November 30 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for sticking with the 30 days of thankfulness blogging.  As I look back on the 30 posts,  I see I am thankful for so much in my life,  yet so little of a list is posted that I really have to be thankful for.  I do add in prayers for so much more as days go by,  my constant prayer is thanking God for his love and protection for my family and myself.  God, you know what I was told today,  and I pray you hold me close and help me through with this hill I have to climb now.  Please carry me when I tire on this long walk.  Amen

November 29 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for my gift weapping husband.  His Mom should be proud,  he learned from her to wrap beautiful packages,  and carries on the tradition still.  God,  please tell her we love her very much,  and miss both Mom and Dad.  Holiday time brings memories of our past to our minds and hearts.  Miss our parents very much.  Merry Christmas in Heaven you all. 

November 28 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for getting a grip on my obsession with organizing my house and getting my Christmas tree up,  decorated and the tree dropping and tinsel shedding cleaned up.  I love decorating my house for the holidays,  yet this year I am so behind.  The month of November has gone so fast,  and social engagements,  chore list,  everyday to-do's have overwhelmed me on these shorter days,  that I didn't keep to my regular schedule like other years.  I let it get to me,  and now with a regular couple week time table,  I got most of it done in 2 days.  Thank you God for bearing with me and providing the strength and will power to keep going,  and to deal with the pressure.  People might laugh or scoff at this thankfulness today,  but Lord,  you understand. 

November 27 - Thankful

 



Today I am thankful for my warm comfortable bed.  After getting what I can do daily,  it's so nice to climb in between the covers and relax and fall asleep for an hour or two at a time.  It helps snuggling up against Steve too.  Going on 34 years sleeping beside this man,  and I love it.   Thank you God for keeping us warm,  and providing our comforts as well as the blessing of each other for life. 

November 26 - Thankful

 Today I am thankful for the gathering of Dave's family with ours to share our thanks for all our blessings together.  Visiting with them was a wonderful day,  the meal we shared was very tasty.  The day was sunny and beautiful.  Thank you God for the safe keeping as they traveled the miles to be with us again this year for a Thanksgiving celebration tradition. 

November 25 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for Steve's safe trip yesterday.  He helped his best friend move his son and family across state.  It was a long day for them all.  God was co-pilot and everyone made it home safe and sound,  and tired.  Thank You God for watching over them all.

November 24 - Thankful

  Today I thankful for my holiday decorated house.  It brings cheer to me as I look around at all the brightly colored items I have collected over the years and the new ones I have added to the arrangements and groupings.  The lights glowing red,  green,  blue,  yellow in the dark entrances me to sit and just relax looking at them.  I wonder if this is a little peek of Heaven. 

November 23 - Thankful

  Today I am thankful for my husband Steve.  He always manages to make everyone laugh,  whereever he is.  Thanksgiving was a belly laughing day for all,  and he made it happen as usual.  Steve,  thank you for the 34th Thanksgiving together.  I love you more today than when I married you,  and hope we have many more years together,  and you just keep on making me laugh. 

November 22 - Thankful Thanksgiving

 Today I am thankful for another Thanksgiving with my family.  I pray all my family and friends are able to be together today with their family to celebrate another year of just being thankful for all God has bestowed upon them.  God Bless each and everyone.  God Bless America.

November 21 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the safety of my family,  as they are tucked into bed tonight,  warm and safe,  not out in the night of dense fog that shrouds our area.  Thank You Lord for watching over them,  and keeping them safe. 

November 20 - Thankful

Today I am thankful learning over the years to be open minded.  I found those who close off to only their way of thinking really miss out on the whole living experience of life.  Life is too short to be closed inside forever.  I pray more individuals in the world find as much joy and added happiness to life as I have by opening up our minds to others feelings,  thoughts,  loves,  disappointments,  happiness,  ways of life,  living,  believing,  and worshipping,  as just a starting list.  May God Bless everyone with not being judgemental. 

