Daddy's home!! We sent our beloved Daddy to California two weeks ago...and he came back as Santa. We call him Porky, which is supposed to be short for Porcupine...but for some reason, Mike doesn't appreciate that nickname!

Actually, the story behind the goatee is this: My hubby, who doesn't have a rebellious bone in his entire body...is participating in a rebel cause. Someone at work made a comment about the goatee of one of the teachers, so all the guys are now sporting goatees. When Mike goes to work tomorrow, he will get his picture taken, then shave the goatee. (Yes, it's all in fun.) Mike arrived home Saturday morning...to an empty house! The rest of us were off yardsaling. I've only gone yardsaling once or twice in my life years ago, so this was a new thing for me/us. We got a long list from our local website www.somd.com, then took off. We went to two church sales and two home sales.The church sales were laughable as far as prices. At the first church I bought filters, fabric, and a cute little stoneware vase for 50 cents. Maggie bought a new purse and wallet for $1, and Allen bought a pocketknife for 50 cents. Those are our kind of prices! At the second church, we helped them out buying a lot more. The round wood you see is 1-1/4" thick and makes a great trivet.

We didn't buy anything at the two home yardsales because of the steep prices. But we sure enjoyed driving into the countryside. When we arrived at this out-of-the-way home, the horses and goats came up to us.

The folks at this log home held their yardsale throughout their home. What a wonderful treat to see the inside with all their antiques, etc. They are moving, so most of the beautiful furnishings were for sale.
After the yardsales, we went to the St. Mary's County Fairgrounds for the annual booksale. Wow! Each building held a different category of books: childrens, fiction, nonfiction, etc. It was wonderful! We came home with a stack of books and magazines that cost us $11. Not bad at all! We also got to see some old friends, so it was a nice time.

This week Allen finally decided to sell his K'nex on eBay...until he brought them upstairs and started playing with them again! So much for that! He made this hummer that has a motor and works great.

While I was gone all day for Maggie's appts, I left my children this cupcake tray full of 12 different pastas, beans and grains so they could glue them like mosaics. Here are the beautiful results:

Yes, more cactus and horses...a common theme around here!

Isn't this nice? My children loved doing it and asked to do it again. I like cheap art projects.

This week I listened to an inspiring sermon on the radio that had to do with praying. The preacher told us we needed to add more adoration to our prayers. I was very convicted. The rest of the week I've been carrying the James 5:16b in my heart ~ "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." I googled this verse and found this good sermon.

Enjoy your Sunday rest. Many blessings ~ Kathie

I know I've written about the upcoming Bible Bee this September, but I found out recently that the awards are pretty substantial...$100K for first prize! This could pay for 4 years of college and a few missions trips. Click here for the list of awards, then go sign up!

Maggie is having a terrible week with pain. Her therapist isn't sure what is causing it...either her new accupuncturist or the ultrasound treatments. Nevertheless, the only thing that gives her relief are hot compresses. Since it was taking too long to heat our homemade rice-filled tube socks in the oven, I decided to buy a microwave oven. So I let my request be known to the Lord, then went to the thrift shop and bought the perfect small microwave for $10. Thank you, Lord!

I haven't had a microwave for years...for two reasons. First, I hate giving up my countertop or pantry space, and secondly, because of the growing concerns of eating microwaved foods. Click here for more info on the dangers of eating microwaved foods. This is one of hundreds of websites. There is a reason why there is a growing number of children with asthma, autism, and food allergies.

My great aunt Sarah embroidered this lovely picture for my Sarah when she was born. Unfortunately, because there was no glass to protect it, this picture got quite dirty over the past 21 years. I tried to take this cloth to three dry cleaners but no one would touch it. Then I studied several websites online that made it sound easy. I followed the directions, and sure enough, when it came out of the solution, it looked beautifully clean; however, when it dried, it bled. I am so disappointed. Fortunately, Sarah says that's okay, it just adds to the vintage appeal. Oh well. I will now put a piece of glass in the frame.

Last Monday, I was driving down the highway and saw a huge pile of boxes and toys stacked up with a sign saying free. It was leftovers from a huge yardsale. At first I passed by...then I did a u-turn! I was able to find 16 pairs of denim jeans!! The past two evenings I relaxed while cutting out all the useable parts including the pockets. So much fun! Now I have a large stack to cut squares, diamonds and strips for quilting and weaving. What a treat!

