Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Photo Challenge

Finally I have a spare moment to make a decent post. As I have previously explained, I am participating in a 30 day photo challenge called Gratitude. I am going to (attempt) post daily with the respective picture. Since today is November 9th, there will be 9 pictures in this post. So, without further ado....

Day 1 - Favorite Food

These are Peanut Butter, Pretzel, and Chocolate Chip Cookies. My wonderful sister, who's real name is Allie, sent me a link for them a while ago. They are my new favorite food!

Day 2 - Smile

I cheated on this one because you CAN'T beat this smile!!! I didn't take it recently so its kinda cheating!

Day 3 - Happiness

This was an easy one. There is nothing that make me more happy than cuddling with Gabbie. Here we were watching her favorite movie, Tangled, before bedtime.

Day 4 - Leaves

This is a breath taking Ginkgo tree. Its gigantic and has the most beautiful yellow leaves! I took several pictures of the tree and leaves!

Day 5 - Morning Sky

I take the "back roads" in the morning to get to the main highway. I find it's a time for me to say my prayers and thank God for the new day. This is one of several scenes that I pass daily. Its very simple, but there's not alot that is more beautiful to me.

Day 6 - Books

Books are gold to me. I am very grateful for books. This is a corner in the library at work. It is one of my favorite places in the office, a whole room full of books that I've never read. Unfortunately I can't understand them.... they're all legal books! LOL!

Day 7 - Something Funny

This one was actually rather difficult. this was the only thing I could think of. For those of you not in the interior design know, faux mounted heads are all the rage right now. They are making them out of everything from paper mache to knitted ones. This is actually going to be a Christmas present!

Day 8 - Favorite Color

my favorite color is red and I attribute it to this suitcase. I have had it since I was very little. It was obviously used for spending the night at my grandparent's house. Now it is in Gabbie's room and I think, sub-conscientiously, it is the reason for the colors in her room.

Day 9 - Inspiring Person

I cheated again. there is nothing more inspiring to me than my daughter. This picture was taken early the morning after she was born. I miss those quiet mornings.

I will be posting the rest soon enough. I suppose I should be you all up to date. I honestly don't know where I left off so I'll just cover my bases. Byron passed his test but there are no open positions at the moment. He is substituting every day basically and we are patiently waiting for something permanent to open up. I am working at a law firm as an assistant. I love my job! It is new, exciting, and never boring. I'm learning alot and I feel good about myself again....well at least I'm starting too. Gabbie is 9 months old as of last week. My how time flies. We are preparing for the holidays. It looks like we will be heading to Carolina for Christmas. I'm excited about it but I just don't like traveling during the holidays... they're busy enough to begin with. But I will be meeting my new niece, Emily, so that makes it better. Emily was born October 14. She's absolutely beautiful.

I think that is about all. I'm exhausted so I'm going to bed. I will talk to you all very soon. Until then!

Sorry

Ok so I lied. I got home last night and only had energy to transfer the pictures from my phone to the computer. Hopefully I will have more energy tonight. Hope everyone has a great day. Talk to you soon!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Promise to Myself..... AGAIN!

Good morning world! I know earlier this year I promised myself that I would keep up with this blog for several reasons. During my short sabbatical, I have felt the need for it even more. So, once again I promised myself I would make more of an effort to keep this thing going. So, in light of this new leaf I am making a couple of changes. First, I am coming out in a way. While I won't be retiring my blog and starting new, I am going to start using real names. I will always be Gladys, she's like my alter-ego, but I want people, what few of you there are, to know me 100%. So, my name is Cassandra Lee Locklear, Casey for short. My daughters name is Gabbie. My husband is Byron Gable Locklear, sexy isn't it?! Wow I feel better already. Ok, the second is I'm going to try very hard to post pictures more often. I know that relatives from out of state read this and want to see what we are up to. I am going to try my best, even if that's all I post lol! Ironically I have started a 30 day photo challenge this month. It is entitled Gratitude, which is appropriate not only for the month of November but for this point in my life. I have started late but will make up the couple of days. So I will be posting the daily picture here. I will make another post tonight with all the pictures to date and then every day after. I really like the idea of the challenge.... it keeps you in the present. So, I will be back here tonight to show you what I've taken thus far. Until then!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Exhausted

