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I have moved this blog to this website: www.jeannenewalker.wordpress.com. It is so much more functional and just as beautiful.

Love

Jeannene

Security

I am so ashamed it has been since Saturday that I last wrote on this blog. Trust me, it isn't for a lack of anything to say for I assure you, there are plenty of things to talk about. It seems I am at a loss for time. I have been working on the WIP in an attempt to make some headway through the last third of the story. With diligence it will happen.

I worked this week end at my regular job. That meant I arose a 3:50 in the morning while my family snoozed away and I prepared my lunch and dressed and was out of the house by 4:30. Of course I didn't leave the farm without my escort by Corvette Man. Even on the week end my dear husband gets up with me. That wasn't the best part of the story. On both days I was greeted with a prepared meal as I walked in the door. Saturday Corvette Man found asparagus in the grocery store and steamed it to perfection. (And here I think I was the one to rediscover the kitchen this past winter.) Sunday the dear man fried chicken breasts and prepared broccoli to perfection(I know I just used this word, but there is no other way to describe the stalks of cooked broccoli tender yet not over cooked - I can't even get them this way.) There is no other way to show a woman she is appreciated than to prepare a meal for her and make her relax after the meal is consumed. I was made to feel like a queen.  Thank you Corvette Man and kids.

I was asked specifically not to post about this, but this is a small forum and I know he reads all my blogs and I just can't help myself. Help me! Help me!

As a woman, the most important thing in my life is the sense of security and stability in my life. When the Lord designed us, he designed man to provide those items to his counterpart. For this woman, security comes in the form of warmth and comfort. That most closely translates to WOOD.

Our voluminous wood pile has diminished its girth in our efforts to remain warm and comfortable through this unusually cold and wintery winter.

 

This is the whole of our two ricks of wood.  That's our momma cat on top there.

Armed with the knowledge of a week of cold weather and faced with the dwindling heat source, Corvette Man drove our big truck to work to fetch a load of wood. He did it knowing I would be home today and I would desperately need to stay warm.

 

He is wonderful and thoughtful and makes me feel like the luckiest women on the planet. I am warm and content and you know what that means....

Love as always,

Jeannene

One of My Favorite Things

I am only spending the briefest of moments here tonight. I am actually writing on my WIP (writer's slang for work in progress), but I have some little ditty I wanted to mention so I will make myself write about it.

Most people who know me know I am a health fanatic. I don't buy package foods and shop only on the outer edge of any grocery store, selecting fresh foods, meats and dairy and avoiding the additive laden garbage the food industry hopes to foist on an unsuspecting public. Enough of my soap box.

When I bake, which I do frequently. I prefer to use whole grains in my breads and cakes and cookies. Yes it IS possible to make a cake with a whole wheat flour! I discovered a wonderful brand of flour that provides all the benefits of nutrition while maintaining a light texture in the baked goods - it also tastes fantastic. This is it...

 

This a WHITE whole wheat. White wheat makes a lighter, finer weight flour than red wheat which will in turn give a fine texture to bread while providing all the nutrition of a whole grain.  There you have it. The best of both worlds. Now you do know white flour is over processed and not nutritionally sound. 

Enough of my soap box.

Kroger sells this brand. King Arthur also has a website and they will ship products to your door. www.kingarthurflour.com. (I should get credit for the free ads.) They sell all sorts of wonder grains and things.

Just wanted to share this little piece with you. I hope to share how I use it later.

Love,

Jeannene

Hanging Around

I was at home today. I love being at home. Home restores me, rejuvenates me, it infuses me with new life. I use my time to catch up on house cleaning, laundry and cooking. Cleaning and laundry are necessities, but cooking is a joy. It might stem from the fact I enjoy eating that cooking draws me into the kitchen so often, but creating culinary delights my family enjoys gives me a sense of accomplishment. Today I do not intend to go to the kitchen, though. Another conundrum presented itself this morning as I went about my drudgery.

I have a beautiful state of the art, matched set Maytag washer and dryer. I love Maytag products. They work well and hardly ever break down. There is something wrong with the programming on my dryer. The thing beeps incessantly and, at times, it will not turn on when requested. This morning it refused to start. I was sad. There were three loads of wet clothes and towels awaiting an opportunity to have the moisture beat from their fibers. After three hours of making the trip into the laundry room and pushing the button only to have...nothing happen, I conceded the issue and decided to resort to my only other alternative. I must preface that this alternative is my first choice in warm weather, but at forty degrees it leaves something to be desired.

I resorted to the clothes line.

