COOL CALM DAY BRINGS NOVEMBER 2011 TO AN END

Brrrrrrr!!!! A cold start to the last day of November,my where has this month gone?
After chores and breakfast I took a walk down in the bottom pasture to check out if the high water in the creek did any damage.

The water was still muddy and a little higher than normal but there was no signs of any washing from the high water.

Our empty farm pond has quite a bit of water in it now.

As I walked I felt rejuvenated from the cool fresh air. The blue sky is becoming more visible as the clouds start to break up this morning.

All the birds and animals of the morning hours seemed to be still snuggled in their warm overnight places as I didn't see or hear anything on my walk.

Back at the house the Fedx lady came and delivered d-in-love's rented camera lens she is using for a wedding she is photographing this weekend. Then it was inside to ice 6 caramel cakes before lunch.

After lunch I cleaned all my floors along with a couple loads of month ending laundry.

Then I put up more Christmas decorations. I got all my trees out of the shed and saw where mice had made nest in some of them,fortunately no wiring seemed to be chewed. I remembered there was one that needed to be thrown out so I had to set all of them up to see which one it was. I got my living room tree on the front porch still in the box. I didn't want to bring it inside just in case there is a mouse in the box with it. I'll get it out in the daylight tomorrow evening.

After a light supper of baked chicken and fresh Kale greens I tackled 2 weeks worth of paperwork piled up on my desk. I worked for almost 2 hours before I was caught up with just the last 2 weeks. Month ending work will have to wait until another day, I don't want to overload my brain !!!

I iced 3 chocolate and 1 coconut cake tonight to get ready for market tomorrow.

The temperature stayed around 45 all day after a morning low of 32, tonight it is already 32 at 11:00 and is expected to go to the mid 20's before morning.

This month has been a busier than normal month for us as we finally got daughter's house ready for her to move into but there are still things to do each day along with the work here at our place. The weather has been mild with no extremes to deal with. Curb Market has been blessedly busy for me. I made the decision to give up my job as church janitor amid the turmoil with the contemporary church that uses our sanctuary. This will start in January.

God is so good and I strive to do His will in all that I do each day.

Good Night and God Bless.

THE FIRST SNOW FLAKES OF THE SEASON

The rain has ended with an additional 1" in the gauge this morning. It is cloudy and the air had a definite chill as I did morning chores I decided I have some fair weather hens who came to the door of their house after I opened it and hesitantly peered outside.  I don't blame them because I am surprised on cold mornings at how warm it is inside their houses when I open the door.After chores and breakfast I walked for 30 minutes just around the driveway because I figured the bottom would be too wet.
As I walked by my winter garden I couldn't help but marvel at how green and healthy our winter vegies are.

A few heads of yummy broccoli remain.

This row of Kale greens look so deliciously fresh.

And the few Collards that came up are really nice.Wonder if they will make it until New Years Day ?

Today I need to catch up my house cleaning since I didn't do any last week because I went to market last Tuesday. I started a load of laundry and then got busy cleaning bathrooms ,all the mirrors and other glass upstairs and downstairs and then dusting the entire house,whew !

Adding the downstairs to my cleaning day makes for a lot more area to cover and another bathroom to clean.

It took until about 4:oo to get it all done and then I went outside to shake out some rugs and guess what I saw ??

The season's first snow flakes were flying, they were big fluffy flakes,too bad the temperature is 38 and none will stick on the ground.

That's not true for the higher elevations that already have  snow covereing the ground.

In the last 2 days we have pretty much ran the gammit of weather, starting with unseasonalby warm temperatures, rain with thunder and almost flooding, high winds, now cold temperatures and snow  !!!  Gotta love these mountains !!!!

I did manage to get a few Christmas decorations out and set up this evening before it got too dark and cold. I hope to have my decorating done by Sunday, wish me luck !!!

Hubbie went over to daughter's tonight to finish hanging some mirrors and heavy pictures and I sent over 2 boxes of extra pans and things I got out when I cleaned some cabinets today.

