Welcome, 2014!

      I haven't posted since last year! Corny, I know! Christmas was celebrated with family, and so was New Year's day! We just didn't have as many family members here New Year's Day. Missed ya'll Amber, Yasmine, and Lulu! We went to the Smoky Mountains the day after Christmas and came back the day before New Year's Eve. We had a very nice trip! My Mom and Dad went too, so we took them to a show we saw last year! It was the Smoky Mountain Opry Christmas Spectacular! It was spectacular! Besides the show, our favorite thing to do was eat. We went to dinner every night and the food was good everywhere we went! Now we know where to eat if we go there again! Things are getting really expensive there so if we do go again, we probably won't see any shows. And, we might take our own food to cook on the grill, since eating out is also getting high. There's plenty to do there if you like the outdoors.

      We had an incident with Rubi a couple of weeks ago. The hens found an escape route and made their way into the yard. Not without Rubi's awareness, however. The girls were here and I was preparing their breakfast, and something made me look outside. I wished I had looked a lot sooner! I called Rubi, but she didn't come. I saw her standing over something white. It took a few minutes, but when she didn't respond to my call, I realized it was Silkie. She was dead. Rubi got her first taste of blood. God helped me to get the chickens back in but it took forever! Trying to keep the dogs away from the dead chicken and not eat any more of the live ones was a huge task by myself. Randy finally got home and helped. But one was unaccounted for. Later, when Randy left, the girls were outside playing and came running to the house to tell me Rubi was killing another chicken! I ran screaming and peeing my pants, trying to rescue the poor chicken! Miraculously, the chicken got up off the ground and went running to a place where I scooped her over the fence to safety. I thought she would die since her feathers were all over the ground! She is alive and doing well! Then the day before yesterday, I looked out and saw Rubi inside the area where the chickens roam! I yelled at Randy to hurry and get Rubi! He was home that day and quickly got her out before she killed another chicken. That very day, our prayer was answered and a nice young guy who wants to duck hunt, came and got her. She took right up with him and he with her. God cares, even about things like that! My life will be a little lonely, but a LOT less stressful! It will probably take half a day to clean up all the mess she's made around here! And I can wear what I want outside and not worry about getting it ripped, torn, or dirty, by Rubi! If we ever get another dog, I will pray and read up on which one best suits our homestead! Jack and Chelsea are like new dogs! They had taken a back seat to Rubi, but are like my normal pets again! They seem happier! They are even barking more!  

      I'm excited about the photos below! They were taken with my new camera I got for Christmas! I hope they are better than before!  Ya'll stay warm and have a good week! Blessings from Bama!

My uncle, Dad, Skylar, Randy, and brother.

Amber and April showing some of the girls new clothes.

Yasmine and her new boots.

My Mom.

Willie and his baby girl, Riley.

Cutie 'Lu'!

Yasmine and her 'super hero' stuff.

Showing Uncle Randy their new things.

He always welcomes us to Pigeon Forge.

Such a pretty place to visit.

Randy's boss's wife made me this shirt. She has an embroidery business.

I sort of wanted to ride this, along with the hot air balloon and the helicopter. My fear of heights must be overcome!

I don't know what kind of bird this is, but he sure is pretty. Made upstream from our campsite.

It rained all night and the next day, thus the rush of water.

The air was much colder there than here.

My handsome man!

It's hard to get a good photo in motion. The Christmas decorations are so pretty here!

I love this restaurant! It used to be a house. I had a delicious spinach-Gruyere quiche. I will let you know how the recipe turns out when I make it.

We are a happy family!

Love these pretty mountains!

Everywhere we went, there were this many cars!

Welcome to Gatlinburg!

The space needle.

Reminds me of a postcard.

Happy couple! We like this little shopping village!

Love the girls colorful costumes! The guy is ice-skating!

Ice skating to a country-sounding Christmas song!

A cute act.

Slim the juggler. That's an actual bowling ball!

