and equipment but we don't teach our children to be respectful to their parents, adults or their teachers, we don't teach them any manners, we don't expect them to reach for higher standards but keep lowering our expectations which just means that they give us less of what we expect of them. We don't teach them any morals and we don't tell them that there is a higher authority than ourselves that they will one day answer to. So maybe just maybe, we deserve to be shocked into realizing how far we have come from those days and ideals that our founding fathers stood for. Right now, there are many adults who don't even believe that this country was founded on Christian Principals. They don't want "In God we Trust" on our money or the 10 commandments in our schools or government buildings. We want to take God out of everything.

Tomorrow, we will have a new president and though I have had my doubts as to whether or not he would be the best man for the job, he has won the election by a large margine and now, he deserves the respect that that office brings and he deserves to be given a chance to prove himself. Furthermore, he deserves that each and every one of us should give him our support and do our part in trying to bring our country back to the place and the kind of country that we once were. We should pray for this man every day that he will be and give the very best that he can and pray that God will guide his path and that God would give him the wisdom to lead this country in the way that we should go.

So I wish this man a very successful presidency and that God would lead him every step of the way. These are trying times and we need a strong president. I think Obama is a strong leader and I will pray that he will do a great job!

The Youngest Skier In Our Family

2009-01-17T21:12:00.015-05:00

Let me introduce you to the youngest skier in our family. This is Bethany and this is her first skiing trip to Lake Tahoe. She will be three in April. She looks like she is a pro. Her grandmother, that's me, doesn't even know how to ski and look at her. Wow!! I'm impressed, Bethany.

I think she's showing off now, don't you.

She is the youngest in her family. She has two brothers ages 17 and 15 and a sister who is 12.

This is Bethany's big sister, Hannah who loves watching over Bethany and play with her. They are very close.

Bethany is a unique child and she is being taught at a early age to love the bible and the word of God. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I know these photos will speak volumns.

This was taken last Easter in church with Bethany holding her hymnal.

She just loves to sit and look through the Bible. She does this all the time.

Isn't this just too cute! I hope she continues her interest as she grows older. She will if her mom has anything to say about it.

A Miracle on the Hudson River!

2009-01-16T15:56:00.002-05:00

The pilot who was Captain of the US Air flight that landed his plane on the Hudson River in NYC deserves a medal. He did a tremendous job and saved the lives of 151 people yesterday. It was because of his heroic and clear thinking that everyone on board lived to tell the story.

Everyone is singing his praises and what he did is simply amazing. He kept his cool, knew what he needed to do and went about doing just that. It was a perfect landing and he even went through the plane twice just to make sure that everyone got out and was safe.

I thank God for this man for he surely was the man for such a job! But I also want to recognize someone who I have not heard any praise for and that is for God himself. Though this pilot did exactly what he was trained for and I don't want to diminish the job that he did, this incident could have gone completely the other way if it were not for the fact that God had engineered the circumstances to be what they were.

Timing is everything and I believe that God had his hand on the shoulder of this pilot all the way though this whole flight. There were so many circumstances that proved to be helpful in the fact that this event turned out the way that it did. Things like the fact that there was a river near by and the plane was high enough to clear the George Washington Bridge, that this flight took place in the winter and that the water was cold. If the water had been warm, this plane might have broken up. There were so many details that if any one of them had been different, there might have been a different outcome.

God is not surprised by anything. I believe that He rode in that cockpit with that pilot and turned the events that saved the lives of all these people and that he even orchestrated this pilot to this flight. I am grateful to God for saving the lives of these people and for using the best pilot for the job. I would say that we have experienced a Miracle.

Hair Dilemmas

2009-01-15T22:53:00.018-05:00

Fifties Hair Styles

Most of the time I wear my hair cut short. No matter how many times I have tried to let it grow longer after about a month or so it starts driving me nuts.

My hair just looks better if it is short all over. If it gets too long on top, it droops and wants to lay flat and I definitely need some heighth on top. Usually, I have my beautician cut it just over my ears and taper it up the sides. The back I get cut at the hair line and have it tapered up as well.

But every so often I decide to let it grow thinking that I'll like it. Usually I decide that when I see someone else with hair that might not be real long but is maybe an inch or two below their hairline in the back and the sides are grown just below their ears and the sides are blended into the back. They will look really attractive and I'll say to myself, "maybe I'll try that".

Then I tell my beautician not to cut so much off the back because I want to let it grow "just a little bit, not much" and then I'll say, "don't take any off the ears because I want to let it grow to below my ears but you can trim it up so that its layered" and there starts the process. She'll cut it to my specifications one month. Then I'll go back the next month for a trim just to get rid of any uneven growth but won't have any cut of the back or sides but just the top and I'll get a perm.

Another month or five weeks will go by and by this time, all this hair starts driving me crazy and by the third month, I'm ready to hack it off.

This is what I did three months ago and Tuesday I couldn't stand it any more so went and had it cut off. I thought I'd show you some before and after shots and you can tell me what you think.

This is before my haircut. You notice how the top is starting to flatten out.

This is after my haircut. I don't always like the way my beautician fixes my hair after she cuts it but she gives me a good cut and I will fix it the way I like the next time I wash my hair. So I'm not particularly happy with this style and I need a little color job done but I'm happy again now that its short. What do you think?

Now if only I could look like this then I could wear my hair any old way I wanted, wouldn't you think?

Grace Kelly

But alas, that is not my lot in life so I'll just have to live with what I've got and will probably keep wavering back and forth between short and an attempt to let it grow and then cutting it off again. Who said a woman's life is easy, huh?

Blessed by Friends!

2009-01-14T15:10:00.015-05:00

This is a picture of two very special people in our lives. They are our very best friends. We became acquainted with them from our church and though they no longer attend our church, we have kept in contact with them and try to get together several times a year.

They spent Thanksgiving with us this year and we were invited to spend Christmas with them which we did. We were to be at their house at noon on Christmas Day and when we arrived this was what was awaiting us.

The sign attached to this bench says "Merry Christmas, Curt and Dianne". This bench was a gift to us by our good friends, Ralph and Doris and was hand crafted by Ralph. Let me show you some more pictures and tell you the story behind it.