I am getting used to this new computer slowly as it is very different from the other one I have used for several years. I worked for an hour figuring out how to get my photos downloaded into the same folder as last nights. Then I discovered my printer wouldn't work but I'm proud to say I figured that out also.

Now if this blog post will publish instead of me having to get out my laptop like I did last night I'll be a happy camper. Oh, and if you read yesterday's post and wondered why the wierd spacings, that's how my laptop does it and I have no idea why.

As I worked outside this evening in the cold air I got that good warm joyful holiday feeling just like I do each year. That's why even though I don't live on the side of the road and don't have guest too often I still go all out with my decorations, I just enjoy them so much. But I have to admit I'll be glad when they are all up and I'm sitting back with a cup of hot tea enjoying the soft lights.

I have a reality check tonight as I'm back to baking cakes for market this week. I baked  20 layers, 3 pound cakes and 2 wine cakes. They will come out of the ovens about midnight.It is 32 degrees at 11:00 so that will make for a cold morning for sure as the temperature usually drops 10 more degrees during the night.

Thankful for this wonderful day and for my many blessings. This is  a special time of year,one for honoring the birth of our Savior.

Good Night and God Bless.

RAINY, RAINY MONDAY

Got an early wake up call this morning from Lowe's saying they were on their way with my washer and dryer. G-son was ready for pre-school so I took him while hubbie stayed to deal with the deliverers.

It is pouring rain and has been for awhile as evidenced by all the puddles on the roads.

They were just finishing getting everything hooked up when I got home and the guy turned both appliances on to make sure they ran before he left.

I decided to go with this Samsung pair that Lowes' had on sale after all my research.

After the first load I was impressed and when I used the steam setting on the dryer to unwrinkle some jeans I was really impressed as they came out looking like they had been ironed. So far I am very pleased.

After we picked g-son up we stopped at Aldi for baking supplies and Sam's Club for lunch and groceries then went over to GBS shoes to look for hubbie a pair of dress shoes. He didn't find anything but I found g-son a nice Columbia jacket for Christmas and a vest for me, both at 40% off.

Still in the pouring rain we got home and got things unloaded.

I did more laundry while g-son played and watched TV. Hubbie went up to his shop to try out his black Friday special can crusher,which work really well he said.

After d-in-love picked g-son up I took down all my inside fall decorations and stored them away in the attic until next year.

The water in the creek is visible from my front porch this evening which means it is getting close to flooding.

Some of our counties to the east of us are already experiencing flooding this evening. I poured 3" of rain our of the gauge after evening chores and it is still coming down in buckets.

Hubbie and I had fresh broccolli for supper tonight.

Daughter came by and hooked up my black Friday special computer tonight and as you can tell it is working fine. I just have to get used to it. I put my old one downstairs and will get it hooked to this one when daughter brings over the hook up she had on hers.

I'm hoping to get the printer hooked to both so I won't have to download all my cake labels and other things on my new one.

Hopefully the rain is coming to an end tonight and we will avoid a flood here. It is supposed to get colder tomorrow and windy,not looking forward to that.

Thankful today for the thirst quenching rainfall and the blessings of a warm dry home to stay dry in.

Good Night and God Bless.

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT-----HOPE

This morning started as most Sunday mornings do. Getting to sleep a little late ,then chores and church. We are working our way through the Book of Acts now and today was about how we all are responsible for spreading the word about our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ.
After church we had lunch with everyone except d-in-love who is working. After lunch daughter and hubbie went over to her house to put up a storm door, #1 son went to work on a trailer frame , #2 son went shopping for some long handle underwear as it is suppose to get cold later this week and he will need some on his walking mail route and g-son and me worked on the leaves in the ditches down the drive way before the rain begins.
I had the leaf blower and g-son manned the rake and we got the ditches cleared all the way down to #2 son's house. The predictions are for alot of rain maybe 6-8 inches which will result in a flood for sure.
G-son came inside while I put away the blower and rake and before I got back he met me on the back steps with a busted lip where he had fallen over his tricycle.
We got the blood stopped and I could tell it wasn't as bad as all the blood make it look like it was.
He calmed down and was hungry again so he was eating and drinking by the time his mom came to get him.
I took all my outside fall decorations down and put them away so they won't get wet and also washed and put away my chaise lounges from the fire pit patio. I don't think I will be needing them anymore until spring.
I did evening chores early so we could go back to church tonight for our Hanging of the Greens service, where we decorate the church.It was a beautiful evening service.

