Should I call this my bimonthly blog post?

I know that you are all just as incredibly busy as I, but I just have the hardest time fitting the blog into my schedule since we have started schooling. I do try to keep up with all of you. I would rather read all of your blogs than post anyway. Well, we have had a lot going on the past few weeks and here is one......

My mother's cat had 4 kittens and using mother's words, 11 days later she had a fatal car accident (the cat, not mother). Well, mother did not feel that she could bottle feed all 4 kittens so she decided we needed to take 2 of them. You know since she thinks because we home school we have so much free time on our hands. That's a whole other story in itself. Here are the 2 babies we brought home and my girls have been bottle feeding. They look like little rats they are so small. I have a feeling we will end up keeping these 2, as much as we do not need them.

Now, this is the crafting I have been doing. I took one of my plain white lamp shades and spray painted it red. I got the idea from the Berry's Patch. She painted hers using acrylic paint and I used spray paint. I think it turned out great. I still plan to add some trim around the edges but I have to make a trip to Hobby Lobby for that.

Susie did you recognize that wonderful tassel? I love it!!!

Then I dug out this tropical tray that I have had stored forever. I gave it a quick coat of the red.

I hope to add feet to it and use it as a centerpiece on my table. I will update when I get it done. I also painted an old window frame white. I hope to put it above my mantel. Lord willing, that will be my next post.

Have a great week.

The Harvest is Definately Coming In....

It has been a while since my last post and here is a big reason why. I am up to my ears in putting up the harvest. One thing that we inherited from buying our little slice of heaven is a row of muscadine/scuppernog vines and a huge pear tree.
Here is one of 4 sink fulls of Bronze muscadines. We also have purple coming in.

Here is one of 2 clothes baskets full of pears.
And this is the end result.... I have put up about 50+ jars of muscadine jelly, pear butter, spiced pears, and pear preserves. It has been very time consuming but I know come winter and Christmas, I will be glad I did it. I will be giving neighbors and other friends a pretty jar of jelly and a fresh loaf of bread for Christmas Happy's.

So with school and preserving our little harvest, I have been a busy little bee. I am also hoping to plant a few cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce today in a little plot we made Friday.

I still have not gotten out my fall decorations but I hope to this week. It is just now feeling like fall here in Central Ms. The temps. this week should be in the lower 80's, which is a nice change from upper 90's.

Before I go and check out all of your blogs, I wanted to share this You Tube clip. Of course it has a political overtone, that is not my intent. I just thought it was a tear jerker and wanted to share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8


I hope you all have a great week. Oh, and Dot, I will be buying that black paint for the mantel today!!!!

God definately provided.....

First things first, Christi at Charm and Grace Cottage, gave me this sooo sweet award. I have been given a couple of awards and am so humbled every time. If you have a chance swing by there, she does some amazing artwork. Thank you, Christi.

Well, I think all of us in the Mississippi- Louisiana area feel a huge sigh of relief. When we were watching the news on Saturday preparing for the infamous Gustav, we were told that he would come in as a Category 4 storm. That in itself is nerve racking. Instead he came in as a Cat. 2. Praise the Lord. Thank you Heathahlee for checking on us, that was just too sweet.

The evacuation of the Gulf went like clock work and all is good. My husband did have to go and spend the night in the armory on alert status but he did not have to go to the Coast. They sent 1200 troops down to the Ms. Coast on Friday to knock on doors to ask people to leave but my husband was not in that group. I don't want this blog to have any tones of politics but the differences in the operation of this storm and Katrina are huge. I think the big difference was the change in Governor in Louisiana. During Katrina, when the governor was asked is she needed federal assistance, she declined. Of course, in today's mainstream media you don't hear that, all you hear is that it was the President's fault (I have other issues with him, LOL). This go round the Governor took all the help he could get. I don't know who he is but he did a great job.

Here in Ms. our coast line was wiped out during Katrina. We had a whole town, Waveland, Ms. that was completely destroyed. You don't here, as much about the Ms. coast as you do New Orleans being so devastated by Katrina. I believe the reason why is because we had great leadership and as a result, we did not have as much loss of life. Today, you only hear the bad news. Ok, enough of that.