Ralph is a very good woodworking craftsman and from time to time runs into some special giveaways. He received from a furniture factory a few years back some footboards for sleighback beds because this plant was closing down and they had a stock pile of these footboards.

So he took a couple of the footboards and glued them together to form the side pieces for a bench cutting one side of the sleigh back off on which to rest the arm piece for the bench which he crafted. He did this for both sides and then he made the seat, back and arms and then stained and varnished the surfaces.

He made this bench for himself and his wife and it sits outside their back door. Everytime that I go there, I have admired that bench and told him how much I liked it and what a good job he did on it. Everytime that I have said that to him, he tells my dh that he would be happy to give him some of those footboards to hand craft a bench for me as well. Of course, my dh said we have no place to put one to which I said if he would make me one I'd find a place to put it and we all would laugh. I never expected to receive one nor was I hinting for one. I was simply complimenting his work which I greatly admired.

These friends are so special that we exchange gifts with them every year and this year, Ralph and Doris surprised us with a bench. Let me show you some of the detail in this bench. It is gorgeous.

The carvings in the legs and the finishing is simply beautiful!

The sides are two sleighback footboards glued together with one half of the front side cut off.

This gives you a better view of the side.

And the carvings on the side of it.

Here we are sitting on our new bench. This was a wonderful surprise and a very special gift and we will cherish it forever. Right now it is in our garage and covered to protect it. In the Spring, we will bring it out and sit it near our back door in a shady spot under the eves to protect it from the sun and when we hear of bad weather, we will cover it to give it added protection.

God has blessed us with a couple of loving and caring people for friends and we love them dearly!

What you won't do for your kids!

2009-01-13T17:12:00.008-05:00

At the end of December, my youngest daughter and her husband and children came south to visit their oldest son who is in SC and they stayed over at our house on a Friday night on the last weekend in December.

They have six children so normally there are eight of them. On this trip only four of the children were with them since the oldest son is in SC and the next to oldest, a daughter who is 18 stayed home because she had to work. So on this trip, we had to find sleeping space for six and our house became wall to wall beds on Friday night.

My daughter and her husband had the guest room and their youngest son slept on an air mattress on the floor in their bedroom. The other three girls slept in the Living Room. One on the couch and the other two on air mattresses on the floor.

They got up early on Saturday Morning and I fixed them breakfast before they took of for SC. They were planning on spending Saturday and Sunday with their son and then were coming back to spend Sunday Evening and Monday and Monday evening with us before heading home on Tuesday Morning.

When we got home on Sunday evening after church, there was a phone message from them. We were expecting them to arrive at about 9 pm. Before I had a chance to play back their message, the phone rang and it was them wanting to tell us that their son, Jake had wanted to buy his brother and sisters a Christmas present and had bought them a purebred Cocker Spaniel puppy that was only six weeks old. They called to forewarn us that they were bringing a puppy home with them and wanted to know if it was ok with us or should they drive through to NY State where they live. Of course, I told them that it was ok for them to come back to our house.

So while waiting for them, we tried to puppy proof our house. I had a big, plastic storage container that I put old towels in the bottom of so that the puppy could sleep in it and we closed off all the doors to the kitchen from the laundry room, our bedroom and the living room. Then my husband got a big sheet of plywood that was about six feet long and four feet high that we put across the archway into the foyer which also leads to the living room so that the puppy would be confined to the kitchen. After doing that, we waited for them to show up.

This puppy was the cutest little dog. It was chocolate and white and she fit in the palm of my hand. When it came time to go to bed, I told the kids that I would take care of the puppy for the night. We took her out side to do her business and she cooperated real well. She did her business every time we took her out for the next two days and nights and she only went to the bathroom on my floor once. It was my fault because I took her out and she wet but then I took her right back into the house and put her on the kitchen floor while I put the board over the entrance to the hall and evidently, I hadn't left her out long enough because she messed on my floor in the space of time that it took me to walk over to the foyer and put the board in place but it cleaned up easily.

Because it was cold out and this little dog didn't have much hair, she would shiver when I took her out and was so traumatized by the experience that when I brought her in, I wrapped her in a blanket and put her in her bed and she went right to sleep. After about two hours, she woke up and then she didn't want to stay in the bed we made for her anymore. So, you guessed it, I took her to bed with me. So for two nights, I slept with the dog between me and my dh who never once complained and I got up every two hours to take the dog outside so she wouldn't wet on me or in my bed. I didn't get two much sleep that night but the dog did.

Don't you think this is the cutest little pooch? I gave my children two nights of good sleep because I knew when they got home, the burden of this little puppy was now going to be theirs and they would be the ones loosing sleep. Mothers are always doing things for their children and it doesn't stop just because your children are adults. Do you have any stories of something you have done to help your children?

Exercise to keep in Shape

2009-01-10T14:28:00.005-05:00

Diamond Peak, Nevada, USA

I have the beginning stages of Osteoporosis and my doctor has prescribed for me to take medication to help in this area to make my bones stronger. So for the past year, I have been taking Boniva which has helped and my last checkup showed that it was being effective.

I went to the drug store this past week to get my prescription filled for my Boniva which is one pill to be taken every month on a certain day. I have been paying $30 for that one pill and that is my share of the cost. When I went to pick up my prescription the cost has increased to $60. I just about hit the ceiling in my surprise. I asked the pharmacy if they had put it on my insurance and they assured me that they had. I then asked if they would check it again with my insurance plan because it just didn't seem right that it doubled in price from just last month. They weren't too happy to check it but they did and there was no mistake.

I paid for my prescription but decided there and then that something had to change. That prescription is costing me $720 a year. I was also told by my doctor and my chiropractor that going to the gym and using weights would help the osteoporosis. My husband and I had belonged to the gym and had done that for three years but had gotten lazy because it seemed that going to the gym three times a week was eating up so much of our time that we finally stopped doing it. It has been two years since we have gone. We were going to walk a lot and I was going to do floor exercises at home but that just didn't happen. So with the medication costing $720 a year while the gym only costs $540 for the two of us, I decided that I would go back to the gym and stop taking this medication.

Yesterday, I signed my husband and myself back up for a 15 month membership at the gym. Then, I worked out for the first time in two years. This will also help me with my weight loss program. I had lost 25 pounds up to just before Thanksgiving. From that Holiday through the end of the year, I have maintained that weight loss but haven't lost any more. So now, I need to get back on board and continue to take off the rest of the weight that I have set as a goal. Going to the gym will certainly help in this area.

