The Gift Baskets are Done..... and Remember Those Taters?

Today I got the last dish rag knitted up and the gift baskets all put together. 

Each basket has a soup in a jar, chocolate chip banana bread in a jar, a mini candle, a dish towel, and of course both jar gifts are topped with a knitted dish rag.  They also have a can of tomatoes because the soup in a jar calls for tomatoes.

We are having a brunch for Christmas with The In-Laws, so I baked a Blueberry Crunch Coffee Cake and still have to make up a cheeseball.  I'll post the recipe for the cake next week.  It's really good!

Remember this post?  In that post I talked about canning taters.  It was the first time I'd canned them and I wasn't too sure how they would turn out.  I was concerned that they might get starchy tasting or turn dark.  I used a jar of them last night.  The Man loves fried 'taters and onions with polish sausage.  I needed to get supper in a hurry so I decided to use a jar of those canned 'taters.  I put a dab of lard in my biggest cast iron skillet, sliced up the sausage and tossed it in, dumped those taters in and then added some sliced onion.  A little seasoned salt and we were good to go.  They were delish and oh so easy. 

 

Our 'tater crop wasn't very good this past year and we used up all our spuds without needing to can any.  I'm hopeful for a better crop this year so I can can some more 'taters!

Things are good 'round here.  I'm planning my chicken order and the seed catalogs are coming.  Tomorrow is January 1st, that means spring is right around the corner!  ;0)  A girl can dream right? 

God Bless......................

Fellow Blogger Contest...........and My Current Projects......

My fellow blogger Jennifer over at Our Little Farm is havin' a contest.  She's got the cutest little pot belly pig named Porkchop and she's havin' a Guess Porkchop's Weight contest. 

You all should go check it out!  The only rules are that you must be a follower of her blog (which you should be anyway, cuz she's super cool) and you can only enter once. 

Now on to my current project news......

Right  now I'm working on a skinny scarf.........

The picture above shows the texture really well, and the picture below is a better representation of the actual color.

The pattern for this scarf is textured stripes and I like it a lot.  I'll be adding some nice fringe to it when it's done, but I had to stop working on it to work on these.........

Jar gifts for Christmas with The Man's family which is this coming weekend. 

I've still got to get two dish rags knitted up for it, and this is the one I'm working on now.  It's the little shells pattern, the first time I'm using it for a dishrag. 

I've got 8 jar gifts to make, 2 for each family.  One is a soup in a jar, and the other will be a quick bread in a jar.  The soups will have the dishrag toppers and I'm thinking I'll just do a fabric topper for the bread jars, unless I have time to knit rags for them as well.  I'm going to have to run to Salvation Army to find 4 baskets to put the jars in.  S/A is a GREAT place to buy baskets.  They are only a buck a piece and you can find some really cute ones.

Anywho, go on over there and follow Jennifer's blog and enter the contest!  WAIT!!  Don't....... cuz I really want to win!  ;0)

God Bless..............

Christmas Recap............

We had a lovely Christmas here at Goodwife Farm.  Every year my folks come stay with us on Christmas Eve, waking up here Christmas morning, but this year we had heavy snowfall predicted so they arrrived the afternoon of the 23rd.

After opening gifts and stockings on Christmas morning my dad made up some biscuits and I made some sausage gravy and we had a nice breakfast.  The Man got The Three Stooges for Christmas so after breakfast and washing up, Mom and I played Yatzee while everybody else watched The Stooges. 

The Youngun checking out her Santa leavings.............

The Youngun with Mr. Stuffy, her best friend.

Christmas Day afternoon my folks headed for home, taking The Youngun with them.  My mom gets the week between Christmas and New Years off so The Youngun always goes to stay several days with them.  My sister's kid is staying as well, so she and The Youngun are having lots of fun with Pop Pop and Granny Bob.  The Man and I then un-decorated the house.  We do this every year on Christmas day.  We aren't really scrooges or anything, we just like to have the house back in order.  LOL!

In other news, my two little hussies came in on Christmas Eve.  I heard some Barry White, Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe coming from the direction of the barn, so I'm hopeful that The Longhaired Lothario got the job done and I'll be expecting kids in late May.

Also, please keep my fellow blogger Tonia from The Simple Life in your prayers. 

It's cold here right now, but supposed to warm up into the high 50's with thunderstorms by Friday, then back down into the 30 with snow showers by Saturday.  Illinois weather always keeps you guessing!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

God Bless................. 

To Granny Bob's House We Go...........

Yesterday was our Christmas celebration with my folks and my sister and her family. 

We awoke to this.....

This picture is of my barns.  They are about 50 yards or less from my house where I'm standing taking the picture.

The side yard from the back door.

At the gas station looking at the highway.....

The highway north out of town......

The PV road on the way to my folks.......

This is Mr. Stuffy..........The Youngun's best friend.  He had to bundle up and come to the party!

My folks live about 40 miles north of us and it's country all the way.  No place to even stop to go to the bathroom if you gotta go.

Mom called at around 7:30 and asked.........."Did it snow down there?"  LOL!  Yup, that's my Momma.  I wanted so bad to say..........Hecks no, it's 80 degrees here!  But I resisted the temptation.  She told me Dad said to call and tell us it was blowing real bad up there.  I said........"I've got a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie, a cheeseball, salami, bologna, cheese, and crackers ready to come to your house.  We'll be there!"

Anyhow, we got Black Betty all loaded up and headed north for the day.  The fastest I've ever made the trip is in 34 minutes but yesterday it took us an hour and a half to get there.  Very slow going as at times visibility was zero.  My sister lives about 80 miles northwest of us and they made really good time.

We all had a great day together! 

Do you remember this picture my dad took of himself at Thanksgiving?

