Rhonda

Lake Darling

Uncle Terry’s fishing boat. You can’t spend time with a Houseal on a lake and not do some fishing!

We camped with family the weekend of the 14th at Lake Darling. A beautiful lake not too far from home. My cousin Brandi brought her camper, my aunts and uncles stayed in a hotel in Washington and came out to the lake each day, Uncle Jerry and cousin Todd brought Jerry’s camper, mom and dad had their new camper, my sister Beth brought her new RV, Aaron, Abby and Jeremy stayed with us. Cousin Jason came for the day Saturday. It was a family filled weekend for sure. And we rediscovered why we used to camp at Lake Darling all the time. It’s close to home and absolutely beautiful!

My three uncles – Terry, Donnie and Jerry. I love that even though Terry and Donnie are mom’s brothers and Jerry is dad’s brother in law they all know each other and enjoy each other’s company. I love all three of them and couldn’t have asked for better uncles!

I love love love this picture. My Uncle Terry, Drew, and my cousin Brandi’s grandaughter Marley. It brings back so many memories of going to Uncle Terry’s cabin on the Mississippi when I was little and going out on his boat with my two cousins. Uncle Terry is a true river rat and he loves to introduce the littles to the water!

Drew and sweet Bayah. She was a trooper – the weekend was extremely hot and humid and she couldn’t have been a better baby!

These three little monkeys had sooo much fun together!

My sister, Aunt Judy, Aunt Susan and me. Love my aunts – they are the best!

It was Dad and Mom’s 55th wedding anniversay. The weekend hadn’t been planned for this but we surprised them with a sign on their camper and a cake. Long story with the cake – I ordered one to be made and my order got lost – so Jeremy quick ran into Washington and picked one up. He decided a rainbow and unicorn cake was the best choice. Everyone loved it!

Light a Candle

I love candles – and I burn them a lot but especially this time of year. There’s nothing better than a wonderful scented candle burning on a crisp fall day. Especially something that smells of clove, cinnamon, tobacco, wood smoke, the list goes on!

I happened upon an oldWomen Living Well blog post while scrolling through Pinterest that was Week 1 on a segment titled Making Your Home a Haven. It really resonated with me. You light a candle every day and pray over your home whenever you see the flickering light of the candle. Praying for peace for your family and for peace within your soul. Such a simple concept. So easy to do. I want our home to be a haven, a place everyone wants to come to. And what better way to help make that happen than praying for my home and family and using a lighted candle as a reminder to pray throughout the day. Now I need to keep reading and see what is suggested for Week 2.

I Need Routine

A picture from our weekend camping trip to Lake Darling taken by my cousin Brandi. I didn’t get a chance to go out on the boat with Uncle Terry but Brandi took Drew for me. It’s such a beautiful lake.

I really need routine. I just don’t function well without it and these past few weeks have proven that. Joe and I both feel like we’re falling apart at the seams right now. For Joe, it’s work related on top of our constant running and there’s not much I can do to help that except figure out how to make things slow down here at home and give him a calm inviting place to come home to. I’m hoping to make that start today. For the first time in days I have nothing I have to be doing and nowhere I have to be going. We have no plans for this weekend and it looks like next week we can get back into a routine. And I’m excited – I need that routine! I think I’ll start with a big pot of veggie soup for supper. The weather has turned – we had record breaking highs in the 90s and humidity yesterday, it was miserable. Today we’re supposed to see a high of 66. Now that’s a change in temperature. A perfect time to for yummy veggie soup!

Witchy Stitches

Even when I’m feeling “under the weather” like I have been the last week or so, I can usually still stitch and it’s a good thing. I had orders for 16 pillows after posting my last grouping. That’s a good thing of course! But 16 pillows – that’s a lot to get done. I’m getting there though – only 2 1/2 half to go! Lots of pumpkins and witches. It’s getting to be that time of the year!

Under the Weather

My Sweet Autumn has been beautiful this season!

It’s been a long week and yet I’m not sure where the time has gone. Between me fighting some sort of stomach bug and Drew fighting an ear infection – nothing much has been accomplished that’s for sure. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous – absolutely no complaints to be had. Every day has been perfect – the windows have been open and yet when you feel under the weather you don’t get to appreciate how nice out it is.

I’m hoping to feel better today. I have felt better every day this week and seem to be on the mend. Yesterday after school Drew and I ran to Oskaloosa for our last camping grocery haul of the season. We’re camping this weekend at Lake Darling with family. One last trip before we get things winterized and put away. I’m ready for that – I think I’m camped out. We’ve done most of our camping this summer with others and while I enjoy that, I’ve missed just us camping – Joe, Drew and I. It’s a lot more relaxing when it’s just us. But at the same time, we’re camping with extended family this weekend and there’s nothing better than spending quality time with family! Hopefully we can make this a yearly thing!

And back to today – I have got to accomplish some housework today. Things have really fallen by the wayside and I can’t face coming home from the weekend with this much mess. So, I’ve got the windows open, I’ll turn some music up loud, light a few fall scented candles and try to stay focused. Get my work done today so I can focus on packing the camper tomorrow and just enjoy our last camping trip of the season.

Memories

My mom shared this picture on Facebook over the weekend. I have no idea why. It hangs on her wall along with a few other shots of me and Cherokee and pictures of my sister and her sports. They’ve hung there for years. I’m not sure what triggered her to share this particular one at this particular time. It’s funny how you walk by a picture all the time and think nothing of it but then all of a sudden you see it in a different light and it brings back so many memories!