Here is a picture of the birthday girl from the weekend. She had a great birthday. She got a fancy smancy cell phone. I don't know who she is going to call but for some reason she felt it a necessity and my mother obliged. She got a new CD and a movie, some stationary and a new MSU t-shirt, and I got her 2 new Southern Belle's for Jesus t-shirts. She also got a good bit of money. These t-shirts are sold by a little country church about 30 miles from my house and they are too cute. They are selling them as a fundraiser for a new play ground.

This is the only real accomplishment we had for the weekend. We put up this hammock. The kids think it is the best thing. They got their pillows and blankets and swung until the rain came in.

Oh, and I also worked on the new look of the blog. You know the important things. I love this fall scene!!! I got it from Lena at Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates and there free!!! You don't get any better than that. I would love to know how I can change my template without loosing all of my saved blog links. Oh, well.

Then I thought I would share the newest members to the mini farm. Here are Betty and Wilma. My husband bought these little cuties about a month ago. He is planning to feed them out until about February. Then he will have them processed for the freezer. I keep waiting for them to get fat and ugly so that it wont be so hard to know their fate but so far they haven't.
So for the rest of the week, it will probably rain, as remnants of the hurricane. We are under tornado warnings all day today. However, in the grand scheme of things we fared very well.

If you lasted through this whole post, (LOL), have a great day!!!

Wow, has it really been 14 years?

Today, is my beautiful middle daughter's birthday. These are not the best pictures but they are fun. She has turned into the most amazing girl. It is bittersweet, as I am so looking forward to seeing the plan that God has laid out for her life but I do miss my baby. I hate to see them getting older. However, these days are so much fun and I can honestly say I am getting to be a part of their every waking moment.

Happy Birthday my sweet Lindsey.




Since today is a birthday, we will be taking the day off of school. I try to let them really feel how special their day is to all of us. We will probably do some fun things like picking the ton of muscadines that are ready, play a board game or two, or watch movies. We will have her birthday dinner tomorrow night, as my son has football practice tonight from 5:30-8:30. She chose to have steak and shrimp, twice baked potatoes, and salad. It will be so good!! With the high prices of groceries lately, we have not had steak in quite a while.


Here are some cute pictures taken yesterday on the mini farm. These kittens are too funny to watch. I have been reassured that at least one of them (the grey striped) is not as worthless as I have been thinking. She did have a small mouse one day last week. Which is their whole purpose of living here.LOL

As we were sitting at the table doing school yesterday morning, this was the sight we saw. I guess they were tired from a long night. Who knows what they do during the night?!!
The horse laying down is Thunder and he has been with us since the day he was born. My oldest daughter has been able to sit out there with him lying down since he was a baby. It's a neat relationship they have. The one standing up is our new boy, shooter. He too, is a big baby but we didn't get him until he was 13 months old. They are a lot of work and hastle but so much fun.
I have to say that with all that we have going on, I have not been too crafty lately but I hope to get back to working on the house this fall. Right now, I am just trying to get our new schedule down. We have had a great couple of weeks of school!!

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As a side note, Gustav is heading to the Gulf of Mississippi. This will mean that my husband will be called in to go and help. He loves being of service but it can also be dangerous. Depending on the severity of the storm, he could be gone for weeks. If you think of it pray for all those who could be affected by this storm. I pray that people take heed and leave before it comes in!!

I hope you all have a great day.

I have so much to share.....

I will start with the fact that I have been so incredibly busy with the starting of the Spencer family homeschool for the 2008-2009 school year. We have been homeschooling for years but I feel an increased since of pressure this year. That sweet darling in the yellow is now in the 11 th. grade. I only have 2 more years to instill all of the many values and lessons I still have for her to learn. I can not believe time has gone this fast. I remember when she was just a tiny thing that I rocked daily. I want these next 2 years to go at turtle speed and be filled with lots of fun and tons of memories!!!

