In His Presence
A Too Large Pot Roast...Houston, we have a problem.My 4 inch by, oh, maybe 14 inch, chuck roast won't fit in my roaster :o(   Well, let me rephrase myself. It fits...with some tucking in along the sides, and I do have a bit of space on the ends. But overall, my cast iron roaster is simply too small. My mother said cut it in half and use 2 pans. Oh, the indignity of whacking this wonderful, marbled roast in half! Isn't it a beauty? No, I don't usually covet meat like this, but this is special :o) I'm used to rolled roasts, or rump roasts...something more akin to the size of a regulation football. In our area here, pork is the meat of choice it seems. Boston Butts, Loins, etc. They are more readily available in the stores. Beef roasts, even a simple chuck roast, just aren't what I think of as a roast. Most around here are what I'd consider more of a thick steak than anything of a roast. But I got this at the butcher yesterday when I ordered my bulk meats. The owner was cutting up a half a steer and his wife brought out some small cuts to cut them down more. I saw this one on the table and asked about it. She was going to cut it at least in half, if not thirds. No way -- it was just perfect, I thought. So I bought it. Me. Home alone here with no husband, no eldest son and fiance, no eldest daughter. Just me and 7 children. Seven younger children. This roast could last us most of the week if I play it right. I managed to get about 4 potatoes cut in half alongside the roast on the ends, and maybe 3 or 4 carrots cut into lengths as well. But my usual broth/gravy concoction doesn't stand a chance of being in there. Not without a serious drip shield along that pan! I simply mixed a bit of stock with a touch of flour to thicken slightly and poured it over. It will be covered and cook all day now. Around 5 or 6 pm we'll eat dinner :o) Can you imagine how tender this baby will be? I probably shouldn't have bought it, being here with just the children, but I lack self-restraint. It just looked too good to pass up. I imagine when Dewey reads this his mouth will be watering all over the computer :o) I could FedEx a plate overnight to you honey.... Blog Housekeeping *editWhile I fully intend to visit here regularly and keep up with my HB friends and pm's, for now on I will be posting at my new blog:www.themennobrarian.com See you there! (*edited to add that I have fixed it so that anyone can comment on my new blog, you do not need a google account.) We have a home !!!!Well here we are...... Let me first say that moving or making the move does not come without trials....lol Ya, now I can laugh about things but I can tell you that I wasn't laughing when they did happen. Everyone is looking for thier perverbial " Garden of Eden" here on earth and or heaven on earth to live peacably while we wait for the Lord's return. Perhaps if our little homestead was in heaven we would all be happy and content right ? While we found a 2 bedroom mobile home, 2 bathrooms 14 x 60. In the country of course. The girls are happy the landlords daughter has 2 horses pastured out here behind our place. They are ok with us having our goats and fencing in an area for them here. We have a nice sized porch to sit out on , so that is good . Have to watch out for the fire ant hills but that is part of TN. OK so for the trials.... The Second night we had a electrical fire in the furnace, house was filling with smoke we got out and tried to wake up neighbours and no luck. Well the guy up the road was up shotting cyottes so he called the landlord for us. We aired out the house and then slept well , after the landlord brought us space heaters to use. What a House Warming !!! Linda That Wretched FabricRecently, I accepted a nearly impossible sewing challenge and amazingly I finished it...in 9 hours. A local choir was short one dress and they needed it in less than 24 hours. For some odd reason, I said, "Yes, I think I can make a dress without a pattern. Get the fabric and come straight here." I had not seen the dress and really only knew that it was a dress in the size that I wear. This was a major advantage as I am very familiar with that size. What I didn't fully understand what that it was made from some sort of sheer black organdy. The original dress fabric was beautiful. It was soft and would have been a delight to sew. The Hancock version of the sheer black organdy was not so beautiful and not so soft. It was much sheerer and was stiffer. It was impossible to make tiny narrow hems as in the original garment. It actually resisted folding, even with an iron and steam. Finally, I came up with an acceptable substitute for the delicate narrow hems. I used my hemming foot and made scalloped edges. It looked much better than my first attempt at using the serger to make rolled hems. At the concert that night (yes, I had to go see if it was successful or not) it blended right in. In fact, it took me a good 5 minutes to pick out which girl was wearing my dress. I took a photo of the dresses, however at 5:00 in the evening I have a lot of sunlight through my dining room window and it washed the photo out quite a bit. So please realize it looked much better in real life. How I did it: I used the actual dress as a pattern. I measured all points of the dress and used dressmaker pattern tissue to draw the pattern. A good rotary cutter guide helped a lot with straight edges. I would have killed for a pair of french curves. Since I didn't have a set, I freehanded the curves. (This is one reason the ruffles on the front aren't as drapey as they should be...along with others) Adding on the seam allowance was the only tricky part. 5/8 of an inch doesn't add, multiply or divide well...at least not when you are tired. At one point, I had to try and remember how to divide fractions. I know I learned it in 4th grade but for a good 10 minutes I could not remember how. Of course, by the time I got to that part I was running on coffee and 4 hours of sleep. When my pattern pieces didn't look right I pulled out a Vogue pattern in that size for comparison. I ended up modifying my original pattern a bit and it worked out. I never did get the ruffles to drape like I wanted. Today, I realized that two layers of fabric would have been much better. It would have been a darker black and I think it would have given enough weight to hang