The Needle in a Haystack

Taylor's 7th Birthday

 Taylor's actual birthday isn't until tomorrow, but we celebrated tonight . He requested Thai food ( I asked if he had ever had it and he said no....) so I sort of made my own Thai sort of food and we rolled with it.

   Chris and I had stopped by the Asian Market in Raleigh for a few things, including chopstix... these fancy ones were just a 7yo size!

 We had a type fo LoMein with Thai spices.

 ..a chicken/ wun sen  dish... and spring rolls

  These are so good I have to share the recipe... they also freeze well ( uncooked)

 

2 pkgs spring roll wrappers ( not egg roll)

3 boneless skinless chicken breast cooked and shredded

5 large carrots shredded

1 large onion diced

2 eggs

3T oyster sauce

Mix the last ingredients and put a large tablespoon of mixture in to a spring rolla nd wrap.

Either freeze or deep fry until golden brown... serve with a variety of sauces.

 

For dessert we had brownies topped with ice cream, chocolate syrupa nd whip cream

...and the birthday boys drink of choice

  We had a great time ...

HAPPY BIRTDAY TAYLOR

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

...Have a fine day............all day long!

Jan. 17, 2012

I think I have the most adorable neices and nephews.... all of them..... and today one of those adorable ( or should I say handsome) ones is having a birthday..

  He is such a sweetie....

 

.. Chris and I spent the morning running errands .. one of which was paying the county taxes, which upsets Chris every year when we do it.... Our taxes took a hundred dollar a year jump... so despite trying for the rest of the outing that a steak wrap from our favorite resturant would be just the thing to help him calm down, he drove home mumbling something about beans and rice  and the economy... didn't help that our cable bill notice came and is going up 4% and the electric rates went  5%...AND we had gone by the grocery store and everything in the whole store is more expensive.... We got home and he spent some time burning things in the back yard and then came in and finished the sink in the spare bathroom.. nothing like the state of things to get him a bit geared up...

,,,,, I spent the afternoon doing a bit of sewing...

  I made a few hearts for our themed tree at the shoppe...I used this free pattern @ All ABOUT YOU

I also mastered the  my first embroidery piece on my sewing machine.... I am in love!  It was a simple heart, but really so easy to do and I plan on spending a big part of tomorrow experimenting with letters and words.  It really was fun!

I finished reading Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree    by Susan Albert Wittig.  I have been reading the China Bayless books for years and am so happy that now I have another one of Susan's series to keep me busy .

  I have managed to stay on task with both my bike and my Bible reading.   They say 21 days to make a habit !

  Tomorrow I will be having the give away for Crystal's Book " Money Saving Mom" be on the look out!

I am off to stitch awhile..

Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.

 Proverbs 10:4 (NIV)

Have a fine day.......all day long!

 

Jan. 12th, 2012

 Our old lab ,Raven, sleeps in our room at  night on her blanket. She just always has...well last night, seriously, do they make breath right strips for dogs?  Between her snoring and Facey cat feeling the need to snuggle all night and purr LOUDLY, I barely got a lick of sleep.

  Chris  ran errands while I puttered aroudn the house most of the day.  I think I might have gottent he short end of the stick. Today was the day to clean out the fridge.  I noticed the carrots we had bought were getting ready to go bad so I made a batch of these muffins for our breakfasts over the weekend.

Carrot Muffins

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated carrot
•  
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottoms only of 12 muffin cups, or line with baking cups. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar until frothy and lightened in color. Stir in the oil, vanilla extract, and grated carrot; fold in the flour mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins.
3. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to cool on wire racks.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the icing by beating together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Frost the cooled muffins and chill until ready to serve.

It also used up the cream cheese.  I used half whole wheat flour to make them a bit healthier.

I also used some of my homemade vanilla... That stuff smells so good and the taste is wonderful!

 

The half bags of chex cereals and half a can of nuts went into Chex Mix.  This makes a great snack.

The ham bone in the freezer made a delicious pot of beans. I used pintos and smashed up the leftovers wiht chili powder so Christopher can eat them over the weekend on tortillas

 No crochet, no cross stitch , and no sewing.  I have been reading bunches on my Kindle Fire and reading up on my blogs .. looking for some new patterns...

  Check out my friend Sarah's blog  She makes the sweetest things.  I still have the sweetest flower magnets on my fridge that were a gift from her some time a go.  She is such a darling!

