Life has returned to normal . . .

I love being off work every Friday. But, then that's not the correct wording. Maybe I should say I enjoy not having to go into the office on Fridays.

Bob left early this morning. Ryan and Lisa and the children are still away on vacation (they should be arriving sometime today). So that leaves me to decide all by myself what I should do. I do have a few errands I need to run today, but that will be this afternoon.

However, there is a small problem. My leg that got poked on Monday evening when I was chasing the chickens has become infected and is very painful. It's red and swollen and I'd take a picture to show you, but I don't want to gross anyone out. So just take my word for it. Bob told me to call the doctor, but I sure hate to spend our money on a doctor's visit. Then Bob reminded me about his leg about a year or so ago that started out like mine and then he ended up in the hospital. He said it would be cheaper to go to the doctor now than to end up in the hospital, so I told him I would call and make an appointment.

With the kids arriving home today, I wanted to make sure we had lots of goodies because I knew they would be hungry when they got home. What to make? Then I saw the zucchini from the garden on the kitchen counter. I can't let that go to waist. I'll make zucchini bread.

I made seven loaves of zucchini bread.

A batch of chocolate chip cookies. I like using the mini chocolate chips. And, Francie taught me a new trick for making your cookies stay soft. When you take the pan out of the oven, you drop it on the counter and the cookies flatten immediately making them stay soft. I thought she didn't know what she was talking about when she showed me that trick when she and Natalie were here a few week ago and made cookies, but the cookies she made were soft, so I gave it a try.

While the cookies were baking I made a batch of bread. Here they are in the oven. They are almost done. When I started the bread, I called my doctor's office to see if I could get in. The receptionist said they could see me at 10:30. I explained that I had just started making bread and I needed to let it rise and then bake. The receptionist gave me a 1:00 appointment. That meant I had to leave by 12:00 noon to get there.

The boys love lentil casserole, so I quickly put together the lentils and cooked it on the stove. It doesn't take long to make. I put it in jars to keep in the refrigerator so it would be ready for supper when they arrived home.

Before Bob left, he requested that I make some granola. I mixed up the granola and as soon as the bread came out of the oven I put the granola in to bake. It has to bake for 8 hours at 200 degrees. It baked while I went to my doctor's appointment and ran errands.

With the laundry finished, the house cleaned, and the cooking and baking completed, I quickly got ready to leave for my appointment. I took a loaf of zucchini bread and regular bread for my doctor and the receptionist.

The doctor told me that I have cellulitis and gave me a prescription and told me that if it's not better in four days to come back. I'll be out of town next week, so I'm hoping my leg gets better soon.

When I drove into the driveway I was so happy to see tarps, camping gear, the canoe, camp chairs, towels, bags of laundry, a big tube, and four kids running all over the place!!! Life , as I have grown to love, had returned to normal.

Life in Blog Land

I never thought for a moment that I would meet such wonderful people through my blog. My daughters set it up for me so I could leave comments on their blogs. But I surprised them when I got hooked on blogging. I decided to blog so my daughters could keep up with my busy life and I love my daughters blogging because I get to read and see what they are up to and keep up to date on what my grandchildren are up to. I miss them so much and always look forward to their visits to my house or my visits to their house. I'm so disappointed this fall, because I won't be able to go and take care of my four little grandchildren in Michigan while their mom and dad are away for a few days. Bob and I will be in Albany helping with evangelistic meetings and my boss would never let me off during that time. Blogging also allows me to keep up with friends that are miles away that I've left behind when Bob and I moved across the country 3 1/2 years ago.

It is so exciting to read the comments that my faithful family leave on my blog posts. But, it's a real treat to have a visitor leave a comment. And, the funny thing is, I've met several people from my blogging that I've got to meet personally. Today I received a comment from a lady in Canada. She left a comment on one of my blogs that I wrote way back in September of 2007.

I'm looking forward to next Tuesday when Tina (my blogging friend) and I will once again meet up in Massachusetts to do some site-seeing and shopping together and then end our visit with dinner. Our friend, Diane, who lives close to Tina, won't be able to join us this time, and I'm going to really miss her company. The three of us have had such fun times together. Tina and I have become good friends. She even allowed me to be her puppy's nanny. Liesel sends me gifts and cards which always puts a smile on my face.

Tina, I'm looking forward to our time together next week. I must say . . . I'm sooooooo excited!!

So, to all my friends, family, and anonymous readers. Thanks for all your words of encouragement, thoughtful suggestions, and kindness expressed.

Until next time . . .

