HE IS RISEN !! HE IS RISEN INDEED !!

He is risen indeed !!!  Happy Easter everyone !!
This Easter Sunday is a rainy one as I hurried through chores to make it to church to check on flowers and get to nursery duty a bit early.
There were 9 little ones in the nursery today. Hubbie is a Deacon so he had to go help with the Lord's Supper so we had to recruit another lady to help us.
We had twin baby boys only weeks old so they needed more attention than the ones playing and walking around. Whew, what a workout as I dealt with the 5 older toddler boys !!
When hubbie came back in the nursery he said the sanctuary was full without an empty seat anywhere,so that is a wonderful blessing for this Easter Sunday.
I got a nice Easter secret sister package with a nice addition to my Easter decor and some yummy cadbury eggs.

We had a nice big Easter lunch of ham,corn, fresh green beans,corn, mashed potatoes,deviled eggs,7-layer salad with key lime pie for dessert,yummy !!!
Only #2 son and daughter were here as #1 son's family were on their way back from Tenn. today.
After a nice lunch everyone went home to spend a relaxing afternoon.
We got news that our renters baby was born about 3pm today,a 6 lb. 12 oz. precious little girl.
 She must have waited on her grand parents to arrive all the way from Iowa before she made her entrance.
Hubbie and I watched some March Madness on TV this afternoon and saw a devastating injury to one of Louisville's players. As he landed on his leg after a jump his shin bone snapped,protruded through the skin and left his lower leg dangling. The players from both teams were visibly upset but they played on  and Louisville defeated Duke to make it to the final four.
The rain moved back in this evening and we did chores in the rain again,more mud !!
There was about 1/2" in the gauge from the mornings rain before tonight's rain came.

A recap of March shows that it has been a strange month weatherwise. We had our first measurable snowfall on the 2nd day and our first school closed snowday on the 6th. Then on the first day of spring,the 20th brought more snow. The fourth named winter storm of the month ,Virgil slammed into WNC the last week of the month dropping record snowfall up to 21 inches in some of the higher elevations but only a couple dustings for us.

This March lived up to its reputation of  a windy month this year and being one of the coolest March's in recent history I had plenty of inside time to get lots of sewing projects done. Our family celebrates 2 birthdays in March as #2 son hit the big 30 on the first day and daughter turned 28 on the 26th. #2 son put the house he bought last fall up for sale this month in hopes to be able to move closer to his work. Daylight savings time began on the 10th and Easter Sunday falls on the 31st this year. All in all it has been a good month for the family as we have all stayed healthy with only one trip to the doctor for g-son with a sore throat. After all the cold days of this month I am so ready for some warm temperatures and sunshine. My fingers itch to dig in the dirt planting our early vegetables but until the soil warms up there is no use putting anything out.Our seed potatoes rest downstairs in bags just waiting for those warmer spring days along with all the  outside animals and spring blooming trees and bushes.
As this month comes to an end with Easter Sunday I am so prayerfully grateful for the love of our precious Savoir and strive everyday to glorify His name.
Good Night and God Bless.

BUSY BEFORE EASTER MARKET DAY

Misty rain greeted me as I hurried through chores to get ready for market this morning.
I got out my Easter vest that I get to wear a couple times each year to get into the festive mood.

I always get so many compliments on this vest because it is the perfect Easter outfit.(have no idea what made that shadow on the bottom of the pic)
Daughter was already at market when hubbie and I arrived. We got set up and had a very busy day as expected.
After lunch daughter walked up to a coffee shop on Main street and brought back a couple of delicious capuccinos for us. I took down all the Easter decorations while she was gone so I wouldn't have to do that next week. I need to find a more spring looking table cloth than the one we put back on today.
We got things loaded and she left to go home to help hubbie paint her front porch rails and I headed out to pick up baking supplies for my first Thursday market day this year. No more getting an early start to my leisure Saturday evenings.
I made stops at Ingles and Aldi then went by Lowes to pick up a couple Easter lilies for church tomorrow.As I carried them to the check out I didn't realize how strong these things smell,whew !! I made it home about 4:00 and got everything unloaded and put away. I also picked up a ham and some other fixins for our Easter lunch tomorrow.
Got a surprise photo message from d-in-love that showed g-son's first lost tooth.

