nifty recipe holder

Now why didn't I think of this before? Actually, I'm sure I'm not the only woman to have figured this out.

Yesterday afternoon I was doing some Christmas baking and I pulled a recipe card from my recipe box. I wanted to hang it somewhere so that I could easily and quickly refer to it.
I thought of using tape and putting it up on a cabinet but then as I pulled out my kitchen aid mixer to add my ingredients, it hit me. Use the attachment cap!
So there you go, an easy and quick recipe holder.

Plus, here's my recipe for Mexican Wedding Cakes, which I made yesterday. I usually add chopped walnuts to my recipe too, it just isn't on the card. And as Mary Jane Butters would say, "use organic ingredients, of course!"

finding the tree

Last weekend we headed out to find our Christmas tree. While the tree we cut down from the mountains isn't as "pretty" as the one you could go buy at your big box store, it sure was a great adventure!
Getting ready to head out...

Searching for the tree.
Loading up the tree.
After we'd found our tree we headed a little further up to find snow. Jackpot.


Yep, that's the stuff.

We had a great day. I have to say that it's taking some getting used to for me to be o.k. with a tree from the hills. I've always been one of those people that has to have the perfect tree and will spend hours at a tree lot opening and examining multiple trees before choosing the right one, much to the dismay of my family. Then we end up paying about $50 for the tree that will be going through the chipper in less than 3 weeks. Silly, isn't it? I had been pondering this and wondering how in the world I got so caught up in the commercialism. Christmas isn't about the perfect tree or emptying your pocketbook till there's nothing left. It's simply about the gift that God graciously handed down to everyone, the gift of His Son.

We're doing a much simpler Christmas this year. Less spending, more handmade, simpler things. We're going to focus more on what Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of, the birth of a Redeemer!

MPM- The Thankful Edition

I didn't even do my menu planning till this morning. Talk about last minute! We're off to Eureka again today for Wyatt's follow up to his knee surgery. The surgery went well and I'm anxious to see what the doctor has to say today. Our visiting family left on Saturday, it was so nice to have them here for Thanksgiving.
At 6:29 this morning (which is the current time as I type,) I can already feel a negative attitude coming on. Lack of sleep last night, too much to do today=my bad attitude. I'm thankful that I can recognize it coming because it gives me the opportunity to do something about it; to change my heart.
So today, I am going to try and think on all the things I'm thankful for. If I made a list here of all of them it would take pages and pages and go on and on, so instead I'll just share a couple (in no particular order.)

Today I am thankful for my Lord. His graciousness and patience never cease to amaze me.

I am thankful for our pig barn which is finally complete. I am thankful that I can walk into the barn instead of the pen and that I'm now not having to hand feed pigs 2x/day!

I am thankful for my children, each one! What a honor it is to raise them. Someone at church asked me yesterday how many children I had (she's new to our church) and when I said 4, she exclaimed, "4?? WOW." That caught me off guard. I guess it just shows how everyone is different. My though is, "4?? that's not enough!" Children are a gift, not a burden.

I am thankful for our home. That may sound cheesy but having a warm, dry home is a luxury that many don't have. Although it may be small, it keeps us warm and close.

I am thankful for menu planning! It keeps me more organized and helps to make our day run smoother. So, without further ado, here's this weeks plan:

Monday
Soaked Oatmeal
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Pork Chops, homemade applesauce, buttermilk biscuits, broccoli, kraut
Tuesday
Soaked Oatmeal
Brown Rice cakes with raw honey and peanut butter, banana slices
Hash, cornbread, green beans, kraut

Wednesday
Soaked Oatmeal
Chicken and brown rice soup
Whole Chicken, brown rice, broccoli, peasant bread, kraut

Thursday
Soaked Oatmeal
Mini Pizzas, sliced apples
Chicken and dumpling soup

Friday
Soaked Oatmeal
Peanut butter and Jam sandwiches, yogurt, apple slices
Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits, home canned corn, kraut

Saturday
Soaked Oatmeal
Packed lunch with leftover sandwiches to eat on our Christmas tree cutting adventure!