 

Proverbs 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

.... I have the best friends!

 

..and have a fine day...all day long!

 

Jan. 10th, 2012

..The shoppe was extra busy this weekend. Sunday's usually take a bunch out of us with church service and then the usual Sunday crowd.   This Sunday after church I attended the funeral for the mother of a fellow vendor at the market. I have never seen so many folks in my life! I also had never experienced a funeral where they had flower bearers. A group of women chosen by the family to walk in front of the family into the church. I was asked if I would do this.  Honored... humbled.. totally new experince..

  I was just drained by the time we both got home and very thankful for the gift of cabbage and homemade sausage that were given to us that afternoon.   I haven't tasted sausage that good in ages! 

 

  Monday we had errands in Durham, I came home and paked away all the Christmas stuff, and headed out again.  I had crocheted another batch of baby things for the NICU at Wake Med in Raleigh were my oldest spent his first days of life over 30 years ago. They took such great care of them I try and thank them each year with some of my crocheted things. I pray for each baby and their family who will recieve the items.  I know how hard it is to have a wee one all connected to tubes and wires.  I was fortunate that Josh's friend Christy works at Wake Med so it saved a trip for me having to hand deliver them.

  After that stop I went to my first sewing class at the local community college.  I can tell this is going to be so much fun! The ladies are just the sweetest and I know it will be like a big hen party on Monday nights. I already have my first project to work on ready to go .

  No new projects for my 15 crazies.  I still want to start 15 but the not finishing part is hitting me in the OCD department so I am finishing up a couple of things before I do something new.

  Bible reading is going strong though. starting Gen 27 tomorrow and finishing up chapter 8 in Matt. I woke up so grumpy this a.m. and knew that the thing I needed was some Bible time....

Crystal's book came out today!  Check it out...  Next week I will be offering a give away of her book so stay tuned... It is a MUST have...

  Chris started us on a work out plan along with our bike riding today.  After much research he chose convict conditioning  I am not entirely sure what Chris thinks we need to condition for but I do know that the more I exercise the less my artiritis flairs and for me that is worth going into convict mode over.

    I had a great hour long phone visit with my Grams, I think we covered and solved most of the worlds problems..as always..

  Thought I would share our Bible verse for today.... its a keeper:

1Thess 5:17

pray continually....

..and have a fine day... all day long!

Jan 6&7, 2012

So it really did seem like a good idea to give our old lab, Raven, a beanie baby to keep her company while we were at work now that she is an only dog....

           bad idea

..what you can not see in this picture are the 200billion gazillion small plastic pellets that now cover every inch of our living room rug.... they are like Christmas tree tinsel.....or Easter grass....we'll pretty much be cleaning them up for the next 10 years

  We worked the last two days at the shop.  despite that I was able to do a bit of stitching...a couple smalls. The first is almost done despite the short amount of time I had to work on it.

... this is from Sprite stitch

AND today was simply two little snowmen to go on the tree at the shoppe... We decided to do a season tree all year...

.. And keeping up with Pammy Sue's CAL

I was able to finally get to the next color in my ripple.  I have plans for this ripple I do believe a upcoming birthday in the next couple of months... 

Horrible picture... but its late and I am cleaning up plastic pellets..

So, I was able to finish up Mourning Gloria

This is a China Bayless book and I loved it as much as the others I have read...

In my read through the Bible in a year I am up to Genesis 20 and Matthew 6:18

  .One of the great things about our shoppe is the wonderful deputies that do off duty on Sat. afternoons.  They are all friends of our LEO son and we appreciate getting to know each of them better. Craig and I were having a discussion about this verse today... and I thought I would share ( he preaches at his church from time to timeand I know he is a blessing to them, he was to me!)

He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

– 2 Corinthians 1:10 (NIV)

Very fitting for police officers I think.. and for all of us!

Hope and pray you all ahve a fine day.................all day Long!

Jan 5, 2012

Taylor's Christmas present from his Pop was a year of guitar lessons... and tonight was his first lesson... of course I had to feed him and his mom....( we had hotdogs) , and what good is visiting MeMe & Pop's house if you can't have a bit of board game time?  I picked this game up for a buck at the flea market.... still new in the box... I remembered it from when I was a child..

  I am happy to say... I still got it!  Yep, I won a game and Pop won a game...no "just letting the kid win" around here ...~seriously~ we had a bunch of fun, as always when Kristy and Taylor come to visit.

