Prairie Girl Wanna Be

 Just thought I”d share a precious gift I was given last year at Christmastime.  A man in our church whittled this for me!  Isn’t that awesome!  I was amazed that he did it and then humbled that he would give it to me!  He’s written on the bottom of one of his boots “Weight Watcher Santa”.  I just love it and make sure he is in a prominent place in my home so people can admire the craftmanship.

Slow down, put on some Christmas music (I listen to sugarpiefarmhouse.com) and enjoy your decorating time.  This will be over very soon ~ the time will fly!

TO GET THE FULL IMPACT OF THIS BLOG PLEASE DON’T SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TILL YOU READ THE WORDS “Let me know what you think”.  Thanks:)

Do you realize that everything has to eventually be cleaned or get buried, one or the other? 

My children have cleaned from the time they were old enough to understand me.  They could pick up toys and clothes when they were little bitty (before they were old enough to know it was a chore).  When they were three they were making up their beds - they would sit up in their bed and pull the covers up, then hop out and lay the pillow on top.  It was messy sometimes and if we were having company I’d go back and smooth it but they could do it.  My mother always said that if your bed was made  three quarters of the room was cleaned. 

When they were about four I would give them a sponge and some cleaner and let them wipe down the sink and the potty.  We were all doing chores at the same time, mind you.  I was not sitting watching t.v. eating Hershey’s kisses and/or M&M’s (yes, I know it’s supposed to be bon bons but you’d just have to understand our family heritage).   We would all be doing something and this helped them feel part of a team and it’s just good for them to do this. 

It is not good for them to grow up doing nothing and feeling like the world owes them a livin’.  They tend to think this anyway, so they don’t need any help in that area:)  As they get older they can help in lots of ways. 

When I carried my younger boys, my older two did all the floor work for me and they were young (5 & 9 during one pregnancy and 10 & 14 with the last)!  I just could not do that without causing physical problems so they were great to help me out. 

Now as they get older and get jobs  and are out of the house more, I tend to take up the slack but if they are home and I need them, they help.  After all, we as mothers don’t go get a job and come home and do nothing and I want my men to be good hubbys.  I want them to help their wives and not think it’s just the woman’s job.  My oldest told me he’d had to use those vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom skills at every job he’s ever had:)  Yea MOM! 

Soooo to encourage you in your mothering, in your homemaking and in the running of your household I am posting some pictures that I think are just absolutely beautiful.  I hope you can see the beauty and the skill in these photos and can appreciate them as any good mother would!  WARNING:  Hankies may be needed as content may cause weeping.  

Let me know what you think!!

Todd, age 19, skillfully and cheerfully (ha) mopping after he’d vacuumed the entire house.  We call this character building at our house:)

Trent, age 14, sweeping back patio (after sweeping front porch, taking out trash and feeding critters.)  He was thrilled to have his picture taken:)

These are my salt and pepper shakers ~ aren’t they cute?

A little lady in Selma, Alabama gave them to me over 30 years ago!  She also gave me Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus.  I just love them.

Here’s a great muffin recipe that my daughter gave me.  It makes lots so be ready!  I have two large muffin tins (12 each) and it filled both of those along with three in my smaller tin.  They are a pretty muffin though and anything with pumpkin seems like Thanksgiving although this is a recipe I will use all winter.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 eggs                            2 cups sugar                      1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin

1 1/2 cups oil             3 cups flour                        2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt                                              2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon                                1 12oz. package mini chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake 16-20  minutes at 400 degrees.  Makes 24 -30 muffins.   (I used only 1 cup of oil and it was fine.  Bekah uses butter instead and they are great.  Also I bake them till they are golden brown ~ you don’t want to dry them out.)

Here they are in the oven.

Here they are being consumed!

Who knew muffins could be sooo fun:)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I LOVE a wood burning stove.  This is the closest I can get right now.  One of my uncles gave this to me years ago and I now have it adorning my porch.  Trent had the idea to put red and orange Christmas lights in it for an outside holiday decoration.  Now when we decorate the outside of the house for Christmas we put wood in there and intertwine the lights and it looks kind of like fire.   

I just love the warmth of a fire.  I don’t mind the mess.  I don’t mind hauling in the wood.  It is all worth it to me to see that fire burning, making the room warm and cozy and inviting. 

Can you imagine that being your only source of heat?  My mother’s people lived in the country in what she now refers to as shacks.  They had wide cracks in the floors and she says you could see the chickens running underneath the house. 

Mother says that their first job as children at the ripe old age of three was to fill the chip pan.  You had to have chips, kindling and wood for the fire.  They would “graduate” to kindling as they got older, then to bringing in the wood. 