Dinner out for my SIL's birthday

Sunday
Eggs, Sausage, Toast
Sandwiches and apples for the drive home from church
Individual chicken pot pies, kraut

Have a fantastic week!

Raising and Butchering the Thanksgiving Turkey

This was our first year raising turkeys and let me tell you, it was an experience! I guess raising a new animal always is but I found with turkeys that there was a lot I didn't know. I was not aware of how much they ate. Granted, they can be 4x the size of a chicken but I guess when I purchased them as little baby chicks, that reality hadn't set in. These gals were hungry 24/7. Even watching them eat grass was amazing. I think if you had a small lawn then you could just own a turkey instead of a lawn mower. They work fast.One of our turkeys back in June.

We raised Bronze turkeys and they were about 1 month apart in age. Even though they were the same breed of turkey they both grew very differently and had very different personalities. Our larger turkey was much like a chicken while our smaller one was more like a overweight pig. She'd just lay around, eat and when she felt like it, she'd roam the grass. She also laid eggs for us while the larger one did not.
We raised them for about 7 months and butchered them yesterday. Before I go any further, let me warn the squeamish that there are some graphic turkey photos below. If you're a homesteader and butcher your own animals then it'll be nothing. If you don't even like to look at live animals and blood makes you faint then just go ahead and skip to another post. I've spared you the beheading shots!

The place where the magic happens. This is our friends home. He and his wife own the local feed store in town and are turkey butchering experts! They raise goats, sheep, pigs and have chickens, a horse and a huge green house. Normally, they raise turkeys as well but this year their turkey dinner became raccoon dinner.

The killing tree. Hanging the turkey up.

Time to take a dip in the 160 degree water (turkey has been beheaded already.) Gary had a nice large barrel that he had cut in half to use- certainly big enough for a turkey. Out of the pot and onto the table.

Plucking feathers. It was actually very easy to remove the feathers once the bird had been dipped. Gavin and Gary did the big turkey and Wyatt and I did the smaller one.

Gavin doing the dirty work.....cleaning up the smaller turkey.

Cleaning the gizzard to be fried in coconut oil and added into the stuffing.

One finished bird.

Our larger turkey ended up being fairly lean. She weighed 25lbs finished and had very little fat on her. Our smaller one had quite a bit of fat (remember I said she was like an overweight pig?) and weighed out at 17lbs.

Cost wise these turkeys were expensive. The chicks were about $8.50 each and then feeding them organic, soy free food for the last 7 months has been pricy as well. While they were free range and did get to eat grass and bugs and other squirmy things, they still ate a lot of purchased food. My guess is that each turkey ended up costing about $60 when all was said and done. Pricey? Yep. But in reality I'd much rather spend the time and the money and know what my food has been eating and the conditions it's been in rather than getting a free turkey from the store if I spend over X amount of dollars. There is something very satisfying about raising and eating your own meat.

Thanksgiving MPM

This is going to be one crazy week at the homestead. My folks are driving up today (as I type) and are staying for a week. Tomorrow is Wyatt's knee surgery. Thursday is Thanksgiving which equals, spending all day in the kitchen. (Wait, how is that different than most days?) Any other spare time this week will be spent working on the pig barn. We have "Swine Lake" in the pig pen right now and it's not pretty.

My menu plan is a little different this week. I can already tell that it's gonna be a doozy seeing as last night I forgot to soak our oatmeal. Looks like we're having eggs this morning......good thing we have over 3 dozen in our fridge!

