Have You Ever Wondered...

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you were living 100 years ago? I have been doing that a lot lately. Right now, hubby would be out working the animals or tending to the farm in some way instead of stuck in the office where he only gets to see his farm through the window most of the time. I imagine my daily life would look a lot like it does now...minus all the "conveniences". I would be in the kitchen cooking the meals and getting ahead on baking for the week (hmmm, that sounds familiar). While things were cooking I would probably be doing some laundry-on the washboard instead of the washing machine. I think about what I wouldn't miss about life right now-TV,phones, computers, etc. I really think I could go back and *gasp* enjoy myself. Oh sure, I wouldn't want to do it during the summer when it was blistering hot and there is no A/C. I would also have to time it between potty breaks because I can't use a port-a-potty much less an outhouse! No, if there could be a moment in time that I would like to experience from back then, it would be in the winter at night after dinner and chores, when everyone is gathered around the fire. I would be in my rocking chair doing some kind of sewing or knitting. Hubby would be sitting in his rocker. Unfortunately, he would probably be chewing his tobacco, but this is my dream so he is sitting in his rocking chair whittling a piece of wood. The twins would be lying on the floor drawing a picture. There would also be more babies...at least 3 or 4.  Shhhh, don't tell hubby. He thinks I am finished with babies :) It would be quiet except for the winter wind blowing outside. Ahhh, that sounds like pure heaven to me.

Hope everyone had a wonderful, joyful Christmas. Ours was very simple, again. The twins each got only a few gifts from us but both of them have said that this Christmas was the BEST by far. They were so thankful to us, saying it and showing it. It just proves what I have been thinking for awhile-kids don't need a lot of STUFF! I think when parents and families buy tons of toys for kids, it just overwhelms them. Then they begin to think that they should ALWAYS get that much stuff, that they DESERVE it. That just leads to a lot of disappointment for little Johnny and little Susie when they grow up and realize that they are not the center of the universe and that the world doesn't really care what they want. Better to learn these lessons now, while they are young. Spoiled, entitled children grow up to be spoiled, entitled adults and we all know a few of those!!! ANYWAY.....

New Years Resolutions anyone???? Me neither! I no longer make them because I NEVER keep them. It's like being on a diet that's too restrictive. Sooner or later (we all know it will be sooner) you cheat. Then you cheat some more. Soon, it's January 2nd and your resolutions have long been forgotten. To stick with the diet analogy, we always say we will start our diet on Monday. What is wrong with today, right now? Same with resolutions, we wait until January 1st to "improve"our life. Why? I say if you see a need for change right now then make the change right now. Don't wait. What if January 1st never comes??????

Finished...

I am finished. Done. Finito. Finished with what you ask??? Finished with all Christmas dress rehearsals, programs and parties! We had our final program Sunday night and I have been basking in the finished afterglow ever since. I am ALMOST finished with Christmas shopping, too, which leaves me only the homemade gifts to put together. I cannot believe it! Usually I am running around, last minute, going here and there right up until Christmas Eve. Not this year. I think I could get used to this. I may even, dare I say, enjoy the holidays. Wow!

This afternoon, I will be taking a nice leisurely trip to town with my daughter so she can do her Christmas shopping. We will go have lunch together and hit a few local stores. Tomorrow I will do the same with my son. Geez, how did I rate 2 lunches out in one week???

My husband had asked me about a month ago to make some curtains for his office because one of the guys was being blinded from 10 am to 3pm and the other from 3pm to whenever. Well, I am NOT a sewer person who sews (it isn't really a sewer is it??)so it took me about a week to do one curtain. It didn't come out too bad. No pics of it cuz I just forgot but it was green with camo trim. Not bad for my first curtain. I will take a pic of the second one when I get a chance to finish it. WHICH should be this week because I HAVE NO OTHER OBLIGATIONS OUTSIDE OF MY HOME!!!!! I am really happy about that!!!

We are in the final stages of pecan picking. And by picking, I mean, bending over and picking those infernal nuts up from under all the doggone leaves that have fallen on them. We have a choice. Use the rolling thing that picks up ALL the nuts (good, bad, hulls attached) then sit and sort through each nut and picking off any attached hulls OR picking them up by hand, inspecting them, tossing any bad ones and putting them in the going-to-market bin. Really, there is no easy way to do it unless you pay someone ELSE to pick them up but then where is the adventure in that? One of our trees dropped a REALLY BIG limb about 2 months ago. It was LOADED with immature nuts and I was heartsick that they would all go bad. However, enough of the limb was holding on to the tree that it was still getting some nutrients and ALL the nuts matured. I go out there and pick them off the limb every couple of days. It is so nice to stand up straight and harvest :) Soon hubby will go out and cut the branch down and chop it up for firewood. I LOVE the smell of pecan wood. I would totally buy cologne that smells like it. One of our cats likes to sleep in the pecan trees and she always smells soooooo good. I have been known to pick her up and just sniff away. Yeah, she really doesn't like that much but dang she smells good!

I guess I really should go get ready for my shopping trip today. My completely optional only because I want to shopping trip....

