Light at End of Tunnel is Getting Brighter!

I felt like going back to barn pictures again tonight for the photo...tired of Christmasy things and snowy scenes!  Today I got up with the goal that I would have the kitchen table all cleared of Christmas items before Woody got back from his grocery store trip.  And, I met the goal.  Now the next goal is to take the leaves out of the table and have a small table in the kitchen once again.  It has been its biggest size since Thanksgiving...ready for it to be small again!  I have made a lot of progress on the "Christmas put-away" today.  I think that the only thing left downstairs to tackle is the tree.  BUT...before I start the tree, I still have some things on the dining room table that need to be put away.  The things that are left are stored in the buffet.  I have to do a little rearranging to get the things back in...some of these things are Christmas items that just stay in the buffet all year long...like Christmas decorative plates.  There are also some books and other items that I use when I am displaying Christmas items...the books get hidden under a cloth that drapes across the china cabinet and they raise angels up so they can be seen better...things like that have to be put away.  I will get the table completely cleared off and then bring in Christmas ornament boxes and start the BIG HUNT for ornaments on the tree.  The last thing that I did just a few minutes ago was the shadow box in the family room...it is now back to "everyday" and the Christmas items are packed away in a box and the box is upstairs.  I still have three big boxes of Christmas decorations that need to find their way upstairs.  I really loaded them so they are heavy.  Woody was gone when I got them loaded so I haven't asked him to bring them up yet.  I mentioned to Woody that I was pleased with where I am in getting Christmas put away and he agreed...his words = "Yes, it isn't even February yet!"  I usually have the goal that I will have the decorations down by Valentine's Day.  So hopefully I will be much ahead of that date this year...unless I really get bogged down by the tree!

Woody did his usual Friday grocery shopping.  I had the table ready by the time he got home so he could put the bags on the table.  I put away the groceries.  We had lunch and a little later in the afternoon we ventured out for a treat...our first Blizzards of the year!  (Thanks, Sue!) On the way home we stopped at WalMart to correct two purchases that he made this morning...Woody went in and I stayed in the car.  This afternoon Woody went on a four-mile walk.  Finally the weather was good enough and snow/ice had melted enough that he could walk safely.  While he was away I started getting the Sunday School lesson pulled together/organized for Sunday.  Woody has done crossword puzzles, watched TV, read, etc. today when he wasn't walking or grocery shopping.  We are glad to have the temperatures start climbing again.  Nice to not have such frigid temperatures.  It looked so good to have the sun streaming in the windows today.

Another Birthday & Another Snow Day = CELEBRATE!

Happy Birthday, Kathy!
Here she is opening up the gift that Abigail made her.  It is a special mug cover that has pockets on the inside and outside to put various items in.  Good job, Abigail.  Your mommy was very pleased!  We had lunch at their house.  Abigail did most of the cooking with some help from her daddy. She made Chicken Alfredo.  They made a heart shaped cake made out of cupcakes.  The children always get "into" the gift giving.  

Along with birthday celebrating we also had another snow day.  The children played outside some more today.  It was a bit warmer today due to the fact that the wind wasn't blowing...made it much "warmer!"  Joseph said that he got hot in his snowsuit.

Except for going next door to party, I stayed in today and continued with my undecorating/redecorating.  I really made a lot of progress today.  Items to be boxed up till next Christmas are "slowly but surely" becoming less on my dining room table and kitchen table.  Today I got all the "normal" decorations back up on the shelves above the kitchen cabinets.  The mantel is cleared off.  The shadow box in the family room has all Christmas removed and just waiting for everyday items to go back in it.  I have packed up a lot of boxes and carried them up to put in the hall.  It is getting harder and harder to walk through the hallway.  I am almost to the point that all the boxes that are left are the ones for the Christmas tree ornaments.  I can "almost" see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Woody has stayed in again pretty much today...he has been to the mail box and next door for the party.  He has done crossword puzzles, watched TV, watched a DVD...sticking close to the house waiting patiently for the thaw to begin.  We did get a bit above freezing today so the melting has started.  The road is beginning to clear.  But Tullahoma schools are out again tomorrow--they haven't been to school since last Thursday.  Melany left me a message that her school is out again tomorrow also.  I think that the super cold temps are behind us and each day it is supposed to warm up a bit more...heading to the 50's and perhaps even the 60's with rain in the forecast for this coming Monday.  Wonder if this is it for our wintery weather or if there will be more before the winter months leave us...more wouldn't surprise me...seems like when we get one good snow, we often get another or another. Time will tell.  But we are very glad that the super cold temperatures are over, at least for this round!