At six they were in the fields for the day!  One of them told me they were full-time field hands at this age. Stupidly, I asked “Were you out there all day?” and he indignantly answered me “What do you think full time means?”  They went out in the mornings, worked till lunch, ate, then headed back out till dark.  He said you did not question it ~ you just did it!   (And our children whine about taking out the trash!)  

I believe if today’s generation or even my generation had to live one day like they did we would be forever grateful for what all we have today.  I heard a preacher say one time that we have all these time saving conveniences but still have no time. 

I’m learning that we have no time because we overextend ourselves.  I catch myself doing too many little jobs.  None are hard, none are too much in themselves; but when you add them all together it overwhelms me.  I have just realized this as I’ve once again done this to myself, therefore I’ve done it to my family so I have reassessed what is “needful” and have pared down to the basics ONCE AGAIN. 

I have to do this periodically.  When I can’t get supper on the table; when I’m too tired to think about my home; when I’m ill at the people living with me for no good reason, I’m obviously doing too much outside my home.  One lady said, if we could just get out of the car, we’d be amazed at what we could accomplish at home.  We could get past the basics of housecleaning and enjoy our homes and our families the way they should be enjoyed.  

Here’s what I am seeing as I’ve lightened my load.  My mind is clearer to “think” about my crew around here.  As I took Mother to two doctor appointments on Thursday, I was not stressed but grateful to be the one to take her.  I was thinking about nothing other than her!  It was great!   We finished and came home.  I wasn’t scattered in a thousand different directions in my mind.

My gracious, how did I get off on that.  I’m on a rant here:)  Sorry!  I’m almost done:)

I think women tend to put too much on ourselves cause we feel bad or guilty or we’re trying to be helpful or whatever but here’s your permission.  YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SAY NO!  You can say it ~ it’s fine.  Nobody else is crawling in your bed at night at the end of the day.  It’s you who is exhausted!  They are not living your life.  You are!  Soo they may have a need but they will find somebody else to fill it and they will be fine.  

Ask God to show you how to keep the main thing the main thing!  Ask Him to give you eyes to see what is truly important…to see what can be left off.  You will be amazed what this does for your mental health!  I’m done now!

Talk to ya later:)

Are you enjoying the trees this time of  year like I am??  The colors are just vivid ~ oranges and yellows and reds ~ I just love them and catch myself praying as I see them, thanking God for their beauty and that He did all this!

I remember one year going to Uncle Reuben’s to help him rake leaves.  Now he has beautiful, old, lovely, HUGE  trees.  You know what that means, right?  They have lots and lots and LOTS of leaves.  Well we were going thru a hard time and he was trying to help us by giving me little jobs that I could do with the children where he could pay us.  So we got out there and began to rake.  He was right along side us and if I have this figured right, he was at least, 77 years old ~ so just keep that in mind.  We worked and we worked.  We raked and raked and raked!  We would rake big piles up onto a tarp, then pull the tarp to an area where we would dump them so he could burn them.  Then we’d rake some more.  There was no way I was going to take a break before this 77 year old man stopped and he wasn’t even thinking about  quitting.  I was exhausted.  My back was killing me but I trudged on.  Here I am, 43 years old and whining like a two year old (in my thoughts).  I finally gave up!  I said “I can’t do it ANYmore!  I’m shot!”  That’s when HE stopped!  He said he’d been waiting on me!!  He wasn’t about to give up either! 

I laugh every time I think about that fall day.  I am so thankful to have happy memories like that.  I miss my uncle more than I ever could have imagined.  It seems like there are people in our lives that have just always been there.  They have been in the same place, maybe the same house, doing the same things for as long as we can remember and we seem to think it will always be that way.  Well, it will not. 

I will miss him sticking his head in my door on Christmas day to see what Santa has brought to our house ~ staying for 30 minutes and leaving.  I will miss him fussing at me cause I don’t understand what he’s trying to tell me and I’m asking him too many questions:)  I will miss his back porch full of homemade bread that he would give to people as they came to visit during the holidays.  I will miss  him calling me to tell me the latest news he’s heard about something he thinks I might be interested in.  (He stayed very current with the community.) 

I am just missin’ him, can you tell?  This is my grieving time and I understand that.  I believe I need to send cards to his brothers and sisters who are also grieving this brother, who as Mother said, has always been there for them.  