He pulled it himself without saying a word and handed it to his dad. I have a feeling he will start loosing many of them in the next little while.
Our renters wife Rebecca is in labor today with her first baby so we will have a little girl around here soon.
As I fed the chickens this evening I thought I heard little peeps but as I hopefully looked in on the now not setting Silkie there were no chicks but the eggs were warm again as she had been setting on them but I think they got too cold yesterday,today was the 21st day.
One more day in this crazy month of March and the weather for that last day sounds like it will only be fit for ducks,not Easter bunnies !! Today's temperature got into the mid 50's with a little sun but mostly clouds. The rain is moving in overnight and continuing through the day to end March on a very soggy note. Guess we will need to wait and see if it goes out like a lion.
Spent the evening relaxing and reflecting on  God's love for us.
As tomorrow's sunrise comes so does the true Son rise, a savior for all of mankind.
Good Night and God Bless and Happy Easter.

GOOD FRIDAY 2013

HOLY or GOOD FRIDAY.
Both a sad and celebrated day for all Christains as Jesus was nailed to the cross.

God's shows us through His great love how He turned such a sad day into something wonderful.

My Good Friday 2013 started off late as I over slept. G-son missed school today as he and his mom and dad are headed to Tennessee today for a visit with his great grandmother and grandfather who live there. It is a four hour drive so they got an early start to have lunch with them before heading to Pigeon Forge to spend a fun weekend.
After I finished chores and had breakfast I had a lot of cakes to bake. After 18 caramel,6 coconut,5 chocolate, 3 pound and 1 wine cake I had lunch !
I cleaned the sunroom and kitchen and then had planned to soak up some sunshine but the clouds were already here by then.With temperatures in the mid 50's the clouds made it too cool to do much outside so I fed the hens some kale greens and checked my setting hens. I found to my dissapointment that the red silkie,whos eggs were ready to start hatching tomorrow was off her nest and when I felt of the eggs they were ice cold. This hen is one of my best setters so I have no idea why she would abandon her eggs just before hatching time. Maybe all this cold was too much for her and she knew the eggs were bad already. I am leaving her up with them for the weekend and then I'll break the eggs to see what happened.
I iced 12 caramel cakes in the afternoon to make the evening's icing duties a little lighter. After I watched the news I started icing again, getting the other 6 caramel,the 5 chocolate and the 6 coconut finished about 10:30. Then all the eggs had to be cleaned and cartoned. The hens are laying better and I usually have 12 or more dozen eggs for sale on Saturday.
While I baked I had the sweet sixteen NCAA tournament ballgames on TV.
Duke is the only North Carolina or ACC team still playing and they live to play in the "elite eight" next weekend.
Grateful to God for the greatest gift of all.

Good Night and God Bless.

MAUNDY THURSDAY A GOOD ONE

Got to sleep in again today as #1 son has had to work nights this week to patch low places on the interstate and has got home just in time to take g-son to school the last couple mornings. Never knowing what time he would be home I still set my alarm but had no trouble getting back to sleep when I realized he wasn't coming. Son's night work is over and he is glad because these cold nights have not been fun to work outside in. They have to do this work on the interstate at night when there is less traffic for closing one lane. I thank the Lord that all of the workers got through this without accidents.
After morning chores I headed out to town to run errands and shop for baking supplies. I also delivered an Avon order.  I am jumping back into more baking all at once with  Easter weekend usually a busy one and then back to Thursday and Saturday market days next week.
I stopped on the way home at Chick-fil-la to pick up a late lunch salad.
After unloading and getting things put away I sat out in the sunroom for a leisure lunch time and watched the birds glean the last of the seeds from the feeders.
I refilled the bird feeders this afternoon and took time to soak up some of the warm 57 degree sunshine.
When the cool late afternoon air started I moved into my sewing shop and cut out some more sewing projects. My back made it through 5 towel aprons, 2 kid's kitchen aprons and 5 little boy's tool aprons before that familiar painful catch between my shoulders sent me into the house for a break on the heating pad to relieve it. The heat releases to muscle spasm and before chore time I felt much better.
The weather looks a little more like spring for the next week although still a bit cooler than normal at least there is no snow or 20 degree temps.