All members of the congregation hung wreaths,placed poinsettas and hung ornaments on the 2 trees while we were entertained by musicians singing Christmas tunes.

The children's choir did a wonderful job when it was their turn to sing.
After the program we all went downstairs to have refreshments and fellowship to end a wonderful first Sunday of Advent. The first candle was lit tonight which stands for EXPECTATION or HOPE.This draws attention to the anticipation of the coming of an Anointed One,a Messiah, that weaves its way like a golden thread through Old Testament history. As God's people were abused by power hungry kings,led astray by self centered prophets, and lulled into apathy by half-hearted religious leaders, there arose a longing among some for God to raise up a new king who could show them how to be God's people. They yearned for a return of God's dynamic presence in their midst.
As I lay my head down tonight I feel a wonderful peace that this season can bring for those who lift their hearts to the real reason for the season.
Good Night and God Bless.

CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE 2011

WOW !!!! BUSY BUSY MORNING !!!
We were all wondering where all these people came from !It always amazes me at what a few free cookies will do !!!!Market stayed packed with folks all day.

The morning started really early for Hubbie,G-son and me when g-son woke up gagging over his sinus drainage. After the second time and he cried ,saying he didn't feel good we got some ice water in him and he went right back to sleep and slept the remainder of the morning.

This morning he felt fine and was rearing to go as he circled me on his tricycle hurrying me up before the horse got tired !!
Daughter came to help today thankfully because we had another very busy selling morning. Hubbie even stayed until almost 1:00 helping serve the free refreshments the market offers as well as complimentory carriage rides which g-son was so looking forward to.

He and daughter had to stand in a long line but it was sure worth the wait to see his smiling face when it finally was their turn for a ride.
This was such a beautiful horse.
I wondered if all this walking on city streets made it's feet hurt ???

G-son spent the rest of the morning playing games on my laptop and being a perfectly well behaved little boy.

This is serious stuff, you can tell by the tongue !!!!
When his dad came to pick him up he wasn't ready to leave yet but he had to go get ready to go over to Asheville this afternoon to see the Disney on Ice Christmas presentation.

I decorated our table for the Christmas season last Tuesday just before I left market.
Several years ago I found these ornaments all with messages about God and Christmas.
Here daughter and I are in our seasonal attire today.
We are very thankful for another very good sales day at market.
Hubbie finally left about 1:00 and headed home to work on the leaves and the brush piles in the yard. Daughter and I headed to the mall to shop for two little boys she picked out from the school where she works that need Christmas presents this year.
We shopped the sales at Penny's, Belk's and K-mart. The mall was a very crowded place this afternoon.
We got home at 5:00,my feet and legs hurt and I am sleepy .
After chores and some supper,which reminded me that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, I hit the couch with my 4-legged kids and took a nap.
If these first couple days of the Christmas season are any indication of how busy it is going to be I better take more vitamins !!!!
I am very thankful to God for the energy He gives me each day and pray for His guidance each day in my decisions.
Good Night and God Bless.

TREE CUTTING DAY AND BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING

Another early start to another busy day. G-son was here at 7:30 this morning as both mom and dad are working today.
We are having some trees took down and the tree cutters arrived shortly after. I did chores while they got set up and then g-son of course was not about to stay inside with all this excitement outside.
Notice he's the 4th man here as the plans develop ,of course it helps when he knows our associate pastor who is the one with his hand up.

Pastor C has been at our place several times taking trees down and it is always so nice to have someone who I totally trust doing this job.

I have nothing but awe that these guys climb so high up these trees.

With my fear of heights it almost makes me sick just seeing them up so high.

They do their jobs with such ease.