The girl who had owned Cherokee before me commented on Facebook on the picture. She stated she has a picture of her with him that is almost identical to this one. For some reason it dawned on me just how hard it had to have been for her to sell him. Alice lived in town and kept Cherokee in town and would ride him all over. Everybody was familiar with him. He was a calm, gentle soul and you could walk right up to him and pet him. But then she was going away to college and had to sell him. I wanted him so bad but Dad and Mom said no. Money was tight and it just wouldn’t work out.

But then they surprised me – and he was mine! I would go over to Alice’s periodically and she taught me all about how to take care of him and how to ride him. Her sister had a pony and we would ride around town on them. I don’t remember how old I was at this time. I think we had the acreage but still lived in town so I would have had to be 10 or younger. I don’t even remember the day they brought Cherokee to our place. I just remember thinking I was probably never going to see him again and then one day he was mine. We had him for years and I remember when Mom called and said Dad had found him down in the timber and he had died. I was married and had my own family by then. He had gotten so old you couldn’t ride him anymore but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going anywhere. He was loved beyond measure, first by Alice and her family, then by me and mine and he was part of the family. That acreage was his home.

I remember Alice would come home to visit and she would come out to see him and to ride him. I can’t imagine how hard that had to have been for her. To have to sell him and then to come home and visit him. I was young enough that I didn’t appreciate at the time what it must have been like for her. I was too exctied to be getting him, I wasn’t really thinking about her losing him. We both have such great memories of this old horse. He touched the hearts of two young girls – he was one special horse!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Oh my have we gotten a LOT of rain. Last year at this time we were praying for rain. It was so so dry here and we were officially in a drought area. It was awful. Everything was so dry. The ground had great big cracks in it, the grass was brown and brittle. We were being so careful with our water, worried our well would go dry.

And this fall – rain. Lots and lots of rain. I haven’t seen our “pond” so full of water in years. It can’t really be called a pond anymore as it barely holds water. But right now it is overflowing. The ground is saturated and there is water everywhere. Hopefully, according to the radar, after today we should see clear skies and temperatures in the 70s. Now if the humidty would just disappear we could maybe get started on this beautiful season called fall – crisp cool air, falling leaves, bonfires, sweatshirts . . .

Morning Coffee

I have always loved the smell of coffee. And I enjoy coffee flavored candies, ice cream, frappes, even chocolate covered coffee beans, but try as I might, I just couldn’t drink a cup of coffee. Whenever someone asks me over for a cup of coffee – I bring my Diet Pepsi. But, for some reason over the past couple of weeks I’ve been enjoying a cup (or two!) of coffee in the mornings. I have to drink my water first thing, I take Drew to school, come home and enjoy a cup of coffee. I have no idea why all of a sudden a cup of coffee tastes good to me but I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. Of course, I just might be drinking coffee with my creamer not creamer with my coffee but hey, there’s some coffee in there! I’m also finding I’m not drinking near as much Diet Pepsi – which is a good thing. Now if it would cool down outside and this darn humidity would go away – I’m thinking a nice hot cup of coffee on a cool autumn morning will taste even better than it does on a hot humid one! And if I keep this up I just might have to invest in some fun coffee mugs just for me!

Lightning Bug Bottom

I love lightning bugs. I get excited every spring when they first start coming out and I miss them in the fall. I still like to catch them and hold them in my hands and see them light up. They make the evening seem magical as they float around randomly giving off light. I can’t imagine living in an area where lightning bugs aren’t out lighting up the nights. A good friend sent me this little saying the other day and it puts a new perspective on the lowly little lightning bug – If God can make a bug’s bottom light up to decorate the night sky, imagine all he can do . . .

Rainy Weekend Fun

Our Labor Day camping weekend sure flew by. We camped in Cascade, Iowa this year – a first for all of us. We had a rainy, hot, humid, buggy, sometimes cool, fun weekend!

We were the first ones there Friday. We got set up, Drew played with his legos then he and I went to bed. Joe stayed up and helped the others when they pulled in.

On Saturdy we explored the campground and just relaxed. Drew found a toad to play with which kept him entertained most of the afternoon and it was great to have Matt and Whitney visit in the evening. There was no tubing down the river. We woke up to rain and it rained most of the morning – too much rain means lots of muddy water!

Sunday was sight seeing day. We started out in Dyersville visiting the Field of Dreams. We didn’t stay long – it turned hot and humid and then it started to rain. So off to Dubuque we went.

First we went to Crystl Lake Cave. It worked out great – it stormed while we were touring the cave! They had had so much rain that we didn’t get to exit the cave by the usual route due to it being too wet – we actually had to backtrack and exit the same way we came in.

Next was Fenelon Place Elevator. Lots of giggles and laughs on this ride! We got off at the bottom – took an ice cream break and rode back up to the top. Joe and I had done this before, a couple of times, so we knew what to expect but it was fun to enjoy it through everyone else’s eyes. It’s a little scary the first time you’re on it – and even the third if you think about what would happen if a cable would break! We had also been to the Field of Dreams and the cave before but it was fun to see everything through other’s eyes!

Not sure why this poor guy was hanging off of this tire but he sure gave us a good laugh!

Supper was pizza at the Shot Tower – deliciously yummy pizza! Then back to the campground, a little time around the fire and before we knew it the weekend was over. We got up to rain, packed up in the rain, came home to sunny skies but 4 1/2 inches in the rain gauge, and a soggy chicken coop. Another fun Labor Day camping trip here and gone!