Month: October 2018

It’s A Little Froggy Around Here!

Little Miss Bayah is turning one! It’s hard to believe that that little four pound peanut is going to be a year old! Her mommy gave me a list of ideas for gifts and I always try to follow the list. Things like a hooded bath towel and a soft baby doll. But I think she needs something special from grandma too! A couple of years ago I made Braxton and Drew frogs. I remember having a frog like this that my grandma made for me and I loved it. The boys really loved theirs too. They’ve been played with enough that they’ve had to be stitched back up in places. So, I thought maybe Bayah would like one too! Drew picked out the fabric and helped me stuff it with beans so it’s been a labor of love for a sweet little grandbaby/niece who has us all wrapped around her little finger!

A Great Read

A friend loaned me this book and I am so glad she did. We were wandering around the Amanas this summer and chatting about all kinds of things – as we tend to do. We don’t see each other often, sometimes a year or two can go by – but then we get together and start right back where we left off. I love those kinds of friendships. We haven’t even known each other that long really – she and her husband moved to Iowa from Texas a few years ago and we met because our husbands met through work and we all just hit it off.

Anyway, we were chatting about this and that and solving all the world’s problems which led to this book.  It’s not a book that I would normally pick up but when it comes to books, if somebody recommends one I’ll give it a shot and I’m so glad she loaned it to me and I am so glad I took the time to read it. It made me happy and sad, it made me laugh out loud and cry, and it really made me think.  I’ve learned to see things differently just from reading Noah Trevor’s words. I recommend this book to anyone and I’m so thankful my friend loaned her book to me!

Quiet Weekend

What a wonderfully quiet weekend we had! I hardly took any pictures – I just enjoyed the weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day. We fixed a brunch of fried eggs, bacon and toast then headed outside to get some much needed fall cleanup done. Joe mowed one last time and put the mower away for the season. I cleaned out flower beds. Then we did some odds and ends things that needed our attention, sat on the deck and watched Drew drive the 4-wheeler around and decided what we wanted for supper. Joe wanted to grill, I had a couple recipes from my book Autum by Susan Branch I wanted to try. So, off to the local grocery store for a few ingredients and back home for an appetizer of onion straws, pork chops, stuffed sweet peppers, baked beans, grapes and warm apple cranberry crisp. Joe and I ate the onion straws in the shop while he grilled the pork chops! They were soooo good and sooo unhealthy – definitley a treat and not an every day thing! Then cuddles on the couch with Drew and bed by 9:00. We are getting old – no staying up late around here if we don’t have to!

Sunday brought a little different weather. It was warm enough but the wind was something else! We had brunch again – this time scrambled eggs, sausage and grapes. (I have an over abundance of eggs right now! We had eggs twice and I gave five dozen away and I still have a fridge full of eggs!) Then off to Wellman to watch Braxton play his last soccer game of the  season and to play with Bayah! Braxton had two sets of grandparents and a set of great grandparents there to watch – what a lucky little boy! Then back home to carve a pumpkin and mix up some Cranberry Apple Walnut Bread. Oh my was that delicious bread! I’ve never used cranberries before and I’ve decided apples and cranberries together are my new fall favorite! I threw a tuna casserole together for supper and that was our weekend. Simple, quiet, productive, perfect!

Holiday Stitching

I’m mixing up my holidays! I got these all sewed up and stained last night. Now today at some point they will get stuffed and closed up and will be ready to find new homes. The Christmas ones will hopefully find new homes. I’m thinking I will keep the two Halloween ones for myself. I just have to do that once in awhile and these two are calling out to me!

Wedding Weekend Fun

We attended the most beautiful wedding over the weekend. We have what I like to think of as our camping family and this weekend a young woman I would never have known if it hadn’t been for Joe’s work and camping got married. Joe and Steve have worked together for years and have become the best of friends and our families started camping together quite a few years ago. We don’t see each other a lot. We live three hours away from each other. But we camp together at least twice a year, over long weekends, and when you camp you get to know each other well. So, we’ve known Steve and Wendy’s daughter Whitney since she was a young girl and we have grown to love her. Then she started bringing Matthew along on our trips and we’ve grown to love him too! We felt so blessed when they asked Drew to be their ring bearer in their wedding. It amazes me how lives become so entwined and time and distance just don’t matter!




 

Thought For The Day

(Joe, Drew and I went out for supper the other night. The restaurant Joe choose sits out in the middle of nowhere – pretty much in a cornfield! The field was so pretty with it’s golden cornstalks and the fall sky in the background, I had to take a picture!)

Every morning at our local public elementary school, over the intercom, they have two sixth graders lead the Pledge of Alligience, announce the menu and birthdays and there’s always a Thought for the Day to start the day. The 5th grade Language Arts teacher has each 5th grader write down the thought in their journals and then during her class they discuss sentence structure, punctuation, what the thought means, etc. What a great idea! The kids have to really listen and concentrate and then they learn through discussion.  And my favorite thought from the past two weeks:

Don’t take the stars and trees for granted, they’re all God’s miracles.