November 19 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for Steve and I growing up in the country and the knowledge that we have,  having been taught by awesome dowu to earth parents,  how to do so many things in which we need to do on our farm.  Thank you Mom and Dad's for taking the time to teach us your ways,  and for teaching us common sense,  which so many people don't have a clue what those two words even mean. 

November 18 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the memories I have of the many people who have touched my life in so many ways,  great and small.  To those who are gone now,  you will be missed and a continued part of my life through those memories we shared.  May God Bless you and one day we will once again meet and live that everlasting life God has for us. 

November 17 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the many blessings I take for granted everyday.  My family,  home,  food,  heat,  clothes,  shoes,  beds,  etc..  Most of all,  I am thankful I have God for a best friend,  as he and I talk daily.  Thank You Lord for listening and leading me daily in life to be who I am. 

November 16 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the gift of patience.  Slowly be surely I can get the strength and ability to continue doing most physical things I have always done.  It just takes more time to do them,  and patience is so needed with my past history of physical working abilities.  Thank you God for teaching me patience.  One day at a time.........

November 15 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for my cat Sophie.  She is so loving and calming to me,  when she comes to me wanting petted at the end of a long day.   I sit with her on my lap petting her and I can feel the relaxing calm to my body and mind.  Without her,  I'd have to wind down on my own,  and that might take hours.  So to my Sophie,  your so good for me and I love you so much.  Stay my sweet sanitiy saver. 

November 14 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the bird songs and squirrel chatter as I stepped outside this cool morning for my fresh air visit.  I often wonder what and who they are talking to so early in the morning,  but I sure enjoy listening to them visit each other.  God's nature is so peaceful and stress relieving,  remember to stop and smell the roses daily for a few minutes everyone. 

November 13 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the wonderful uplifting I get from listening to Christmas music as I clean and go about my day.  Celtic Women have such beautiful voices along with the other artists I listen to. 

November 12 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the slow rain in which God has blessed us with,  as we need the moisture for our soil after the summer of drought of 2012.  May God bless us this winter for our harvest needs for 2013.  Thank You God for all you give us each day,  also. 

November 11 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for how my girls have grown into such amazing young independent women.  I am so proud of both of them.  In today's world,  so many young adults have / had lost the path in  life to be good,  honest,  drug free,  drinking free,  loyal to  family,  loving people.  I am so proud that mine have stayed on the path,  and are not always perfect,  but strive to be normal as they can with life decisions and the way they live.  Thank You God for watching over them all these years,  and I pray you keep them in your care. 

November 10 - Thankful

Today  I am thankful for the free wood we got to cut for our fireplace.  Helping a neighbor clean up from past storm damage to some very old trees,  helped us with our winter helping heat of our home.  Thank you SD for the wood. 

November 9 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for my values in life,  God first.  Family,  faith,  loyality,  honesty,  and a world of good friends.

November 8 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the giggles and rolling on the couch laughter of my little grand daughter Kiley,  as she expressed her delight in beating me at Go Fish.  The kid is a card shark at 3. 

November 7 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the wonderful son-in-law I have.  He is so generous of his time to help me with taskes that I can't do by myself any longer.  Dave,  I love you like my own child,  thank you for all you do,  and for being such a wonderful father to Kiley. 

November 6 - Thankful

Today is election day in the United States of America.  I am thankful I am an American and can cast my vote of my choice in the elections.  God Bless America.

This ones for future reference in the life and times of Ms Kiley

Going through some pictures taken 2 years ago.  Found this one to add to blog. 

I guess you could call this a blackmail picture, as it was taken to show her what she looks like from our perspective when throwing a fit.

Kiley is 15 months old here, acting like a teen with her first heart break. This fit come from being told NO - she can't play on Grandma's computer or with the mouse while Grandma is trying to type.

November 5 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the good health for my oldest brother that God bestowed on him after his stroke he suffered.  It made my heart fill with gratitude yesterday as I watched him shopping all by himself.  God works such fabulous miracles in our lives that we take for granted. 

