A busy week..

Good Evening everyone.. 

How are you all doing? 

We have had a rather busy week and I have not been able to post.. 

Sorry about that.. 

But I am back.. smile.. 

We made a little trip across the border for Black Friday.. 

We arrived in Maine around 11 pm and then realized that they are an hour behind us.. 

They were to open at 12 am..

So...we had to wait in the car for an extra hour and I think it was -10 degrees.. 

The line of people waiting for the store to open with lawn chairs and blankets stretched clear across 2 parking lots and more.. 

It blew my mind.. 

We waited until they had all gone in which took about 20 minutes. By the time we went in every cart was gone and the place was packed.. 

It was then that I realized that we had lost our marbles.. grin.. 

To make a long story short we arrived back home by 8 o'clock in the morning and really did not get many things crossed off our Christmas lists.. .. 

I just could not function in that crowd.. 

I told the customs office that it was my first and last Black Friday.. 

He said he had heard that a lot in the last few hours.. 

I guess we will just mark it down to experience.. 

And I want to thank my sweet friend Dawn for encouraging me to try this one.. grin.. 

That night the Keepers of the Home had a little Christmas gathering at one of the girls homes.. 

We had so much fun and a wonderful turnout.. 

Thank you Cindy for having us all.. 

Her house is huge and she had it all decorated and ready for us.. 

We had a Yankee Swap and a Christmas Carol quiz.. 

Such a hoot.. 

The food was wonderful, too... 

Everyone brought something.. 

There was a brushetta bar, forcoccia, dips, crackers and so much more.. 

Here is the link for the bruschetta  bar idea HERE..

There was lots of candlelight so the pics are not very good but you get the gist..

I made lemon pickles and new curtains this week also.. 

We are planning a Christmas Supper for our Keepers and their husbands..

Terry and I have a lot to do.. 

Cleaning, decorating, planning the meal and entertainment.. 

We had lovely company today..

 Dustin helped his Dad hook up a new to us Washer and Dryer.. Our old ones kind of gave up earlier in the week.. 

Veronique helped me make my lists but she is a lot like my hubby by mentioning the short time left to get ready.. 

Several times.. grin.. 

 One advantage of having a party is that hubby gets little jobs done that need to be finished.. 

And I get a lot of chores completed that need finished, too. 

I hope. smile...

We have a good time, too..

.

The little lads enjoyed Grandma's pasta lunch today.. 

They are growing so much and looking forward to Christmas.. 

Are you?

Thank you dear girls for dropping by and for visiting over to Bevy's blog earlier in the week.. 

I want to welcome you girls who joined this site.. 

Looking forward to getting to know you all.. 

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day.. 

The forecast is for snow but hopefully there will not be much..

Remember, I love your sweet comments and enjoy each one so much.  

Take care my friends.. 

How are your Christmas chores and activities going? 

Hugs.. 

Visiting over at Mugs and Muffins today..

Good Morning my dears..  

So happy you dropped by today.. 

I am doing a little guest post for Bevy over at Treasured Up and Pondered..

You can find it HEREl

Bevy is a dear heart and shares a Mugs and Muffins Segments each month.. 

It is filled with wonderful recipes for homemade muffins, an encouraging post and a great giveaway.. 

Her blog is about the Christian home and family life.. 

I know you will enjoy visiting her.. 

Thank you for inviting me to join you, Bevy.. 

The post is called Preserving the Family... 

The family is a precious unit that we need to treasure but to also preserve.. 

 God loves our families and wants us to do all we can to cherish them and keep them close to our hearts.. 

So with that in mind I am giving you a couple of recipes for preserves.. 

The first recipe is for 

VANILLA BEAN APPLE HONEY 

It is a delicious bottle of jam and the recipe can be found HERE..

This recipe only makes one jar but it is so easy to do if you have 3 apples or pears that have been hanging out in the fridge.. 

Or perhaps you just need a little gift to take to someone along with Bevy's lovely muffins.. 

By the way this recipe was given Terry's seal of approval.. smile.. 

Remember the other day when we were at the farm and I cut up this bowl of cauliflower..

Well this is how they turned out.. 

Aren't they pretty?  

So nice for your Thanksgiving or Christmas table, I think.. 

They taste good also and are so different from other pickles.. 

The recipe made 1 quart but I doubled it and had enough for 2 quarts and enough brine left to do a pint bottle of red onions.. 

I found the recipe HERE..

If you don't have enough brine then just make another batch and add it.. 

You keep these in the fridge ... 

Thank you so much for your lovely visit.. 

Please let Bevy know you were THERE.. and enter her giveaway.. 

Take care everyone.. 

Hugs.

LINKED TO..WISE WOMAN LINKUP...

Free Christmas Decorations..

Hello my dears.. 

Are you all getting this cold weather yet?  

Here in Eastern Canada we have had cold and winds but it is November after all and I guess we expect this.. 

A bit of snow is forecast for over the weekends.. 

Terry and I went on a little foraging trip yesterday.. 