I just realized that I haven't made a post in awhile. Sorry about that. Its been crazy around here. I will try and make a full post on Saturday. Just to get you up to speed.... The Man passed his test. YIPPY!!!!!! We are so relieved. He is meeting with people at the board of education tomorrow to see if there are any positions open. I am struggling and exhausted. Its been difficult getting into a routine but I'm making it. Miss Gabbie is doing well. She changes every day and never fails to amaze me.

I will be back soon to.give you all the.details. Until then!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Quiet Morning

Good Morning!! It has been a LONG week. Work wise I'm doing well. Its a fast paced environment so I get home exhausted. Its good to be back doing something though. I'm finding it difficult to getting used to the juggling again. I know that this will come with time, but I hate forgetting things and not having dinner at least prepped at night. Next week I'm really going to focus on that.

The Man and Gabbie are still sleeping and I am enjoying the quiet for a change. I can truly say that I haven't had much quiet time lately and its something that I enjoy. No TV, no screaming baby, no constant talking, no noise. Just the hum of the laptop and occasionally the refrigerator.

Last Sunday we took a long walk around the farm and I snapped a couple pictures. Gabbie had cabin fever BAD!!! She had been cooped up inside for too long. So we bundled her up, put her in the stroller, and took a nice long walk.





We also harvested our honey this week. Its was cool to finally see a result of all our work. Thank the Lord for our mentors! We wouldn't have been able to do it without them. We got around 25 lbs of honey and its a good quality too! its about 16.5% water and it tastes wonderful. As you can tell its got a gorgeous dark amber color which is indicative of poplar trees. The Man has a renewed interest in beekeeping now and we both want to try and expand next season. Only time will tell.




I am currently waging war inside my home. For those of you that know me personally, you know I am scared of one thing in this world...mice. Well the other day I went to open a lower cabinet and one of those nasty things was right there!! Of course I started screaming bloody murder!!! I know I live in the country and I know that it is "inevitable" but I will not tolerate them in my house. I can't imagine how the hell it got in to begin with. I want to call out an exterminator but I know that would be beyond our price range! As we speak my wonderful silent morning has been invaded with tiny chewing and scurrying sounds!!! ITS BACK!!!! I think I'm going to call a local pest company and see what they charge. I know that they're in the attic as well so The Man and Poppa may have some work to do VERY soon. God this is driving me CRAZY!!!

Today we are planning on taking Gabbie to the pumpkin patch. This was an annual tradition when Mabel and I were small. Mother and Poppa took us every year. It is something that I want to start with my children as well. Mother and I are going to do a bit of grocery shopping as well. She needs food and snacks for Gabbie during the week so we are going to hook her up. I will definitely be taking pictures so you will be seeing our day!

I need to get some projects done. My niece Emily will be here any day now and I have to get her present done. The Man is contemplating driving to NC when she is born. Gabbie and I can't go with but I think he needs to. I will just have to wait to see her beautiful face :( So I need to get that done soon that way when we get the call he can take it with. I've start on my Christmas presents and need to get them done too. I can't wait to see what everyone else I making!! It should be interesting!!

The Man is officially done cutting wood!!! YIPPY!!! We have about 2 years worth in the barn! I'm so happy that this big job is done! Its reassuring to know that we will heat this winter! LOL!! He also called and got the propane tank filled just to be on the safe side. Its like an insurance policy for us. Now he can move on to some smaller projects he's been wanting to do. He hung up Gabbie's swing in the back yard. Now we can go out and swing anytime we want!! Gabbie is happy about this!! He built a fire pit out of stone in the back yard. Now we have a place for Thanksgiving, which is fast approaching! His number one project now is to rid the house of MICE!!!!