I Love Okra

When I arrived home today from work, I walked into the kitchen and the smell of fresh garlic and dill was in the air. Bob had cut dill, pulled garlic, and picked the okra from the garden and it was waiting for me when I got home. Last year I made pickled okra and Matthew and Ryan love it, so I decided to make some more this year. Last year I had to buy my dill and garlic, but this year Bob planted some.

Here is the fresh dill, garlic and okra. There was more okra that he had put in the refrigerator.

There was enough okra to pickle three quarts. I saved out some of the okra and fried it for supper and had fresh sliced tomatoes with it. Yum!!!

I'm not going to do it . . .

This evening when I got home from work, I came into the empty house and ate my supper and watched the news. Then I decided I should go and put the chickens in the chicken coop. I didn't want to wait till it was too dark because that barn doesn't have lights and it's very scary even in the day light. As I opened the door to the barn, my heart was beating extra hard. I was carrying my little egg gathering basket and my camera. I just knew something was going to run across in front of me, but nothing did. As I reached the coop, I had to go and check all the nests for eggs. Most of the nests are higher than I can see into so I have to just reach up and feel around. That was scary too, because I could just imagine finding a mouse or snake. But I didn't. I found a total of three eggs. So far so good. No animals had been seen on the way to the coop and no strange critters found in the nests. That's the end of so far so good story. The rest of the story . . .

I went into the chicken yard to catch the baby chicks. Ten baby chicks! They are fast and didn't want to be caught. I chased them all over the yard trying to corner them, and tossing lose pieces of wood trying to get them into a corner so I could catch them. Then the seven big chickens kept running in and out of the chicken house and I was afraid of the rooster. I caught nine of the little chicks and put them in the coop, but I could not catch that last little chick. I continued trying to catch that last little chicken and fell on a tree limb and poked a hole in my leg and it was bleeding and hurting. Then I cornered the chick with a piece of wood in one hand and somehow it got away from me and I fell and bent my fingernail back and it started bleeding. By now I was in tears and it was getting dark. I shut the door to the chicken coop, grabbed my basket with the eggs and my camera and ran as fast as I could with a hurt leg out of the barn.

I went into the house and called Bob and told him that there was no way I could take care of the chickens. And then I started crying. He asked me if I could let them out in the morning, feed them, and then he would come home in the evening to take care of them. I thought I could probably do that. I'm not a very good farmer's wife when it comes to taking care of all these animals. And chickens are the worst! I think I prefer to buy my eggs at the store if I have to take care of the chickens.

It was a day of memory making. . .

Shannon, Madeline, and I had a great time at the State Fair yesterday. The weather was almost perfect, just a little on the hot side, but we all survived. Shannon and I are direction and map challenged and had difficulty figuring out where all the shows and attractions were located and ended up missing some of the shows we were hoping to see. But we had fun trying to find them anyway. We did find several. Some were by chance.

This was the birds of prey show and there were fifteen live birds of prey that entertained us. Madeline was chosen to feed the Bald Eagle. She thought that was pretty special. That Bald Eagle doesn't look real does it? But it is!!!

We took a stroll in the cattle barn too. These cows are so pampered!

When we lived in California, Bob and I went to the State Fair and saw the miniature horses and I fell in love with them. I wanted one with a little buggy so that I could take my grandchildren for rides in the buggy with me. So I was excited to get to watch the miniature horses competition.

Madeline and I liked this miniature horse, but it wasn't for sale.

This miniature horse is for sale. I fell in love with it. I think I would call it Sweet Heart!! But then they told me how much it cost and I knew Bob would never let me have it.

We enjoyed the bear performance.

These chickens were interesting.


Shannon and Madeline rode the bumper cars.

Madeline and I raced to see who would reach the bottom first. Madeline won. But just by a couple of inches.

We all three rode the Ferris wheel.

As we were leaving the fair grounds, we heard that there was a thunderstorm three miles away. We decided we should walk as fast as possible so we could make it to the car before the rain started. A group of people were ahead of us. I was power walking up the hill to the parking lot, and Shannon and Madeline were dragging their feet some distance behind me. I turned and said, "Come on, Move It!" The guy in front of me turned around and looked at me. Then I realized that he thought I was saying it to him. When he and several of the others that were in front of me realized that I was saying that to my daughter and grand-daughter at the bottom of the hill and not to them, they all started laughing. Boy, was I glad.

We made it to the car just before the rains began. It was a big storm and it continued all the way home. Shannon decided that they should just spend the night and leave early in the morning. Monday was Madeline's first day back to school, and we had fun trying to find something for her to wear since they wouldn't have time to go home before going to school. Rachael had sent some of Katya's clothes that she had outgrown for Hannah so we went through those and found a top that fit Madeline. I had a jean skirt that Madeline had left the last time she visited, so she was all set for school. She looked really cute.

