Happy Halloween...

 K.I.S.S. aka Moon Daisy

 Luke Skywalker aka Brown Hawk

Zombie aka Crazy Hair

Darth Vadar aka Tall Feathers

Arrrrg aka Fuzzy

and the birthday girl aka Daley

Happy Halloween!!!

Goals For Monday...

Tomorrow will be my first full week at home since November 1, 2010 and I have a list that seems to grow longer and longer as I contemplate what to do with myself this week. For starters, tonight I pulled everything out of my sewing room into the hallway. I am determined to get it organized. In the year that I have been keeping Fuzzy and Tallfeathers I have allowed it to get to the point where I can barely get in the door much less think about sewing, so my goal for Monday is a clean and organized sewing room and an empty hallway.

"I never suspected this room was so large. I would have said I could do the whole thing in an hour. But then, I never knew it was so bloomin' dirty."~~Grace Livingston Hill-April Gold

I have been reading Grace Livingston Hill lately. Another goal for Monday--finish Cloudy Jewel.

                                                   

Happy Halloween!!!

                                                      

Happy Birthday Daley...

Our youngest

25 years

Since her birthday is October 29th she loves Halloween.

Happy Birthday. Love ya little Daley.

Have a great day!!!

Fuzzy Friday...

Hope you have a Fuzzy Friday too!!!

Goodbye Fuzzy & Tallfeathers...

One year ago on November 1st, 2010 I started keeping Fuzzy and Tallfeathers 4 days a week. I live an hour away so I would come on Sunday and leave on Thursday as soon as my daughter got home from work. The plan was for my daughter to work for 1 year, which she had committed too and then quit work and be a stay-at-home mom. She didn't want to put Fuzzy in day-care for that year and I didn't want her to either, so that's how it began. It has worked perfectly, but the year is up today and it's bittersweet. Sweet because I really do need to get back home. You can imagine after a solid year the things I have put on hold or just plain put off, but bitter because I won't be here with my babies. There will be no one to put down for a nap at noon, no place I have to be at 3:00 when school lets out, no homework to help with, no supper to start and my posts won't be filled with near as many pictures of Fuzzy and Tall Feathers, but I really don't live that far away.

My quilt club and church family hardly remember who I am. My two chihuahua's have patiently been dragged along with me week after week and will no doubt be grateful for their big green pillow covered in lots of blankets to snuggle under, their matching food bowls and their little beds throughout the house. When I started keeping the kids I had nine cats. I am down to two. They seem to have taken up residents with my closest neighbor's. I am going to try to retrieve some of them while telling myself that four is enough. Ha.






I have had someone collecting the mail, tending my
garden, feeding my cats, and keeping an eye on the place, but it's time for me to get back to business. So, sadly when I leave here at 5:30 I will close this chapter, go home and open another one. That's the great thing about life. You just move through it, take it as it comes, do the best you can do and it always works out and I really don't live that far away.

Have a great day!!!

The Jesus Storybook Bible Review...

"Every story whispers His name..."

The Jesus Storybook Bible is a children's book that tells 43 Bible stories from the book of Genesis through Revelation.

Published: 2007
Author: Sally Lloyd-Jones
Age: 4-8 years
Purchase: Amazon

Review:
Let me start by saying this is a good version of a children's bible storybook. At the center of every story is Jesus, but the author takes some liberties in her attempts to make it understandable for children that I really can't approve of. An example is Jesus playing games with children. Some of these things may or may not have happened, but the bible doesn't tell us this, so why not stay true to the bible . I think it is a good storybook as long as we correct it as we go and don't consider it a children's bible.
Have a nice day!  
    

Hot Sauce For A Crowd...

Today I made my families favorite hot sauce. I love the look of just filled canning jars sitting on the counter waiting to cool and be eaten or stored away for another day. 

Ingredients:

5-6 cans of diced tomatoes * 1 can of hot Rotel * 1 Tbs. Garlic Powder * 1 large onion, coarsely chopped * 5-6 jalapenos, chopped * 1/8 cup salt * 1/4 cup sugar (optional) * cilantro

 My food processor is not large enough to hold all of the tomatoes, so I put a couple of cans of tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients into the processor and pulse until it looks right. I don't like it pureed I like to see the vegetables, but not to the point of being chunky. 

When it is to your liking empty into a large bowl. Put the rest of the tomatoes in the processor and pulse. Add to vegetable mixture and stir well. Fill jars and store in refrigerator. I have on occasion boxed the jars and shipped them to my son. When I do this I heat the mixture in order to seal the jars. This hot sauce doesn't last long enough at our house to worry about it. Makes 7 pints.

I have modified this recipe over the years. I no longer add the sugar and we like it fine, I use a little less than the 1/8 cup of salt(this is a coffee scoop) and sometimes I use canned peppers. Tweek it to your liking and enjoy!!!

Have a great week!

Man Cave...

I spent 6 hours at the Chevy House this morning getting my pick-up serviced. I watched two fishing shows, four hunting shows, drank strong coffee, watched a football game (with no idea who was playing) and perused the magazines-Outdoor Life, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Bass Master, Motor Trend, Sports Illustrated...

It was O.K. though, I took my knitting, my purse to clean out, my checkbook to balance, a tablet to write on and my phone to keep me busy. I was "prepared".

I wasn't prepared however, for how educational it would turn out to be. Upon leaving I had learned the "Secret Tactics and Tips to Hunt Public Land", how to "sneak up on a Buck", why I should never go bass fishing without a hefty supply of "Bladed Jigs", the top 17 cars that are going to get my pulse racing in 2012 (can't wait), the "Hunting Forecast", and that spring football is the "other March Madness", but the best tidbit that I gleaned from this experience is the fact that it is a must that I run out immediately and get "Scent Away" spray and accessories because it is going to help me to be invisible on every hunt. Do tell.