I'm still hearing our little friend so I think its time to wake him up and at least have him scare the damn thing out of the house! Lord give me strength! I'm too scared to open the cabinet and scare it myself! Pathetic I know! But everyone has a fear, right?! I'm sure I'm not the only one that's scared of mice, am I? I will be back soon, hopefully tomorrow. If not then next weekend, unless I can wake up early one day during the week. Until then you behave and have a GREAT weekend!!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Pumpkins and.... Lilacs?!

I forgot to add this to my post earlier so I decided to make a new one. Its very appropriate for a Sunday morning.

Yesterday when we pulled up in the driveway I saw this.



Now, I have waited each spring for this bush to bloom. Since we have owned this house it has NEVER bloomed after the spring. So why is it blooming on the first of October??? I don't know if you can see in the picture but the leaves are starting to die. They're all brown and spotty. It has gotten me completely baffled. Oh and it smells heavenly; just like it was spring and not 50 degrees outside! I'm so stumped at this! So, like I do when I can't figure something out, I called Mother. She said that its a message from God, a blooming bush instead of a burning one. She seems to think that God is sending us a message, telling us that everything is going to be ok. That even in the cold, something beautiful can grow.

All I have to say is that if God is trying to tell us something; he/she picked a fabulous way to say it!!

What A Week!!!

I'm exhausted!!! This has been one hell of a week. Work has been crazy!!! So busy!! They have assured me that its usually not like that but wow!!! I can't breath during the day! So that's been stressful. Tuesday I picked Gabbie from mothers and she was kinda cranky. We got home and she wouldn't eat her dinner. I put her down and picked her up 5 minutes later and she was burning up!!! Weird!! Her temp was 100.9! I gave her Tylenol and figured it was another round of teething kicking in. I WAS SO WRONG!!! The next 2 days her fever never broke, she stopped eating, diarrhea, and vomiting. I took her to the doc Thursday morning. No ear infection, no strep, so the doc tested for a UTI. We went to the hospital for some blood work and a antibiotic shot. I knew then that there was a problem. The nurses had to PULL the blood out of her with a syringe!!! After we got all the way home the docs office called to see if she had taken an liquids, which she did not. After about an hour the doc personally called and told me she was admitting her. The blood work came back and her white blood cell counts were through the roof and she was badly dehydrated.

Talk about an emotional wreck! She was a trooper though. She didn't start drinking anything until late Friday afternoon so we had to spend a second night. We finally got out yesterday afternoon when her blood cell count was back to normal. She's now at home and back to herself. We are still dealing with diarrhea but I pray that will soon pass. So yeah... I need a vacation now!!! OR a good stiff drink!! I never want to go through that again. Now I'm not an overly dramatic mom; I know that shots aren't going to kill her but that little girl got prodded and poked so much that when a nurse came in the room she started crying!!! They didn't even have to touch her!! I felt so bad for her! She couldn't play much and she couldn't get down and crawl because of the IV. It was bad! I hope we never have to go through that again. Through it all she still kept up good spirits which totally amazed me. I think we saw her true personality and I hope she stays that way.





She's sleeping right now so I get a bit of a break. I've got my chocolate raspberry creamer and silence for a bit. The Man is at church, we decided it wasn't a good idea for Gabbie to be out and about just yet, so I'm going to enjoy myself for a bit. Don't know what we are going to do today. We were supposed to extract honey on Friday so we may be doing that today. Our mentors will call when they are done with theirs so they can help us. I will keep you posted on that!! Its gonna be AWESOME!!! I'll stop here and use my time wisely. Until next time!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Good Morning

Top O' the Morning to you!!! Ok so I'm not exactly that chipper at the moment but I'm feeling a bit ambitious so maybe I will be after I drink a cup o'coffee. Today starts my first full day of work in just over 3 months. For some reason I'm scared. Not necessarily of work, that's the easy part, but of juggling home, husband, and Gabbie. I know that everything will fall into a rhythm but right now its kinda scary. I am ready though and I know its in every one's best interest. Gabbie has gotten even more clingy than before with both The Man and I so she will be heading to her Grandma's everyday now. This will help with all that and get her on a schedule for when The Man goes back to work, which will hopefully happen soon. The Man will then have the free time to get some things done around the farm that he's been wanting to tackle.