My twins performed in their Christmas musical at church the other night. It was so sweet. It was done by the children's choir (1st to 4th grade) and the Edge (5th and 6th grade). I just love watching the kids sing their hearts out for the Lord.

My daughter is wearing her "Dear Santa, Define Good" t-shirt. It's cute. That's her brother next to her in the red and black stripes. To the left is a girl they have known since kindergarten. Until 4 months ago, my daughter was quite a bit taller than Jacey. She has really shot up in the last couple of months and now she towers over both my kids! Of course, both of her parents are nice and tall. My kids got jipped in that dept. My husband is 6' but I am only 5'2". Tallness (is that even a word???) does NOT run in my family AT ALL! My mom is only 5' 1". Yep....we're shrimps! Shorties unite!!!!!

I FINALLY got an egg from one of my Americauna's. I was so happy to open the laying box and find this little blue gem:

Isn't it lovely???? My hens are REALLY taking their time laying eggs. Must be the decreased sunlight this season. Hoping things pick up in the spring because I DESPISE buying eggs at the grocery store.
Speaking of the grocery store, just have to give a little shout out to my very favorite store right now-Kroger. They are a 45 minute drive from my house but they are so worth it. A few months ago, I explained how I came to shop at Kroger and I am still very happy with them. I actually cringe whenever I have to walk into our local Walmart. Thank goodness it isn't very often! Yesterday was shopping day and it was a bit chilly. Our Kroger has a Starbucks in it so I got me a Caramel Brulee latte and sipped it while I shopped. Next time I will get the very BIGGEST cup they have. It was sooooooooo good!

I am still in the process of planning out what direction I would like to take with this blog in the coming year. There are so many wonderful blogs out there that I read daily and I learn so much from that I would like to be a bit more like them. I have learned a lot in 42 years and if someone can benefit from it then it's worth the work. Lori over at Always Learning is always talking about how the older should be teaching the younger so I think I would like to do something along those lines.  Still planning, still thinking....

I think I will finally get some ALONE time to do my Christmas shopping this afternoon. I have made my list and checked out different sites to find the best deals for the few things I am buying. I will be making quite a bit of stuff on my own for some of my older kids and my parents/in-laws. I have just started sewing again so I am thinking I will make some things for my grandkids along with buying some books. I am not a big fan of toys for kids just for the sake of occupying their time. A lot of toys out there are nothing but junk. I like for them to learn something when they play. Two of my grandkids have birthdays right after Christmas so I need to come up with double ideas for them!Decisions, Decisions.....

I just heard the news that Michelle Duggar suffered a miscarriage with her 20th child. I know what people are saying. "They have no business having 20 kids", "A woman's body isn't meant to do that", blah blah blah. I, for one, applaud their conviction to have as many children as the Lord blesses them with. I mean He designed the woman's body and I believe that He knows exactly what it is capable of. Who are we to judge ANYONE???? They lost a child and I feel very badly for them. I feel a bit of a bond with her. No, I only have 5 kids and I have never miscarried but my twins were born 3 months premature just like her little Josie was. I know EXACTLY what it feels like to see this extremely tiny human being struggling for survival and knowing that the only thing you can do is pray. We were very lucky in that our twins were only in the NICU for 70 days and not for the 4 or 5 months Josie was and ours didn't have any major health dramas other than being too small to breathe and eat on their own. I am very blessed to have them all healthy and my heart aches for the Duggar family. I cannot even fathom losing a child. Yet even in the midst of their heartbreak, their response is that they know God gives out the blessings and He can surely take them at any time He chooses. May the Lord continue to bless this family as they are a true lights in what can be a very dark world.

What the heck?????

I know Black Friday is all a memory now but for some reason I just can't get it out of my mind. I, personally, don't shop on Black Friday mainly because I hate crowds but I do have family and friends that love the adventure. After watching the news reports and talking to some of those friends, I am really wondering WHY they do this each year. I saw so many instances of people behaving not only badly, but criminally. Shoppers were assaulted both inside and outside the stores. There were so many robberies and thefts, so much ill will and discontent that I cannot reconcile that with what I think the Christmas season should be about. Christmas is purely a celebration of the birth of our saviour (and if you don't believe that then you really can't call what you celebrate "Christmas"). I really don't know what mowing down your fellow man to get to the last Xbox or pepper spraying your neighbor to get a cheap flat screen tv has to do with celebrating the birth of the Messiah! It really makes me sick to see all of this commercialism and consumerism. People are complaining about how they can't afford to pay their bills yet they go out and blow thousands of dollars on gifts. Do they really think that the recipients NEED those gifts? Do they think that somehow they will be better people if they go deeper into debt buying gifts for EVERYONE they know? I actually know a person who thinks that if she doesn't spend thousands of dollars on her 2 kids ALONE then they will suffer...Suffer from what???? No, they will suffer when the bank forecloses on their house. They will suffer when there is no longer any food in the house to eat. They will suffer when they don't have a winter coat and it is snowing outside. They WILL NOT suffer because they didn't get every single new toy that is out there. They WILL NOT suffer if they receive LESS THINGS for Christmas. People need to get their priorities straight! Now I am in no way criticizing ANYONE for buying their loved ones gifts for the holidays. I just want people to re-examine WHY they feel the NEED to overspend and overextend.  Now, I have a little confession to make....I used to be a lot like those people. I thought that I had to buy more and more each year to "out do" the previous year. Then we lost almost everything. We had to close our business, we were months behind on all of our bills, there wasn't much in the pantry to eat, we had $36 in our checking account and it would be 2 weeks before my husband would receive his first paycheck from his new job. I have never been so scared in all my life. How in the world were we going to feed 5 children and 2 adults for 2 weeks on $36???? To make matters worse, hubby needed most of that money for gas to get to work for those 2 weeks. It was a VERY dark time and I questioned a lot of the decisions we made up to that point. That was 8 years ago and while we are NOT rolling in the dough, we are making ends meet (even if we have to pull those ends a little hard sometimes). Know what else? Not one of us can remember any of the Christmas gifts we had those "good" years! Nothing! Our Christmas's have been pretty lean since then (a little out of necessity but mostly because of choice) but we remember all the details of those celebrations. My 2 youngest kids have loved our "simple" Christmas celebrations. They get the one or two things that they truly want with nothing that will simply be put in a closet to be forgotten about. We all get to spend TIME together because we are not out running around trying to get a deal on something. If truth be told, your kids really don't want ALL those gifts. The greatest gift you can give them is time with you. It doesn't cost anything and you don't have to take your life into your own hands at the mall to get it. It's a WIN-WIN for everyone!

