My Bestest Buddy and Her Papaw

Above is my father-in-law and my daughter.  They wanted to get a picture of the two of them on the plow, but it is old and there's not really room for two to ride.
The reason the plow was over here was to make me a small garden area.  Traditionally, there has been about 6x the space as we will have this year, but let's face it, it's July already.  (Happy Pioneer Day yesterday to my friends in Utah,, BTW!)
This morning, I was up at 5, but could not really start to work on the rows then because it was still pitch black.  But by the time I was tired and filthy a couple of hours later, we had 8 tomato plants and 1 green pepper plant in.  If you recall, they were living in containers on top of the well house.  But since Papaw had put in the work yesterday (Wednesday) with the plow, I wanted to get something in today (Thursday) to show my appreciation.
I had also taken a chance on some 3/$1 seeds at Dollar General (that were 50% off) - cucumbers, green onions and *argh* something else that I just can't remember right now.  Well, there are a total of 11 cucumber seedlings in our pots and they will be added to the garden in a couple of days.  Nothing on the onions, yet, but I am hopeful.  A 2nd trip to DG for other household supplies, I decided to pick up some pumpkin seeds.  One packet, 17 cents, 7 seeds.  It'll be fun to see how much I can get out of that.
Apparently, downstairs is where Mamaw used to keep her canned goods.  Chris says there are close to 2000 jars.  I'm taking his word for it at this point, because I have n-e-v-e-r been down there!  Not once in the 8 years we have lived in Kentucky.  It's 'untelling' (a local expression) how long some of the jars have been down there.  He brought up several jars the other day, several jellies were no longer good, but he said the pickles were just fine.  I'll take his word for that; I am not a pickle fan.
Papaw said we could probably still get some cabbage in.  The kids like cole slaw and in an over-ambitious moment I declared I could try my hand at kimchi.  The ground here has a lot of clay in it and FIL thinks we'd have a hard time digging a hole big enough to bury the kimchi pot.
Oh, before I forget (and before my daughter has to remind me...a-g-a-i-n), the small Webkinz she is holding on the steering wheel is a wolf called Pepper. :O)

So I'm a Day Late

As she does (every day of the week, not just on Monday!), Ramona at Create With Joy, inspires me.  She is responsible in no small part for the explosion of writing and reading I have done since the beginning of the year.  And I'm not the only one.  Use the button above to go see the other 178 (and counting) folks she inspires!  (Ok, ok, you don't really have to visit ALL 178 links, but you'll be missing out on some great blogs and ideas if you just drop a link and go.
Another person I find tremendously inspiring is Ann Voskamp.  She wrote a book titled, "One Thousand Gifts" (of which I won a copy from a drawing on Ramona's blog).  Ann has a blog of her own,

I've printed off so many wonderful things from her site that I'm going to have to go get more paper soon!  My favorites (so far) are:

• The Joy Dare Collection
• 25 for Sanity Manifesto
• 100 Days Calendar

I'm going to share the three things I have chosen to work on every day for the next 100 days (that's Tuesday, 23 July, 2013 to 31 October, 2013):

1. 5 minutes with God. Yeah, I know 5 minutes is no time at all.  But I've noticed in the past, when I say 1/2 hour or an hour, that when I slip up, I tend to give up.  Anyone can find 5 minutes in a day, even me!  I've already done that and more today so far, and wow...you can pack a LOT of inspiration into a paltry five minutes!
2. Keep my dishes washed and my kitchen counters clean.  It's not like I mean there can n-e-v-e-r be any speck of dust on them.  I'd just like them to look presentable at least once a day.  So far, that one;s working out well too.  Since we live in an older house, there is no dishwashing machine (unless you count me)!
3. Write something of value for someone else each day.  I thought at first that might be a lot of pressure, given that my blog posts have been few and far between at times.  But writing something each day is not the same as publishing a blog post every day.  If that happens - great;  if not - no big deal.  What I write will come out when its time comes.  My idea with this practice is to write every day and to remember why I'm doing it ... to benefit other people (or animals, etc etc etc).

My list of 3 things for the Joy Dare today?

