Thursday, December 31, 2015

This and that...

After many months of being on the edge of storms and cold weather, winter arrived here Monday night and into Tuesday morning. Judging from the amount of snow I shoveled from the back porch I'd say we got about 8 to 10 inches of the white stuff. Ish. After helping us dig out Colton left to head back to River Falls for work. It was really nice having him home.

For Christmas I received two cast iron skillets from the Hubby. I've never used anything like them before. You have no idea how heavy they are. I swore the big one was 20 pounds so I had Caden weigh it for me. Turned out it was only seven pounds, but damn it is a heavy seven pounds I tell you.

Seasoning them was a stinky affair. I swear that stench is still lingering in the house from when we did it last Sunday. 

I've learned a few things about them already - You can't use plastic spoons or spatulas in them - duh right? but hell who has metal cooking utensils? I didn't, but do now.

I've only used them a few times and I really like they way food cooks in them. Fajitas seem to have a more authentic "mexican" type flavor like you'd get from a restaurant. Grilled cheese sandwiches made with my much longed for Tillamock cheese (that my eldest son got me for Christmas) was absolutely the best grilled cheese I've ever had. 

Cleaning the skillets have been interesting too. How do you not use a shit load of soap to clean something you've cooked in and is dirty? Apparently it can be done with just a stiff brush and hot water, but don't forget to dry that pan well or it could rust. Stay tuned for more adventures in cooking with cast iron.

It's always been our tradition to leave the Christmas tree up until the weekend after New Years. Which in a typical year, when we put it up the weekend of Thanksgiving is about a week too long for me. This year however we put it up late and I ended up taking it down on Tuesday after the cats totally demolished it. Damn cats. They obviously thought the tree was the only play place in the house. Good for ambushing unaware people walking by and scaring the crap out of them to lounging on the branches and falling from their perch and knocking more branches out. sigh. 

I had a unexpected phone call from one of my Uncles the other night. I hadn't talked to him in probably 10 years. He was calling to tell me how much the Christmas card I sent meant to him. How's that for sweet. It really made my day hearing from him and ensures that I will continue sending cards. I had contemplated not doing them this year since I was running so behind in everything. Sure am glad I stuck with it and got them out.

Hope you all have a safe New Years! 
later :)









Sunday, December 27, 2015

Sunday AM coffee and the Christmas review

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday with friends and family.

 We've had a great holiday weekend.

Christmas eve I was saying good night to Caden and he declares that I haven't read him a Christmas story, which is something I've done on Christmas eve since Colton was a baby. 
Of course all the little kid books have been packed or given away and I didn't have a book handy to read. 
So I winged it. 
My story went something like this:

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring - not even that damn mouse who ate the toilet paper and shit all over in the upstairs bathroom cabinet.
Stockings were hung in our dining room with care.
Two of my children were snug in their beds while the eldest was gallivanting across the state at his girlfriends family celebration. 
I had just settled in for for the night when out on the lawn there arouse such a clatter, I ran to the window and what to my amazement do I see? That rotten Scotch has broken through the fence and he and the other horses are running like fools through the newly fallen snow!
Out the door I fly to round those ponies up, trudging through the snow in just my nightie and slippers. Cussing and groaning as I slipped and slid, for there was ice under that newly fallen snow.
Finally the fence was fixed and the horses securely behind the fence, I limped and trudged back to my bed. Where I warmed my cold feet up on the Hubbys warm ass!
ha!
Not too bad, right? lol
The kids got a laugh out of it anyhow.
Colton and the girlfriend made it back at 230a safe and sound.

A few pic from the day:


Found the best shirt for Caden. It says if wrestling were easy they'd call it basketball.
He sure misses basketball and the comrade of hanging out with his buddies. Next year we'll see what happens I guess. I don't think I mentioned it, but he tried out for the school play - Peter Pan and got a part as one of the lost boys. He is really excited about that. They start rehearsals in January sometime. 


Colton, the girlfriend and Dodger.


The Hubby and I showing off our treasures from my folks.
I'll have to take a picture of the stained glass when the light is shining through it, you wont believe how gorgeous it is!


