Enjoying these days...

Hello everyone.. 

We are having a very windy day here in Eastern Canada.. 

Actually, there has been a weather wind warning ... 

The bird feeders have  blown over and the old wood angel on the outside of the house is beating a tattoo on the wall.. 

There has been a bit of rain slashing against the windows, too.. 

As you know this is my kind of environment.. 

An early bedtime for me tonight.. smile..

Just sharing a few pics of the last few days.. 

We had lovely services on Sunday and Trevor and his family came for dinner.. 

We worked on a little project that one of the grandsons has to do.. 

A plant terrarium.. 

I had a few plants that he could use.. 

And then on Monday we had a coffee date with Shonda and Dave.. 

That was great fun.. 

Shonda and I visited the health food store and a Thrift shop while the guys did the hardware stores.. smile..

And then yesterday we visited Dustin's... 

He even drove us around to the shops... smile.. 

So good to enjoy our days visiting with our children.. 

Thank you, Lord... 

Otherwise, I have been working on decluttering of bathroom cupboards and such.. 

Baking homemade breads and trying out a new pasta..

Found the lovely cookbook at the Thrift store..

James Beard is my fave bread maker but this book is dedicated to my preferred food group.. 

The olive pasta was so simple and good... 

Cook your pasta and prepare some olives, olives oil, garlic and scallions..

Mix together.. 

There is not much snow so there are herds of deer everywhere.. 

And we have been enjoying a couple of squirrels this year..

The birds were very busy today...

Friday is supposed to turn freezing cold again so we need to enjoy the mild temps, I guess..

A little happy birthday to one of our dear grandsons today.. 

He is such a blessing to everyone..

We love you, Matt... 

Working on some new creative things.. 

Can't help myself, I guess... 

Anyway dear ladies enjoy the rest of the week.. 

Take care...

First thing in the morning, she dresses for work, rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started..

Proverbs 31-17

Making it all a little more country.....

Happy Saturday Evening everyone.. 

How are you all today? 

This week has flown by and another weekend has rolled around .. 

We had a lovely evening with our company last night.. 

I did not take many pics but will share them with you next week.. 

For tonight I am just showing some changes that I have slowly been managing to do in the dining-living-sun rooms... 

As you recall I posted these pics of before.. 

HERE 

 and shared with you that I wanted to make the room more country and primitive.. 

Although, we probably won't get the floor done for a bit nor the painting I have changed it enough to make me happy.. 

happier... you know ... compromised... 

And that is a good thing.. 

I will putter away and add and subtract as the Winter goes on.. 

Terry thinks we need a new counter top and such before we start on that project but that is fine.. 

I love the new fireplace mantel and a few of the added touches.. 

I took the carriage to the farm but will sell it in the shop this Summer.. I hope.. smile. 

The border and lace is all gone and more homespun and less frilly stuff.. 

Shall we say it is a nice change.. 

I moved the old chair in here.. (sun room)

I can't bear to part with it as my Mom gave it to me for my 40 th birthday.. a long time ago... 

I guess that is all for tonight... 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day and I have a few chores to do.. 

Our oldest son and family are coming for dinner after church so have to do a bit of food prep.. 

Thanks so much for your visit.. 

So happy to have you dear new followers..

Take care and enjoy your families.. 

God bless...

Simple Chores...

Good Evening my dears... 

My.... We are having quite the cold weather here in New Brunswick.. 

Some schools to the north of the province have even been closed.. 

We do not do that much here in Canada as we Canadians are used to the cold and wind and snow... 

So... it must be cold.. grin... 

Dear son sent me this picture of his Charlie.. 

Dustin tagged the picture.. 

...even the poor dog is cold..

grin.. 

The other day when Terry and I went shopping we bought a lovely big bag of tomatoes as they were on special.. 

We love tomatoes.. 

Even in the Winter we think they are wonderful although they don't have the flavor of summer ones they are still good.. 

On sandwiches, in salads, pasta and such.. 

Anyway.. On with the story.. 

We brought all of the groceries in .. 

Or we thought we did until the next morning when we wanted one for breakfast and they could not be found.. 

Oh no.... 

We had left them in the truck.. 

Well...

 Later on Terry went out to get them and they were frozen solid.. (of course).. 

It was -21 degrees Celsius... 

This is after they had thawed out and you can see a few cracks.. 

Oh well..

 I am not throwing them out.. 

Would you? 

I made a lovely big bottle of Salad Dressing.. 

The dear man wanted me to turn all of the tomatoes into this but I thought this would do for now.. 

Here is the recipe for it... 

I was sure I had posted it before but I cannot find it..  

My No.1 House Dressing.. 

In a chopper or blender place 1 cup of good mayo

1/2 cup of tomatoes seeded and chopped.. 

1/3 cup of chopped onion

2 T. cider vinegar

2 T. oil

2 sprigs of parsley

Blend in blender until smooth.. 

