Easy Recipe for Hot Weather

Photo by: Taste of Home

Today was my son's fifteenth birthday and
I fixed him this cake for his birthday.
It is super easy and the secret is the ice
cream sandwiches.
I made it one time because my kids wanted
a ice cream cake for their birthday and the
Baskin Robbins was all the way across town.
So I found this and it has become a favorite.

• 12-15 Servings
• Prep: 15 min. + freezing

Ingredients

• 19 ice cream sandwiches
• 1 carton (12 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 jar (11-3/4 ounces) hot fudge ice cream topping
• 1 cup salted peanuts

Directions

• Cut one ice cream sandwich in half. Place one whole and one half sandwich along a short side of an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. pan. Arrange eight sandwiches in opposite direction in the pan. Spread with half of the whipped topping. Spoon fudge topping by teaspoonfuls onto whipped topping. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup peanuts. Repeat layers with remaining ice cream sandwiches, whipped topping and peanuts (pan will be full).
• Cover and freeze for up to 2 months. Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before serving. Cut into squares. Yield: 15 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 piece equals 375 calories, 17 g fat (9 g saturated fat), 25 mg cholesterol, 116 mg sodium, 48 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein.

Ice Cream Sandwich Desserts published in Quick Cooking September/October 2000, p14

It was hot today. We are finally are getting summer. It will be in

90s the rest of the week. Yahoo!!! I love summer.

Remind me of this in August when I am going nuts because of the heat.

Happy Monday!

Simply Sunday

Today is the day we remember those who have
given their lives so we may enjoy freedom.
Today I honor those people.

My BBQ/ Smoker

My brother came by on my birthday and brought me
this. I was very skeptical and not very excited. I was
a bit overwhelmed. I bought a regular BBQ gas grill
for my birthday last year. I really would rather cook
outside than in the house.
Forgive me if I sound like a infomercial. This thing is
amazing. It uses pellets which are completely bio-degradable.
Not to mention it smells amazing. I like to grab a cup of coffee,
and sit outside while it heats up and pretend I am camping.
It is like a oven in that you set the temperature and it stays
there. You can BBQ or you can smoke like we did last weekend,
a Tri-tip for a couple of hours. There is no burning at all of the meat.
My husband is not a fan of hot dogs, but somehow I messed up one
weekend and didn't really have anything for dinner and I suggested
hot dogs and he said okay, they turned out to be gourmet. When we
went grocery shopping again, he suggested hot dogs.
We will be cooking on it all weekend. Hot dogs and hamburgers
on Saturday, Ribs on Sunday, Chicken on Monday. My brother
even cooks pizza on his. I am going to try that soon.
It is called a Traeger Pellet Grill. I wish I could talk my husband
into sleeping in a tent outside too. I love camping.
Have a wonderful Saturday!

Red Work

One of the things I love is red work. I started doing
red work because I was always sitting in places
waiting for children in lessons. I could take red
thread, a needle and scissors and I could keep
my hands busy while I waited.

These are from patterns I bought from Bird Brain Designs.

This one is from a pattern called Redwork Quilts
by Tricia Cribbs. I like making little quilts just
so I can be finished in one day. I enjoyed red
work so much before I discovered rug hooking.
I have a very busy weekend. There is 3 birthdays
this weekend, so I don't think I will be doing much
sewing. Lots of cooking.
Have a wonderful Friday. I will be planning menus
and buying food and getting it ready for this weekend.
Happy Friday!

Thankful Thursday

These are my Black-eyed Susan's in my front
flowerbed. I think they are so pretty. I get so much
enjoyment out of watching them blow in the breeze,
I cut them and bring them in the house. For a cut
flower they last a long time.
Today was baby day at Gama's house. I have always
wanted a magazine like Country Living or Better Homes
and Garden come in and show me how to do a house beautiful
with lots of people who live in a house. One of the things
I have thought about is there are two kinds of houses,
a house that people go to visit, and a house people
live in. I have a house that people live in and they
live lots.
This is my office today.

