Recuperating...

I am not feeling so well today my Dear Friends. Cookie Monster had a bug of some sort the day before Thanksgiving and was sick at work. I was hoping it was a fluke, but it seems I was wrong. I couldn't even enjoy a glass of wine with my bestie last night. So today I am recuperating from that and the holiday. Taking it easy and laying low. I have Christmas Music playing in the background and the house to myself all day long.

One of my Favorite Christmas Albums

Honey went to his sister's house in Illinois for Thanksgiving and will be home late tonight. Cookie and Princess are at their dad's in Minneapolis for the weekend. Cookie gets to unfurl the field size flag before the Minnesota Vikings game tomorrow with his Air National Guard Unit. He gets to go to the game for free and is so excited! 

I did have a quick little photo shoot to do. My cousin's children came to me and asked if I would take some family pictures of them for their parents for Christmas. They turned out really nice! 

Beautiful Family! 

Other than that, I am just doing some things around the house. I am putting away the Autumn/ Thanksgiving items and pulled some of my Christmas textiles out to get them freshened up and ironed. 

Bye Bye Autumn/Thanksgiving!

The Christmas Quilt I made for my Mama

Some of my Christmas Table Runners and Such

So I think for the rest of the day, the fur babies and I will just lounge away, do some laundry and knit the afternoon away. There may be a football game on and there is always Pinterest to get me in the Holiday Spirit. 

Sassy Lounging

My Newest Project, a set of mittens (I will get the thumb right this time)

Always Laundry to do

My Favorite Addiction (next to Pepsi!)

 Well hopefully this crud leaves soon and I am back to being myself. I don't like being down, but at least I have the peace and quiet to rest and recuperate. It could ALWAYS be worse. 

God's Blessings! 

Happy Thanksgiving from Our Family to Yours!

Hello Dear Friends. I hope your day was as Blessed as mine. I thank the Lord for the family, friends, and food that filled my day. I am very tired and very happy! Here are a few pictures from our day.

My Thankful Journal

Luna

Everything IS God!

Family!

Princess Pea!

Reminiscing

Snuggles! 

And this barn has cows....

Laughter

Princess Pea snuggling with her Uncle

Lots of Family! 

Smile

Siblings!

Grandma and Baby! 

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless!

Prepping for Thanksgiving

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving. A day we are supposed to take a moment to give thanks for the blessings in our lives. I try to live that way every day. I keep a Thankful Journal and number my gifts and blessings to remind me every day just how blessed I am.

However, because everyone else and the government has declared the 4th Thursday in November as a National Holiday called Thanksgiving, we are preparing to gather with our family and friends in celebration.

Tonight all the boys are home. Cookie has to guy friends who have pretty much been adopted into the family, Mike and Luke. They are both here and downstairs with Cookie playing video games. Of course getting pictures of them is nearly impossible, but the laughter and yelling coming through the floors is a welcome sound. Mike is here most nights but Luke is away at college. This is only the second break since August.

Princess Pea helped me prepare for tomorrow. I am always trying to learn more homesteading and survival skills and cooking from scratch is one of them. This year I took on the daunting effort of learning to make pies, with homemade pie crusts! My boss at work makes a lot of pies so she gave me her tips on how to make the crusts.

Princess Pea and I decided on one cherry and one pumpkin. Here are the fruits of our labors!

Ingredients! 

A Two-Crust Pie! 

Flour for Rolling

My First Crust! Fit Perfectly

A Lattice Topped Cherry Pie ready for the Oven

Princess Pea getting the pumpin ready for the pie pan! 

Helping the Pea with the Pumpkin!

Me in my Apron!

Princess Pea Cracking an Egg with one Hand! Talented! 

Pumpkin Pie ready for the oven

My Beautiful Princess Pea

Nearly Perfect! 

All Done

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours! 

Deer Camp

So, a long long time ago, my dear Mama started a tradition called "Deer Camp". It includes the family gathering on Friday night, playing games, listening to music, and reliving stories of Hunting Seasons gone by. When my Mama passed away, and I moved into her house, the tradition fell to me.

So this past Friday night, we opened our doors and welcomed the family home for the weekend. Most actually live close, but it does my heart such good to see them gathered together, bonding and sharing the excitement that is Deer Camp.

There was much laughter, a lot of food, and even a few deer!

My Godson and the deer he got with his bow

The buck one of my nephews got with his bow

My nephew and his buck

My niece and her doe! We are calling her Annie Oakley because this was a kill shot at 350 yards!

Princess Pea got to go hunting for the first time this year! 

My niece, Princess Pea and my brother heading out after lunch 

My brother and the doe he shot with the muzzleloader! 

I know that there are many people out there who do not believe in hunting or feel that hunting is murder. I am very sorry you feel that way. For me and my family hunting is a way to put food in our freezers. With the high cost of everything these days, every little bit helps. Venison is tasty and healthy and has no preservatives. It can be used the same way beef can and for the cost of a license, you have a lot of meat for a little price. Also, it is a great way to bond with the younger generation and teach them the survivalist/homesteading skills I believe they will need in the future. As you can see, even our girls hunt, and not only with guns, but with bows as well. Anyway, enough of my rant.  

Deer Camp was a success this year and hunting was safe. I am so grateful that this tradition continues to live on in our family and we have another generation that take it forward.  

I am really tired tonight. I am trying to write a little every day. I can't guarantee that I will be able to post every day, but I am going to try. I miss connecting with all of you and recording my family's day to day activities. 

By God's Grace, I will see you all tomorrow....