The View From My Window...

This is the view from the dining room and kitchen.  We live in the city, but our hearts are in the country. For now, we can't afford to move to the country and I am so thankful for where the Lord has us and I enjoy the beauty He gives us right here. I love the view from my windows as I work in the kitchen.  We call our property our "homestead wannabe". This picture is from last year... and this year we have added 4 new built in garden beds.

I love the way the sugar maple leaves and the river birch leaves come together in the yard... and create such a lovely mixture of colors.

Every year, I have to persuade my guys to leave the leaves on the ground for a while. They look so beautiful... but my guys love to get out their big leaf blowers and blow all of the leaves into a big pile, then mow and mulch them. I am thankful they do that... but I don't let them do it right away. :)

When the kids were little, they loved raking "roads" in the leaves and they would walk them, play tag in them,  ride their bikes in them, build pretend cities and more. They had hours and hours of fun playing together and I love it... and it is good for them. I even want them to have fond memories of raking leaves instead of just the high powered blowers doing the job. Don't get me wrong... I am thankful to have my guys use their blowers to clean up the yard... later. :)  First, I want the kids to have time to play in the leaves... and I want us to be able to take pictures of the colorful beauty.

You can see our weather station in this picture... it is on the back deck. We enjoy watching the weather and we like our weather station - we use it for school. The view from inside of the house is so pretty when the leaves are changing. I love how the view changes and how the house seems to glow as it reflects whatever colors the leaves are.... the yellows, oranges and reds make it so uplifting and bright inside of the house. 

I love the reflection of the beautiful fall colors in the cabinet doors - it makes is so much nicer to work inside when I would really like to be outside. :)  

Here are the leaves under the tree... so pretty... and I am guarding them to prevent my guys from cleaning them up. Now, how often does that happen?  It is actually kind of funny that Mom is asking the guys to leave the yard "messy" (in their words!)  :) 

Our trees are not quite to this point yet, and maybe they won't be quite this vibrant this year.... every year is a little different, but it is already so pretty... as we enjoy the spectacular display before the tree go to "sleep" for the winter. This bright burst of color is so appreciated by us.... and so looked forward to.  Even when the yard is messy with the ladder, wheelbarrow and more, the leaves put a coating over all of it and turn the plain into something very special. God seems to do that in so many ways... and I am thankful. I am also thankful that you came to visit my blog today... I hope you are able to enjoy the beauty around you...

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Cherry Pie Meets Cheesecake!

In my family, we love cherry pie ......... and we love cheesecake... a lot. So, I had the idea to combine them. Hmmm.  It actually turned out to be very tasty.... and was really appreciated. I made some mistakes that I will try to do differently next time... and we have decided there WILL be a next time. :)

 First, we made the pie crust and put it in the pans.

 Next, I stirred up a half of a batch of cheesecake filling (using 2-8oz pkgs cream cheese, 8 oz sour cream, 1 c. sugar, 2 eggs) and divided it among the 3 pies and smoothed it in the bottom of each pie crust.

Here is where I made a mistake.. I was making the cherry filling... and I make it both ways... thickened on the stove or just put it all in the pie... this time I just put it all into the pie and then realized it would be best to thicken it on the stove when doing this type of cheesecake pie. :)

It still tasted great... just looked a bit funny.

 Two of the pies were filled up with cherries on top of the thin cheesecake layer.

 Instead of the typical basket weave top that I usually do, we just did a plain crust on top, since it was faster... and I think we will be doing it like this more often.  :) 

 This pie had cherries, but not enough to fill the crust.... you can see how the runny cherries and juice combined with the cheesecake layer. This is why I plan to be sure to thicken the cherries on the stove before I put them on top of the cheesecake layer next time... I think the pie slices will be more attractive.

Now, since there weren't enough cherries to fill this pie, I tried to think of what I could add to it to fill the pie......

 I mixed up a package of instant chocolate pudding and put it on top, hoping the combination of cheesecake, cherries and chocolate would taste good... it sounded okay (not healthy, but tasty).  :)

 This is the top of the last pie.

 After baking....

You can see the cheesecake inside with the cherries... it didn't make a layer in the bottom as I had envisioned... because the cherries weren't thickened.  It didn't look the way I had hoped, but it was very delicious!