My grandsons have found my linen closet and now
my quilts are walls for forts. My office is not a office
but a place where the toys are dumped out and Lego's
are scattered and when they finish they climb in the
fort and play. It was the same when my kids were small.
All of the blankets were walls and all of the couch
cushions were roofs and all of the chairs were
walls and tunnels. I remember someone dropping in on a
fort day, and as we walked from room to room, there wasn't
a place to sit. We finally settled on my school room because we
could visit there. Now with my grandchildren, I know how
fast they are going to grow up because I see the change from
week to week, and someday they will be grown up and I bet
the cushions stay on the couches and the quilts will stay in the
closet and I will wish for little voices playing in tents.
So today, I am thankful for the reminder, my life is not about
things, my life is about God showing me what to do with my things
to make people happy. I am thankful that when I am living
in that mansion that is being prepared, hopefully my grandsons will look at the quilts,
and remember the forts and that they were loved.
Have a wonderful Thursday.

Making Soap

This pot was my husband's great-grandmothers.
His grandpa told me that his mom always made soap,
and washed clothes in it in the front yard so she
could talk to people as they passed by and it wasn't
so lonely doing those things. I loved that and I love
making soap, just not out in the front yard and not
in this pot.
I make soap in the house, and I can make enough,
to give it away and to last us for about a year. Once
you get used to home made soap it is hard to go back and
buy store bought.
Wear Gloves.
This is my favorite recipe.
14 ounces tepid water
6 ounces lye ( I use Red Devil it is in the drain opener section)
12 ounces coconut oil
8 ounces palm oil ( I use Crisco)
20 ounces of olive oil
The one thing I learned about making soap, you have to weigh it
on a scale. Not go by measuring cup and it has to be exact.

1. Prepare the mold, I use a box lined with plastic it makes
a huge bar of soap, I just cut it up after it gets hard.
2. Blend the water and lye. Set aside and cool to 100 degrees
Do not breathe it at all and try and do it outside in a container.
I use a big two quart canning jar because as soon as the water
gets on the lye it is hot. Again, do not breathe the fumes.
3. Heat all of the oils until it is all melted. I let this cool
a bit so that my lye and my oils are the same temperature.
As you pour the lye in, so slowly, keep stirring the oils don't stop,
until the lye is all gone, but keep stirring.
4. Keep stirring until it traces. When it traces, think of drawing a design
in the soap with your spoon, kinda like making jelly, when it traces,
it is time to pour in your mold. I like to cover it with a towel, so that
it cools slowly.
5. Leave the soap to set for 4 to 8 hours or until the soap is solid, cut it then.
and firm to the touch. Release the soap from the mold and allow to
cure for 6 to 8 weeks.
You have to wait until the lye stops working and that is why it takes
so long.
Then you have a beautiful bar of soap.

I don't add scent to it because I just like the smell
of clean. You can add any flavor you like. When I
am making at Christmas time, (in October)
I do put in cinnamon. I do add vanilla too.
I hope you have a lovely Wednesday.

Thinking of Grandmothers

I was thinking of my grandmothers, it could be that
I was out taking pictures of the Hydrangea that my
daughter bought me for my birthday and it is so pretty.
One of my earliest memories is going outside with my grandmother
and helping her drive nails in the dirt around her hydrangea
so she could have blue ones. I remember the hammer being
so heavy. When I was born my grandmother was only 38.
What I remember about her was her laughter. I spent
lots of time with my grandparents. When I was young
I asked my dad when I started talking and he used to say,
"He didn't remember a time when I didn't talk."
So I remember when my grandpa would get off work,
I would call him at his house, and I would say, " Papa
would you come get me?" He always said, Yes, he would
be there after he changed. " He worked a hard job, delivering
building materials. This is when they used lath and plaster so
he moved it by hand, before they used fork lifts. So I would
spend weekends with them. They had strawberries and I would
pick them and eat them and they had boysenberries and I remember
standing out and eating them, they grew on the back fence. Our boysenberries
are getting ripe and each time I taste one I am transported back to that
fence.