And yes they are in my chicken lot and the limbs they need to cut are across my fence.

Impressively they got the 5 large limbs that were pulling this tree toward our house all cut off and down without any damage to the fence. ( or the chickens!! )
By the way the man on the ground is pastor C's younger brother and they work together well.

This is g-son's best impression of climbing out on the limbs.

G-son's main job was to keep Annie away from the falling limbs and it looks like they both were enjoying each other.

He also got in some jeep riding on this beautiful warm morning.

All the trees and limbs were cut and on the ground by lunch time . After they were gone and daughter came in from her black Friday shopping we all headed back out to Lowes to get my washer and dryer. I got a super deal, getting the $999 each machines for $564 each !! We also went to Home Depot for daughter a storm door and then to Tractor Supply for Hubbie an air compressor that was on sale. Daughter this morning got me a storage cabinet and a new computer which I will try to get her help me hook up on Sunday maybe. We all got all the black Friday bargains we had picked out so it was a successful shopping day.
D-in-love picked up g-son and took him to the movies.
Daughter went home to bake and hubbie and I headed up to work at church.
We got home in time to clean up enough brush to open up our circular drive and get the phone line hooked back up on the side of the house before it got too dark to see.
We had left overs for supper and my cousin Mike came by and had supper with us. I'm glad to have some help cleaning up the left overs.
#1 son brought g-son back over here as he wanted to spend the night with us so he could go to the Christmas open house at market tomorrow.
Daughter brought her baked goods by on her way to her dog sitting job.
While hubbie and g-son watched TV I iced 6 caramel ,2 chocolate and 2 coconut cakes.
I have several orders for tomorrow so hopefully we'll have another good day.
It is almost midnight I'm the only one still up as usual.
Yawn !!! I'm tired and ready for a hot bath and bed for sure.
Thankful tonight for the blessings I receive and for the safety of all the young men this morning during their tree climbing.
Good Night and God Bless.

THANKFUL ON THIS THANKSGIVING DAY 2011

Please click on this poem, it expresses my feelings perfectly on this beautiful 68 degree sunny Thanksgiving day 2011.
Hope all my blog friends have had a very happy Thanksgiving also.
Good Night and God Bless.

COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING MEAL DAY

I was surprised this morning when I checked the rain gauge to only find about 6/10 of an inch. I guess the whipping wind made the rain sound alot worse than it really was last night.
After chores and breakfast I took a short walk, it wasn't very good walking weather with the wind still gusting hard enough to take my breath away at times. The temperature was mid 40's but it felt much cooler.The sun was desperately trying to make an appearance through the clouds as they blew across the sky in the hard wind.

The water in the creek was murky and higher than usual telling me it must have rained more upstream than it did here.

When I first saw these birds I thought they were the Starlings that usually pass through here this time of year.But as I got closer and heard their cawing I realized these were Crows. I watched them challenge the wind as they swooped and floated as if having a grand time.
And just as I headed back to the house the blue skies were winning and the clouds were pushed away just that quickly.I decided to clean down stairs today because we are probably going to need a fire in the wood stove down there tonight and I have things all around it that might catch on fire if a spark escaped.
I finished that room and moved on out to the big room which I almost got done before chore time.
Hubbie and I had fresh broccoli from our winter garden tonight,yummy.
Tonight is our church Thanksgiving meal for the community and after we ate we headed up there to help.
About 125 folks showed up to enjoy the free Thanksgiving meal and all had a good time.
We all cleaned up and we got home around 8:15.
I lucked out and traded my raw thawing turkey with the neighbor who smoked 18 turkeys for the dinner so now my turkey is cooked for tomorrow all I have to do is warm it up,thanks David !!!
I baked cakes tonight,I have no idea what our Christmas celebration will be like Saturday so I made 44 more layers for cakes along with pound cakes. I still have an order of blackberry wine cakes to bake in the morning as it is 12:30 now and I just turned off the last oven.
I made my blueberry jello so I can prepare my mother's old recipe for Thanksgiving dessert tomorrow.

