Happy Birthday Dec. 15,18

It was a lovely birthday. The temps are mild enough that the snow is melting like crazy but of course it is a muddy mess.

I started off my second morning having a fresh glass of carrot juice . Emmett bought me a big bag and I was curious if I tried that I might help my eyesight out any?

Sandra and Emmett helped me do chores this morning and that was nice so I could get back in the house and work on Christmas gifts sooner. I made a really neat army fleece cap for a young friend but wrapped it before I got a picture.

Then I struggled through making this nursing cover up for one of my granddaughters. It was one of those projects that kinda took on a life of its own, so it is definitely one of a kind. lol

I got a lot more gifts wrapped so I am narrowing down on them.

Sandra made me a chocolate birthday cake and Emmett cut it and served it with chocolate ice cream. It was really tasty-so nice and soft and moist. It was the nicest gift to have them helping me .
Crystal popped in for a few minutes and brought me what I had asked for for my birthday , a fresh pineapple and a toilet seat ! Mine has been broken for quiet a while now and she found one with metal hardware instead of the plastic that is always breaking. I am trying to figure out how to make some kind of a softer covering to go on it??????? We will see???

Right now I am tired and my back is hurting and my throat is soar but I gargled with something called Firewater and it did seem to help although it takes my breath away. Shewwwwwwwwww- it is strong. lol

Emmett spent most of the afternoon outdoors working on his little car while he had a friend come help him. They are pulling the motor and putting another one in it. I am hoping it will fix his problem and he can have his car back running. Our cars are our independence and they mean so very much to us.

Today I am grateful to family. They all are gifts from God.

Our First Big Snow of the Season

It started last night around 1 and has  not let up until about 3pm. My shoulder and right ribs are hurting because I have fought with it all the time except for sleeping from 3 to 9 this morning but it just kept coming . I was having trouble lifting it from my paths as the sides of my paths were getting too tall for me to heave it up onto. I am really glad it has stopped. I think there are 15 inches all total and I am a whipped pup.

I kept all of the chickens except one run closes today and the one I opened up -they did not even want to poke their heads out in this white stuff. The pups even said it was TOO COLD for their little "footsies" and abandoned me to the warm house. Everytime I put on dry socks I get them wet again.

I am so very grateful for all of the wonderful wood that Emmett and Sandra have cut and hauled to the house.
My wonderful neighbor Bill Burton came and plowed our driveway this afternoon. Even his big tractor was grunting in the effort. This is deeply appreciated as I could never dig my long driveway out.

Winter is not officially here until next week so this is a Fall snow. It was very beautiful falling but so much work keeping up with it that it takes away the splendor. I have fixed a cranberry pie and brownies and a big pot of soup and one of chili beans just in case we lose our electricity . Sandra fixed them a monster sub so we do have food and each other to rely on. That means a lot in times like this.

When I was shoveling snow at 3am it was so bright outdoors it was like daylight. That was quiet beautiful too. It is almost a magical experience.

Dec. 2,2018

AMAZING how another month has snuck in on us! Plus, this is the Final month in our year. The last chapter in our 2018 year. It has certainly been a year of challenges for all the humans I know so I guess we have all learned a lot and made progress on our paths in this lifetime.

Yesterday my sewing mentor took me to our Sewing Guild Christmas dinner and fashion show. I enjoyed this one the most of any I have attended because I made two new friends, one a retired school teacher and the other a current school teacher. They were both SO delightful. They were both such very special ladies who have enriched our world greatly with their works. The retired teacher had actually taught sewing at one time and the other said they did not teach sewing at all where she was teaching now. What a great loss to our young people.

Then some of the ladies had a fashion show of the garments they had made and they were so stunning. I certainly wish I had their talent and I wish I had their eyesight. The 76 year young school teacher said she had no problems at all with her eyesight. How I wished I could experience that.

This is a Christmas gift for a new great-granddaughter who had to have open heart surgery when she was born just a couple weeks past. I do not know how such a tiny baby could endure all that she has gone through and there is still the danger of something else showing up as she grows some?

Now I must make a pair of booties for her Mom as I have another skein of yarn that will give her something to match -Mother/ Daughter kinda.
I did learn that one of the mothers at the Guild had lost her adult daughter to cancer last month and she was a broken Mother. My heart just ached for her.
Then another lady had gone to the grocery store and got run over by a car as she was bringing her groceries to the car so she is in a wheel chair and her partner only has a brief time to live and Hospice came home with him. So many challenges - it really makes you count your blessings.

