Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone was able to spend a nice dinner and evening with their loved ones. I found some pictures on Anna's camera. This is a quilt that Lizzie made in almost a day. She made it for a friend who is a taxidermist. Mr. Jamie tanned the fox hides that Maggie and Lizzie shot...but he didn't charge them because he wasn't pleased with the outcome. It wasn't his fault...they were summer hides...not the nice winter hides.

Anyhow, Lizzie wanted to thank him with a quilt. The fish is from a panel I bought at the thrift shop. It has lots of different size fish. Lizzie cut out the largest one and appliqued it as the centerpiece. What a clever idea!

See the hides on Maggie and Lizzie's skirts? This picture was taken outside our church, right before they were to serve at the popular Sportsmen's Banquet. Mike brought Jamie as his guest, and afterward Lizzie gave him the quilt.
Here's Anna's new window on her treehouse. The window was a Christmas gift that I bought at the local Re-Store...where all the money goes to Habitat for Humanity.

Here's a closeup. Anna is so pleased. Now Lizzie wants a window for her treehouse.

I'll give you the grand tour of the inside.

Anna loves having a firepit inside so you can cook dinner over a campfire.

Grilling some mushrooms.

Rice and mushrooms. So if you ever have a hankering for rice and mushrooms, just drop in at Anna's. It's better than the grits she used to serve!

Here's the proud home owner. It's almost time for spring cleanup. Once the snakes come out, I get fanatical about wood lying around.

Anna hung a tarp over the top until she can make a permanent roof. But the tarp roof is nice...it allows the smoke from the firepit to escape.

Anna sewed up some sandbags to keep the tarp anchored...a good thing on days like today when the wind is just whipping everything around. Our county is under two alerts...wind gusts up to 50 mph and fire alert. I guess the ground is dry enough and the wind is strong enough that a flame could really wipe us off the map!

Here we are back to Valentine's Day. (Even though Mike installed Foxfire, I still can't click and drag my pictures.) Ruthie did a great job setting the dinner table for Valentine's Day. I enjoy using my fine china. My pattern is Noritake's Carolyn. The center of each dish has pastel flowers. My crystal is not expensive...I wanted my children to be able to use it.

This morning when we came downstairs, Mike had written love notes to each person in the family. He wrote down all the ways he appreciates us individually. What a great guy! Mike has always been good about the important things...like flowers, birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, etc. His momma trained him well!

Maggie made a delicious soup with onions, garlic and croutons. I wish there were leftovers.

For the main meal we had grilled salmon, mixed veggies, and rice pilaf. We haven't had salmon in a long time (it's expensive!) and it was as good as I remember. Mike sprinkles it with lemon pepper and old bay. Perfect.

Silly family. When they saw me with the camera, they all decided to pose.

Anna and Maggie made dessert. I call them canoli. Whatever they are, they are rich and yummy. In fact, I ate two only because everyone was taking two...but I should've only eaten one. My tummy hurt from the second one. Thank you family for everything. It was a lot of fun.

I have been watching an auction this past week for a wash board on eBay. Can you guess the price of this yellow ware wash board? With an hour to go before the end of auction, the price is at $380. Wow! And the reserve price has not been met yet!

Our family is going through round two with sickness. First we had headcolds, now we have a virus that includes a terrible headache. It must be what a migraine feels like. Four of us had it so far. I had it all day today but now it is subsiding. No fun!

I was hoping to get a lot of spray painting projects done today but the wind was so strong and my headache so bad that all I did was some hand sewing. No piano, violin, or voice lessons...no one felt well enough and we didn't want to spread anything. Actually, Anna is doing well...she is just congested enough that she can't sing.

Anna and I follow a lot of missionaries through blogs and prayer letters. It really makes you mindful of what a lost world we live in. Some of our missionaries live on the frontlines dealing with demon possessions and the worst of the worst. I find myself whispering prayers for them all day long. Praise God...He's listening every time I have a free moment.

Many blessings ~ Kathie

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. ~ Zephaniah 3:17