Natalie and Baby Update

Natalie just took a shower and she and Adam are walking the halls hoping to speed up the contractions. The doctor estimates a delivery time of 1:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. It's going to be a long night.

Natalie's in the Hospital

Natalie is officially in labor and has been admitted at the hospital. Both Natalie and Adam seem to be doing quite well so far.

It's been one week . . .

It's been one week since Punkin was hit by a car. The veterinarian didn't expect Punkin to make it through the night but she did. Her leg was amputated on Monday and we brought her home on Tuesday. She is so sweet. When I got home from work on Wednesday, Punkin was resting on her bed in the back mud room. I went upstairs to change my clothes before taking Punkin outside for awhile. When I went in the back room where Punkin was, she saw that I had my sweats on and I was putting on my tennis shoes. She got up from her bed, started whining, wiggling her body, and headed for the door. She wanted to go for a walk with me. She could hardly control herself she was so excited! She wanted to go for a walk with me. (Before Punkin's accident, Punkin and I would walk 3 1/5 to 5 miles every evening and she loved it!) I told Punkin she couldn't go for a walk with me yet, she needed to get better first. I did take her outside and walk around in the yard for a little while.

At two o'clock in the morning, Bob heard Punkin barking and got up to check on her. When he got to the back room, Punkin was standing by the door wanting to go out. So Bob grabbed his coat and put his shoes on and out they went. Punkin went out on the porch and gave three loud barks and then made a bee-line for the barn. Bob followed her and Punkin was insistent that she go in the barn. So Bob opened the door and Punkin went in and checked everything out. When she finished, she went to the barn basement door and started whining wanting in so Bob opened the door and went in with her and she checked out the basement of the barn and then was satisfied that everything was in order and went back to the house and back to bed.

Checotah and Lola are being very good to Punkin and they don't bother her much at all. Checotah came over to her today and Punkin licked Checotah's ears. All three of our dogs are the sweetest animals. Bob and I worked outside today in the yard. The weather was perfect - 80 degrees. The dogs enjoyed having us out there with them. Checotah and Lola saw something over in the wooded area and took off running and to my surprise Punkin went running with them. She is doing really well. We take her back to the veterinarian in another week to have the staples removed.

We didn't finish cleaning out all of our flower beds, but we got two of them done. Tina, we planted the perennials you sent home with me in this flower bed. I'm anxious to see how they grow here. Punkin was outside all day today.

We have got to find a more attractive way of watering our dogs.

Here you can see Punkin only has three legs.

Punkin is running in this picture. She is really getting around well.

Here's the second flower bed we worked on. We ran out of mulch before we finished with this bed. The buckets on the porch is what we collect the sap for making maple syrup. The season for collecting sap was very short this year and we'll only get about nine gallons of syrup.

Old Sturbridge Village

It's been one week since I met Tina and Diane to spend the day touring Old Sturbridge Village. We had a wonderful time and learned a lot. The time went by much too quickly. We ended our day with dinner at the Publick Restaurant. Before being seated for dinner we took over the lobby and enjoyed visiting and exchanging gifts. Tina and Diane both made handmade gifts for me which I'll post about in another blog - soon. I would love to take my grandchildren to the village. I think they would love it!

Natalie's Baby Shower

Natalie received beautiful gifts for the baby. Julie and Sarah had a unique way of packaging/wrapping the gift in three baskets just the color of the baby's room. The bottom basket was filled with a clothes-line with adorable baby clothes clothes-pinned to the line. Cute sayings - "If you think I'm cute you should see my uncle David" "I love my aunt Sarah".

He even got a leather Harley jacket and cap! Soooo cute!!

The shower was a "Candy Land" theme. This is the entrance.

Balloons and suckers welcomed the guests as they walked down the path.

The tables were decorated so cute. I cut off the balloons so you'll have to imagine them in this picture. The little white take-out boxes are empty so each guest can fill them with candy from a table filled with sweets! There is a new toothbrush tucked on the side of each box.

Here's the table with all the goodies we could choose from to put in our box.

Fruit juice and water station.

Those that had a sticker on the bottom of their plate received one of these gifts that was wrapped like a piece of candy.

My five beautiful daughters. Francie, Natalie, Rachael, Lori, Shannon

I forgot to take a picture of the buffet table. It was beautiful and the food delicious! The shower was so much fun and worth every mile I drove to attend.

Update on Punkin

Punkin made it through the weekend and on Monday the veterinarian checked her and called us to let us know our options. We chose to have Punkin's leg amputated. She had the surgery on Monday and Bob picked her up from the hospital this morning. She is so sweet. Bob has taken her outside with him for awhile today and she loves it. She is doing really well getting around on just the three legs. Her biggest challenge right now is learning how to squat with one back leg.

Very Sad News

On Friday our dog, Punkin Doodles, was injured. Bob had run errands and just returned home. Checotah and Lola came out to greet him, but Punkin didn't come - which was unusual. Checotah had blood all over her face. Bob wondered where Punkin was - he called and called for Punkin, but she didn't come. Punkin is very obedient and comes whenever called. So, Bob thought Punkin might be injured and maybe out in the back field, so he started walking out that direction. He didn't see her, and turned around to head back towards the house. Punkin was limping towards him from the house. She must have been under the porch. Her left back leg was just hanging there and she was hobbling on three legs and was bleeding. Bob loaded Punkin into the truck and headed for the veterinarian's office.