Christmas night we watched old family videos. Seriously I have not laughed and cried so much in a long time! The tape we watched was from 10 years ago. Colton was 13, same age as Caden now so he was three then. Chyann was eight and had recently had an operation on her legs and was in a wheelchair for most of the videos. Crimaney Caden was a wild man! Colton was spouting off the funniest random stuff and Chyann looked like a fragile doll with the sweetest smile even while enduring the worst kind of torture for a kid - broken bones and being trapped in a wheelchair.
It was a wonderful end to the day watching those videos. We've sure got good kids. They are the best of both of us and we couldn't be more proud of them.

The only thing that would have made this holiday better for me, would have been being with my folks. I really missed all parts of our family. Mom and Gerry. Dad and Jeanne. Jeff and his family.  
Hopefully we can work something out for the next holiday season or another time during the year.
You know, like maybe Chyann's graduation!

Another short week for me as we head into the last week of December. 
It's only Sunday and I'm already looking forward to Wednesday at 2p when I'm off again lol

Have a good one!





Sunday, December 20, 2015

Sunday AM coffee



We had several inches of rain earlier in the week, complete with thunder, lightning and a brief power outage. 
Then the next day temps that barely made it to 20*.
A warm up is on the way for this coming week, possibly back up to the 40's if you can imagine that. 
No white Christmas here and that's just fine with me.

Finally made it out shopping this weekend. The crowds and traffic weren't as bad as I expected them to be thankfully. 
Chyann went with me Friday and Caden Saturday.
I enjoyed spending time with them so much. Talking about random stuff and singing along to the radio.
Chyann even bought me lunch and that thrilled the hell out of me!