So the last few weeks I have been readying myself for this school year. I have been pouring over teachers manuals and writing lesson plans. I have also been doing a ton of organizing, as in our move, I lost a school room. Oh how devastating. I hope to get one back in our kitchen/ school room remodel but that will be a while. So for now I am making do with a dining room/ school room. So far so good.

Here are my reluctant pupils on their first day. They have been sleeping late all summer and Monday morning Hubby and I got them up at 6:30 to pray and get our day started. Trust me the day went great!!!
Now, here is some of my other exciting news......... My honey is putting up the light fixture that I won from Our Cozy Nest. It came in the mail yesterday and I had it all ready for Hubby to put up when he got home from work. You didn't think I could wait did you?!

Oh, and by the way, I know those blinds are hideous. One thing at a time.....



Isn't it just lovely?!

Now for my next little lovely.....
I got my tassel from Susie at Bienvenue on Saturday. Now let me tell you, I have been doing some coveting over these tassels. I have wanted a Susie Harris tassel or a Nester tassel for quite some time but I just can not justify $25-$30 on a tassel when I am redoing a whole house. Then Susie goes and does a thing like offering these for next to nothing. What was she thinking? Well, I had to grab it and grab it I did. It came in the mail Saturday and here is her new home. Isn't she lovely?!

And she came with these little cuties. I almost want to frame them. Susie what would you suggest I do with them?
I added these last couple of pics. for no particular reason. This is the sky this past week before one of our many storms we have had lately. I just thought it was a beautiful.

And last but not least, this one just cracks me up. My children had friends over all weekend and this was my son and a friend taking the ladder to our pear tree to climb. How inventive.!

I hope you all have a great day. I will be catching up with you all this weekend. Bless you!!!

I won!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, let me tell you, I am soooo excited. I entered Nicole over at Our Cozy Nests chandelier giveaway. Now keep in mind, I have entered Susie's giveaway, Boo Mama's, the Nester's and on and on. Too many to even count. And have never won. Usually as I am entering them, I am thinking I wont ever win this, why bother.

Well, Guess what!! I won!!

I can not tell you how excited I am. It is the perfect giveaway for my new house. I think it is going to go in the dining room, as we have a ceiling fan in there now.

Have a great weekend!!

Life and death on our little piece of paradise

We had a very trying Sunday around here......

I will preface with, we spent a lot of Saturday night preparing food for Sunday, as we were going home to church for potluck. Our church back home has potluck the first Sunday of every month and we haven't been since March and I was really needing the encouragement. I have missed our home church soooo much.

So when we woke up Sunday morning, needless to say we were on a TIGHT schedule. Well, everything was going along well until youngest daughter, Lindsey, went out to put her rabbit in his daytime pen and feed the chickens. Well, she went down to the chicken coop and she saw 2 dead chickens in the pen. She ran in hysterical. My honey went down there to find that there were 2 chickens ripped to shreds on the ground. I will tell you a little about our chicken set up. We have a pretty large chicken yard. Our coop is a large rectangle box that sits about 3 feet off the ground on posts. The coop has doors on it that can close the chickens in at night. However, we had not been doing this, as we had not had any problems and probably out of pure laziness. Well, Saturday night some predator dug under our fencing and climbed 3 feet to get in our coop and got some of our chickens off their roost. We are thinking it was a fox. We're not sure. We lost 7 chickens and 3 guineas. It was a devastating loss, especially for Lindsey, as these are her project.

On top of all this commotion, we went on to church and had a great day of like minded fellowship. I sooo needed it!! We got home around 5 ish and went down to the coop to see if all was ok. I looked over to the rabbit cage and did not see a rabbit. I wanted to be sick. It seems that in all the uproar of the chickens my Lindsey forgot to latch the pen. I can not tell you how upset she was. We were scouring the yard, the pasture, and the barn with no luck. I came in the house and just begged God to let them find Lindsey's rabbit. My husband finally came in and said he was going next door to borrow a post pounder to work on the chicken yard. I told him I would ride with him. A little ways up the road, I looked out in the neighboring pasture and saw 2 little white ears. I screamed for hubby to stop. He stopped in the middle of the road and jumped out to run across the pasture to get the rabbit. He screamed back up at the house for the kids to come get him. They did and all was well.