It was so cold and windy but we dressed warmly, picked up a hot cup of coffee from Tim's and were on our way.. 

We have made several trips up to our old farm lately and I have been spying out the ditches.. 

I love decorating for Christmas with wild stuff...  grin.. 

Anyway, we went on a little side road and saw these growing ... 

Rose hips... 

So gorgeous, eh? 

My dear husband cut a bunch of the branches and I picked several containers of the berries to dry for potpourri..

What a lovely place this is.... .. 

Old farms that have been there for decades, rustic camps and smoke coming out of chimneys..

It was a beautiful day..

The coffee was good and the company was sweet.. 

 Just so thankful for days like this where we spend such precious time together.. 

Sounds corny, eh? 

Nevertheless... it is true..

There are some wonderful country scenes up that way.. 

A little country church... 

Albert County is such a beautiful county in this province.. 

Perhaps, I am prejudiced ..smile..

  Huge windmills.. 

We found a little bird's nest..

 I will put it in with some pine and dogwood ...

Then while he was in the ditch cutting some branches a truck pulled up and stopped.. 

I took the picture in my mirror of him trying to explain to the forest ranger why he was ripping off the forest.. grin.. 

Actually, he knew the lad and he told Terry that he was a good man for helping his wife... 

And he is... smile... 

We found white berries, little trees, fir cones, lovely green moss and different pods.. 

I will share a few pics of the finished product when I get it all together.. OK? 

Here is the link for last year's WINTER POTPOURRI..

Today I did a bit of cooking.. 

A favorite soup... 

My version of LENTIL SOUP..

Dustin was here so I sent some home with him as they all have the flu.. 

And some cookies for a couple of sick boys.. 

Hope they all are feeling better soon.. 

How are you girls doing? 

I know our American friends are preparing for their Thanksgiving Day.. 

I don't like decorating for Christmas until December but I have been thinking perhaps I should start sooner as it takes me so much longer then it used to.. 

I don't do as much anymore because the kids only get home for one day usually and I just dislike taking it all down again.. 

Getting lazy in my old age, I guess.. 

Thanks for visiting here and as you know 

I love hearing from you and just wondering about your decorating plans and such this year.

I would like to welcome the new followers of the blog.. 

Appreciate having you .. 

Take care everyone and God bless.. 

Blogging Love...

Good Evening, my dears.. 

Thanks so much for dropping by the Blessed Hearth... 

I want to tell you one of the reasons why I do this.. 

Blogging, I mean..

There are several but for tonight I want to share this one.. 

And that is the sweet friendships that are made..

Not in a chat room, mind you but just here talking about everyday things and of our love for the Lord.. 

When I began blogging a couple of years ago I had no idea that I would make friends that would become so dear to me.. 

I have only met them on the internet and not in person..

We just started out by happening to find each other's blogs, leaving comments and it went on from there.. 

Now there are emails, letters coming in the mail and even parcels and telephone calls.. 

We even celebrate holidays together even though we are not actually together in person.. smile.. 

One of the times can be found HERE..

They celebrated with us and even sat a place at their table with our names on the place card.. 

Isn't that sweet?

I wanted to link to it but Lori had a bit of trouble with her blog and all of her previous posts are gone so she had to start over again.. 

Anyway.. 

Terry and I both think that these folks are special... 

Tonight as I scrolled down my blog list I noticed that the Mayo family had posted so I went over to visit.. 

This is what I found THERE..

Please follow their link and join them in their tea party..

They are all so dear... 

They love the Lord Jesus as we do and we share that along with the joy of home and family.. 

I know blogging is not for everyone but I so enjoy  doing it although at times I might feel like I am writing to myself.  I start whining and you lovely girls rally round and leave me wonderful comments and I know that this is a worthwhile thing for me to do.. 

You are all amazing and I am so thankful for you all.. 

May God bless and keep you in His care.. 

Just being a Mom..

Happy Sunday everyone.. 

Hope your day is blessed..

Friday we had a farm day.. 

Early in the morning Terry and I headed out..

The day was a bit chilly but it did not take the old wood stove long to get the front part of the house warmed up enough for me to putter away.. 

We were expecting Dustin and his family for supper so I wanted to bake some bread.. 

It is generally the first thing I do when we get there and then it sits by the stove to rise.. 

We had cooked a turkey that week so I made a Turkey and Rice soup for our lunch.. 

Terry is starting to enjoy soup most days... 

The poor guy may as well since I can't help myself from making it.. 

Most every day.. 

I am a soup junkee after all..smile..

Anyway... 

He went out to work on the fire wood and I decided to pickle a huge cauliflower that we had picked up at the market.. .. 

I will share the recipe with you all later this week since they turned out so well... 

Supper time was coming so I peeled veggies and baked the bread.. 

I made two rolls so they could take one home with them..

 I set the table for the six of us and as all was ready I sat in the rocking chair and read..

We were expecting them around 6 o'clock or so.. 

Terry came in about 5:30 and laid down out in the porch.

Six o'clock came and then six thirty..