This Maundy Thursday for me has been a good day to reflect on Christ's love for me and all His children. This day of the last supper where Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to show His love and humble service to them was one of the most touching days of Holy Week.

Prayerfully and humbly thankful tonight for the love of God and of His son Jesus Christ.
Good Night and God Bless.

MORNING SNOW, AFTERNOON SUN

Well the snow was harder this morning than it has been any of these past several days when everyone north of us has gotten their share of the white stuff. We got a good dusting before it was over in the late morning today.
Unfortunately the snow left but the cold temps are still here with highs only in the low 40's today.
After a morning of chores and house cleaning I took some time to enjoy my afternoon by watching my feathered friends in the back yard.
Cardinals are always around the feeders

This Grackle looks evil with those yellow eyes.

This is the first time I have seen a Brown Headed Cowbird this year.

This Mockingbird is giving me the eye with his little mask on.

Mr. Red-winged Blackbird joined the Doves cleaning up the spilled seed off the ground.

I took a walk around to check out the blooms after the cold weather.
these pretty Daffodils are still blooming.

Along with these Wood Hyacinths the Dandelions are still bravely showing off their spring blossoms.

As I walked in the bright sunshine all the animals were trying to soak up the rays.

I took time to pulled up a bunch of Kale for the hens and they sure looked appreciative.

After picking up g-son from school,I got him settled in and went to my sewing machine determined to finish the stack of cut out aprons I had.
These 5 full aprons are done and ready to take to market. I also repaired a skirt I had in the stack.

With my cut-out stack gone now I will have to take some time in my outside sewing shop when the weather warms enough and get another cut-out stack made.
When hubbie came in from work he stayed with g-son while I went to Ingles and picked up the deli tray I ordered yesterday for the baby shower gathering tonight at church. Six young ladies in our church are pregnant at the same time so we decided to have a mass shower for all of them at once. Unfortunately only 5 made it there as this big full moon induced the delivery of one of the babies yesterday.
I thought Ingles did a great job on the tray.Love the bell pepper bowl in the center.

Hubbie and I watched Survivor tonight and then he went to bed and I went to my office to do weekly paperwork and pay bills.
According to the weather wizards our snowy winter weather is over and we should start a warming trend tomorrow after about 25 degrees overnight tonight.
Thanking God for a blessed day and for  the sacrifice He made for our sins.
Good Night and God Bless.

HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY DAUGHTER

28 years ago the day started out like a normal day at that time for me. I was out of work expecting my third baby,the boys were at nursery school. After lunch I decided to run into Roses department store to pick up a swing set that was on sale. We were planning on getting it set up so the boys would have it to play on after the baby came. I payed for the set and was waiting for the man to go into the back and get it and haul it to the truck for me.  Suddenly I felt water running down the inside of both legs. The man came through the door with the swingset and I made a point to walk behind him all the way to the truck,thankful that I had on a light colored pair of loose fitting pants,but not sure if I was leaving a trail of water drips or not. On the way home I could feel a surge of water at every bump I hit in the road. I had no contraction yet to speak of and when I called my sis-in-law to take me to the hospital,she asked  if she had time to take a quick shower and I said sure. Hubbie was working in another county delivering uniforms and he would have to wait for someone to get to him to relieve him before he could head to the hospital. I don't remember even being nervous that he might not make it in time.
My sister in law Lauri took me to the hospital, I felt comfortable with her because she was a registered nurse and I knew she would know what to do if something happened.
I don't really remember much about the next few hours,hubbie did make it in plenty of time. I do remember telling them repeatedly that the baby was coming and being put off by the nurses because they said I wasn't dilated far enough. After having had 2 babies and this time having a large area not numbed by the epidural I could feel her head sliding down the birth canal.  Finally I convinced the epidural nurse to take a look and then the excitement began. As the rushing doctor came through the door he ran his arms in the arms of the outstretched hospital gown and caught daughter as she slid easily out,all 6 lbs. 14 oz. of her at 5:58pm after my water broke around 1:00.
Hubbie had a camera and was supposed to be taking pictures but wound up in the other bed in the labor room passed out with all the sudden excitement and a missed lunchtime.
I was overjoyed that this third baby was a little girl,I had 2 boys and so desperately wanted a girl.
Here she was at 2 years old in the first picture she actually smiled in.