But it surely does take up a good chunk of time. We will be going on Mon., Wed., and Fri. and we work out on about 18 different machines. The gym sets us up on a program and each of these machines targets different muscles of your body so that when you are finished you have exercised just about every set of muscles that you have. I try to do at least ten repetitions on each machine but try to do up to twenty. I also warm up by going on the treadmill for about a mile (what I did yesterday) and I will probably work it up to about 5 miles. You can also adjust the incline so that your workout will be more strenuous as you go. By the time I leave home and do my workout and get back, it takes between two and a half hours to three hours.

I have a bone density test every year with my annual checkup so I will know if the gym has helped or not. If necessary, I can go back to the medication but for right now, I prefer to try the exercise which will also help me with my weight loss goal of loosing at least another twenty-five pounds.

I guess the proper way to look at this is that exercise is good for me and if I can reduce the medications that I have to take that is a win-win situation.

Christmas Concert to Help the Poor

2008-12-20T13:57:00.005-05:00

Every year there is a Christmas Concert given by the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. This event is sponsored by the Sealy Corporation and Old Dominion Freight Lines to benefit the local food banks by the Salvation Army. The local radio station also sponsors and publicizes this event. The price of the entrance fee is a bag of canned goods to benefit these food banks.

This is an annual event that we and our friends go to every year. Last year they collected 605,000 canned goods and they were trying to top that this year with a goal of 700,000 cans of food. Last night they collected 597,695 cans of food and there will be another event tonight in Winston-Salem so it looks like they will meet their quota.

This event is well patronized and the program every year is wonderful with special music and skaters from the Summit Figure Skating Club. We had special music by Anthony Dean Griffey. He has a wonderful tenor voice. And the evening always ends with Sir Robert Bell playing "Amazing Grace" with his bagpipes. Simply beautiful!

Usually, we and our friends eat supper together at our friends house and then we ride to the concert together in our car. Then afterwards, we go back to our friends house to have dessert. This year, I volunteered to make the supper. I made a big pot of chili and some corn muffins and some bran muffins (my friend does not like corn muffins but her husband and we do, so the bran muffins were for her). She provided a blueberry jello salad and homemade pickles and of course, she provided the dessert afterwards which was a large variety of homemade Christmas cookies and some hot Wassel. Yummy!!

The only thing that marred the event is that last Tuesday afternoon, I came down with this wicked cold. I stayed in bed all day Wednesday and the cold started to get worse and move down into my chest and I developed this bad cough. I went to the Doctor on Thursday and he gave me an antibiotic which I have been on ever since. Friday morning, my husband suggested that I cancel going to the concert but I was so looking forward to it that I said that I thought I would be all right. By afternoon, I had wished that I had cancelled but had already told my friend that I was coming and being the stubborn person that I am, I continued with my plans.

I was miserable all evening. My nose was so stuffed up that I could hardly breathe and I kept taking cold tablets every two hours (1/2 dose) thinking that would help. I kept sneezing and blowing my nose. I was a mess. We went back to our friends for dessert but it was 10 pm by then and we didn't leave their house until 11 and we live a half hour away from them so we didn't get to bed until midnight. My bed never felt better in my life and I slept until 9 am this morning. I'm not quite so stuffed up today but I was suppose to sing at church tomorrow and now it looks like that will be impossible.

Now, we are looking forward to spending Christmas Day with our friends. We spend the day enjoying each others company and we usually play several games while there.

"More Than Wonderful"

2008-12-18T16:12:00.005-05:00

We just had our Christmas Cantata on December 14th in the evening service. This year we did the Cantata, "The Love of God at Christmas" created by Joel Lindsey, Sue C. Smith and Russell Mauldin. It was Arranged and Orchestrated by Russell Mauldin. This is the most beautiful Cantata that I have heard in a long time. There was not one song or arrangement in it that I did not simply love. Many of the songs incorporated songs that are well know but were done in Medley's with other words or tunes within the song itself.

I thought I would share the words of one of the songs within this Cantata that was very meaningful to me. It is from the song, "More than Wonderful". The words and music are by Lanny Wolfe and it was arranged by Russell Mauldin.

"He promised us that He would be a Counselor,
a Mighty God and the Prince of Peace.
He promised us that He would be a Father,
and He would love us with a love that would not cease."

"Well, I tried Him and I found His promises are true,
He's everything He said that He would be.
The finest words I know could not begin to tell
just how much Jesus really means to me."

"For He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive,
He's more wonderful than my heart can believe.
He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams."

(Chorus)
"He's everthing that my soul ever longed for,
everything He's promised and so much more;
More than amazing, more than marvelous,
More than miraculous could ever be.
Oh, He's more than wonderful
that's what Jesus is to me."

"I stand amazed to think the King of glory
would come to live within the heart of man.
I marvel just to know He really loves me,
when I think of who He is and who I am."

"For He's more wonderful than my mind can conceive,
He's more wonderful than my heart can believe.
He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams."

"He's everything that my soul ever longed for,
everything He's promised and so much more;
More than amazing, more than marvelous,
more than miraculous could ever be.
Oh, He's more than wonderful,
that's what Jesus is to me."

The arrangement is just so beautiful to these words and it sometimes chokes me up when I am singing this song and think about just how marvelous Jesus is to me.

Outside decorations

2008-12-17T13:44:00.015-05:00

Christmas is such a busy time of year and since Thanksgiving there has been a whirlwind of activities and events that I have had to cook for or go to. That is the reason for the lack of posts.

We have hung up our Christmas Flag which says "Celebrate Christ".

We have also hung up our little garden flag which says, "Peace to all who enter and God's Grace to those who depart."

The garland and bows are all hung on the Mailbox

and lampost.

Our wreathes are on our shop,

over our garage,

on our front door,
and our back door.

The front of our house is decorated with a wreath, garland strung with lights and big red bows.

and the pillars of our porch are wrapped in garland with Red bows and a Star at the top.

and it is all lite up to welcome friends and neighbors who happen to stop by.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

I love the Christmas Season but sometimes it does get to be a little stressful trying to get everything done that needs to be done. There are dinners and Christmas parties to go to. Extra music practices for our Cantata. Because our church has a Christian School affiliated with it, we try to support the activities surrounding the children in the school programs even though we do not have children in school. Activities like the music programs for Christmas by the lst through 12th grade classes and then another one by the K3 - K5 Preschool classes. We attended both.