November 4 - Thankful

Today I am thankful for the wonderful tractor pulling friends we have made over the years.  Today we will gather for our last pull of the season,  and once again visit,  pull,  roast hot dogs,  and just fellowship as a group,  and at the end of the day,  we will make wishes for a happy holiday season,  hugs of missing each other all winter,  and wishes for the new pulling season of 2013 to come fast.  God Bless all.

November 3 - Thankful

Today,  I am so thankful for the friends that steered me to a very lovely curio cabinet.  Their Aunt can rest assured that it is cherished and will be well taken care of and used with lots of love to display my items I am putting in it.  Thanks Jeannie,  Roger,  Irene and Bob. 

November 2 - Thankful

November 2, 2012  Today I am thankful for my family.  They keep me laughing, living and loving,  daily.

Happy Halloween

2012 Kiley is a lady bug.  Lots of candy to eat after a very nice evening of

trick or treating.  So many friends,  family,  and neighbors were very

generous with her. 

She's already said she wants to be a zombie and a witch next year. 

Oh,  and she wanted to know where the party was.  Suppose to have

a party too. 

She's such a little socialite already.  Told everyone Trick or Treat,  then thanked

them and told them to have a nice day when she left. 

She came to our door 4 times for candy.  Then she handed out to

our trick or treaters.  Was such a fun evening. 

 

Treasures in the Attic

 

Found this in the attic one day while putting things away for the winter.

This was one of Melanie's old customs.  It's about 20 years old,  but Kiley loved

playing in it before Halloween.  I put on Leslie's old witch one also,  so we matched. 

Love playing dress up again after all the years.  Do we ever really grow up? 

I don't want to.

 

November 1 - Thankful

November 1, 2012  I am thankful for the feeling of being loved by God,  as my first thought today.  May God Bless all eyes who read this,  and may they too thank God for such a first thought also. 

Playing around

For a child,  life is all fun and learning.

Somethings are harder to learn than others.

Then there is the adventures of just finding little things to show Grandma.

Buckhorn nubs are some of those interesting greens to pluck and play with.

Playing around at the farm is one of Kiley's favorite things to do.

Nothing like freedom to run and explore for a 3 year old.

Oh,  and we like finding spiders and playing with them to Grandma's horror.

Lookout world,  this child even talks to ghosts. 

My Little Helper

 

Kiley and I made cupcakes for dessert,  she mixed the batter,  and watched them bake,  then helped ice them. 

She took her job very seriously. 

She didn't ice them all,  for her Mommy doesn't care for frosting,  and she said she had to take her Mom some home just plain. 

She sneaked her some icing while working,  but isn't that the thrill of cooking?

Summer endings Fall beginnings

The changing season has me smiling again.  It's been a hard summer so far,  and with the end of summer approaching,  comes a new mental mood.

I welcome fall,  the cooler temperatures,  changing colors of all God's nature,  the work to be done in preparation of winter.

I so missed my usual summer of gardening.  Weeding,  mowing,  canning,  and enjoying fresh veggies from my garden,  which I didn'i have this year,  due to the heat wave and drought that most of the country suffered from. 

So,  with the end of summer,  I am dedicated to my list of to do's,  and the challenge of getting it done before the first snow falls. 



Winter forecast - Wooly worm coat color

Not sure if you can see the wooly worm here, but it is totally black with a brown head.

Does this make for a predicted hard cold winter? I saw 2 and they are marked exactly the same.

Another atempt at Green Beans

Harvest is done for the summer from my garden. Such a disappointing year. Grasshoppers feasted on the final crops after we finally got rain. We didn't have many bugs this summer during the heat and drought. Which was nice, but couldn't sit out and enjoy the outside anyway. Summer just sucked.
So, after the ground got saturated, I am trying for a fall harvest of green beans, zucchini and cucumbers. So far I am pleased with the growth. Now hoping the temps hold and they can produce something for us.