Monday

Eggs and spouted toast

Tomato soup and grilled cheese

Whole Roasted Chicken, peasant bread, broccoli

Tuesday

Soaked Oatmeal

Brown rice cakes with peanut butter and raw honey, sliced bananas

Whatever my mom makes! (We'll be out of town for Wyatt's surgery)

Wednesday

Soaked Oatmeal

Chicken and brown rice soup

Lasagna, peasant bread, green salad with homemade dressing

Thursday

Soaked Oatmeal

Mini Pizzas with sliced apples

Thanksgiving Dinner (with homestead organic, grass fed turkeys!)

Friday

Soaked oatmeal

Peanut butter and jam sandwiches, sliced apple, yogurt

Thanksgiving leftovers

Saturday

Soaked Oatmeal

Tuna Sandwiches with apples

Chicken Pot Pies

Sunday

Eggs, uncured bacon, buttermilk biscuits, gravy

Leftover sandwiches, yogurt

Venison Roast, baked potatoes, green salad with homemade dressing

Remember, if you ever have any questions about my meal plan or the food specifically, leave a comment and I'll be sure to respond.

May you have w onderful, blessed Thanksgiving!

weird sounds coming from the kitchen

While it's fermenting in a sealed jar, sauerkraut can make all kinds of noises. Just today while I was cleaning the kitchen I thought, "What in the world is that noise?" Then I remembered the kraut on the counter. Those high pitched sounds of the air escaping as it bubbles from between the little cracks of the lid- they may be strange but they are the sounds of cabbage being transformed into a food that it full of vitamin C and beneficial bacteria!

I realized too that I completely left sauerkraut off of my dinner plans on MPM! It's something we enjoy every night- how could I have forgotten? I shared my quick way of making kraut here if you're interested.

turkey friend

Layton's got a buddy.
This banana is good.
Would you like to try some?

Soaked Oatmeal

We eat soaked oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast. It's fantastic! We change what we top it with and that keeps it interesting each morning.
Soaked oatmeal is super easy to make plus by soaking it, you are releasing the vitamins and minerals to be absorbed by your body rather than blocked!
Sally Fallon, the author of Nourishing Traditions, said in her book, "Phosphorus in the bran of whole grains is tied up in a substance called phytic acid. Phytic acid combines with iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in the intestinal tract, clocking their absorption. Whole grains also contain enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion. Traditional societies usually soak or ferment their grains before eating them, processes that neutralize phytates and enzyme inhibitors and in effect, predigest grains so that all their nutrients are more available. Sprouting, overnight soaking, and old-fashioned sour leavening can accomplish this important predigestive process in our own kitchens. Many people who are allergic to grains will tolerate them well when they are prepared according to these procedures."

Soaking grains isn't difficult either. All you need is some water and a neutralizer. In the case of Soaked Oatmeal I use our well water and yogurt. The recipe below feeds both my husband and I, and all of our children each morning (a 13yr old, 3yr old, 2yr old and 1 yr old) If you have more or less people in your family then you can adjust the quantity as needed.

Soaked Oatmeal

2 c water

2 c organic oats

4 Tb whole milk yogurt

1 1/2c water (for cooking the next day)

The night before, place oats in a glass or ceramic bowl and pour in water and yogurt. Stir until well combined.

Grains should be soaked for at least 12 hours so I usually make mine up while I'm preparing dinner.

Cover your bowl with a cotton dishcloth and allow it to remain on your counter until the next morning.

When you're ready to cook it, place the oats into a saucepan with the 1 1/2c water and cook on medium heat until water is absorbed (about 8 minutes.) I stir mine often because otherwise it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan.

I then portion out our oatmeal into bowls, add organic butter, maple syrup and cinnamon. We then top it with what we have on hand. This morning it was canned peaches and sliced banana. Add some organic whole milk (raw preferably) and enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday

I've been inspired. By a few different ladies. Menu planning.

I've actually been menu planning (half way) for over a year. I was planning our dinners but that was it. I've been encouraged though to plan all meals now. I'm not sure why I didn't do it before? Menu planning has always been helpful for me at dinner so why not at breakfast and lunch too? I was so organized in the afternoons preparing for dinner but at breakfast and lunch I was always scurrying around wondering, "What can I make? What do I have?"