11/29/18

It was such a beautiful day after it warmed up . The last two nights have been brutal and I had to ask Emmett to run to town and get me a heat bulb for my little chicks. I had regular light bulds on them but they were not warm enough when it went down into single digits. Now they are doing much better . It warmed up enough today that the water bowls thawed out . Yea.

Emmetts head gasket has blowed on his little car so he ran to town today and got a new head gasket and some oil, did not have enough money for the plugs he needs as his are bad now. So he is working on that project before all the rain they are calling for arrives for the next four days?? Hard to work on a motor when you are out in the cold rain?

This is a set of a baby cap, booties and little mittens for a new great-grandson named Phoenix Kale. I was amazed at his name. But they are so talented at picking out uncommon names as they little girl is Adalee.

We had leftover turkey soup and peanut butter crackers for our supper and I have another Pumpkin Cobbler in the oven.

I am tired as I have spent all afternoon wrapping Christmas presents. My legs and back are so tired.
But a beautiful day and I am so grateful for it.

Daisy kept trying to convince me that I needed to sit down so she could come snuggle. lol  She is a real "Snuggle Bug".

Even Miss Mocha came out and rested in my chair as she watched all the goings on. Her little heart is so bad and each day I have her is a treasure to me.

Nov. 25, 2018

I had an absolute wonderful Thanksgiving with my children. Good food and good fun . The kind of holiday I appreciate. No fussing or fighting or violence of any kind. I am so amazed at how wonderful that kind of day is , it is still hard for me to believe that such things really exist in our world.

We filled our tummies till I was So stuffed I could barely wiggle all day long.
I am so very grateful for these kind of days and for all the help .

Tues. Nov. 20, 2018

I wish time did not have to fly by so very quickly. By the time I had accomplished the morning outside chores and came in and fixed beans and cornbread for lunch the day was over half gone.

Emmett and Sandra had gone and cut another load of wood so they were good and hungry. My tummy was upset so I only had half a small bowl of the leftover celery and rice soup from yesterday which was restful on my tummy.

Then I opened a can of pumpkin that I needed for a recipe and decided to make some pumpkin peanut butter treats for the pups. They were actually good enough to eat since they were made with coconut flour.

My next project was to be our evening desert which was called a pumpkin cobbler. I got half of it put together and then thought the remaining directions sounded crazy????? After you made the batter and put it in the pan you covered it with a sugar and nut topping and Then Added Hot water poured all over it but not mixed in???? I argued with it but finally did exactly what they said and it turned out like this and it was Really Good . A cake like top with a sauce on the bottom. It was a delightful new experience.

My oldest son Cory came to go hunting but had a flat tire in the field so he spent the next couple of hours trying to fix one. He would get one off the rim but the next one would have holes in it. It was a nightmare and I got so very cold . I did not want to leave him to suffer alone  with little Connor. But he made it home safely , finely. Yea.

Nov. 18, 18

 

How nice it is to have help. Emmett climbed on the roof and cleaned the chimney, then he cleaned off all the leaves from the roof and finally he reattached the gutter on the front which scared the "beejesus" out of me. It he would have slipped and falled it would have surly been a broken back. But God guided his footsteps and he arrived safely back on the ground and the chimney and the stove are working like a new set up. How wonderful that is.

This is his sweet girlfriend Sandra , who has worked right beside him loading and unloading all the firewood. Nothing like a pretty gal who does not mind hard work. I am so very grateful to both of them.

It was a lovely day with very mild temperatures and no rain so I was able to put out two loads of laundry today . Yea. 

I worked a little in the garden as I had started a small fire trying to burn up a pile of brush in the garden and while I kept an eye on it I used my turning fork to turn over a small patch in the garden. After I get this brush pile burned I hope to cover this area with black plastic like I did last winter and I had no weeds 3/4 of the way through the growing season. I would like to do that again but Have to get this brush pile burned.

Then I came in and fixed a pot of Spicy Cauliflower Curry  and it filled our tummies. Topped it off with a pineapple pie that refused to set up so Emmett suggested I freeze it and we had it like an ice cream pie . It was very good that way. I really liked that idea so maybe it did not set up for this specific reason.

As bedtime sets in my bedbuddies love to have some fun and I spend my moments with laughter at the joy they bring to your life, and we all know Laughter is so good for the soul.