Her graduation is fast approaching and is a reality people.
Made even more so by purchasing the cap/gown and tassel this week.

~~~

Wrapping, baking and doing the Christmas cards await me today.

Got a start on the cards last night, but didn't make it too far. 
I've got this address book that I've had for probably 20 years. It's got Pooh bear on the front.
The kids have all doodled in it - made their mark one might say. There are little notes in it next to their friends name, cute drawings of pickachu and horses, smiley faces and many practice attempts at writing cursive.
Lots of names in my book. 
Sad to see so many who have passed away and folks that we no longer keep in touch with. 
Time moves on and changes happen. Sometime we aren't even aware of it either.


Anyhow. 
The two big kids are done with their college finals!
Colton feels like he did well on all his finals except maybe one. 
He has had a tough first semester and it's finally over. 
We are sure proud of him taking on all that he has  - school full time and working almost full time hours for the first time. That's a lot for anyone to do.
He will be home on Wednesday evening for five whole days.
It will be wonderful having him home.
That feeling of contentment, having them all under the same roof. 
Knowing they are all safe and sound.

Chyann passed her final with a B and ended her first college tour with an A. 
She will be taking three classes next semester along with her regular high school courses. 

Chyann the cat charmer.
Picture from a few weeks ago.


Work has been busy recently and I'm really looking forward to having four day weekends for the next two weeks.



Have a good one :)




Sunday, December 13, 2015

Sunday AM coffee

I got up too early for a Sunday.
Being roused from sleep by the thumping and scurrying of cats tearing down the hallway is always annoying.
Come to find out though, one of them had caught a mouse and others wanted a piece of it too.
Lots of growling going on.
Least they are earning their keep by making sure those rotten mice have no opportunity to make a home in my house.  

We finally got the artificial tree up on Friday evening - not decorated yet, but it is UP.
Damn cats continue to try climbing it. 
This morning after disposing of the mouse I find that they have somehow removed/dislodged multiple branches from the tree and one of the branches is missing.
No idea where it is and how exactly they managed to drag it off remains a mystery.

It has been an interesting morning to be sure. 
It's raining again.
Might get up to two inches of rain within the next day or so. 
Good thing that's not snow or we'd be buried in it.

The middle school choir put on a wonderful concert at the nursing home on Friday. 


I attempted to upload a video of a song, but apparently it was too big of a file for my computer to load. Seriously what a pain in the ass. I attempt to open the file, it looks like the video will load but nope, the whole computer shuts down.
Restart-a-rama here.

Anyhow yesterday was the first of the seasons wrestling tournaments. 
Somehow I had forgotten how hard and fast my heart thunders when Caden steps out onto that mat to wrestle. 
I know he was nervy and didn't sleep well the night before. Anxious for the first real wrestling of the season I suppose.

This was the first tourney we'd been to outside of Regional's where they actually weighed each kid, inspected their nails and skin before checking them in. They even wrote their weight on their arms, not quite sure what that was about though. Caden weighted in at 87.7 and wrestled at 88. That is 10 pounds he has gained since March.


He almost had this match.
 He was ahead by 4 points when bang it was over and he'd lost by 1 point.
I'm proud of the fact that Caden has such good sportsmanship. Not like some kids you see at these tourneys who cry and holler when they've lost.
In fact between matches he and this boy visited and talked wrestling.
Likely they will wrestle each other again at some point.


A lot of wrestling is state of mind I think.
Playing in your mind what you learned from prior matches and how you'll use that information in the next match. 
Determination.
Caden was not going to loose again apparently.
He totally dominated this match, winning by pin in the first minute.
Short videos will load :)


My boy is triumphant! 


2nd place on the day!


He says next time he will take 1st and get that big pewter trophy!
There aren't any tourneys close until after the first of the year and then it really heats up.
Can't wait!!

later

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Thirsty Thursday


13 more shopping days till Christmas.
I'm a little further ahead than I was than the last time we spoke.
Not much, but a little. 
I sure love Amazon prime.
Only problem with online ordering is we actually have deliveries, which means Dodger acts like a big scary dog. Barking like a fool and looking menacing - the drivers all think he wants to eat them. 
So...
Dodge has been spending some quality time with me during the day.
Check out the silhouette of the horse that sits in my window. 


We almost broke records today. 
It was up to 47* at our house before the rain began. 
Rain in December you say? Yep. 
I was talking to a gal at work on a call earlier - she said she hoped it hurried up and got cold so we'd have snow for Christmas. I said are you out of your mind?! No snow is a wonderful thing in my opinion. 

The view from my back porch last night. 



Tomorrow I'm going to see Caden and the 7 & 8 grade choir preform at our local nursing home. I'm really looking forward to it. 
Chyann is a bit cranky about it though. 
See since I work at home "my" vehicle has gotten sucked into the family collective. Which about 99.9999% of the time is not an issue; however on days like tomorrow I need wheels.
