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It has been gloomy and dreary all day long.........and tomorrow is supposed to be the same or worse.  Yuck!  I really need sunshine to have any ambition at all, so as you can imagine, I haven't gotten much done today.  I have a "few" indoor projects I could be doing, maybe tomorrow some of them will inspire me, I sure hope so.

We actually didn't buy anything at the auction Saturday except 4 roller pigeons.  There was lots of critters there for sale, but nothing that really interested us, so we left about 1/2 way through the sale. 

Got home that evening and found out a lady wanted pies made for Sunday........so I spent Saturday night baking.  Remember I just said I was glad the pressure of baking every Friday was over for the summer??  Well, I had an order for 3 pies on Friday afternoon, and then made 6 more on Saturday night.

We had a pot-luck dinner at church yesterday.  A friend and neighbor gave me some eggplant and a recipe last week, so I tried it out.  It turned out good.  As always there was lots of good food there.

We have an interim pastor right now, he has been there about 6 weeks.  I can see the Lord working through him and it is exciting!  He is such a caring man and really stresses prayer.  Almost every Sunday there have been people going forward for baptism ( our church is Baptist) and to join the church.  You would not think people would make those kinds of decisions without a full time pastor.  There is just a different attitude, very exciting indeed!

Hubby has been working, until the rain, on getting the garden worked up.  It will be quite a bit bigger next year.  We also need to have a spot ready for some blackberry plants.  Some friends asked if we wanted some starts next spring.....of course I said yes!  They will have to be someplace safe from goat escapes.  Not sure there is any such place???

I know there are mixed feelings about Oprah, but I saw advertised today that her show tomorrow, Tuesday, might be interesting.  It is Where does our food come from, or something close to that.   They showed some free range chickens.  Don't know what it will include, but I thought it might be of interest to watch and see how they present the topic.  It may make us small producers look bad or it may bring us some great advertisement............

The weather man said there are frost warnings for the north-west part of Kansas tonight.........yikes, I know it is coming soon enough but I am not ready! 

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

Well yesterday was a day from dickens.... got a phone call from our 20 year old son in northern Ohio, and he was saying that he had run into some problems and now he had no where to live... so we went and picked him up, a 3 hour drive, waited while he finished up some business, and came home. We got home about 11:30pm.

All the children get one chance to come home, and if they do well, then Praise God... if not... next time around, they can figure out their own way (providing nothing horrible happens and they REALLY need us, you know..)

It was good to see our two boys that we hadn't seen in almost 3 years. It's blurry, I know, but you get the idea. The young lady to the extreme right of the picture is the Mother of my grandson.

I also got to see my grandson that I had never seen before.  I had seen pictures, but never in person...

This is Keegan Matthew.... and he has eyes like his Great Grandpa (my Daddy).

I called off work today and of course, got guff from a co-worker who  says, "I'll just give you Be**y's number and YOU can call HER, cause it looks like NO-ONE is coming in tomorrow!" I told her to just write it down, and hung up. I did my part, now let them do theirs.... *SIGH*

I finished up laundry today, had quite a time with 11 y/o disobedient child continuing to be disobedient, cooked supper, had the washer overflow, took 15 y/o to work, picked 15 y/o up from work, helped ds make appointments for tomorrow to look for work, and yes..... I am still alive! :)

Just finishing up putting 2 quarts beef broth up and 2 quarts of chicken broth up.

Made 4 loaves of bread today (2 white and 2 wheat).

Quite the busy past two days, I would say!

Life is good, and God even better.

Here's a quick pic of the 14 year old sister and the 25 year old brother.... she's climbed up him and is hanging on his back. He is way over 6 foot tall by the way! (She's barely 5 ft)

Can you see the love?

Too bad we don't live closer.

Good lookin' kids the good Lord gave me, eh?

~~Blessings~

Well, today is Monday, so let's see how well I did on my goals list!

# 1- Get all of the laundry done - all of it!

Okay, not all of it, but A LOT of it.  Thank you Olivia and Heather!!

# 2- Organize all of those clean clothes.

Hmm, well, at least we started organizing them.

# 3- Prepare for the next six weeks of school.

Did I mean part of the six weeks or all of them?

# 4- Do an all around house clean-up.

Okay, I really did an all around house clean-up.

You just can't tell it now.

# 5- Finish reconstructing my website.  http://candyfoote.com/

Yeah, I did a lot on my website.

I am adding more daily!

# 6- Discipline myself to blog daily.  Well, hopefully daily.

Hey, at least I am blogging more than I was.

# 7- Keep working on my next three books!

I forgot how much work it is to write a book.

# 8 - Can tomatoes.

Sorry, tomatoes, I couldn't find time for you.

# 9- Freeze peppers.

I never froze any peppers, but we ate a lot of them.

# 10- Wrap and freeze about 300 pounds of beef from the bull that we just had butchered.

We ended up getting 400 pounds of beef!

I guess you know what the menu will look like all month.

Now add in my grandson getting an infection and being put into the hospital.

Plus, attending an aunt's funeral .

All and all, I think it was a successful week "off".

