Here We Go Again!

 

The next finished puzzle in our dining room.  : )

Hello!  Welcome to my post today.  SO glad you're here and my hope is that, if you can come away with just one thing, it will have been worth it.  And the "hear we go again" title comes from being, once again, surprised that it is Saturday already.  Maybe it's proof that life was lived and things got done - which is a good thing.  : )  I'm sitting here a bit later than I normally do - the windows are open, it's  a cozy cloudy day, and the trees in our neighborhood are looking beautiful.  And, of course, a cup of hot coffee off to the side.  : )

It was pretty much a typical week so I know I don't have to go through it all again for you, but there were little moments where I wrote things down that might be of some help.  So, here we go!

The above picture reminds me to tell you of the Terry Redlin museum in Watertown, South Dakota, and how, if you are travelling at some point and you want to see every painting that Terry Redlin painted, you need to go to this museum!  You can spend a LOT of time here and you will be totally amazed at what an artist he was.  I'm from South Dakota so this is pretty near and dear to my heart and totally miss it especially this time of year.  He loved the outdoors and loved nostalgia and simpler times.  The attention to detail is wonderful.  He actually grew up in the area and his paintings show that.  There is a drive you can actually take that corresponds to what he painted.  If you are homeschooling it would be a wonderful unit study.  I think we tend to study the "great" artists and miss the ones in our own backyard.  It would be great to incorporate into an art class.  : )

I had mentioned that I would give you a look into my outdoor decorating and I will......but I found out VERY quickly that one would have to pretty wealthy and okay about spending a lot in order to fulfill that dream exterior decorating project!!!  So, with that said, I will show my humble decorations.  : )

The front door.

The side yard - still in the front yard.

Just a little something under a front yard tree.

 A corner of the garage.

The other side of the garage.  

On the potting bench in the backyard.

A corner of the house in the back yard.

And that's about all I can do (financially) this year!  : )  We have three strands of lights hanging up in the back yard which adds a pretty touch in the evening and on these mild days it's fun to just sit in the dark with the lights on and enjoy the outdoors.   

I know that on some podcasts viewers ask what they are watching, working on, reading, etc., and think it's kind of fun so I thought I'd share my list with you as well.  : )

*What I'm reading - I finished my Nancy Drew (set of 5) books quite a while ago.  I'm looking forward to adding to them (it's already on my Christmas wish list).  : )  I'm still reading "North and South" - about 3/4 of the way done and I'm really enjoying it.  It's a book about the reality of feeling the consequences of behavior, what comes from telling a lie, misunderstandings and how we should nip things in the bud before they get all blown out of proportion, the importance of helping others, etc.  Again, if you are homeschooling, this would be a good High School book to read.  In my opinion, more for girls though.

*What I'm working on - again, on Thursday, I took the day "off" to make all 20 greeting cards that I send to the care center.  I now have to write in each one, type a Bible verse to add, and photocopy interesting magazines articles for them to read.  It's a lot of work, but I truly enjoy it!!!!

And, as usual for me, I have several projects in my craft room that I continue to work on.  It's really hard for me to just sit in the evenings without something to work on so that's usually knitting or crocheting.

*What I'm watching - whenever I'm in the kitchen cooking or baking, or whenever I'm in the craft room working on a project I need to watch something and it's usually on YouTube because I carry my iPad around to wherever I am at the time.  Here is what I usually go to:

** "the Daily Connoisseur" (to help women to feel that homemaking is a good thing!)

** "Truth For Life" with Alistair Begg (my favorite pastor!)

** "Quarantine Cooking" with Paula Deen (her laugh makes my day!)

** "Parisienne Farmgirl" (a way of living the way (I think) we would all like to live)

** "A Quilting Life" (such a wonderful mother/daughter team with all things quilting)

** "Behind the Scenes" with Judy Norton (if you like the Waltons as much as I do)  : )

** "The Domestic Geek" (if you like quick, yet good, recipes!)

Those are the ones that I pretty much go to when I want to learn something or get information on.  I find that, most of the time, I like the background voices in our quiet house.  When I feel that I DO need the quiet - especially when I'm working on paper work or doing my house cleaning - I put on classical music.  : )

