After Pictures

If you read the last post you know that we had to foreclose on a little house that we remodeled.

It was trashed but thankfully not damaged too much at all. Here is the kitchen when we got through with it. Looks a lot better than the last post, huh?
This is the little dining room.

This is the livingroom. We refinished these hardwood floors. This is an old house and these are the original floors. They are so pretty.

It is amazing what a little hard work will do. We are very thankful that we got the house back in as good of condition as it was. Now we are hoping that we get some people in it that have integrity. We have had several calls today but my husband is going to be very careful this time. We don't want to do this again anytime soon. We have purchased another house that we will be starting the first of August. We love doing it. We work very hard but it is a challenge. We have got to make some time for fishing soon too!!

Special Note to my Cousin Nancy: Before you left your sweet comment, Alyssa had already called me and told me that they met you. She was so excited. You are a sweetheart. I need to get your email!

Integrity

We remodel homes and resell them as a side job. When we get them they are in really rough condition and we go in and fix them up like a doll house. We actually have a lot of fun doing this together even though it is very hard work.
We had to foreclose on this little house. It was not a sad story like someone losing their job. It was just a lazy person that would not work. Of course we found that out several months later after they would not pay. The house was trashed once they moved out. They even left the washer & dryer.

You can see the piles of trash we got out of the house. Those bags are just the start of many.
We had 2 friends that helped us clean up the yard and house. They were great. We could not have done it without them.

This is what we did with their stuff that was left. We put it on the side of the road and put free signs up. It didn't take too long before someone picked the stuff up.

I guess they just leave what they don't want. We were lucky because there wasn't too much actual damage. The hardwood floors that we refinished had 1 big scratch on them but I think I can fix that. The vinyl floor in the kitchen was tore where the washer and dryer were. Oh and I forgot to tell you the most amazing thing. When we sold them the house it had a brand new refrigerator and stove in it. When the house was turned back over into our names my husband discovered that the appliances were gone. He talked to the neighbors and found out the people had sold our stove & refrigerator!!! What nerve! Anyway, luckily we found out who he sold it to and we had to buy it back. He sold 1500.00 worth of appliances for 150.00!!! But the guy was very nice that had bought them and had no idea that it was stolen property and let us buy it back for the 150.00. That was a blessing. We have worked so hard this weekend trying to get this house back in the shape it needed to be and we did it! It really got me thinking about integrity and what it means. I just could not imagine living with myself if I did something like this. I understand hard luck stories especially with the economy like it is. There are some really sad situations but this one was not that way.

Doors

Old Screen Door (actually 2 of them) one on each side of my screened in porch.

New Screen Doors
Isn't it gorgeous?

This is my closet in my bedroom. The closet doors tore up so I moved my entertainment center in there to make more room in my bedroom. I did still leave a few things hanging up. I have another closet for my clothes.


New Closet Doors
All I have to do is paint them now.
I moved my entertainment center back in my bedroom and this closet will be my new sewing area. I have wanted something so I can close it off when I am not using it. I will blog about it once I get it done. Imagine that?

Remember my little angel? Go check out my granddaughter's blog!

Cornbread

My grandchildren think making cornbread is more fun than anything.

Here they are greasing the pans. I always give them a wet cloth for their hands.

They have their pans greased-- now on to making the cornbread.
Notice how they use their hands. That is the way my best friend, Vicki
taught me to to make it.


Here is Alyssa putting them in the oven. Each one has their own iron skillet. Brother has a small one, Alyssa has a medium one, and I fix a large iron skillet!

This little angel even washes her dishes!!

Here they are with their cornbread cooling before wrapping it up to take it home.
I will try to give you Vickis recipe for cornbread but it is hard because she doesn't measure.
When she told me she would just say a little of this and a little of that. Vicki, if you read this and have any hints or changes leave a comment for everyone to read. She is the best cook ever!
This is absolutely the best cornbread you will ever eat.
Oh my goodness, this post is making my mouth water just thinking about it.

