Mountain Musings

Urban Homemaker Free Downloads

I just downloaded 12 phone seminars from the Urban Homemaker--for free. They are normally $5 each, or I think you can request one with any order, but Marilyn Moll is making the most popular seminars available in a set titled Continuing Education for Moms, complimentary until the end of the year--that's tonight!

Here are the topics included:

1. Encouragement For Moms with Lorrie Flem
2. Health Begins in the Kitchen with Marilyn Moll
3. The Two-Stage Process with Sue Gregg
4. Healthy Water with Diane Carson
5. Cook Your Way to Wellness with Maria Atwood
6. Future Christian Homemakers with Laurie Latour
7. 12 Week Holiday Planner with Sheri Graham and Ann Voskamp
8. Cleaning Without Chemicals with Sandy Tuin
9. Child Training Tips with Reb Bradley
10. Canning Seminar with Lisa Vitello
11. The Hope Chest Society with Ruth Sundeen and Rebekah Wilson
12. Kick the Cold Cereal Habit

I listened in live to the one by Sue Gregg, and I'm interested in hearing all the others. The Urban Homemaker is a Christian, family-run business, and we have been pleased with several of the products we've purchased from them.

~Hannah

Pandora Scarf

This week I'm knitting a Pandora Scarf...and it must be finished by the weekend. I actually hadn't planned to knit this week, but...

When my sister was here for Christmas, she loaned me her size 13 needles to get the scarf started. She's stopping back by this weekend, after leaving my mom's, as she heads home to South Carolina...no, not just to pick up her needles, but she did remind me that I needed to get busy so I could return them.

The scarf is easy: cast on 15 stitches. Row 1: Knit front and back (kfb), knit to last 2 stitches, K2tog. Row 2: Knit. Repeat rows 1 and 2 to length of 42 inches and bind off. The scarf is knit on the bias and knits up quite lovely. I'm using Noro yarn (65% wool, 25% silk, 10% kid mohair) purchased from On The Lamb. 

Off I go to the car inspection, and my knitting needles will go with me. My sister will be glad.

~Deb 

The Simple Woman's Daybook

 For Today, Monday, December 29th

Outside my window...

It was a beautiful sunny day with a bit of chill in the air--the mountains a deep blue and so perfectly vivid, just the way I love them. Since I'm late doing my post, the sun has already begun to dip behind the Alleghanies.

I am thinking...

I would love to see our new little grandson in person and get to hold him.

I am thankful for...

The Lord's answering prayer for Ethan. He was able to leave the hospital Sunday night after having to return last week for severe jaundice. Thank you, Lord, that no transfusion was needed.

From the kitchen...

Whole grain pizza tonight: beef and pepperoni with Hannah's homemade pizza sauce.

I am wearing...

Navy robe and crocs

I am creating...

The 7th quilt block for my Block of the Month quilting class in January. Last month I finished December's block in the nick of time before class that morning. I vowed never to be that late again, and I have to say I'm proud of myself for starting already. :)

I am going...

On an unexpected errand to the mechanic's waiting room tomorrow for Jonathan's yearly car inspection. Good ol' mom comes to the rescue...

I am reading...

All of last week's newspapers that accummulated when my mom and sister were here for Christmas. Actually, I think the Thanksgiving papers are in the stack, too.

I am hoping...

To do a lot of cleaning this week: putting away all the Christmas decorations and preparing for company this weekend.

I am hearing...

The wind whistling around the corners of the house. It is always quite breezy on this ridge.

Around the house...

Sarah is testing out her new sewing machine. Jonathan is working on his resume for an engineering job. Tom is using his E-Sword and an online bible program to do bible study for the Sunday teaching. Hannah is writing thank you notes, and I'm planning the grocery list for Tom's birthday meal.

One of my favorite things...

Having friends over to eat with us, fun games, and great times of fellowship.

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Celebrating Tom's birthday tomorrow evening, enjoying some last vacation days with him at home this week, welcoming in the New Year, and preparing for relatives to arrive on Friday.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

Jonathan was delighted to have Hannah and Sarah accompany him to his company's annual Christmas dinner.