After sitting for two hours I learned that for approximately $2,300.00 I could sit four more hours and drive away in a like-new 2006 Chevy Silverado. I opted for $1,400.00, four more hours and an almost like-new 2006 Chevy Silverado and a promise to bring it in every couple of months until I gain the""like-new" status.

Afterwards I stopped at Robertson's and bought a pound of my favorite peppered turkey, came home, made a sandwich and am mulling over whether all the "like-new" status and the "useful education" is worth entering into that "Man-Cave" again.

Have a great week!!!   

Women's Retreat...

Tonight I returned from a three day retreat in Maypearl, Texas.

 It was awesome!

The food was great!

Oh, and the speakers were good too.

On Thursday we listened as christian recording artist Tammy Trent gave her testimony and on Friday and Saturday we were privileged to hear Gail McWilliams.

 I'll share a couple of "nuggets" from each of these amazing ladies.

"If joy is dependant on circumstances then all the devil has to do is keep you in a set of bad circumstances"~~Tammy Trent

"Don't be limited by your past, choose today to move into that new season in your life, and find your joy"~~Tammy Trent

"You are not stuck, you have been positioned"~~Gail McWilliams

"You were born on purpose, with a purpose, for a purpose, God's purpose."~~Gail McWilliams 

Have a super Saturday!!!

Kelsey's Photo Challenge...

Kelsey at Ray of Sunshine is hosting a Photo Challenge

the theme is Music.

Follow the link to see the other photos.

Have a nice day!!!

Rain=Mosquitoes...

The much needed rain has been a blessing, but with it comes things you never missed. One example-the mosquito's. No rain usually means no mosquitoes, but just a mild shower can bring on a multitude of the nasty little buggers. Imagine the 6 inches we had recently. 

 Fuzzy may have to stay indoors a few days.

Have a great day!!!

Tall Feather's Haunted House...

I helped Tall Feathers make a haunted house out of paper last week. The pattern left over from my days of teaching school. He loved it and keeps wanting to "decorate" it more. I'm thinking a pair of skeleton earrings dangling from the tree would look good, but can't remember to bring them.
Here are the results:

I don't really go in for things that have a strong flavor of the supernatural or ungodly things. I don't like it in movies, books, or holidays, but at the same time I think that the power of an object is the power we give it. I give no power to a jack-0-lantern or a paper ghost hanging from a twig or a cloth dracula or any costume. Trick-or-treating or dressing up in scary costumes is just fun. It doesn't bother me a bit because I know where the real power lies and it certainly isn't demons on Halloween night just because it's Halloween night-that would be giving too much power to the idea of Halloween. Halloween is kids having fun and I have fun with it too.

Hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday!!!

Fact or Fiction...

Since it's almost Halloween I thought I would share a creepy story.
One day not too long ago my aunt and I were going to visit a cemetery outside of town when she started to tell me a story about a witch's grave. The story goes that this lady was a witch and when she died they wouldn't let her be buried in the cemetery with the rest of the people, so she is across from the cemetery in a fenced in area all by herself. She asked if I wanted her to take me there. Of course I said yes.

 The grave is hidden in a grove of trees. 

Driving into the grove.

 The grave.

The inscription on the tombstone was impossible to read, so I had to go inside the fence to do a rubbing. The inscription read, "Asleep with Jesus, a sleep from which no one ever wakes to weep".

 Now that is creepy.

I have tried to look this name up on the Internet to find out more about this lady, but no results. 

I don't know if it's fact or fiction, but either way it makes a good Halloween story.

Have a terrific Tuesday!!!

14 More Days 'Till Halloween, Halloween...

October is one of my favorite months of the year. I love scary movies. The creepier the better. I'm not much for blood and gore, but give me a good creepy movie, turn the lights off and I love it.
My favorite part of any scary movie is when the suspense is just right and I yell "AHHH" as loud as I can and everyone in the room jumps and screams. It's just too good.
Some of my recommendations if you are in the mood for a creepy movie on Halloween night are "The Wolfman", "The Mummy's Hand", "The Skeleton Key", "Shutter", "Lady in White", "Watcher in the Woods"and "Halloween 3".

Forget the movies these pictures give me the creeps.

No Michael Meyers.

A Disney movie with Bette Davis.

And don't forget the full moon.

Have a great week!!!

How About Them Rangers...

The Texas Rangers have won the pennant for the second year in a row.

GO RANGERS!!!

 Cruz after his walk-off grand slam in Game 2.

Fuzzy Friday...

Hope you have your own "Fuzzy Friday".

Bits of Beauty...

When I went to visit my dad yesterday a lone Spider Lily met me beside the front step. It was a bit of unexpected beauty. The kind that takes your breath away.

Then around the corner

 and on the fence-more beauty.

It just goes to show what a good rain can do.

Have a fun Friday!!!

Commonplace Things...

"We look for visions from heaven, for earthquakes and thunders of God's power, and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us". ~~ Oswald Chambers(Feb. 7)

Look A Likes...

Have a terrific Tuesday.

4 and 20 Black Birds...

I fell in love with these little birds a couple of years ago and have been looking for one ever since. I found them in Fredricksburg Saturday.

Ceramic Pie Birds have been used since Victorian times. When placed in the center of the pie they keep it from boiling over by letting the steam escape from inside the pie.

The earliest "pie funnels" were glass or earthenware and collectors will pay hundreds of dollars for just the right one.

  These pictures from the Internet look so good I can't wait to try mine out.  

Have a great Monday!!!