The Ladies Outreach had an ornament exchange which included a breakfast buffet. The adult Sunday School Class had a dinner for which I had to bring a couple of dishes that we attended. The School had a Christmas party for the school staff plus the School Board which my husband is involved with that we attended and brought food to. This coming Friday, we are going to a Christmas Concert that is put on by the Salvation Army and the local TV Station to raise money for the food banks for the homeless and other people in need. The price of admittance is some can goods. We attend this every year with our friends. I will bring chili and corn bread to our friends for supper, then we will attend the concert and afterwards to back to our friends for the dessert that she is providing. You get the picture and I'm sure the busy-ness of Christmas is the same for you, as well.

All the different events that go on at christmas time, make Christmas very special but it also makes it very stressful too. It's not just the events but the shopping for loved ones and the wrapping of presents not to mention the sending of Christmas cards, all add to that stressfulness.

I've also been working at the school three days a week instead of just one for the last couple of weeks because the girl who does the cooking has taken December off because she and her husband run a Christmas Tree business. This takes me out of my home and gives me less time to do the things that need to be done here but at the same time, I enjoy the work and helping out our school.

Sometimes, I would just like to climb some high hill and find a quiet spot to meditate on the amazing gift that God has given us in His Son, Jesus which is the reason why we celebrate this Season. I do not ever want to forget why we scurry around so much this time of year and I'm sure God would rather that we would just "be still and know that I am God" and take the time to reflect on the love that God has poured out upon our universe by sending His Son to die for us.

So if the Christmas Season gets out of hand for you some days, find a quiet spot for a few minutes and reflect on God's love for you and the gift of His Son, Jesus!

Another Christmas Gift

2008-12-12T12:01:00.006-05:00

You all know that I have been working on Afghans this year, two of them to be precise. I started one last January and finished it in June. This was to be a Christmas gift for my daughter, Terri and I sent it to her just recently and she blogged about it when she received it about a week ago.

When I finished the one for Terri in June, I started another one that I have shared pictures of a couple of times since starting it to show my progress on it. What you didn't know about this afghan is that it was to be a Christmas gift for my younger daughter, Tracy. I finished it last Friday night and sent it out on Saturday morning to her. She has probably received it by now and I thought I would show you the finished project.

The colors show up pretty much as they look in person except for the dusty rose. In this picture it looks more purple than a dusty rose. When viewing in person, the colors of this afghan are really vivid and rich looking. I loved the colors together. I wish that you could see it in person. I think you would agree that they are outstanding.

Doing two afghans in one year was a big undertaking for me but it was well worth it. I have two very special girls and I wanted them to have something from me that I had done just especially for them.

Two less for Dinner

2008-11-28T15:04:00.009-05:00

Today is Thanksgiving Day and I was up early stuffing my Turkey which I got in the oven at 6:30 AM. Then I made my Scalloped Potatoes in the Crock Pot and set on High finishing by 7:30 AM. I seriously thought about going back to bed for an hour but decided against it knowing that I probably wouldn't drop right off to sleep and then would probably over sleep. So we had breakfast.

After breakfast which was very simple, I got my table ready for my guests.

You can see on the TV pictures of the fires in India. We had kept a close watch for news of those who had been taken hostage in Mumbai.

My decorations were very simple. Just a center tray with 3 candles and polished stones with a couple of pilgrim statutes, all setting on a fall Napkin in the center of the table. On the counter, I placed my fruit bowl with a couple more candles also on a fall napkin.

After decorating the table, I spent the rest of the morning preparing the green bean casserole, the butternut squash, the corn and getting out all the pickles and relishes and such and putting them in their dishes and put them back in the refrigerator until it was time to put the casseroles in the oven and the relishes on the table.

When the turkey was finished, I put the casseroles in the oven to heat, the corn in the microwave and then made the gravy and carved the turkey and put it on its platter to serve.

We had gotten a call from my husband's son the day before that he and his wife wouldn't be able to come after all because he got a last minute call from his employer and he had to fly his employer to Fl. He is a pilot for his company and his name was drawn out of the hat. We were so disappointed about that but were so happy when we heard that our friend's daughter and her family were safe in Mumbai, India after that massacre had happened. What a tragic time for those poor people.

Our guests were a little late coming and my dinner got ready more early than I expected and in all the rush when they did arrive in getting dinner on the table, I forgot to take pictures. We sat down to eat and had a marvelous time just catching up on each others news that when dinner was finally over and I went to put some food away in the refrigerator, I discovered all the pickles, olives and relishes including the cranberry sause was still in the refrigerator waiting to be put on the table. Have any of you ever done such a thing? I guess we never missed it because of all the other foods we had. My plate was filled to overflowing and my belly was full when I finished and I never even missed the cranberry sauce which I consider a must for Thanksgiving Day!

I had even put the camera on the sideboard but the one off to the side of my counters and I never paid any attention to it and missed the opportunity to take pictures of my friends while they were here (I could kick myself). Doris had brought a jello salad that had strawberries in it and sour cream which was very delicious.

After dinner, we talked for a while waiting for our dinner to digest before we tackled the desserts and after we had dessert, we played the card game, Skipbo and had a great afternoon and evening with our friends. It was a very Blessed Day.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2008-11-26T19:14:00.014-05:00

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have been working for two days now getting ready for it, I thought I would give you my menu for tomorrow along with some pictures of some of the things that I have prepared already. I will be up at 6 am to stuff the turkey and get it in the oven and then will be preparing the scalloped potatoes to go into my crock pot after that I will be fixing the remaining dishes, set the table and get everything ready for when my guests will arrive at about noon.

This is my menu:

Turkey with Sausage Herb Stuffing

Scalloped Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Butternut Squash

Corn Pudding

Cranberry Sause

Homemade Honey Whole Wheat Rolls

Banana Bread

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Pie

Mince Pie

Apple Pie

Assorted Pickles, Relishes & Olives

Sparkling White Grape Juice

Coffee

Yesterday, I made the Homemade Honey & Whole Wheat Rolls and cleaned my livingroom and kitchen.