Duck Dynasty impersonators. They sang good! 

A lively finale.

Nice place!

Two cuties!

Merry Christmas from Dixie!

      I finished my canning session number two, last week! I made twenty pints of chili beans! They turned out good, but some of the liquid cooked out of the jars in the bottom of the canner. I don't know why that happens. We've already used a jar in a recipe and they tasted very good. I won't have to can chili beans until 2015, probably. My next session will be pintos or red kidney beans, but that won't occur until February or March, as I still have some left.

      The time has really gotten away from me lately! I can't believe it's Christmas Eve! I actually wrote this post the day before, but since I left my camera at Randy's shop, I had to wait until today. You know I can't have a post with not pictures! Update: He went by the shop and got my camera on the way home the night before Christmas Eve, so I posted it then!

      Along with canning, I had the girls a couple of days last week. We had a family Christmas party on Saturday, so I've been doing a lot of cooking, as well. We will have lots of food going on Christmas day! Plus, we had the office party today, thus the reason my camera wasn't here. Imagine that! I forgot it! I made a delicious devil's food cake with whipped cream frosting and took it to the party. It was so good! I hope to have some left over for Christmas day, but we'll see. I really haven't done much cooking for Christmas, in the way of cookies and snacks. We have plenty to eat without it! I guess it would be nice if I had made the neighbors something, but I just haven't found the time!

      Thanks for reading the blog and commenting this year! The comments really make my day! It's so nice of you to take time out of your busy lives to speak to me! I pray that ya'll will have a safe and happy holiday season! Blessings from Bama!

Kassie, from the party today! She loved her horse and rider!

Allie, loved her ranch set-up! Hi Riley, in the background.

Baby sister, Riley!

Great-niece and great-nephews Randy's side.

The girls being pulled around by Randy's feet! Lulu, where's your shirt?

Mayonaise or mustard? Mayo!

I finished the last three beds, but there's still a LOT of weeding to be done around them!

Making of the mayonaise. It tasted way too sour for me! Guess I'll just have to stick with store-bought.

Canning of the chili beans.

Twenty pints!

      

A German Chocolate Cake, Just for Me!

      It's time for a German Chocolate Cake! I haven't made one in several years, so I got the ingredients together, (thanks Mom!) and whipped one up. It is delicious! But just don't look at it! I sprayed the pans, instead of using grease and flour. Big mistake! I will not trust that again! The cake stuck so bad, it just crumbled! Glad I wasn't making it for someone else! Randy said it was the best tasting one I ever made!
At least it tastes good! My birthday is tomorrow so that's the reason for the cake. We've bought them from bakeries, but they just don't taste the same as homemade. I think it's the cooked icing. It's like a custard! I could eat it alone!

      I have been searching online for organic dried beans. I found a source, but they were expensive. We went to Publix, a grocery chain in the South. They carry lots of organic food and low and behold, they sell bulk organic food! Like beans, nuts, granola, etc., things I thought I could only find at Whole Foods! Publix is about thirty miles from here, but that's closer than Whole Foods! We are supposed to get a Publix in this area next year. I can hardly wait! I don't buy all organic food, but I am buying more than I did. I like to use organic beans to can. I put up twenty jars of organic black beans this week! We love a jar of black beans! We use them in soup, refried in burritoes, taco meat, etc. My next session will either be red beans or navy beans. Hopefully next week. I go by the directions on pickyourown.org. Canning beans is one of the easiest things to do if you prepare ahead of time! I enjoy the whole process!

       Winterlynn and Riley are here today and are being good! Riley is walking all over the place! I won't get to see Yasmine and Lulu until the twentieth. I miss them when they aren't here! They are getting excited about Christmas, telling me what they want. The innocence of children is so precious!

       I received the Baker's Seed catalog this week and I'm so excited! I can hardly wait to sow seeds and watch them germinate! I have so many seeds that I don't know if I'll order anything, but just looking at the pictures inspire me! Are you getting exited about gardening?

