True Confession

Confession first...I made my bed last week for the first time since Seth bought us an electric blanket for Christmas. I kid not. I have always made my bed as soon as I take the dogs out in the morning before settling in with my coffee and Bible but for some reason with the new electric blanket on there I hadn't done it. I will say I am not too crazy about the wires but the warmth trumps the wires. The day I finally made it Tim came home from work and decided to nap. So, we unmade it anyway.

I had needed to work in my bedroom for awhile so I finally did last week. I finished cleaning out the closet and organized a bit. I got this quilt out to take a picture for Sarah. This was Mamaw's quilt and she gave it to me for Sarah. I wasn't even sure if Sarah had seen it or not. It's very colorful! If she doesn't want to take it home with her right now I may use it in her room upstairs.

This baby blanket that Granny made was also in my closet. Jen gave it to us for Sarah also. Again, I am not sure Sarah had seen it so I took a picture. I don't think she'll need this anytime soon. ;)

I moved all the extra blankets, quilts, etc. upstairs. They didn't need to be in my closet so for right now I piled them on Sarah's bed along with all of the excess clothing in our closet. Nothing like delayed decision.



I had stacks of spring and summer clothes that had been in my room for awhile. I know there is room upstairs to store these once I clean out and organize a few places up there. Sarah and Dan will be here for Easter so I have until then to move all the blankets, clothes, computer, printer, file cabinet....I could go on and on. =/

Today is the last day of January and I am a happy camper because not only have we not had any significant snowfall, it is in the 60s today!! Sunshine and warm weather. I watched and listened the birds singing in a tree this morning and there are flowers coming up in the corner of the yard. I love it! Hope we don't pay for it in March though. ;)

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Growing up Mom made blueberry muffins at least once a week. Usually on the day she was off from work. This began my love of blueberry muffins. She used a box mix so when I married and started making blueberry muffins myself I used a box mix also. A few years ago I started looking for a homemade recipe because I love the idea of making things from scratch. Now, I would like to eliminate processed foods. I tried several recipes but honestly nothing was as good as the bakery style (which isn't even made anymore) that one company had.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and someone brought blueberry crumb cake to church for breakfast. I didn't eat it that day but it looked really good and the topping resembled the crumb topping on the bakery style box mix. So, I got the recipe and it tasted just like the box mix. The cake was delicious and the crumb topping was fabulous.

Even better that the recipe was for a cake instead of muffins since that is easier to make. I would like to try it sometime in a muffin pan but haven't get around to it yet. Last Sunday it was my turn to bring breakfast so I made the blueberry crumble cake, refrigerated it to bake the next morning. It snowed just enough for us to stay home so we ended up having it for breakfast. I cut it in squares and put the rest in the freezer. I have gotten a piece out a couple of times for breakfast. I love it paired with scrambled eggs and bacon. I guess that is what Mom always had plus the salty compliments the sweetness of the cake.

The crumble mixture on top is my favorite.

I had a piece this morning actually. Of course it is good with coffee.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I substitute butter)

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Grease a 9X13 pan. Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Combine milk and eggs, then add to dry ingredients. Mix lightly. Fold in blueberries. Spread in pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make topping.

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

Mix together until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake uncovered 25-30 minutes until topping is lightly browned.

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom by gboll on polyvore.com

I have been messing around today pulling together some ideas for my bedroom. Hopefully I can work on it sometime this year. I'm going with a white pallet but may add color in the future.

January

Even though it is half way through January we certainly haven't been having January weather. Night before last it and yesterday it was pretty windy though. My snowman sap bucket blew off the door handle of our storage building.

I plan to leave it out at least through February.

If it hadn't been for wind when the dogs I could have gone without my coat when the dogs and I took an afternoon walk. Tim said when he arrived at work yesterday morning around nine it was sixty degrees. The wind was blowing in the colder weather though because today it is only in the thirties with stray snow flurries here and there.

Dark skies abound unfortunately. I am missing the sun. Anything is better than snow though.

There were a lot of fallen branches in the path from the wind.

This one was especially large. It was across one of the deer paths the dogs and I use sometimes when we go in the woods.

Gabby telling Riley to check it out.

Love the lichen on this branch. The colors are so pretty.

