A little of this . . a little of that . . .
This is what you do when you take a break for a week. Last week when I was being a bum I binge watched Downton Abbey (I know – I’m way behind everyone else in my TV shows!) and I stitched. I stitched a lot! While it was hot and humid outside I worked on Halloween and fall things! I finally got them all died and filled and stitched into pillows. I love how Miss Grimhild fits inside this gourd – it’s like they were made for each other!
I love buttons – all kinds of buttons – but old buttons most of all. So when Uncle Jerry asked me to go through some of Aunt Konnie’s craft items and take what I wanted – I chose her beautiful blue button tin full of buttons. I hated to leave her knitting needles behind and all her crochet thread but I don’t knit and I barely know how to crochet and I just don’t have room to store things like that. It was hard, very hard to leave them behind. But those buttons – they just had to come home with me. After getting them home and going through them I wonder if some of them weren’t Grandma’s buttons as many are really old. Dad said he’s pretty sure they are. That makes them even more special!
I have buttons all over the house in old canning jars and tins. I love to look at them, sort through them, just run them through my fingers. I save buttons off of clothes. I have even been known to buy a jar or two of buttons here and there at garage sales. I use them for magnets, in crafts, on my cross stitch projects. But this one blue tin full of buttons I won’t use. Aunt Konnie’s button tin – those I’ll keep just for me!
This is something we haven’t done in a long long time – fishing a farm pond. I come from a family of fishhermen. And I remember many a summer afternoon growing up and going fishing with family. We have pictures of fish caught by my Grandpa Bond by noodling – big old river cats caught by wading into the river and sticking his hand in the catfish’s mouth and pulling it out. Dad always talks about that one that Grandpa could always get ahold of but could never pull up because it was so big – it would pull him down instead.
And then there’s my mom’s side of the family – the Houseals. Oh how they love to fish. And we reap the benefits with the annual Houseal Family Fish Fry. My mom’s brothers fish all season so they have an abundance of fish to feed us all. And Grandpa Houseal was a great fisherman. He took his fishing so seriously. When we were little I remember having to sit still and quiet. We were’t allowed to make any noise for fear we would scare the fish away. Those fish could sense us up on the bank and wouldn’t come near if we made a peep!
Even though I have fishing in my blood – I truly don’t enjoy fishing. My mom gets so frustrated with me. Because if I would just try it, I would love it! She takes after her dad – fishing is serious business! She forgets all those summer fishing afternoons we had growing up where I wasn’t given a choice – I had to fish. And don’t get me wrong – I love to be there, sitting on the bank of a pond or lake, with a book in my hand, relaxing and enjoying the surroundings. I enjoy watching others bring in a fish, how excited they get when they feel the tug on their line and how determined they are to bring it in. And the little ones – they are always so proud to show off their catch. But I just don’t enjoy doing it myself. I’m content to be the support team! I can put a worm on the hook with the best of the them – if I have to!
We spent Saturday afternoon at Uncle Jerry’s helping write out thank yous for Aunt Konnie. And after we were done, the kids wanted to go fishing. So we all jumped into the back of Uncle Jerry’s truck or onto the 4-wheeler and off we went. It was a beautiful day although very hot but the kids didn’t care. This was a pond where you threw your line in and pulled out a fish – no waiting involved – perfect for little boys with no patience! They caught little Bluegills that got thrown right back into the water. After fishing we went back to the house and Uncle Jerry grilled us ham steaks and we enjoyed each other’s company over supper. It was a good day.
I feel like I’ve taken a break from life this week. After all the running we’ve done this summer during the week and over the weekends it was starting to feel like things were never going to slow down. Then this week came. Joe left for Wisconsin on Monday and was supposed to be home late Tuesday. But – he’s been gone all week. He’s been back in Iowa but he’s helping out a coworker who had an emergency that needed dealt with.