Next time I hope to perfect the smooth cheesecake layer in the bottom of the pie.

One of my sons dished up... see the BIG slices? :)  He also said we NEEDED ice cream with it...  Everyone LOVED this experiment. It tasted like cherry pie... but with an added rich creaminess.

  By the way, the next night we had the chocolate cheesecake cherry pie.... and the guys said they liked that one even better! :)

It is fun to experiment once in a while... usually it turns out pretty good... when it doesn't, we try again. :)  Thank you for visiting my blog.



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A Funny Story About Wonderful Oregano Oil

Oregano oil is very beneficial and has several uses. It works well as a natural antibiotic and research has shown that it can help foot and nail fungus problems, sinus infections, respiratory problems, urinary tract infections, cold sores, and more. It can also help kill parasites and infections. It can be used topically and can also be used internally.

It is very strong and can sting when taken by mouth... and it tastes... very strong. One time when I had strep, a friend suggested that I put a couple of drops in the back of my throat, so I did. I thought I was going to die! It was horrible! I choked, my throat hurt, I coughed, tears came to my eyes and it was hard to recover.  It really did help the sore throat though... although I did wonder if the cure was worse than the problem. :)

I did have to admit that it did work... and work quite quickly.... it helped me to get rid of strep which can linger quite a while, normally. I have learned to appreciate oregano oil very much... and we do use it. However, I never take it by the drops any more.

 Now, instead of taking it on my tongue or in my throat, I use an empty capsule and put a few drops in the capsule, then swallow it. I have also learned that I need to take a lot of water when I swallow this and I don't take it just before going to bed as reflux can occur.  When I do it correctly though, I find it very helpful and it is a blessing.  :)

 I do have a funny story though, about oregano oil. My family was struggling with a sore throat problem and one evening, I offered oregano oil to my husband and suggested putting it in a capsule. He motioned for my to just drop it in his mouth. Since this was his first time to take oregano oil, I said, "It will sting, do you want it in a capsule instead?" He said he would take it the "manly" way and motioned again to just put it in his mouth. I asked one more time and he still wanted me to just give it to him... so I did. He coughed and choked, and his eyes watered and he had a hard time. (I was a good wife and didn't point out that I said it would do that. :)  He said that stuff was awful, but he laughed a little bit about it and he went to bed.

A while later, Son #2 came home from late work and I told him what had happened with Dad earlier. Son #2 was sure that Dad had seriously exaggerated how bad the stuff was and figured it couldn't be "that" bad. After all, my kids are used to taking herbal drops at times and some of them taste pretty awful. Since Son #2 also had a sore throat... he said he would take some oregano oil. I asked if he wanted it in a capsule, but he said he would also take it the "manly" way. I warned him 3 times, as I had his father... finally I dropped it in his mouth... and he coughed, choked and reacted strongly.... just like his dad... and said, "That stuff is AWFUL!" I did kind of laugh with him and reminded him that I had said it would do that. :)

The next morning, as Son #1 was up very early getting ready for work and I was working in the kitchen while he ate breakfast, I told him the "funny story" from the night before.  Son #1 plays things pretty "cool" and he was sure his dad and brother had just exaggerated, since he was sure it couldn't be "that" bad. He was eating his cereal and wasn't very talkative... he was still tired... but he said he would take it since he also had a sore throat. I again gave 3 warnings and advised the capsule, but no, he was determined to do the "manly" thing and knew HE would have no problem with it.

I finally went ahead and gave him a couple of drops in his mouth... and there was no reaction. Wow, I was shocked. He just took another bite of his cereal. I did notice his eyes seemed to water a bit, but I didn't want to embarrass him, so said nothing. I have to admit I was pretty impressed that the reaction was so small... like I said, he plays things "cool". I turned my back and went to the other side of the kitchen and heard a loud sharp burp that he couldn't stop and I turned to look at him. He looked embarrassed and I realized he WAS having a bit of trouble with the oregano oil, but I didn't point it out. He finished breakfast very calmly and went to work, leaving me still impressed that he really didn't have much trouble with it. Wow, I was shocked at his pretty much "non-reaction"... I was sure it would bother him, but guessed I had been wrong.