Menu planning not only helps me to be more organized at home (which is something I can seriously lack once in a while) but it helps me grocery shop so that I'm making less trips to town. Less trips=saved money. Less time, less gas.

This sweet lady gave me the idea to plan my kids lunches. I have the week planned out and we eat the same thing every week. Easy for me, easy for the kids. She also inspired me with these.

Here's my meal plan for this week:

Monday

Soaked Oatmeal

Tomato soup and grilled cheese

Hash, buttermilk biscuits, home canned green beans, sauteed mushrooms

Tuesday

Soaked Oatmeal

Rice cakes with peanut butter and raw honey, sliced bananas

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Wednesday

Soaked Oatmeal

Chicken and brown rice soup with carrots

Pork Chops, spinach raviolis, homemade applesauce

Thursday

Soaked Oatmeal

Mini pizzas with homemade buns, sliced apples

Spaghetti, peasant bread, green salad

Friday

Soaked Oatmeal

Peanut butter and jam sandwiches, sliced apples, whole milk yogurt

BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, home canned corn

Saturday

Soaked Oatmeal

Tuna sandwiches with apples

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, canned corn, cornbread

Sunday

Soaked Pancakes, uncured bacon, maple syrup

Meatloaf sandwiches

Venison roast with potatoes and carrots, peasant bread

As you can see, we eat a lot of oatmeal for breakfast. We like it and it's easy. I'm thankful that I don't have a picky family to feed. Over the next few months I'll try to get up as many recipes as I can so that you can link to them if you'd like to try them out. I always love trying someone's tried and true recipe. It rules out the question, "Will this even be good??!"

misbehavior brought out

All 3 little kids were sleeping at the same time this afternoon and I longed to sit down and read something, even if it were only for 15 minutes. So I went to the bookshelf and browsed. "Hm, no that one doesn't interest me right now." " Well, I could look at that one but maybe there's another one that would be better."

When thoughts like those run through my head, the indecisive thoughts, I then know that what I'm craving isn't going to be satisfied in one of those books (even though they are all very good books.) It's the word of God that I need. That is the only thing that will satisfy.

I normally don't pull out my copy of The Message. I usually open my NIV Bible. But today something led me to Eugene Peterson's version and I opened up to the book of James (that was due to a conversation that a friend and I had this afternoon.) Once I read the introduction I thought, "WOW! This needs to be shared!" So for today, I'm just sharing a small excerpt from the introduction to James that spoke volumes to me in the 15 seconds that it took for me to read it.

"When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does. Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps, business- and dishonest business at that. Insiders see it differently. Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects sinners. Many of the people outside the hospital are every bit as sick as the ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised. It's similar with sinners outside the church.

So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior. They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced, and dealt with."

homestead update + a recipe

Wow, it seems like forever since I've blogged. Oh wait, no, it doesn't just seem like it, it has been forever!
We have had quite a few things going on that have kept my fingers and my mind away from the computer world. Here's what's been happening:
1. Mason. That little baby is a peach. I am so in love with that little boy. He's had a couple ups and downs though lately. A couple weeks ago he burned his hand (pretty bad) and has been having to have it wrapped (and re-wrapped) twice a day. It is healing really well though and I'm hoping to have the wrap off by next week.
He has just started walking and is doing so well. He also is turning 1 this Friday, which is coincidentally my birthday as well! We won't mention my age though. And Wyatt just turned 13 a week or so ago.
2. The pigs are getting bigger, and bigger and bigger. No longer cute little piglets, they smell and I'm ready to butcher. Butchering them will have to wait until January though.
3. Speaking of butchering, the turkey's official D-day ("D" meaning death) is November 20th. Only 17 more days with those little ladies. Phew.
4. My dad had heart surgery last week and is now home and doing pretty well. The surgery went well but there are still a few things to be worked out in the next month or so.
5. We've had a bear coming around that has been creating quite a few problems for us and the neighbors. I guess this year is pretty bad with bears here. Overpopulation, not a good thing with bears.
6. All 3 of my little kids were sick with the flu in the last week. That wasn't pretty.
7. Gavin and I have been volunteering on Wed nights at church with "Kids JAM" and it's going well. Love to see the kids hearing about the Lord and having a great time too!
8. I'm still working on covering up most of the garden. The herbs stay where they are though and I got garlic in the ground about 2 weeks ago.
9. I've had a little extra time to read and have been reading this book by Debi Pearl. Wow, it's good and while I would say that I do most of the things in the book that Debi talks about, she really enlightened me in a few areas that I need to improve. Great read. I'd highly recommend it to all wives!
That's about it here. What have you been up to?
Since it is fall I wanted to share this recipe. I actually got the original recipe here and then had to modify it quite a bit for what I had on hand. The results? Pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Perfect for fall.