I wanted to share a recipe with you that I made this past week.  We totally loved it and it will be something that I'll make again.  Very quick and very yummy.  There are times when I scroll through Pinterest and find all kinds of recipes, so I'll sit and print them out.  That's how I got this one.  It is from Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips so here it is in my own words:

BBQ CHICKEN TOSTADAS

*I used flour tortillas for this as we don't like the corn tortillas - just brush both sides with a little olive oil and bake for about 4 minutes on each side.

*Any amount of cooked and shredded chicken depending on how many you are making.

*Your favorite BBQ sauce - again, depending on how much chicken you have

*Your favorite cheese - I used Cheddar

*Sliced green onions for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put the tortillas (that have been brushed with oil) on baking sheet(s) and bake per above instructions.  Combine your chicken with the amount of BBQ sauce that you need to coat it.  Divide this between the tortilla shells and top them with your cheese (I used a LOT of cheese!).  Bake for about 8 minutes more until the cheese is melty.  When serving, just drizzle a bit more BBQ sauce on top (we also drizzled it with a little Ranch dressing as well) and sprinkle them with the sliced green onions.  Seriously.  Yum.  : )

I served these with chips and salsa and fresh fruit on the side.  Hope you can try it!

The other thing I was thinking about as I pulled something off the pantry shelf is how (I think) it's important to write down, and purchase again, what you just pulled off the shelf.  For example, let's say that my husband and I think that 8 jars of peanut butter is enough for us to last from now until next Spring and then I go down and pull a jar of peanut butter off the shelf and now I have 7 jars in the pantry.  I keep a running list of things that I use so that it will be a reminder that I don't have 8 jars of peanut butter anymore so I'll need to buy another jar to keep it stocked.  It is SO much better and less expensive to buy one jar of something to keep your pantry stocked instead of letting it run low and feel like you have to all of a sudden buy all those jars again (when you may not, now, have the money or the stores might not have it anymore, or you just can't get out).  So, my tip for this post is to constantly be aware of what you have and what you might need and take care of it right away!  : )

Lastly, I know that it isn't October yet, but next week it is (really?, yes really).  So I thought I would just give you the October to-do's today.  It's quite a bit because we are moving from one season to another, but like with everything else, not everything applies to all of us.  So, take what you need and leave the rest.  Ask for help (I know it's hard) if you need it.

OCTOBER TO-DO'S

*Clean your lawn mower and garden tools before storing them away.

*For those of us in the northern climates, we need to know when to turn the outdoor water off before freezing.

*Bring the snowshovels and snowblowers forward so that they will be easy to get to just in case of that freak snowfall that we could possibly have (it IS 2020 you know - nothing is too strange).

*Replace your furnace filters (good for the air quality of your home).  Keep opening those windows!!

*Store your summer clothes and wash, iron, and bring out the cold weather clothes.

*Rake the leaves, pull the weeds, clean up the yard.

*Clean out your gutters especially if you don't have gutter guards and all those leaves are coming down!

*Make emergency kits for your car(s).

*Empty the old dirt from planters.

*Winterize your home, garage, etc.

*Start putting gift baskets together, or, at least, gather the items you will need and put them away for when you can put them together.

*Buy, or make, your Christmas cards and if you take a family photo, do it now!

*Stock up on cold/flu medications, vitamins, etc.

*Wash the walls in your home to begin the holiday season clean - for me, I don't wash any walls except for the bathroom and kitchen because all the other rooms don't have washable paint.  For those rooms I use my Swiffer, attach a rag to the end, and dust the walls instead.  You'd be surprised at how dusty the walls can get!

*Clean your upholstery/shampoo the carpet.

*Again, begin shopping for Christmas or, at least, begin writing your lists!!!!  With everything going on, let's make Christmas all about Christ (which it is) and let's make it festive and pretty!

