Testing

I am testing to see if a link is working. Don't get excited if it says something stupid or whatever. Let me know if you can see this link to Amazon or not, please. Thank you. Amazon Fire 6

I Don't Believe It!

I just had a new post almost finished and evidently hit something that I shouldn't have and deleted the entire thing. Maybe it is time for me to close the computer for the day.?..... I shall try again tomorrow. Sorry about that.

It's Almost Here! Merry Christmas!!

I may not make it back for a couple days.  I am trying to finish up Christmas preparations and I won't be able to take much time for the computer tomorrow.  We have houseguests coming tomorrow and then the family will be here for Christmas day and for dinner.  This is unusual for me; but, I have no idea what the menu will be.  My daughter will be making something vegetable and my daughter in law will bring a vegetable side and whatever else they all have planned.  We are doing the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy.  I think I may bake banana bread tomorrow and need to bake something with pumpkin as our son in law really likes pies and I won't have any here.  Wouldn't want him to starve, now, would I?  He's a decent chap, so we'll feed him.  LOL.  I think Heather, our daughter, will bring a Honey Baked Ham, she usually does and I love them.  They are a good break from turkey one evening.  We won't have much turkey left after some goes home with our son and daughter in law.  We'll see.  Sometimes our son smokes a turkey breast for them to have at home. 
Christmas will be fun.  I really enjoy seeing some or all of our adult children interact.  Don't you, if you have adult kiddos?  And; of course, the grandchildren are wonderful to have around.  They just returned from a trip to TN and went to the aquarium and Pigeon Forge where they got cowboy and cowgirl boots and hats.  They will have lots to share with us, so looking forward to that.  Our older son is coming down after Christmas for a few days.  The OH grandchildren are a bit older than the NC grands.  Just enough that it is always interesting to see what their  interests are.  The older grandson is now 13, and the twins are 11.  So fun to spend time with them.  I love them at every stage; but, am looking forward to the next stages and I am actually looking forward to seeing them as adults.  Not wishing their years away, just looking forward to the future.
Well, my friends, I am hoping that you, your family unit, and extended family a very Merry Christmas.  May you see hope in the future and feel the Peace that the gift of the birth of Jesus brought to us. 
Peace, Hope, Love to all y'all,
Brenda

Sent out some requests to followers and circles

Hello again friends, followers, and circle members.  I am really trying to get this new blog off the ground.  It is going to allow me to add links and affiliate links which my other blog would not allow, they do not allow iframe and another type of link, which is what most of my affiliate links are.  That is my true reason for switching and I renamed it so that it would be easier to remember and type, if you don't use the link that has been posted.

I am asking, or maybe even begging, you to go to the new blog and Like it, Follow it, and even share it with your social networks.  I really need to get my likes and followers numbers up.  I will be eternally grateful for any help you can give me, please.  I almost feel like a panhandler; but, I will reciprocate and have already shared some blog addresses and websites on my previous blog  Southern Urban Homesteader at    http://southernurbanhomesteader.com 

If you would recommend my new blog or even mention it on your posts to your blog or website, that would be a huge help.

I know that everyone started out at the beginning, so am I, I'm just hoping for a few boosts to get me going and to get readers.

Thank you for reading this and for your help,

Brenda

What Day Is It?

We had a full day planned and intended to get several items marked off our to do list.  All it took to wipe out our plans for the day was one phone call yesterday evening.  Nothing wrong, just had to attend to it this morning.  Our son, who lives about an hour away, called to let us know that our dear, sweet 5 year old grandson's Christmas program was at 10:00 this morning.  We both knew that we wouldn't miss it for the world, so we were up and showered, etc. and out of the house before 9 this morning.  The program was adorable with his class and the younger class of 3 year olds.  They were all dressed like angels with little sparkling halos.  So, so cute.  There was a Nativity scene enactment that was just precious!  They all did a good job and the children all had memorized their songs so well.  That was an accomplishment, they had just done their Thanksgiving program the Wed. before Thanksgiving and were off the entire week of Thanksgiving.  They really didn't have much time to pull this program together.