better even with my poor freehanded curves on the pattern. Hind sight is always 20/20 they say. After attempting various things to finish the edges of the sheer, stiff fabric, a friend declared the fabric as wretched. I agreed wholeheartedly and this poor dress was referred to as "wretched" for the entire 9 hours I worked on it. In order to save time, I left out the darts and tucks that make it more womanly (I knew it was going to be worn by a 14 year old). That saved time and I also left off the side hidden zipper. Risky, but still trusting the 14 year old hadn't fully bloomed, if you know what I mean. The scallop edging done after the dress was finished was a last minute effort to make it more wearable. At 3:45 I was still clinging to the low standard of wearable. I had all but given up hope of pretty. Until I did this, I really thought it was going to be the ugliest dress ever. I kept thinking, I am spending all this time on a dress that is headed to the garbage. Maybe the girl will be on the back row? However, the scallop edge did it. When I hung it up next to the original dress I rejoiced. My daugher rejoiced. My friend rejoiced. My husband rejoiced...mostly just because everyone else was. He had just walked in from work. It really looked a lot like the original. It was now 4:30 and I was trying to figure out how the hem got so strange looking. I realized that I had forgotten to curve the hem since it was an a-line skirt. Off to the serger for several more curves and trims. Finally at 5:00 I hung it in the window and took the picture. I saw the choir director coming down the driveway. The choir director's little girl walked in and squealed. "It looks just like it!" I was so happy. Anyway, now I just wish I'd gotten a better picture. BTW...next time given this sort of challenge, I'm prepared to say no. 9 hours to complete a dress from scratch is just almost impossible. Thankfully, the Lord was on my side and a lot things worked that could have gone wrong. All praise to the Lord for His help in this dress. And in reality, if challenged again, I'll probably take it. I'm a sucker for this sort of thing.  Blessings, Mrs. P Felted RosesLooky what I did during "family movie night"? Aren't they lovely?
 My 4 year old even made some. What shall I make with them?   Pomander Tutorial Blessings, Mrs. P Rabbit Stew It's Miss A's photograph for the Rabbit Extravaganza contest tomorrow. She'll be showing her mini-rex's. She has taken about a hundred photos of Lacey (above) trying to get a cute photo for the photography contest. Today after Lacey ran and hid in the lavender bush, she got desperate and called her friend Emma for an idea. Emma and her mom thought rabbit stew would be cute. I walked into the kitchen to find Lacey in a stew pot. So of course, I did what any good mom would do. I found some potatoes, onions and fresh herbs.
 Update: Miss A won 1st Place in the Junior Color Humor Division and then won a trophy for Champion Rabbit Photo. She was thrilled. The show bunnies didn't do too badly either. Both took 3rd place in Sr. Broken Mini Rex. A long day, but very fun! Blessings, Mrs. P Murphy's Law of Sewing
Hymns For A Kid's Heart
Modern worship songs are nice, but the hymns of the church are dear to my heart. When I hear them, I am taken back to my own childhood when I sat alongside my mother and brother on the piano bench, as she played and we sang. I am also reminded my grandmother’s last day with us, and how we lovingly surrounded her, rejoicing and singing precious hymns as she entered into Heaven. These songs are a legacy of faith, passed down from generation to generation. Many were written out of suffering and brokenness, and yet in a spirit of praise and thanksgiving. They all bring glory to the Father and speak of His goodness, faithfulness, mercy and love.With the book, Hymns for a Kid’s Heart Volume One we can look deeper into these treasured hymns and their origins. This lovely hardbound book contains twelve traditional hymns such as Holy, Holy, Holy!, O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, and America the Beautiful. Each hymn is accompanied by the story of the person who wrote it, heartwarming devotionals from the hearts of authors, a memory verse and prayer, piano music and guitar chords. Children will listen and learn along with the beautifully orchestrated CD, which is also included. I have always admired and been inspired by the heart of Joni Eareckson Tada, and now I am equally impressed with co-author Bobbie Wolgemuth as well. I would happily recommend this sweet book to anyone who desires to teach the love and appreciation of traditional hymns to their children. It's sure to become a keepsake. To purchase your own copy, please click HERE, and be sure to visit the Crossway Blog as well. :-)
The Weather Outside is Frightful......The fire soooo delightful......
Back from the doctor...Thank you to those who have asked about my appointment and health. It always touches my heart to have "far away friends" who care so much. I saw my doctor new today and he is wonderful! I feel so blessed to have such a dear Christian man as a physician. His first thought based on my symptoms, age, etc., is that it would appear to be MS. However, I did not have any lesions as of my last MRI (in March) and without them, he cannot make that diagnosis. The plan is to start eliminating things one by one until we have something definitive. I will be going through a couple of procedures within the next week or so. To begin, I'll have a nerve block done on the right side of my head. Depending on the response I have, this will help to determine whether the problem is in the nerve, a migraine, or if we are back to square one. I also have a consult with a surgeon next week for a muscle biopsy in my right (weaker) leg. It will be done before Thanksgiving. My last EMG showed myopathy in both legs, the cause of which is unknown. Myopathies are caused by many things and I am trying not to be fearful about the possibilities. I do not research the Internet anymore to try to find clues or a diagnosis. It's a lot easier for me to just trust the Lord. Again, thank you for asking about me and for praying for me. It means so much. { Last Page } { Page 3 of 5 } { Next Page } |
guess it is time to dust behind the woodstove eh? 
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