So, no Joe, nothing on the agenda, and I’ve pretty much just shut down. Of course we had the school open house Tuesday night and first day of school yesterday. Then Aaron showed up last evening just to visit. Dad stopped by with some clothes Drew had left at their house and to pick up some eggs. But other than that my days have consisted of stitching, binge watching Downton Abbey, doing a little bit of crafting, keeping up with the laundry, taking care of the chickens and that’s about it. I shut down. Took a break. And it’s been quiet and relaxing and very much needed. Joe will be home at some point today and things will get back to normal. We’ll get back into a new routine on Monday now that school has started and my days will be a lot more quiet with Drew out of the house. I’m going to work on getting into a weekly cleaning schedule, I want to clean out and rearrange kitchen cupboards, the bathroom needs a deep cleaning, the camper needs stocked for our Labor Day camping trip, the list goes on and on, but this week I took a break from everything. It’s nice to be able to do that now and then.
Tuesday was a tough day for Drew – and for me! He had his school open house that night and his anxiety kicked in. He spent the day crying, being demanding, whining, being obstinate. Nothing would make him happy. It was tough. And it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. I hadn’t seen this behavior for so long. Once I figured it out I felt better. It didn’t make the day go better but at least I knew why he was acting out. Then Joe called later in the day to tell me he wouldn’t be home after all due to work issues. I told him what was going on with Drew and he knew immediately what the problem was. He sometimes catches on sooner than me.
I was worried about getting Drew to the open house by myself but once it was time to head to town he was fine. He kept asking if he could be homeschooled but he didn’t put up a struggle when I said it was time to go. He has a wonderful teacher this year. Actually 2nd grade is just wonderful at our elementary. You can’t go wrong with either teacher – they are close friends and they love the kids and it shows in everything they do. They work together daily, sharing their classrooms with each other. We’ve had both of them in the past with the older kids and love them both. Drew walked in and his teacher’s face immediately lit up, she walked over with a huge smile on her face, gave Drew a fist bump and said “There’s my guy!” Drew picked out his desk, unpacked his backpack, found his locker and it was time to go. He asked if he could go back into the classroom so back we went. He wandered around the room, just taking it all in. Looking at the books and games and all the different areas that were set up. Then we left. We got home and he stated he wished school didn’t start on Thursday – he was ready to go the next day!
Instead of saying he wanted to be homeschooled he was ready to go back to school. He doesn’t do well with change and struggles with anxiety over the unknown and he was in his comfort zone all summer being at home with me. But just going in and being able to take his time and check it all out, knowing his teacher and having her acknowledge him like she did, being comfortable with knowing where he was going and what to expect, seeing all his friends again, he was able to put some of his fears to rest and he’s ready. Today he walked right into the school like it was no big deal. I know he’ll have a great year!
I took this picture out of the car window while the car was moving. For no reason other than I love this view. I’m not a photographer by any means and this is not the best photo but I love it anyway. We were heading home from Uncle Jerry’s house after spending the afternoon with him and my two cousins. Aunt Konnie had passed away the day before and we all felt the need to be together. This barn sits down the hill from their house, through the tiny town of Rubio and around the corner. A couple of days later when we drove by there were cows roaming all over that hill and that would have made an even better picture but Drew had my phone and I wasn’t thinking about taking pictures then. It was a beautiful August day, the sun was shining, the sky was a beautiful blue with little puffs of white floating by. I would have loved to have taken a book and wandered up that hill, sat down in the shade of that barn and just enjoyed the quiet.
Sunday saw us up early and on the road to Brooklyn. We didn’t tell Drew where we were going so we could surprise him. He and my dad love all things trains and Drew has been wanting to ride a train. Mom happened to see an advertisement for a strain ride in Brooklyn and we all decided to surprise Drew. It was so much fun! Joe and I had never ridden a train either so we were looking forward to the day.
It was not a long ride – just 45 minutes total which was just the perfect amount of time. The ride was set up as a fund raiser for the fire department and was the last trip this old steam engine was going to make before being retired and set up in Newton at the museum there. It was just neat to get to experience a steam engine – the black rolling smoke, soot and coal dust, the sounds of the whistle, the windows were down and we rode in authentic 1920’s railroad cars. The conductors were dressed up and they came through and punched our tickets. It was easy to imagine what it would have been like to travel by steam engine way back when!