A couple of hours later, Son #2 had to go to the same job site as Son #1 and it is nice when the guys can work together.  Son #2 called me after a bit and said that the first thing Son #1 said to him when he got there was, "I think Mom is trying to kill us!"  Apparently, it bothered him a lot more than he let on. We laughed over it... and we continue to laugh over this. Son #1 hadn't said ANYTHING to me about it... he acted like it was no big deal at all! :) Sons #3 and 4 also had sore throats and were offered oregano oil. I asked if they wanted it the "manly" way. They both had watched or heard about their dad and brothers' reactions and they both agreed that they wanted it the "SMART" way, which is in the capsule! Now, we all take it in a capsule.

One thing that was so funny about all of this story is that all 3 of the guys had 3 warnings and all of them had to prove they were tough enough to do this. I love it that they are all so similar and that they have all been able to laugh at themselves over this and that we all agreed that pride is not a good thing. :)

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Tea Party With Friends

My daughters and I had a rather impromptu tea party with a couple of friends, where we all showed our sewing projects to each other and chatted about sewing and other handwork. It was fun to see what others were working on and it was fun to share tea and treats.

 Some of our tea parties can be rather  fancy... others quite simple, but all of them are fun.

 We had shortbread... made in a special decorative pan, so it was pretty.

Our friends brought some wonderful savory treats also that had egg and sausage. They were delicious, but I don't have a picture, sorry. :)

We enjoyed seeing crochet projects, quilt projects and more. It was nice to spend time together and get to know each other even better.

These are truffles. This was the first time we had tried making truffles... and they were pretty tasty. We put some blue sprinkles on them to decorate them a bit.  I hope to make truffles again this year... and become even better at it. :)

It can be fun to have a tea party and use some of those pretty dishes that tend to just look nice in the cabinet. This time, we used the regular items.. the Oneida teapot is one we use very often. In the winter it is usually full of hot tea at breakfast, and we all drink a cup of it. With the cooler temperatures in the evenings and mornings as we are in fall now, we are enjoying tea more often and soon the teapot will be full of tea at every breakfast again. :)

I hope you are enjoying your day and I am glad you took time to visit my blog.

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Finding A New Bible....

When I was a teenager, I saved my money and bought a good quality Bible.... for $37.50, which was the discounted price my church offered for ordering this particular Bible. That was a huge sum to me at the time (I still don't take such an amount for granted! :)  I bought an Oxford KJV  Bible with a cover made of Genuine East Indian Calf leather and pages that were made of India paper. I used that Bible through a one year Bible Institute  with very intensive Bible study and then four years of Bible college, and in life, teaching, studying and more.... and I loved it. It was a high quality Bible and the more I used it, the more I treasured it. I memorized from it and could even picture in my mind where the verse was on the page in my Bible.... and what color of ink I had used to underline it. :)  My Bible became pretty marked up as I highlighted, underlined, made notes and just really used it.  This Bible held up well to Bible drills where we would quickly search for a particular verse or passage.... and as it aged, it just "fit" my hand better and better. As I said, I treasured it.

 Eventually, that Bible started looking a bit tattered... and very used, but still I continued to use it... and this Bible got a LOT of use - every day... and sometimes many times every day. A page or two developed a tear... and the binding started to break... and a missionary from Bangladesh took that Bible and carefully fixed it using some special flexible book glue. I was shocked at how nice it was again after he fixed it.... I couldn't even find the tear in the page. Of course, I decided to buy some of that glue- I had to special order it as it was a special library glue and it wasn't cheap... it worked great though, and I continued to fix my Bible when it needed it... the missionary had shown me how to use a toothpick to apply the glue in small areas... and use wax paper between pages as it dried. Though I fixed the pages, I also continued using that Bible... searching and studying... in Sunday School, church, at home.. and more.

Some pages started to come out... and the page size reduced as the pages wore away... no, they weren't tearing.... they just wore down from so much use.

 I tried to fix pages... and did sometimes... but the more I used it, the more it wore away... especially areas that saw a lot of use.

Finally, the glue went bad... it stunk so much and I had to throw it out, but by then, it was getting harder and harder to fix the Bible - it was wearing out.

