Plain Catholic in the Mountains

Make your own butter

One day last week I remembered that I had bought some heavy cream over the holidays for Moma's Favorite Cookie, which I am GOING to post the recipe for! REALLY! :)  Well, I thought with this much cream, it would be a good time to show the children how to make butter... well the easy way to make butter.
We pulled out the ole food processor.
Poured in all that cream and turned it on...
There were a few different stages that I told them we would see...
First of all we saw it just as a liquid, as it is as cream.
We would start seeing the cream slowly becoming thicker, until we had it at the whipped cream stage.
They all tried it at this point and sneered... sadly they thought it would taste like cool whip.  Pitiful, huh? I told them at the enormous amounts of 'stuff' added to cool whip and this was so much better, and that we could add a little sweetner if we wanted whipped cream, but we want butter!
Keep it moving, keep it moving...
FINALLY!
BUTTER! :) HURRAH!
Please forgive the skunk stripes down my child's hair... our New Years Party got a bit crazy! :) haha
Mmm... this butter is good, Mom!
We even took the buttermilk and put it in a jar to use later and washed the curds with ice water to help get all the milk off so the butter would last longer.
Now a solid. How crazy are we? Doing school when we are supposed to be on holiday? haha... so is the life of a homeschooler.
I hope you have a great day friends.
From My Homestead to Yours,
~Chas~
Chasity L. Burrell
Heritage Acres Farm

Moi

Look!

I love my scale....today!

I have finally broke 150lbs!!!!!!

I'm not "suppose" to weight myself but once a week & that usually occurs on Saturday morning but I have an overwhelming urge to hop on it before then.  As is the case this morning.  I didn't want to get on b/c I was afraid it would say the same ol' same ol' but it finally told me what I have been working my butt off (literally!) to read.....149.6 lbs!!!

I'm on my way!

My plan?

Eat half as much as I usually eat & exercise more. 

Pretty simple?  Yes & no.

It's kind of hard to know when to quit eating.  I've been so used to stuffing myself until I KNOW that I'm full but now I have to learn how to eat until I'm satisfied.  That's hard!  But I'm in it for the long haul.  I've come too far to quit now.

So as of today I have lost 11 inches & 3 lbs.

135 lbs here I come!  That would be a dream come true!

A Winter Birthday

It's early here on our farm and still quite dark and still. My feet were warm until they hit the cool wood floor, so instead of just staying under the covers (as I considered) I put on a thick pair of wool socks and loaded the stove with wood. The house will be toasty when the boys wake. I pulled back the curtains and peeked out the windows. We're expecting some very nasty weather today and from what I can see, it's already starting. Ice and snow are on the agenda. I'm not surprised; today is my middle son's birthday and he almost never has nice weather for it.

Bless his heart, he was born in a blizzard thirteen years ago! Getting to the hospital during a Level 3 Snow Emergency (and being pulled over  and quickly let go by a police officer) makes for a very interesting birth story, don't you think? That being said, he was my easiest delivery. I barely felt a pain or broke a sweat. In the words of my great-aunt, "It was so easy I wondered if I deserved him." :-)  That tiny baby with thick black hair and huge dark eyes now towers over me and is still growing!

Because of the weather, our celebration with family and friends will have to wait, but I'm still baking the cake he requested, a Raspberry Lemon Cake. (Yes, much more suited for an Easter dinner, but it's his favorite nonetheless.) Let's just pray that the power stays on so it can bake! Our newest teen wants/needs a new pair of  insulated Carhartt overalls for his birthday, so we'll go shopping later this week when the road clears. We'll just spend the day where it's warm and plan a BIG birthday celebration for him... in July!

Wish Books...

Oh, those tempting little darlings are arriving daily in the mail ...yep, you know what I mean...SEED CATALOGS! 

What lovely thoughts they do bring to mind, gorgeously blooming flowers, luscious fruits and bountiful vegetables all in a perfectly tended garden  . 

Making a long list of new things to try and some old favorites to replant comes next. 

Then reality sinks in when I actually add up the cost of my wish list ; and the paring down begins.  I still usually end up with more seeds than garden space; but they make nice little gifts to tuck into a card or letter for a fellow gardener, and many can be saved for planting next season. 

I've yet to sit down for my list making this year, and it is just about time to start some things indoors ; but this afternoon looks to be cold and dreary outside- perfect weather for "seed shopping" in my book!

I will probably order from Bountiful Gardens and Seed Savers Exchange this year.  I love The Cook's Garden catalog, too; though mine has not yet arrived.  What are your favorite places to order seeds from?  

Next week I'll try to post a few picks for 2009 from my wish list.  Please share your own favorite seed catalogs, and any "must have" items from your own wish list this year!

With Wishes for a Bountiful New Gardening Year,

Catherine

A Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today

 Monday, January 5,2008

Please stop by to visit Peggy  to peek into the lives of other "Simple Women," and to read the guidelines for creating your own Daybook!

Happenings around here Pt. 2

Remember me telling you about the clue to my Christmas present in the previous post? 

Well, here is a picture of the clue:

My guess was that it was a Canon camera. 

I WAS RIGHT!!  YAHOO!!! 

For once I actually guessed a Christmas present correctly!

Here is a picture that I copied from the Canon website since I can't take a picture of my new camera with the camera. 

It's pretty awesome!  Takes some very clear pictures. 

Now if everyone would quit holding things up in front of them when I want to play with it! 

They buy me a camera but won't pose for pictures! 

Go figure!

New Year, New Beginnings

2008 coming to a close.......

This year has been full of ups and downs. I choose to remember the ups. The Lord has been truely good to my family and I and I have no complaints at all. We have been blessed beyond measure once again this year. We have our health, we never missed a meal and no bills went unpaid. Our house is still standing in good condition and our van and truck are still running. My girls are good, learning a lot in school and loving each other. There is nothing at all that I can find that was bad in the year 2008.

Now that I have covered all of that. I want to say really how good that Lord has been to our family. Not just my family members here at home but also to all of our family at church. We have seen several ones receive the gift of salvation, true salvation. We have had a blessed marriage of a young couple very dear to us and we have had a lot of new lives born into our church family. We have had families sell their homes and move to our town to be a part of what God is doing in our church. We have truely been blessed beyond measure.

I can not wait to see what the new year has instore for us this coming new year. I can not wait to see how the Lord will use us for His glory and for His work here among us. I am ready to give all that I have for His work and service. Whatever it is that the Lord may ask, I am ready. My heart is full and I am waiting to be used.

We will be starting to build a new building for our church. We have grown and it is now time to add on a building for class rooms and a bigger nursery. We will once again build this building ourselves as much as we are allowed. We are paying someone to get the foundation done for us but after that it is all us. There will be a lot of long hours, in the cold, in the wet, and then in the heat. But we are ready. There is no greater joy then to spend your time with your church family, building God's house for His work that needs to be done here on earth. I hope to be able to journal about it as we go here on my blog for those who are interested in getting up with us as we go.

I also have a lot of new and old plans for myself and my family for the new year. I will write about those things in another post. This post is just for thanking God for our blessings and for His love and grace He has shown us this past year.

Again, we are blessed, we are loved and we are thankful for a loving God !!!

May God bless you and your family in the coming days and may you seek to find His will in your life for the coming days.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today

 Tuesday,December 30, the last entry in the year 2008.

Please stop by to visit Peggy  to peek into the lives of other "Simple Women," and to read the guidelines for creating your own Daybook!