 

Oh Hazel

Miss Hazel has done it again. She got her head stuck in a fence and tore up her ear. Not only once but twice. Dad called the vet and the vet had him run in and get some medicine for it but he didn’t think they needed to stitch it. They were afraid she would just do it again and tear the stitches out. So I got to help hold her while Dad gave her a couple of shots and then sprayed medicine on her ear. She didn’t like the shots and she doesn’t like the spray. The shots were a one time thing but the spray has to be done three times a day until the wound is healed. At least she chose a time when the flies are gone so we don’t have to worry about keeping them off of the open sore. And the spray must sting because she shakes and shakes her ear after we let her go. We give her some cheerios as a treat after every treatment so that makes her happy. She will now always have a funky looking ear but that’s okay. We love her just the same! Helping Dad like this brings back memories of growing up and helping around the acreage. There was always some animal to help out with be it hogs, sheep, rabbits, dogs, cats, a goat, horses. Sometimes I really  miss those days.  And I think Dad does too. He told me likes having livestock around again to mess with. Even it is only a couple of goats!

Ready To Slow Down

I am so ready for things to slow down around here. Working at the school for two weeks was both rewarding and draining. I enjoyed the young man I was with although he was also quite the challenge. The school has hired a young girl to be with him and I think that’s good – she might be better suited to keep up with him! I was scheduled to work on Tuesday and on Thursday this week. Tuesday was canceled and Thursday rescheduled which was fine with me. I can use a week at home!

I had volunteered to help out at the school during their annual Color Run fundraiser but ended up working instead. Which worked out great as I was there all day and even though I was working I got to also spend time with Drew.

The kids had a great time dancing. They bring in a local DJ and she plays all the songs the kids love. The weather was iffy all day but it cleared up just enough for everyone to have fun for a couple of hours!

Drew’s teacher saw these boys taking a selfie and she just had to photobomb them. She’s such an involved teacher. She’s very update and fun!

I did manage to tackle this daunting task over the last month. All my DMC was in baggies. Hard to find, numberous duplicates, just very frustrating to sort through. After soooo many years of stitching I have accumulated soooo many threads. So instead of stitching I organized. I still have threads in baggies but I also have every DMC color organized like this. It is so nice now to pull out the threads I need without having to spend time sorting through piles. I should have done this years ago!

Braxton has been playing preschool soccer and we got to go to one of his games. He was lots of fun to watch. I get a kick out of these little ones – they have so much fun just running around out on the field. Little Bayah cuddled with me throughout the whole game which was fun too!

We we out for lunch after the soccer game for Aaron’s birthday. He wanted to go to Applebee’s in Iowa City. Everyone made it except for Eric who had to work. Jeremy looks grumpy in this picture but he had actually just shown Braxton how to make spit balls and shoot them through a straw. Braxton had a blast shooting them at Uncle Aaron who was a good sport. Especially when Drew got into the action too! I’m sure Applebee’s was glad to see us leave!

The Chickens Are Happy

While chatting with Uncle Jerry about chickens he  mentioned he had been letting his girls out to free range now that the flowers were spent and they couldn’t do too much damage to them. So, we’ve started letting our girls run. I’m not sure who has been more excited – the chickens or Drew. He couldn’t wait to play with them and he even tried to bring Blackie in the house! We had four very happy chickens and two who were too scared to wander more than a few steps out of the pen the first time we let them out. Those two had never been out to free range before. I’m sure as we let them out more here this fall they’ll get brave and wander. Especially once they catch on to all the bugs they’re missing out on!

Unfortunately, we’ve been seeing lots and lots of rain these past couple of weeks and the chicken pen is full of mud so letting them run has been especially good for them. But, I’ve been subbing at the school the last five days and haven’t been able to let them run while I’m gone. After this week (only four more days – yeah!) hopefully the weather will improve and I’ll be home again and we’ll all be happy!

 

Oh Hazel

Hazel caused a little bit of trouble when she got home. Since we don’t actually have a place for Hazel at the moment, Dad volunteered to keep her over the winter until we can get a place fenced in for her. Dad is glad to have her to maybe get some weeds eaten down in his lot. Unfortunately, Hazel came home with us on a Monday and on Tuesday, she escaped. We spent Tuesday night looking for her to no avail. Dad felt awful. He called Uncle Jerry to see if he had sold the rest of his goats. Uncle Jerry proceeded to bring one of his old dairy goats along with another little goat to stay with Dad and Mom in hopes that they would help lure Hazel home.

She was spotted following the neighbor’s cows around. And she came out of hiding once when Mom went down and called like a goat but once she realized it was Mom and not a real goat, off she went. Then, thanks to a neighbor who had an “animal caller”, they took that down with them along with the old tame dairy goat, used the caller and lured Hazel back to the barn. She followed the dairy goat up no problem. I’m sure after spending three nights “in the wild” and all by herself she was ready for some company.

So we brought her home on Monday, she escaped on Tuesday, then she was home again on Friday evening. Saturday afternoon I took Drew over to spend time with her. She was a little skiddish, and why wouldn’t she be. The poor thing had had quite the week. Taken away from her herd, loose in the wild, back to a strange place. But Dad can catch her as she seems to have warmed up to him quickly, and we spent some time just talking to her and petting her and letting her get used to us. She’s a sweet little thing and has the most beautiful ears. It will take some time but I think she’s going to fit right in with us.

We went back over Sunday evening and took supper to Dad and Mom and spent some more time with Hazel. And Nanny and Rubio – as the other two goats have been named now also. Uncle Jerry will be taking them home at some point but how can you not name a goat? Nanny is a big pain in the behind. She is tame as can be and gets into everything and eats everything – including your clothes. Rubio on the other hand has never been handled and doesn’t want to be messed with. So for now Dad will have a good start on getting rid of those weeds with is new goat herd!