Sa far, the beans are spotty coming up. But more rain has helped the beans sprout now. Finally catching up on the mowing and weed control. The weeds were just waiting to bolt up out of the ground with natures watering. I have missed being able to hide out at the farm this summer and work. Got lazy hanging out in the house. Gotta get back into shape.

Kiley's 3rd Birthday Family Pictures

Aug. 19th we celebrated Kiley's 3rd Birthday. Fun day for all. Aug. 21st was her birthday, and when we told her happy birthday, she said she wanted another party. She loves parties now.

Steve, Kiley and I. Proud Grampa and Gramma.

Aunt Leslie and Kiley. They call each other "best buddies."

Dave, Kiley and Melanie. Proud parents and we are so proud they are ours.

Fighting the 2012 Drought for a Garden

It's been a lot of work this year to have a garden to help feed our family for another year. Unsuccessful with so many seeds. Tomatoes and melons survived for a time. Now they are swirviling in the hot soils of the drought area here in the midwest.

I have so far almost 100 pints of tomato sauce canned up for future use. Looks like we will be eating lots of tomato soup, chili, and pasta dishes this winter. Maybe I'll take up drinking, and make some bloody mary's. Wonder if I could find some friends to join me.

I Thank God for what he has helped provide us with. We could have had nothing at all. Praying for rain everyday, watch clouds build, only for them to just float on over top of us, and not a drop of rain. Trying not to lose faith, but it seems to be drying up like the world around me.

Kiley's visit to the Circus

The circus come to town and it didn't rain. Most unusual year for, shall we call them, traditions. Oh also, it was not hot and humid for the Circus animals and participants either. It was a beautiful day/evening, everyone was out and about, sharing with the children all and more to enjoy this year.

We took our girls when they were elementary ages. All the acts were in a tent, the stench, heat and humidity, well, lets say the Circus went on without us after a couple visits. So when we went this year, we expected more of the same, but NO, the event over the years has been vamped up, new Circus all together, and I think they said they were from Australia, and quite the act they put on .

I just can't fathom being the snake girl. She'd drape that snake right around her shoulders like we would a winter scarf. People lined up for the kids and adults to get their pictures taken with it around them. I saved our ten bucks, we didn't get any closer than this picture to that area.

Kiley liked seeing the Elephants. By the time we got to the circus, the one Elephant was holding it's back leg up or over the other foot, and they let it rest in the center of the area, and went and got another one and took this one to the shade and watering/eating/holding area under the grandstand. After watching the other kids and adults ride, Kiley decided she only wanted to ride the ponies.

She loved the pony ride. Held on all by herself, and when she got off it, she now wants a pony of her own.

The Circus only comes to town one time per year, for the one evening. The very next day when she got to my house, she wanted to "let's go to the circus again, Maw maw".

Spring of 2012

This years 2nd yellow rose in my flower bed. It's smaller than the first one. But love the bright color of it once again.

This years lilies, camera did not bring out the orange of this one.

This one is my yellow lily. They both flowered earlier than usual, with our mild temp. My peonies even bloomed and are gone way before Memorial Day. Loving the colors of my flowers that have bloomed early. I should have mums blooming in a couple weeks. Hoping for color all summer long and into the fall.

Garden is planted, adding later crops in a few weeks. Garden is planned for all summer long harvesting with the space between first planting and later plantings.

Also in the works, is restoring/painting a golf cart and a Farmall - H. Been busy most days with working a little on all the projects, along with getting trees trimmed along roadway at farm, painted a wagon we made last winter, helping Steve get the soybeans in, cleaning up after heavy flash flooding rains, and mowing, which started the second week of March, and has had to be mowed at track, farm and home once a week. Then there is watching Kiley everyday too. She's such a big helper to me now.

We also have started tractor pulling, so we have our fun days too. It's good to be outside working again. Sure lifted my spirits, after a nice warm winter without being able to really do anything til the weather was for sure going to stay warm. Farmers took advantage to plant early, but some had to re-plant, as we had low land flooding from heavy rains which made the creeks go out of their banks into the planted fields. We held off planting til last Tuesday, normal planting time. Wishes for some snow next winter. Sure missed it.

