Biscuits

OK, Shelly asked for my biscuit recipe.......guess I can share my 'secret' here. LOL

3 1/4 c. of Southern Biscuit Flour- Formula L
1 1/4 c. buttermilk

Mix, roll out, cut biscuits with old-fashioned biscuit cutter, bake at 425 for 8 mins.


Easy-Peasy!

Sunshine & Summertime

-Day 148-

The kids got in the pool for the first time today. For abour 4 hours this afternoon they played & splashed & laughed & had a wonderful time together! Aaahhhhh.....summertime!

Hey that's the way we do it

New friends and blue skies that never end

Hey that's the way we like it

Good times, sunshine and summertime

The Biscuit-Maker

-Day 147-
Ashley making biscuits to go with our supper. She's got it down now....that's her job to do whenever we have biscuits for supper. We had deer roast, potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn & biscuits. Then later for dessert we had yummy home-made peach icecream that Alli & Clay had made this afternoon. It was awesome....even better than the strawberry we made before.

Words

I picked this book up at our library last week & I'm just getting into it...about 4 chapters in, but it is AWESOME! Just thought I'd share a few excerpts with you & encourage you to read this for yourself!

A careless word may kindle strife;

A cruel word may wreck a life.

A bitter word may hate instill;

A brutal word may smite & kill.

A gracious word may smooth the way;

A joyous word may light the day.

A timely word may lessen stress;

A loving word may heal & bless.

~Author unknown

William Barclay said, 'One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement....We have a christian duty to encourage one another.'

'Words-so innocent & powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good & evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them!'

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Tuesday Catch-Up

-Day 146-

The bottom absolutely fell out about the time Chris was ready to leave for work this afternoon. Thank goodness it let up after a little bit...he was able to wait it out. Anyway, after he left...I went to look for Jon & Michael & this is where I found them............hanging off the front porch playing in the rain. Yep, these are the same two goof-balls that were outside Sunday evening laying on a bale of hay looking up at the stars when they noticed what they THOUGHT was a cat coming across the field. I'm not sure exactly when they realized it was a skunk.....but Michael threw his football at it.....conked it right in the head & rolled it a few times! Thank goodness the smell was basically on the football.....but Clay made them spray off outside with the hose & then strip down to their undies before coming inside. I told them I didn't have my picture of the day yet & they would be just perfect standing there in their wet undies!! LOL I was a nice mom though & didn't do that to them, but honestly.....I don't think they would have minded. They'd most likely have posed for me! ;-P Just wanted to get a pic of my antique rose while the blooms were at their peak.

-Day 145-
Happy Memorial Day
We had a cook-out this evening at Maw's house. Clay had to work & David was flying, so it was just us girls & all the kiddos. Ella & her kids even joined us for the evening. My special dessert that I made with the kids in mind.....Dirt Pudding. Very easy if you'd like to give it a try. One box of chocolate instant pudding, milk, a container of cool whip. Mix this all togehter & place in the bowl. Crunch up a package of Oreos & then sprinkle over the top & garnish with some Gummi Worms. Super easy & really yummy too!

Cori, Alli & Anna
Jesse, Daniel & Batman ;-)
Ella, Taylor, Dillon, Maw & Sarah
Jon, Chris & Michael






-Day 144-
One of Skippy's little calves.....the kids call him willoughby

-Day 143-

Jon carrying Elly......she's so pregnant that she's about to pop! We had a doggie die trying to give birth a while back, so we've been taking her walking with us each evening in hopes that she'll be in good shape when she has these. The only problem is that Spud & Cowboy go with us too....just not on a leash & so when they take off on the trail of a rabbit, she gets upset that she can't follow...thus Jon trying to coax her toward home. As long as Spud or Cowboy are in front of/or with her she trots along just fine.

The Best Kind of Laughter

Ashley just got done reading Miley Cyrus Miles To Go last night. When she was done, she handed me the book & told me to read this quote......she thought it was great!

'The best kind of laughter is when you start laughing for no reason & can't stop. In that moment, you forget about everything else. You let go of the world, & let go of control--which we all should do sometime.'

See how our garden grows...

Just thought I'd share a few pics & let you see how things are coming along in our garden this year. Clay's checking out the potatoes...
We've got several different kinds of lettuce ready for the picking.