  ..and what would MeMe's house be without cookies???

  I tried a new recipe.. Amish Cookies...from the Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook  Almost every recipe I try from this book is a keeper, and much like the ones my own Pennsylvania Great Grandmother use to cook... I was sad that these cookies were just so-so.. They are a molasses cookie with oatmeal...not sure if it was me or the recipe.  Nonetheless, I recommend the book

 I managed both my Bible reading ( Gen 13-15 & Matt 5: 1-26) and a couple more chapters in Mourning Glora and Gathering Days.

Day 5 cross stitch is Henry the Nutcracker

..and here's what I managed today

I have time on this one as it will be a Christmas present for my DIL 2012...

I'm off to work on my ripple a bit before turning in for the evening. Tomorrow is a work day for us

....let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

...Let your light shine...and have a fine day...all day long!

 

Jan 4, 2011

 Today was the day we finally ventured out a bit.  Yep the car has sat in the drive way since New Years Eve.  I can't say we were doing this formal plan for the new year sort of thing, but that is what it worked out to be.  Our business is now  15 months and it has been such a learning process for us. So,  there were business meetings.... the kind where you are reading and suddenly an idea pops in your head and you discuss it... and then either scrap it or talk a bit more about it.... and the same went for the house, and the gardens, and well, just about everything....

   But today, the grocery, the post office... and even though we live in a small laid back town.... it required actual clothes and not jammies...

Anyhow, Bible reading did get done...Gen 10-12 and Matt 4

A little bit was read in Mourning Gloria

Nothing fancy came out of the kitchen today ( having to don real clothes today was exhausting)

 I did manage my day 4 Crazy January Challenge with this little pillow from Pine Mountain

 I have several but for some reason Feb never was stitched...

AND, because I couldn't help myself...I joined Pammy Sue's  ripple along.   I mean I HAD too... I love a good ripple and the textures in this one are beautiful I think... lots and lots of ftpc and fdpc.... There is a Flicker group  here  I If you want to join I know Pammy Sue would love to have you!!

 .. so, I am off to ripple some more... and hopefully tomorrow I can post some pictures of my ripple so it looks like a ripple... I had to frog a few times  but I do belive it is all good now... and if its not I am rolling with the mistakes...

   Here are a few interesting articles I read today while I was crocheting ( no wonder there are mistakes)

Susan Weed on hot colds and cold colds

Free Audible Books  ( I love these things)

Making your own dough enhancer

 AND I need to say hello to a very very special new reader of my blog....My Nannie

Love you!!

Thy hands made me and fashioned me . . . Psalms 119:73

... you all ahve a fine day......all day long!

 

 

Jan 3, 2012

 After so many beautiful days ..it was just plain COLD today.   We decided to forgo our errands we had planned and stayed inside drinking hot cuppas and working on small projects around here.  All the Christmas decos are packed away except the tree which will stay up til Jan 6th. I really will miss it, a small tree, but so pretty.

 Bible reading today was  Gen . 7-9 and Matthew 3

I finished up two books while on teh bike today. One really doesn't count as it was a book from my childhood collection on Mary Mapes Dodge. It was absolutely one of my favorites when I was maybe 10 (?).. The other was a book in my Book Across the States Project I started way back Jan. of 2009. It was another Debbie Macomber book, Dakota Born.  I really liked the other book I read by her set in WA but this one seemed perdictible.I know there are two other books in the series but I am not sure I will read them.

My cross stitch  start for today was so much fun.  I am already half finished. This will be for one of my neices.

This is a freebie from Gazette94 I love her designs so much. I have done a couple and hope to do a couple more . Pour a cuppa tea and go visit her.... bonus if you read french... un peu...becoming more fluent IS on the bucket list...

 .. and what would a cold afternoon be without a bit of sweetness with our afternoon coffee/tea...

We opted for Energy Bites.   At least we can convince ourselves these are healthy.  Christopher eats them on the way to work or class... or everytime he opens the fridge...

As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.” Genesis 8:22

...and have a fine day, all day long!

 

Jan 2,2012

 One of the treats for the holidays was to have dinner hosted by my brother in law and his wife.  The food was delicious!  To make it easy all the way around Laura decided on breakfast for dinner.

