HANGING OF THE GREENS ENDS NOVEMBER

This last day of an unusually cold November began with bright sunshine and warming temps after a mid 20's night.
Very early this morning actually last night , but it was after midnight so it was today, I let the dogs out to pee one last time before we crawled into bed and as I looked up at the moon I was amazed and had to go back inside for a coat and my  big camera.  I have never seen the moon in this position before.

This picture isn't turned sideways, this was the actual position of the moon, only the bottom half was illuminated.  I'm sure this has a meaning in folklore but I was unable to find anything.
Back to this morning after the moon was gone and the sun was shining, I did chores and had breakfast then got ready for church.
The sermon was continuing in Esther and it was a nice service.
Afterward we had a huge turkey pot pie for lunch, using all the turkey and mashed potato left overs. It was delicious and enjoyed by #1 son,d-in-love, g-son, #2 son and daughter. I made a 11"X 15" pan of the pie and only a small corner was left !!  D-in-love also brought up a corn casserole she made last night and a pumpkin pie that was very good.
After lunch all the kids went their separate ways and hubbie and I made a trip to Aldi to pick up all the extra baking supplies for the large cake order for this coming Saturday.
When we got home and got unloaded we had about 20 minutes to rest before time for chores.
We got everything done a little early this evening so we could make it back to church tonight for the "Hanging of the Greens" service.
This is a favorite service of mine each year as the congregation decorates the church and sings all the old familiar Christmas songs.
This is the children putting the manger together, g-son is the one in the red plaid shirt putting a figure on the table.

The children then sang Away in a Manger for us.

 G-son loves to sing !!

The ornaments for the trees were all placed on the pews and the entire congregation lined up and placed them on the trees as we sang songs.

Then the lights were turned on as Cassie sang.

These three generations share a laugh.

Everyone enjoyed the service then headed downstairs  to fellowship and  snacks.

We also lit the  first Advent candle tonight, the candle of "Hope"  to start the Christmas season celebration.

Sitting there tonight watching the program I thought how strange it felt to already be in this season. Today is the last day of November and Christmas is a little over 3 weeks away, oh my !!
This November has been a wintry month with cold temps and a couple snowy days, which is strange for our area. Our family has had a pretty routine month of work and play.
#1 son has been working 6 days a week, 5 for his regular job at DOT and on Saturdays for a friend who has a grading business. He took the week of Thanksgiving off to deer hunt but didn't see anything to shoot at.
D-in-love has fit well into her new job at the elementary school where g-son goes and she has also starting her photo business up again and has been busy making Christmas card pics for folks.
G-son likes school and says he has the best teacher in the entire school this year.
#2 son has also been working 6 days a week at the post office delivering all the early packages and worked 1/2 day today picking up packages.
Daughter helped coach the varsity volleyball team to the third round of the state play-offs  before they lost, then had one free afternoon before basketball practice began. She is the head JV coach and the assistant varsity coach. With practice everyday she has little time for anything else but has been dating a new beau who seems very nice.  She also finally bought herself her first new car during her Thanksgiving break, an Acura ILX which she really is enjoying.
Aa and Re had a good month of farming as 5 out of  6 cows gave birth to calves without any trouble this month. Little EL is growing up way too fast and is talking a mile a minute. Re is now less than 6 weeks away from delivering her little boy and EL's baby brother.  They are still trying to get financing on a new home on the land they closed on last month.
Hubbie has fought falling leaves all month and swears there is more leaves this year than ever before.
I have had a fairly busy market month which I am thankful for and also have had precious time to spend with g-son and little EL while their mom's worked.
I am very thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with family and also the extended family get-together we had earlier in the month.
This has been a very thankful month for me as I have focused more on the things I usually take for granted and trying to be much more thankful in recognizing my Heavenly Father and His love for me and my family as this month comes to an end and we get ready to celebrate the birth of our precious Savior.
Good Night and God Bless

OLD TIMEY CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE AND HAPPY 90th

Got an extra early wake up call this morning as hubbie and I wanted to get an early start to market. This is our Christmas open house annual celebration plus the 90th birthday of the curb market is coming to an end so there will be a huge anniversary cake to share with customers.The lower words said  "since 1924" !!  Local hot apple cider was also complimentary all day.