The Day After....

Whoever invented elastic, I love you oh so very much! I am using your invention right now and probably for the next couple of weeks. Yes, I did what 99% of all Americans did yesterday-EAT TOO MUCH! It was soooooo good though:) We had the big feast here at our house. The last couple of years I have gone to Florida for Thanksgiving at my grandparents house but my husband could never come because he had to work on the Friday after. Last year I decided that I don't ever want to spend another holiday away from him so I promised him I would host it at our house from now on. Wish I could convince the Florida bunch to come here but that probably won't happen so we had our family that lives here over. We ate, then we ate and when we were done eating, we ate again. When everyone left, we ate again. This afternoon, guess what I did? Yep, I ate again. Therefore, I love the inventor of elastic. For if it were not for this invention I would be wrapped in a bedsheet stuffing myself with the remnants of pecan pie. Come to think of it, that isn't exactly a bad thing, is it?
Anyway, yesterday was a blessing as I got to spend time with my family whom I love very much. Lots of laughs were shared and I just have to give a big shout out to my husband and my twins. I could not have pulled off this dinner without them! Hubby made sure we had a cooler full of ice, my thanksgiving newspaper (for reading after dinner on the couch while I looked like a stuffed tick!) the leaf in the table and so on. My son did ANYTHING I asked him without so much as a whimper. My daughter really shined yesterday. She made all the appetizers by herself and helped me so much with the prep work and cooking. She is going to be quite the catch for some lucky man....MANY YEARS FROM NOW! We prepared all the food except for mashed potatoes provided by my inlaws and my mom brought her cranberry salad that I adore!!! Only one hiccup with the cooking really though. My turkey was a 24 lb'er. Yeah it was HUGE!!!!But it was on sale and I just couldn't pass it up. I was figuring it would take about 8 hours to cook so we got up at 3am to put it in the oven. My husband woke back up at 5:30 to go hunting and came in and woke me telling me that he thought the turkey was almost done! There was no way I was leaving that warm bed again until at least 7 so I told him he was mistaken and I rolled over and went back to sleep. I checked on the turkey at 7:30 after I did the morning chores and ....the stupid thing was done!!! How in the heck does a 24 lb turkey cook in 4 1/2 hours???? My son kept calling it the miracle turkey. I told him the miracle would be keeping the thing warm until 3pm (dinner time) without it being as dry as sawdust! I thought about calling everyone and telling them to come over at noon but there was no way I could get my homemade rolls done and get the house straightened up by then so 3pm we waited. About noon, hubby carved it up (wasn't too hard, pulled on the bones and the entire turkey fell apart!)and buried the meat in the juices. Needless to say, it wasn't piping hot but it was good regardless. The best part was just having so many people that I love, sitting around the table just being together. My little granddaughter was there and she just brightens up everything. Unfortunately, I never even once brought out my camera. That's typical me, too busy enjoying the moment that I forget to capture it. Oh well! Last night I told my family that I am taking today off. No cooking, no cleaning (okay I did vaccum) and I am going to sit and read blogs as long as I want....Mission accomplished!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Crackers

This is one of my (and my kids) all time favorite snacks.

Take some ritz crackers (however many you want to eat) and place them on a cookie sheet.
Smear a little (or a whole lot!) peanut butter on them.
Place a ginormous marshmallow on top of each peanut butter slathered cracker.
Put them under the broiler for just a few minutes. Watch them carefully! You just want the marshmallow to get a little brown and crusty.
Remove from broiler and let cool for just a few seconds. This step is VERY important because biting into a hot marshmallow is not the kind of thing you want to ruin this yummy snack!
Enjoy the gooey, peanut buttery, salty, crunchy snack! I just did :)