Whirlwind Weekend

This weekend was wonderfully busy. My sister and her family from out of state were here visiting this weekend, so Steve, our kids & I, along with my other sister and her husband, kids and their kids had a great time getting together and visiting this weekend.

On Saturday the day consisted of a natural history museum trip where we saw some live reptiles too, and on to Chuck E Cheese Pizza for some hard core playtime! The kids had a blast, and the adults had a great time visiting and watching the little ones' eyes light up with delight.

Then on Sunday, we got together at my sister's house, had a bar-b-que supper and everyone played Dance Dance Revolution. Okay, so I sucked, but everyone had a great time!

We also took a family photo with all those present. Too bad our brothers couldn't be there, but it couldn't be helped.



It is funny to look at the pic and realize that this is really just 3 sisters and their families! My older sister (9 years older than me) has three kids and each of them are married(her "baby" boy is engaged) and one of her daughters has two kids of her own, my younger sister (13 years younger than me) has three kids (they are all still little), and I have six kids with one engaged. Wow! That is a lot of people!

It was great to just spend time visiting. Now it's back to work with school and housekeeping!

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday, dear Jared...

My boy turned 15 a few days ago...not much of a boy anymore, I suppose.





I'm pleased to say that he is growing into a fine young man. He stays out of trouble, gets good grades, does his chores without much complaining, and is learning to be chilvalrous. His teachers, friends, and family all love him. Happy birthday Jare-bear! Hum, do you mind if I still call you Jare-bear, Jare-bear?



This is when he most looks like "Jare-bear". Wasn't he cute? This was when he was 8. His favorite things to do back then was to climb trees, catch crawdads, turtles, and salamanders. This was the age he was when his jr. Sunday school teacher brought me a copy of the next week's lesson and told me that it was for Jared. She explained that she had given the lesson and starting asking some questions about it, and Jared said that he didn't think it was fair that she asked them the questions when she had the answers in her book. So she asked if he wanted to study the lesson the week before and he said yes. LOL! That's my boy.

It was also the year that he went up to Steve and said, "Hey Dad, where is your Honey?"...yes, he was looking for me. And another time he went to Steve and said, "I'm not very happy with your wife right now." When he was 3 or 4 he dashed into the kids' bedroom with the peanut butter bottle and a spoon, looked quickly around and dashed under the bed and asked the other kids, "Have you seen Mom?" He was my Dennis the Menace, though he never *meant* to be naughty.

Oh! Here is a funny story! When he was about 2 we were visiting some friends who managed a motel. Their apartment was connected to the motel's check in desk by swinging doors (you know the old western swinging bar doors? Those were the ones!). Jared went through the door and paused before clearing the door's swinging range. The doors came back and hit him in the behind. He turned around, glared at the doors, and hit them! They came right back and smacked him. So he hit them harder! And they hit him again. Finally, determined to get even without suffering retribution, he hit the doors as hard as he could, turned around, and ran.

Back then he was an adorable little boy with big, squeezable cheeks and Dennis the Menace naughtiness. Today, he is a young man who opens doors for women, is kind to children, helps little old ladies across the street (figuratively speaking, though he does help his grandma with whatever she needs), and is kind to animals.

AND he shows up as #1 on Google if you search for "Pioneer Son".

I love you Jare!
♥< >< >< >< >< >♥< >< >< >< >< >♥< >< >< >< >< >♥
Hey, here is a funny thing. As I was lying in bed, I looked up at the ceiling and the lampshade was casting some funky shadows. Take a look at this!

With flash - how it normally appears:



And without flash:



Way cool! It reminds me of a color wheel. That night there were two sources of light happening. First, there was the computer moniter's light (we always watch House, Chuck, or Smallville on our computer before bed) and light from the closet. The shadows cast were from different light sources. Cool huh?!

Well, tomorrow I'm going to check in with the eye doc. I need to get my glasses prescription changed. Not because I'm seeing things like color wheels on my ceiling, but because I'm squinting a lot as I read. One of these days I'll be like the other older women whose arms simply aren't long enough to hold their books while they read them.