A local author, Terry Ruscin, is there signing his popular books about the history of Henderson county, plus a local band played  Christmas music to liven up the mood.

This is our market Christmas tree, we usually have a huge tree but this year decided to scale down.

 We arrived by 8:30, an hour earlier than usual and got set up before the crowds of people arrived.  The aisles stayed pretty full of folks all day and sales were okay, but for the amount of folks that were there it could have been better. This is one of our favorite customers talking with daughter in the right of this pic.

We are very thankful for what we did sell as always.
Daughter helped all day and we were both decked out in holiday fare for the occasion.

I love the wonderful smell of market during these days as all the fresh greens make it smell like Christmas for sure.

After market daughter and I did some shopping in some of our locally owned small businesses. We discovered a unique little shop and each of us bought several things for ourselves and for gifts.
This lady used to run a shop that we frequented uptown. We had no idea when she closed that one she had moved out of town to this little cottage.
We also stopped in Ace hardware and picked up some on sale bird seed and suet cakes to keep our feathered friends happy.
After she dropped me back at my van I stopped at Ingles to get some things for tomorrow's lunch.
Hubbie has been dealing with the leaves again for hopefully the last time this season, the lawn looks good without a leaf covering.

He took Tipper, (daughter's dog) back over to her house in her jeep that has been sitting in our yard since she bought her new car on Wednesday.  She is going to keep the jeep for a while to see how much she needs to use it to haul dogs and things.  She has been dog sitting a couple dog's for a customer and didn't have enough crates for all of them so Tipper has spent the week with us, which she enjoys. Daughter dropped hubbie back by on her way to return the 2 dogs to their home as their owners are coming back tonight.
#1 son came up to borrow a table and some folding chairs as they are hosting d-in-love's dad's side of their family's Thanksgiving tonight and needed more seating.
After chores on this cool evening I watched the news and took a short nap all snuggled up with my 4-legged kids.
Today was the 2nd annual Toys for Tots Tractor Run in Henderson county. Farmers gathered at the research station in Mills River and drove into town to Jackson park hauling toys to be given to the kids in the county that won't get anything this Christmas.
There was more tractors this year and some interesting things being pulled .

Not much on TV tonight unless you like football so I caught up on my blog and then headed to bed. Hope that short nap won't keep me awake all night.
Grateful tonight for God's gift of a wonderful joyful life.
Good Night and God Bless.

OLD UNDATED PHOTOS

My last leisurely morning today.  As the warm bed felt good as I waited for the mid 20's temp to warm some outside before I ventured out to do the morning chores.
After breakfast I got started baking cakes. I baked 12 caramel,4 chocolate, 1 coconut, 2 pound and 1 blackberry wine cake before taking a break for lunch. Hubbie was outside on the tractor hauling in the logs from the trees they cut yesterday.
When he finished  we went to Walmart to pick up a package I had ordered, to Sam's Club and Home Depot to look at all their deals.
We found nothing we needed in either store but some food supplies in Sam's.
Back home the windy air had gotten really colder quickly.  We had about 15 minutes to rest before we headed out to do chores.
Back inside neither of us wanted any supper as we were still stuffed from yesterday and lunch left overs so I went straight to my cake icing.
After icing all the cakes and getting all the orders in boxes I got in a hot bath to soak my over worked aching back muscles.
To end the decade pictures for this month I have some old undated pics.
This is my uncle Cecil Pryor, my dad's older brother, holding his baby daughter(by the looks of her shoes)  , he also had 2 sons.

This is a pic of another of dad's brothers, actually this is Cecil's twin brother, Victor Pryor, with his once intended wife.  There is no mention of her name anywhere and all I know is he never did marry her or anyone else.

Victor owned was a judge out in Oklahoma and owned a large ranch in Claremore,Ok. In this pic is one of his hired hands.

And another of dad's older brother's was Homer Pryor, pictured here with one of his girlfriends. Have no idea of her name either.