When using it, I had to be careful not to lose pages, but I still loved this Bible.

Finally, I realized it was time to buy a new Bible.

I looked and looked, but couldn't find one that I liked.  I mean, they were the "Bible", but they felt odd and were not what I wanted. I tried Christian bookstores... and looked at many Bibles, but I didn't like any of them. One big problem for me was that the new Bibles had pages where the print could be seen on the other side of the page... and it made it hard to read. I didn't know what to do. A lady at a small Christian bookstore tried to help me, but I rejected all of what she had. When I took my old Bible in to show her what I was looking for, she said she understood my problem.  She said I had a very nice Bible-a very expensively bound one... the India pages are thin, but opaque and they make it easier to read... they are not used much today and then only in very expensive Bibles. I had enjoyed years of use with a very nice Bible and I guess I was a bit "spoiled".  She did tell me that a more cheaply bound Bible would never have stood up to the hard use I had given it over the years. She also said they didn't make them like this anymore.

 Well, I felt very sad as I wanted "my" Bible and not a new one. It was all God's Word... and yet, I had treasured my copy of the scripture... and it was such a dear friend and so easy to use.

My husband and son gave me money for Christmas one year to buy a new Bible... I think they gave me $65.00. We looked at new Bibles and I still couldn't find what I wanted - even among the expensive ones, so I started checking on ebay for Bibles from several years ago, thinking they were better quality and hoping I might find something similar to mine.  After several weeks of daily watching, I found one... one that was very similar to my old one and we bought it... for $67.50, I think. A lot of money, but what is more important than God's Word, right?

 When it came, I looked through it and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was easy to read... the pages looked like my old Bible's pages - only in better shape.

Eventually, we realized that it was almost the SAME Bible!! It was also published by Oxford... The leather cover was black and I really liked the brown cover better, but it was a great Bible and I was excited.

 After I checked it further,  I realized that the pages were EXACTLY the same! Page 897 has the start of Ezekiel 43 in BOTH Bibles... and the words are in the same place on the page as in my old Bible.  What fun to discover this! :)

After buying this Bible, I started reading through it and used a blue highlighter that year... the next year, I used a green highlighter... and yellow fits in there too.

 The "new" Bible was not a red letter edition, but I found that I liked the all black letters as well... or maybe even better.

As I marked up my "new" Bible, I drew closer to the Lord and found that I was discovering things in a new way as I started with an unmarked Bible.

 Now, I have used my "new" Bible for a few years... not sure how many - maybe 4 or so... and it is wearing a bit - of course, it was already about 30 years old when I bought it! :)

I have been very happy with it...

Once in a while, though, I pull out my old Bible and read it... and what a joy to see again the notes showing what God was teaching me at the time.

Both Bibles are kept and used... and I found a nice Bible for sale at a library book sale... and I bought it. I have learned what a treasure old Bibles are... I don't mean for collecting purposes... I mean for using. So, I am saving the one that I bought... it is the one I plan to use when this one wears out.

We had given our children new Bibles at various times... now we look for older Bibles at book sales and garage sales and give them a better quality bound one, which should last for many years. I don't find the good older copies often, but I DO find them... so many people just don't treasure the Bible... or use it.  I found one beautiful copy at a garage sale and it was from the estate of a woman who had simply displayed it on a shelf... and it was in almost perfect condition....for $2.00. They are out there, but it will take work to find them... it is a treasure hunt. :)

By the way, I know many are now using electronic "Bibles"... and that is okay, but for me, I want a hard copy of God's Word... and I want to "hide it" in my heart. Our Bibles are meant to be used... not just to sit on a shelf and collect dust. We are so blessed to have more than one copy of God's Word in our homes.... and there are those, even in authority, who would like to take that privilege away from us...  we need to use the Bible and get to know it daily, and if the Bible is ever outlawed here as it has been in other countries, what is hidden in our hearts can never be taken away from us.

Thank you for visiting today... I hope you have a good day... and that you enjoy fellowship with God today. :)

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Tea In The Garden...