I have to feed the chickens too?

I just found out that I'm going to be taking care of all the animals this week. By myself. I think I can handle all of them except the chickens are going to be most challenging. Bob gave me a lesson today on how and what I have to do for the chickens.

First thing in the morning I have to go through this door to let the chickens out. This door leads to the basement of the barn and it hasn't been cleaned out from the former owners and it's full of all kinds of junk. Punkin likes to go exploring in this part of the barn so I'm hoping she'll want to go with me just in case other critters are exploring at the same time I go in.

Once I enter the door to the barn basement, I have to walk down this walkway.

Junk everywhere.

Once I get to the back of the basement I turn to the left and I have to open this door to get to the chicken coup.

Then I have to check the boxes for eggs.

Here's an egg in the corner.

We gathered four eggs total. Here are two Bob found in one box.

Over on the left is where we will put my miniature horse when I get it. I hope I'm still able to walk by myself when we get it and the barn is still standing.

This is the hole I have to crawl through in the evening to catch the baby chicks and bring them in to their cage. I hope my hips fit through that hole.

This is the chicken yard that the chickens run around in all day. See the hole in the barn on the left? That's the hole I'll be coming through to catch the baby chicks.

I hope all goes well this week. But for now, I'm heading to the State Fair with Shannon and Madeline. I'll worry about the chickens tomorrow.

They're in town . . .

Bob and I were working on the house in Geneva today. Shannon called and suggested that we all go over and check out the Extreme Makeover house that is being built in town. It sounded good to us, so after lunch Shannon and Madeline came over and we headed to town to take a look. We weren't allowed to drive in, but we found a parking place and walked about three blocks to the site. On our walk, we met five people carrying decorative pillows and bolts of fabric. I think they must have been the ones that were going to be sewing the drapes, etc. The fabric was beautiful. Bright and cheery. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't think about it until after they were already out of site.

Here are some of the trailers that were parked in a nearby vacant parking lot.

This is the house they are building. It's hard to imagine that this house will be completely finished inside and out including the landscaping by Monday afternoon.

These two guys were taking a little break.

This is the house next door. I heard from one of the on-lookers that the neighbors houses on each side will be getting a new roof and landscaping from the design team also.

These guys were good sports to pose with us for a picture.

We didn't see any of the stars of the show, but I did buy two pairs of shoes from a local shoe store and the sales lady told me that Ty Pennington had come in earlier in the week and purchased a pair of boots and flip-flops. I think it would be fun to be there on Monday to see the finished house and the filming of the show. But, I have to work - so I'll just watch it on television. I'm not sure when it will air.

He was going too fast . . .

Last night Bob and I were on our way home and we had Gracie and Hannah with us. I was extremely tired and had fallen asleep. Bob likes it when I fall asleep in the car because then he can go faster than he's suppose to without listening to my reporting of speed limits. When I felt the car slowing down, it woke me up. "What's wrong?" I said to him. He said, "I just passed a cop going the opposite way and he turned around." Sure enough, it wasn't long before those red lights were flashing behind us. We were on a back road, and you rarely see cops out in the middle of no-where, so even I tend to go faster than I should. He pulled over off the road, and there was a cement ravine that wasn't visible and the right front wheel went into it and the frame rested on the ledge with the tire suspended. The cop asked Bob, "do you know why I stopped you?" Bob, "I probably was going too fast". "Yep. You were going 51 in a 30." (I think he was guessing because the speed limit on this road is 55 until you come into town one mile from the stop sign then it drops to 30). All I could see were $$$$$$$$$. The cop asked for his license and registration and Bob gave him his license and I was digging through the glove-box looking for the current registration. Why is it there are always three or four expired registrations, but never the current one? Gracie and Hannah were crying and scared and it was chaotic inside the truck with the girls crying and me trying to find the registration and Bob trying to answer the cops questions. The cop gave Bob back his license and told him to slow down and that he would wait to make sure he could get the truck out of the ravine. Bob had me slid over to the driver's side and he went out and stood on the bumper to add some weight to the opposite side hoping the truck would come out of the hole. I was hoping the cop moved back far enough so when I put the truck in reverse and stepped on the gas I wouldn't run right into the front of the police car. The truck came right out of the ravine without any problem. The girls calmed down and we drove home at a nice slow pace. Hannah said, "Grandma, this would make a really good children's story. I'm going to remember this so when I get big I can tell it for the children's story at church."

Gracie

Gracie is at a really cute age right now. She is talking a lot and says the funniest things. She is a very opinionated little girl and knows what she wants and doesn't want. She calls me gaa-ma.