I was thinking about my grandmothers because I ran across this poem, and I am
afraid I am more like the grandmother of today than the one of yesterday.
The Grandmother's Poem:
In the dim and distant past
When life's tempo wasn't fast,
Gramma used to rock and knit,
Crochet and tat, and babysit.

Gramma now is at the gym
Exercising to keep slim,
Now she's golfing with the bunch,
Taking clients out to lunch,

Going north to ski and curl,
And all her days are in a whirl,
Nothing seems to stop or block her
Now that Gramma's off her rocker.
(by Anonymous)

I thought this was funny in sick way. I know that none
of my grandmothers ever really sat down, if they did,
it was to quilt or sew or to visit. That was one thing
I loved about them all was they always had time to
stop what they were doing to visit. There was always
enough time to have cup of coffee or a glass of ice tea.
Sitting on the porch, shelling green beans. They listened
to this silly girl and all of her dreams. Which I may add
is nothing like I ever dreamed of, who ever thought
I would be happy being a farmgirl. Have a lovely Tuesday.

Puffy Cloud Day

I love puffy cloud days. Today started out rainy,
cold and windy, more like March than almost the end
of May. It was still pretty though. Now it is just
as beautiful as May can be, soft breeze, blue skies
and the air smells of spring. I always wish I could describe
the smell of spring, it might be the smell of the warming
earth, the faint smell of blossoms in the wind, the
smell of warm grass. The air to me always has this
faint feeling of welcoming me home.

Spring also means new babies, baby birds, baby chicks and
of course, baby foxes, kits.
This morning, I could hear the rooster next door making his
warning cry so I knew something was amiss. I looked out to see
my sister-in-law pick up a dead chicken.
I walked next door, and sure enough, a fox had climbed her fence
and got into the little chicken yard. The fox wasn't able to get back over the
fence with the dead chicken in its mouth. She did get away though and floated
off back to her burrow.

My sister-in-law has a humane trap but as of yet, she has only caught kit foxes.
Which because they are native to California and on the endangered list,
you had better not do a thing to them. She has not caught the red foxes
yet.
Then this evening my brother called and told me to go look out in their
pasture, so I did. I could see the momma and her 4 kits. Cutest things ever. They
were wrestling in the grass and running around like tiny little puppies.
Of course you know what that means, Momma fox+ 4 kits= chicken carnage.
It will be war until they all get caught and the trapper called. I hate this part.
I wish I could just make pets of them. But they are a wild animal. When
I owned a raccoon, the man I got her from told me that when you take a
wild animal, it takes at least 3 generations before they are sort of domesticated.
But he said," you must always remember they are still wild."
My raccoon was a 4th generation but she still was a wild animal and she
still did what was her nature.
Even so, the kits are really cute. I couldn't get close enough to get a picture.
Have a great Monday!

Houses

This is our first house. I guess I took this the day
we were moving in. We had just been married for
7 months and we were so excited. I wish I had a
after photo. When we bought it had been a rental for
years and years, it had the ugliest green shag carpet.
The kitchen was painted brown and the cabinet doors
were shutters. I loved this little house and we lived in
it for 12 years, we went from being newly married to
married with 4 kids and expecting our 5th and one
bathroom.
We moved, but I never took any pictures of the outside
of our next house. It was a fixer upper too. But sort
of like a nightmare from Elm Street kind of house.
Nothing in it was ever easy to fix. My husband hated
it but it had tons of storage. Someday I will write about that
house. Lets say, it was unique. We lived there 9 years.


This is where we live now. I am showing this picture for
Kim at whitewhispers2you . I told her I would show
her a picture of my farm house and this is it.
I love this house and thinking about the other houses
I have lived in I really like this one. I hope God lets me
live here until He is ready for me to live in the mansion
He has prepared for me.
This is the kind of house that everywhere you go there is a
place to rest. I think that is why I love it so much because
in my other houses I was always wanting the moon. Godliness
with contentment is great gain. ( 1 Timothy 6:6)
I always wanted that but there was always this striving
after the world and all it had to offer and it wasn't until
I moved here that I became at peace. Now I worry about
complacency. I am so content. So I thought I would share
this. I am so thankful to live here and most of the time,
I can't believe it is me.
I hope you have a lovely Sunday.