Thankful tonight for all the wonderful blessings I have received from my precious Lord and for His unselfish love.
Good Night , God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving.

BUSY TUESDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING MARKET DAY

Up early to begin what I hope will be a busy day. It is still unseasonably warm this morning with the temperature in the mid 50's. We got about 1/4 inch of rain during that little spring storm we had yesterday.
When I got to market I was concerned because the parking lot was empty and no one was even shopping inside.
I got set up and got all my orders carried in before I was bombarded with customers. At one point I looked up and there was a line all the way across the isle,whew!!!
I had several burst like that of customers all day and other times it was totally dead in the entire market.
I sold very good,but didn't sell out and had 1 customer postpone picking up her order until Saturday and had a large order from a very familiar customer not get picked up.
I hope nothings wrong in her family and she just got busy and forgot,I'm sure I will hear from her before Thanksgiving Day.
I hurried home from market to meet with a security system estimator for our house and daughters. However when he gave the estimate on ours we didn't bother going to daughters. He did give me an idea that will do what we want to do without spending $1000 !!
I got the van unpacked and things put away then put together a new shelf I bought yesterday. I am sweating with the door open, this is not good to be this hot,70, and humid at this time of the year.
I did evening chores and hubby and I had a salad supper before we headed back to town to do my shopping for Saturday baking plus get some things for my Thanksgiving dinner.
I don't like driving at night and especially in the rain and tonight was an excellent example of why I shouldn't be doing that. As we were coming home it started raining and as I rounded a curve just across the bridge from our house I dropped off the road and almost hit a huge rock bank. Whew, thank you Jesus I was able to avoid a collision and made it safely home.
I just played lazy tonight and snuggled on the couch with my 4-legged kids and listened to the rain outside.
At times tonight the rain has been very hard and tornado warnings are issued for areas just east of us. The wind has been gusting along with the hard rain to make for a really nasty night.Thankfully it is a narrow band of storms and is moving pretty fast.
Tomorrow I will be fusing at myself for not doing some baking tonight but oh well it'll get done !!!
Thanking God for a very blessed day and for His undying love.
Good Night and God Bless.

LOTS OF CAKE ORDERS FOR TOMORROW

G-son arrived early and with Hubbie working today because his shop is closing down Friday it was just him and me today. On the way to his school we had to turn around and take another road because of an accident on the road we usually travel. I walked him in because we were a couple minutes late and he went in telling his teachers all about the accident. He is getting so big !!
I came home and did chores before icing 6 caramel cakes. I got my boots out to go walking and remembered and Avon order I needed to pack up so I could drop it by the post office on my way to pick up g-son. By the time I got it ready to ship it was too late for a walk this morning.
I picked up g-son and we stopped by Sam's Club to do some shopping and have lunch.
We got home and unloaded as the clouds began to boil just like when we get summer storms. It feels like summer actually with the 70 degree temperature this afternoon after a low in the mid 50's this morning.
I was going to work downstairs but when I got just one shelf cleaned off ,g-son came down and asked if we could go outside and swing.
This is one of those times I've talked about before when I just take time to enjoy g-son while the dust waits !!Although our time outside was cut short by a sudden clap of thunder and a rain shower we had a few minutes of swing time.

With the rain and wind we spent the rest of the afternoon inside playing.
After he left with his mom I went back downstairs to work. I am changing my laundry room around while I don't have a washer and dryer in there.
I spent some time researching brands last night and have decided to go with the Samsung pair Lowes has on sale unless something else is just at a too good to pass up price !!
When hubbie came in from work we did evening chores early so he could go help daughter pick up 30 Thanksgiving baskets full of dinner fixins for the needy kids at the school she works at. One of the small local churches fixes these baskets and then donates 30 turkeys to go with them tomorrow when the parents come pick up their students they take home a complete ready to cook Thanksgiving meal. They took my van and her jeep so they would only have to make one trip.
I had to stay home and ice cakes to fill my orders tomorrow. I have 18 orders and daughter has 9 so she will be busy tonight also when she gets home.
It is a good thing I started when I did because I finished at almost midnight,whew!
Thanking God tonight for the strength He gives me each day .
Good Night and God Bless.