Bob thought that maybe Checotah and Punkin got into a fight, but the veterinarian said the injury was much more serious that what an animal could do. He thought she had probably been hit by a car.

Punkin has been sedated and has been made as comfortable as possible. The veterinarian didn't expect her to make it through the night - but she did. On Monday we will have to make a decision. Bob and I are so sad. Punkin has been our baby for 12 years. We love her very much.

Finally . . .

It's been seventeen years since I started this quilt in a day project! I had signed up for a quilting class and made this log cabin cover project called a quilt in a day. My next class was on hand quilting so I decided to hand quilt the log cabin quilt in a day project that I had started. As you can tell, the colors of the quilt are outdated now, but it took me so long and was so much work I'm going to use it on my bed no matter if the colors are from the 90's. I don't think Bob is too excited about all the pink in this quilt, but he's a good sport and has let me use it anyway. He probably wishes it was still packed away in that clear tub that we toted around all these years - at least in the tote it was out of sight!


A few weeks ago, Bob started caning a chair he found in the barn. The directions indicated that re-caning a chair was a great weekend project. I had my doubts about "weekend project" after my 17 year quilt in a day project. But, the re-caning project only took two weekends and the chair looks great!

Bob enjoyed the project so much, he found another chair (one that we had hauled from California) that needed to be recaned and completed it in no time!


Bob said that the square seat was easier to cane than the round seat.

I'm thankful that Bob's caning project didn't take as long as my quilt project! Now if I could just finish the rest of my many unfinished projects.

The Surprise Party

Yesterday Shannon, Jeff, and Madeline came over and brought me a birthday present and visited for a while. Bob had my antique clock repaired and gave that to me for my birthday present. I thought I'd had a great birthday - even though I celebrated a day early.

Today, my birthday, I went to work as usual, had a stressful day as usual, and returned home expecting to spend the evening alone (Bob is usually gone in the evening). However, that wasn't the case. When I arrived home, it looked like every light was on in the house and there were two cars in the driveway. It was a party! Bob had planned this party two weeks ago and invited Ryan, Lisa, and the kids; Shannon, Jeff, and Madeline; and Tony and Donna. He must have been very busy all day because the dinner was delicious and the table looked beautiful! Bob made home made dinner rolls, mashed potato casserole, corn, salad, and beets. For dessert he made lemon merigue pie and angel food cake (my favorite) without icing! It was a wonderful evening with presents too! Ryan had taken an old picture of my grandfather several months ago (I had actually forgotten he had taken it) and had it restored and framed. I just loved it. Ryan actually looks like my grandfather did when he was in his 30's. I received many wonderful gifts, cards, phone calls, e-mails and notes. This truly was a special day for me. Thank you to each of my children and friends for filling this day with love and memories I'll always cherish.

New Project

Bob has been spending every spare minute cleaning out the barn so he can repair the floors in preparation for a big barn conference for his churches this coming June. The scrap metal pile is growing almost daily. Bob has found quite a few treasures and I enjoy my weekly tour of the barn to see the progress and take a look at the treasures. Bob has found several chairs. One chair didn't have any legs, but the rest of it was in good condition, so he thought he could nail it onto a log and use it for a stool. I agreed that would be a good idea as long as it stayed in the barn. A couple of the chairs were quite nice, but were in need of having the seats re-caned. We spent some time exploring information on-line which described the caning process as a good weekend project. So, Bob decided he'd give it a try. We ordered the supplies on Sunday and we found the package on the porch last night when we let the dogs inside to be put to bed for the night. So, tonight Bob started his project. Since he's starting on Thursday it'll give him a good head start and hopefully a completed chair by Sunday night.




I sure hope this project doesn't last as long as my quilt in a day project has lasted. I've managed to stretch my quilt project into 17 years. I guess we'll see who finishes their project first. I'll keep you posted.

Tale of Two Sundays

Last Sunday Lisa and the kids were with us for the day. We started the day off making homemade donuts for breakfast. Gracie was the official donut icing girl and Hannah waited patiently for her turn.

After breakfast I played a few polkas on my accordion while the girls danced around in the living room.

For lunch grandpa made a German potato and dumpling soup and blooming onions. Both were delicious! These sweet onions are from our garden. We have a "ton" of them stored in the basement.

Here is what the blooming onion looks like after it has been battered and deep fried. They were a big hit with the kids - me too!!!

The boys enjoyed riding their snowmobiles while the girls made a snow fort.

Little Ryan came in with snow all over his face even on his eyebrows. The boys were having so much fun riding. However, I think they spent as much time fixing the snowmobiles and they did riding them. They managed to get one of the snowmobiles stuck in a snowbank not far from the orchard, so grandpa went out to help them. First they got the snow blower out and blew some of the snow and then used my Envoy with the four-wheel drive to pull it out.