Wow.  That's it for October.  Again, don't get overwhelmed - just do what you can and enjoy the process of the doing.  : )

 

And now for the OCTOBER TEA-PARTY THEME:

*Decorate with those beautiful leaves, bittersweet, apples, nuts, mums or marigolds, and lots of candles.

*Serve a pumpkin loaf, toffee bars, and a ginger spice cake

*Serve your favorite tea in a favorite tea cup

*Play Chopin

If you have your children/grandchildren at home, do this with them!  They can scour the yard and pick up all kinds of natural things to decorate with.  Go to the garden center and let them choose the fall favorites.  Bake together, make the tea together.  Do a unit study on Chopin.  Make this fun.  : )

Lastly, again, a few more things to think about in my Nehemiah book:

*"One of the things that does most harm in God's work is dissention among His people.  If you want a work of God ruined, just let misunderstanding, discouragement and mistrust arise.  Though the people may be united in objective, they will be divided in their affection and the work cannot survive."

*"The church of Christ in any work which it is trying to build up for the glory of God is going to be attacked far more by internal dissention than by outward opposition, and the basis of trouble is usually a general acceptance of a wrong standard of life."

*"So very often the world places a higher standard upon our Christianity than many Christians do.  The world expects to see a man or a woman who is different.  But too many Christian people today have been very anxious that everybody recognize they are as different as chalk from cheese in matters of doctrine, but they apparently are eager to impress upon the world that they are not a bit different in matters of practice............"

*"What was regarded as very wrong twenty years ago is now regarded as the thing to do." (remember that this book was written in 1958!)

There.  More things to ponder and think about.  So good.  So true.

Well........that is it for today!!!!  I hope you got something out of it that might be of some help to you as you go about caring for your home.  I do hope you enjoy this weekend and I do thank you for dropping by.  I appreciate it very much.  God bless!!!  : )

 

Saturdays Come Around Quickly!

 

Another puzzle that my husband put together and framed - now hanging in the dining room.  : )

Perfect for Autumn.

Well.....here we are again!!!!!  It truly seems like I was just doing this.  Again, I'm looking out the window at a sun that is beginning to make its appearance, the squirrels are already running around, I turned the furnace on to just take the chill out of the air, and the to-do list is out and ready to work on.  It is in these common everyday things that makes the day special (for me anyway).

I feel like I don't have a LOT for you today, but maybe once I beginning writing it will be more than I thought!  So, let's get going.

The past week looked like this:

Monday - (my favorite day- I love getting back to routine) 

*put a crockpot meal together so I could work without thinking about supper

*laundry day - bedding, towels, clothing, whites - dried it, folded it, put it away, and ironed

*light cleaning throughout the house

Tuesday - my menu planning/pantry inventory/grocery list day - I think I said this before, but you would not believe how much time this takes me.  It's a day where the notebook comes out, where I look to see everything that needs to be used up, where I write ideas down as I think of them, make any mixes that I've used up, fill the flour/sugar containers, clean off shelves............it's the only way I know how to be organized and aware of what we have and don't have.

Wednesday - our shopping day (that's where you drive to the store(s) and put things into your cart, take things out of your cart, put things back into your cart, take things out of your cart to put into the car, take things out of your car into your home, and put those things away once you get home!!!!!!).    We say it every week............LOL

*It was also a day of puttering once all the groceries were taken care of.  And I know I've mentioned before the importance of puttering.  You're not really cleaning (although there could be a little of that) but it's a time of slowing down and just moving little things from one place to another to see if it might look better.  It's a time of relaxing (unlike cleaning where you are moving heavy things and getting to the main stuff) and being with your thoughts and using it as a way of calming down.

Thursday - I had a chiropractic appointment in the morning.  My left hip has been SO painful for quite a while so I thought I'd better just have it worked on.  Feeling MUCH better since!  : )  And then I cleaned for the weekend.