Roosters

This is my new rooster. He has started crowing.

This is my old rooster. I took him away to a man
who takes roosters. I don't even ask what he does,
I hope he just makes chicken pot pies. This rooster
in the beginning loved me and would follow me around
the yard and we were friends until the day he tried
to flog my grandson. I hate to say this but I kicked
him clear across the chicken pen. I felt horrible, but
nothing is going to get my grand kids.
Then it was war, him not me. He hunted me down,
he always knew when I was not paying attention he would
strike hard and fast. I had to start carrying a stick. He
wouldn't bother me if I had the stick but if I put it down
to get the eggs, he would nail me.
It got so bad that I hated feeding the hens. So I decided
enough was enough. I took him away. Now I have a new
rooster. The thing that scares me is this one has never liked
me. When he was still chick size he would try and peck me and
raise his neck feathers. I have been holding him and petting him
but I think it is going to be a lost cause.
I will have to go see the chicken pot pie man.
This morning,
something was attacking my hens. I jumped out of bed and ran
down to my hen houses and I saw something black run around
the back, I could smell skunk so I quit running in the cold wet
grass and walked slowly and carefully. Sort of sneaking, I picked up a
stick and walked so slowly afraid I am going to get sprayed in my pajamas.
It was gone so I think it must have been a really big cat.
I will be checking and rechecking fences and making sure there
is no way for anything to get in again. I do like Saturday mornings
when we work on my chicken houses. I never asked, I wonder if my husband
does. Poor guy.
Have a nice Saturday.

Finally, Friday!

I love the flowers that keep surprising me
in the flowerbeds. I planted lots of Lilly bulbs
in the early winter but our dog thought it was
her own personal job to dig up every single one.
I replanted and replanted when I could find them.
So every time a survivor shows up I am tickled pink.

Today was the last day of school. I have 3 lovely months
stretched out before me. It is like opening a box of
chocolates and knowing I can eat them one by one.
That is how I feel about this Friday. I have all of these
lovely days that hopefully will not be rushed like I have
spent the last 9 months rushing.

I have my friend coming over this morning for tea.
She is my friend that we can sit and watch my chickens and
drink tea and we can talk about chickens for hours. When I go
to her house we sit and watch and talk about her chickens.
When you are crazy about chickens it is nice to have another
friend who you can share your addiction with.

She will be finishing up school too so we will have more time
now that both of our schools are over. That is one of the hard things
about being a homeschooling mother, everything goes on hold
during the school year. It is hard to explain to new friends that
Oh, sorry, I can't do that until school is out, No, I can't go out to
lunch, or shopping or anything thing I used to do before I started
homeschooling.
One of the things I miss with almost having all of my kids grown up,
was when they were small all of the hours I spent reading out loud to
them when it was to hot to go outside. I still read out loud to my boys,
but it isn't like it used to be. I used to read out loud all of the time.

So I won't have to limit my sewing to just Fridays now, and I can clean
house without guilt. I won't have to do these wind sprints with a mop when
I am trying to get the floor mopped and be up the stairs by 9:00 A.M.
Or run up and down the stairs to put clothes in the washer and dryer.
It is so easy to get 10,000 steps on Mondays.

