Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

1. Give us three rhyming words that say something about your Thanksgiving holiday (or your most recent holiday gathering if you didn't celebrate Thanksgiving).  
   1. Fast- This holiday was quick.  Time flew!
   2. Blast- Time flew because we were having such a great time.
   3. Last- This is the last holiday of the year that all of Jeremiah's family gets together.  Those that travel stay home for Christmas. 

2. When did you last say, 'the more the merrier'? Did you mean it?  I can't exactly say when I used that saying last.  I use it a lot.  Every time we have get together's we love to have more.  I definitely mean it when I say it! 

3. What's one piece of advice you'd give someone who is your same age?  This is tough as I could really use the advice! LOL  I am entering into a stage of life where my kids aren't as dependent on me anymore and are branching out onto other things.  They do most of their school themselves so I am not necessarily needed there anymore. They are teens and it is hard to sometimes let go.  I guess my advice would be to enjoy every moment of time together we can.  They will be flying the coop way to soon!

4. You're ordering a veggie plate, what four veggies are on it? 
   1. Carrots
   2. Cauliflower
   3. Broccoli
   4. Radishes

5. Shop til you drop! Did you? Have you ever? Will you between now and Christmas?  I didn't shop til I dropped.  I may have in my early twenties though.  I will shop again but it isn't my favorite thing to do.  I detest shopping.

6. What's your favorite chair in your house, and why is it a favorite?  A favorite chair is actually a glider with a matching ottoman.  A dear friend gave us this glider set and it is so comfortable!!!!  I love to sit and read on it. I think it may actually be a favorite chair for a lot of the family.  It isn't comfortable to take a nap in though.  I fell asleep in it one time while reading. I woke with a terrible kink in my neck!  LOL  It is also a great chair to be in while holding my baby nephew! Awesome!  It gets a lot of usage! 

7. Share an early memory of faith, religion, or spirituality. I have so many memories that picking one is hard. I guess I will go with one from my teen years.  I was in our church youth group.  It was different from many of the ones today.  Our group met to help others; like an outreach ministry and we spent a lot of time learning the Scriptures and how to apply them to our lives.  Occasionally we would go for ice cream and once we had a sledding party. That was fun!

8. Insert your own random thought here.   It's amazing that Christmas will be here soon.  I can't believe that we are at the end of November already! We have only had one snow so far this season.  It seems weird!  LOL  Today it is raining!  It should be snow... I am not wanting snow but it makes it seem more festive.  We have had the Christmas music playing since Thanksgiving and it is starting to look like Christmas in our home!  The tree is up and some decorations have been set out.  It's an exciting time of the year!

Update, Again!

   I think that I stated a while back that I was going to do better posting.  Umm...Well, that didn't happen!  I have been too busy living life instead of blogging.  I figured that today would be a good day to update you on what has been happening here.  

   Ryder and I were under the weather last week.  He had a sore throat and head cold and I had a stuffy head.  I wasn't really sick, sick- just icky sick. I was also really tired.  Everything I did wore me out. Ryder was much worse than I was.  He spent much of his week on the couch or in bed.  He wasn't even upset that he didn't get to go to homeschool group that week so I knew he was still sick.  He is still a bit clogged in the head but doing much better.  Madi went to work this morning but she told me that her throat was a bit sore.  I told her to call me if she needed to leave work early.  She has a really nice boss and manager at her store so if she needs to leave there shouldn't be a problem. Jeremiah has been able to stay clear of the crud.

   We went to a Thanksgiving dinner for my side of the family last Saturday.  My mom hosted it and she kept it pretty small this year but we have enough leftovers to go home with each of us.  She made everything but I brought the rolls. Mom only had us, my brother C and his family and my uncle and friend K. My brother J lives in FL and didn't make it home. We enjoyed getting to visit and it was just a nice family meal.  One more reason to be thankful.  On Thanksgiving day, we went to Jeremiah's parent's house.  I took candied carrots, that we canned this year, and coleslaw.  They host all Jeremiah's extended family.  It is a large, noisy affair with lots and lots of food.  You never get the time back so we enjoy all the time we get to spend with our families.

