BUSY MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY AROUND HERE

No holiday for us today as g-daughter and g-son arrived about 7:45 this morning as mom has a class this morning and is working this afternoon on this Martin Luther King Day.
After chores and breakfast for everyone we decided to make a trip to Southern States to buy chicken feed and then stopped by Belks to check out their sale. Lordy Lordy before very long this boy is going to be taller than me !!!!

 Neither hubbie nor I found anything for ourselves but g-son found a couple things at a good deal and I got daughter's baby girl a couple things on sale.
We made it home to have lunch of yesterday's left overs.
I got weekly laundry started and hubbie played with the kids until g-daughter pooped out and went to bed for a nap.

While she took her almost 2 hour nap hubbie took g-son outside to adjust his new bike and he played with this stretchy monkey he bought at Belks today.

D-in-love picked them up about 4:30 and hubbie and I started our chores. We took care of Aa's cattle today as he is coming home later tonight  and it probably will be raining.

#1 son came out and helped hubbie unroll the hay rolls.
This has been a cloudy damp day with highs in the upper 50's and they say rain is moving in tonight.
I finished the last load of laundry tonight after we got inside and then I went to work in my office on December monthly figures and the 2016 yearly figures.  My totals continue to slide downward but I am still thankful for what I do make. The loss of the large summer camp order last summer really showed up in the yearly totals. Hopefully next summer I can work on finding a replacement customer.
At least I am ready now to pay the last quarterly taxes of the year.
I loaded all my rugs and big bedspreads in the Honda tonight to take to the laundry tomorrow even in the rainy weather. I will build a fire in the downstairs woodstove to dry the rubber backed rugs.
Thankful for a blessed day and grateful for the grace of a wonderful loving Lord.
God Bless and Good Night

NEW PASTOR NOMINATION PRESENTED AND 1947 NEWS

Getting to lounge in bed longer than any other morning on Sundays starts my Sundays out Heavenly from the beginning !!
A big announcement at church this morning from our pastor search committee as they presented our associate pastor Craig Stepp for a vote to be our next pastor. Me and my family are over joyed with this decision and I just hope that 75% of our church members feel the same way and will vote him in on January 29.

For lunch we had roast beef , mashed potatoes, green beans and creamed corn with biscuits and some of our fresh garden kale greens.
#1 son's family were our only guest today.
After everyone left we had a good laugh when I went outside to let Flash out of his dog lot and found hubbie had shut up Roho the rooster with him before we left for church this morning. They were happily co-habituating !!!  This rooster really does think he is a dog !!!

Hubbie who is still trying to get over a nasty head cold and I spent the afternoon resting.
A misty rain was falling by the time we went out for chore time this afternoon. The high today was  65 degrees  and cloudy most of the day.
  Sadie the dog that was in the accident a couple weeks ago has suddenly stopped eating today so we are wondering what is going on with her.
BB celebrated his 2nd birthday today up in Ohio with Re's family. Re is so creative when it comes to birthday cakes and this suits BB perfectly !!

I moved a younger rooster that I thought was a pullet for a long time out into the garden this evening hopefully he will stay in there and I can put him a lady friend to keep him company.
In my decade search last week I ran across some news articles from January 1947. I remember hearing talk about the "Black Dahlia" when I was a young girl and this is her picture in  a news article from January 1947.Elizabeth Short aka Black Dahlia was killed on January 15, 1947 , in this article the police had brought in a suspect but he was turned loose and this murder was never solved .

In this article about the Political firestorm that surrounded the Georgia governor's inauguration in January 1947 just goes to show that politics have always had an ugly side !!

And this is the birth announcement of one of my first cousins. Pat who was the second daughter of my mom's sister, Carol was born on January 11,1947.

I know these news articles mean nothing now but by preserving them in this blog I'm sure they will get even more interesting as time moves on.
This has been a really quiet evening and hubbie and I both have just rejuvenated for the week ahead.
Thankful for the decision for our church today and I pray that God will bless this young man as he prepares to serve and I pray that God touch the heart of everyone in the congregation that they be accepting and supportive as Craig embarks on God's mission for our church.
I am thankful for the daily blessing in my life and I find myself not feeling like I am appreciative enough of all the good things He does in life.