So life is good and I have my husband talked into watching Pride and Prejudice.
with me tonight. He puts up with a lot from me.
Enjoy your Friday, I know I will

Thankful Thursday

Today is Thankful Thursday and four years ago
today, my wonderful son married my wonderful
daughter-in-love. I have been so incredibly blessed.
They have made me a grandmother 3 times and
they had twins so I got to be a grandmother to twins.
It has been a lovely 4 years. When the boys were
born, they were born on March 13th they were due
in June. They were just over one pound each. It was
a incredible time and Ben and Megan were wonderful through it
all. I am afraid, me, Gama was not as wonderful. I was
in fact a coward. I still can't look at the pictures without
crying. One of my lovely memories about this time is,
Standing with my son in the NICU and the babies were so tiny
and hooked up to so many wires. Jack was asleep, but Tyler
was awake. My son said "Tyler", and Tyler turned with his
tiny little face and looked towards his Daddy. His tiny little eyes,
followed the sound of his voice. The boys continue to be a miracle
to me. As are the other 3 are too.

When my son had to make the decision to save the life of the his wife
or the life of his sons, he chose his wife and trusted God. God was
faithful. I think standing and watching my son become a man as I
stood aside and I could not do a thing was beyond anything I could
have ever imagined.

I do not think I have ever been more terrified,
not only could I lose my daughter whom I loved very much but
my son could be hurt so deeply and my grandsons were so early
they might not make it either. You know in those age long minutes,
when every thing you ever thought might happen could be bad, and
then it turns out to be worse than you ever dreamed? That was then.

These are the verses God gave me that day:
He...preserves the way of His saints
the Lord your God...As a eagle stirs up its nest,
hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking
them up carrying them on its wings, So the Lord alone
led them. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but
the Lord delivers them out of all .
We know all things work together for good to those who
love God to those who are called according to His purpose.
The Lord your God is in your midst, the mighty one will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness.

One of the things I learned that with our grandsons, it was the first hour,
then it was the first six hours, then morning, then a day and then a week.
It was waiting and waiting, but our God was faithful.
So on this Thankful Thursday, I am so thankful that My son and sweet
daughter in love got married, I am so glad they have a lovely family.
You know what, knowing what I know now, knowing how much I have
been blessed. I would do it again. Life, sometimes it is hard, but it is
always worth it.
Have a lovely Thursday.

Odds and Ends of Wednesday

Wednesdays are busy, my grandchildren come over
with their Moms. We do a Bible Study together on
most Wednesdays. This Wednesday we won't,
everyone in my family here, and my grandchildren
and their Moms and Dads all have colds. I know that
colds are caused by a virus but I can't help but blame
it on the erratic temperatures. Sunday we had a 90 degree
day, Monday it was raining and the high was in the 60s.
Today we will be back up to 80 but by the weekend back
to the 60s and possibly more rain. The snow level keeps
dropping so it is just weird. I have lived in California my
whole life and there aren't to many years I remember it
raining in May. In a normal year, we don't get much rain
after March.
Even so it is still beautiful outside. In the morning, I can
walk around in a sweatshirt and shorts and pretend I am at the
beach.
Since I only have two days of school left, I have been planning
my summer schedule. So far nothing concrete. I would like to get
back to my walking schedule, that has fallen by the wayside this
year with kids going off in different directions and I have this
hang up about being around when they leave the house.
I like to be able to tell them I am praying for them and I
think that is more important that me walking.

My cantaloupe is coming up and I am pretty excited about that
but I need to start a workout time getting the weeds out of my
garden.
I have been thinking about what books I am going to read and I am
thinking I would like to go back and read all of Corrie Ten Booms books.
I was also thinking about reading about Hudson Taylor and George Mueller.
I was thinking that I have got into a slump and I have allowed my God to get
to small. I need to be able trust a big God for impossible things.
I want to get back to expecting the unexpected.

I have this written down in my journal and it fits today, "When I have
moments of drought or unbelief or even if I think I have sinned
so much, that God can't possibly forgive me
one more time. I am responding with my finite mind.
My Father who is always there with these words, not in
condemnation, but a voice filled with love, acceptance, and
all that I need to hear,"
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Then I realize, It is enough.
Have a lovely Wednesday.

