MomM

Should have cleaned the house last night, but instead sat down and started reading. A little over 5 hours later(and close to 1 a.m.) I finished it. Couldn't put it down. Really enjoyed it. You made the characters so real, and I liked the Christian tone, especially to some very real and very difficult situations. Thank you so much for writing it. Now looking forward to your next book.

I just bought the Kindle version, can't wait to start reading.

DH and I lost a very dear friend on Saturday. She had fought cancer twice, but had a brain bleed Friday night, and died Saturday. We are so grateful that God put her in our lives. She blessed us so much. What a true Christian, who lived by example and gave wise counsel. We also have a 41 year old niece fighting breast cancer and just found out a 61 year old cousin has breast cancer. Praying for miracles for them both. Then just read about Old Maine Bear's passing. sigh

Congratulations! Waiting (not so patiently) for the kindle edition.

While I'm having a quick cup of tea, I thought I'd sit down and look around this wonderful site. DH and I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a peacefilled 2012. 2011 was a very full year for our family. DH retired and it has been a blessing! Children #4 and 5 both announced their engagements. They have chosen wisely and we are so happy to be adding a new daughter-in-law to our family in Feb. 2012 and a new son-in-law in May 2012. Grandchild #6 arrived the first of December and he has blessed the whole family. Even though the times are so uncertain, our faith is giving us peace. God is soooo Good! Tea time is over, now back to my long list of things to accomplish before Christmas Eve.

(((((Annarchy))))) Praying for you all.

Welcome fouber! glad you are here

Praying for your DS and you.

7 pints of seasoned ground beef last night.

I canned 7 quarts of spaghetti sauce last night.

Sunday: 7 quarts of beef stew.

It's so nice to be able to post with the correct date. Yeah! Our weekend at Darlene's was so wonderful, but also so tiring. I think we averaged 5 hours sleep/night. It's amazing how much we crammed into a weekend! As usual, I brought a camera and then forgot to use it. Thankfully Wormguy took pictures. Today I cleaned the house and then tonight DH and I went to our church and hung, our Church's historical quilt from 2005, from the choir loft. It's about 7 ft wide and about 8 ft long. We printed pictures of most of the pastors, some of the stained glass windows and statues on to fabric and sewed them on to the quilt; plus we asked our parishoners to create blocks for the quilts. The purpose of the quilt is to commenorate our 140th anniversary of our church, and also be a historical record. This coming Sunday we will be installing our 24th pastor. So now we're home and I thought I'd check in before going to sleep. I'm going to have to close, as I can barely kkep my eyes open. Take care, everyone.

4 qts of spaghetti sauce today.

Oh Stephanie, they sound so cool! When I have more time I will go investigate their site. Thank you!

My blog won't let me post a date past 2009. Still haven't figured out how to correct it. Oh well, life is not boring. DH, DS#2 and I just returned home, from DD#2's home, last night. We went up there last Wed, and had a wonderful visit with the family. The grandchildren are getting so big (almost 10 and almost 5). On Sat. evening, we went to the National Geographic Museum to see the "TerraCotta Warriors" from China. What a wonderful exhibit! It was amazing to see all these amazing artifacts from 200 -300 B.C. and the workmanship was inspiring. What was a little distressing at the exhibit, was the rudeness of some of the folks. DSIL was carrying a sleeping DGS, and had people run into him, or cut in front of him - and not even say "excuse me". While visiting I was able to finish the sllipcover I started last June for their dining room chair and made a slipcover for the other dining room chair, and also hemmed a pair of pants for DGD. DH helped DGD make an "Anne Frank" wooden spoon doll for a class assignment. We also got to attend a play practice for DGD's play (we won't be able to attend), and DGS's gymnastic's class. DD made some great dishes, and I'm going to have to get her recipes. I was dragging today, but did get the laundry caught up, and also the ironing. DS#1 and DDIL and one of their friends, DS#2 and DD#3and DGS all came for dinner tonight. I opened up 2 quarts of my spaghetti sauce and cooked up some pasta, made a salad and corn and had ice cream and cookies for dessert. I'm going to have to close and get some sleep. Tomorrow while DD#3 works, I'll be babysitting her almost 3 yr old. He is such a joy, but is also quite energetic. Take care, everyone!