Anyone need a camcorder? The folks at http://www.1saleaday.com/ are selling this one worth $650 for $160! We've bought a dozen things from this website and never been disappointed.

When I was a child, my Dad had to travel often for work. He usually tried to come home for weekends, but not always. I don't ever remember him calling home. If he did, it was short and sweet...and he only talked to Mom. Long distance was expensive, not for chatting on about daily events.

So it always amazes me to watch today's children keep in touch with their Daddies via email. All throughout the day they are chatting away with him.

One of our family's favorite Bonanza episodes is when Ben Cartwright comes home from a long trip and Hoss meets him at the stagecoach.
"How are things?" Ben asks.
"Oh fine, Pa. Burned the barn down, but everything's fine."
"What?!"
"Just kidding, Pa."

Anyhow, when my children found out their Daddy was being delayed in California this weekend, they decided to let him know how needed he was here in Maryland. (BTW, the reason for Mike being delayed is because his navy jet is broken, so his students aren't getting their flying accomplished. Back here in Maryland, broken navy jets is also way too typical.)

Here's the letter:

Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're all so sad to hear you're not coming home tomorrow.

You'd better bring home some more socks, Maggie's using all of yours for rice bags, and while you're at it, get some more latex gloves, mommy and I have been using them for the paint remover, and by the way since I fried the extention strip you could get that too, and some more yarn to go with that loom you're bringing home, ollie says hi (woof woof) and says you'd better get a new bed, yours is just too crowded already.

We also found out that your tractor goes backward when you put it in reverse, it also doesn't go sideways when the bucket is all the way up, you might want to get some orange paint when you go to walmart for the white paint for your Honda, it's okay, just a scratch, we can't wait for you to get back, we're hoping you can smooth the neighbors over, they seemed to get really upset after we sunk the go kart in the road mud (thats how the tractor got broken) oh yeah, we also sold the BMW, and it only cost us 40 bucks (mom said it was a steal).

We set up the pool in the basement and we're having lots of fun...but the ceiling is kinda sagging...but worth the fun. The pipes leaked all over your desk but the water is contained to your area. Maggie's honeybees got delivered early, but don't worry, they love your closet. We duct taped under the door. Allen's fishtank burst, so they're in the tub.

We didn't take Lizzie to the hospital after that close shave with the tree, but we are down two fruit trees and some raspberry bushes, Lizzie's been really wild on the dirt bike, now we have to find another pole to put our birdhouse on, speaking of birds, mom said you had some extra glass (if you don't you could bring some home) we had a huge wood pecker run into our window, now there's a big hole, we covered it up with duct tape so it will hold until you get back.
well, will save the rest of the problems until you get home,

love you,

all the kids

Lizzie made these tasty blueberry muffins this morning to go with our oatmeal. They are so delicious!

We woke up to heavy snowfall, but now there isn't a flake in sight. Just yesterday I was driving by my amish neighbors in their fields, and thinking spring was almost here. Not so!

My children are practicing their special music for church on Easter. Sounds beautiful. This time I will be sure to get a good recording to post here on my blog.

Keep warm, think spring. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Anna has been sibling-sitting for me a lot lately while I take Maggie to all her dr appts, so I wanted to bless her in some small way. Since Anna is very faithful with her Bible reading and quiet time, I wanted to give her something that would be an encouragement to her in that area. I spent a few days researching prayer journals and Bible study journals. I ended up buying the above Praying Through the Bible from CBD (Christian Book Distributors). This is what the inside pages look like. I really like this book. CBD offers almost a hundred choices, so take a look. I recommend using CBD because they offer the most convenient "look inside" feature so you can know exactly what you are buying.
I also bought this Prayer journal, but both of us agree we don't like the setup:
Sorry the pictures look washed out. Anyhow, there are many free journals online. I bought the above journals because I wanted something small that Anna could keep with her Bible.
My favorite of the free online prayer journals is this one from Free Christian Printables. Plain and simple.

The website Hem of His Garment has several other choices as well as a Bible Study journal.

Here's one last choice to show you. Just click on the pictures to go to the accompanying website. I kept a detailed prayer journal in high school. I threw it away during a spring cleaning...something I have regretted ever since.