Why I Like Gardening

This morning I was out side taking pictures for
Monday's post and I found this in my flower bed,
I trimmed my roses on Sunday, and Monday morning
there was this lovely treasure in the grass. My first thought
when I looked at it was, "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; (Matt 6:28)
That is always a verse to ponder on laundry day. :)

When I was a kid we raised among other things, sheep.
In the spring we spent more time in the barns than we
did in our own beds. Even though, I wasn't a Christian,
I had went to Sunday School and I had learned the verses
about Jesus being the good shepherd. Sitting in the barn
with the ewes and the lambs. Those verses would come
back to me, like "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep,
and am known by my own."
(John 10:14)
When you think of a good shepherd, you think of a person who
would give his life to protect his sheep, a shepherds whole life
is spent looking for good pasture, for protection and the care
and well being of his sheep. As I learned as a little girl,
I had a bummer lamb that was mine. My job was to feed
her every day. When I called her name she came to me.
She did not follow another and she knew my voice. When
I called, she ran to me. She went every where I did and we
were the best of friends. Yes, I was a source of food, but
she would lay her fuzzy little head in my lap when she was
tired.
How often have I been like that lamb, yes, I know my shepherd,
and yes, He takes care of me and He protects me
but sometimes this lamb just wants to run to Him and lay
my tired head in His lap and know that every thing is alright.

" It is not for the flock of sheep to know the pasture the
Shepherd has in mind. It is for them simply to follow Him.
(A Lamp for my Feet, p. 63)
Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Penny Rugs

I started working on this Penny Rug. I have owned
the pattern for years, but I am finally getting around
to working on it. I thought I would be finished working on
it by today, but I will show you what I have been
working on.

Miles and miles of swimming pool fence. There
are 42 metal fence pipes in each section of
fence panel. Each one is rusted so first we (my
husband and I) Lacquer Thinner and steel wool,
and scrub off the rust and then wipe it down and
then paint it with oil based paint. This part looks
pretty, the rusty part does not. This will be our
project for the next few weekends. Just before we
do the eves on the outside of the house. I have
lots of painting projects lined up. I am out of
school this Thursday, so I take of teacher hat
and put on handy Mom hat.
Changing gears, I have thought so much about
waiting on God and not running ahead. Every thing
I have been listening to and reading has this one thread
running though it.
Like this: " I think perhaps the hardest lesson of faith is
learning to wait. We always want to do something,
and sometimes God says, "Don't do anything,
Be still, Listen to me."
"Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength."
(Isiah 40:31)
"The Lord himself goes before you, and will be with you,
he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
(Deuteronomy 31:8)
Today as I look around at all that I need to get done
and the people who are on my prayer list, most of
them are in a waiting room of some kind. Today,
I will wait and be still, and know that He is never
late. I know too, I am always in a hurry.
I hope you have a great Monday.

Sunflower Houses

This is my last year sunflower garden. Today,
we planted a bigger one. When I say I am crazy
about sunflowers, I really am, I don't think I
will ever have enough sunflowers. This morning
I planted a sunflower house so our grandchildren,
can sit in side and watch and dream in a place that
will be all theirs.
I first read about them in Sharon Lovejoy's book
Sunflower Houses. We lived in town when our children
were small and I didn't have a place for one, but I
always dreamed of one. Then we moved here, and life
went on fast forward. Right now we are in a lull so
I planted a sunflower house.

First you draw a square in the dirt, about how big
you want it and make a door way and then take a
sunflower seed and a morning glory seed and plant
them all around your square. Water every day and be patient.
The morning glories will climb the sunflowers and when
the sunflowers get tall take a bit of twine and start at
one corner and tie it to the first sunflower and then take
your twine back and forth across your square and then
the morning glories will climb the twine and you will have a
roof. Add children and you have a magic place.
"My summer home is the fairest
of all with a morning glory roof and sunflower walls."
(Sharon Lovejoy)
I hope you have a lovely Sunday.

Thoughts on Saturday Morning

I was doing what I like to do when my eyes are too
tired from sewing and I am waiting for my husband
to get home, I go blog hopping. So while I was out
on my jaunt in the internet world I ran across,
Morning Ramble http://morningramble.blogspot.com/
She had some lovely posts on what 25 things makes her smile.
I loved her list and I thought since it is Saturday and my
blather meter is running low, I thought I would write a list
of 25 things I love. I am curious if I can think of 25 things now.