Vicki's Cornbread
Grease Pan extra well.
(all measurements are approximate)
1-1/2 cups of self rising cornmeal
1/4 cup of Self rising flour
1/2 cup of shortening (Crisco)
Buttermilk & water

Put cornmeal & flour in bowl. Add shortning and mix with hands.
Add enough buttermilk to moisten. Stir with hand.
Add just a little water to make it just a little thinner.
Pour into iron skillet (any pan will do) but there is just something about an iron skillet.
Bake 500 degrees until brown. (approx. 20-25 minutes)
Hope you enjoy!!

My Little Angel

Whenever you have a "down" day like I had yesterday the Lord always sends an Angel to help you get through it. This is my granddaughter, Alyssa and she is my angel.
I was still on a "pity party" today and had to keep 2 of my grandchildren.
They didn't know that I had a sad day yesterday.

I had several things to ship today. We sell on ebay to make extra money.
Just look at my little angel. She is so smart. She did all the computer part and even helped package some items.

It was so much fun working with this little angel. She smiles all the time unless she gets sleepy!

Here Alyssa is showing what all we packaged.

I think we had 12 packages.

When she was 3 or 4 years old my daughter and I had a business selling on ebay.

We actually did it full time. Alyssa learned how to ship packages before she learned to read.

Thank you Alyssa for being my little Angel!

Wanna hear the message the Lord sent me through my little angel?

Today while working on our ebay items Alyssa sung all day.

Guess what she sung?

Jesus Take The Wheel

Here are some of the words she sang

Jesus, take the wheel

Take it from my hands?

Cause I can't do this on my own

I'm letting go

So give me one more chance

To save me from this road I'm on

Oh Jesus, take the wheel

Oh, I'm letting go

Isn't it amazing how HE can speak through a 9 year old child?

Gardens, Plants, & Tests!

This is part of what I call my "Garden on the deck".
There are squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, Onions, cucumbers & more.
My deck looks pretty rough but we just had it pressure washed and are fixing to have it restained. (more about that later).

My garden down in the field is not as big as it was last year.
I planted a late garden due to rain and keeping grandchildren
at the time it needed to be planted.
In this garden there is only, tomatoes, squash, green beans & peppers.

This is one of the 3 apple trees we planted last year that my daughter Mandy gave us.
See my little apples?


Blueberries are ready for picking!!!
Blueberry Muffins are great!

Since I didn't get to plant as big a garden as I usually do I decided that I would do some container gardening on the deck. All of my plants were planted later than they should have been but are still doing great. I have had a lot of peppers, squash, cucumbers and onions. No tomatoes yet. I am really looking forward to a good tomato sandwich! We have really enjoyed the blueberries a lot this year. I can't believe how fast the summer is getting by. You may not believe this but as much as I love summer, I am already looking forward to fall & winter.

Today has been one of those days that started out bad and went downhill from there. Whenever you hear the songs on this playlists you know that I am needing encouragement. There is no reason to go into the details of my day because you just would not believe it. Ha! I do know that I am so thankful. We are so blessed. I know that these little tests are for a reason. What? I don't know. I just want to hurry up and pass the tests. Do you ever have one of these days?
This too shall pass.
Tomorrow is a new day!!

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1 Peter 4:13

This Will Make You Smile!

This is my oldest and my youngest grandchildren with the 2 others in the background. We were driving down the road and "Little D" got so tickled at "Tris" popping her bubble gum. The other voices you hear are "Alyssa" & "Brother"! My grandbabies are 14 years old, 9 years old, 6 years old & 6 months. So Precious! I hope this makes you all smile. Have a great weekend!

My Granddaughter's Surgery

Here is Triston's parents talking to surgeon after surgery.

He is showing a picture of how they went in and went behind her lungs and heart to clip these nerves. You can't even see my daughter in this picture and don't ask me who that man is facing us. I have no idea.

Here she is all drugged up after surgery. She asked me not to show her face but she knows that Gran has to show at least one. She is beautiful.


Here she is being wheeled out to the car.


She probably won't remember any of this so I took pictures to show her later.