This preservation method of these old photos has also brought some interesting attention as some folks have recognized some of the subjects with my family members in these photos. Another added plus for putting them on here.
 Thankful tonight for all the blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2014

A wonderful Thanksgiving day started off with some snow flurries flying around even with the sunshine.
I got up early put the turkey in the oven then went out to do the chores.  I bought a 12 pound turkey so it needs to cook about 4 hours. I always use an oven bag to keep the bird more moist. All I put on it was a sage and butter rub.
Back inside I had a smoothie for breakfast then started my Thanksgiving dinner fixins. Hubbie vacuumed and did some cleaning while I cooked. I made sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing,green beans, cranberry relish (from fresh cranberries) and apple cobbler for dessert. Some of my family are coming for lunch and   others for supper today so there will be a couple things added for the evening meal.
#2 son and #1 son were our only guest at lunch, #1 son brought corn casserole, made by d-in-love with him.
Daughter went to meet her new boyfriend's family at their Thanksgiving lunch and D-in-love is cleaning house.
It all was very delicious and enjoyed by all four of us.    I ate way too much as usual !!
After both sons left hubbie and I rested for a little while then he went out to help #1 son cut down a large dead oak tree in the woods in front of our house for some extra firewood.

Retreating after a job well done !

Talked to daughter who got up early to run in the "Turkey Trot" race down town with over 500 more folks who braved the 30 degree temps this morning. It started at 8:30.
We will be meeting the new boyfriend at supper tonight.
I fixed some glazed carrots to go with the rest of the left overs for supper tonight.
Both son's came back plus d-in-love, g-son, daughter and her new boyfriend.  He was nice and seemed to fit in with the family well.
After we all ate way too much we gathered in the living room to watch the UNC basketball game and visit to let our food settle.
After the game everyone decided to hit the mall for the early black Friday specials.  Hubbie and I went to Penny's and Belks.  We didn't find anything at Pennys but I go boots and bedroom slippers at Belks plus a gift for g-son and hubbie found a couple pairs of dress pants on the sale.
As we walked back to the van we passed Sears and saw a very good deal on a gas grill. We need to replace our old one and hubbie has been watching for a after season sale so this deal came home with us.
We outlasted all the kids who were home in bed long before we got home,haha.
It was after 11:00 when we got home with our deals.
As I gazed into a beautiful late fall sunset I said a heartfelt Thankful prayer to God tonight for a wonderful Thanksgiving day and for a loving family to share it with.

Hope all my blogger friends had a great Thanksgiving day.
Good Night and God Bless.

DAUGHTER' S FIRST NEW CAR

Surprise , this morning as I looked outside and saw absolutely nothing !!!   No snow for us this time around. When I went to bed last night it was raining pretty hard leaving almost 3/4" of rain in the gauge by this morning but no snow.
The higher mountains around our area got a nice covering but it was all gone by noon with the warming temps.
I lay in bed a little longer than usual today , even prompting hubbie to ask if I was okay?
I knew I would be behind to start the day but it was so nice just to rest.
I did chores and breakfast then baked 12 caramel cakes for an order.  Daughter wants to car shop this afternoon so I was finished by the time she finished her b-ball practice around noon.
We ate a quick lunch and all three of us headed over to Asheville to check on some different cars. Our first stop was the Honda place. After talking with a salesman she discovered she couldn't get the Honda she wanted with a black leather interior , they only had beige leather interiors in their white cars.
We left him trying to come up with some other options in her price range.
We stopped by Walmart to pick up some baking supplies for my large order next week, checked on a pet sitting job with her then headed to the farmers market to see what kind of citrus fruit they had in already.
 We found some Lees Fruit that were very good so we bought a box to share.We also bought a box of "Halos" and some tomatoes. While we were there the salesman called daughter back and ask if she would be interested in an Acura ?   She hadn't even thought about an Acura thinking there was no way she could afford one of them.
We stopped at the Toyota place to look over the new 2015 Camry's there ,but she decided she just didn't like the new grill style on them and they didn't have any color but black in the 2014s.
She was running out of options and getting very discouraged with car shopping.  She said she would look at the Acura on our way home and then stop her search for  awhile.
The Acura was a bit smaller then the Camry or the Accord but only by a few inches.  It was the exact color she wanted, pearl white with black leather interior, had a moon roof and all the fancy options she liked.

