Molded Butter! Isn't it exciting?!

Ok, so y'all know by now that I am a nut over old-timey things. And y'all also know if you read this blog that I love churning my own butter. That's me in the picture above. HaHa! (No cute comments please.) Anyway, so...thanks to eBay and just a few minutes of time spent searching for butter molds, I found one I loved! It's just gorgeous! It came last week and I could hardly wait to try it. My first attempt at this process proved not *quite* successful. The butter came out of the mold ok but it didn't come out perfectly molded where the engraving was. Not to be daunted, I searched the world wide web to find out the best way to get the butter out of a mold. I came across the neatest site. http://www.oldandinteresting.com/ Take a peek at it when you have time. Anyway, so here's an excerpt I found from a book written in 1861:

Butter-moulds, or wooden stamps for moulding fresh butter, are much used, and are made in a variety of forms and shapes. In using them, let them be kept scrupulously clean, and before the butter is pressed in, the interior should be well wetted with cold water; the butter must then be pressed in, the mould opened, and the perfect shape taken out. The butter may be then dished, and garnished with a wreath of parsley, if for a cheese course; if for breakfast, put it into an ornamental butter-dish, with a little water at the bottom, should the weather be very warm.

Isabella Beeton, Book of Household Management, 1861

Aha! This armed me with the knowledge I needed! This morning while I was churning, I put my butter mold in the freezer to chill. When I was finished, I washed my butter, got the mold, wetted the inside with cold water, then packed the butter in the mold.

I prayed (don't laugh) then put it in the fridge to chill.
A few hours later, I was dancing across the floor squealing with delight!! (doesn't take much to make me happy, huh?) Here is the result!
Isn't it just the most beautifulest thing you ever saw in all your whole life?!

Apparently, Isabella Beeton, who wrote the book I mentioned, also wrote quite a few other books in her relatively short life. (She died at 28.) Her most famous book was the one I just quoted above. There's even a Masterpiece Theater movie about her...The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton. Most of her books had to do with domestic things...keeping the home, cooking, recipes, etc... Mrs. Beeton's "secret"??? She was a terrible cook! :O) You can read a bit more about her here http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/mrsbeeton/beeton.html

Didn't mean to run a rabbit there, but I did find that interesting.

Seems like there's been record cold weather across parts of the US. It was 4 degrees here this morning. We kept that old wood stove hopping all day yesterday and last night....adding wood every 2 or 3 hours. We've stayed surprisingly warm...wearing two pairs of socks helps too. These old houses can be pretty drafty. :O) See these cold, pink, pretty cheeks?
...and this cold birdy?
Hope y'all are staying warm! I'll be back soon!

Shadows

Shadows generally follow the pattern and shape of the original object, right? Well, I have proof that isn't always so. Case in point...one scared stray dog and one critter-lovin' 10 year old. Yesterday, a stray dog wandered onto our property. Our dog, Johann, didn't run him off...in fact, he was happy to have a playmate. We tried (ok...half-heartedly) to run him off, but when we got up this morning he was back. Matt had given strict orders to Katie to NOT pet the dog...he knew if she did, we'd never get rid of him. But today while she was doing school, the dog kept hanging around right outside the window where she was doing her math. :O) Finally, Katie could stand it no longer and told her Dad, "Aw, but Dad he keeps looking at me. Can't I please pet him?" It's true...the poor dog did keep staring in the window at her. :O) And it's true he was all pitiful looking. Of course, he probably knew just the right person to flash his little sad eyes to. Matt finally told her she could pet him...well technically what he said was, "Whatever your Mama says."...which was just as good as saying, "Yes, you can pet him." So, long story short...a little food, a few pats on the head, and "Spud" is home. Funny thing...Spud will not let Katie out of his eyesight. He follows her around just like he's her shadow. He won't get more than a few feet from her, unless she comes inside. If she comes in the back door, he waits on the top step til she comes back out. If she comes in the back door, he waits on the back porch. If she's on the 4-wheeler, he's trying to get up there with her. Since he can't quite make it, he runs right along side her. :O) Hopefully he'll make a good farm dog...but we'll have to wait and see how he gets along with the chickens. :OP

It Started Out as One of Those Days...