 I could use the truck, but it is full of wood that didn't get unloaded this week. The Hubby had an abscessed tooth that took off on him and he ended up having oral surgery on Tuesday so no, he didn't much feel like unloading the truck and I felt more like riding horses than unloading it. 
Chyann had the option of me chauffeuring her to school tomorrow or riding the bus. 
She chose the chauffeuring option, but as she says that's bullcrap.
Well whatever. 
She hasn't had to ride the bus all year so I'd call that pretty damn fortunate. 
Can you believe it's only a smidgen more than a month and she'll be 18?

later folks






Sunday, December 6, 2015

Sunday AM coffee


We've had wonderfully mild weather this weekend. 
It was damn near 50* yesterday. Probably wont get that warm today, but it'll be close. 
The only problem with this warmer weather is the Asian beetles/lady bugs and ticks. They are just not going AWAY! What a pain in the arse I tell you. 

I've made no traction on my Christmas to do list, but there is still time. 
19 days to be exact.
I may do some online stuff this morning while the cinnamon rolls rise. 
I got the kids' wish list this week. It tickled me to see that both the older kids had actual books on them.  

Speaking of books you know I previously worked at our local library. Friday night I attended a retirement/holiday party for my friend Lisa, the library director. 
She has been at the library promoting the love of books and the knowledge they bring, in our community for 15 years. 
We had a great time reminiscing about our past library adventures and even played a few fun games. 


My boy-o was a bit under the weather yesterday. He snuggled on the couch with the kitties and watched movies. Tis the season for germs to be spread. 
Sounds like he'll be attending the first wrestling dual next Saturday so he'd better get to feeling better ASAP!


We gave the ginormous piano we had in the dining room away last week too. 
A friends niece's son is thrilled to have it. 
The dining room looks impossibly huge and light now. 
I need to hang up some pictures, but may wait until after Christmas because I think we'll be doing some kind of kid picture for the Hubby and that will be the walls main focus. 

later :)



Tuesday, December 1, 2015

December already?

Dang November fairly flew by!
I had a grand five day mini-vacation, spending much of my time outside for the first part of it.
No way was I going to fritter away the last of the 50* weather parked in the house if I didn't have to. 
I managed to whack down all the weeds in the cow pen and behind the barn. 
I may start on the front pasture this weekend since the little bit of snow we received on Thanksgiving and yesterday will be melted by then.
I love this mild weather. 

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful!
Colton and his girlfriend ended up coming home since the storm petered out early in the day. It was lovely having him here even for just a short time. 
I already can't wait for him to come home again. 

23 more shopping days till Christmas folks!
Yes, I'm way behind as usual. 
No tree up.
One gift purchased - hey it's a start.
No cards done.
Plans tho, I have tons of plans.
With any luck all my plans will fall into place. 

A few pictures from last week. 


Jennifer and Dozer. 


I'm still having computer issues. 
I think I just need to break down and buy a new one. 
Thing is even though I am on the dang thing every day for work I am not sure what I need/want for my home use. There are a lot of deals out there now so if I'm going to do it I should do it soon.

If you are up for a chuckle you can go HERE and see Caden and the rest of the 7th grade class doing a rap about grammar. 
He is in the last group; shows up at about 5 min 15 seconds.
They will show it at the kids' graduation in 2021. 
We'll be seeing Chyann's grammar flap in May.
Saw Colton's too. It made me cry. 

Anywho. 

Have a good one :)

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

This and that...

Starting today I have five whole days off.
A little vacation. Aaaaah. It is going to be wonderful.

Ol' mother nature may be throwing us a curve ball for Thanksgiving though.
Supposed to rain this evening turning over to freezing rain in the early AM and then start SNOWING. Possibly up to 4" and right about the time of our travel. It might work out better to do our celebration on Friday instead. We'll play it by ear I guess since we all know forecasts do change.


Even though it's hunting season Chyann and I went for a ride yesterday afternoon. We had the best time. Just her and I talking about everything under the sun. I hope we can do it again soon.

Speaking of horses. Scotch is quite the Houdini. Somehow that bad boy is going through the fence everyday this week, sometimes multiple times a day. He never goes far, knock on wood, but its a pain in the ass. Apparently the Hubby needs to turn the electric fence back on. Give him a little zap as incentive to quit going through the fence.

I'm sure you've heard about coconut oil and what an wonder product it is. It's uses range from cooking, lip and skin conditioning to eye make up remover and is a natural sunscreen. I purchased some a few months ago and then pretty much forgot I had it until I was searching for recipes to use up the 18 frozen bananas I had in the freezer. You absolutely have to try this recipe for Banana Chocolate swirl cake! It is hands down the best cake I've ever made and yes it calls for coconut oil in both the cake and glaze. Now that I know cooking with coconut oil is easy and see how it adds just a little something extra to your recipes I'm definitely going to be cooking with it on a regular basis. I also made 4 loaves of banana bread and managed to used up all 18 frozen bananas. We finally have some room in my kitchen freezer again.


Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!
later :)



Saturday, November 21, 2015

Saturday AM coffee


It's been quite a week. 

Technology is amazing and wonderful when it works. 
I logged onto my work computer Monday morning to find that the system updates that were pushed to it had not loaded properly and ended up completely corrupting it.
Which after many hours on the phone and two trips into the office resulted in getting a new computer shipped to me on Tuesday. 
A new computer sounds great right? It did have most of the programs I needed, but seriously it took about four hours to set up. What a pain in the buns I tell you.

Sure it's mid November and the weather was bound to turn more seasonal, but I wasn't ready for it. 
Still no snow. A few flurries here and there. Damn it's cold though and the wind. Freaking howled for a few days there. 

The neighbor finally harvested the corn next door too. 
View from my office window when they were cutting.
Unfortunately it is the start of gun deer season so I probably wont be venturing far on the ride I plan on taking today. 



Caden started wrestling on Tuesday and had the time of his life. I should have taken a picture of his face, he has some nice scrapes and cuts. Wrestling is definitely not for the faint of heart. Somehow he and the Hubby ended up bringing home a 13x13 foot wrestling mat. No idea where we are going to put that heavy sucker. The Hubby says he is going to put it in the basement. Make a gym workout area down there. Ok, let me know how that goes. We've had several different basement remodel ideas over the years and none of them have panned out. 

Colton being the low man on the totem pole at work is not getting much time off around Thanksgiving. We are planning on going to River Falls to spend what little time he has off together.  With any luck he'll be able to come home for an extended period over the Christmas holiday break. He hasn't been home for over three months now. Almost as long as when he went to Europe last spring. 

Speaking of River Falls. 
Remember when I came back from AK two years ago I had a serious hankering for Tillamock cheese? Well I have been dreaming about that damn cheese again so I got online an looked it up. Come to find out the store Colton works in actually carries it! So yes I'll be making a stop there to stock up on the most delicious cheese! I am hoping its just as good as what I remember and will be making this favorite

toodles



Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Pet peeves - texting a persuasive essay

Yes it's true texting is now a basic way of communicating in our modern world.

I do text, but with my breath held.

My problem with texting is that the intent of any given text can easily be misconstrued. This fact is true whether you are the text sender or receiver.
You can't hear a persons voice and discern their tone; therefore when I get a text I usually read it multiple times trying to determine the intent - Was that meant to be nice? Was it bitchy? Was that mean? Just what is this person trying to say? WTF

Not to mention there is just something about texting that makes people brave. They'll send texts to friends when they are upset (or drunk) about some random bullshit thing with content that they'd never have the balls to say to that persons face. What's up with that? Grow the fuck up people.
If you really have a problem or issue with someone your best bet to resolve an issue is to confront that person face to face and if that is not possible the text sender needs to consider their words carefully before sending their text because you can really damage a relationship otherwise.

And lets not forget the amazing wonder of auto correct. OMG. 9 times out of 10 you end up looking like an idiot when you text because of what auto correct thinks you are trying to say.

and...

Hello people! Why no greeting when you text? Isn't it customary to say Hello or Hi such and such before whatever the gist of your conversation is about? Is that lazy, rude, a show of contempt or just part of our contemporary culture?

I will concede that sending a text may be appropriate at times vs making a telephone call, but really if you want to talk to me your best option is just call.

Pick up the phone and hit that other button - let me hear your voice and you can hear mine. This way we'll avoid any miss communication, not ruffle anyone's tender sensibilities and we can connect on a personal level. Isn't that a better option? Actually hearing a friends laugh rather than reading lol?

Besides all that I an not one of those people who are connected to their phone and almost never have it in my hand or even nearby me so I wont realize you sent a text, but I will hear the damn phone ring!

later



Monday, November 16, 2015

A matter of opinion


When your child is born you get in idea what color their eyes are and within a few weeks can say yes my child has blue eyes with confidence.
All my kids have blue eyes.
Imagine my surprise when I find a document, one of those you fill out to describe your person for identification purposes, that has my daughter proclaiming she has green eyes!?!
WTF? Green eyes?
So I asked her about it. She says "Mom my eyes have always been green. I don't know why you think they are blue." Well ok then.
I still say she has blue eyes.


Since Caden got into sports a few years ago wearing jeans has fallen to the wayside. He favors sweatpants and/or shorts throughout the seasons - rain, shine, snow whatever.
He typically will have one pair of jeans to wear at any given time, which always seemed to be on the edge of too small since he rarely wears them.
