This and That... from Monday

Yesterday when I got off of work, I had several errands to run. Well one of my errands was to go by Wal-Mart and pick up a few things. Well while I was there I thought that I would go check out their fabric section to see if there were any fabrics that I would want to get to make some place mats with. Well guess what I found? 90% of the fabric was GONE. A Wal-Mart in another nearby town had their fabric dept downsized a year or two ago, but we were hoping that Wal-Mart would leave this fabric department along. Well I was so disappointed. I do buy most of my fabrics from Quilt Stores- that way I know I am getting good quality fabrics. But I still enjoyed looking at Wal-Mart to see what they had and picking up treasures now and then. I especially enjoyed shopping the fabric department around the holidays. They always had a good selection of holiday fabrics. And do you know why they are down sizing the fabric department? To make more room for Party favors and such. Now I don't know about you but I think they had plenty of party supplies at Wal-Mart. Oh well, I guess it depends on what is important to you.

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As many of you know, I am reading through "The Little House on the Prairie" series. Last night I finished the second book - "The Little House on the Prairie" book. It was sad to read about all the cool things that they planted in their garden and how excited they were as they look forward to the harvesting of these things. And then to find out that they had to move. It broke my heart that they had to leave everything that they had worked so very hard for. And then when I looked at the back of the book and saw that "Farmer Boy" was the next one in line- I thought Oh No I have to leave Laura and her family just dangling for a while. But I am sure I will love this book as I have the others so far. There is something so therapeutic about reading these books. And what is so neat about it is that some of the things in the books that I enjoy so much - I am able to implement into my own life.

As a child we had chickens two different times (only for short periods of time- before me moved again) and I loved them. And now God has blessed us with the ability to have chickens of our own. It is such a blessing to me. To watch them and learn from them has been so valuable to me. And gardening - that is another thing that intrigues me about these books is them working their land. And so I have a desire now to be a better Steward of the land that God has provided and slowly we are working towards using it more wisely. Last night my husband built a small raised garden bed for some multiplying onions that my Dad and his wife had sent. I, so look forward to seeing what they will do. And I also have plans - only in my mind right now but I want to eventually have a Blackberry patch and also a Strawberry patch. We have a couple of Strawberry plants now but I want to build a raised bed or something that they will be able to have room to spread out. Many more plans are in my mind and heart and I am just hoping that this year we will have the chance to work toward accomplishing these plans.

Oh and one of the reasons why I needed to go to Wal-Mart was to get whole milk and heavy cream. This past week-end my husband went to a kitchen store at a nearby Outlet Mall. And while he was there look what he found:

Pure Indulgence™ 2 Qt. Frozen Yogurt-Sorbet & Ice Cream Maker by Cuisinart. And he got a very good deal on it. We had noticed lately how very expensive ice cream was getting to be at the store. Not only are the prices going up - but the size of containers is getting smaller and smaller. What I like about this is that we know exactly what ingredients are in what we are eating and I can make yogurt and sorbet! Another very nice thing is that you do not have to use rock salt. It has a tub in it that is where you put the ingredients to make the ice cream - or what ever and you stick it into your freezer and freeze it before you begin. Anyway we have only used it once so far - The ice cream turned out pretty good but I will have to use it again before I can tell you for sure that it was well worth the money that was spent on it. But it was very thoughtful of him and we had alot of fun making our first batch of ice cream. We made Rocky Road and there is a chance that he used too many marshmallows and that made it harder to freeze - but when we got it out of the freezer it was not very solid- so that is why I say we will have to do it once more to get a better idea.

Lots to do today so I better get off of here and get busy. Ya'll have a wonderful day!! :O)