Thanks for reading ~ your comments are always welcome:)

Again and again, I’ve found Him faithful to respond, and the closer I move to Him, the safer I feel and the better I rest.                                                   Patsy Clairmont

He who lives in the safe place of the Most High will be in the shadow of the All-powerful.  Psalm 91:1

We had our Fall Daisy Day this month at Danna’s house and I surprised the Daisy’s with Christmas scarves that I’d made while I was sitting all those weeks with my foot up!  I was so excited about giving them cause I knew, that I knew, that I knew that they would oohhh and ahhhh and make me feel sooo smart.  Do you have people like that in your life?  Well, it’s wonderful ~ that’s one of the Daisy unspoken rules ~ we have to lie!  NOT REALLY!  We really do think each other is smart.  We are seeing as time goes by just how God gives each of us gifts in different areas and what I am seeing is that we draw from each other in these areas.

Anyway, here’s the pictures and this weekend I’m working on hand warmers to match!  Won’t they just think I’m the bomb if I can do that!!   Don’t tell me you can’t teach an old dog new tricks cause I didn’t give a flip about crocheting last year and this year I am totally and completely hooked!!

Talk to ya later:)

It’s not going away girls, it’s getting closer!!  Are you ready for Christmas?  It really is that wonderful time of year IF and this is a huge “if”….if we are prepared.    Here’s your sermon for the day…..

We know Jesus is coming back for us one day if we don’t go to Him first soooo we gotta be prepared.  We need to get our gifts ready (reach others for Him), we need to prepare our hearts (get rid of the anger and unforgiveness and the “ugly” by daily repenting) and we need to look forward to it because we are ready:)

Do you see????  Christmas is about Him!  Now I know we make it about all the other stuff  but if it’s pulling us from concentrating on the true meaning we need to get it taken care of ahead of time.  So get your gifts ready, prepare your heart and look forward to time with your family and friends. 

If you are alone, reach out to others, there are tons of ways to serve.  If you are among people, reach out to them in new ways this year.  Tell them how much they mean…this may not be possible next year.  Treat each year as the last with that precious gift of the people that God has  placed in your lives.

So here it is…….SIX WEEKS!!!   We’re getting close! 

Divide it this way……two weeks till Thanksgiving, then four weeks till Christmas. 

Now make Thanksgiving Day a goal.  See what you can get done before then.  You can do it!  Begin now and hit it hard!  Mark those names off.!  Buy those ingredients for your goodies.! Wrap those gifts!  Come on now!   Make December fun this year! 

Talk to ya later:)

As I link to “HeavenlyHomemaker.com  today (this is Gratituesday)  I am so very grateful to be able to enjoy a day with my grandbabies.  I am thankful for my health and that I can get around and move and drive and see and hear.  I don’t want to take these things for granted.  I know they are each awesome by theirselves and when I truly let myself think about them I am overwhelmed.

We’re in “nanaland” today and we are making an old family recipe that is a wonderful sugar cookie.  You will love it!  Here’s the recipe:

1 cup butter                         1 t. baking powder

1 1/2 cup sugar                   1/2 t. salt

3 eggs                                       1 t. soda

1 t. vanilla                               2 T. vinegar

4 cups flour

Now to make this a little healthier you can use cane sugar and unbleached flour or if you grind your flour use that.  I always use real butter - that margarine is bad, bad, bad for you!

First of all get a little bowl or coffee cup and mix the soda and vinegar together and set it aside.  It will bubble up but just stir it a little till the soda is dissolved.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs.  Add vinegar mixture.  Add vanilla.  Sift dry ingredients together and mix well.  I use a mixer for the whole thing.  Bake at 350 for 8 - 10 minutes or till golden brown around the edges.  These can be dropped but the best way is to roll them out on a floured board and cut with cookie cutters.  They are so good decorated!  You can make them large or small, thick or thin.  They have a very good flavor.  We use them for all different holidays.

You can not imagine how much fun this is…  unless you’re a “nana” that is:)

Do you see this child cracking this egg???  She cracked three on the sides of the mixing bowl, plopped them in  and there wasn’t a shell among them!  I said “Bethany, how did you know how to do that?” and she sweetly replied “YOU showed me how, Nana?”.  Well, that’s it, she can have whatever she wants!

Here they are, all packaged up and ready to pop in the freezer.

We made flowers and butterflies and puppies and cows.  It was wonderful and Bethany liberally sprinkled each and every one.  We did two pans, one for Benjamin and one for Bethany.  Then they were allowed to eat one (they were large) for a snack and take three home for mom to distribute.  She is very careful about their sugar intake and I’m very glad that she is.  That’s something I wish I had understood and implemented in my own children ~ better eating habits.

Here’s the satisfied customers:                

Hope you and your family enjoy this recipe! 

“Always give thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”