Today I spent the whole day cooking.

First, I made a loaf of Banana Bread and a loaf of Pumpkin Bread. Then I made the pie crust for three pies. After I made the pie crusts, I made the filling and put together two pumpkin pies.

Then I made an apple and a mincemeat pie.

The Apple pie is on the left and the mince pie is on the right.

When the last pie was baking, I put three large sweet potatoes in the oven to bake and when they were done, I made the sweet potato casserole.

First, I mixed up the sweet potato mixture and then I added the topping.

Lastly, I made the sausage and herb stuffing to stuff the turkey with tomorrow.

I must have gotten a little too close to my subject for the picture is not that clear.

After I did all this, I put Baked Potatoes in the oven for supper along with Steak and a Salad. I don't think I'm going to have any trouble getting to sleep tonight for I am bushed and I have to be up at 6 am to stuff that turkey. I'm glad thanksgiving only comes once a year! Whew!!!

I want to wish all you lovely ladies out there in Blogland a very Blessed Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones! May the Lord make your day very special. Oh and the Lord has already blessed me today with a bit of good news on top of some very bad news. I'm sure you all have heard about the terrorists in Mumbai, India. Well, my friend Doris who is coming to dinner tomorrow has a daughter who is a Missionary to Mumbai and when I heard about the terrorist attack, I started praying for her daughter. I called my friend who hadn't heard yet, so she got on the phone to her son who is on the Missionary Board and found out that her daughter had emailed to say that they were ok. They had been in Mumbai all day but had gotten to their house which is in a poorer section of town and the fighting hadn't started until about a half hour after they had gotten home. She has two daughter who were out of town visiting in another area so she called her daughter and told her to stay over at another missionary compound in another town and not to come home until tomorrow. So they are all safe and we are thankful to the Lord for sparing them!

Do you know how blessed you are?

2008-11-24T12:22:00.005-05:00

Autumn Reflections

"Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits:

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;

Who healeth all thy diseases;

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;

Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

He made know his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.

He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excell in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion; bless the Lord, O my soul."

Psalm 103 KJV

This is the Psalm that comes to my mind when thinking of those things that I am most thankful for.

God tells us that we should be a thankful people and the first thing that this Psalm reminds us of is just how blessed we are as a people and that we should be crying out to the heavens "Bless the Lord, O my soul."

As the song goes "Count My Blessings, Name Them One By One", this Psalm begins to name all the ways in which we are blessed as God's children and that by naming these blessings, we should continue to remind ourselves of those blessings so that we won't forget just how blessed we are.

The list starts off by stating that we have been forgiven all our iniquities and healed from all our diseases. We are not just forgiven our small sins but even the most heineous ones. It doesn't matter what vile things we have done, those sins are not above God's forgiveness. All we need to do is to come to him and confess and we can be forgiven anything. How liberating is that?

It also states that he heals us from all our diseases. We all have known loved ones who have died from Cancer or some other disease and we may say that God didn't heal them. God is able to heal all disease even Cancer or Heart Disease or any other disease but He doesn't always choose to do so in this world, not because He can't but that He has another purpose in mind. Maybe there is something that He is trying to teach the person who is sick, or maybe they have family members who do not know God and He is reaching out to them, or maybe there are others who seeing this person suffer that will somehow come to Jesus because of this person's illness.

God is in the Salvation business and He alone knows his reasons for what He does but when a sick person dies or anyone else dies, we are immediately ushered into the presence of God totally healed from our diseases and we will live eternally with God in a perfect, sinless body. How thankful I am for that thought, aren't you?

This passage tells us that our lives have been redeemed from destruction. We have nothing to fear. We know our outcome no matter what enters into our lives. It says that we are crowned with loving kindness and tender mercies. These attributes are ours and they cover us like a crown. They will always be ours. God is always treating us with loving kindness and with tender mercies. He is always looking for ways to bless us and do good for us. He is ever merciful and is not impatient with us but long-suffering ever ready to forgive and pardon.

This reminds me of how much we love our children and are always planning ways to make them happy and we always want to give them good things. That is how God is to us. The trouble is we are often like our children and too soon, forget to be thankful for what He has done for us.

Our sins may often make us feel guilty and unworthy of God's love, but this psalm reminds us that God does not remember our sins once they are confessed but has removed them from His sight and remembers them no more. Do you know that if you travel in a easterly direction that you will continue to go east until you are back to your starting point. You never get to the west. And if you were to travel west, you never get to the east but will always be heading west. That is how far God has cast your sins. You will never get to the place where you can find them as far as God is concerned, they are gone and you are forgiven. How thankful I am that God does not remember my sins.

So during this thanksgiving holiday, I am going to reflect on all the ways that I am thankful for what God has done for me. Do you know that I was in the midst of all my sin, when God found me and saved me? I wasn't thinking of Him and didn't even realize how lost I was until He rescued me out of the depth of my sin and set me on a new path. For that, I shall forever be grateful and thankful!

What are you thankful for?

Cooking for a Church Dinner

2008-11-22T17:04:00.024-05:00

Every year at Thanksgiving time, our church has a Thanksgiving Service with a Dinner afterwards held in the Gym of our school to honor our Senior Citizens. There are many seniors who don't have family who live near by and don't want to cook for just themselves so this kind of gives them a Thanksgiving Dinner that they can enjoy with others and they don't have to eat alone.

Everyone who comes to church brings food to the gym just before Sunday School. There is a committee who takes the food and arranges it on the food table. They have already decorated the gym and tables so that it is very festive for those who attend. Our members are really good about providing food for this affair. So, I have been cooking all day to prepare the food that I am going to be bringing.

I started out by making Scalloped Potatoes in my crockpot. This recipe is so simple and I love it that I can put it together and then leave it to cook all day while I do other things.

Then I made a Chocolate Cake which is a favorite of mine. This is really the simplist cake to make and it stays moist from first day until it's gone. I usually store mine in the refrigerator because we don't eat it up that fast with only two of us (actually I don't make desserts unless we have company) but it doesn't need to be stored that way. This cake is a hit with everyone I've served it to. I will post the recipe for this cake at the end of the post.

After the cake was baked, I made a Green Bean Casserole.