Snow Day!

Even Grammy's school had a snow day today.  It was still just so cold when it was time for Joseph to come over for his time and the wind chill made it seem even colder, that we decided to abandon school with me today.  It got down to 3 degrees here last night according to our thermometer.  And, I know that the wind chill was well below zero...too cold!

When I found out I wasn't going to have school, I got busy with my undecorating/redecorating.  I put away a bunch of things and then got out the items to replace those.  I even hung a few pictures.  The Carolers have all found their boxes to rest in for the ensuing months till I decorate next!  A little while into the morning I got an urge to bake some bread.  Snowy days have always made me want to bake.  I sat down with a cup of tea and my bread cookbook and decided on what kind to make.  I ended up putting two recipes together...Cinnamon Swirl and Raisin Bread...so we ended up with Raisin Cinnamon Swirl bread.  Pretty good.  It made two loaves.  I drizzled confectioners icing over one loaf and left the other one without...as I wanted to be able to toast some of it.  They turned out really good for a first time making either of those recipes and surprisingly good since I didn't really follow a recipe exactly!  The house smells so good with that freshly baked bread smell!  I have been trying to use things in the freezer and today I used the rest of the shrimp--and made crusty "fried" shrimp in the air fryer--very good and only used a brush of olive oil on them.  We paired the shrimp with broccoli...Woody thought that we needed something green to go with them!

Woody again only walked to the mail box and to get the trash can in.  He also attempted to sweep off the front walk...not a lot of melting has happened either in the yards or on the walkways or on the roads...just too cold.  He hoped to help with the melting by sweeping some.  And, what he did was let in an unwanted guest!  When he came back in the front door didn't close completely and I guess the wind...or perhaps our unwanted guest pushed it open.  Anyway, I was sitting down in the living room waiting on one of the steps for the bread and all of a sudden I heard a "meow!"  It was the bobtail cat that tends to hang around at our house and she was coming down my stairs from upstairs!  Yikes!  I happened to be eating a snack...and decided to use it to lure her out of the house...that worked...but I hate that I encouraged by feeding her!!!!! I want her to go back to her home which is on the other side of our block...we have decided that she hangs here and at Nathan's because we are the main ones who are home during the day and also we cook and good smells emit from our houses making her hopeful!  Anyway she seems to have taken up residence on our front porch on the pillows in our chairs.  I feel sorry for her...but then I don't...because...she isn't ours and we know that she has a family close by!  I guess she was my excitement for the day!  I can do without excitement of that kind!  I love cats...but love them mainly when they are mine or Esther's!

I had planned to post a picture tonight of some of the grandchildren sledding yesterday...but the photo transfer software didn't want to open up tonight so I decided to just post another of the snow and how it looked yesterday.  It was 14 degrees before I headed upstairs so we are in for another cold night.  It is supposed to start warming up again as we get closer to the weekend. I think that we are all ready for it to be warmer!

The Furnace Room

I'll tell about our day and then share the story about The Furnace Room along with the significance that this story has for our church.

We did get snow today...not a lot but enough to close schools (Well, not the Dorrell Academy due to the students not having to travel on slick roads to get to school!) and cover the roads and make them slick.  The children happy for a reason to be out in it gladly walked through it for each of their times of school with me!  Joy had her long time.  She finished the center section of her quilt.  She just needs to sash around that section before she starts adding some other large squares.  She has done a very nice job and is excited to see it grow larger fairly quickly now.  Tonight's photo was taken out our bedroom window one of the times that I looked out and saw that it was snowing quite a bit.