God Bless and Good Night.

FIRST BASKETBALL GAME FOR G-SON

While I was out doing the chores this morning I heard a sound that sounded like a pouring rain was coming through the trees making me pick up my pace in hopes of getting back inside before I got soaked. Just as I started back to the house the reason for the sound appeared in the eastern sky.

A huge flock of squawking Starlings blackened the tree tops as they stopped for a quick rest.

These birds are a nuisance but I am always amazed at the number of their huge flocks and the way they all seem to know exactly what the others are going to do and the way the entire flock swoops and dives in total unison.

Hubbie and I made it to market on time today but by the time we got here the clouds had darkened the sky and I knew this would hurt customer flow today.

Business was slow but I did do better than Thursday with $11 in eggs and $86  in baked goods sales for the day. I'll take these day !!!

 I left market and stopped by the estate sale place as she had sent out an ad saying 50% off sale today.

Daughter had stopped by earlier in the day and bought a couple old jars. I found some deals as I found 2 large table cloths for my market tables for $5 each and a bundle of jewellery for $4.

A nice surprise tucked in the middle of all the beaded necklaces and bracelets I found this really pretty set of Rosary Beads.

This green tinted large jar will have a place beside my Kurig and hold pods !!

I left there and stopped by the Co-op for some fresh leaf lettuce and some of their beet salad that I love. The Co-op is across the road from the athletic facility where g-son was playing his first basketball game of this season today. #1 son signed up to coach this year  and this was his first coaching experience also. They lost the game 15-10 but looked much better playing than they did last year.

The family......

We left there and came home. Hubbie and I unloaded and put things away just in time to get chores done.
We had a nice relaxing evening and watched TV on this warm damp evening. It is 46 degrees at 11:00 tonight after a high of 55 this afternoon. We didn't get any rain yet just dreariness.
Thankful for the love of God and all the blessings of this day .
God Bless and Good Night

BAKING FRIDAY AND A 1927 REMINDER

Up and out on another beautiful unlike January day.  After the chore were done, breakfast ate and devotions read I decided to start my morning walks again. I noticed last week when I went to the bottom pasture that I was getting short of breath again just with that short walk. I walked for 30 minutes this morning and actually worked up a sweat !!!
Inside I started baking , 3 caramel, 2 chocolate, 3 pound, a pan of lemon bars and a pan of brownies.
After lunch I carried empty canning jars downstairs and put them away and also went through all the winter squash and tomatoes down there. I am amazed at all the tomatoes we still have from our garden that are keeping this long and still taste very good. And the chickens were happy to take care of the ones that weren't keeping well !
I finally got time to finish my decade picture search today. January's search always takes a lot of time because I go through all the old scrap books and note everything for the entire year that is in them on a sticky note stuck to the front of each book. It makes the rest of the year easier and quicker to find.
 I planned to get to the December and yearly business figures but ran out of time.
When hubbie came in from work we did chores and then he hit the recliner for the evening as he has a terrible head cold and doesn't feel well at all.
I love the colorful harvest of daily eggs from my flock.

I iced cakes and got things ready for market. It seems so strange to have the doors open tonight . We are almost 20 degrees above our normal temps for this time of year.

And this weather looks like it is going to continue for at least another week.

I am very thankful for the nice warm temps in our area when I look at all the problems the ice storm is causing in other areas just to the north of us.

And the day ends once again with a beautiful sunset.

If you're lucky enough tonight to have clear skies ,which we aren't, so this is a web pic, you can enjoy the first full moon of the year  tonight. This full moon is known as the "wolf moon" and legend goes if this first full moon is clear the year will have abundant moisture and a good harvest but if the moon is red it means a dry year. Since we can't see ours tonight guess we'll just have to wonder what our year will bring. If last night was any indication of tonight the moon was very clear and it looked almost daylight outside.

In the decade search today I ran across this article from one of my aunts old scrap books. It has a copyright  date of 1927 and even though it doesn't say January 1927 I was impressed with the content of the article and thought I would share and I definitely agree !!!  I am one of the ones who opens these old hurtful doors once in a while and I needed this to remind me that the present is what deserves my time and attention, not the past !!!