I will top this with French Fried Onion Rings when I reheat this in the morning to take it to church. This recipe is always a favorite with guests. The recipe for this is on the can of the French Fried Onion Rings found in the vegetable isle of your supermarket.

While this was baking, I prepared Corn Pudding. For those of you who would like this recipe, you can get it at Terri's blog Hearts in Service. She posted the recipe this past week. This is the first time that I have made it and wanted to try it out before making it for our Thanksgiving Dinner.

Finally, I put a Pork Tenderloin in the oven to roast and I will slice this into serving sizes to take to the dinner. This always goes over real big and I never have anything left to bring home.

That completes my dinner for tomorrow. In the morning, I will have to get up a half hour earlier than usually so that I can get this stuff back in the oven to heat before taking it to the gym.

Since I knew that I had all this cooking to do this morning, I asked my husband if he would take me out for breakfast and he agreed. We went to Ihop (International House of Pancakes) and I had bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and a stuffed french toast with whipped cream and strawberries. Doesn't sound like a weight watchers menu, does it? Well, once in a while, we're allowed to endulge. I got home at 10:30 AM to start my cooking and finished by 4:30 pm. We had leftovers for supper since after all that cooking, I didn't feel like cooking anything much for us.

Now for the Chocolate Cake Recipe.

In a large bowl sift together:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup cocoa

2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

Add to the dry ingredients:

2 Eggs

1 c. Vegetable Oil

1 teas. Vanilla

2 cups Hot Water

And mix with a mixer for two or three minutes until completely blended.

Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 " cake pan and bake in a 375 degree oven for approximately 40 - 50 minutes and frost with your favorite frosting.

I frosted mine with a Confectionary Sugar frosting which I like. Mix together the following ingredients.

3 cups Confectionary Sugar

1 teas. Vanilla

1/2 cup butter

2 - 3 Tablespoons of Hot water (or milk)

Add water or milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until reaching the desired texture.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Trip to the Mountains

2008-11-19T19:56:00.017-05:00

Every year our church sponsors a Sr. Citizen's trip to the Mountains to get apples and other goodies. We usually make a day of it and have lunch out somewhere. We leave early in the morning and take a bus for the trip. In the past, we have rented a tourist bus and taken 75 people or more. This year we kept the limit just for seniors of our church only so that we could use the church bus because the rental for the big bus was so expensive.

On the way to the mountains, we have to pass the entrance to Pilot Mountain. I took this picture through the window of the bus as we approached the mountain.

This is a view after we had passed the entrance to the Park.

We travel up to Mt. Airy, NC and we usually go to an apple grower for the apples. We don't pick them ourselves but get them from bins that have been filled by the pickers to be shipped all over the country. We call ahead and so the apples are ready for us. We have our choice of several varieties of apples and we load up our bags of apples, putting our names on our bag so that when we get home, we can locate our own apples from those belonging to others.

Of course, we all had to sample the apples just to make sure that they were edible before we purchased.

Our pastor is the man on the left facing the camera with an apple in his face.

When we had collected all our apples and loaded them on the bus, we decided that we should get a picture of a few of our members in front of the bus.

Our pastor's wife is the little short gal in the front. We enjoy our pastor and his wife so much.

Then a few pictures of those in the bus....

We traveled way up into the mountains on some roads that you wouldn't believe that a bus could travel on and then we traveled down into some deep valleys and around curves and on roads that didn't appear to be wide enough for us and the cars that we met on them but they were. A little scary to watch.

This is the road into the apple farm. Those are apple trees that you are seeing in the picture.

The views were spectacular and we had a great time though we did have an adventure or two on the way.

As I told you before, we usually eat out but this time we had decided to bring a picnic lunch and were going to eat somewhere on the blue ridge parkway at a picnic spot but on the way up the mountain, our bus just could not handle the mountain that kept going up and up and up. I guess with 30 people and several cases of apples for each person was just too much.

Anyway, we got about two-thirds of the way up the mountain when steam started coming up out of our motor and the temperature guage started over-heating. So our bus driver, a church member, pulled over as far as he could. There were no breakdown lanes on this road but fortunately the right side of this highway was two lanes so we stopped and the bus driver quickly got out and put flashers on both ends of the bus because we were in a dangerous place being on a curve with blind spots for other drivers at each end of the curve both for those going up the mountain as well as those coming down.

We waited for the bus engine to cool and again, the Lord was good to us for there were two cabins on the mountain side put up a way right where we had to stop. So a couple of men walked up the mountain side to the cabin to see if we could get some water for our bus. We were able to and after about 20 minutes, we turned around using a couple of our men to stop traffic so we could turn around and we started back.

We ended up having our lunch at a public yard sale place and we made a couple of stops at General store type business that we stop at every year to get fresh produce like cabbages and sweet potatoes and homemade jams and such.

Our plans got changed but the Lord kept us safe and we got home a little earlier than planned but we had a great time fellowshipping together. We played games on the bus to kill the time riding which is always fun and tests our reasoning skills.

Six Random Things......

2008-11-18T16:08:00.004-05:00

I have been tagged by Miriam from Redeemed by His Love to list Six Random Things about myself.

Here are the rules for this meme:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things about myself:

1. I once got lost in the woods with my three children. After wandering around for several hours and with darkness approaching, I really started praying because I didn't want my children to be afraid and I couldn't find my way out of the woods. After I started praying, I started hearing a chain saw running and the thought that went through my head was to walk towards the sound. When we finally walked into a clearing, it was into the backyard of my neighbor's house. She said that her youngest son, who had an aversion to work decided that afternoon to go out with the chain saw and work on sawing some wood for the fireplace right about the time I started praying.....a direct answer to prayer....otherwise, I might still be looking for my way out of the woods.

2. I am an avid reader and love books of all kinds. Some of my favorite authors are: Karen Kingsbury, Dee Henderson, Kristen Heitzmann, and Michael Phillips.

3. I am a neat freak. I am not bothered by a little dust in my house but get very bothered if the house gets cluttered. I am always picking up. My motto is a place for everything and everything in its place.

4. I love to travel and to go to places that I have never been. I don't get to do this a lot but am always ready to drop everything and go somewhere. For me, it is fun just to jump in the car and drive down roads where I have never been and see where they go.