 

Notice the cat in the foreground. There were more cats when I was hanging.

I love the clothesline in the spring and summer. Corvette Man and our sons installed this beautiful piece of art (I am not kidding either) shortly after our home was erected. He knows how much joy I take in standing in the sun, even if it means hanging clothes. Today they dried quickly because a south wind blew at a fair clip. 

After they were fresh and crisp, the dryer decided to start.

All in all, it was a good day and this clothes line truly is a treasured piece of heaven.

Love,

Jeannene

Our Other Best Friend

I didn't write last night due to extenuating circumstances. When I arrived at our house yesterday afternoon the temperature inside was just plain frigid. We are a small barn style construction without central heat or air. That translates to "light a fire in the stove or light the kerosene heater if warmth is desired". Thank the Lord we had enough kerosene in our heater to lend some warmth to the house until I managed to get the fire going.

This is a staunch piece of heaven.


Yesterday's temperatures surprised me, and the other half of Arkansas. A north wind barreled down on us preventing any warming beyond a paltry34 degrees. Even the puddles of water from the day before remained frozen completely-all the water in the puddle was ice. The chickens cowered on the front porch, its southern exposure protecting them from the northern on slaught, and the cats poofed themselves into fur balls to maintain body heat. The horses of course turned their rears to the frigid blast and remained in place (they are my weather vanes).

So you can imagine what the inside of a house, albeit insulated, might feel like with all that cold blowing around it.

Thank the Lord for kerosene heaters because they lend instant heat as a remedy and they don't falter in their endeavor. The heater we now have in service has the same original wick in it, going on three cold seasons. For us, that is incredible. I have three other heaters in the shed, all operational, but stored as stand-bys.(Some where in their history they failed me and a new purchase was required to fill the gap.)The heater in use now, though, is outstanding in its performance.

We warmed sufficiently to get a roaring fire burning in the wood stove. It burned warm, warm all night long.

I hope you all stay warm and well the remainder of the winter (and it just seems to be soooo longggg).

Love, Jeannene

At Home

This has been a weekend.

The weather today was cold and dreary keeping us all in doors, not to mention half the house had the sniffles and is hardly in the mood to migrate too far from warmth and food. After a quick run for groceries, me and the kids took a short walk, and I do mean short. No sooner were out in the stand of oaks out back when it started to rain. I was not discouraged, though. I had to get out in it, even in the winter drear to take pictures. We weren't alone in our trek. The cats joined us.

 

Can you even differentiate the cats from the tree? They blend in well with their surroundings.

The snow it melting,but winter still persists. I just wanted to take pictures and have something else to write about.  I like the way this camera will do close ups. I took some great shoots of the kids. They really are beautiful.

This is just a scraggly branch. It is only a practice shot,but I like the results.

I have packed a ton of tasks into these past two days and feel satisfied at all the results.  Today I made soup and bread and ended the day with homemade pizza - and it was good. My kids gave it an A+. They really feel loved after the effort.

 

I forgot to take a shot after it was cooked. Trust me it was delicious.

That's it for today's piece.

Love, Jeannene

My Love

A few days ago Corvette Man turned to me and said, jokingly of course,

I need to get to the jewelry store.

I looked him square in the face. 

What for? I asked, knowing Corvette Man seldom bought jewelry for me.  I took care of that task myself.

Well, you know, for a diamond of course, he said.

I guffawed in his face. He didn't take offense. He referred to a commercial he had just seen.

What do I need with a diamond? I asked.  I could think of ten different things I would rather have or need besides a shiny rock. (Kitchen stuff, horse stuff, kid stuff, play stuff - all kinds of stuff.)

Corvette Man laughed in return, knowing I wasn't interested in such a bauble.

I returned a response, though. I could use a camera.

Corvette Man grinned  as he eyed me out of the corner of his eye.

We'll go look this weekend.

Yesss.I said to myself.

Today my love took me looking (My intent was not to buy).  I did not intend to shop, but somehow we were sucked into the glamor of the whole thing.  I knew which camera I wanted and what I really felt would serve my purposes best and the salesman captured my attention so effectively we walked away with the camera I wanted and a better telephoto lens than expected (it was the one I really wanted). It is a Nikon D5000 - not the fanciest unit in the line, but for my limited abilities and needs, it will suffice beautifully.

The learning process is so fascinating and the possibilities are endless with this camera.  The picture quality is substantial and the need to photoshop the pictures is greatly reduced.

Thank you my love.  This really is a great week end. 

I love you.

Jeannene