Pumpkin Cake Bars With Cinnamon Icing (my way)

For the Pumpkin Cake:
1 1/2 c pumpkin pie mix (that eliminates the honey and spices)
1 c peanut butter (because really, almond butter is WAY too expensive here)
2 eggs (from pastured hens!)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t vanilla extract

For the Cinnamon Icing:
1 box instant icing (as pictured below)
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a medium sized bowl, combine all the cake ingredients and mix thoroughly to combine. Pour into an 8×8 oven safe baking dish (I suspect you could squeeze 12 cupcakes out of this recipe if you use a muffin tin). Bake until completely cooked through, about 30 minutes.
I baked mine in a 8.5" pie plate and then made my frosting after the cake was baked. When cooled, I frosted it. Then we inhaled.

The only thing I would do next time is not put as much frosting on. It was too sweet for me. If you have a HUGE sweet tooth though like my hubby then it's, "just the right amount."
One of the greatest things about this recipe though is that it's grain free! Yep, you read that right- no flour! And if you follow the recipe for the icing that's in the original recipe then it can be milk free too (in case you have someone with that allergy.)

I'm going to try and quilt some more in the next few months and the next thing I'm planning on sharing here is how to bind a quilt (just for you Lisa!) Keeping my fingers crossed that I can get to that in the next few weeks.
Plus, I'm planning on a book giveaway later this month. Stay tuned!

The Art of Crafting giveaway!

The West ladies are giving away a copy of their new DVD, The Art of Crafting, on their blog!Head on over here and see!

Fabric Giveaway Winner

Giveaway time! How exciting!! Here we go...

True Random Number Generator
Min:1
Max:104
Result:
65
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

O.k., 65 is...
gail said...
"I love Thimbleberries fabric and this collection would be so fun to play with! Thanks so much for offering the giveaway!"

Gail, I don't have a way of contacting you since your email is not in your profile. I hope you see this!! When you do, email me: mountainhomequilts@charter.net
I'll hold this prize for you until the 22nd. If I don't hear from you by then, Random.org will choose another winner. Keeping my fingers crossed! Thanks to everyone for coming by and entering.
Stay tuned in November for a great homesteading giveaway!

back

While we enjoyed visiting my parents for 5 days, we are also so glad to be home. My parents live in a very big city, in a huge metropolitan area and honestly, it gets a little overwhelming for me! I guess I've just lived in a small town for too long. It was so nice to see my parents and brother though.

Big cities though usually have big things to do- like the zoo!
One of the best parts of our trip was taking a day to drive up to see my grandma and grandpa.