   Madi really, really wanted to go Black Friday shopping so I broke down and went with her.  One positive thing is; Madi isn't a morning person so she had no interest in getting up at O dark-thirty to go. I have not gone Black Friday shopping in years.  I used to take both kids when they were babies with me to shop because Jerm was working. We had a good time shopping. A couple of those years when the kids were babies in diapers and really little my father-in-law even went with us to help out.  Those are precious memories that we will never forget so even though I didn't want to go shopping I went and it made my daughter extremely happy.  Another day of memory making!

  After Black Friday shopping it is a tradition to go to my in-laws again for another supper. My mother-in-law always makes turkey pot-pies with the leftover turkey and some of the left over veggies.  We eat up most of the leftovers and bring some new dishes to feed everyone again.  I decided to take a big crockpot full of baked potatoes and a container of sour cream along with the left over coleslaw.

   Speaking of memories...  This is just a weird thought that I had last week.  Madi and I were in the car going somewhere, I can't remember where but, I was driving and went to change the radio station.  When I looked at my hand I could have sworn it was my mom's or grandma's (mom's mom) hand and not mine!  Isn't that crazy?  Grandma has been gone for many years now but my memories of her are still clear. OK, so really my hand isn't as wrinkly yet but the shape and just the movement caused me to picture one of their hands. I should state that Mom's hand isn't really wrinkly yet either but still... I shared it with Madi who put her hand out with mine and was rather appalled that her lovely, young hands would one day end up with age spots and wrinkles!   HAHA!

   Since we have been doing a lot of running lately, you know that the laundry has fallen behind.  Yep, Mt. Laundry has peaked.  I am remedying that today.  I have two loads washed and on the line to dry.  Jeremiah has furnace fire going so it shouldn't be long for them to dry and I will start another load.  While Madi and I were shopping yesterday, Jerm sent me a picture of a cleaned up kitchen. He and Ryder cleaned the house while we were out.  What wonderful guys.  Jerm said that he didn't think I wanted to come home from shopping all day to tackle the mess from the previous day.  So sweet of him!   

  Well, that's all the time I am going to take today to post.  Hope everyone is having a blessed day. 

Canning shelves for 2016

   I am finally finished canning for 2016.  The only thing that I may have to can is venison if Ryder or Jeremiah get another deer.  We froze the meat from the doe Ryder already got.  My mom needs some venison so the next deer will go to her but both boys can get a doe and a buck each.  We only harvest what we will eat so really we only need to get two more deer.  One for mom and one more for us. 

Here is the break down on the jars.

 ::The first shelf from the ceiling is our tomato soup.  We have already eaten a lot of jars.  Madi has eaten the bulk of those jars.  She took them to work.  :-)

::The second shelf is salsa on the left and carrots on the right.  I may end up canning more carrots because they are so convenient to have on hand.  One of Ryder's favorite sides is sweet carrots. I melt some butter and brown sugar together.  When it is blended I just add a jar of drained carrots and heat it thoroughly. Easy peasy.   

::On the third shelf starting from the left is grape juice then some applesauce from last year, then some spaghetti sauce that I also canned last year. Next in line is some spicy banana peppers and some peaches- again from last year.  Finishing up that shelf is jams.  I have elderberry, peach and blueberry.

::The fourth shelf is the green beans.

::The bottom shelf from the left is red beets, venison, honey and maple syrup.

   That's a wrap on this year.  Hopefully I haven't bored you with all the canning updates. Until next time, be blessed and enjoy this November! 

From My Front Porch

 

  It has been a bit since I posted by life has been a bit busy.  I did take pictures from our front porch every Friday in October.  The leaves were beautiful.  I will post the nicest ones today. 

This photo starts out early October.  The leaves were just starting to turn.

 



We had some rainy days.  I couldn't help but snap a shot on those days.

 



Some of the trees turned quicker than others. 

 



The sky was beautiful and blue this day.  It helped to show the beautiful colors.

 



The line in this picture is an electric line. I wanted to try to zoom in a bit on some of the orange and red and the line came with it!  :-)

 



 

Another beautiful sky picture!

 

 

And then the storms came.... Leaves fell quickly.  The only ones left are on the oaks....

 

 

I hope you enjoyed a little bit of October from our perspective. I enjoyed taking the pictures and tracking the leaf coloring process.  My dad always says that the leaves are the flowers of Fall. 

 

I hate to say it but next....comes the snow!  It may be a bit (hopefully) until the snow falls but when it does, I will get a picture of it from the front porch.