Anyhow with him participating in choir and band this year he has already had quite few instances of needing to dress up. I bought him three new jean and shirt outfits to wear.
Now to me wearing jeans is a wardrobe staple. Levis are my jean of choice and since they are spendy those babies are treated tenderly.
Washed only once every few wearings and hung dry - never put in the dryer. They are hung with the seams together at the leg and I make sure that crease from bottom to top is even so when they are dry you have a nice crease without having to iron them. I did Caden's new jeans just like that.
The other morning he is getting dressed and comes into my office carrying a pair of jeans and asking me if there is any way to get this weird crease out of his pant legs because he just doesn't like the way they look.
OMG really? A crease in your jean legs is the only way to wear nice jeans. He shakes his head and says "I don't think so Mom".

Well I suppose they can have their opinions.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Saturday AM coffee

It's in all the news. The attacks in Paris.
All I could think was how thankful I was that my son was not there.
Our local news stated there were several college study abroad programs in Paris this semester and the schools were trying to find out the students status. Even thinking about it I get chills.
An awful tragedy for so many people. Its a scary world we are living in folks.

~~ 

We've got a bit of a bug going through the house this week. No one is quite up to snuff. Which is how that works I think. Our propane furnace is on the fritz and we don't have much wood in the basement. So apparently at some point, regardless of how we are feeling the wood is going in. Sure am glad the weather continues to be mild.

later










Monday, November 9, 2015

The ban has been lifted....

Approximately 26 years ago a ban on chili was placed upon our house.

A ban you ask? Yes a ban stating no chili would be made here.

The story goes something like this.....

Once upon a time a young gal graduated from high school and moved in with her boyfriend. Attempting to be an awesome girlfriend the girl cooked dinner for the boyfriend every night.

The boyfriend though this was great, at first.

Unfortunately the girlfriend only knew how to make three meals: chili, fried pork chops with boiled potatoes and corn, meat loaf with boiled potatoes and green beans. Ordering pizza or take out didn't count as "cooking".

For whatever reason growing up she fought her own Mother tooth and nail to escape the kitchen at every opportunity. Not realizing that her Mother had valuable information to impart regarding the preparation and cooking of food. Of course the young gal realized her folly in a very short time, but being the age she was she just couldn't call Mom up and say "Help me please!"

As you can imagine those three meals got old quickly. The young gal attempted many many different variations of the three meals but did not meet with a lot of success. The boyfriend tired of the same three meals and sometimes awful experiments, he said enough of these three meals!

Hence the chili ban. Course pork chops, meat loaf and boiled potatoes were also banned, but those bans were of short duration. Not chili though.

Time passed as it does - The young gal swallowed her pride and received assistance from her Mother. She bought tons of cook books. Watched many cooking shows. From which she has managed to evolve into a damn decent cook much to the now husbands delight.

Fast forward through the years to yesterday: it is early evening and after working outside for a good chunk of the day I am pondering dinner. Something easy. Something warm. I am struck with an idea - freaking chili! To hell with the chili ban I'm making chili and I did.

It was delicious. Even the Hubby declared that it was. We laughingly declared the chili ban finally over.

But

As we all know history is bound to repeat itself in some cases. Our darling daughter will be leaving us in the spring for college and her life. I try and try to encourage/request her assistance in the kitchen, but she like the younger me, is not interested. Sigh. She too will learn the hard way no doubt.


Later







Sunday, November 8, 2015

Weekends

always go too fast. 
We've been cutting and splitting wood, the weather has been perfect for working outside. Only problem has been the ticks. Those buggers never quite died off with the mild temps. We've all had a few and the dogs even more. Ish. Ticks are just nasty. 


The guy who has corn on the fields around us is supposed to be getting it harvested sometime this next week. I can hear them in the fields to the South and am looking forward to them finishing up so we can ride back there before deer hunting begins and the weather gets crappy. 



Are you going black Friday shopping this year?
I've been invited to go with a friend, but don't feel the enthusiasm to do it that most folks have. 
The one time I went a few years back, yes it was fun but damned if it didn't seem to take me the rest of the weekend to recover from staying up all night. Plus I didn't feel like the deals I got were really all that good. So I'm not sure if I'll go. I guess some of it will depend if Colton comes home or not. If he's here I'd like to be here as well. 

Have a good one - I'm heading out to chuck some wood :)

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Saturday AM coffee

Good Morning!

It's been a while right?
Many computer problems and the lack of desire to attempt a post from my phone were leading obstacles in my lack of posts. I like to type rather than one finger poke to write. Not to mention autocorrect on the phone would have likely made for some awful stuff lol