P.S. I'm trying to get around the software to let me post in 2010, but no luck so far. So, I'm letting the computer think I'm posting the last day of Dec. Boy, I have so much to learn about computers! I'm also ashamed to see that I haven't posted since Sept. One reason is just not being inspired to write, and another is shortage of free time (like everyone else, I know). Right now I'm fighting a bad cold/crud ??? So, this may not be coherent. Last weekend, we were snowed/iced in, but did have power, thank you Lord! It was just DH and myself as youngest DD and DGS were at her boyfriend's (father of DGS) home. It was so nice and peaceful. DH had the crud, so he had time to rest and I had time to work on a prayer quilt. I had cleaned the house on Friday, and it stayed cleaned. When we would be snowed in with the kids all still at home, I would spend the whole time, cooking, baking (kids well fed were happy kids - lol)and doing laundry (every time they would come in from playing in the snow - didn't want to have wet clothes laying around if the power would go out). We tried to go to church on Sunday, but couldn't get down the hill, so we came home and read the Scriptures for the day. Today, we still have some snow on the ground but the temp is above freezing and the sun is shining. I'm still working on the prayer quilt, but it is closer to being finished. Funny story about this quilt. Back in Dec. while DH was having a physical, I sat in the waiting room and worked on a prayer quilt for a friend from church who will be having open heart surgery tomorrow. This little old white haired lady with a walker came over to see what I was doing. She said, I wish I could have a prayer quilt. I took a deep breath, then told her I wouldn't be able to work on one for her till Jan.; and asked her what color she likes "blue". I wrote her name and phone number down in my planner, and hope to be able to call her next week to arrange a time to meet to give her the quilt. DH asked me if she is coherent enough to remember that she wanted a quilt. I said if she doesn't want it, I know that God will have someone ready to use it. Never a dull moment around here. DH will be 61 in a couple of weeks and it looks like we will be making home made pizza for his birthday dinner. Just not sure what day we will get to celebrate it - logistics are a little daunting to try to get the whole family all together. I have started making the artisan bread in 5 minutes or less a day, and the family really likes it. The last two sets of dough I used wheat flour that I ground myself. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 5 1/2 cups unbleached flour the first time, and 2 cups whole wheat flour and 4 1/2 cups unbleached flour the second time. Both very good, and soooo very easy! I was at WalMart a couple of weeks ago, and they had heirloom seeds "Ferry Morse"brand I think. They were $2/pkg. I bought 10 pkgs, and can't wait for Spring and getting the garden in. Last year, at Lowes, we bought the AeroGarden and accessories on clearance. We are eating lettuce from it and are growing tomatoes. DD#3 set it up for me over Christrmas. (We had also bought one for her and they were already using theirs and loving it). If I can find it on clearance again, I would buy another one to start seeds with. Enough rambling. Take care everyone!

I have no idea where the computer will post this blog, as I still can't use the correct date. Where did the summer go??? I can't believe that Sept. is next week. DH and I, with some help from our kids, have been redoing our home. We started with our hall bathroom (took down the popcorn ceiling, ripped up the vinyl, took out the vanity, medicine cabinet, toilet, wallpaper border and towel fixtures. DS#1 laid down ceramic tile, and helped DH install the vanity, faucet, toilet and backsplash, and DS#2 helped DH install the floor molding, and DDIL painted the room and ceiling. It came out so wonderful! Then, we took down the popcorn ceilings in the hallway, living room, kitchen and two of the three bedrooms, and our master bathroom. We also painted all those rooms. It was soooo long overdue. We just have our bedroom and bath to do. But, DS#1 is in graduate school and I don't know when he will have the time to tile our bathroom floor. DH can install the new vanity and toilet and paint the room; but feels unsure about the tiling. We may try and take down the popcorn ceiling in our Master Bedroom, maybe next week???, and then paint the room. I did get to can 10 pints of tomato sauce, and hope to can some ground beef later today. I need to close and do some sewing while DD#3 and GS are out doing errands. I'm hoping to get serious with my canning, starting next week. Well, enough rambling. Everyone have a great weekend! Looking forward to seeing everyone at Darlene's, and all those who won't be able to come, you will be missed.

This has been a very busy Birthday week for our family. DD#2 was Tuesday, DGS#1 was Wed, DD#1 was Thursday. Today we'll have DGS's party - pizza and cake. It continually amazes me how fast the years go by! It's also so exciting to see our children and grandchildren grow up and be such fantastic and caring adults and for the little ones to be so amazed at the world around them. We are so blessed, and I am so thankful! Today is a beautiful day - sunny and blue skies. DH has next Friday off, and since we won't be at church till evening, we hope to work on the yard and plant some mums, etc. DH loves for the yard to be in bloom for Easter. Some years, we have even resorted to putting silk flowers out in the gardens since the weather wasn't cooperating. We also plan to add another container garden to the 2 existing ones and maybe another bucket or two for some more tomatoes. Have a blessed day, everyone!

Amen, Stephanie! I sometimes need to just take a moment and a deep breath (or two or more) to listen to what He wants me to do. Then I can.

Welcome Katz25, glad you are here. You are not too late to start prepping. Just do what you can do. Also remember to wash you hands a lot!

How did Sept. get here so quickly? One nice (but there are others) thing about Sept. is TN football. Can you tell we live in Knoxville - home of the TN Vols? lol What is funny, is that DH and I were never big football fans, - until we moved here. We laugh and say that your blood turns orange when you move here. This a.m. I woke up early (for a Saturday) and canned 3 quarts of chicken breasts, did laundry and took a load to the dump (convience center to be politically correct) and back home for a quick shower and sat down to watch the game with DH at 12:21 p.m. During the game I ironed DH's shirts and pinned the hems in two baby blankets. After I finish this post, will change clothes for 6 p.m. Mass (DH is doing the music and cantoring). Tomorrow, the family will gather late afternoon for a BBQ at DD#1's. We are all going to bring our own burgers/hot dogs, buns, drinks and something else. We will bring lettuce and brownies. I used "MiniMe" to can the chicken. It's the All American 910 (holds 4 quarts or 7 pints). It is so handy when I'm canning smaller amounts, and so much easier on my back. But, I still love my AA 925 for the larger loads, eg spaghetti sauce, chilli, soup, broth, etc. I'm finding that when I can meat, it is usually in 4 quart amounts. I have one more batch of tomatoes to can from the garden and I think that will be then end of them. The Romas did beautifully, but the others didn't. The green peppers did much better than last year. We grew 2 zuchini- made great bread. The lettuce did well too. Potatoes only 2 small ones, haven't harvested the sweet potatoes, and the carrots are still very small. Depending on how tired I am tonight, I may try and work on the two baby blankets. A friend just adopted a baby girl. Then I need to make a baby quilt for a new great-nephew that is due in Oct. I washed the material today, and I think I know that pattern I will use. But, you never know as usually my quilts take on a life of their own. Have a great weekend, everyone!