Woody's outside exercise of the day was to go to the mail box and empty the inside waste baskets into the outside trash can and roll it to the road for trash pick up tomorrow. Woody made us Red Lobster biscuits to go with our soup for lunch. Yum!

Along with the snow we have really low temperatures.  At the moment it is 11 degrees and supposed to drop into the single digits over night with a wind chill of below 0.  Just too cold!  Tullahoma City schools have already declared another snow day tomorrow. Most all area schools are out due to road conditions.  I'm sure that our daughter Melany is happy to have another snow day off from her school in Rutherford County (about 45 minutes away from us)!  I did a little more on undecorating/redecorating today.  I did get the china cabinet back to "normal." And the top of the buffet is "almost back to normal."  I still have to find a couple of things that go on it.

The Furnace Room

The story is told of five young preachers from the US who went to London in the late 1800's to determine why there was a great revival at a church there.  They got to the Metropolitan Tabernacle early and were waiting for the doors to open when a gentleman they assumed was the janitor offered to give them a tour of the church.  They were shown the large sanctuary, the Sunday School rooms, in fact, almost the entire church complex.  All the while the janitor kept telling them they really needed to see the furnace room, the power plant of the church.  As it was July and already warm, they declined.  But the janitor insisted, so they finally gave in.  The janitor took them to the basement, walked over to the door, opened it and there inside were hundreds of people praying.  At the end of the tour, the gentleman they assumed was the janitor introduced himself as Charles Spurgeon.

The number of people praying in the furnace room is believed to have been more than seven hundred.  Estimates of the Sunday morning crowds were often over twenty-three thousand and no week passed without people being saved.

Significance for First Baptist Church, Tullahoma:

During the renovation of the old Sears Building to form what we now call the Ministry Center, an area on the roof was found where there was a lot of soot.  And down below was evidence where at one time a furnace burned.  This area is in the large room in the Ministry Center that the Youth use for large group time in Sunday School.  This is the room where we will hold the Furnace Room; and hopefully we can be the power plant behind a great revival at First Baptist Church.

The Furnace Room Prayer Meeting is a deacon-sponsored prayer time with emphasis on praying for our pastor, staff and church, and for revival in our hearts and the hearts of people throughout our community and the world. Day and time: Mondays @ 6:30pm in the Ministry Center. Come join us.   

And, January Marches On!

Can you believe that it is already January 15?  I can't believe that January is already half over! We have had a pretty busy day.  Isaac and Joseph came over for school together today.  The rest of their family (minus Graham and Joy--they were on a youth retreat with our church) went to church for juggling practice. After they got back from practice they picked up Isaac and Joseph and headed off for a fellowship with another homeschool family. So no one read with me today.  Woody did get in some reading time with Isaac and Joseph after they finished with school with me.

 I put away the rest of the Precious Moments Nativity since I finally found the box with their boxes in it.  And, I have started boxing up the Carolers.  Some of the boxes that they will be stored in have other items in them that I have to put back before the Carolers can reclaim their box.  One of the boxes has the Hummels that go in the china cabinet.  Before I took the Hummels out to put Christmas in, I snapped some pictures so it would be easier when it came time to put them back in.  Since I went searching for the pictures, I decided that I would post one of those pictures tonight.  One of the figures in this picture isn't a "real" Hummel...though he looks so much like one.  Mother found him in San Francisco one time when she and Daddy came to visit us when we were living in Sunnyvale, CA...many years ago...Melany was two and Nathan just born.  Mother thought that he looked so much like a Hummel that she got him for me.  The other two Hummels were some of hers.  My sister also loves Hummels and she was supposed to have Mothers because she was going to take care of Mother in her old age!  Well, when Cheryl married and moved she no longer had a place for them so they have ended up residing here.  I love them.  I have quite a few of my own, but now have quite a few more.  So maybe after blogging I will email these photos to my iPad and will go downstairs and redecorate my china cabinet.