She drove it around quite a while and decided if they could get in her payment range she would buy it. After some dickering on price the salesman left again to try to get the price even lower and I could tell by the look on daughter's face she wasn't expecting to be buying that car either.  We were all kind of surprised when he walked back in and said congratulations you just bought the car !!!
After all the dust settled on the paperwork the payments actually came in $11 less than we bargained for so that made her happy.
I haven't bought a new car in a long time and forgot how long all the paperwork trail actually took. We sat in the dealership and watched darkness fall and then some.  Finally almost 2 hours later it was done, she was a new car owner for the first time in her life !!

I think she will be happy with this purchase, she got a good deal and it should last her a long time. The salesman said a man just traded in an Acura that had 400 miles on it !! The salesman she had was one of the most knowledgeable salesman I have ever met and did a great job of explaining all the options on this car.  Their service department sounds very good also and she gets all kinds of free service on this car for 5 years so that was another added surprise.
We came home did chores by flashlight in the quickly cooling evening air.
It has been a nice sunny day with highs in the upper 40's but they are calling for a cold upper 20's night with the possibility of snow again.
#1 son and his family spent the day at Dollywood today . G-son looks like he is having a wonderful time in all the Christmas lights.

I iced my caramel cakes tonight and then blogged. This has been a great Thanksgiving eve and I am very thankful for the protective arms of our loving Lord in all the travel today of everyone.
Hope all my blogger friends and readers have a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving day tomorrow .
I'll leave you with this little poem.

Good Night and God Bless.

TUESDAY MARKET DAY

Off to market a bit early as hubbie is here to help after he decided to take the entire week off to use up some of his days off before he loses them.
To our surprise there were very few customers at market this morning. Usually it takes both of us helping customers as they fill their Thanksgiving dessert orders.
He left before lunch to get home to catch up some "honey dos".
I had a decent day although it was slower than previous years.  I took several orders for Saturday, including a 12 caramel cake order and a 50 caramel cake order for next Saturday , so it looks like I will be super busy for a while.
At the end of the day today I changed my fall decorations and table cloths all out for Christmas ones and put out some decorations before I left.
Saturday is our "Old Timey Christmas" open house  so we will have another busy day.
The weather today was nice, highs in the mid 50's with clouds thickening as the day went on ahead of the third winter storm named "Cato".
There are winter weather alerts all up the eastern part of the country,our area included, for the next couple days.

The snowfall predictions are impressive with this system,causing that trip to grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner to become very tricky in places.

The snow is going to turn to ice as the temps warm tomorrow.

We will have to wait and see what  track this storm actually takes as that will determine how much snow or ice we get.
We had a flea market trip planned for tomorrow but not doing that now for sure !!
I made a supply stop at Aldi on the way home from market, rushing a bit to get here to meet a lady that was supposed to come look at my old dining table I have for sale but she called after I got home and said her husband said it wasn't big enough.
Since I hurried home hubbie and I had to make a trip back to Walmart after chores and supper tonight to pick up a package I had ordered online and get some more baking supplies.
The air is getting cooler as the 47 degrees now feels very moisture laden.
These are the colorful clouds that filled the eastern sky at chore time this evening.

Last year we were dealing with the second winter storm during this same time.
I collected all the seeds from the pumpkins that have served as my yard decorations tonight and gave some to the chickens for their fall worm treatment and put the rest in the freezer to give them their spring worm treatment.
Pumpkin seeds are a very good natural parasite treatment for chickens.

 Pumpkin and Guord seeds have a chemical in them called curcurbitacin, this is a chemical steroid which paralyzes the parasite and makes them turn lose from the intestinal walls so that they are easily flushed out.  Feeding these seeds to your back yard flock will keep the parasite population in check without any worry of eating harsh chemicals in their eggs.

Thankful tonight for the blessing of a warm home and plenty of food for our Thanksgiving table.

Good Night and God Bless.