Friday - this was a day of going out and about in the morning and shopping for mums, pumpkins and other decorations to decorate the front yard (mostly our front porch).  I have ALWAYS wanted to do this even though I've decorated in the past, I have had a picture in my head that I wanted to  fulfill.  It was so much fun and I really like the way it turned out (I'll have to post a photo of it).  And now I want to decorate the backyard as well but I'm the kind of person who can't do it all at once.  The front yard was my goal for yesterday - the backyard will be next week.  This is the year that I really feel the need to pretty things up more than I usually do - not just for us but for our neighbors and visitors and for people who just drive by.  Not to show off or anything like that but to bring a little beauty and calmness in a very different kind of world right now.  A little "old fashioned" feel.

*After finishing up is was mid-afternoon, so I brought the knitting basket outside with a cup of pumpkin spice coffee and knitted for quite a while and sitting in the sun.

*In the morning I made another crockpot meal (my homemade chili) so at supper time, my husband built a fire outside and we sat with our mugs of hot chili and enjoyed the fire to top off the week.

So.......to say that I'm very grateful for the week past is an understatement.  Every day was unique and it brought contentment.  

Today, since it's going to be another beautiful day, it will be another day of being outdoors.  There are plenty of areas of the yard that need some attention right now as things are dying back and there are still weeds abundant.

I mentioned above that I enjoyed a cup of pumpkin spice coffee, well..........here we go!  Pumpkin time is here and I am crazy about pumpkin!!!!  I have been buying cans every time we go shopping.  To be caught without cans of pumpkin on our shelves would be terrible!  LOL  I have taken every recipe that I have relating to pumpkin out of my recipe box and I looked up even more recipes and here is what I've come up with:

*pumpkin pancakes

*slow cooker pumpkin butter

*no-churn pumpkin cheesecake ice cream

*pumpkin spice baked donuts

*pumpkin cinnamon rolls

*pumpkin bars

*pumpkin bread

*pumpkin cookies

*pumpkin pie cupcakes

*of course, pumpkin pie!

And, yes, you can be assured that from now until Thanksgiving, I will give each of these (if not more) a try (and probably more than once)!!!!!!!!  I seriously can't wait.  : )  Yum.

The other thing I was thinking about (I think it was when I was puttering) - I've always wanted to name our home.  We've lived here 30 years and I've never named our home.  I thought about it while thinking of Anne of Green Gables (how that came into my mind I have no idea).  I love the name "Green Gables" and I love Anne's "House of Dreams" - the name I thought of for our house came about by thinking of this white pine tree we have in the back yard.  It's a tree that I love to sit under when it's windy because the sound it makes makes me feel like I'm up north where all the pines are.  So the name I'm thinking of is "Whispering Pine Cottage" - cottage because our house is so small.  What do you think?  Do you have a name for your home?  I would love to hear what that might be!!!!  : )

And then, lastly, before I finish up, here are more quotes from my Nehemiah book:

*"We do not often think of God, in these modern days, as a great and terrible God, but He is, you know!  He is far greater than all our enemies, and one day, when He comes to judge, to them He will seem very terrible."

*"We wage warfare for God as we seek to stand true to His Book, which is His Word, and to the great doctrines of our faith.  It is also true that our homes and our children are at stake.  In the midst of the secularism, materialism, and liberalism that sweep through this country and the world today, everything is in the balance.  Remember the Lord your God; reflect upon the issues at stake."

*"......one day the trumpet shall sound, the rallying call will come, and on that day we will be taken from our work to meet Him; one glorious day the enemy will be utterly overthrown.  How thrilling it is to know today that we are in that fight!  Although the struggle may be terrific, the onslaught tremendous, and the journey may seem to be long, we are all united together under our great Lord Jesus Christ.  One day the journey will be over, the trumpet shall sound, and Jesus will come; one day our enemy will be finally vanquished."

