Rainy Day Trials and A Fudge Recipe

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I was thankful  this week did not have many things to take us away from home, so I should be able to get a lot accomplished.  Well, so far, this week has definitely not gone as planned. 

Yesterday, Amanda and I took my mother to see a dear friend of hers that is a cancer patient in the hospital in Tupelo, which is about an hour and twenty minutes from our home.   We left at 11:30 a.m. with the full intention of being back home by around 3:30 p.m. which would still give plenty of time to do some laundry and make supper.

In theory that sounded great, but what we didn't count on was the pouring down rain (for which we are very thankful) and the windshield wipers quitting on us as we were traveling home in the middle of the pouring down rain. 

We were blessed to make it to a friends house where we could wait until the rain slackened to a steady, semi-gentle rainfall instead of a downpour.   As we left my friends house (she lives about an hour from us), we creeped down the highway with our flashers on while talking to my son that is a mechanic in another town.  

He happened to know a mechanic that worked in a nearby dealership so we stopped there and they were able to give us a temporary fix that got us home.  Hopefully, my son will be able to get the needed parts today, so that we can get the van fixed up.  I am so thankful for good friends, mechanics, and God's watchfulness over His children.

We were able to get home between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. and my children all graciously volunteered to eat last nights leftovers.  The menu plan (thankfully) got thrown out the window again, but I am not complaining.  It's little adventures like this that make life interesting :)

Oh, I forgot to mention that when we stopped at the dealership in West Point, I ran into a friend of mine that I have not seen in a couple of years.  We've recently stayed in touch through facebook, but I had no idea where she worked.  It was really wonderful to see her again.

And in case anyone is curious about where my wonderful sixteen year old son was while all of this was going on.  Well, he was babysitting two toddlers.  Yeah, he had his hands full :)

Last night I got a call from the lady that I sometimes milk for and she had some excess milk she wondered if I would be interested in having and I think you already know the answer to that question ;). 

Today I will be deciding what to do with the extra four gallons of milk in my refrigerator.  I'm thinking I will freeze some of it for soap, make ice cream with some, and I'm thinking goat's milk fudge is in my near future :)

Oh yeah, life is good.

Here's a simple Fudge recipe to try!

Chocolate Goat's Milk Fudge (from Goat's Produce Too!  The Udder Real Thing, Volume II)

3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups goats milk
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup baking cocoa

Optional:

1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup walnuts

Place sugar and cocoa powder in a large pan.  Mix well.  Add milk.  Bring to a boil.  Boil gently until mixture reaches the soft ball stage.  Remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla and butter.  Add peanut butter and nuts if desired.  Beat by hand until thick and pour into buttered 8" x 8" pan.  Cool and cut into squares.