5. I am a very detailed person....that can be good or bad...when cleaning it is a maddening trait because I cannot just service clean to get done in a hurry because I'm always seeing one more thing that needs attention so that when I clean, it takes me all day to get the task done because I cannot let anything not be done if I notice it. I was a bookkeeper for 40 years does that tell you anything.

6. I like to watch movies. My favorite movie is Anne of Green Gables. That is such a wonderful movie and Meg Fallow who plays Anne looks a lot like my husband's younger daughter. My movie taste usually runs in the direction of Drama and I usually like anything that is fast moving and suspenseful but I am not finding too many movies today that are worth watching. I also like movies that pull at my heart strings. "October Sky", "Love Comes Softly" and 'Eight Below" are good examples of that type of movie.

So now you know that my life isn't very exciting so I'll pass the torch to Terri, Michelle, Tracy, Tina, Debbie and Tracy.

Outside Work Accomplished!

2008-11-17T16:59:00.021-05:00

As I had posted before, I needed to take time off from blogging to get some much needed yard work done and want to report that I have accomplished that task. As a matter of fact, it has been done for a couple of weeks but I just haven't taken the time to post about it.

I thought I would share the pictures with you. Sorry, Tina, we don't have snow here yet but you might like to see something else besides snow so here goes.

I began my trimming in this area. There are three blue juniper bushes that spread their branches out every summer and almost cover this whole bed. Usually the branches hang over the walkway just a little and every fall, I trim them back as you see them above. The pine tree is a Dwarf Alberta Spruce.

Then I tackled this front bed as you head down our driveway to the left of this bed. There are three Burford Holly bushes in this bed as well as four Harbor Dwarf Nandina bushes. These bushes are a pain to trim because they get very tall during the summer and send up these stray branches that grow a foot or two above the normal growth and this happens in various places on the bush. The branches get very sharp after they have been trimmed and as I bump into them while trimming other areas, I end up with blood blisters all over my arms where I have rambed into one. Also the leaves are kind of pointed and they prick you as you trim. It is not a fun job and I never look forward to having to do it but it gives you a real sense of accomplishment when the job is completed.

Next, I trimmed the bushes beside the garage. The second and third bushes are Burford Holly bushes the one on the right is another type of shrub. That was there when we moved in and I don't know exactly what kind it is but its growth and branch type is very much like the Burford Holly. The bush on the left is a Euonymus Bush that has green leaves with yellow trim. In between the two Burford Holly are two Azalea Bushes. We planted these when we first moved here and didn't leave enough room for the Azalea bushes so we are going to have to dig them up or cut them down because the other bushes crowd them out so much that they never bloom here. The low bushes are Blue Junipers like in the other bed.

In the front are blue junipers which end up growing way out upon the sidewalk. You can see how all these bushes grow by my earlier post where I showed you pictures of the work to be done. The three bushes to the left of the front porch are Burford Holly, then an Alberta Blue Spruce, the three bushes on the side are the Nandina Bushes. I don't trim the Alberta Spruce and the Nandina's don't require much trimming at all. Maybe, just one or two stray clumps and that is all.

The bushes to the right are Wintergreen Boxwood. I planted these when I first came down here. Actually we planted all the bushes that you see except the one Holly in front of the garage. I wish I knew then what I know now and had planted all the shrubs with the Wintergreen Boxwood variety. They are so easy to trim with the hedge clippers and they grow in such a uniform manner that they are very easy to care for. Sometimes, I'm tempted to cut everything else down and plant just that variety but I haven't yet.

Along the side of the house are three boxwood bushes and three azalea bushes planted alternately. There were three Burford Holly bushes in there as well but again, I realized that they were planted two close together so we cut the Burford Holly out last fall. Would you believe that they sprouted again this year and I cut of the branches again this fall. If they resprout again, I will have to use a brush killer on them or dig out the roots because I do not want them in there.

At the end of the side of the house is another Wintergreen Boxwood Holly and an Azalea bush. This Azalea bush is beautiful in the Spring of the year. Notice that my wood border is beginning to rot. I have bought some of the brick this past Spring to get started on this but never got to begin it. If we get another warm spell, I will go out and get it started beginning at the right of the front porch and probably have enough brick to get to the corner of the house. Next Spring, I will get enough brick to finish the task all the way around the side to here. We will be taking out all of these border logs which just attract termites.

Above is just off our deck and the first bush is an Azalea while the other one is a Wintergreen Boxwood.

On the other side is another Wintergreen Boxwood. There had been an Azalea bush to the right of the Boxwood on this side as well but after a few years during a drought, it died. I haven't replaced it yet but may do so in the Spring.

So now you have seen most of my trimming. I did do some trimming that I didn't take pictures of. Down the right side of the driveway, I have planted three Forsythia Bushes which kind of grow wild and occasionally, I have to trim some of the branches that grow out over the driveway and I trim them back as that happens. Just beyond that bed, I have three crepe myrtle bushes growing and I have to trim them back every fall as well. I also trim the plants down near the mailbox as they need it.

In addition to this, I also have two Euonymus Bushes and two Spiria Bushes at the side of the house bordering the edge of the lawn. These also get trimmed as needed.

This is not fun work and it is very exhausting but I like the feeling that I get when its all done. A real sense of accomplishment and the sense of a job well done. I admire it all winter long when I drive home and see the nicely trimmed bushes surrounding my home. How about you? What job do you do that when your finished, you are real proud of yourself and feel like you've really done a good job and feel a real sense of accomplishment?

Time out for yard work

2008-10-29T11:24:00.008-04:00

Autumnal view of a stone bridge

I know that I haven't posted anything for quite some time but this is a very busy time for me with a lot of yard work to do before the cold temperatures set in and I have had a few other projects that were consuming my time.

I miss all you wonderful bloggers and hope to get over to visit with you even though I may not be posting on my own site for a little bit longer until I get some of these pressing things done that I need to take care of now.

Though you have not heard from me, I have not forgotten you all and hope to get a few minutes each day to look in on you and see what you have been up to. I miss you all very much. Some of you have inquired as to my whereabouts and I appreciate your love and concern. I am doing fine but have just been very busy right now. I hope to see you all soon!