When it was almost seven I kind of woke Terry up and we thought perhaps their car had broke down or something.. 

We do not have a phone there and cell phones do not work.. 

Terry said we would wait until 7:15 and then perhaps we would eat and then head home.. 

They still had not arrived so he ate his supper.. 

By that time my mind was in over drive so I could not eat.. 

It was now 7:30..

Really, it made them about an hour and a half late..

We started packing it up so we could go and call them.. 

He went out to load up his stuff and I just dumped all the veggies on top of the meat in it's roaster.. 

 I had heated up the left over soup so I poured it into a jar.. 

They don't all like potatoes so I had cooked some rice in turkey broth.

I asked Terry what I should do with all of this food like the rice and he said just to put the rice in the stove.. 

Voila... 

Into the stove.. 

I looked out the window and there they were. 

Thank you, Jesus.. 

Even though the table was stripped and most of the food was now all in one pot except for the salad which I had thrown into a freezer bag.. 

OK.. 

In runs one little lad... 

Grandma.. I'm hungry ... 

Then another little chap.. 

Grandma... What's for supper? 

Then a couple of dogs and Dustin and Veronique..  

I tried to explain to them that Supper would take a few minutes.. smile.. 

They thought my face was kind of pale..  

I explained that of course I was worried as we had  expected them no later then 6:30..

He looks up at the clock and said it was 6:30... 

Daaaaaaahhhhh...

Terry had forgot to turn the clock back.. 

Lord help us.. 

Anyway, we did not have a nice fancy meal but all in all it still tasted alright although the rice was gone.. 

Aren't you glad you're not our kid?  grin.. 

In my defense... 

Dustin is like his mother and is seldom ever late... 

And it was not my fault that the clock was not turned back.. 

Right?  grin..

Oh well.. 

All's well that ends well.. 

They came bearing gifts, too.. 

A lovely early birthday gift for me and dessert, too.. 

They loved the salad as it had real bacon and the croutons were a slices of bread fried up in the bacon fat.. 

A nice company treat.. 

The wee boys told me they knew where hamburger came from .. 

MacDonalds... 

So cute.. 

Well, I must get ready for church tonight so may God bless you all.. 

I hope you don't think less of me for my worrisome ways.. 

Hugs..

Keeping it cozy and apple tea..

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

It is certainly getting colder here in New Brunswick.. 

The other day people were out and about with just their sweaters and then today there were some mamas helping their kids build snowmen.. 

We just got rain though, thank heavens..

I am not a Winter person although I love the cozy evenings.. 

Lately I have been puttering away in the Sun Room and turning it into a more cozy niche for myself.. 

I decided to put my sewing stuff in a spare bedroom which has a window seat where I can store fabrics and such .. 

Since the room is bright it should make a good place to sew in.. 

It seems kind of pointless to have craft supplies upstairs while I have a workroom downstairs.. 

So it is all down there now.. 

I hope to make some Christmas gifts but I will make them down there..

Terry bought me a couple of parsons chairs and we brought up a small table from the cottage to put in the Sun Room.. 

When you all come for coffee now we will go in there.. smile.. 

My plants love this room, too.. 

Do you ladies ever grow bay plants? 

I am hoping this will last over the Winter and I will put it back out in the Spring.. 

We were to our little market that we like in Dieppe and bought some pears.. 

I put them in the dehydrator and will use them as decoration for Christmas gifts.. 

They look lovely with kraft paper and greenery.. 

We made THIS GARLAND AT KEEPERS..

The pepper plant that my friend gave me yielded a good harvest.. smile.. 

I have decided to dry them, too.. 

Terry was at a neighbors and had a delicious turkey sandwich. When he came home he wanted me to cook one.. 

It was in the freezer quite a while so it was good to get it cooked.. 

On Monday I made this apple tea to freeze for the holidays, too.. 

It is really easy to make.. 

Put your apple peels and cores in a pot and just cover with water.. 

Add a couple of cinnamon sticks, a few stars of anise, a teaspoon  of cloves and a few slices of fresh ginger and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice.. 

Simmer this for 15 minutes or so and then strain.. 

I use a cheesecloth to strain it with.. 

Put it in bottles and freeze.. 

 To use put it in a crock pot and add enough honey to taste.. 

Or use it for a base for punch and add Sprite and such.. 

Here is a PIN for another recipe.. 

I just find it kind of bland and like mine spicy... 

Anyway, dear hearts this is all for tonight..

We are going to St. John tomorrow .. 

Are you making any of your Christmas gifts? 

I would love to hear what you are up to.. 

Welcome to the new followers.. 

Just love having you..

Thank you so much for dropping by..  

Take care and God bless.. 

LINKED TO THE PIN JUNKIE LINK PARTY..

ALSO LINKED TO ..FROM FARM BLOG HOP

Hello everyone.. 
Today is Remembrance Day here in Canada.. 
A day that we remember and we do not forget.. 

I have tried to upload this song from You Tube but messed it up.. 
Please click HERE to view the song.. 
Have a blessed day everyone.