Anyhow it's November. 
We are continuing to enjoy mild weather. We had an evening last week where rain turned to snow briefly, but that has been the extent of winter so far.  Last night the Hubby fired up the wood furnace for the first time this year just to try it out. Fingers crossed the snow and cold holds off for another month. 

What else is going on...

I got a text just this morning from the lady who bought Casper and she says he is an amazing mini. Her family loves him. Was so nice to hear from her. I still miss seeing him when I look out at the horses. 

Scotch enjoying a nap the other day. 


Colton turned the big 23. We went to see him last weekend and really enjoyed spending time with him. 
While waiting for Chyann to arrive I played around with my camera and the timer. 


Handsome guy if I don't say so myself.


The idea was to get a family picture taken. 
EVERYONE knew this but no one chose to dress up.
Whatever.
Be who you are I suppose. 
However now Chyann says she doesn't want me to use the pictures we took for the xmas card cuz she didn't do her hair. 
OY oy oy....
Guess she'd better hope Colton is able to come home for Thanksgiving so we can do another, otherwise we are sticking with the ones we took.




Wrestling starts in earnest very soon.  I think we are all excited about that. 

That is all for now. 
Enjoy your Saturday :)
later







Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sunday morning coffee

Today Caden is the big 13!
Hard to believe right?

I'm making him cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast and his request for dinner is anything BUT Mexican. Poor kid apparently thinks we eat too much Mexican lol


We are enjoying a nice warm spell this weekend. 
Supposed to get up to 80* today. Probably the last time we'll see this kind of warmth until next summer. 
I'll have the horses out mowing again. 
The other day Dodger and Dozer eyed them warily from the back porch. Just waiting for one of them to make a move so they'd have an excuse to go bark at them and maybe get a little chase game going.


Both the kids did the state required hunter safety program the previous two weeks and completed their field day yesterday. They passed and are glad to have it behind them. 

I leave you with this gorgeous sunset picture from last night. 


Have a good one :)

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Tuesday Memories

I've been going through a lot of pictures videos recently to make picture boards for the graduation and have come across some forgotten videos.

Please enjoy my eldest son having a lot of fun during his senior year.  


Watching that video just makes me smile. 

Monday, September 28, 2015

Monday Monday

I've got the day off and have spent the day doing random house chores and reviewing senior pictures. The pictures are marvelous. I love them all. No idea how we'll choose which ones to print, use for invitations or hang on the walls. Decisions, decisions... Only 235 more days until the big day.

I had planned on taking a walk as well, but I wasn't quick enough to get outside before the rain arrived. So, here I am waiting for chicken to thaw and butter to soften. I've got cooking on my mind since there will be no walk.

Did you see the eclipse last night? It was quite beautiful. Caden kept saying how we should remember this blood moon eclipse since it wont happen for 18 years and that will be the year 2033. He says he'll be 31 and I'll be 62 when we see it again . Hard to fathom eh? Time folks, it's a tricky bastard...

Did you know dogs can have seasonal allergies? When you say seasonal allergies I immediately think snotty nose, sneezing and goopy eyes which are my typical symptoms, but nope not for dogs. Apparently they itch like crazy.  I had no idea about any of it until ol Dodge started itching himself with obsessive intensity. One steroid shot and weekly oatmeal baths later and he is fixed up for the moment until we get a good freeze and whatever it is that is causing the reaction dies.

Jennifer's wounds are healing up well. Just a bit scabby here and there.

Still no luck skunk hunting and it's become an evening ritual. Maybe it has moved on, but somehow I doubt it.


Here's to a short week folks :)








Sunday, September 27, 2015

Skunked again and randomness

Last night sitting on the couch watching a movie with all the doors and windows open to enjoy the wonderful weather we've been having - Dodger and Dozer start barking at something. Within a minute we smell the stench of SKUNK! 

The Hubby suits up to go hunting.
The dogs have been sprayed again and are of no use locating the skunk.
He has got to find that skunk.
The smell is so awful. I swear this morning I still smell it. 
gag.

Unbelievable that September is about done.
Our leaves are starting to turn. I am looking forward to the guy who rents the fields around us to harvest his corn so we can ride horses out there again. The corn is so tall and full it's hard to even ride around the edges of the fields.

I've got my garden all cleaned out except for the pumpkins. I figured I'd leave them on the vine until the weather got cooler so they didn't rot so fast. Speaking of the garden and I tried my first jar of sweet and hot pickles this week and they are delicious! Another week or so and I'll try the kosher dills to see how they turned out.

My boy marched in his first parade earlier this month. The middle school band sounded great!
He has recently started doing gymnastics in a nearby town one day a week. It's a program for boys that are also wrestlers. I can tell already that he is getting stronger and has much more flexibility that previously. The workouts he does there are harder than any he has ever done before for wrestling, baseball, basketball or even football he says. Wow right? 