Today...is a good day. It really is. I'm happy. I'm healthy. I've been blessed with a good family. The Lord is good. I have no complaints. But have you ever had one of "those" days? You know the kind I'm talking about...the kind where you drop everything you pick up, or trip over your own feet, or say one thing when you mean another. :O) I was in my little kitchen this morning, after I had gotten the kids going in school...fixing a big ol' kettle of homemade soup, thinking what a pleasure it would be to serve it to my family for dinner along with a plate of cornbread. I was also planning what dessert I could make that my family would enjoy after dinner. So I figured I'd conjure up a chocolate layer cake with chocolate icing and coconut-pecan filling. I whipped together the cake, popped it into the oven, and got back to the business of math and grammar with the girls. The timer went off indicating my cake was done. Matt and I were talking while I was taking the layers out of the oven. As I was getting one of the layers out of the pan, I turned to answer a question Matt had asked, and lo and behold if the cake didn't fall right out of my hands and plop pretty-as-you-please right onto the floor. We both just stood there looking at the cake...shocked into not knowing what else to do at the moment! :O) I could only stand there...a full minute or so...and stare without blinking. I didn't cry and I didn't think bad thoughts. Honest. Never said a word...I couldn't! :O) It was just one of those things...on one of those days. :O) I got down on the floor and cleaned up the mess...and thought about what we wouldn't be having for dessert today! :O) Note to self: You have got to cut back on multi-tasking.
On a different note, my what strange weather we're having lately. It rained pretty solid for several days. This morning things turned pretty chilly again. I looked out the window saw it was snowing to beat the band...great big ol' flakes. Don't think they're calling for any accumulation but it sure had me fooled for a little while. :O)



Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Back to School! It's Raining!

Well, we're officially back at the old grindstone...we started our 2nd semester of the 08-09 school year on Monday. And...we're off and running! The kids just fell right back into their places...oh ok, maybe they were a bit slow and groggy at first, but now we're running at a smooth pace. Before a long school break, like Christmas vacation, we always try to find a stopping place at the end of a chapter, or with a test before a new subject. That always helps...not having to pick up in the middle of something after a long holiday. Jacob starts a new college course on the 19th of January. He'll be taking Introductory Accounting this time. He isn't quite looking forward to it as much as he did the Economics course...he loved that! But I think he'll find it interesting, and he's anxious to see if that's a direction he might want to head in after graduation. Here are a few pictures below of the kiddos diligently working in their studies (Jacob was too fast for my camera...he avoided it like the plague, so there's no pic of him)...


Remember back in the summer when I kept mentioning how dry it was? And the drought the year before that? Well. Times have changed and we have been abundantly blessed with rain! In fact, it's rained for several days in a row now. The ponds, which were dried up, are now filled, literally, to overflowing. But I'm not complaining! We needed it desperately. We are still under flood warnings, but I think the rain is supposed to stop today, and it's back to the cold weather tonight.


Though we're in the middle of winter, it's the perfect time to start planning our spring garden. I think of gardening everytime I open a jar of canned green beans, or bring up some potatoes from the cellar. Think we may plant some brussel sprouts early this spring. I have a hankering for 'em. :O)
Hope everybody has a good rest-of-the-week! I'll be back soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!

Ok, so I'm a day or two late in wishing everybody a wonderful and happy new year! There are still 363 days left in 2009 to enjoy! And I hope it's a prosperous year for everybody! Made any New Year's resolutions? As a general rule, I don't make resolutions, but I have to admit it's a good time to review and re-establish goals. A few of my goals for this year include: (1) putting a little more "oomph" into the last half of the school year (seems like the 2nd semester of any school year is always a little "blah"), (2) re-organizing school records, (3) memorize and read more Scripture. I think lots of folks purpose to read the Bible through in a year. If you're one of those folks, here's a good plan to follow if you're just wanting to read straight through from Genesis to Revelation: http://www.heartlight.org/devotionals/reading_plans/straightthrough.pdf There are other plans listed here http://www.heartlight.org/devotionals/reading_plans/ There are also some good books I have on my "Wanna Read" list. :O) I love old books especially.