I’m glad Mom ran across this opportunity and that we decided to go. Drew had so much fun and it was an experience we will always treasure.
It’s hard to believe Joe and I were married 28 years ago on the 18th. We couldn’t fit in our annual just the two of us camping trip so Dad and Mom kept Drew for the day and overnight and we went to Centerville for the day. Joe has an account there and they told him about a place called Bradley Hall. It was the neatest place. Joe was disappointed because he thought it was full of antiques. Instead it was full of all kinds of things to buy but very few antiques. It’s actually a mansion that was built in 1902 by a banker for his wife and two children. It cost him $100,000.00 to build.
I would have loved it if all the “stuff” was gone and it was set up just like it would have been when it was built. It is a beautiful house and the craftmanship was unbelievable. They certainly don’t build things today like they did back then. I didn’t take many pictures because there was just too much stuff in the way but we really enjoyed wandering through the house. Upstairs and downstairs. It was fun trying to visualize how it would have looked in it’s glory!
Then we drove around Lake Rathbun. Lake Rathbun is huge and very much a recreational lake. We’ve camped there a couple of times and there are some beautiful campgrounds around the lake but most people who visit the lake are there to boat. They spend their days out on the water and only come back to the campground to sleep! We ended up eating supper at the marina and it was really good. Joe had the ribs and I had a Cuban sandwich. I like to try new things and I’d never had anything Cuban. It was yummy! It was a pretty low key day but it was nice to get away – just the two of us. We don’t get to do that very often!
I was gathering eggs the other day and I brought in another blue egg. Of course I had to show Joe and he laughed and said, “Those blue eggs make you happy don’t they?” And they do! Acutally, just the act of gathering eggs and talking to the chickens makes me happy. And I get to do it on a daily basis!
Then the other evening, one of those few evenings here lately where we could just sit still and relax, we were outside on the deck Joe built this summer. I had my sewing with me and my glass of Diet Pepsi (a bad addiction I’m working on stopping) sitting beside me on the table Joe built. It was a beautiful evening to be outside. And I realized how content I was. I told Joe how spoiled I felt at that moment. His response was that I was far from spoiled. But at that moment I was happy and I did feel spoiled.
Then when we were camping in Clear Lake I shared some salsa with the group that I had made the week before. Dad and Mom have had an overabundance of tomatoes, onions and green peppers this summer and keep giving them to me so I’ve been making freezer salsa and I now have 31 containers of salsa in the freezer, not to mention how much we’ve already eaten. They keep giving me tomatoes and I haven’t wanted them to go to waste so even if it meant getting up extra early in the morning to make a batch before going somewhere else for the day, I was up chopping tomatoes. And I realized it makes me happy. Being able to share with family and friends something I had made that was not only yummy but full of fresh straight from the garden ingredients makes me happy. Knowing this winter I can bring out this homemade yummy salsa and use it in chili and for tacos or just to eat with chips makes me happy. Just the process of making the salsa makes me happy.
Joe just chuckles when I say my blue eggs make me happy but he knows me and he knows these little things are so important to me. It doesn’t take much to find something around here that makes me happy! And that makes me happy too!
Roberts Creek – one of my favorite all time campgrounds. (I’m over a week behind on sharing this) We had to get a spot early as the campground fills up fast for the Sprint Car Nationals. So even though it wasn’t going to be used until Thursday, August 9th, by Joe’s friends we set it up the Sunday before, August 5th, on our way back home from camping at Clear Lake. We decided on the 6th, after Joe worked and Drew and I visited Aunt Konnie in the hospital, that since it was sitting there empty we would use it so off to Pella we went. We stayed Monday night and Tuesday night and then came home Wednesday night. Joe went to work both days while Drew and I relaxed, explored and enjoyed our time together. A quiet bonding time spent in nature after a hectic on the go friend filled time. It was just what we needed.