This is a photo of their house, courtesy of Wyatt.
My grandma lives in a sweet town that's about 25 times smaller than ours. It's population is 250 and there is a small grocery/hardware store, a church, a post office, and a gas station. I love it there! I wish that it wasn't a 10 hour drive from our home. We'd certainly visit more often if it were closer.
We got back Monday night and I promptly got back into the swing of things. I collected eggs from the chickens, cleaned the pig pen and canned 7 quarts of peaches. Oh, how I missed being home!

the UPS man's tomatoes

We love our UPS man. We'll call him G. He comes by our house quite often. When you live near nothing, you shop online a lot. Especially for fabric. (Let's keep that between you and me though.)
When G drove up today I thought to myself, "Why is he here? I didn't order anything, did I?" I see him walk off his truck with a diapers.com box. Hm, o.k., I still don't remember ordering anything. I go outside to greet him and guess what he has for me? This...

He grows more tomatoes than they can eat so he figured he share the wealth. Sweet. And G and his wife just had a new baby boy, so that explains the diapers.com box.
Can you guess what I spent my day doing?
We are truly blessed in our community to have great friends!

October Fabric Giveaway!**NOW CLOSED**

I was just here, for waaaaaayy longer than I should have been. Looking at all the generous items that were being given away made me want to share some fabric too. So here we are, another giveaway!
This month I'll be giving away 1 fat quarter pack of the Thimbleberries fabric October Glow. This fabric is out of print and super hard to find. There are 21 prints in the collection.

Here's what you can do to enter:
1. Leave a comment here, 1 entry
2. Blog about this giveaway, 1 entry
3. FB or Tweet about this giveaway, 1 entry

If you'd like to follow along with my blog, please feel free to do so! I'd love you have you along for the ride. You do not have to follow though to enter. Those giveaways always irk me. Honestly, if I have to follow your blog to win, I'll just pass. Unless of course, I already follow and love your blog immensely (that's you Amy!)
Anywho, this giveaway will be open until October 15th at midnight. Make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win. Winner will be chosen by Random.org on October 16th. Hopefully that will be enough time for me to get these to you and for you to make something for this fall.

Enjoy!

what in the world?

Have you ever had one of those days where you were asking yourself "What in the world?" as the day progressed? That was me, yesterday. Here's why.

First, our carrots. What's up with them this year? I picked about 10 yesterday and over half of them weighed more than 1 pound.....each.Seriously? How do carrots get this big? In a normal sense, I mean. This seed was just planted in May, it's not as if the carrots have been in the ground for a year!Next, green beans. I swear that I packed all the jars the same and yet one came out looking like this. As if some little critter got into the jar in the pressure canner, drank half the water and ate about 1/4 of the green beans. How did that happen?Finally, eggs. More specifically turkey eggs. How many do they lay? I read somewhere, I thought, that a turkey may only lay one egg in their lifetime. Really? Is that true? Well, we got one yesterday. It's the egg in the middle. Has anyone ever eaten a turkey egg? I'd suppose they are about the same as chicken eggs. For some reason though I have this idea that I'll crack it open and something hideous will be lurking inside. Kinda scary.

so, so overdue

Amy over at Homestead Revival was kind enough to ask me to be the homestead of the month, for September, in her monthly Homestead Tour series. I was delighted to participate!
I should have linked this interview last week when it was posted but I'm running behind. No big surprise there.

I am really excited about this series! In August, for Amy's first homestead in the monthly series, she featured Thy Hand Hath Provided. It was fabulous. How fun to see other people's homesteads, learn how they are using their space and get ideas from the practices they employ.

Amy really has a great blog going. Her mission is, "a challenge for readers to get back to the basics of living closer to the land, family, and community; to encourage women to joyfully embrace being a keeper of the home; and to educate the next generation of homesteaders!" If you haven't already been over to visit, don't delay!
Amy also has a forum going on BlogFrog; an additional resource for homesteaders to get together and learn from each other!