And on Tuesday I go in for my 6 month check-up with an EGD with the gastro doc. I'm not looking forward to it. If you remember, I have ulcers on my esophogus...and I think they're back (you can read my whole story here and here. They were completely gone for about a month, right before Christmas. But now there are moments when I feel the discomfort again. It isn't as bad as back in September, but I think I'm going to have to go on the meds, dang it. I have tried to be so good. But I'm refusing to worry until after the appt. & I have to. We'll see.

Anyway, I'll try to drop in sometime this weekend, but if not, I'll see you next week. I'll for sure let you know the results of the EGD.

Have a great weekend!

Look what I found!

So last night was my first Bernina sewing machine class. My back was killing me, and I was having terrifying thoughts of carrying my machine upstairs where the class is usually held. I ran by JoAnn's to see if they had a case with wheels so that I just had to pull the machine most of the way, and hope that April was right and some guy would be at the class and chivalrously offer to carry my machine up the stairs. But alas, no wheeled bags. So they called another store close by who said they did have the cases I was looking for, and at a reasonable price. BUT there was no time to get the bag & get to class by 6:30, so I decided I'd dash up there after class and save my back next week.

Class went well. It was held on the main floor, so there wasn't any stair climbing. The other ladies were cheerful and fun. The instructor and lesson was easy to understand, and I came out of there knowing more about the buttons, controls, and able to take apart the bobbin case, clean it, and oil it. Success!

After class I dashed up to the other JoAnn's, who would be closing in 15 minutes after leaving my class and was located in another close-by town. They were open! So I grabbed the case I liked and left the store. Another success!

By now I really had to go to the bathroom. Home was 1/2 hour away, and I couldn't wait. So I decided to go to Barnes and Noble bookstore. My plan was to hurry to the restroom and afterward pretend to browse so that they didn't think I only went in there to use the bathroom, and then hurry home to get the kidlets to bed. As I walked down the middle isle there was a sign on a table: "Homesteading" and the table was covered with homesteading classics: Back to Basics, Encyclopedia of Country Living (10th Edition?!), Chickens in Your Backyard, a book of square inch gardening for those with small plots of garden space, a few on beekeeping...and then I saw THEM!

Ball: Complete Book of Home Preserving; 400 delicious and creative recipes for today, and The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan!

I tried to leave the store without them, because I had not budgetted money for books this payday. But looking through them I was so enamoured I just couldn't. So I bought both of them. What treasures! Probably the Ball book doesn't need much commentary, since the name speaks for itself, but The Backyard Homesteader is filled with great stuff like (listed on the back):
Learn how to:
milk a goat * prune a fruit tree * dry herbs * make dandelion wine * bake whole-grained bread * tap a maple tree * make fresh mozzarella * brew beer * mill grains for flour * save seeds for next season, and a whole lot more!

I was impressed with being taught which grains are easily hulled, which are hardy, which are difficult. How to check out a goat and find which will be the best milker. Planting fruit vines and trees and how to care for each. Making your own vinegar - even the fun herbal kinds. How to start a hot bed to extend the growing season - even through the winter! *All* about herbs. How to braid garlic which makes it cute & practical storage. How to make cider, ale, and wine. Best variety of crops for beginners. And much more! It is the best of lots of other books combined into one! And how jealous I was to learn that the woman lives on an organic farm outside of Boston! Life doesn't get much better than that, does it?!

So I came home toting my unbudgetted purchases totally over $100 into the house, and Steve, without criticizing, just starts looking at the books (he glanced at the sewing tote, but he wasn't really impressed, the MAN! :-) and then he fell in love with the homesteading book too. He sat and looked at it longer than I did. Good thing for me that he never thinks books are a waste of money!

I see more preserving in my future! With 400 recipes, how could I not! Looking at the pictures makes me want to fill up shelves and shelves full of delicious and beautiful food from my garden.

And maybe I'll try to sew a bit today too. I *hate* cutting out the material for my quilt blocks, and my friend told me about charm packs with precut material. That might be something right up my ally! But for now, get out the rotary cutter, here I come! ;-)

Have a great one!