Each week you can read more Simple Woman Daybook entries by visiting Peggy's blog.

~Deb

A Surprise at Christmas! Ethan arrives!

7 lbs, 9 oz, 20 1/2 inches! 

We were shocked last night when we received a text message from Micah, our oldest son, that stated "8:17 p.m. 10 cm and pushing!" It wasn't a message we expected to hear until January 6th or so!

We started praying as a family right away and heard after midnight that Ethan had arrived around 11 last night.

Mother and baby are doing well and may go home either tonight or tomorrow. We got our first glimpse of Ethan via cell phone photo earlier this morning.

What a Christmas present for Micah and Elizabeth and for the grandparents and aunts and uncle here at Mountain Musings!

~Deb

Surprise! Graduation Celebration for Jonathan

Surprise! On Saturday evening we surprised Jonathan with a pizza party and game time with our friends to celebrate his college graduation.

Thankfully, he never caught on to the fact that we were planning this special time, even with several slip-ups when we said things right in front of him! I guess we're not used to keeping secrets!  

After everyone shouted Surprise!, Sarah plopped a graduation cap on his head, everyone came in from the cold, and the fun began!

The pizza and veggies were great, and the conversation and company were super!

Sarah baked a giant M&M cookie pizza that was decorated with "Congratulations, Jonathan!" Yummy!

After we ate, the men of the church each prayed for Jonathan's future, including success in finding an electrical engineering position and preparing for his future household, and then we committed him to the Lord.

Games followed, but we won't embarrass anyone by posting pictures of some really wild antics involved in playing Guesstures!

Thank you to all who have already made Jonathan's accomplishment special by leaving him comments and e-cards and thank you to our dear friends for helping us give him a great surprise!

~Deb

Christmas Sunday

It is always a treat when we have visitors at our home church fellowship, and today we were blessed to have the Cade family who were passing through the area and vacationing at Massanutten Ski Resort this week.

As you can see from the kids' faces, they felt right at home with us!

We welcomed the Cades to our church, sang some hymns and Christmas carols, and shared praises and prayer requests before praying together for the various concerns. Tom's teaching today was found in Isaiah 50:4-9.

We've written before how we share the Lord's table together each Sunday as part of our fellowship meal. Today Jonathan read some scriptures before we partook of the bread and juice, followed by everyone singing Holy, Holy, Holy around our kitchen table. Our meal was spicy chicken over angel hair noodles, broccoli, whole wheat bread, fruit, and brownies.

We enjoyed an afternoon of musical entertainment with Tom playing guitar, Jonathan playing banjo, and Sarah playing flute.

Jonathan has been practicing Go Tell it on the Mountain for our annual family Christmas program, so we sang along with some bluegrass-style picking.

Jonathan, Sarah, and Hannah sang Jesus, the Light of the World and O, the Holly, She Bears a Berry before we all sang several requested carols together.

After wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, we said good-bye until next Sunday when we'll look forward to another encouraging time with our church family.

~Deb

Christmas Cakes

This week I have been quite busy...making a cake EVERY DAY so far! Dad ordered three Christmas cakes from me to take to three of his offices' Christmas gatherings, which were scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. Naturally, that meant I was in the kitchen on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

All of them have basically looked the same, two being star-shaped and one being square. It's been fun to work on them, and I've grown faster at it as the week goes on. Since I didn't have to figure out what kind of decorating I was going to do or take the time to color the icing every day, it cut down on a lot of my preparation time. 

Also, this time I caved and used doctored cake mixes instead of making them all from scratch like I normally do. The two star-shaped cakes were red velvet, and I didn't want to buy that much red food coloring. I added pudding and sour cream, cut down on the water, and added more oil, so maybe it didn't taste quite as "mix-y." :) 

Now that I'm done in the kitchen, I can relax...well, maybe tomorrow. Today I need to scrub the floor after all that cooking!

~Sarah

Snowman Collector

I think my love of snowmen came from my mom; she loves snowmen and collects them as I do. Recently I acquired two new snowmen, compliments of fellow bloggers!