This will keep in the fridge for quite a while.. 

It never lasts long enough for me to find out.. 

I usually double the batch.. 

And then there were still a few tomatoes left so I made something I had planned to make all Fall but did not get to it.. 

Homemade Ketchup.. 

Here is the recipe just in case you freeze a few tomatoes.. grin..

I halved the recipe as I wanted to know if we would like it.. 

Henry Ketchup.. 

In your slow cooker place 

4 pounds of fresh tomatoes

1/2 cup of chopped onions 

Place on high for 1 hour and then add... 

2/3 cup of apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 tsp. fine sea salt

In a cheesecloth place.. 

1 cinnamon stick broken

1/2 tsp. each of..

whole allspice

whole cloves

black peppercorns

celery seeds

1 bay leaf

Add to mixture..

  

Turn your slow cooker down to low and cook for several hours with cover on sideways.. 

I did it all afternoon and then after supper I used my stick blender to blend it all up..

Or you could let it cool and then place in your blender.. 

I just used a recycled mayo bottle and put it in the fridge.. 

In my opinion I will not be eating Heinz again.. 

This taste like I am sure ketchup is supposed to taste like.. 

Although, my dear hubby will stick to Heinz.. grin.. 

That is all for today .. 

We are looking forward to our company tomorrow night for supper.. 

Hope to share some pics with you later.. 

I would like to welcome the new followers.. 

We love having you.. 

Thanks for taking time to visit.. I appreciate it so much.. 

And leaving your lovely notes are the icing on the cake.. 

Take care, dear hearts.. 

Cold days ...

Hello ... 

Hope all is well with you.. 

Very cold and windy days here ...

Enjoying staying home and puttering around.. 

What I do best so I have been told.. smile.. 

We bought some salted cod the other day and made some fish cakes.. 

Do you make them?

I don't think they are a Maritime Canadian dish but might be...

And a homemade tarter sauce..

Here is the link for the fish cakes..

 Click HERE..

The recipe made enough that I was able to freeze a couple of packages for later..

Oh, the other pic is of Lentils and Rice.. 

Yummy with cumin, turmeric and such..

Not Terry's fave but I could eat it for breakfast..  

Maybe... I should just be a food blog.. smile.. 

Hope I am not boring you all... 

We were to the city yesterday and bought groceries for our dinner  with friends later on this week.. 

I am quite sure I am making Chinese...

I may change my plans.. Who knows... 

smile.. 

Well, dear ladies this is all for tonight.. 

I have a good book on the go and want to read for a bit.. 

Thank you so much for dropping by.. 

Looking forward to your lovely comments.. 

I was talking to a friend and she reads the blog but did not realize that you can read the comments at the bottom by clicking on the word comments.. 

Just in case you didn't know.. OK? 

Keep warm, dear hearts... 

and now it is Monday again..

Good Evening everyone.. 

A rather nice but cold day here in Maritime Canada... 

I just wanted to thank you dear girls for all of your sweet comments on my last posting about looking forward to the Lord's Day.. 

We were blessed with good weather in this part of the province and it was a lovely day in the Lord... 

And now it is Monday again.. 

As you girls who have been around a bit you know that I always love Monday and look at it as a day that looks forward to a week of potential.. 

This week we are planning on having some sweet company towards the end of the week.. 

Looking forward to that.. 

So this week I am planning some menus and trying to clear a path.. grin.. 

I find January a month of inspiration.. 

Do you? 

I use this month to search books, pinterest and such for some lovely home keeping ideas.. 

I look for  cooking, crafts, homemade cleaners, toiletries and such.. 

And of course some decor thrown in there.

What inspires you ladies? 

The pictures above include a runner and napkins made from a table cloth when I was a guest on my friend's blog.. 

You can see it  HERE...

Then I am saving some citrus skins to make a lovely basket of fire starters that I found in this book HERE..

Some spice mixtures for some lovely Middle Eastern dishes that I made Terry experience.. smile..

And then my sprouts were delicious in a sandwich with homemade bread.. 

A wonderful breakfast..

I included a couple of pics that I love from Pinterest.. 

Just a wee bit of inspiration from there.. 

I love white ironstone dishes and have a collection.. 

I like the tile on the wall, too.. 

If I only had room for the old window.. smile..

Thank you for dropping by and I hope we get to chat again soon.. 

God bless... 

 ..

Looking forward to the Lord's Day...

Good Evening, my dears.. 

Here we are..

Another Saturday night.. 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day.. 

I think for tonight I will just do a little sharing..

I hope you don't mind..

If you are new to the blog then I do this every once in a while.. 

I just write about something that is on my heart..

Of course you don't have to read it.. smile..

But I hope you do..

Anyway...

Many years ago as a very young child up to the age of 5,  Saturday nights at our house were not very nice.. 