And speaking of color, I love this patch of moss on the path. It is such a breathe of fresh air in the winter when there isn't any color.

January is shaping up to be a pretty good month so far. Warmer than average temperatures, Virginia ranked #15 and a new job for Tim. Yep, I like January.

Lazy Weekend

Ahhh, the joys of a lazy weekend. Well, actually most of our weekends are lazy. That's exactly how we like them. It was a weekend of significance too because Tim's last day of work was Friday. There was a bit of closure when I picked him up from work on Friday as he carried out his last bit of belongings and said his goodbyes. I felt a twinge of sadness but that's only because I am a woman, I guess. We came home and unloaded the vehicle, carried everything in and then celebrated with dinner from Robos. :) Actually, Tim had been craving it and since I had been out running errands and to the store I didn't have time to cook.

Saturday I decided to try a vegetable soup recipe I had found on Pinterest that looked really good. I started out with all fresh vegetables.

Sauteed them in a little olive oil.



I added a few other things like some beef and peas. Honestly I was disappointed in the recipe. I "unpinned" it and don't think I'll be making it again. So, I plan to doctor the soup up today with tomato sauce and a can of tomato soup. I'm sure it will be fine. Since Tim isn't much of a homemade soup eater I made him chili. I used this recipe for the seasoning. I omitted the onion and garlic and sauteed some onion and garlic with the ground beef. I also used chili beans and chili ready tomatoes. I ate it for lunch on Sunday and it was really good. I also baked some banana bread and mixed up a blueberry crumb cake for breakfast at church Sunday morning. I baked an extra banana bread for Tim to take for breakfast this week also.

Pokey found a cozy spot on top of stacks of clothes in our bedroom. I started cleaning out the closet and haven't finished because I need to find some containers upstairs to store clothes in. This is pretty much how our weekend was spent too. Cozying up on the couch to watch football with a warm blanket and space heater to knock off the chill. Oh yeah, and Tim took a three hour nap. I think he might be well on his way of catching up on his sleep.

Then the snow came Saturday evening. It had flurried on and off Friday and Saturday but by night fall it went from flurries to snow fall.

By morning we had a couple of inches. Enough to really cover our road so we stayed home from church. We ate the blueberry crumb cake for breakfast. It was a quiet relaxing Sunday morning. We read our Bibles, then watched Charles Stanley and Jonathan Falwell. Who says you can't have church at home? ;)

It warmed up pretty quickly so the snow melted easily. We watched football and had a relaxing day, then went to Awana.

So, today Tim started his new job. He will be in orientation all week. It is a farther drive but thank goodness he was able to sleep an hour and a half later. He'll be home about an hour and a half later too, but honestly 4:15 p.m. was a bit early for me for him to come home. I'm excited for his new opportunity and know God orchestrated it all!!

Mary in a Martha World

A couple of months ago I was reading in Luke about Mary and Martha.

 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”  “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 Luke 10:38-42

God brought it back to my mind again and again. Martha wasn't wrong necessarily in her busyness but Mary chose what was better. I just kept thinking about Mary choosing what was better. Choosing what was better. I can choose too.

So, my word for 2012 is "choose."

A couple of other verses came to mind about choosing also.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

Deuteronomy 30:19

and

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua 24:15

Here is to a year of choosing what is better.

New Years

Sunday didn't feel like New Years Day since it was a Sunday and we went to church. There weren't any bowl games on either, just the NFL. Luckily Tim had yesterday off and there were bowl games on all day and January 2nd felt like New Years Day. We just had a lazy day of hanging around the house. Drinking hot chocolate and curled up under a warm blanket since it was so cold out. Only in the high 20's.

I even got some cross stitch stuff out.Of course now I have to use Tim's reading glasses.

It snowed on and off all day. It would get dark and the snow would fly. Tim even took his vehicle out to Jen's to park for in the morning. Good thing he did because he said it was slick this morning.

The skies cleared and the snow melted yesterday afternoon but it clouded right back up and covered everything again.

I am hoping this is the only snow we'll see this year. I know that is unrealistic but one can hope.

We had yummy homemade soup with corn bread last night for dinner.

It was a good New Years, even though technically it wasn't New Years Day. Oh yeah, Virginia lost to Auburn in the bowl game but they didn't embarrass us so that is a victory right there. ;)