Remember a day hemmed in prayer is a lot less likely to unravel !
God Bless and Good Night.

SPRING FEELING JANUARY DAY

This day started out with "Murphy's Law" true to its form for sure !!!
As I got up early with intentions of getting to Curb Market for a while this morning to see what the customer activity is like today I started by turning Dolly and Bernie out for their morning potty break.
Then Flash and Sadie who spend the night inside downstairs in their crates were turned out. Sadie was walking more steadily this morning but went straight up to her favorite daytime sleeping place under the Azalea bushes on the upper side of the house.
I went outside to turn Annie out and then took care of the chickens. As I came back to the house I spotted Bernie acting strange. When I got close to him I realized he had managed to get very nasty in the short time he was out.  UHHHH !
I had to give him a complete bath and then wash the bath tub all before I even had my breakfast or maybe thankfully before I had my breakfast, but by then I was feeling pretty weak and almost sick at my stomach. 
I had my breakfast and then headed into town now only about 30 minutes later than planned. Since I was this late I decided to stop at GNC on the way and see what they would do about the double credit card charge.  Thankfully I did stop this morning because the cashier said it was the banks problem. I argued that it was GNC's problem because it wasn't a complete duplicate since the reference numbers were different on each charge.  Then she tried to say that maybe someone else had gotten my credit card number and actually made the same purchase ?????   To that I ask for the manager . She happened to be there this morning for a meeting and told the cashier to give me a refund since they were not even open on December 25th !!!!!
This took much longer than I had hoped and I decided I would just drive by market and if there weren't any cars there would just go on with my errands. Surprisingly there were several customer cars at market so I decided to try my luck selling today.
I was very surprised at the number of folks who came through market today. Maybe since it is such a nice 60+ degree day with bright sunshine??  I sold most of my eggs and only $19 worth of baked goods so for me the jury is still out on if it is worth my effort to come on Thursdays ????
It feels very strange to be in just a sweater today with not even a jacket when 3 days ago the temperature was below freezing and the cold wind actually hurt my face when I went outside with several layers of clothing on.
And this hardly looks like a January temperature, 67 ??  !!!

I left market about an hour early as after lunch the aisles totally cleared out of sellers and customers. I ran the weekly errands and took a stroll through the Habitat restore. Their prices seem to be climbing each time I am in there so nothing came home with me today but I did see this sign that inspired me !

I picked up groceries and baking supplies at Aldi and Walmart and stopped at Chick-f-la for a salad for a late lunch and supper combo ! I met daughter out at school to give her a dozen eggs for her friend teacher who always gets a dozen a week from me.
I got home at 4:00 , unloaded and then had my salad. I had the grilled chicken market salad and it was very good .
I rested for a few minutes with a cup of hot green tea until it was chore time.
We watched the news then face-timed with BB and EL to wish BB a happy birthday, He turns 2 years old Sunday !!!!  He acted like he was so excited. They are still in Ohio awaiting the custody trial for Re's nieces and Aa is here running their farm and working. I pray continuously that this mess is resolved soon and they can get on with their lives together !
Hubbie and I relaxed for the evening. Hubbie is the first to get a head cold from this weather change but I'm sure he won't be the last !!
Seems with the beginning of each new year the Curb Market looses members 2017 is no exception as one of the older members went to that big market in the sky this week. Larry Ball and his wife Nancy were instrumental in getting me involved in market and getting me established with a table.
Larry as the chairman of our board for many years when I began selling at market.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the love He gives me each day.
God Bless and Good Night.