Thanks so much Amy for the feature, I had so much fun doing it!

packin' that freezer

Today is my first day off. I've been cutting up meat for 3 days now and I'm so glad it's done! Gavin arrived home Thursday morning at about 12:15am with 3 bucks in coolers. Hunting was good and we are so thankful. My feet aren't very thankful after standing in the kitchen for 3 days in a row for hours on end but my tummy and our pocketbook will be thankful this winter!
We cut up back strap and steaks, made roasts, ground venison with some pig fat, and canned up even more.
We hunt Blacktail where we live so the deer are relatively small, in comparison to some Whitetail and Mule deer. Yummy none the less though! Gavin and his brother pack into the Trinity Alps every September just before opening weekend.

Camp was right on the outskirts of a meadow- perfect for the horses.

Packin' out a couple bucks.

This was their bed. Glad I missed this hunting trip- it poured rain for the first 2 days. I was happy to be sleeping inside, in a nice warm bed . Gavin told me last night that there were constantly centipedes and spiders in their bedrolls. That just gives me the heebie-jeebies.

From the talk around town, it seems as though this season is better than most. Even locally people are getting bucks left and right!

Does your family hunt? What do you hunt for? Is your season over or just beginning?

What to wear?

Clothes. They make the man.
Well, actually, no they don’t. That’s the sad reality to the way our society leans now a days (along with all the other materialistic items that are must haves.) If you don’t have the “right” clothes, you’re just not cool. Other people will know how uncool you are. And what will they think? *Gasp* Dress for the world and you'll be all right. Make sure "they" all think you're cool.
How about what God thinks? I’ve had a few people ask me about the way I dress. “Do you always wear skirts?” “What’s with the bandanna thing on your head?” and the Lord has laid it on my heart to share with all of you.
Let’s start at the beginning. As a teenage girl I didn’t particularly like wearing dresses or skirts. I liked wearing jeans. I liked looking as though “I could hold my own” because I was always confident that I could and I wanted folks to know it. I grew up with a mom a dad and a brother and I spent most of my time playing Lego's and GI Joes with my brother and watching things like NASCAR and Monday Night Football with my dad. I wasn’t a sissy and sissies wore dresses. Part of that stemmed from the male influence and part of it came from my "Cowgirls don't cry" mentality. Don’t get me wrong, I did have dolls and ponies and I loved being a “mama” to them but that didn’t mean that I had to be a prissy one. I didn’t want people thinking I was a wimp.
As I’ve grown up though God has really opened my heart to what being a woman is all about and what a belssing it is to be a daughter of the King! Wearing skirts and dresses isn’t about being a sissy. It’s not about being a wimp and it doesn’t make me any less “tough.” The Lord has shown me how I can fully embrace my femininity! I love the feminine feeling of wearing skirts, pretty floral blouses and other frilly things. While I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with wearing jeans or other pants, I simply choose not to. I still own pants. They are in my dresser drawer and if an occasion called for wearing them, I would.
I don’t look down on those who choose to dress differently than I do (in a modest way) and neither does God. I’ve heard the scripture in Deuteronomy 22:5 “ A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this” used in reasoning why women should wear dresses and skirts exclusively. But for those who are born again, in Christ and have been freed from the old laws, that verse doesn’t hold ground anymore. Unless you’re also adding 4 tassels to all of your cloak corners and building parapets on the roofs of your homes as well.
I do believe however that God does strongly desire for a woman to look like a woman and a man to look like a man. But there are many ways for a woman to still look like a female in pants. I’m of the opinion that your entire appearance should be that of a woman (or a man, depending on your gender.) While wearing a dress or skirt would determine without a doubt that you are a woman, there are still plenty of clothes that you can look feminine in. Along with looking feminine, we should also strive to always be modest. Wearing shirts or blouses that are high cut, not low cut. Pants that fit loosely, not skin tight. Skirts that come below the knee, not above it. And please, undergarments hidden at all times. Trust me, no one wants to see any of that! It’s not sexy, it’s just gross.
I’ve tried to do quite a bit of research regarding head coverings. I talked to many Christian women, many of whom have had the conviction to research it themselves, some led to wear them and others led not to. I read version upon version of the 1 Corinthians verse in different Bibles. I read internet articles for and against wearing one and I decided that it was something that I needed to do; something that God was asking me to do. A friend recently emailed me a link to an online article and I think it described my belief on it near perfectly, “A woman has the choice to wear a head covering if she views it as a sign of her submission to the authority of her husband. However, it is a personal choice and not something that should be used to judge spirituality.” Paul writes in part of 1 Corinthians 11 that, “And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors here head- it is just as though her head were shaved……for this reason and because of the angels, a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head” You can read the entire text of 1 Cor 11 here. While a covering is not something that Jesus commands us to do it is simply a matter of individual personal conviction. I choose to wear one but that doesn’t mean that all my sisters in Christ must wear one too.