Again, isn't that great?!   Good things to ponder and remember and look forward to!  : )

Thank you SO much for the time you took to actually come to my post today and read - I really do thank you for that and I'm very grateful.  I wish all of you a good day/evening (depending on where you live) and a good Sabbath tomorrow.  Remember to put God first, enjoy your home and do what needs to be done, enjoy the day the Lord has made.  God bless!

A Sharing Saturday!

 

Sorry about the little glare in the above picture - it's from a pretty calendar I have in my sewing room.  Again, I just want to jump in and go to that little country church (with no face masks and no social distancing) with the American flag proudly displayed, and drive home in that red pick-up truck!

As a matter of fact, this brings me to something that I was thinking about this past week (or should I say, a question that I asked myself) - there is reason to be sad these days with so much going on this past year (and continues to go on), but I couldn't help asking myself if part of the sadness is because we are beginning to realize how much (before covid) we took for granted and we can't take it back?  How much did the Lord provide for us and we failed to be thankful?  The freedoms we had and now (in part) have been taken away or, at least, lessened in some way?  If (or when) things get back to "normal", will we continue in our old ways of taking things for granted or will we have learned to always give thanks?

I have pondered these things lately - I will leave you to ponder them on your own.  Maybe there is a reason for this time we're going through?  What do you think?

Well.......as the post title suggests, I have quite a bit to share with you today so let's get going!  😊

This past week has been such a good week in that my strength, energy, and motivation in getting things done shone through (I do, however, pray for that every morning!).

On Monday (Labor Day) - since it was a cool, wet day here I chose to take this day "off" and do some stitchery all day long (which felt SO good).  I sat in my sewing room, put my iPad where I could watch it and watched quilting shows and cooking shows, and pulled out several projects that I had started and seem to always be a work-in-progress.  Here is what I worked on:

a cookie cover - this is September - I love doing applique work

these are what I've gotten done so far - starting with January (mittens), February (hearts), March (Shamrocks), April (umbrellas), May (flowers), June (all white for a wedding), July (patriotic), August (yellow sun)............so, I'm almost done with September and then (of course) October, November, and December are to follow.  😊

Still working on my granny squares - I'm now working on the next outer layer which is the dark green fabric.  Really looking forward to making some quilt squares with these.  This pattern, along with the Dresden quilt blocks, and the Log Cabin quilt blocks are my 3 favorites.  

I pulled out a counted crosstitch I had begun a while back and had my knitting basket close by, but unfortunately didn't get to those - the two above projects kept me busy enough.

On Tuesday - it was back at it from a day of crafting so that meant (at least one of the things) menu planning.  I have to admit that I spend quite a bit of time on this.  I want our meals to be balanced so I use my kitchen notebook to help me pick and choose the appropriate foods to go along with the meals.  I check the fridge, freezer, and pantry shelves to see what I can use, and then while checking those areas, I write down what we still need to purchase in order to build them up!  This is what I came up with for the week:

*Chicken taco soup, tortilla chips w/salsa, watermelon slices

*Pizza bakeover, salad, fresh pear slices

*Cabbage roll casserole, boiled red potatoes, apple slices

*Pan-fried fish, steamed broccoli, fruit

*Chow mein over rice, stir-fried vegetables, fruit

*Mushroom Frittata, bacon slices, English muffins, fruit

*Chili, cornbread and honey, fruit

*Cheddar, Chicken and Ranch Quesadillas, chips w/salsa, fruit

On Wednesday - market day and then kitchen time afterwards.  I had quite a few homemade mixes that I needed to make (our oatmeal breakfast packets, pizza seasoning mixes for our Pizza Wednesday nights, and a couple of homemade hamburger helper mixes).  I also baked a Pecan pie.  😊