Flowers beginning - Plants Out

Case-IH Quilt

I found some Case-IH material quilt blocks, so I made Steve a snuggle on the couch blanket.
He works outside many days, fixing tractors, equipment, setting planters right now, so he comes home chilled through.
Me, in mid-menopause, well can you say a human heater?, that's me most days, so the thermostat is lowered.
Now he can warm up under his works logo.
I am now working on one for Kiley in pastel blocks. She will use hers to roll around on the floor with the cat.

She loves the outdoors.

Took advantage of a really nice day on Monday to head to the farm just to get out of the house and town.
I knew it was muddy, but figured if we stayed to the grassy areas, we could get a nice little walk in.
Instead of staying in the grass beside me, Kiley decided to venture into the water standing mud puddle in the roadway by our shed.







She got stuck in the mud, was yelling, "Help, help.." I started out into the mud hole to get her, but she looked so cute, I laughed and grabbed the camera from my pocket and started taking pictures of her.
She got herself un-stuck, and then just started walking back and forth in the mud.









She even stopped a couple times to lean over to try and wipe the mud off the toe of her boots, then flipped her hands trying to get the mud off them.
She finally gave up, and just walked around in it. She them fell into the mud on her knees first, got up and fell on her behind.
The wind was blowing and it was too cool to hang out with her wet and muddy.





But she wasn't ready to leave just yet. So she started running away from me. Wrong thing to do, as that mud was very slippery. She fell several times, and each time she got up, she just giggled that much louder and longer.
Finally I called a halt to her fun. Waded in the mud, grabbed her hood, and lead her to the truck, where Leslie and I took off her wet muddy boots and clothes on the tail gate of the truck.






We also used a jug of water that we have for washing hands, watering with, filling tractor radiators, of just washing off our boots, etc.. Thing is, it had ice crystals in it still from our last cold snap. So she sort of got an ice water washing too. She never complained, she just kept giggling and wanting to go play more in the mud. Good thing I take extra clothes, shoes and coats when we go to the farm, cause that kid can sure get dirty.

Freebies/Scraping

Steve and Dave and Devon (Dave's brother) helped our friend clean out a shed at his farm. They were scraping out junk, and the boys found these in the shed, and thought of me.

Dave knows I like old things like this. And our friend said if they found anything they wanted, they could have it. So I got gifts, and it wasn't a holiday or birthday or any special occasion. I so love my son in law.

The wagon wheels will be wire brushed and painted. The kettle will be washed and then determined what metal it is, and polished up, the stand will be painted. Not sure what I will put in the kettle, but I am sure I can find something.

The other scrapes were loaded into our F-700 and taken to the scrap yard and sold.

Hoping with the rain that was in the truck when we went to the scrap yard helped weigh the truck heavier. It sure poured out of it going down the road. Was a rainy, dreary day, but what better way to spend the day otherwise.

The wagon wheels will be used in our farm entrance landscaping. Our farm logo sign will look real nice nestled in with the wheels. Gotta love freebies and old antiques.

Jan. 12 - Finally some winter weather

Our first real snow fall is here today. It's been such a mild winter for our area, and yesterday I worked outside most of the day, trimming bushes, raking leaves ( a never ending job this fall/winter as the leaves have been so slow to fall from the trees ), cutting back the mums, cleaning up lilac bushes. Imagine my surprise when I found Daffodils, mums, and live forevers growing in my flower beds. Yes, I have spring buds and flowers growing in January. What a weird weather we are having.
We haven't had a freeze yet to the ground either. Just hard frosts, which didn't put to sleep all the folige and greens here. hhuuummm
Haven't been socialable lately. Menopause suckes. If only we women could box up our bodies and have a forced air fan installed, we could heat 2 rooms at least in our homes in the coldest part of winter. It's really miserable. :/