Last month I won Morgan's giveaway just by being the 2nd commenter on her giveaway post, and she sent me this delightful snowman mug filled with hot chocolate and coffee packets.

And look at the cozy red and black knitted scarf she sent with it! How did she know it would match perfectly with my red coat?! I love it! Also, a sheet of winter scrapbooking rub-ons was included, which will be put to good use. What a special prize! Thank you, Morgan!

Today's mail delivered another extra-special hand-crafted snowman created by Michelle over at Allen Designs. If you check her handmade ornaments post, you can see exactly how she made one of the limited editions I purchased from her Etsy shop.

I love it! The button is an antique bingo piece. She asked if I wanted a certain number just in case she had it available. I think 52 was a very good year, so I picked that button. And, not only that, but it's G-52...G for Girotti!

He's already on my tree, and he looks like he belongs there. Isn't he whimsical? Thank you, Michelle!

Michelle's latest post has even more handmade snowmen--large stand-up tabletop ones. I wish I could have attended her snowman workshop, but Washington State is a l-o-n-g way from Virginia!

Do you collect any Christmas items? Any snowman collectors out there? Snowflake collectors? How about antique bingo button collectors? :)

~Deb

Congratulations, Jonathan!

I would like you all to join me in congratulating my dear older brother, Jonathan, on completing his college career! Yay! Naturally, his joy is great at reaching this milestone.

Friday he finished up his VERY LAST EXAM! As you may know, he has used distance learning to earn his bachelor's degree, so he won't be walking down the aisle with the rest of the graduates today. He will be getting his diploma in the mail soon, though.

Toiling through class after class, sending in line after line of computer code, he has made it through 4 1/2 LONG years of higher education, although at times it has made one feel like this:

Nevertheless, he has persevered through it all!!!!

His journey to this point started at birth. Naturally, throughout his childhood, his career ambitions changed rapidly. Pugilist, fireman, and circus clown were fleeting phases. ;)

But all those have thankfully fallen by the wayside, and Jonathan is now what he was destined to be from the very beginning: an engineer. 

  

Congratulations, Jonathan! We are all very proud of you!

~Sarah

Christmas Tea & Cookie Afternoon Fun

Isn't the table absolutely beautiful?! This is the table setting that greeted us as we arrived at our Christmas Tea and Cookie Exchange this afternoon. And what delightful delicacies awaited sampling! There were Thumbprint Cookies, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Cranberry Scones, and Pretzel Treats. And, of course, delicious wassail was served in Christmas teacups.

Here's an up-close photo of the candy cane centerpiece.

Speaking of table settings and centerpieces, did you see Karla Dornacher's recent post describing a Christmas Tea she attended? There were several table displays - absolutely gorgeous! 

Anna, our hostess today, set a wonderful table, too! She made everyone who attended feel so special with all her loving and creative touches.

Christmas ornaments were used as name tags on each plate. Here's my name ornament which I brought home.

And here's a picture of the to-die-for chocolate strawberries we were served.

Anna also typed up a recipe booklet for each family attending so everyone would have each cookie recipe brought today.

The ladies who attended were from our local church family and also friends who traveled from West Virginia to be with us. Pictured here are Anna, our hostess for the afternoon; Bettie, mother of Jennie Chancey; and her apprentice, Cadie, from Kentucky, whom we enjoyed getting to meet.

Hannah with Madeline and her mom, Jenny, dressed in their bright Christmas-y reds. Notice the "chocolate chip cookie" clipped to Hannah and Madeline's clothes? This was part of one of the many fun games we played. If anyone said the word "cookie" during the afternoon, their paper cookie could be taken from them. These ladies all look quite calm, don't you think? Well, talk about squeals screams and excitement when someone said "cookie" by mistake!

Don't all these ladies look intent on picking out their cookies? There were so many varieties to choose from and all looked so delicious! We made our way around and around the table until all the plates were empty and ours were full!

We enjoyed our afternoon tremendously. Thank you, Anna and Leslie!

~Deb