 

  I HAD to have her recipe for the coffee cakes she made. Chris and I made this today for our afternoon "coffee/tea" time.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 ½ c. sugar
½ butter or margarine, softened
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
¾ c. milk
1 tsp. almond extract
1 c. mini-semisweet chocolate morsels
Powdered sugar

Directions:
Combine 1st 4 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; mix on low speed of electric mixer until mixture resembles fine.  Remove about ½ cup crumb mixture and set aside.
Add eggs, milk, and almond extract to remaining crumb mixture; mix until well blended.  Stir in chocolate morsels.  Pour batter into a greased 11x13 baking dish; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.
Bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes or until cake tests done.  Cool slightly; dust top with powdered sugar.

Note:
    This is also good made with blueberries in place of the chocolate chips. 

 

It was Day 2 of the Crazy January Challenge and todays project was the January Owl from Oakhaven. He really is sweet but I do believe tomorrow's start will HAVE to be on large count material.

 

Today's Bible reading was Genisis  4-6 and Matthew Chapter 2

Almost finished with My Debbie Macomber book and read more on Mourning Gloria while I was on the recumbant bike.

I also made our laundry detergent for the next 6 months.  We have an He front loader and I was tired of paying the exensive prices for the special detergent. This recipe works fine on about a 1/4 cup in a front loader...

Laundry Detergent

• 1 measuring cup of Borax
• 1 measuring cup of Super washing soda
• 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap OR 1 bar of Ivory soap
• If desired 1 small bottle of fabric softener

I use 1 measuring cup of Borax 1 Cup of Super washing soda and 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap or you can use 1 bar of Ivory soap.  You can find the Fels-Naptha soap at Kroger and also Walmart but it is not in the isle where all the soap is in the laundry detergent isle.

Shred bar of soap with cheese shredder put into sauce pan covering the soap with just enough hot tap water to stir. Cook on top of stove on medium continue stirring soap until soap melts.

Fill 5 gallon bucket with hot tap water add all ingredients stir put lid on  Bucket let stand over night take off lid stir again ready to use I usually fill up one of my tide bottles using the tide lid full for each load washed shake well before each use  . You can also add 1 small bottle of fabric softener if desired .

This will make 5-7 Five gallon buckets minus the bar of soap.

 

  Today a dear sister went to be witht he Lord. I have known her since I was a baby. She and her husband were a part of my life when I was growing up. They were in a car accident and June was killed instantly.  Fred is in intensive care in Morgantown , WV.  June wa sin her 80's as is Fred.  I know June is rejoicing witht he saints, but my heart aches for Fred at the loss of his bride of 60 years.

 Chris chose this Bible verse for us today....... it was a good fit..

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. John 6:44

  Have a fine day....all day long

Jan 1, 2012

 We just finished up the dishes from our annual New Years Day feast of pork roast, sauerkraut, collards and blackeyed peas. Usually we have several folks for dinner but this year it was just Chris, Christopher, Daniel and I.  We have had such a great holiday but boy are we tired!

  Chris spent the day doing inventory for the business and besides doing a bit of laundry and cooking this is what I did most of the day...

  Each year I decide on a reading plan or study guide for my Bible time.  This year I will read the Bible through again using Bible Gateway Reading Plan . This will come to my kindle to read everyday.

 so today was Genesis 1-3 and Matthew Chapter 1.

No secret I am a HUGE China Bayles fan. I am finishing up another one in the series this week. I have a few copies signed by the author and am looking forward to the new one coming out in April.

   So for some crazy reason I decided to join the cross stitch Crazy January Challenge 2012 (a yahoo group). The concept is to start 15 new projects for each of the first 15 days of Jan. Then stitch at will until they are finished. Some ladies are going for 31... but I am at least a semi realist... It is fun to see what others are doing and share stitching stories from lovely ladies from all over the world.

 I decided on Bernard a Wee One: from Heart in Hand  stitched on linen

    I think if I continue to work on linen I will need a stitching magnifier....but I love the look!

and finally, I couldn't go the day with out a little crochet.  Chris and I decided to keep the tree up at the shoppe and just change out the decoration according to the season.  We are going with snowmen and snowflakes for Jan.  I thought a herd ( gaggle) of these little fellas were in order.

 

This is a free pattern from DapperToad

 we decided to keep our tree up just a few more days... its so pretty and we all enjoy it.

 Chris and I want to pray a most blessed New Year for each of you..

There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecc 3 1-8

..have a fine year...all year long!