On Thursday - my cleaning and catch-up day.  The ONLY drawback, that I can see, about lists is that it can be kind of frustrating when you don't see much being crossed off the list.  What's worse is when I keep adding TO the list!  So I used this day to clean the house (upstairs) for the weekend and because the day was SO pretty outdoors, I began my work of getting ready for the upcoming changing of the seasons by taking the summer geraniums away from the front yard - cleaning them up and clipping them back yet still keeping them only in the backyard.  They are some of the plants that I want to repot with new soil and bring them indoors for the winter.  I remember doing that a few years back and I had blooming geraniums in the kitchen all winter.  What a joy THAT was!  I also pulled out all my marigolds that I planted in the raised planters and potted them in one large pot so that it looks nice and full - I consider marigolds one of those flowers that can look right at home in the fall as they do in the summer!  I picked the last of my herbs and dehydrated them for the pantry.  So.......Thursday was an amazing day of getting a lot done.  Oh!  I forgot...........last week I bought organic apples for apple butter, so Thursday was the day for that as well.  THIS is how amazing the humble apple is - I used the whole apple in these ways:

as you can see I have a crockpot full of apple slices to be made into apple butter, I have a bowl of apple peels to be made into apple cider vinegar, and I have a pan full of apple cores for a stovetop potpourri.

here are the jars of apple butter (recipe to follow)

here are the jars that will make the apple cider vinegar (again, directions to follow)

here is the stovetop potpourri - I added some old frozen cranberries in along with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg - if you want a beautiful smell in your home......this would be it!  It can be used a couple of times - just keep adding more water to it.  😊

On Friday (yesterday) - it was a finishing up of things in the kitchen, a little trip out and about for a couple of clothes items, coming home and ordering some things on-line, and some laundry before the weekend.

Today (Saturday) - it's another cloudy, cool, wet day ahead, so this is the day to be spent in the basement with LOTS of cleaning, and going through stuff (hoping to give more away!).

Now forward with recipes:

SLOW COOKER APPLE BUTTER

6 lbs of apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Place the apples in the slow cooker.  Mix the rest of the ingredients until well combined and pour over apples.  Mix very well.  Cook on Low for about 10 hours (I did mine a little longer), stirring every couple of hours (so this is something that you will want to make when you know you will be home all day).  The apple butter should be thick and dark brown.  To break the apples up, I use a potato masher and then I even puree them in the blender before pouring into freezer jars.  This takes me right back to Mom - she ALWAYS made apple butter.  

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Organic apple scraps

3 Tbsp. organic sugar

3 cups distilled water

*Fill a clean quart jar with apple scraps 

*In separate bowl, combine sugar and water and stir till sugar is dissolved.

*Pour over apples (you may not need all the water) until all the scraps are submerged

*Place a small jar filled with water (this is where the wide mouth jars are good) inside the quart jar to weigh the scraps down

*Cover with cheesecloth or a coffee filter and secure with a rubber band

*Store jar(s) in a dark place at room temperature for 3 weeks - check daily to make sure the scraps are still submerged, and that no mold is present.  If any scum forms, just skim it off.

*After 3 weeks, strain the scraps and discard them

*Return your liquid to a jar.  Cover again with cheesecloth or coffee filter and secure with a rubber band.  Let stand in a dark place at room temperature for another 3 to 4 weeks, stirring daily.  After 3 weeks begin tasting for desired tartness.  When you think it's done for your taste, transfer the vinegar to a jar with a lid and begin using it!!!!  Store in refrigerator.

*Note:  if you use organic apple cider vinegar, you will notice a "strange" floating thing - that is called the "mother" and it's okay!  You want that!  But you can either remove it and store it separately, or leave it alone.  When you make your next batch of vinegar, add the mother to the jar with the apple scraps.

Have fun with this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So good for our health.  😊

The other thing that I wanted to remind you of is that I hope you can enjoy the tasks at hand.  When you do things around the house - whether that be crafting/sewing, cleaning the house, baking/cooking - just be present at the moment and enjoy what you are doing at the time.  I know, with me, I can get to the point where I just want to get it done and move on to the next thing.  But that deprives me of putting the love and care into what I'm doing.  All it becomes is "just one more thing that I have to do" instead of "I GET to do this today!"