Best looking beans we've had in a while! Hopefully I'll be the 'Canning Queen' again this summer.

-Day 142-

Got some bird seed today to fill up my little feeder that hangs in the Dogwood tree. I'm sure all the birdies will be happy now.

Just wanted to snap a pic of the hay bales in the field before they put them all in the barn.

-Day141-

Clay on Mason's tractor with his water-hauling contraption.....TWO old fuel tanks stacked one on top of the other. Last year it was just one...the one with the smiley face on it. This year we had double barrels & got the job done in half the time. ;-)

Now, we just have to wait for the 'Crik Water' to filter clear & we'll be ready to swim!

Pools & Hay & Cake....Oh my!

-Day 140-

Yesterday the boys got the pool all put together & it took all 7 of us...strategically placed around the pool...to lift it & place it on the tarp. After that, Jon got in & smoothed out the bottom getting rid of all the wrinkles. Then, he & Alli scrubbed it a second time, making sure the inside was nice & clean. Today we begin to fill 'er up! We had such a fun evening last night.......supper was pork chops on the grill with baked potatoes. PLUS, Clay decided this was the night we'd make home-made icecream. So while supper was cooking & being eaten, the icecream was churning. Boy, talk about something Yummy! Good Golly Miss Molly was that strawberry icecream ever good! Next time, we're making peach. After supper & dessert, Ashley & I cleaned up the kitchen & then still had time for our evening walk before the Grand Finale of American Idol. Boy, what an awesome surprise when Kris Allen won. You should've heard the whooping going on here when his name was announced!! Then to top the whole evening off......we stuck in 'A Goofy Movie' to watch. That one was a favorite when Chris was little & Ashley & Jon had gotten to talking about for some reason & decided to get in on Netflix because all we have is a very worn out VHS tape. Nothing better than sitting up with your teen-agers (and Chris, of course) watching a cartoon movie that was a favorite when they were little.
-Day 139-
These are for you, Aunt Vada.............The haying has begun....Skippy & Mason started cutting here on Tues. I love watching the whole process & Mmmmm.....the sweet smell of freshly cut hay. Of course everyone else in the house is taking allergy pills like crazy & trying to hang out inside til it's all cut & baled. Just doesn't affect me that bad at all......I LOVE it!! If you look closely at that top picture, you can see Skippy standing by the tractor...he & Mason had just traded places.

This is what we rigged up in our garden Monday evening to hopefully protect our beans in case of frost. It got down into the 30s for two nights. Looks like it did the job.

-Day 138-

Monday was Ella's 31st BD (I can say how old you are, right?!) Hee!Hee! Oh well.We got together at Maw's house for a little party. I made her this lovely 'Twilight' cake featuring her 'Mr. H--O--T'........Hubba, Hubba & it was really yummy, if I do say so myself. We had such a good time.......LOTS of laughing.....I mean tears streaming down your face kind of laughing. Wish I could share the source of our laughter here, but I really don't think I'd better. ;-P But I certainly do agree that laughter is a good medicine!! Amen?

Oops....

I did it again & again..............& I wouldn't change a thing!!My friend Jules did a LO like this (except her Ooops was x8!)...LOL. I fell in love with her LO & told her I was gonna 'lift' it. I had the perfect picture sitting there taken at Pizza Hut on Chris' 20th BD. I love how it turned out!! Thanks Jules for the inspiration!

Rite of Passage

-Day 137-

We were having lunch today & Ashley asked me (after Jon left the room) if he had shaved.....she said he looked different. Well, that was all it took.....Michael & Alli went tearing off after him upstairs to see if it was true. Lo & behold 'tis true. He took Chris' electric shaver thingie last night & used it. Clay's moustache trimmer wasn't exactly what he needed & Clay didn't want him to use a regular razor right off.....so he took it upon himself to use Chris'....which he had bought when he went to school......just to keep his beard shaved down without totally shaving it off if you know what I mean. I asked Jon if he would be my pciture of the day today & he said sure. Another 'Rite of Passage' ;-)-Day 136-

Our fixins for home-made pizzas. The kids & I LOVE home-made pizza & we do this for supper on Saturday night every other week. Jon, Michael & Alli like just cheese & pepperoni while Ashley & I make ours a veggie lovers pizza. I'll add home-made sausage to my half when we have some.
-Day 135-
Clay took the girls to go pick strawberries this evening. Last time he went out near Gretna to pick & this time he thought he'd give it a go out here at Saunder's. A little bit higher in price here, but you pay more in gas to drive out to Gretna. I think the final verdict is that it's worth the difference to make the drive out to Gretna. These out here were 'OK', but Clay says they were very picky about where you picked & they weren't allowed to pick where the really nice berries were. Oh well....live & learn!