NOT A TYPICAL MONDAY

As I started my day I thought how "not typical" this Monday was going to be.  Always, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving becomes for me, a regular market day.  A busy Tuesday market day !!  I have a list of Thanksgiving orders now and just with those it will be a busy selling day. 
That makes this Monday a baking day so after chores and breakfast I started a load of laundry and then went to the kitchen to get it started.
I baked 12 caramel, 4 coconut, 1 chocolate, 2 pound cakes.
After lunch Hubbie and I went to the new Dunham's Sports store.  He wanted me to check out a couple gift ideas he saw yesterday.
We bought a couple things, put a couple things on our list for Christmas and then checked out Belks before we headed home. Belks had all their black Friday deals stacked in the aisles and you could hardly walk. I saw a pair of ankle boots I'd like if the $60 price tag becomes $19.99 like is advertised.
We made a final stop at the world of clothing to look at cover-alls for me.
My old ones are starting to come apart and I hooked one of the legs on the barbed wire fence so it is torn all the way across with the filler hanging out, looks like the dog has had a hold of me, haha.
I didn't find what I wanted in there either. I am going to look on line for snow mobile suits, they are waterproof as well as insulated.
Back home I rested my aching back a little while before  my busy evening begins.
As I did the chores in my shirt sleeves without even a jacket I wanted to savor this warmth. As I stood and enjoyed this wonderful sunset on this nice 60 degree day I shivered at the thought that in less than 36 hours from now we may have a significant snowfall on the ground.

Love the rainbows over the setting sun.

Inside I  did some paperwork and paid some weekly bills early as tomorrow will be the last day this week I will be in town.
A lady from church picked up a couple caramel cakes on her way home tonight.
I iced cakes and got things ready for market before taking time for a long soak in the bath tub.
I am very thankful tonight for the strength God gives me each day, may I find a way to glorify His name with it.
Good Night and God Bless.

RAINY SUNDAY

A misty rain greeted me as I did chores this morning . With a temperature of 38 this made the morning feel raw to be outside.
I loaded all 6 of my Operation Christmas Child boxes up and headed to church a little early hoping to get everything inside before the harder rains arrived and I needed to be there early for my "greeter" duties.
The sermon was from Joshua about thankfulness this morning.
After church we decided to check out the estate sale before lunch.  They didn't have much, I only found a small cutting board with some hummingbirds painted on it. My love of birds showing again !!!

Everyone made it to lunch of one of our smoked butts and it was very good . As I looked around at the entire family eating, talking and laughing together around my new table I decided I liked the table better than I thought I did ,haha.  It did the exact job I bought it for.
All the guys went out to the new Dunham sports store that just opened in the mall in town to check out their grand opening sales.
Re and I were the only ones that didn't go. She took little EL home for a nap. I sat out in the sunroom ,had a nice hot cup of tea and watched the now pouring rain.

When #2 son dropped hubbie off he took most of the smoked butt and 1/2 of the chicken home with him for his late suppers after he works his late holiday hours at the Post Office this week.
Hubbie and I tried waiting out the pouring rain before chores but it only got harder so we put on rain coats and sloshed out to get the animals fed. At regular feeding time of 5:00 it was so dark all the chickens were already in their houses roosting so I just shut the doors. I'll gather eggs in the morning when I let them out.
After we watched the news our county has been put under a flash flood warning as rain still pours down getting harder and harder.
Tonight after the rain slacked off I poured 2& 1/2 inches of rain from the gauge at 10:00. I could hear the roaring creek waters but so far it is still licking the tops of the banks and not flooding the bottoms.
After a cold day today we will get a break tomorrow and Tuesday before the chill comes back Wednesday with a chance for the second year in a row of a snowy Thanksgiving eve.

 Daughter went home today to get her Christmas tree up, she always puts it up before anyone else. Since she doesn't have Thanksgiving at her house she says she can enjoy the tree when everyone else is busy after Thanksgiving putting theirs up.
She has a really nice tree.

I spent the evening shopping on line for Christmas and listening to the pouring rain.
Glad I don't have to be out in this nasty weather.
Thankful tonight for a wonderfully caring church family and the freedom to worship as I please.
Good Night and God Bless.