I didn't get to make Gabbie's onesie for the big game because this fit her. Well it sorta fit her! But still.... isn't that much more fabulous than a onesie?!


Yesterday I went into work for a half day. Its going to be difficult learning all the legal language but I'm sure in a couple of weeks it will be second nature. In theory the job is pretty easy but when you add on learning the lingo it takes a bit more. Today is jam packed!! I will be handleing all of the real estate and have 2 closings today!! YIKES!!! Thank the Lord that her current assistant is still with us so she can show me how things work. I learned yesterday that I better catch on quick because I only have like 2.5 weeks before her current assistant is gone!! Yep, the stress is on! Like it ever left HA! It just switched forms.

Well I guess I should get ready for the day. Until next time!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Ask And Thou Shall Receive


Sorry I haven't posted. This time I do have an excuse. No Internet! Since we live in the boonies Internet service comes at a premium. We have ours through our cell provider and it is limited to 5GB a month. Well The Man lives on the Internet and since he doesn't have a bedtime....well you can guess what he's up all night doing. Needless to say our inter net ration was used up quickly which is ok because I didn't have much to report... until yesterday. Yesterday I finally got a job!!! Its with an attorney as her legal assistant. Not exactly in my field but still interesting. It will teach me new things, which is always a good thing, and who know, maybe it will lead to a career. Either way I'm excited. I start Monday so these are my last days to get everything together. It will be bittersweet. I've gotten used to spending all my time with Gabbie so it will take some getting used to but it's a good thing. She's gotten really clingy lately and that's never a good thing. Its not my style. So its a good thing for everyone. That and I'll be weaning her as well so its good for Mommie too!

We have a busy weekend ahead. Poppa and Step-Mommie are coming down for a visit. There are some major issues going on at Poppas work and he needs to blow off some steam. So they'll be heading down today so Poppa can shoot some guns and do some manual labor. We have wood that still needs to be split and a leaky roof. Once all the work is done there is a festival down town that Step-Daddy's band is playing in and then there is Sunday. Sunday is a HUGE day in our family; Bears vs. Packers!! We are GIANORMOUS Bears fans!! So we will be getting together at Gramie and Grampie's to watch the big game. I have to make Gabbie a football onsie to go with her Bears socks before then!! I'll make sure to post pics!!

As for me I have alot to get done between now and Monday. I need to get this house in shape and get everything and everyone back in some sort of routine. We're not too out of shape so it shouldn't take much but The Man is going to have to get to sleep at a decent time now! LOL!!! He's not going to like that!! I will be cleaning and putting out my autumn decorations today. I pray Gabbie takes several long naps so that I can get all this done. Well I suppose I should stop here and get going. I think I'll need another cup o'coffee though!!! Until next time!!!

PS I want to thank all of you for your support and prayers. We are so thankful for all of you. I pray that The Man has passed his test and that life goes back to normal soon. I know that it will and that all of you had a hand in it. Thanks again for everything.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Farm Animals, Tests, and a Break

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I don't really have a good reason, just haven't had much time to myself. Miss Gabbie is sleeping now so I have a moment to fill you in on the past week. Last weekend we went with Mother and Step-Daddy to the State Fair. We had a blast!! It was fun watching Gabbie experience new things. We witnessed 2 milestones; sharing food and a FEAR of all farm animals!! Yep, all of them, pigs, horses, cows, chickens, rabbits...all of them!! It all started with sheep! I thought she would be fine with them considering we have two rather large dogs. Not on your life!!! She let out a blood curdling scream that I had NEVER heard before!!! Needless to say we heard the same scream all day when we moved from livestock barn to livestock barn. The sharing of food was so cute and it made up for her newly discovered fear. She was gnawing on a pizza crust and offered some to her daddy. It was too cute! Then she offered some to her grandma. Now anything that she has in her mouth, food or otherwise, gets offered! She also had her first ride with Mother. They rode the carousel and it was so fun watching her. She really liked it!