My Dad belonged to a very large family with a lot of brothers and they along with  my Gramp loved to party.. 

Saturday night was a time to dread because they would all get drinking.. 

And you all know the things that can happen ... 

I hated it... 

Then one rainy night an old friend of our family dropped by and shared the news that Jesus Christ had saved his soul... 

He was a changed man and he was full of joy..

He witnessed to my parents and told them that they could be saved..

That Jesus Christ would forgive them of their sin.. 

He would cleanse their hearts and lives and give them a new life in Him... 

Shortly after that my parents turned their lives over to Christ and our home was forever changed... 

Saturday nights were very different from then on.. 

We prepared for Sunday.. 

The Lord's Day.. 

He became the centre of our home.. 

And there was joy ... 

Now years later I look back on that and I am so thankful for the dear man who brought the gospel to our little humble home.. 

And tonight... 

I am still looking forward to tomorrow.. 

The Lord's Day.. 

I had a friend tell me once about how she was at a BBQ and it was next to a church.. 

The party were laughing because these folks were in church for over an hour or so..

I have not forgotten that statement..

Can you imagine that thanks to God's mercy we are given a whole week.. 

24 hours a day.. 

7 days a week 

168 hours a week

And if we spend 1 hour dedicated to Him during all those hours that the world thinks it is a joke? 

Sometimes I marvel at the mercy of God... 

Man is such a puny thing but in his mind he thinks he is bigger and better then the Creator of this world.. 

God help us... 

Sometimes you know we as Christians get tired... 

Not tired of the Lord but just tired of trying to live for Him in a world where the enemy of this world has deceived us and robs us of our joy..

Circumstances can cause us to get hurt and deceived.. 

And joy goes out the door.. 

Even the simple joy of looking forward to going to church on Sunday.. 

But tonight I love the joy that I feel in looking forward to tomorrow.. smile.. 

Today I was looking out the window and mentioned to Terry that I hoped the snow would stop so we would be able to get to church tomorrow..

 He laughed and said .. 

Pray, Faye.... Pray.. 

smile... 

Going to church is not something that a lot of people think is important and they certainly don't think that it is necessary.. 

But for us we believe it is essential.. 

The Word of God in Hebrews 10-25 says...

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Going to church helps to strengthen us and it builds our faith.. 

It encourages...

There is sweet fellowship in worshiping God with others who love Him, too..

When you have children at home it is so important to teach them that Jesus Christ deserves a few hours of our week.. 

He is more important then a sports event or a shopping trip.. 

Your children need to learn this.. 

Their souls are eternal.. 

They need to know that Mama puts God first..

I know that some may disagree with me on this but that is ok.. 

Blogging can be about sharing what is important to us.. 

Everyone may not agree but we can respect each other anyway..  

 I am glad you dropped by.. 

And to you who actually read all of this I hope it has inspired you to put Jesus Christ on your weekly schedule.. smile.. 

He is worthy... 

Remember.. 

He paid a great price for our souls.. 

I will try and share my heart theme next week.. 

Most of my hearts are made and stuffed.. smile.. 

Take care of your sweet families and leave me a note if you have time.. 

Love to you all.. 

January Days....

Hello everyone.. 

Just a short posting for you tonight.. 

It has been a couple of days since I last posted so am sharing a few pics of our doings...

A heart that I made... 

It is made from a tea towel.. 

But I believe I will tea dye it some more... 

Yesterday we had our city day.. smile.. 

Dropped by the Big Stop for breakfast first.. 

We have a favorite waitress there.. grin..  

Visited my Thrift Shops looking for Homespun Christmas ideas.. smile.. 

 While we were in the city the snow started coming down.. 

By evening the roads were hazardous and Bible Study had to be cancelled but we arrived home safe and sound.. 

Thank the Lord.. 

Made some rolls today with the no knead recipe that you can find 

HERE..

The inspiration came from our lovely daughter who emailed me to say she was using the recipe and making rolls.. 

I told her Dad and he wanted some, too.. smile..

She sent me a pic of her first try .. 

They look great,eh?

My sprouts are turning out rather well.. 

Another couple of days and they will start going into some salads... 

I don't have any pics but have been tweaking the kitchen for Heart month... 

I will show you some pics soon.. 

I need to make a couple of hearts for the centrepiece... 

Have a new runner, curtains and such.. 

Someone in this house is very happy that the NHL is back on the air..

He is looking forward to watching my sweet cousin.. 

He is playing this weekend, I think.. 

Brad Marchand... smile.. 

I had a couple of lovely long conversations on the phone today.. 

People don't seem to do that much anymore, do they? 

I find phone conversations so more enjoyable.. 

Do you? 

Thank you so much for your visit... 

So glad you dropped by and thank you so much for your lovely comments.. 

What are you doing on your January days?  

God bless sweet friends..