Abigail came over mid afternoon for her long time.  She ended up getting what she was making for her mother's birthday finished...amazing to get a project done in two sewing times...that doesn't happen very often.  I ended up making one of these items over the weekend so I would know the ins and outs of making it so it would go faster.  Abigail is going to make another and do a few more of the details on her own...like making her own double-fold bias tape from our own fabric rather than buying it.  I made what she used today and I want her to experience how it is made.

Woody went to the Life Care Center this morning.  He had Bible study with Jeff and then visited with several church members.  Later in the afternoon he headed off for a four-mile walk.  This evening he went to Monday night prayer meeting at church.  The name of the prayer meeting has changed to "Furnace Room Prayer Meeting."  I will get him to give me the blurb that he wrote about the reason for the name and share it with you another time.

While waiting for Abigail this afternoon, I made a start on a big pot of Chicken Noodle Soup...probably should have made this sooner since it's supposed to be good for what ails you!  After she finished her sewing time, I finished up the soup and we had it for supper.  It really hit the spot!

We are still in the midst of a very cold spell.  And the "s" word is back in the forecast for tomorrow.  We will see...the last time that the forecast said "snow and ice" we didn't get anything but a few flurries.  We are supposed to get more than flurries tomorrow.  I guess time will tell!  And, I continue to go along...slowly but surely...with the undecorating!

Progress!

 What may look like a mess to you...looks like progress to me!  I am starting to get surfaces cleared off.  At one time today all the angels that had been on top of the china cabinet were all on the dining room table...now most of them have been boxed up and the rest are just waiting for me to find the boxes that I can tuck them away in.  The bookcase in the living room has all the Williamsburg Christmas items taken off and just the things that stay there all year round are there now...waiting for me to find the rest of what will join them.  I found the bells that go on the narrow shelf on the bookcase just a little before coming upstairs to blog...so perhaps I will go down do that task this evening.  The kitchen table has all the Christmas items that have resided above the cabinets this holiday season...again...most of them have already been tucked away in a box...the rest are just waiting for me to find the box that they go in.  I still haven't come across the box with the rest of the Precious Moments nativity boxes in it...but eventually I know that I will come across that box and they will be quickly boxed up and put away.  The piles are growing taller and wider in the upstairs hall...a good sign that things are progressing.

Woody waited for it to warm up this morning before going to the library...still in the 20's when he went. The high was only 23 today according to Weather Bug. He has worked puzzles, challenged the computer to Scrabble, helped clean up the kitchen after I made chicken tenders for our lunch, and watched some football on TV.  It was too cold for a walk today.  I got my exercise climbing up and down the step ladder and up and down the stairs carrying boxes.  I have taken several rests to recover from all my activity!  Slowly but surely..!

Temps Down Again

Woody knew what was supposed to happen with the temperatures throughout the day so he chose to go on his walk around 7am.  It was 55 degrees when he left and by the time he got back (before 9), it had already dropped down to 41 degrees.  And, before he left for the grocery store around 10:30,  it had dropped another ten degrees.  Right now according to WeatherBug it is 21 degrees...but "feels like" 8 degrees!  I think that I will stay inside my warm house!  We got spoiled the last couple of days when it got into the 50's and even 60's.  We never got any ice or snow...I guess there is still a chance that we might get some snow in the night.  Woody said that the grocery store shelves were about wiped clean...a phenomenon that happens in our air once snow or ice is even whispered by a weatherman!

I haven't gotten a lot accomplished today...at not what I had hoped.  More Christmas has been tucked away and I even started undecorating the tree...one box packed back up with ornament boxes...probably around 25 or the 750 or so that are on the tree!  Again...slowly but surely!  Woody bought chicken breasts at the store so I skinned and deboned them and made liquid gold (chicken stock) with the bones.  I'm planning on making chicken noodle soup tomorrow or the next day. I'm hoping that chicken soup will be good for what ails me...still not feeling all that great!  I also began gathering my thoughts for the Sunday School lesson for Sunday.  So I did accomplish a little something...but never felt like sitting down at my sewing machine as I had hoped to do.