I remember my friend who ran the daycare where the kids went calling me at work when this picture was made telling me excitedly how good daughter did in her picture. She knew that most pictures I had of her she was crying in.
She was a beautiful,smart little girl and has turned into a beautiful,smart young woman.
This is a picture when she was 16 and we were in Fort Worth,Texas as she played in the national AAU basketball tournament.

Happy Birthday daughter,  hubbie and I are so proud of the wonderful, successful young woman you have turned into.
I had a pretty normal Tuesday with housework and laundry taking up much of it. I watched snow flurries whip around in the strong winds all day but nothing on any roads around here even with the temperature not getting out of the 30's all day. The northern counties in NC can't say the same as some of them got up to 13" of snow making roads impassable.

After I picked up g-son today I was glad to see that he is eating better and is getting his energy back.

He stayed late tonight so his mom could watch a movie with daughter on her birthday.
While he played I made the last 2 large bonnets I had cut out.

Anytime I go into my office to sew or anything else these two always veg out in their nice soft beds I have behind the sewing machine.

I have seen them in sharing the same bed but mostly Dolly always gets her pink bed !!
As I sit here tonight typing this I hear the wind still whipping outside and can see the snowflakes still flying around under a huge full moon as it peaks in and out of the clouds.
Hopefully this will be the last of the snowflakes and wind tonight as the winter storm "Virgil" finally moves on out to allow some warmer temps and sunshine.
Passover begins today and as Easter gets closer I am humbly grateful for God's love everyday and that He cares for all His children in the same way.

Good Night and God Bless.

22 NAMED WINTER STORMS SO FAR THIS SEASON

BRRR,this wind will blow you over ! We just have a few snow flurries around here but the mountain tops are invisible through the falling,blowing snow.
These are today's weather maps, all I can say is "where's spring" ?

We are getting very close to the end of the alphabet for winter storm names this year. This storm is Virgil. This is the first year ever that winter storms have had names so I wonder how many would be named storms we have had in years past to compare the 22 names so far this year with.

The 22nd storm of this very stormy fall/winter/spring season that started back the first week of November 2012 with a storm named Athena which dropped 13" of snow on the New England states. After that the storms lined up and continued to pound the country with snow and ice. This is a list and a little info on each one.
After Athena came Brutus on November 8-11,2012 dropping up to 14" of snow in the northern rockies and plains states.
Ceasar on December 8-10 with 17" snow in northern plains and mid-west states
Draco on Dec. 17-21 ,2012  with 15" snow and flooding rains all across northern US
Euclid on Dec. 23-28,2012  with up to 27" snow in areas of Texas,Nevada and Arkansas
Freyer on Dec. 28-30,2012  with up to 20" snow in the Ohio valley to the northeast states
To start off 2013  we had Grandolf come in on January 10-12 dropping up to 23" snow in areas of Idaho,Montana and North Dakota
Helen on January 15-16 with only 6" of snow but major icing from regions in the South to New England
Iaga on January 17-18 started in the deep south dropping 6" of snow in Mississippi and more as it headed north ending with 15" in West Virginia
Jove on January 21-22 was a major ice storm for New England topped with 5" of snow
Khan on January 25-26 started in Wisconsin,dived south into Georgia and the Carolinas coating everything with a thick layer of ice and up to 6" of snow
Luna on January 27-28 delivered an icy mess to Iowa,Minnesota and the Northeast
January ended with winter storm Magnus on the 29-30th charging through the plain states and the midwest delivering 14" of snow and destructive tornadoes in the southern areas of it's path
February started off with the most potent storm of this season so far. It was named Nemo and from February 8-10 it dropped a whopping 40" of snow on some parts of the northeast.
Orko followed on February 10-11 in the northern plains states dropping 18" of snow there.
Plato on February 18-20 delivered a punch to the Carolinas and Virginia with up to 12" of snow and at least 5" as far south as Charleston,SC
Storm Q on February 19-24 started in California,crossed Nebraska,Iowa dropping snow along the way and hit Nashville, Tenn. with 18" before it weakened.
Rocky on February 24-26 was a deadly storm with very high winds and up to 34" of white-out snow
causing 6 deaths in the central and southern plains.
Saturn started March off on the 3-10th with a trek all across the country stating in the Rockies and ending in New England dipping into the midwest and Virginia dropping 29" of snow in places
Triton came in on March 8-11th,starting in Southern California delivering up to 26" of snow across the upper midwest and central plains states.
Ukko on March 17-20 dropped 16" of snow from Minnesota to Pennsylvania
And of course on this date we are dealing with Virgil which began yesterday and already has dropped more than 19" of snow in parts of Colorado and Kansas as it makes it's way east the northern mountains of NC are expecting up to 9" and even our area in the southern mountains could see some snow accumulations from Virgil overnight tonight.
Wow, what a winter !! And it doesn't appear to be over in the near future !! Oh and we only have 4 more letters in the alphabet !!
As I went out to pick up g-son this afternoon the wind was still whipping the cold air around making it very uncomfortable outside.
After chores it was nice to snuggle down with my 4-legged kids for the evening and relax.
I took this picture as a snow shower came just as the sun came out from behind the clouds.

