A mass of little posts

1. My best friend's grandma was just diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a kind of cancer that my grandma also has) a couple days ago and is getting chemo treatments. The doctors are being very optimistic and it was in an early enough stage that they may be able to kick it back into remission.

2. My goats are fairly ready to pop! A friend of mine has given me lots of advice and even let me borrow nipples to put on pop/soda bottles for my kids. (note: I will not feed kids pop. I drink the pop and then fill the bottle with milk for them.)

2a. The Cowboy is making me a milk stand for Jazzy and Jo. He tells me it will be very skookum. :)

3. Mom's full time job ended Monday, so she has 60 days of freedom before she starts work again in June. She's a senator's aide at our state capitol. If any of you are interested in politics, I'm trying to convince her to make a blog. Stay tuned...

4. The pudgy little bumblebees are out in the garden doing their bumbly, little jobs. Sooooo cute. Especially cute when they eat so much and get so fat that they can't fly. :) Awwwwww...

5. I'm almost entirely prepped for the class I'm co-teaching at the community college starting the week after this. Please pray that I'll be able to do everything necessary! I'm right now learning to master the drop spindle because I'll have students wanting to learn it! Oh, dear, oh, dear!

6. I've gotten the bug to write again, so I may not blog much in the next few days. I may be pouring my heart and soul into a Word document. ;)

On Weaving Baskets

Have a pine tree? You could make a basket!

HERE are some lovely instructions. :-)

My first little, tiny basket:

 
And I gave it to a little doll named Nellie that I made out of yarn:

   
  

My God has POWER

I just finished speaking (over facebook chat) to a Christian sister in Alaska, and the conversation stirred the fire for Christ in my soul. All I want to do right now is shout to all the world the wonder, power, and majesty of GOD! So amazing He is! I am overwhelmed... How beautiful is my LORD! My spirit, soul, and body rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!

Don't have doubt in your mind - The Lord is moving! He's doing great things, and you and I are part of it, my brothers and sisters! Stand strong in the faith and hold tight to the Solid Rock.

He will have His victory.
 
  

Menu for 3/14-3/20

As my family's schedule is all different, I only plan to make dinner. My breakfast and lunch each day: Grits and/or dinner leftovers. Pretty easy.

~Sunday~
Dinner at Cowboy's parents' house

~Monday~
Roasted chicken, egg noodles with Parmesan cheese, basil carrots, and broccoli.

~Tuesday~
Spaghetti, green beans, corn, and French bread (I'll be gone)

~Wednesday
Corned beef and cabbage soup (St. Patrick's Day meal!)
(Thaw chicken casserole in fridge for Thursday)

~Thursday~
Crunchy Chicken Casserole, fresh bread, steamed peas

~Friday~
To be determined, because of... Guests! :-D

~Saturday~
Dinner at Grandpa's

A Glorious Day!

The rain fell all day. That was the first warm fuzzy. I do love a good downpour!

Then I decided that I had a baking itch. Mwahahaha... The result?

The peanut butter cookies were from yesterday (yesterday? Two days ago? Whatever...), but they wanted to be in the photoshoot. So there are peanut butter cookies, The Inedible Bird Food (Long story: oatmeal breakfast cookies full of dried fruits and what-have-you. The Cowboy gave one to his boss who promptly described them as inedible bird food. Haha! I loved that description, so it stuck. Hey! Stop thinking that I'm weird... Even though I am...), and four loaves of zucchini bread. Two with chocolate chips in them!

Note: The (home-grown) zucchini was shredded last summer and frozen in plastic bags (2 cups each) for this very purpose. Just in case that tip will be of use to anyone.

And, as my little (okay BIG little) brother demonstrates, this will all be gone by tomorrow:

A Kitteh After My Own Heart

I couldn't do a Wordless Wednesday with this, because it has words, but it made me fairly fall out of my chair laughing. SO. TRUE.

:)

Lo, I am with you always

If only I could have remembered THAT yesterday.

As I told the Cowboy, yesterday was a "build character" day. You know, when something terrible happens that you have to deal with, your very loving brother/father/grandfather tells you: "Builds character!"

Turns out a full-size freezer can completely thaw in two days. It also turns out that when you're at home by yourself, it takes a long time to lug everything out of said freezer, decide what's good or not, and find places to stash the good stuff to keep it cool until you can deal with it. And when you throw away the yucky room-temperature stuff, the bag becomes so heavy that people my size can't lift it. All the while, your fingers are freezing to the shelves and sides of the freezer and you have to tear them back off again.

That was about six hours of my day, including getting all the now-thawed beef bones into stock pots to boil out broth. This is when Cora realizes again that it is her oldest brother's birthday, and she is supposed to make him a birthday dinner. Not only that, she has no present for him.

This is when Cora falls into a chair and cries, "I can't do this!" *flails*

But she did, because she had to. Knowing something is required does wonders to your reserved energy. I made dinner. Score 1 for Cora.

My darling brother came home, gave me a silly grin and said, "Well, I guess I'll get my birthday dinner and then mosey on into the ER." Oh, no... :-( He's been having problems with wonderful afflictions such as stomach ulcers and other internal bleedings lately.

When Mom got home, she convinced him not to go because he wasn't in a great deal of pain, but it was entirely traumatic for Cora. Her mother said, "This is just the first of many disasters you'll have to deal with while you're married. Especially if you have kids." Builds character. Thanks, Mom.

Today, Cora will be cooking more meat. Anyone want some steak? We have lots to eat in the next two days...