HOUSECLEANING DAY

As I sit down to write today's blog post this is one of those days that I seriously consider skipping the post. But since I started this blog back in July of 2009 I have managed not to skip even one post and no I'm not going to start skipping now !!
It was a warm morning already at 40 degrees when I did morning chores. It is nice not to slip and slide around in the slick snow and surely nice not to have to carry water from the house. With the above freezing overnight temps the water in the outside buckets is thawed enough to have water this morning.
I feel better about turning Sadie out to have free run today with the warmer temps also.
I did keep a fire going downstairs all morning just to knock down the dampness of a cloudy misty morning.
After breakfast I got back into my daily devotions. I have been so busy lately that I have missed starting my day with some passages from His word.
I cleaned house all morning and most of the afternoon catching up on all the snow day footprints and washing all the snow suits for next time !!
I had a little time to search for decade pics this afternoon before hubbie got in from work and we did chores.
Thankfully Sadie was up here at the house this evening under her favorite bush resting and we didn't have to walk to the bottom again.
Aa brought a roll of hay for the cattle and horse over here.
We came inside and I did weekly paperwork discovering a double charge on my credit card bill from GNC. Another stop for tomorrow's business, grrrrrr !!!!   I wonder how many people don't catch these things???   I bought some oils on Dec 24 and they put that charge on there plus the same amount of purchase on Dec 25. They were not even open on Dec 25 !!!!
I also wonder how much of this is done on purpose by retailers ????
Talked to sis-in-law Sandy to finish the evening.
Not a very exciting day today !!
There is a new named winter storm today, Jupiter is dropping more snow on the north west but looks like the warm southern air flow will keep it north of us but you never know since it is such a slow moving storm.

Grateful tonight for a loving , gracious Lord and praying for His grace on everything I do.
God Bless and Good Night

ANOTHER SCHOOL'S OUT SNOWDAY

I woke up this morning and left a sleeping g-son in bed. He looked so peaceful and also so BIG !! How did he get so big ,as I remember the days gone by that I would wake with his little face against mine saying "its morning time Neena" , time please slow down !!!
Snowy sunrise !!!

I went downstairs to let the dogs out and stoke the fire and when I came back upstairs he was getting up.
It reminded me of old times when he wrapped up in a blanket in the recliner and watched cartoons while I fixed him waffles for breakfast.
I did the outside chores before d-in-love brought g-daughter to spend the day while she worked on this optional workday.
She was also content to watch cartoons from the seat in her car with her Belkie bear !

It is already warming this morning into the lower 30's with an expected high of around 40 today.
The clouds and sun fought for position all morning with the sun finally winning out around lunchtime.
I watched this one as she sat on the sunroom steps and watched birds for a while.

It is hard to get anything else done when she is here unless she is confined in her highchair or bouncy seat .
As g-son watched old time cartoons on my old laptop this little sneaky girl knew exactly where the on/off button was. Starting off with the very innocent look and then moving right in for the take down!!!

G-son finally decided it would be better to let her join him than have to watch her sneaky moves.

She's gonna miss him when school starts back !!
D-in-love got off early and met daughter for a pedicure then came to pick up g-daughter.
G-son wanted to stay to see if school would be canceled again tomorrow so he could spend another night.
The sun and above freezing temps have really reduced the snow amount today making a lot of slick mud to carefully walk around in now.

#1 son couldn't work in his grading business today so he framed in some of the rooms in the upstairs of their house.

When hubbie came in from work we did chores then we had to walk into the bottom pasture to bring Sadie back to the house. She has been out all day and hung around the back yard until after lunch. When I went to look for her at feeding time I saw her down there just wandering around. Sometimes she acts like she has no directional sense anymore. I keep telling myself at her age it is going to take longer for her to heal from the accident since Thursday will only be 2 weeks.
I'm just glad for her sake and all the other animals sake that the temps are going to warm up for awhile.
After chores the call came in that schools would be on a 2-hour delay tomorrow so g-son sadly went home.
He gave orders for hubbie and I to pray for more snow each night in our prayers !!!
Bless his heart I couldn't tell if he hated to leave here or hated to have to go back to school the worst.
He likes it here I'm sure because he gets all the attention and is the "only" child again but I remember the snowdays even when I was in school and how it hurt to have to get back in the regular routine of school.
It is 37 tonight at 11:00 and is supposed to warm up overnight with all the clouds moving in with the rain that is coming tomorrow. That will surely take all the remaining snow away.
Hubbie and I watched TV tonight and relaxed.
Grateful to God for a blessing filled day and the joy that grandkids bring.
God Bless and Good Night.