I praise God that He hears our most nonessential, ridiculous prayers and that He cares about the broken heart of a little girl. He is an amazing God and I praise Him in the devastation of death and the rejoicing of Life.

I am not getting a lot of great decorating done, as we are getting ready to start back to school. I am trying to get organized!!!

Have a great day!

A Simple Woman's Daybook entry August 4th.

For Today...

Outside my Window...

I am looking out the big picture window behind our computer desk at the freshly cut pasture, that my Ronnie worked furociously on Saturday. It looks great!!

I am thinking...

How much I love living here and being able to be at home and enjoy this place. Also, I have so much to do today and need to get off this contraption. (Keeping it real)

I am thankful for...

My family and the fact that my honey finds it important for me to be here in the home!!!

From the kitchen...

This is a tough one, as we are revamping our eating. We are really trying to watch our diet. I think I am going to be making dried beans and cornbread. Something light.

I am wearing...

Nothing special, a T-shirt and shorts. My hair is pulled up in a bun and I have my favorite Mudd ballet type shoes on.

I am reading...

I will be reading 1 Timothy today.

I am hoping...

That today is a better day than yesterday. Yesterday, we lost 6 chickens and 3 guineas to a predator.

I am hearing...

I have the news on in the background.

Around the house...

We have some cleaning to catch up on from the weekend. I also really hope to work on a home management binder.

One of my favorite things...

Yesterday, we went home to go to church. Our old church has potluck on the first Sunday of every month. One of my favorite things is sitting around fellowshipping with likeminded friends and watching my children just have a great time. I wish we could find that same thing here.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...

To work on really getting organized for the new school year. Hence, the new home management binder.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

I forgot to put my picture in first and then right my post. So my pic of the day is at the top. It's a picture of Ginger and her not such a baby anymore.

Do any of you know how to move the pictures after uploaded. I hate it when I forget to put them in first!!!

To view other great daybooks go over to Peggy's at the Simple Woman's spot. I really enjoy doing these and seeing what other's are doing.....

Help!!!! I need some great ideas.....

I wanted to pose this question to this amazing forum of creative people. This is my "easy bake" kitchen.

It is atrocious. It measures a whole whopping 8 ft. by 9½ ft. I am talking tiny, hence the name "easy bake". Well, we fully intend on extending the width from 8 ft. to at least 12 ft. However, that will not be happening right now or even in the next year. We have soooo many other projects, fencing being one of the biggies. We did not buy this place for the great house. We bought it for the location and the land. The view off my back porch is what I have always dreamed of and sitting out there in rockers with my hubby makes everything complete. (enough of the mushy stuff).......

Nevertheless, this room is truly driving me insane. It needs a temporary face lift to get us through to the permanent change. Here is where I would love your input, please!!!! I will tell you the things I love......

I love the ceramic tile floors and counter tops. I love the new black and stainless appliances. I even love, hard as it may be to imagine, the hardware on the cabinets. That is it.

Now tell me what changes you would make in here? This room connects to my newly painted living area. That door you see goes to my rather large laundry room, 8 ft. by 10 ft., go figure. I know the first thing is that that door needs to be painted but I am waiting until I know what I am doing in the rest of the kitchen. Would you paint the cabinets and what color? I love these.....

http://ratemyspace.hgtv.com/snc/ViewItem.aspx?pguid=6db6be3f-1720-4ba3-a081-999042c09b6b&itemguid=b0eba824-329f-49f5-87bb-473849692e0a

but I am not sure that my room is big enough for that color and what color would I do the wall. I literally mean 1 wall, as that is all there is to paint. LOL I want the room to still be light and airy, so it won't look any more like such a teeny tiny box.

Well, I am so eager to get some suggestions. Thank you all in advance, I so need the help and a starting point.

The Old Red Barn Co. giveaway.....

I can not tell you how much I would love to win this delicious quilt. It is so beautiful. The old red barn Co. is doing a giveaway and this is the prize. Run on over and check it out!!