~Music Mondays~ "God will Lift Up Your Head"

I am sorry I missed last Monday....Again!!! UGH! Well, thought I better get over here early this Monday!

Sometimes it is hard for me to pick which song to share! There are just sooo many great ones! I have been thinking of a lot of songs and hymns that come from King David's writings in Psalms, since I have been reading some of the Psalms in my daily Bible reading. Last weekend I was trying to remember a song that comes from Pslams 121, but I could not find it since I could not remember the lady who sang it! oh well!

Then the other day we went with husband to get some solar stuff and while listening to the Dove (94.5), heard this song by Jarsofclay! It is just a wonderful, uplifting song! Hope you enjoy it too!

"God will Lift up Your Head"

By Jars of Clay

The Words of Our Founding Fathers, Samuel Adams Saturday (Part 15)

"Such, it is possible, may some time or other be the state of Great Britain. What will, at that period, be the duty of the Colonies? Will they be still bound to unconditional submission? Must they always continue an appendage to our government and follow it implicitly through every change that can happen to it? Wretched condition, indeed, of millions of freemen as good as ourselves! Will you say that we now govern equitably, and that there is no danger of such revolution? Would to God that this were true! But you will not always say the same. Who shall judge whether we govern equitably or not? Can you give the Colonies any security that such a period will never come? No. The period, countrymen, is already come! The calamities were at our door. The rod of oppression was raised over us. We were roused from our slumbers, and may we never sink into repose until we can convey a clear and undisputed inheritance to our posterity!" -Samuel Adams

To be continued....or go Here to read the whole speech!

A Savespro Giveaway!

I have to share another favorite blog for giveaways right now!

If you have not visited "One 2 Try" blogspot, you are missing out on a lot! She has tons of great giveaways going on!

Tonight I wanted to share the Giveaway she has from Savespro! I have never heard of them before, but they carry a Ton of great stuff! Since she mentioned the bakeware, I had to check it out! The cake pans are sooo amazing! So I entered for a pineapple upsidde down cake pan! Husband will LOVE it! =)

Hope you will go check out "One 2 Try" and join the fun!

The Words of Our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson Tuesday

"It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution."

--Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia Query 19, 1781

November Gratituesday Challenge!

I have been subscribing to/following Laura's blog, "Heavenly Homemakers" for a while now, and I really like it!

She has a Gratituesday Challenge this month and I hope to join in for the great fellowship and giveaways! Hope you will head over to "Heavenly homemakers" each Tuesday this month and join the fun!

Today I am grateful for many things! But I am mostly grateful for my husband!! He has been doing a lot of hard work and trying to help a lot of people. What makes me more grateful of him is how he does so little for himself and so much for others, even when he is not ask to, or does not have to. His family means the world to him. He has such a great, big, good heart! Love him soo much for that!!! I thank God every day for blessing me with my husband!! I could not ask for a better man to share my life with!

A Discovery Toys Giveaway!!!! Check it out!

I have a new favorite blog for finding GREAT giveaways! You have got to follow "Energizer Bunny's Mommy Reports"!! I think you will like it too!

She has tons of great giveaways going on right now, and I am finding wonderful ideas for Christmas gifts, crafts, etc!!

The giveaway I am soo excited about today is the Discovery Toys giveaway!!! A $35 gift card!!! I LOVE Discovery Toys! Wish I could be a part of their sales team and recieve and sell all those great toys for them! Aahhhh! That would be so cool! Maybe someday...

Anyways, get over to "Energizer Bunny's Mommy Reports" and join the fun!!

The Words of Our Founding Fathers, Samuel Adams Speech Saturday

"Britain is now, I will suppose, the seat of liberty and virtue, and its legislature consists of a body of able and independent men who govern with wisdom and justice. The time may come when all will be reversed; when its excellent constitution of government will be subverted; when, pressed by debts and taxes, it will be greedy to draw to itself an increase of revenue from every distant province in order to ease its own burdens; when the influence of the crown, strengthened by luxury and a universal profligacy of manners, will have tainted every heart, broken down every fence of liberty and rendered us a nation of tame and contented vassals; when a general election will be nothing but a general auction of boroughs, and when the Parliament, the grand council of the nation, and once the faithful guardian of the State, and a terror to evil ministers, will be degenerated into a body if sycophants, dependent and venal, always ready to confirm any measures, and little more than a public court for registering royal edicts." -Samuel Adams

To be continued...or go here to read the whole speech!