1. We have a gift of a tall black walnut tree in our side yard.  We'll probably get a 5 gallon bucket of walnuts when all is said and done this year.  Through the summer the "fruit" will begin to fall off the tree (of its own accord), we'll gather them up and put them in the turn around so that cars can crush the fleshy part off without us staining our hands dark brown).  This does not harm the nut, because they are as rocks!
2. We have a glift of tiny baby plantlets, that will eventually find their way to our dinner table to nourish and strengthen us.
3. We have a gift of my brother, who is about 2000 miles away in Salt Lake City.  He is two years older than I am, and my only sibling.  He is a brilliant pianist (really!) and had most of our mother's care during the waning years of her life.

So, tell me, what is a "gift" you have received?

Garden 2013/2014

In the foreground is the wellhouse.  On it rests (amongst other things) a little mushroom that declares "My Garden".  That refers to the container in back of it which was planted two days ago and represents apparently the sum total of my garden for 2013.  We just moved here 1-2 weeks ago, and let's face it, doing anything more is probably a stretch for this year.  
But the good news?  See that fence post on the left hand side of the picture about 1/3 of the way down?  from that to the tree(?) at the top and over to the bigger tree on the right represents the size of the garden we will have from next year on.  I figure we will be able to grow a LOT of veggies and fruit and maybe even get some canning/freezing in.  Our inherited deep freeze is large enough to hold some modern refrigerators.
It's really starting to feel like a home around here, and that's something we haven't had in a long time.
What's that?  You want more gossip from Dog Walk, you say? *LOL*  I found a recipe on the blog Turnips 2 Tangerines for "Overnight Maple French Toast Casserole".  It looked yummy so I decided to print out the recipe and make it for Sunday breakfast.  Well, one of the ingredients was "Apple Fritter Bread".  I didn't think any of the stores around here would have it (except maybe the Amish General Store, and every time I've tried to go there the past week or so has been a "fail".  So I looked up a recipe online and found this at the blog "Flour Me With Love".  Clever name, right?
I gave my husband a list and several things got left at the store.  So early Saturday evening I went to the Dollar Store and got brown sugar and a loaf pan.  Then we were missing the lemon juice.  The girl was about to pout and I did not want to get out again, so hubby offered to go ... bearing in mind that the closest grocery store is about 12-15 miles away.  I thought, well, the lemon juice is basically to keep the apples from turning brown before they are cooked, and something else acidic would probably work just as well.  No orange juice etc available, so what we wound up using was a splash of Redd's Apple Ale.  (FYI, I don't 'get' their commercials but the brew is tasty.)
As if all that wasn't enough, when I went for the brown sugar, I asked if we had eggs.  I was told yes.  Later that night, no, we had no eggs.  I was ready to go to the store at 10:30 pm, but Chris (hubby) called his father (who lives on the next property over, but it's about 5 minutes if you have to drive it).  They rescued us.
So, Saturday night, my 10 year old daughter and I set about making the Apple Fritter Bread.  It's been SOOO humid here recently, the heat in the kitchen (even at 11pm with fans blowing) just about drove. me. CRAZY!
As a thank you, I sent over a couple slices of the bread, which apparently my father in law liked so much, he ate them both before his wife woke up!  Chris said the girl and I may have to make him a loaf every week!  OK, yeah, that made me feel good.  (Maybe by the time Wordless Wednesday rolls around, I will have received my copy of the bread that Chris took yesterday, so y'all can salivate over it too.) *HAHA*
Have a great week!

My New Kentucky Home

Inspired to Joy!

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A LOT has been happening recently.  