-Day 134-

Ashley with one of our first batches of lettuce from our garden. Yum, yum!

A couple of Layouts

Pics from Chris' 20th birthday supper at Pizza Hut. Ashley found this little questionaire that we had done with each other LAST year on Mother's Day. She wrote out two sets of questions...exactly the same...& then we each took a piece of paper & answered the questions about each other. I had this picture sitting there that Ella took of us at the Christmas party & thought it was the perfect picture of us together to go along with our little questionaire. The questionaires are tucked inside that little envelope.
Some of the questions include-

(Ashley's answers about me first & then my answers about her)

1. Favorite type of book to read-

Ashley: Amish (Beverly Lewis books) & Harry Potter..........this was obviously BEFORE 'Twilight' LOL!!

Amy:Harry Potter & History

2. Your dream vacation place is...

Ashley:Mississippi to see your online scrapping friends (Kaye could go with you)

Amy: Fracne (Paris)

3. Favorite music group/singer-

Ashley: Rascal Flatts ;-P

Amy: Jonas Brothers

4. How do you feel about plaid shirts-

Ashley: you like them on dad

Amy: Ha! Ha! Ha!

Proverbs 31 Woman

Prov. 31 : 21 & 27-
- She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet(the best).
- She looketh well to the ways of her household & eateth not the bread of idleness.



I've always wanted to be this woman described in Prov. 31....one who works hard & takes care of her family. One of the ways that God allows me to do this is through my bargain-hunting. I'm so thankful that mom raised us up/taught us how to bargain shop.....shop those Clearance racks/end caps! And it thrills me to death to watch my daughters shopping like that already on their own. I just wanted to share a little recent example of this with my shopping trip to Old Navy last week...one of our favorite places to shop. If you know how to shop, you can find NEW clothes at the stores for LESS than you'd find at Good Will....IF you're willing to take the time to look & plunder through things. I got Ashley a bag of goodies for $12.......... two tank tops, one dressy sweater-type tank, a Tshirt, a 3/4 length sleeve top AND a hoodie! The most expensive thing in that batch was the hoodie for $2.47....everything else was either $1.97 or .97. Now, I didn't find anything else for any of the other kids that day...but that's just how it goes & they understand that. Alli had her turn back around her BD when I went in there & hit the jackpot for HER size....coming out with a big ole bag of clothes for her for only $18. God is so good to bless us the way He does!!

My Huckleberry Finn

-Day 133-

The girls & I were headed down the drive to take our evening walk & I found Jon & Michael down at the barn practicing throwing their spears they made into that hay bale. I couldn't help but think of Huck finn for some reason yesterday....seeing Jon in his white T with rolled up jeans....just getting into 'Boy Mischief'. -Day 132-

Clay & the boys were down at the barn shooting his pistol. Here, Chris was giving it a try.
-Day 131-
Just happened to look out the window the other day & saw this hatchet stuck in the stump of wood & thought it looked cool.

Happy Mother's Day!

-Day 130-

I snapped this picture through the kitchen window last night as Clay sat outside talking to his mom wishing her a Happy Mother's Day.

I had a super nice Mother's Day.....cards & picutres from my kiddos plus lots of hugs & kisses too. Gosh, I am so blessed to have THE BEST job in the whole wide world!! After church...we picked up Little Ceasra's pizza & took it to Maw's so we could celebrate with her & Sarah too. An extra little side treat......I got to see my old boyfriend's mom & aunt. Long story.......for those that remember Scott....his aunt's granddaughter was graduating from Liberty this weekend & Linda (aunt) & Jeannie(Scott's mom) stayed with Maw over the weekend because it was impossible to find a hotel room in Lburg. Anyway...they hung around after church Sunday til we got there just to say Hi & visit with us a bit before they had to hit the road. After lunch we visited while the kids played. We had a real nice time....even managed to get some nice Mother's Day pcitures....although I had to count on Ashley for all my pictures....someone, I won't mention names, but his initials are JAB...took my batteries out of the charger before they were done charging, so I was left with dead batteries on Mother's Day. Anyways....nice day...got home about supper time...we all had left-overs...hotdogs which I had grilled the night before, so NO cooking for me!! Yay!