We had some errands to attend to since we were already in the "big city", those took a while, and then we stopped for lunch, which was good.  I was in the mood for pizza and we went to a little Italian restaurant where we both usually order the spaghetti and meatballs.  The spaghetti comes with a very nice salad and garlic bread, of course.  I always need a box for the other half of my meal, I've never been able to eat the whole thing.  We broke tradition and ordered a pizza as we had wanted to try it for future reference.  It was very good, that will be our go to place for carry out or delivered pizza.  When we lived in OH, a new  Pizza Shop opened just when we moved to that town.  Their pizza was the best!  The name was Pizza Works and we always went there for pizza for 20 years!  Our children would ride their bikes to get a slice or share a pizza with other neighborhood kids when they were in middle school.  Now, our son and his wife, who still live in the area, usually bring us a couple of pies that have been partially baked that we freeze and finished baking when we feel the need for their pizza. 

We have always liked Italian food; but, really developed a palate for it when we lived in that small city that was basically an Italian community.  All the grocery stores carried olive oil and tomatoes or tomato sauce in gallon cans!  They sold braids of garlic and other sauce ingredients, as well.  Unfortunately, we have a difficult time finding those and other ingredients here in the South.  It is also difficult to find a restaurant that serves "real" Italian food.   Don't get me wrong, we love it here and have found many foods and ingredients that bring to mind my growing up in Georgia.  Some of them are, of course, new to my Yankee husband.  We grow some of these southern foods and ingredients on our homestead and Mr. Blue Eyes has learned to use his smoker and makes some gooood BBQ.  He really likes that.  I've tried; but, I can't get him to like black eyed peas.  He really likes collards and other types of dried beans, just doesn't like the consistency of black eyed peas. 

I  think I will head to the bedroom and get ready for bed and read a little while before I turn the light off.  Good night and sleep tight.

Time Marches On

Too, too fast right now.  I am beginning to become stressed with the things still to be done before next week.  The living room is painted; but, the carpet is still in there.  We just don't have enough time to rip it up and then install the wood flooring.  I've resigned myself to that and  really don't want Mr. Blue Eyes to start it and try to hurry to get it done.  You know how that goes, things always go wrong under pressure.  It's just not worth it to try. 

I want to do a little baking this week.  Not a lot, as last year we threw too many cookies away, after awhile. after the holidays.  They were frozen and just became too soft and stale.  We don't eat them as much as we did when younger.  Our family that was here didn't want to take as much home as usual due to not wanting to eat much and avoid the "holiday bulge".  Their parents monitored the grandchildren to make sure there wasn't too much sugar consumed.  Are you baking as much, the same, or more this year?  Leave a comment and let me know, I am curious.  And what are you baking this Christmas?

We still have collards, kale, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, and Pok Choi in the ground in grow tunnels.  We pulled some carrots and parsnips for dinner one day last week.  They were good and were sweet.  There is escarole and arugula in the greenhouse that we've been cutting to add to kale salads for quite awhile.  So nice to have fresh greens.  It might be a tad too chilly to reseed some of those in the greenhouse.  I guess I will ponder that for a day or so.  Would you believe we have tomatoes and blossoms on the one tomato plant in the greenhouse?  Cool isn't it?  Took some cuttings from several tomato plants in mid fall and stuck them in jars of water in the greenhouse and they have good roots now and are about ready to put into dirt.  Our greenhouse isn't heated with a greenhouse heater, we use an oil filled radiator type electric heater and need to go out and adjust the temperature settings according to outside temps, the sun, and greenhouse temps.  It's only 10' by 12', but we do pack a lot of seedlings and transplants in there for the spring garden. 

Made a pie with one of our larger Butternut squash today.  I made it like a pumpkin pie, using 1 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup of evaporated milk, with all the same spices, and added 1 T melted butter along with 2 T flour.  I was concerned that it might be too runny with the just baked and pureed squash; but, it was perfect consistency and the taste was just like pumpkin pie.  We had baked squash for dinner last night and there was just enough left to make a pic today.  Cool, huh?  Try it, you may like it, if you like pumpkin pie.  And, of course there was whipped cream (not that frozen in a tub stuff).  Real whipped cream.

I'm writing my to do list for tomorrow and I think I need to go to bed early tonight.  It's a bit early to hit the sack; but, I'm saying goodnight now, anyway.  Need to do a few things before bed.  Hope you accomplish whatever your goals are for tomorrow.

Monday, December 15, 2014

I am trying to get this blog up and running and will be at it for a few days, probably.  I am hoping that I can find a way to import my other WordPress blog to this one.   I hope it all works.  Thanks for your patience.