My sweet granddaughter Triston had surgery yesterday. She had a condition called Hyperhidrosis. Have you heard of this? It is where the palms of her hands & feet sweat more than most people. I had never heard of this before. I would not notice it unless Triston brought it to my attention but it bothered her so much that it affected her life. They went in behind her heart and clipped the nerves that triggered this. There was a good chance that it would fix the hands only and hardly touch the feet if at all. Her doctor told her that the surgery would be mainly for her hands and she was fine with that. She just wanted it fixed. But when she came out of surgery they said her hands and feet are both dry. They had told us that we would see an immediate difference and we did! So far, so good. She came through the surgery fine and will have a few days to recooperate. The surgery only took an hour but she was in recovery several hours. We got to the hospital at 12:00 and left at 6:00 p.m. It was a long, nervous day for us but Triston wasn't nervous or scared at all. We are so thankful she is doing well. Please keep her in your prayers.

Special Time With My Mom & The Quilt Store

This is my beautiful Mom showing me her quilt blocks that her & her best friend worked on this past weekend.

You can read more here. Moms best friend cut all these blocks for her as a gift.

Here Mom Is showing me how she is going to embellish these blocks with buttons and ribbons.

They spent last weekend at my Moms house having a little quilt retreat of their own.

What would we do without "best friends"?

This is a quilt top using panels
that they showed us at the quilt store.

Look at this gorgeous table runner.

This is a quilt top using a panel that she showed us at the Quilt store.


Another Quilt Top


Christmas already?



This is the quilt we are working towards at the Saturday Sampler.


This panel was hanging in the quilt store. Me & Mom really loved it.

It had some of our favorite verses on it. You may have to enlarge it to see it closer.


My Mom & I live about 30 minutes apart so we don't get together very often but when we do it is so much fun. We talk every night through Yahoo Messenger. We go to this quilt store once a month for the Saturday Sampler so this is our special time. We always start this day with breakfast at Panera Bread. I enjoy my time with Mom so much. I have so much going on and so many people that are dependant on me that this is like a little getaway with Mom. This is our second year doing this with the Quilt Store and I hope we have many many more special times. We both have "best friends" but we are "best friends" too!

Check out our favorite Quilt Store: Lavender Lime

Tomorrow Is The Day

Tomorrow is the day that I plan to get really serious about losing some weight. Last week Sherry & I agreed to account to each other about changes in our life style. I love blogging buddies!! I want to lose a little weight and get healthier. I don't believe in diets because I see so many people diet and then put the weight back on, plus more. Don't we all go through this at least one time a year? Tomorrow is the day! Sherry & I decided that we were going to try to walk 3 times a week and drink at least 6 glasses of water a day. Every time that I try to do something like this, something hinders me from really getting started. So this is the week that I am really getting serious & I really mean it. Thanks Sherry for your encouragement and friendship.

Tomorrow is the day......................

right after today.......................

right after I eat these!!!!!

Yummy. I had these and a cold coke. These are called "Spreads". I got the recipe from

The Pioneer Woman! Imagine that!!! Visit her web site to get step by step directions. This is such an easy & delicious recipe. I have never fixed anything that she cooks that is not wonderful! Here is her recipe for these cookies:

Spreads
1 cup brown sugar

1 cup margarine

1 egg

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 to 8 ounces chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together brown sugar and margarine. Add egg and mix together. Add flour, salt, and vanilla, and mix together well.Spread dough onto cookie sheet to a thickness of 1/4 to 1/2-inch. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until slightly brown.Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Return to oven for 1 minute.Remove and spread melted chips over the top.Cut into squares.

I promise that tomorrow is really the day!!!!

Wanna join us? All you have to do is try to drink 6 glasses of water a day and walk 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes. We will be adding things along the way.

Baby Steps!

Just A Few More Pictures Of Cabin

Can you tell that we loved this place? Well, we did. And I cannot wait to go back there. It is a little piece of heaven. Enjoy the pictures below. Have a Happy Fourth of July!

Blue Ridge Lake

This lake was absolutely beautiful. The fishing was lousy but the views were beautiful. We were told that Travis Tritt and Faith Hill own homes on this lake. This lake has a rocky bottom and in some places you can actually see the bottom. It is cystal clear and almost blue.The lake is home to bass, bream, catfish, perch and crappie, which make the area popular with anglers. It is the only lake south of the Great Lakes where Walleye are caught, and is also known for white bass fishing. Enjoy the pictures below.