The Smell of Fresh Granola!

My favorite cold cereal is Homemade Granola! I just love it! I use to make it a lot as a teenager, and it would hold me over till lunch, unlike some of my siblings who preferred the store bought "cardboard" or "air" cereal!
I had not made this granola in years till about two months ago! Now I have made it like 4 times since! Princess S. and I have been eating it! Hopefully Princess A. will get to like it too!

This morning I made a batch, and boy, did the house smell Good after it came out of the oven, to cool! Yum!


Here is the recipe I use:

Granola

Mix together in a large bowel:
6 c. oats
1/4 c. wheat germ
1/4 c. wheat bran
1/4 c. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. vanilla or 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring

Melt in a pan:
1 c. butter (2 sticks)
1/2 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. sorghum
1/4 c. oil

Pour liquid ingredients over dry and mix all together.
Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about 20 mins. or until brown (stirring ever so often to keep edges from getting too done).
When done set on a rake to cool and add raisins or nuts (optional).


It makes about a gallon!

Hope you enjoy the recipe and a more healthy breakfast or snack, too!

God Bless!

Canning Apples...Part Two, And Finished!

Well, I worked up the last of the apples, yesterday and finally have them all canned! PTL!

Here is the picture of before I started the peeling and slicing! This time I peeled and sliced most of them, before I started the cooking. That way, I was not having to stop and peel/slice more while my canner was not quite full! That worked a lot better.

I took a picture of the apples cooking in the syrup this time!

The apples float to the top as it cooks and it will run over if too full, once it starts to boil! It does not take long for the apples to get hot and soft too, so this part goes fast!

Finished! Yippee!

Canned 17 qts. yesterday so that brings us up to 36 qts!!

That gives us a lot of apple pies over the year!

Wow! We got more then I thought we would! Must be because we canned almost every apple, instead of eating a bunch!

I hope a lot of other people canned a bunch of apples this Fall.

God Bless!

~Music Mondays~ "In The Hands of God"

I was so upset to miss Music Monday last week! Ack! Too busy to blog almost! Today I was canning the last of the apples, then went to a committee meeting with husband tonight, for the farmer's Cooperative! So I am almost to late again! I did listen to some of my music I have saved on the computer, and wanted to share this song today! It is a very comforting song, I think. Makes you think about God's care and love for us and how mighty and strong He is! Praise His Holy Name!

Hope you will join us next Monday at Shawntele's blog, Saved by Grace for more uplifting music, to start your week off right! Praising the Lord!

Oh, Shawntele shared a Newsboys song this week too! So, if you are a Newsboys fan, you will enjoy this! =)

"In the Hands of God"

by the Newsboys

Canning Apples...Part One!

Okay, I think this is my first step-by-step blog post! Yippee! And sad since I have almost 200 blog post! Oh well!

As I mentioned, the other day, we went and picked up two bushel boxes of Gala apples! So yesterday, I canned a bushel of them! It took most of the noon and afternoon, since I did them by myself and had to do other things along, of course, but they turned out very pretty and I am soo happy to have that many done, and to think I have about that many more to can! Praise the Lord!

The apples before I started:

I just washed them off in the sink, (since I was going to peel and boil them)
The peeling and slicing by hand took the longest, since I do not have one of those neat cutters, or and Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer!

Well, at least I only had two bushels! =)

The clean jars and lids, and some apples in the jars, as I filled them:

I some how forgot to take a picture of the apples boiling in the Extra-Light syrup! Sorry! But you can see the pans in the picture above! I followed the Ball Blue book, of course, but used less sugar then they said, and lemon juice to help keep them from turning so brown!

The apples in the hot water bath:

The finished/cooled jars of apples!

Uh, and here is what is left to do! =) Not quite another bushel, so hope to get at least 14 (+?) more!