This Sunday Bob and I were home alone. No guests for the weekend. I went out to the barn first thing in the morning with Bob to observe first hand our crazy chicken that prefers to eat breakfast with the cats rather than the chickens. And, the cats let it! Big Foot was eating with Tiger and the chicken too, but I scared it when I turned on the camera. He's camera shy.

Then Bob and I decided to go for a walk on the property using our snowshoes. It was the first time I had used mine.

We were gone for about two hours and had a great time. The dogs loved going for the walk with us.

I was a little hesitant when we were walking across an area that was filled with cat-tails. But all is well.

Run Away Comes Home

While we were celebrating the holidays with family in Michigan and Oklahoma, we left the care of our beloved dogs, cats, and chickens in the very capable hands of our friends that have taken care of them many times over the past few years.

Bootsie, our female barn cat must not have appreciated our leaving her to be cared for by someone else, because she ran away from home. Bob and I were so upset that Bootsie was missing. However, Matthew was the most upset. Bootsie was Matthew's cat and had come to live in our barn while the family lived with us during their new home renovations. Then when they moved, Bootsie enjoyed the barn so much that Matthew left her with us since their new home didn't come with a barn.

Bootsie was gone for two weeks and we didn't think we would ever see her again. It was sad for me to think about what might have happened to her. I tried to convince myself that she had gone out looking for mice and she couldn't make it back to the barn because of all the snow.

When we arrived home from our trip we had at least three to four feet of snow on the ground. If fact our town made the national news - because of the amount of snow we received (60 inches in nine days and counting).

This morning when Bob went out to the barn to feed our other two cats (Tiger and Big Foot - Bootsie's two boys that we kept) and the chickens, he was so surprised to see Bootsie waiting to be fed. Of course when he came into the house to tell me, I immediately called Matthew to let him know - Bootsie had come home!!! We are all so happy that she made it back home safely. Now I just hope she isn't expecting kittens. We didn't want to get her fixed before we left and now it may be too late.

Bootsie

Homemade Bagels

Today I decided to make bagels. I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks. I added rosemary (my favorite herb) to the raw dough. After mixing the dough it had to rest for 15 minutes. Then to form the bagels, you just roll a piece of the dough into a ball and then poke your finger throught the center and shape it. Not too difficult. Then you have to cover them and let them rise for about 30 minutes. Then you place the bagels under the broiler for a minute on both sides and then place in a pot of hot water (that is simmering on the stove) for seven minutes turning once. After removing from the hot water, drain on paper towels and then place on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. They turned out really nice and I love the rosemary I added. Fresh homemade bagels are the best! I'll certainly be making these again.

Visiting Oklahoma City

It's been much too long since I last blogged. Several reasons . . . one I thought I was too busy . . . two my computer was tooooooo slow and temperamental. Now, I have a new computer that's much faster! I still am quite busy, but I miss reading all the comments and I hope I haven't lost any of my readers. I could never catch up on all the events that have taken place since my last blog in September. But, I'm going to try and blog more regularly.

Bob and I took a quick trip to Oklahoma City right after Christmas to visit my mom. After her car accident last May she has been living with my brother but her health continues to deteriorate and he is no longer able to care for her. She is now living in a nursing home. When I spoke with one of the nurses prior to our visit, she told me that my mom was quite frail.

Madeline was with us when we went to Oklahoma and it was the first time she had met her great grandma Annie. Of course, grandma Annie was thrilled to meet her and quite surprised to see Bob and me too! Being in Michigan for Christmas made our trip to Oklahoma City only a long days drive. We stayed with my cousin, Francie and her husband Pat. We had a great time visiting with them. Francie's sister, Carla, and I were very close as little girls and both played the accordion. Carla died several years ago of brain cancer. Francie had been given Carla's accordion and she dug it out of the closet and I played several polkas, waltzes, and other favorites which brought back memories of all the fun we had doing programs for the patients at the mental hospital in Norman, Oklahoma. It was so much fun. Carla's accordion was blue and my was white. After I entertained Francie and Pat playing the accordion, Francie told me she wanted me to have Carla's accordion because she knew it meant a lot to me. So she took a picture of me playing the accordion and said she would remember the times Carla and I drove the whole family crazy with our practicing.

We spent two days in Oklahoma City most of each day we spent at the nursing home with mom. She is so frail. It's hard to believe that she has gone down so much. She was so happy to see us and meet Madeline. I played the accordion for her and I could she her tapping her toes on the floor - she even knew the title of several of the songs I played. The first day I played the accordion in her room with the door shut, but the second day I played in the main social hall and many of the residents gathered to listen.

We also were allowed to take mom out for a little drive which she thoroughly enjoyed! I'm so thankful that I took the time to visit mom. She's in a really nice nursing home and the nurses are very attentive and nice to her.

Here is mom showing her two new sweaters from Rachael, Derrick, and the kids.

Mom may be frail, but she can still "dish it out"! And, Bob didn't mind "dishing it right back"!

Mom and Madeline sharing cookies (from Lori and Todd) with the residents and nurses. She loved the icing covered sugar cookies so she saved those for herself.

Here I am playing the accordion that my cousin, Francie gave me. (that's Francie in the picture with me).