Ok ok I know,,, we really have enough dogs already but this one just had to join us. Isn't he just to cute. His name is Adam and his is full blooded Cocker Spaniel, two years old and a total spaz. Now all you prayer warriors out there, pray for me. I agreed to keep him but told my hubby and my children that the time has come for a large kennel to be built. We have seven dogs now and well., only two can stay in the house. My precious P-Lee and Blair. Those are the only two that are house broken and well, calm! hehe

Adam does not get a long with our Beagle (which is the only one of the dogs that are NOT fixed) and well, he has tried fighting for the death. There has to be a line drawn somewhere so we are going to spend the rest of the week building a kennel for five dogs.  Wish us luck.

Ahhh another Monday. I woke early this morning (around 6am) and wasn't feeling to great so I decided to rest for a few more hours. I woke again at 9m and decided I had better get busy with our chores and lessons, I wanted to get this week off to a good start.  Soooo, lessons are over, the chores are done (with the exception of caring for the horses which the girls are doing now) and now I have time to play. What better way to spend my play time then to update my Simple Woman's Daybook, so here it goes....

Outside My Window…The sun is shinning, it is about 73* and the view is breathtaking. The colors of Autumn surround me. Golden yellow, firebrick red, cinnamon brown and a hint of green. Ahh God's pallet is so elegant.   

I am thinking…about all the things I have planned for this week. For lessons, artsy stuff, and all the friends I am going to write and catch up with.

I am thankful for…all that the Lord helped me to accomplish today. Lessons, cleaning, canning applesauce and the time I spent with my children just talking! 

From the kitchen…I can smell the the cinnamon applesauce simmering in the canning pot.

I am wearing…a blue t-shirt with a prairie mouse the front, white and brown diabetic socks, and my black shorts. I really need to get some new clothes:-(

I am creating… more cupcakes, some ATC's and a few new seasonal post cards.

I am going…nowhere today.

I am reading…nothing at the moment (other than Bible study)

I am hoping…that this week will be a lot of fun for us and that we will accomplish everything we set out to do.

I am hearing…The loud sounds of my children singing as they dance around the house acting like children. :-) ahhh the wonderful sound of laughter.

Around the house…there is still work to be done but that is a never ending task. I need to do a couple more loads of laundry and then prepare dinner.

One of my favorite things…Cute MICE, Cuddly Mice, brown mice, white mice,  and umm did I say Mice!! :-)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Visiting Williams Orchard, sharing time with Deb and her family, doing something artsy at the park.

Here is picture thought I am sharing....

Gabriel is coming home!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the prayers!!

Candy

Day Nineteen: October 13, 2008
21 days, 10 hours and 14 minutes left until election day.

For Candidates to Express Their Views on Issues Candidly

To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue. All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.
--Proverbs 16:1-2

Mighty Lord, God, You know all things, and nothing is hidden from You—even the deepest intentions of hearts.  Your knowledge and authority rule over all the affairs of humankind, and Your ways govern over all our ways.  I praise You today for the way You understand and weigh our words, thoughts and motives. 

As candidates continue to seek our votes, speaking with us about their plans, may they freely share their intentions with candor so that we may discern with wisdom who best deserves our vote.  Grant that the deepest desires of the candidates’ hearts will be seen and known, and give to us Your discernment as we listen and observe.  In the name of Jesus, amen.

Hello everyone, sorry I have been away for awhile but I am here to update things and show off my newest creation. I joined a swap over at SWAP-BOT that required me to make a handmade cupcake. Now my partner said she didn't want a small cupcake, nor did she want a medium size cupcake, but she wanted a LARGE cupcake so this is what she got.... It is made from an empty peanut can, fabric and stuffed with Autumn Spice potpourri! I had a fun creating this guy. It stands 8" tall and is about 6" wide.

After showing a few friends before I stuck it in the mail I received orders for 6 more!!! Eeekkk They offered $20.00 each for them. Isn't that awesome! Thanks Chocolattkato for the inspiration.

HAPPY FALL YA'LL

I made these cupcakes a couple of weeks ago, and they were a BIG hit!  I gave some to a couple of people i work with, and I gave a few to my mom and sent 1 along for my grandmother.  I got the recipe out of a cookbook called Cupcakes and Other Goodies by Publications International.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

1 package (18 1/4 ounces) yellow or butter cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix

1 cup chopped dried apples

Caramel Frosting (recipe follows)

Chopped nuts

     Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 24 standard muffin pan cups with paper baking cups.

     Prepare cake mix according to package directions.  Stir in apples.  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpicks inserted into centers come out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes to racks; cool completely. 

     Prepare Caramel Frosting.  Frost cupcakes; sprinkle with nuts.

     Caramel Frosting:  Melt 3 tablespoons butter in 2-quart saucepan.  Stir in 1 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1/8 teaspoon salt.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm.  Add 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar; beat until frosting is of spreading consistency.  Add 3/4 teaspoon vanilla; beat until smooth.  Makes about 5 cups.

Well today is Thanksgiving for us here in Canada, We didnt do too much really.....We spent most of the morning at the park with the boy's and the had fun we couldent stay too long becuse the slides were abit wet so Jarred got a wet bum and was for curtain he had wet himself. We had dinner at home just the 4 of us it was really good! dh and Jarred are watching a movie...Well I think dh might be passed out on the couch I cant see his face from here. We had some leftovers which we will probly eat tomarrow for lunch, I always make too much. Anyway's just gonna add a couple pictures too show you the boy's and our set-up of the table...Nothing fancy but I liked it.

But all and all it was a great day........I hope all my fellow Canadians had a great day!

Blessings

~Ruth