There is one more recipe that I want to share with you today.  Saturdays is our Asian meal day and last Saturday I made slow cooker Teriyaki ribs and........they were really good.  Here it is:

SLOW COOKER TERIYAKI RIBS

1 large rack of baby back ribs cut into pairs

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper (I put a little less in)

2/3 cup teriyaki sauce

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, minced

*Sprinkle ribs with pepper and place in slow cooker.  Pour 1/3 cup of the teriyaki sauce over them; cover and cook on Low for 7 hours or till tender.

*Mix together in small bowl, the remaining 1/3 cup of the teriyaki sauce, the balsamic vinegar, and garlic.

*Remove ribs from slow cooker and brush the above glaze over the ribs while hot.

*Enjoy!!!!!   Seriously, these were wonderful.

I served them with an Asian slaw and watermelon slices on the side.  They were SO tender. 

And, lastly, I wanted to show you our splurge:

this is down in our basement - it's a place for growing things throughout the winter

this is now this

a little bowl of fresh lettuce  😊  it's not a lot, but for the two of us if I can keep planting and cutting lettuce for salads throughout the winter, we'll be satisfied.  I also have 3 tomato plants growing and ordered more pods for more tomatoes and lettuce as well.  The nice thing is is that you can use the soil again for planting your own seeds - you don't need to keep buying their pods (which could get a bit pricey).  So.....we're excited and pleased with it.

Now, before I go, I need to share from my Nehemiah book again:

*"Do you know anything about such a combat in prayer that is utterly, completely exhausting?  Do you know what it means to feel that you can scarcely get through to God for the sheer pressure of the power of the enemy?  What form does that take?  Crowding upon our imagination come unholy thoughts, sensual desires, wrong actions.  Pressing upon us are the drudgeries of daily life and the demands of business.  Behind all such deadly antagonism to a work of God is Satan himself, using all the force at his command to keep back the building up of the temple of the Holy Spirit."

*".....whenever our enemy sees a work of the Holy Spirit, he concentrates all his forces against it."

*"The very fact that a work is of God will always arouse the opposition of the enemy."

*"Oh, dear child of God, in the heat of the battle and in the thick of the fight, have you learned to look up?  Maybe you are not able to say very much or to utter a lengthy prayer, but in your heart you look up."

*".......the Christian church today is this:  that it looks in every direction except upward.  We look to every contrivance, except to God.  We seek in every manner to deal with the situation, except looking up."

More good things to ponder this week.  We have opposition, but we have God.  Don't look around, look up.  Pray.  Always.

I hope you enjoyed today's post and that it will be of some help to you.  I also hope that you can enjoy your homes today.   Doing something is better than doing nothing!!!  God bless and thank you for stopping by.  😊

 

  

Chilly Saturday Morning

Photo from up north - the beauty is amazing there.

Well..........brrrrrrrrrrr is all I can say!  I think the Autumn switch has been flipped and now here we are.  A few posts ago I was talking about how hot and humid it was.  Now the windows are open and my hands are actually cold as I type.  Not complaining, however.  : )  I'm more of an Autumn girl so this feels wonderful.  And Labor Day weekend?  How did THAT happen?

It was a very different kind of week.  I didn't get many list items done, but I got to other things so that has to be okay!  I'm determined to get our pantry stocked by the end of October so I spent the week in taking inventory of absolutely everything and continuing to purchase.  Today will be a day in making/doing several things to help build the pantry with:

*a friend told me that she is making vegetable broth from the "scraps" that would normally go into the compost.  She puts the scraps into a container in the freezer and then when she has enough she makes broth from them all.  That's what I'll be doing today.  I have a lot of scraps saved up so I will just dump them into a crockpot, add water and seasonings and let it do it's work.  I will be freezing this.  (Of course, make sure the scraps have been from vegetables that have been scrubbed well.)

*I bought organic apples this past week to make crockpot apple butter for the freezer.  With the peels from the apples, I will be making my own apple cider vinegar.  