      The weather here has been a bit colder this week with highs in the fifties and lows in the twenties. I can still walk outside in the fifties, but below that, if the wind is blowing, forget it! I don't like walking on the treadmill, but I have to some times. Better than nothing! Christmas is almost upon us. Are you ready? I almost am! Enjoy the season and stay warm! Blessings from Bama!

I've got pancake mix going to the left for the next morning's breakfast, spaghetti and home ground pork for Italian sausage, on the right.

Yummy Italian sausage spaghetti sauce!

Dough made without the bread machine. I did use the Kitchen Aid though. The bread tasted rather blah. I like the bread machine recipe better!

Black beans soaking overnight for the next days canning session.

Canning session in progress.

Filling jars.

I needed an extra eye to boil water, so I got out the Max Burton. It worked, just took forever to come to a boil! I finally put a lid on it to speed things up. The Max Burton is better for smaller pots. I only use it when I have to.

A lot of time is spent waiting on the gauge to reach 10 lbs. of pressure.

I cook chicken on the grill every week for Skylar's lunch. He takes a grilled chicken salad with homemade Parmesan peppercorn dressing, a homemade cookie or brownie, and Kool-Aid! Is he spoiled or what?

Some of the homemade choc. chip cookies.

Don't forget to add vinegar to the canner when adding the water. It will prevent this white film.

The closest we've come to snow in a couple of years! Just a light frost!

Riley running around with big sister's cup!

Big sister is getting so 'grownie' looking!

It may look ridiculous, but it sure tastes good!

Helping Aunt 'FeFe' in the kitchen!

Time to Trim the Tree!

      If your into that sort of thing! Each year that passes, I seem to lose interest in decorating for Christmas. Glad the girls are getting older so they can 'help'! Randy got the tree together the day after Thanksgiving and the weather was much cooler then. 'Seemed' more like Christmas. Now, the weather is warm and humid, with overcast skies. Temps in the lower 70's. Doesn't 'seem' like Christmas! Or wait, this is the South; our Christmas season is always like this! Very rarely do we have cold weather at Christmas, much less snow. So how do I know what it 'seems' like at Christmas? I read lots of blogs! Does it 'seem' like Christmas where you live? It's coming on mighty fast! I'm ready! Cause after that, I'm sowing seeds! I can hardly wait!

      We've been kind of 'under the weather' this week, stomach bug. Yuck! So I've read lots of posts on Facebook. I entered a lot of giveaways, and following them on Facebook is part of the entry. Therefore, I have lots to read now. I never really kept up with Facebook until now, and I'm glad I am. I would miss a lot of giveaways and interesting information. Some I take with a 'grain of salt'. It's just so hard for me to believe that bread, namely gluten, can cause so many diseases! I think there's more to it than that! A lot of it is spiritual! A topic most are not informed about, especially if they don't read God's Word. Wouldn't it be nice if most of the people you know would spend a little time in His Word? I believe many lives, and bodies would be changed and healed! I rarely miss time in His Word, but when I do, I feel like crap! Thus the reason for so many sicknesses! Take some time today to read, study, and meditate on God's Word and see if you feel better! Also, don't forget to laugh! Laughter does the body good, like a medicine! (That's in the Word). I believe that 'bug' would have lasted even longer and made us feel even more sick, if we hadn't stayed in the Word!

      Hope ya'll are healthy and well! Enjoy the season with you family and loved ones! Do something special for a needy family if you can! I hope to be able to! Thanks for reading! Have a great week! Blessings from Bama!

The three stooges! Er, I mean great-nieces!

And Riley too!

The BEST SOUP I EVER MADE! Made with leftover turkey carcass. Skylar even liked it! He doesn't like soups!

Nice day for a ride. Layla is scared to ride it.

They were so 'in' to decorating the tree! I don't know what Layla is going to do with the toy spatula! She calls the place where Santa comes down, a fire hut! Lol!

My little angel!

Most of the ornaments are touching the floor!