Wednesday evening, Lisa had gone down into the basement to switch the washer and dryer. Gracie has never ventured to want to go into the basement, but I guess she changed her mind - she fell from the top of the basement stairs to the bottom landing on the cement slab and stopping when her head hit a cardboard box filled with empty jars. She is O.K., but she has a boo-boo on her lip as you can see in this picture.

Ryan and Lisa took Gracie and Hannah out in the boat to make sure it was running O.K. before they leave on vacation for a few days. This was Gracie's first time in the boat and she was scared to death. She cried and clung to Lisa. When I came home from work I asked her about her boat ride and it went something like this -

Gracie, did you like the boat ride?

"yes"

Was it fun?

"yes"

Was it awesome?

"yes"

Do you want to go again?

"NO!"

She would answer these questions time after time. Same answers. It was a definite "NO" to going in the boat again.

Gracie loves corn on the cob.

It was a weekend of celebrating . . .

The celebration started Thursday evening shortly after Bob and I arrived home from the pastors' retreat. Natalie and Francie arrived about ten minutes after we did. I knew Natalie was coming, but was surprised to learn that Francie had come also. Lisa and the boys had the house all cleaned and ready for company and had supper ready too. It was a great evening. Natalie brought me some pottery to paint and I'm looking forward to working on that in the next few weeks. I finished the Christmas decorations she had sent to me several months ago and took them to Camp Cherokee to have them fired. They turned out really nice. And, you know, Christmas is just around the corner!

Todd sent vegetables from his garden which we enjoyed eating during the weekend. We froze the corn that he had sent, because we didn't want it to lose the sweetness by sitting too many days. We got five quart bags and I had to try an ear too. It's really good corn and very sweet!!! He also sent eggplant, peppers, and cantaloupe. We don't have any of these in our garden, so we were quite pleased to receive them. He sent tomatoes and cucumbers too which came in handy with so many people to feed during the weekend. The cantaloupe didn't even make it till morning. We cut it Thursday evening and it was devoured. So sweet and delicious. I think we could have eaten a whole case of them. The tomatoes were a hit on Friday after Bob made homemade bread. Natalie sliced the bread, put mayonnaise on it and thick slices of tomato and after one bite said, "This is heaven!" We all enjoyed eating sliced tomatoes on fresh baked bread.

Francie helped shuck the corn.

Natalie and I cut the corn off the cob for freezing.

Natalie wanted to make some grape jam and take it home with her, so Thursday evening after supper and after we froze the corn, she made four pints of grape jam. There was a little left over so she put it in a small bowl which was tested on the fresh bread Bob made the next day. Yum!

Once the grape pulp came to a boil we added sugar and cooked another minute.

Friday was spent cooking, baking, and getting ready for the company that was coming over for Shannon's graduation luncheon Sabbath afternoon. The menu consisted of: buttered potatoes, "Special K" loaf, potato salad, cabbage salad , sliced tomatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, buttered corn on the cob, homemade bread, lemonade, blueberry crunch, chocolate chip cookies, fresh peach pie (it's like fresh strawberry pie only we used peaches) with real whipped cream, and homemade vanilla ice cream. Francie wanted to make some grape jam too, so we squeezed a batch in before we left for the graduation. Francie made nine gift jars of jam with a little left over for more tasting on the homemade bread.

Our table for the Sabbath afternoon luncheon. It rained the entire morning, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all the people if it continued in the afternoon, but it stopped shortly after noon and by two o'clock when we served lunch, the weather was perfect.

Friday evening we all went to Shannon's graduation. There were 37 friends and family there for her graduation. Shannon had selected Andy and Madeline to do the pinning and the rest of her family felt left out and told her she should have had all of us come up front to help. We had a good laugh about the possible reaction on the faces of her instructors if that had happened.

Shannon's dress was one of the cutest and she made it.

Andy and Madeline pinning Shannon.

Me, Shannon, and Bob


Natalie, Shannon, Ryan, and Francie

Shannon, Andy, and Madeline

Hannah and Madeline loved the fort auntie Natalie made for them.

The girls played for hours in their new play house.

The fort even had an old cement block for a chair and a rock for a table. Then an old pot was found and hung for pretend cooking.

After lunch Andy and Tony had a nice long visit and solved all the world's problems.

Donna enjoyed playing with the kittens.

This was Bob's idea.

Tony and Donna - a spoof of our picture.

It was a wonderful weekend filled with stories, laughter, fellowship, and good food. I sure am glad Shannon graduated so we could have such a fun weekend.

Sunday morning was very sad because Natalie and Francie loaded the car and headed home. The weekend was much too short.