Making Progress

2008-10-03T12:55:00.010-04:00

If you all remembered that about a week ago, I posted about my new Afghan project and thought I would share with you the progress I have made so far. This is such an easy pattern and works up very fast. With the rust shade that I am now adding I have added the complete pattern of six colors twice in just a weeks time.

Below are a couple of different angles of what I have finished so far:

Below is what I had finished a week ago to give you an idea of how much I have accomplished this past week.

I'm happy with the project so far but I get bored with working on it all the time so I've been watching some TV to keep my occupied. The problem there is that there is nothing good on TV anymore so its hard to know what to watch. We have been listening to the Fox News station and keeping abreast of the political scene though with all the spin it gets to be a little wearying after a while.

I'm off to finish my laundry, clean my bedroom and bath. I hope all you lovely ladies will have a blessed day today!

Bread Making

2008-10-01T15:54:00.013-04:00

I have been requested to post the recipes for the Breads that I blogged about yesterday, so here they are:

Irish Soda Bread

1/3 cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats

1-1/2 cups Buttermilk

1-1/2 Tbsp. Butter or Margerine

3 Tbsp. Dark Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup Bread Flour

2 Tbsp. Oat Bran

3 Tbsp. Raisins

1 Tbsp. Caraway Seeds

2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

This makes a 1-1/2 pound loaf of bread.

1. Place all the ingredients in Bread Pan. Select Medium Crust and the Whole Wheat Cycle and press start.

2. Observe the dough as it kneads. After 5 to 10 minutes, if it appears dry and stiff, add more liquid l tablespoon at a time until dough forms a smooth, soft, pliable ball that is slightly tacky to the touch.

3. After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on cake rack, and allow to cool one hour before slicing.

Zuni Indian Bread

1 cup Buttermilk

1 Egg

1-1/2 Tbsp. Butter or Margerine

3 Tbsp. Molasses

1-1/2 tsp. Salt

1-2/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup Bread Flour

1/3 cup Cornmeal

1/3 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds

1-1/2 Tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten (Optional)

3 tsp. Red Star Brand Active Dry Yeast

This makes a 1-1/2 pound loaf of bread.

1. Place all ingredients in bread machine pan. Select Medium Crust setting then the Whole Wheat Cycle and press start.

2. Observe the dough as it kneads. After 5 to 10 minutes, if it appears dry and stiff, add more liquid 1 Tbsp. at a time.

3. After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on cake rack and allow to cool 1 hour before slicing.

Black Forest Pumpernickle

1-1/4 cup Water

1-1/2 Tbsp. Oil

1/3 cup Molasses

1-1/2 tsp. Salt

1-1/2 cup Bread Flour

1 cup Rye Flour

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

3 Tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten (Optional)

3 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder

1 Tbsp. Caraway Seed

2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

The Bread Machine Directions are the same as in the Bread above. Yield = 1-1/2 pound loaf.

Sunny California Bread

1/2 to 3/4 cup Orange Juice

1/2 cup Milk

1 Egg

2 Tbsp. Butter or Margerine

3 Tbsp. Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 cups Bread Flour

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1-1/2 Tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten (Optional)

1 Tbsp. Grated Orange Rind

1/2 cup Raw Unsalted Sunflower Seeds

2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Follow the directions for the breads above. Makes one 1-1/2 pound loaf.

These breads are delicious and I hope that you enjoy them as much as we do. For other Bread Recipes see my previous posts for Cooking/Baking.

Fall Yard Work

2008-09-30T19:13:00.027-04:00

I don't know about what you might have to do in the fall season as far as outdoor work is concerned but every fall, I have the job of trimming the bushes in our flower beds and getting everything done in the beds before winter sets in.

My husband would do this but I won't let him because it is the only time that I can get some fresh air and I insist on being the one to do it though if it proves to be too much at any point, I can rely on him to help me but for now, this is something that I can do and that I like doing.

Once I get the beds in order, they are good until summer. In the Spring of the year, everything looks so good but as Summer comes along and into the Fall, these bushes start growing funny. What I mean by that is that instead of growing evenly, they send up these wild stray shoots in every direction that all of a sudden changes your hedges from looking neat and trim to looking like something wild and unmanagable.

So yesterday, I decided that I would get a start on this project since it takes me about a week or more to get this job done. I will usually work one day and then do something in the house for a couple of days since bending over all day long in the garden usually takes its toll on my back and I need a couple of days to recuperate before doing it again.

First I started out by spraying the weeds that grow up along the driveway on the both sides and in the ditch and around the mailbox. It seems that the weeds will just take over if you don't keep a watch on them. So I go around and spray them every couple of months from Spring until late Fall.

See how the weeds grow up through the bricks. That is even with black plastic laid down during the building process of laying this brick.

This is some pictures of the areas that get out of hand. During the season, there will be one kind of weed that will grow and I will spray but before too long, there will be a different variety of weed that will take the place of the first one to take over my lawn; then a third, a fourth and yes, you've guessed it, it never stops. Then, of course, there is always the crab grass that is a constant problem. There are a variety of weeds that will come up along the driveway.

In the ditch near the road....

Above the drainage ditch......

And near the mailbox close to the road.....

After I sprayed all these areas, I started trimming some of the bushes that needed to be trimmed back for fall. Such as my Juniper Bushes.....

You can see how they grow and start sending shoots out over the sidewalk. I trim these back every fall. There are also the Burford Holly bushes that need to be trimmed.

Now I will show you what I got accomplished after spraying the weeds and spending three hours outside.

I trimmed these three Blue Juniper Bushes.

Then I trimmed the Nanina Bushes.

And I got a start on trimming the Burford Holly Bushes.

In between doing this, I made two loaves of Bread. A Zuni Indian Bread....

I started this in the morning before I went outside to trim. Then in the afternoon after lunch, I made this loaf of Black Forest Pumpernickle Bread.

On Friday, I had made two loaves of Bread one was called Sunny California Bread with orange rind in it. This is delicious toasted in the morning.

and I also made a Irish Soda Bread which I have pictured below.

There is no better smell in the kitchen than to have a loaf of bread baking. So now, you know what I did yesterday. Today, I rested up and spent a great deal of time in the Scriptures. It rained hard this afternoon, so that was perfect weather for an afternoon in the Word. Tomorrow I will be back in the garden.