I also blessed Anna with two of these floor heaters by Feature Comforts. I bought these for $15 from a nearby woman who had listed them on craigslist.org. What a treat! Our sewing room is a converted cellar in our basement, so it is cold! That is great in the summer...but hard on the toes in the winter. So I placed one of these heaters under the sewing table, and the other one under the desk. Anna just came up and said the heaters worked wonderfully and she now has toasty toes! Thank you Lord!

If anyone has any ideas or comments on keeping a prayer journal, and/or a Bible study journal, I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Here in southern Maryland, we are finishing up four days of beautifully warm weather...but it is about to come to an end. Back to more typical temps in the 40s and 50s (30s at night). My daffodils are blooming...but no pictures because my ducks eat them first.

Enjoy your week. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Tonight we went to see a play at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church that was performed by their Poiema Homeschool Group. What an excellent production!

My children performed with this group five years ago, so we already knew it would be a topnotch performance. This year's play was about George Mueller, the famous missionary who started many orphanages.

As you can see, this is a Bob Jones University Press play. I am so thrilled that my children were able to see it. It was also a sort of reunion evening for us since we got to see many old friends.

Remember the snow pictures I shared with you just five days ago?! Well, those are long gone, as is the snow. Yesterday and today we enjoyed 75 degree weather. Tomorrow should be more of the same. So today we joined all the other southern Marylanders who were suffering from cabin fever, and off we went to the farmer's market. We found Uncle Norm doing the same thing.

Ruthie found this cowboot lamp for her bedroom nightstand. We thought $13 was a good deal for it. It sure was worth her excitement!

I'm not sure if you can see what this is, but it is a level that has bolts for hanging keys. I thought it was cute. We saw lots of farm animals and antiques.

My friend Joan, from Wyoming, sends me fun brain games from time to time. Well, today she sent me an email with the next picture. Joan says she can tell spring is right around the corner because they are seeing the deer wandering around now:

Aren't they cute?! And what a fun joke.

Well, I am being kicked off the computer since Sarah has an English paper due on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. We hope to spend more time out in the warm weather after worshipping our Lord in the morning.

Many blessings ~ Kathie

Spaghetti for 100 people

I decided to post this since I would have liked to have had this info before our church's Spaghetti Dinner. The amounts below are what was consumed. It is up to the cook how much extra to make.

Spaghetti:
Prego spaghetti sauce ~ 9 - 4# bottles (1 cup per person)
ground beef ~ 10#
noodles ~ 14#

Garlic bread and pickles:
loaves ~ 10 (2 slices per person)
butter ~ 3#
garlic powder ~ 1/2 cup
pickles (spears, slices, baby dills)~ 1 jar each
green olives ~ 1 large jar
grated parmesan cheese ~ 1#

Salad:
baby spinach ~ 10 oz
spring mix ~ 10 oz
garden mix ~ 8#
romaine ~ 6 heads
6 cucumbers
grape cherry tomatoes ~ 2# (sliced in half)
3 cups italian dressing

Dessert:
pound cake ~ 20
coolwhip ~ 5 16-oz containers
strawberries ~ 16# (sliced in quarters)

Iced Tea ~ 8 gallons
Lemonade ~ 3 gallons
Coffee ~ 5 potfuls

Tips:
It is crucial that you cook the spaghetti noodles the day before, adding lots of canola oil as you go (both to the boiling water and the cooked noodles). Cook the noodles one minute less than called for. Completely cool with cold water and store in the refrigerater. (Must be completely cooled.) An hour before serving, turn on water to boil. Boil noodles for one minute (or until heated through), then place in a well-oiled Nesco roaster (or crockpot). Keep roasted on warm setting. Do not stir the noodles once in the roaster.

Cook your ground beef and add it to the sauce the day before. Cook the sauce mixture about 20 minutes to get the flavors going. You can spoon it back into the jars and refrigerate.

Since the bread is the cheapest item on the menu, it makes sense to make extra.

I got the most compliments on my freshly-brewed iced tea not being too sweet (I used 3/4 cup sugar per gallon) and Lipton tea bags (5 bags per gallon).

I also served the following spaghetti for vegetarians (and because this was not a fundraiser):

spaghetti noodles ~ 4#
mizithra cheese, grated (Greek cheese with the saltiness of parmesan...only tastier)
1/2 cup olive oil

Toss and serve warm.

I know everyone is tired of looking at snow pictures by now, but I've been too busy to post mine.

This is the only bad part about getting so much snow...the dangerous road.

I tiptoed out and measured 15" in two different places. My neighbor did the same. I think we get so much because we are up on a knoll. Anyhow, the rest of the county got between 11 and 12".