I know watching them makes me want to get in there and do it too!
Probably wreck myself if I even tried some of the back bends or hand springs that they are doing.


The kids have rescued two kittens. One was super runty and the other had a broken back foot.
Not sure what the plan is now that they are both on the mend. They sure are cute though.


Yay for Football Sunday. I see in my future a restful nap on the couch during a game :)
later

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Saturday AM coffee

Morning folks!
Long time no blog eh?
We've been busy, but I suppose that's just  an excuse. If I really felt like blogging I would have. It's like anything else in this world we will make time for the things we really want to do and apparently I needed a little blog vacation. 

Lot's of things going on here, but all I've got on my mind today is baseball.
This is our first weekend with no baseball in forever it seems. 

Last Saturday was the playoffs for the fall league. 
The previous Saturday the boys got their butts whipped both games so they were a seventh seed - I previously thought they were sixth seed, but the Hubby assures me they were seventh out of nine. 

We got to the field just as dawn was breaking and it was freaking cold, wet too since it had rained the night before. 

First game was tight, but they won!
The boys were surprised and thrilled to be moving on.


I'm not kidding, Caden slid to steal every base he gained the whole day.


They had a five hour break between the first and second games which made me think the boys would all come back worn out and ready for the day to be done, but they surprised me and played fantastically!

 I still can't believe they managed to win the second game and they are moving on to the championship game!!
They tried picking Caden off - getting him out, at every base. 
Good thing this kid is super fast!


The third game started out tough.
They were down 4 runs to zero in the bottom of the second inning. 
Caden scored their first run in and I think that was the turning point of the game.
Those boys were not going to let that win slip away.


And check out this gorgeous sunset!
At first I tried to capture it without the baseball lights, but realized having the lights in the picture made for a quintessential baseball picture.


I sure love my camera. Slowly getting it figured out. It does some amazing panoramic shots.


In the end the boys won the championship in OT 8 to 6!


First place folks!
They are the CHAMPIONS!


My boy loved this league.


I am missing baseball already.

That is all for now. 
Have a great Saturday!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Monday, September 7, 2015

Sunday AM coffee

Being woken up from a dead sleep by the thunder of hooves and frantic whinnying of horses is never a good thing.

My first thought was "I'm sure I shut the gate!"

I stumbled to the window and see in the half light of dawn the three of them racing through the back yard heading around to the front of the house. I knew the Hubby's string/gate was not up and could just picture them running straight up the driveway to the road!

I hustled as fast as I could down the stairs pausing for a moment to find a pair of shoes because if they were headed for the road I'd need something better than flip flops on.

By this time the dogs are freaked out and barking like maniacs. I let them out and they headed towards the back pasture.

Yes the horses had started down the driveway, but for some reason were now headed back in my direction. They raced to the barn and circled frantically. I could hear the dogs in the distance - they were barking and snarling at something!

When Jennifer got close to me I could see she'd been injured. From about mid neck to her knees she was bloody. I couldn't see any blood on Gypsy or Scotch and they were calming down. I got a halter and rope on Jennifer and walked her to the barn where I could clearly see that she'd went through the old section of barbed wire fence. Something must have been chasing them. Something that the dogs were now chasing off apparently.

Seeing blood on a light colored horse is always a bit of a shock. I was surprised that Jennifer stood still as well as she did to let me clean her up. Most of the cuts are not deep, but boy there are a lot of them. Only one two inch gash has me worried as it's much deeper than the rest and near the bend of her chest and forearm so likely will take longer to heal.

The dogs have now returned and are panting like crazy. They must have been successful at running off whatever had chased the horses.

Gypsy and Scotch were uninjured. Which makes sense I suppose since Jenny is the biggest scardy cat around that she'd be first in line to get away from a predator - not to mention she is younger and  much faster than them.

In between rain showers the Hubby, Caden and I repaired the fence. Jenny took out about 60 feet of wire and pulled out two fence posts. I can't believe she didn't get hurt worse.


Other than the heart pounding horse fun, we've had a quiet holiday weekend. Made a trip over to see Colton on Saturday. He likes living in the apartment a lot better than the dorms. His classes just started last week and he's already had quite a bit of homework. He picked up extra hours this weekend at work so we didn't stay long. When we went to leave the door knob broke, basically locking us IN the apartment. We stuffed Caden out the window and he went around to see if he could open the door from the outside, but he couldn't. Good thing I had my handy dandy leather man in my purse for the Hubby to use in removing the door knob and fixing it so no one would get locked in again.


Hope your weekend was enjoyable :)