My brother came to visit us.  It has been the first time I've seen him since just before our mother's passing two years ago.   We are in the process of buying and moving into my husband's paternal grandmother's house, owned now by her three surviving sons. FIL (father-in-law) will be our next-door neighbor.  Of course, in the country, next-door means across the garden, the field, down the hill to the gravel road, which runs through the creek, and back up another hill.  He recently turned 66, is confined to a wheelchair, his right leg is amputated above the knee, has had both shoulders replaced in the last year, and has the early stages of Alzheimer's. Uncle E is the oldest brother, and is very opinionated with an acerbic sense of humor.  He has been in the hospital for months with complications from asthma and a heart condition.    Uncle D is the youngest brother, and we just found out he has colon cancer. We will be living closer to them all, so we can help out to show our appreciation for the numerous kindnesses that have shown us over the years. *+*+*+*+* Recently, I received a copy of Ann Voskamp's book,

as a prize from a drawing on

which, as you know, is the blog where "Inspire Me Monday" is hosted.  Thanks so much, Ramona! :O) When I opened "One Thousand Gifts", the first quote on the first page of the first chapter was from Simone Weil (in "Gravity and Grace") - "Every sin is an attempt to fly from emptiness." I had to close the book right away and think about that one for a while.  You see , I suffer from clinical depression.  I take medication for it due to an imbalance of those "happy chemicals" in my brain.  A therapist once told me that the meds wouldn't take away the depression completely, but would take away the "bottom layer of misery". That was a week ago.  I have since finished the book.  It is. that. good!  She writes the way our hearts feel what our eyes see.  Whether you want to celebrate God's goodness with your family and friends, or you need a way to prop open your eyes in order to see the wonder available in the everyday until your eyes want to stay open by themselves, I believe you will enjoy this book. For me, it did nothing less than reach into the winter where the seed of my joy lies dormant and whisper, "Hang in there baby, spring is coming!" So, I went to Ann's blog, A Holy Experience, and decided to take her up on the "joy dare", but coming up with my own list of 1000 gifts I have been given.  Yeah, ok, so I'm starting mid-year (there is a printable calendar for 2013 with ideas when you need a little inspiration).  Completing the dare by the end of 2013 just may get your name into a drawing for a spiffy digital slr camera! I suspect anyone who puts effort into this dare, no matter whether they are mid-way already, or just starting out like me, will get a benefit to their lives of greater value than any material prize. JOY DARE - June 24, 2013 1.  the endless concentric circles of water made by a bottle in the cup holder of an idling vehicle. 2.  the miraculous words of "One Thousand Gifts" that have reached into my soul.  3.  the abundance of white salt that flavors our food and cleanses our homes. (and from the January 1, 2013 list): 4.  the soft purr inside our kitty. 5.  the wind that rustles through the trees. 6.  the happy bark of our dog, who greets us upon our return home, no matter how brief the excursion. *+*+*+* Will you take the joy dare with me?  I'd love to have you along!

Dragon Invasion

I have to brag on my daughter a little bit.  Look what she made out of my polymer clay...without any tools!

Proverbs 31:28-29

    Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

I think I'm a little off-target on this one, as on most things.  Do my children wake up and call me blessed...well....not exactly.  Granted, my daughter still stumbles out of bed sleepily in the morning and comes to Mom for a quick hug and snuggle.  And my teenage boys (15 and 16) will still submit to the occasional motherly hug...in public, no less!
Is it something I have to wait for until my children have children of their own?  How else will they be able to make an informed decision on whether or not my parenting skills are up to snuff?  Maybe, if they have some vision of what their future holds, they can/will judge on the basis of how and what I teach them and whether it will bring them happy, productive adulthoods.
And oh, my poor husband.  Now this is partially due to my depression, but sometimes I don't give him a whole lot of actions to praise (or, to 'brag on', as we say around these parts).  But I have been making strides in showing my appreciation for him, which is something I think he lacked growing up.  Why?  He had some learning differences before they were given that name, and was therefore labeled a 'lazy' student.  When he was preparing to go back to college a little over a year ago, I heard people express concern over his ability and determination.  I told him I would support him however I could and for the most part I have lived up to that bargain.  In his first two semesters he has achieved a 4.0 GPA each time!  Yay him! :O)
And, well, I know I will never excel everyone at being a Proverbs 31-style wife and mother.  But that's ok.  Most of the time I do my best.  When I fall off the bike, I get back on.  And the cool thing about that?  My children, my husband, and my Father in Heaven love me regardless of whether I'm "Mrs. Proverbs 31" or not!
So, this week, I'm going to ask my family to describe their perfect days.  Then I'm going to take a step (for each one) in seeing how I can help them get a little closer to it.  How will you serve your family this week?