1. God
2. Jesus paid the price for me.
3. The Bible
4. My husband
5. My children
6. My grandchildren
7. Homeschooling
8. My dogs
9. My chickens
10. My house.
11. The field of dreams
12. Reading
13. Sewing, (rug hooking, needle punch, counted cross stitch, quilting)
14. Chopping weeds ( I can't help this one I do enjoy it.)
15. Cooking
16. Cleaning house. ( I do love cleaning house)
17. Washing windows
18. Exercise
19. My I Pod
20 Sunflowers
21. Making food that tastes better than if you went out to dinner.
22. My new BBQ
23. Getting my hair colored ( vain I know but now I am a red head)
24. Going Antiquing
25. Waking up in the middle of the night, and thanking God for my husband asleep
at my side and my nice warm bed and knowing that all is good and my kids are safe.

So have a lovely Saturday.
Thanks so much to Morning Ramble for her wonderful idea.

Field of Dreams For Sale

No, not my field of dreams, sorry, if I scared my kids.
The real Field of Dreams. The movie with Kevin Costner,
and no I never saw the movie. This is Fiber Friday, but
I wanted to tell you a story about the field of dreams
when I was a kid.
When we moved here, and I was four, it was a farm and
my grandparents raised cows and I thought it was magic.
But as we grew older the field of dreams became our horse
pens and it became our riding arenas and we spent our
summers riding horses, climbing trees and swimming.
Then we started raising show cattle, sheep and because
we were showing animals the field of dreams turned into
a place where we spent countless hours working on our animals.

But my favorite thing that the field of dreams became was a
baseball diamond. We called it Pasture League. A couple hours
before sundown kids would show up and we would choose up sides
for a game with rules that we made up. I was the only girl player
so I got to hit right handed but the boys had to all hit left-handed.
You only got one pitch so on the pitch you better hit as hard as you could
and run as fast as you could. The pitcher was your own
team mate and of course he was going to throw a perfect pitch.
We spent so many summer days playing great games of baseball.
We also had a cow, so my Mom would make home made ice cream
every night and we would sit out in the back yard and we would talk
until every one could hardly keep their eyes open and all of the ice
cream was gone. Every night and all of these boys would listen to my Dad and we would laugh
and I never thought about it being odd that we spent hours
and hours talking. Our house was always open and I never
thought about my Mom feeding all of these people who would
just show up, I know why she canned so much now, she would just
say, " Kim go get a jar of peaches or something else she had canned.
We always had enough and there were always enough food and enough
chairs to fit around the table.

My next door neighbor worked in a pharmacy and she asked me if I
knew a certain customer, I said yes and she said, He said to ask you if
you remembered " Pasture League?" I smiled because of course how
could I forget the time I hit a huge homer with bases loaded...
Have a lovely Friday.