Praying tonight for all the folks who have to be outside working tonight,may the be safe and warm.
Good Night and God Bless.

PALM SUNDAY 2013

Today was the rainy morning delayed from yesterday I guess. As I slogged through chores I felt for the animals who looked as if they could just stay in their cozy houses all day. Sadie the dog has an electric heated pad in her house to lay on and she did go back in there and lay down with her back to the door as if to say "don't bother me again" !
I got ready and headed to church,today was sad because  the younger children did their Easter songs and g-son was too sick to come.  They did a good job .

Today was the Easter chorus program and they did a very good job.

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week and that fateful journey that Jesus took that led up to the miraculous resurrection of our Wonderful Savior.

We put on a crock pot full of chilli this morning so all we had to do after service was bake a cake of cornbread. Daughter and #2 son were our only guest today as #1 son's family went to d-in-love's parents for lunch.
After they left hubbie and I watched some March madness,UNC lost to Kansas for the second year in a row.
I reviewed my finished blog book and got it downloaded,now I'm waiting and hoping for a coupon like Blurb usually sends before I order it.
I also started deleting some of the photo files that I don't want to keep to clear up some more space.
It has been a rainy, dreary, cool day with temps only reaching the low 40's. I poured 1" of rain from the gauge at chore time and we are expecting more than that tonight from the cold front that is coming through to drop the temperature and turn the rain to snow and sleet by morning.
The higher elevations around could see up to 9" of snow !
Again we go to bed wondering what we will wake up to in the morning !!
Humbly thanking God for the wondering gift of His son to save all mankind from their sins as Holly Week begins that fateful journey today.

Good Night and God Bless.

BUSY MARKET DAY

I was pleasantly surprised when I got up to not be doing chores in a pouring rain this morning as predicted.
We got ready for market and were ahead of schedule for a change.
I got set up between customers and stayed busy for the first couple hours enough to sell out of many of my cakes. I hate to sell out of anything especially caramel cakes because I always hear stories about how far someone has driven for one of them. Today I didn't hear one of those stories but I did have several very disappointed customers who left empty handed. Oh well there's always next week !
One of my neighbors who sells cut flowers gave this large bouquet of forsythia which will make a beautiful communion table decoration for tomorrow's church service.

Thank you Mary.

#2 son came by after lunch and kept me company and helped me load at closing time as he was out of his house again for over 2 hours for showings
I stopped by Ingles for some chilli fixins for tomorrow. With the weather forecast of a cold rainy day a big pot of chilli will hit the spot for lunch. Then I realized amid all the business at market I hadn't eaten any lunch so a Subway beside Ingles enticed me in for one of my favorite Italian BMT's for a late lunch,yummmy !
Talked to #1 son and g-son is still pretty sick today,bless his heart !
Hubbie and I took a nice break this afternoon and watched  some March madness on TV while we both dozed.
The temperature got up in the upper 50's and the clouds hung low all day but the rain held off so far.
The severe spring weather patterns are beginning,only some of them are for snow warnings this year.

There was hail balls the size of tennis balls in Jacksonville,Fl. where a friend of mine has a horse farm.