If you have any questions I’d be glad to chat with you. You can leave a comment here and I’ll try to answer it here as best I can or if you’d prefer you can email me at mountainhomequilts@charter.net.

Here's the thing...

Quilting 101 isn't quite going as planned. (Remember my post about my best laid plans not always working out?) So I've decided that instead of stressing over it every day I'm just going to extend it to the entire fall season. That way I'm not limited just to September, since it seems to be slipping away too fast. And since my last poll showed that quite a few readers are experienced quilters, I may just be preaching to the choir here. But for those of you who are wanting to learn, I'll be sharing a few easy techniques. Is there anything is particular anyone is wanting to learn more about?
I actually pulled out some rows of blocks, that I already have sewn, to try and work on this week. They just need to be sewn together, a border put on and then the top is ready for quilting. But I do have a baby quilt looming over my head like an anvil (yes, it's the one you're thinking of Mom) that I need to do as well.
Although it is supposed to be sunny today, we have had a ton of rain the past 3 days which has pretty much annihilated the garden. Mold, popped tomatoes, fallen sunflowers, you get the picture. I tried yesterday to save as much produce as I could. When I came in the house Wyatt said, "Mom, you're soaking wet!" Yes, but I had to save my produce!! How has your weather been?
Today I'll be canning tomatoes and trying to figure out something other than grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Hubby is hunting and the pressure of not having to make a huge dinner is off. He'll be back soon though and I'm sure the kids will appreciate a better dinner!
So that's my quick update. Sorry for a no picture post. Those aren't much fun.

How's about a winner?

Random.org was so gracious to me tonight. Really. Before I typed in the numbers I said (in my head) "Please, oh please, give me an easy number tonight! My brain is mush and I don't think I could possibly count past 10 at the moment." Here's what it said:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
50
Timestamp: 2010-09-18 08:37:12

Phew! See, there were 53 entries so that means I only need to count backwards 3 times....
Which means that the winner is.....
The Hungry Crafter, "FUn -- hope I win! :) I would love to get my hands on the punctuation pre cuts -- I've never had a charm pack before, and it sounds, well, charming :)"
Congrats!

why friends are good

Friends are good for lots of things (lots and lots) but this is just one of the reasons why....

Peaches. 54 pounds of peaches. Canned the other day.

Since canning only happens, for the most part, one season a year, I often forget how much fun it is to can with a friend. Not only does it go way faster but it's a much more joyful process. We made jam, lots of jam, and we canned peaches up for savoring this winter. We talked and we laughed and we just had fun.

Today I was in the kitchen again canning up sweet pickles for my dear hubby. He loves them on tuna. (Insert gagging sound here.) Later this month we'll be canning tuna, and my entire house will be smelling like fish. Unless I break out the propane cooker standy thing- I really can't remember the proper name right now, sorry about that. I will certainly be recruiting hubby to help with all of that. Maybe even my mother-in-law too. After all, canning a bunch of stinky fish just isn't as much fun flying solo.

Do you usually can by yourself or can alone? Do you have any type of annual ritual with canning? Maybe all your family gets together to do it or you have a special friend that you always can green beans with?

Don't forget about the charm pack giveaway here! The giveaway ends on the 17th!