-Day 129-

Michael found this cute little guy in the dog's water bowl & brough it up to show me.

-Day128-The reson behind this photo.....for several weeks now it's been our Friday evening ritual to go get $5 footlongs for our supper after a long day of grocery shopping & errands. So, last week Clay & I went out to our Subway & realized that all the window signs were down & that the menu had changed.....no more $5 footlongs. We were really sad. But Ashley kept telling me how the commercials continued to be on TV for them. Then Clay started saying they were just $5 for certain subs not all of them. So we decided to make a point of checking out the Subways in Lburg when we went to town this week & sure enough....each one that we passed had these signs in the windows......$5 ANY footlong.

-Day 127-
Again, just a snapshot from one of our evening walks. Coming down the road from Skippy's with our drive in sight.

Summer Vacation

-Day 126-

The kids & I went yesterday afternoon to help Chris clean out his room & haul stuff back home for the summer. The kids LOVE going up there & getting in on the college experience whenever they can. Below, Jon & Michael pose at the end of Chris' bed...his shelf on the wall & closet to the right. Dorm 25 room 110....room mates...Jay & Aaron. Waiting on Fletcher, his RA to turn in his key & sign out for the last time.
Jon & Michael dumpster digging....LOL! We found some really nifty stuff. A collapsable mesh laundry hamper, a rubber maid shelf, Ashley got one of those round hippy-looking chairs....what else....oh yeah, Chris got a small TV that someone had left.

-Day 125-

Midnight & Eddy playing on what's left of our woodpile on the front porch. Can you guess which kitty is Eddy & which one is Midnight? ;-)

-Day124-

Was enjoying my morning computer time when I noticed these birds outside making such a racket! The little apple tree out here in the corner by the garden was just FULL of starlings...but of course when I grabbed my camera & ran outside they flew off. I watched as they moved down the hill. Part of them were in the walnut tree here behind Uncle Richard's house & the others that they were 'talking' to were in that tree down by the sawmill. Of course you can't see the birds at all in this picture, but anyways....they were there....TONS of them!!

'Catch-Up'

Goodness...I can't believe that it's been almost a week since I last updated my blog! Thursday Chris came up for the day...supposedly to simply get his car inspected & hang for the day & enjoy some fresh fried fish for supper. But NO...it couldn't be that easy. His car needed two new tires on it to be able to pass inspection, so the whole rest of the afternoon was spent getting & putting on new tires. Which also meant that it was too late to get it inspected then. So....Chris went on back to Lburg & Clay had to go the next day, pick up his car, come get it inspected & take it back. ;-P Ah well....such is life. Then, last Sat. was NSD (National Scrapbooking Day) so that meant lots of challenges & online games at Lifetime Moments over the weekend. Ashley & I had a great time with the music cranked up & scrapping away! Between the two of us, I think we got about 15 layouts done!! So, all my time has been focused on getting challenges done. Will have to see if all that work pays off in the way of any prizes. ;-) No matter what...we had alot of fun & got that many more memories tucked away in the albums.-Day 123- Thought it would be neat to document my morning routine. Coffee...LOL....fix tea for the kiddos, set vitamins out for the day & then sit down to check my email/online devotion/chat with Maw.
-Day 122- This was Sat.....thought it fitting to snap a pic of the table with all our scrap-crap spread everywhere! And while it may look like chaos....you'd better not touch my piles because I know right where everything is. We definitely get down & dirty when we scrap. LOL I have to 'clean up' after each project is done before I can start on another.

-Day 121- I love seeing a field full of little butter cups in the spring! So, when I came home from town on Fri. I just stopped at the bottom of the drive right by the mailbox & snapped this pic.

-Day 120- Our Spirea Bush is in full bloom out on the side of the front porch...one of my favorites!