BUSY SUNDAY

With all my operation Christmas child boxes in hand this morning I made it to church on time. A good friend helped me get all 7 boxes into the church without dropping them in the parking lot.
There were 5 people Baptized this morning,glory be to God.
I still can't shake this uneasy feeling about what is going on in our church so it has taken some of the sweetness out of Sunday morning for me. I'm still praying for God to help me resolve these feelings. It doesn't help when I'm bombarded with questions from my church family about what is going on and why I'm giving up my job there. Then they voice their disgust with what is going on,that just seems to add fuel to these burning misgivings I have in my heart.
After church we had #1 son,d-in-love, g-son and daughter for lunch, #2 son was taking his only day off to play some golf with a friend in S.C.
After lunch d-in-love left for a photo shoot and the rest of us moved my washer and dryer over to daughter's house. Which should have been a simple thing as we stopped by Lowes on the way to pick up some hoses for the washer. But when we got to her house the dryer plug was different so she had to make a trip back to Lowes for another plug, then #1 son wired it wrong and had to redo it.
We finally made it home around 7:00, all the animals were surely wondering if we had forgotten them I'm sure.
After getting the chores done by flashlight we had a snack supper.
Then I had to bake cakes on this one Sunday of the year that it's necessary in order to get all the orders iced and ready for Tuesday. It just reminds me why I don't go to market on Tuesdays every week.
As I watched the news tonight and they talked about yesterday's Christmas parade in downtown Asheville I noticed that Santa has changed from the traditional red suit to a more elegant looking robe ????
And this next picture,well someone is going to have to explain to me what in the world this guy is doing in a Christmas parade.I can't really tell if he has on the santa hat or if the guy behind him has it on, either way this is scary !!! I'm just saying !!!!!!!

Each day I become more thankful that we have a loving Lord who is watching over His children, carrying us when the road gets to tough for us to walk along beside Him, and guiding us back into the light when we find ourselves straying into the dark corners of this world.
Good Night and God Bless.

FAMILY THANKSGIVING DINNER

A little colder this morning than yesterday, we are slowly going to start warming back up now to get back above normal for a while. Pretty soon normal is going to be a forgotten thing because we won't remember what it's like to be normal.
Market was extremely slow for the Saturday before Thanksgiving today. Everyone was scratching their heads because there were very few customers. Daughter helped most of the day and we were thankful for what we did sell and the several more orders we got for Tuesday.
This was the day of the yearly toy run. Hundreds of motorcycle riders get together to deliver toys to the Henderson County courthouse steps to be given to the needy children of the county.The streets are blocked as they ride into town and don't get seperated by the red lights.

This is different !!!!! I hope they didn't leave that pig on the courthouse steps !!

That's a lot of toys to brighten Christmas morning for a lot of kids. This is a great charity event for the children of our county,thanks to all who participated.

I came straight home after market to get the food ready to take over to our family Thanksgiving tonight. I had the 7-layer salad I made last night and I added deviled eggs, sundried tomato pesto flavored couscous, a wine cake for dessert and a couple drinks.There was plenty of good food as usual. This year we had the traditional turkey and ham with all the fixins plus some !!! Yumyum !!There was good family fellowship,fun and even a wrestling match. (that's g-son on top!)
We always have this get together in sis-in-law's niece's restaurant because there is so much more room.

This is the newest addition to the family finishing his Thanksgiving meal, my great nephew baby E.

These oreo turkeys were made by one of the younger mothers and were a big hit with the kids.
Hubbie and I made #2 son a plate and dropped it by his house on our way,he had just gotten home from work and didn't make it to the dinner.
We got home around 8:00 and crashed to watch TV.
As I blog I just remembered I need to finish my operation Christmas child boxes to take to church tomorrow morning so I'll sign off now and do my charity event for today !!
Thankful to God for all His blessings today and for a wonderful family.
Good Night and God Bless.