Speaking of old things, I'm lovin' my old butter churn!! Seems to take a bit less time to churn than to "shake" butter and I'd a whole lot rather churn than shake any day! :O) I'm now looking for an old butter mold. Keeping my eye on eBay! ;O)

I'll leave you with a spur-of-the-minute picture we took on the last Sunday of 2008. So from our house to yours, best wishes for a....

HAPPY 2009!

Getting Caught Up....

Ok....so I just wrote out this long, looong post about our Christmas, I saved it...then "tried" to post it. I hate those little "We're sorry but there was an error..." messages! I have counted to 100 and am trying to post it again. Unfortunately because of time now, you'll end up getting a more condensed version of the first post! Oh well.
So anyway, the week before Christmas, Jacob made the 8 hour trip by himself to visit with my Mom and Dad. My dad had planned to take him on a trip to my hometown of Graniteville, SC. He introduced Jacob to aunts, uncles, and cousins....many of whom Jacob had never had the pleasure of meeting before. He got to see some of the places where my Mom and Dad grew up, and he also got to see the church where Matt and I were married almost 29 years ago! (this is the same church my Mom grew up in also) Here are a few pictures of the church...it's very beautiful and old...
After their 2 day visit to Graniteville, Jacob stayed with my parents for a few more days. Just look at this big ol' starfish he found on the beach...
After enjoying a few days at the beach, Jacob and my parents then journeyed over to our house to spend Christmas with us. What a treat that was! We had so much fun and enjoyed their company so much.
A brief synopsis of Christmas gifts this year...for Katie they included games, books, jackets, a stocking full of stuff, and cowgal boots...
For Rachel, she requested money, a few special music cds and some much-sought-after violin accessories...
For Jacob, he was surprised with an ipod shuffle, some size 13W boots that were too small, and totally bowled over with a Sony Vaio laptop computer (from his grandparents)!
And guess...just guess what I got!?!?! I got my long-awaited-for butter churn! It's just what I had been looking for...not sure how old it is, but it has the handcrank and the wooden paddles and it works like a charm!
All you have to do is add fresh cream....
Convince an energetic 10 year old how much fun it is to turn that crank....
Check on it in about 15-30 minutes....
Then before you know it you'll see that rich creamy fresh butter floating on top....
Isn't that just the neatest ol' thing you ever did see in all your life?
The only "down side" to Christmas this year was that Amy didn't get to come in. But we're hoping for a visit soon...and then we can have Christmas all over again! :O)
I hope your Christmas was as enjoyable as ours and that you got to spend it with those you love.

Has it really been 3 weeks?

Wow! Has it really been three weeks since I last posted? I didn't realize it had been that long. Oh well...nothing really earth-shattering has been going on. Let's see...we had the flu/plague/bad-cold-thing for a while. Call it what you wish...it was one nasty bug and I, for one, am glad it's dead and gone! We all got it...Katie was the last man down, and somehow she managed to survive with the least damage done.

Hmm. What else have we been doing? We enjoyed some good company this past weekend. There's nothing like a visit with some long-time special friends. These folks were in Germany at the same time we were....he and Matt were in the Army together. But what makes it even more special is that Jeff and I were saved within a few months of each other. We all went to the same church (of course, Americans are pretty limited where they can go to church in Germany...if they want to understand the service, that is!) Anyway, we've stayed in touch all these years and get to see each other once in a blue moon. It was a nice visit.

We are counting down the days til Christmas vacation!!! Eight days left and the first semester will be behind us! Jacob finished up his Economics college class last night. He had to take a test and also his final exam last night. Should find out his first semester grade soon. We'll be registering him for the second semester today. He's taking Introductory Accounting and he also wants to take another class...just hasn't decided which one yet.

Rachel had another recital this past weekend. She could not have done a better job! She played the Mozart Sonata and it was just wonderful. There was a really big crowd there...we estimated at least 120 people! That's the biggest crowd so far at one of the recitals.
Here's a picture of the weather that day...this is what it looked like as we headed out the door...
Here are a few "before" pictures....waiting to be seated before the recital begins...
Nervous? Who...me? :O)
Here's a "during" shot...right in the middle of her song....
And finally, an "after" picture....does she look glad that it's over?
And last but not least, here is a picture of Rachel with her teacher...
So I guess that's about all for now. I'll try not to wait another three weeks to post again! :O)