I hope I never tire of looking at snow. Isn't it wonderful the way God chose to make snow white and beautiful? He could have easily designed snow so that it absorbed all the dirt in the atmosphere...then we would have black snow everywhere to remind us of our sin. Ugh!
This is the only part of snow I don't like...the dangerous road. Anna took this picture. You can only hope that no one is coming up while you are going down.
This picture is for my friend, Lee, who asked me what mayonnaise we use since we are allergic to egg whites. These three mayonaises are available at our Walmart supercenter, and contain only egg yolk...and they don't taste half bad. (My favorite is Duke's.) There is a 4th mayonaise that is in the Mexican food section that is lime flavored. I like it but my children don't. Hope this helps!

HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY, MAGGIE!

Yesterday was a very busy day, so Maggie's birthday was lowkey. I love this picture of Maggie. At one time, Maggie had 12 bunnies. Now she is down to five. But for all of her growing up years, Maggie was the one person responsible for the 12 bunnies. She fed them daily and kept their cages clean. No small feat. So for her birthday, I found this adorable bunny hutch from Target:

Isn't it cute?! These are dollhouse toys that are part of a large collection of very different but realistic toys.

I also gave Maggie an automatic soap dispenser from Superhuman, and a cute little bolero jacket that was too small (for which Lizzie is the happy recipient!). One good thing about having 5 daughters...there is always someone that will fit into whatever I buy!

Sarah, Anna, Lizzie and Ruthie spent the week in the sewing room making gifts for Maggie. I will show you their gifts tomorrow...after I take pictures...after I recharge my batteries.

We had a nice dinner with Mom, Dad, and cousin Dustin. I guess we had a lot of fun because we were too busy to take pictures. Today we have one appt in the afternoon, so it's a slow day.

The one good thing about having 7 appts each week is that I get a lot of time to listen to the radio. Our town has a good station (88.1 for you locals) that is the FBN (Fundamental Broadcast Network) that I call my Sword of the Lord station. Anyhow, I've gotten to listen to Lester Roloff most days. I enjoy listening to his sermons (10:30 am). He sounds like a grandfather who loves me and is concerned for my soul. This week he is focusing on the verse, "Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me." (Ps 51:10) Mr. Roloff is tying this verse with his theme of spring cleaning.

Enjoy the last of the snow before this weekend's warm temps melt it all away. Many blessings ~ Kathie

Ask and you shall receive! Just look at this snowstorm! Yep...we are in the 8-12" spot.I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture earlier today. We now have between 4 and 5 inches...and it's coming down steadily. Ruthie wiped off all the railings, so you can't see how high the snow is. Tomorrow I'll make sure to take a daylight picture.

This morning Mike left for sunny California for two weeks. He can't believe he's missing the snowstorm of the year! We have my Dad to thank for the snow. He just came home from Texas yesterday...and snow follows my Dad everywhere.

For the past two weeks, Dad has been fishing and enjoying 80 degree weather on North Padre Island, Texas. One day he called and said it was terrible weather. "Yeah," he said "We all got sunburned. Just terrible weather!"

This morning we stayed home and watched some videos from Vision Forum. The weather was lousy, and I keep coughing because of some cheese I accidentally ate this week. I sound like I have a cold. Every once in a while I read a blog from a guy out west. His website is called Adventures of a Buffalo. I enjoy reading his blog because he has great buffalo pictures, but he is as liberal as they come. Anyhow, his blog is easy reading and I learn a lot about buffaloes, frontiersmen, and native americans.
This year I joined Facebook online. I only did it because many people would write to Sarah and ask her if she were my daughter. Well, I rarely looked at who was writing...until recently. I joined a group from the ranch where I spent many summers, and I've been having a wonderful time catching up on old friends.

Since some of us have posted a bunch of pictures (202 so far!), we've been trying to name everyone in the photos. I thought you'd enjoy the above picture...so typical of our skits. These two gals were poking fun at the head counselor (who was one of the girls' dad). Oh, how I loved that camp!

I guess piano and violin lessons are off because of the snow. Maggie has 4 appts on Tuesday, so I hope something melts before then!

Enjoy your new week. It's my turn to be both Mom and Dad, so you can be sure I will be thanking God for my husband...and a host of other things. So much to be thankful for...that's for certain and for sure.

Many blessings ~ Kathie