*The herbs outside are looking like they really need a good cutting, so I will be doing that and put them into the dehydrator for the pantry.  It will be so fun to use my own dried herbs this winter in my cooking.

There are just so many ways that we can prepare for the upcoming winter - if you are unsure as to what you can do, just begin with one thing that you know your family will want/need/enjoy and go from there.  I can guarantee that when you begin, it will be hard to know when to stop!!!  It's good and right to be prepared.  : )  Have fun with this!!!!!!

There is another Bakeover that I wanted to share with you today:

I know the picture doesn't look like much, but trust me when I say that this tasted really good.  : )

CHICKEN POT PIE BAKEOVER

In a cast iron skillet, melt a stick of butter (yes, a whole stick).  Saute' a chopped onion till softened, add 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables (the green bean, carrot, corn, peas kind), thawed, and then 2 cups of cooked chicken (I use canned chicken), salt and pepper.  Mix well and distribute this evenly in the bottom of the skillet.  Add a pie crust on top (either store-bought or homemade) and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or till crust is browned.  

This is the part where you have to be careful - put a plate (upside down) on top of everything in the skillet and then flip (this is the hard part because the skillet is hot and heavy - so be careful!).  Cut into wedges and serve with chicken gravy (either made with chicken broth, milk, and flour adding salt and pepper to taste, OR just a canned chicken gravy is equally as good).

Again, I just love these Bakeovers - so quick, easy, and tasty.  Hope you can give it a try!!!!!!!

*Note - notice the lettuce wedge on the plate.  When my husband and I went grocery shopping we got to thinking of the old "Green Goddess" salad dressing.  We both grew up eating it and got us thinking about it.  So.........we went down the salad dressing aisle to pick a bottle up, and then bought a head of iceberg lettuce.  Brought us right back home.  Isn't it funny how certain smells, tastes, music, etc. can take you back to different times?  Anyway.......it was good.  : )

That's about all I have for you today.  Like I said before - the week was different but it was busy so I didn't have much written down for this post.

Before I go, however, I do want to share more from the Nehemiah book!

*"......in every Christian advance with God we find that two kinds of foes arise - one external and the other internal."

*"A man called of God is sure of himself in the sense that he is sure of God's enablings, and even though he may have to stand absolutely alone, retreat is never in his vocabulary."

*".......be sure that the foundation of your life is firmly laid.  Make sure that it is clearly exposed, and that by faith you stand on that foundation which no man can lay, which is Jesus Christ our Lord."

*"In your life and mine there is a river which all of us are going to cross, and one day you are going to stand at the brink and pass through; your body is going to be left behind, and your soul is going on to hell or heaven.  Are you building on the Rock?  Are you on solid ground which is Christ our Lord, or is it only sinking, shifting sand?  Be sure you are on the foundation."

*".......remember that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit; it is His work to build it.  He began it, you know.  He digged down until He exposed our emptiness, until He cast out our self-righteousness and laid the foundation of Christ Himself within us where the shifting sand of self had been - that is conversion."

*"Whatever sin there may be within us, the Holy Spirit is there to conquer it, and the blood of Christ answers for us in heaven and cleanses us from it in the sight of God.  Confess it to Him and know that you are forgiven.  Conquer it in the power of the Spirit within you and He will perfect that which is within each one of us."

*"The indwelling Christ is ready at the door of your heart to fill the garbage truck with all the rubbish that you are willing to get rid of, and by the grace of God and by the power of the His Spirit, we will build the wall upon the foundation that will stand firm for time and eternity."

Again, isn't that wonderful?  I'm truly loving this book.  And I hope that what little I give to you each week, will make you pause and think and give your life to Jesus if you haven't already.  : )

Well, thank you SO much for dropping by today.  I know it's a "holiday" weekend and that many of you will be taking the weekend "off" so I hope you enjoy and be safe!  For the rest of us who take the words "labor day" literally, it will be one of labor but that's okay.  : )  Whatever you do I hope you enjoy the time the Lord has given!!!!  God bless.