Well with the magic of Picnik I was able to make this..........

And with the wonders of Shutterfly I made this into a mug for Dad for Christmas.  He liked it!

We also used Shutterfly to make an ornament for Granny Bob

Doesn't my mom look like a teenager?? 

  Hope your weekend was a good and safe one as well.  Please don't forget to participate in my contest!!

God Bless................

Merry Christmas from the Goodwife!

As some of you may know, my other blog is about life on our little homestead here. We call our place Goodwife Farm. I just wanted to take this second to wish you all a very Merry Christmas full of the blessings of God's love!

Today is The Youngun's last day of school, so I'm headed out there for the Christmas party. Then we are back home to bake sugar cookies for Santy!

May you get everything you want in your stocking, and not too much junk food in your bellies!

Till next time..........I'm unTHICKINandsoTHINNIN!

Getting set for CHRISTmas and the 11th Birthday of The Paintiff Child!

Things are good around the ole homestead. The tree is up, shopping is all done, packages are ready and waiting! The Youngun had the good fortune to be born on Christmas Eve so we always have alot of fun around here. Every December 24th my folks come down and the three of us take her to a movie matinee and then dinner at Ponderosa. This year we are going to see Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel. The Man seldom gets to join us on this little journey because he has to work. The next time that he will be able to go is for her 13th birthday! Anyway, after the movie and dinner we will come home and wait for him to get off work. The Youngun, Granny Bob, and I will play games while Pop Pop usually plays on the computer or snoozes! When The Man gets home we will have supper. This year The Youngun asked for hamburger roast, brown gravy, and peas with cream cheese brownies instead of birthday cake. Then she will open her birthday presents and we'll play more games till bedtime. Gotta hit the hay early so the fat man in the red suit can come!!

When our daughter was born, the very first night that we brought her home I was laying in bed saying my prayers as usual. I remember thanking God for blessing us with a beautiful healthy child. I told God that I was giving her back to Him that very minute. She wasn't ours, she was His, but we would do our very best to raise her up to be someone that would bring Glory to His Name. She has been a treasure every single day of her life! She knows Jesus and God and strives to follow Him in every way. I still pray for my baby girl every day, praying that she will never forsake Him, and will look to Him for guidance and leadership her whole life long. I also pray for her future husband (if it's God's will that she marry) that God will be with him, wherever he may be. I pray that she will have the good sense to wait for the man that God chooses for her, and that the young man will be a child of God. Life is alot more bearable when a husband and wife both walk hand in hand with the Savior. I'm very thankful that my husband and I both do, and I know the reason our marriage is so rock solid and strong, is because we have God at the head of our household. The Man is on one side of Him, holding on, and I'm on the other and it's a good good thing!

On a different note, we butchered nine rabbits on Sunday. My folks took 5 home and we kept 4. We boned most of our meat out, and then packaged up the bones to boil down for BBQ. I got 5 lbs of boneless meat out of 4 rabbits, so I was happy with that. Not sure how much meat boiled down off the bones, but I already pressure cooked 2 of them and got enough BBQ rabbit for supper Sunday evening, The Youngun had it for supper again last night, AND she took it to school for lunch today! That girl loves her BBQ bunny!! There is still enough in the bowl for at least a couple sandwiches as well.

Well I hope that your Christmas preparations are going well. May you keep the love of Christ in your hearts and on your minds not only during this time of year, but in every season, every month, every second of every day!

Till next time..........GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

My Support System........

No I'm not talking about a good bra, even though that is terribly important! I'm talking about the people who encourage me, inspire me, lift me up, commiserate with me. The ones who just "get it" and the ones who even if they don't "get it" they are still there for me. I've got a good support system. My Lord and Savior, my hubs, my beautiful daughter, my friend Darling Deb, all of my WW's family, and my sister. This is about my sister.

We had Christmas with my folks, my sister and her family, and the three of us this past Sunday. It was very nice. We had a big ole pot of ham and beans, cornbread, and pumpkin pie. Then we opened gifts and after that my sister, my mom, and I played Scrabble and laughed and joked and teased each other and it was so fabulous!

We usually focus most of the gift giving on the two girls, my daughter and my niece, but we do get a little something for the adults. This year my folks got me a new scale! It is a much bigger gift than they normally give us and I was thankful and excited. Mom had asked me what I wanted and I told her I'd like to have that, but it was expensive (30 bucks), but she got it for me and I was very excited for today to get here so I could use it. It measures body fat, bone density, BMI, hydration levels, and of course your weight. This morning I weighed on my old scale first, then on the new one so I could see the difference. The new one weighed me two tenths of a pound lighter, so that's good that it's so close. I took the weight off of the old one this time but next week, I'll just weigh on the new scale and go from there.

I was very surprised when I opened the gift from my sister. I got a little emotional as I read the poem that she wrote just for me. I have this sitting right at my computer so that I can look at it several times a day, and as soon as I get it framed it will hang right next to my computer. My sister is so supportive of me. We are there for each other, and even though we are very very different, none of that matters. I love my sister. I've got her back and she's got mine and we are tackling our demons together, every single day. Some days she's the strong one and I call her for help, and other days I'm the strong one. Some days we are both a free-cockin' mess and on those days we just try to hold each other up! One thing will never ever change.......I love my big sister and she loves me!! This is what the poem says, in case you can't read it.

My Sister

If will power was a yellow orb

You would own the sun

If determination shined bright

You would own the stars

If perseverance was water

You would own the ocean

If triumph was the color blue

You would own the sky

If happiness was the night

You would own the moon

Do you see your wealth?

You own the world

I am so proud of you

Love, Susie

ps.....please don't steal this as my sister wrote this poem just for me! Thanks

Till next time..........I'm unTHICKINandsoTHINNIN!