I hope to have another post as a follow-up, after I am done with all of them! Hope that will be soon!

God bless!

Ooo! Look Goodies! =)

I know I am very plain and simple, not hard to maintain, that is for sure! Lol! So what i find exciting may not intest anyone else, but that is the good thing about a blog, right? You can make a big deal about stuff and either people read it or not! Oh well, having blabed (is that a word?) all that, I just had to make a post about our day!

I got up early, fed and dressed the Princess' and we rode over to the mennonite community with some friends. They had a huge apple order come in and we went to get our apples! I am very happy with ours!=)

We got two bushels of Gala's for $13 a bushel!!! I would have gotten more, but probably enough for me to work up by myself and money is just tight, as usual!

While we were there, (they had the apple pick-up, at the mennonite market), we went into the market to get a few things. I love the things they have in the market, but not the prices! =( I did get a few things that I thought would be great for a healthier diet: Veggie, Wagon wheel noodles, cous cous, and seasame seeds! Also not so healthy, but for a snack(s): chocolate covered raisins! And some tortilla chips and red creme soda! (Hey I had to treat the girls?)!

We had some of the wagon wheel noodles for lunch, when we got home! We love them with some Italian dressing on them!! YUM!

For supper, I have leftover chili that I made for King Ed last night!

He sweetly rated it a half star and ate 2 bowels of it! =)

As a homschool update, Princess S. has 22 pages left in her math book and has finished her Language Arts except a little writing practice in the back of the book!! Looks like we have a Graduation Party coming up!!=) =)

The Words of Our Founding Fathers.... John Adams

"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives."

--John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756

The Words of Our Founding Fathers, Samuel Adams Speech (part 13)

For Christmas last year, someone gave us the "John Adams" HBO series!
I had never heard about it but we watched the whole thing on Christmas afternoon and the next day, I believe! It was great! I have been wanting to watch it again....in a way...then again, it is one of those shows that is hard to watch right now, with everything going on in the country! Well, Sat. night, I got it out, (finally, but with a little dread!), and we have watched the first two parts now!
If you ever never seen the show, I Highly recommend it! And if you have older children, it may be good for them to watch it too! That and "It's a wonderful life" and "Mr. Smith goes to Washington"!
Please read the words of our Founding Father's! There is much wisdom and guidance to be learned! And we all really need to learn the truth, for ourselves about these great men and how our country was born and how it got to where it is now!

"As the administration of government requires firmer and more numerous supports in proportion to its extent, the burdens imposed on us would be excessive, and we should have the melancholy prospect of their increasing on our posterity. The scale of officers, from the rapacious and needy commissioner to the haughty governor, and from the governor, with his hungry train, to perhaps a licentious and prodigal viceroy, must be upheld by you and your children. The fleets and armies which will be employed to silence your murmurs and complaints must be supported by the fruits of your industry." -Samuel Adams

To be continued.... or read the whole speech here!

Cooking on a Wood Stove

My family bought a small "Baker's Choice" wood cook stove right before we moved to TN. Actually, I think Dad did some bartering for it!
We used it in the small 10"/50" trailer house that we lived in. We soon learned we needed more and found someone, believe it or not, right down the road who had bought one for Y2K! This was a Large Pioneer Maid and I loved it! They are my favorite to this day! =) I wish we could find one or afford one now!
Here is a picture of my family's Pioneer maid, with my sister beside it:

Last autumn, (I believe it was) King Ed found us a small "modern maid" cook stove down in GA. for sell and went and bought it for us. We brought it in the house finally and have it set up for the winter! the other day he got it going to see how well it will do. It did great! I had decided to make a huge batch of rolls that day, so used it for keeping the dough warm to raise. Here is that picture:

It has been great for keeping the chill out on evenings that have been cool! The girls have enjoyed helping bring the wood in! It is great to have them grow up around this.
Last Monday, I put a pot of pinto beans on the stove, since he had it going, and boy did that smell good, with a big ham bone in it! I also tried the oven out on the rolls and it did great! I hope it helps our electric bill this winter and will not be soo worried about the electric going out now!
God is Good!