We wanted to have tea in the garden... it was a lovely morning, quiet and peaceful, with a perfect temperature and the sun felt so nice. Tea in the garden sounded like a great idea. My daughter and I went out to the deck in the backyard. The deck overlooks the gardens and is near the pine trees... it is a beautiful setting even though it is in the city.

 The thing I had forgotten; however, is that we are in the process of getting ready to paint the deck.... and the deck furniture is all out in the yard. There was no chair or bench or table to use....

It was a very short time, but the sun was wonderful to feel and the temperature was about 71 degrees - just beautiful. We were going to just drink a cup of tea in the kitchen, but we were drawn to the backyard.

 Thankfully, the garden still has many beauties growing, so we walked about, carrying our tea...

 The Alstroemeria is blooming again and is so pretty. This was a gift for me from my husband earlier this year... and it has settled in nicely now.

 We had tried to use the deck table, which was out under the pines, but there were no seats and as you can see by the level of the tea in the cup, the table wasn't level either.

 Still, it was a beautiful morning to be out in the garden, so we did a "walking tea party".  Hmmm, a bit different from the norm, but it worked.

After walking and looking at some of the garden, we settled on sitting on the deck step to finish our tea.  My daughter has been sick and we stayed home from church, as we had a short outing the day before and didn't want to overdo things for her.  This little bit of time outside helped... and then we went in and she was able to rest in bed. Sometimes the early morning freshness is just so helpful. For those of you praying for her/us, thank you... she is doing SO much better.

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Haircuts For the Girls...

My girls both wanted to have their hair cut.... it was getting long and harder to manage... we all love long hair and do not plan to have short hair, but once in a while, it is fun to have a haircut... and it makes it easier to handle.

Both of them have beautiful hair... and they wear it in beautiful ways. This daughter's hair is fine and thin... the waves are only because she had had it braided or curled - it really doesn't hold a curl well, and she would like it to. She has learned to work with it though and she puts it in so many attractive styles.  :)  Her hair had become very thin at the ends and dry and it really needed some help. It sure looks beautiful here in this picture, though! :)

I am not a professional hair stylist, by ANY means. My only training has been in the actual cutting...by trial and error. I started by giving my brothers haircuts when I was about 14 years old or so... and have always cut the hair of my husband and children, so I have had a LOT of practice. :)  I go to get my hair cut and I watch to glean ideas and hints.

I cut a total of about 7" off ... and did some layering... then did a face framing for the front.... I just learned that part on my last haircut. :)

She LOVES it... and it is much easier to care for...and she can enjoy leaving it down more now.

 This daughter has very thick and full hair. When pulled back, her ponytail is about 3 times the diameter of her sister's. She has a LOT of hair and it is very pretty. She doesn't do as many things with her hair as her sister, but is learning more and more. It was long and had become hard to deal with because of how thick it is.... it would snarl sometimes or would just take so long to brush out nicely. She had also stopped wearing it down much because of this. She wanted it cut because she had come to dread brushing it or putting it up.

 I took about 6" off of her hair, and tapered it a bit, not much. I also did a modified face framing for her.
 She loves it and it really is cute on her...

Both girls can still pull their hair back, they can still braid it or wear it down.  Both found it odd to brush their hair and come to the end of their hair so quickly after it was cut.... 6 and 7 inches is quite a difference.

Here is the hair that I cut off from both girls... it was a lot. :)

When we set things up in the entryway to cut hair, my husband said, "You're going to cut their hair???!!!  NOOOO!!! I LOVE their long hair." Now, actually, he was not forbidding this at all, but just had some trouble letting the hair go. :) 

He liked their haircuts and was glad their hair is still long, but it was a bit painful for him to see it go. The hair continues to grow.... we don't cut it often and this was a more drastic cut than usual, but it was a help to them.

Sad to see that beautiful hair go, but the difference has been good for both of my girls. I know I enjoy a fresh cut to my hair... it can lift my spirits a bit and make it easier to fix.
It can also sometimes be hard to get used to. This time, they both just loved it.

The boys are asking again WHEN I will be cutting their hair... it wasn't that long ago... but the time is getting close again. It is nice to have their hair stay nice and neat and trimmed, so I will probably be doing theirs pretty soon also.

Thank you for stopping by... it was so nice to have you visit and I hope you have a wonderful day. :)

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