Those would definitely do some damage !!
After chores this evening I worked on my blog book,getting it finished and ready for review.
Next project is to go through all my photos on my computer and delete all the ones that I don't want to keep.
God's love is an amazing gift and at this time of year we praise and thank Him for the greatest gift ever given.
Good Night and God Bless

SICK DAY FOR GRANDSON

Unfortunately I was right about g-son getting sick yesterday as he was very sick this morning. Although when son brought him he was ready for school. After getting better awake he decided he didn't feel well enough to go to school today.
  He said his throat felt like it had a splinter in it !
After a few phone calls a doctor's appointment was made at 12:30.  I baked my cakes through the morning and did Friday's housecleaning jobs before we headed over to Asheville to see his doctor.
D-in-love met us there and the doc did a strep test which was negative but said with his throat looking like it did she was going to give an Antibiotic just in case it turned into strep over the weekend.
He did not feel well at all and when we got home after a while of not even wanting to swallow his spit he gave in and took some dreaded tylenol pills which immediately made him feel so much better.
Other g-ma picked him up this afternoon and I did some extra sewing making 4 large and 1 medium bonnets to cap off the week.

Today started out sunny and cold in the mid 20's but got up to the mid 40's when the clouds started moving in this evening.
Driving across Terry's Gap on the way back from Asheville today as I looked up at the mountains I thought how dull and drab they still look with not much green spring coloring yet .

G-son wanted to stop and see this little water fall on the side of the road.

When I was his age we used to stop and drink from this water on our trips to and from Asheville.
Seems this winter is dragging along not wanting to give way to any spring weather. Of course when I look back at last year and the 70 and 80 degree temperatures at this time no wonder I think this year is behind schedule.
Daughter came by to get hubbie to help haul her futon back up to church for the youth celebration they are having for the atheletes tonight after their soccer,baseball and softball games.
While they were gone I did the evening chores and iced my caramel cakes .
Hubbie and I watched UNC win over Villanova  in the first round of the NCAA tournament  tonight.
I am tired and headed to bed at 11:00.
Grateful to God for the blessings of today and praying the g-son gets better quickly.
Good Night and God Bless.

BIGGEST SNOWFALL OF THE YEAR USHERS IN SPRING

I'm going to start today's blog last night just after 11pm as I was getting ready to get into bed and let the dogs out for their last bathroom break of the day. I was shocked when I opened the door and looked out to see this.

I haven't seen it snow this hard since the blizzard of 1993. I had to wake hubbie up so he could have a look for himself.

Not the expected way to end the first day of spring for sure.It must not have snowed at this pace for very long as we would have had a major amount of snow this morning and we only had about an inch.

An early phone call confirmed my expectations that school wouldn't be on a regular schedule as a 2-hour delay was the info from the call.
G-son had extra time before school to put a puzzle together.

 As I did chores out in the 26 degree morning I took time to make some pictures of the biggest snow of the season so far.

The pretty spring bloomers have a cool blanket of snow on them this morning.

G-son laughed all the way to school at all the road signs and mailboxes that were covered with the blowing snow that had frozen on them.

The lawn at school was covered but the roads were fine, a perfect snow !!

It was a very heavy sticky snowfall and with the temperature only getting into the mid 30's there wasn't much melting even with the sunshine.
After I dropped g-son off I headed to town to run errands and do some other business that took a lot more time than I had expected. I was finishing up my shopping in Walmart just before 3pm when I got a phone call from g-son's other grandmother who was scheduled to pick him up today but was stuck in traffic as a house fire between her house and his school closed the road.
I called daughter and had her call his school so they could tell him what was going on and why I was going to be late picking him up so he wouldn't get scared.
I made it there about 3:20.
As we drove home he complained with his throat feeling scratchy and when he ate he said it hurt  so I hope he isn't getting anything to bad.
His dad looked down his throat when he got here and said it looked okay to him so who knows.
Evening chore time felt like mid winter instead of early spring and I'm sure the animals are feeling it too. I gave out some extra feed tonight and hoped that my little setting silkies will manage to keep their eggs warm through these next few nights. It's already 28 degrees at 10:30 tonight.
Hubbie and I had a nice restful evening.
Grateful to God for the blessings of this day and for His never ending love each day.
Good Night and God Bless.