Thankful Thursday

This is my Thankful Thursday post. Today, I am so
thankful that some days are just filled with loveliness.
I am so thankful that God called me to home educate
our children, and so far the two that are married,
they married people who were home educated too.
We all speak the same language and where school is
concerned we have a culture in common.
Maybe it is because we just had Mothers Day so I have
been thinking of a mothers role in life. When I first
heard Elisabeth Elliot, for the most part I did not understand
a word she said, like this., " A mother is a chalice, the vessel
without which no human being has ever been born. She is created
to be a life-bearer, cooperating with her husband and with God in the
making of a child. What a solemn responsibility. What and unspeakable
privilege---a vessel divinely prepared for the Master's use.
(The Shaping of a Christian Family, p.98)
" Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, he praises her."
(Proverbs 31:28)
I didn't understand all of that but I knew more than anything in my whole
life I wanted to be a woman who was prepared for the Master's use. I wanted
to be a woman who's children call her blessed and her husband also.
I felt as a young woman, if I did my job, and God would help me, I might
have a few good days. :)
Now being a grandmother with 5 grandchildren, and loving my very
lovely life I can thank God for choosing me...even me.
The picture above is my very favorite history books in the whole world.
When I started teaching, I couldn't understand why no one taught history
with the Bible as the text book and why not make that a central thing that
all of history is built on. So for years I wrote my history stuff myself.
Then these history books came out The Mystery of History by Linda
Lacour Hobar. She was so much better at writing these history books and
letting the Bible be the central theme, I was so happy. The boys have
learned so much and now have a complete history in order with Jesus as
the central theme. All of history, China, India, all of the places as they fit.
I always start planning my next school year now as I am finishing up
while I can see my weaknesses as well as my strengths.
I knew this would be a different kind of year with my Mothers illness and
her approaching death so I knew that any week we were able to do, would
be a blessing. God is so good in that He not only got us through this year, but
I am happy with how much we did get accomplished. I always call these kinds
of years reality parenting.
So this is my jumbled up post of Thankful Thursday.
I hope you have a wonderful Thursday too.

Jail Bird

I was going to do a blog on homeschooling materials
but instead this is going to be about being a jailbird.
Me... I got a traffic ticket. I have never since I started
driving ever got a speeding ticket. So it was a new,
brand new experience for me being on the other
side of the law.
I was shaking so hard I had to wait before I could
drive away and then I cried all the way home.

I thought I would give you my thoughts. I know
I do every single day and you are so kind to read my
thoughts. :)
When I was young, and I became a Christian,
there was this lady whom I love very much and she
was the teaching leader in a Bible Study I attended.
Every week she taught a lesson from how God used
a passage of scripture to illustrate something in her life.

Those things that God used in her life changed mine.
Every week I went I wanted to see what God had done for
her and not to her.
So today, after I got my speeding ticket I found myself blaming
God for my misfortune. Then it dawned on me.
I broke the law. God didn't have his foot down on the gas petal.
It was me. Why should I blame God for what is my responsibility.
Then the more I thought about how when bad things happen to me
I blame God when I am the one who should first look at my responses.
Was I the one who was in the wrong like today?
Personally, I am glad we have traffic laws, I am glad even for the
very sweet Highway patrolman. He was very kind to the dingbat
behind the wheel of the car.

So I thought next time I start to blame God for what I think
is his fault, I need to check and see if perhaps it was me all along
just making a poor choice.
I have to go to traffic school. It might be good to have a refresher course.
Have a lovely Wednesday.

Cuckoo Marans

I thought I would post some pictures of the new girls.
This is a Cuckoo Maran. I only saw them in pictures
so to see one and how much they look like my like
my Barred Rocks. The only difference is the spots of white are
somewhat bigger. They are starting to beat up on the other
hens so I am still wondering if the large brown eggs will be
worth it.

This is one of my Welsummer hens. She will lay
big brown eggs too. She and her sister have lovely
temperaments. Very gentle and they like to come
and visit.

But still next to silkies, New Jersey Giants are my
favorite for temperament, for size of egg and for color.
I really love the deep, dark brown color. The girls
are turning out to be a very nice addition to my flock.
I wonder how much the feathers will fly when I try
to introduce them into my older flock. My older flock
is very sweet but they might change when these new
young chicks come in.
I was thinking, that I never gave my hens names. I guess
the reason I didn't was the fox threat. It makes it easier
to not get so attached if I just call them by the breed they
are or just girlie.
I hope you have a lovely Tuesday. We have another snow
storm in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. But we
will be up to 90 degrees by Friday. I do love weather. :)
P.S. This morning as I was having coffee, I noticed that a chicken
was out in the pasture next door, (not my chicken) I was watching
wander around scratching in the dirt,when out of no where a female
red fox grabs the hen. I jumped up ran out the door, jumped through
my fence and ran across the pasture as the fox floated off with the hen
in its mouth. She must have kits close by. I thought we had got rid of
them so this is number 29. I am just sick.