The Man is studying for the Praxis again. He takes it on Saturday and I pray that he passes. We heard yesterday from a teacher that his former position will be open again next school year and the the principle wants him back ASAP; word is that there is a teacher going on maternity leave after Christmas. I pray that he can pass so he can get back to teaching. I know that not working has taken its toll on him. I'd be willing to bet that he is mildly depressed over all of this and I know that passing will help, even if he can't teach again til next year. I can't say I don't blame him. We are in 2 different situations when it comes to being unemployed. I was fired from a job that I wasn't passionate about so it wasn't a blow to me, just inconvenient. The Man, however, couldn't teach and that is his passion. He was meant to be a teacher and he is an amazing teacher. So for someone to say you can't do what you love and what you are called to do is extremely difficult. That combined with that whole "I am Man I must provide" mentality makes for an upset husband. I try to show him the bright side but he's one of those "half empty" people. Its an ongoing battle between us; some days he wins, some days I win. Either way I know that we will look back at this time, some day in the distant future, and be thankful for it. That is if I don't kill him first ;) LOL, just a joke!! I promise!

Mother is taking Gabbie over night so I will have some ME time!!! I've got a lot of things to get done but I'm contemplating spending my time doing fun things instead of the alternative. I know The Man will be studying the majority of the time so I should use my time wisely but I love the ideas of just sitting down with a good movie and crocheting. I'll weigh the odds.

Other than that there isn't much else going on. We are hanging in there and except for the obvious, are doing as well as we can. I will definitely post tomorrow morning since I will have it all to myself and I'll let you know what I did with my free time. Until then!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Recovering

We had an amazing weekend! Filled with the typical, good food, family, guns, and of course, my beautiful daughter. All the women folk in our family took a stab at shooting skeet and let me tell you, it was fun!! Every one of us hit the clay at least once and the shot gun we were using wasn't made for women either. It was a blast. I was able to unload some built up stress by unloading several hundred rounds of hand gun ammo. Poppa, Step-Daddy, Mabel, and I had a great time with the hand guns. It was fun spending that kind of time with our fathers! Poppa is teaching all of us the details and concepts of using a hand gun for self protection. Regardless it was a blast and now, next time he is down, Poppa will be teaching several other family members the ropes as well.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures so there is nothing to post but I'm sure you can use your imaginations! The Man, his father, and Poppa also slipt a TON of fire wood. We will definitely NOT be cold this winter. I'm very thankful for The Man's father and Poppa for helping him. It would have taken The Man way too long to get all that work done himself, even though I know we would have done it.

I'm working on an afghan for Emily, my niece. The Man decided that he didn't want me to do the typical quilt for her. I found a very cute pattern of something I had never tried before and so far its working out great. The pattern isn't as big as I'd like so I'm going to adjust it a bit to make it larger. I'll let you take a peek when I'm finished.

Not much else to report. Gabbie is miserable with her teeth. She's up all night long, which means that I am as well. I'm giving her tylenol but its not helping her sleep much. I'm going to try the teething tabs, several of my mommie friends have recommended them. Hopefully it will work and she can get some sleep in. Maybe I can as well ;)

I guess I will leave you with that. Until next time!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Finished!!!

I can finally say that 95% of my projects are finished!!! YIPPY!!!! I shall now show you want I've been working on the past couple of weeks!

First are the bags for my sister and cousin-in-law. They are both young girls and LOVE their bags!! These are made from my diaper bag that I made last year. Needless to say they are HUGE; just big enough for the girls. They had a bit of fabric left over so I made them both a same zipper pouch and a roll up tote. I hadn't made the tote before and changed it a bit after making the first one. These are nice to have around and it fits in your had so you can throw them anywhere!!! I'll be making more of these!!






I hope the girls like them. I know they've been waiting and I'm so sorry that I haven't gotten them done sooner. In my defence I did warn them that it may take a bit considering I have a 7 month old to chase after!!

Next are two small projects. This is something that I found on one of the many craft sites I visit on a daily basis. Its simple. A painted frame wrapped in twin. Use small clothes pins to attach photos. Its so cute though!!




The next is too simple. We did these magnets as a family craft project several weekends ago. I had this metal tray laying around. I bought it at the Dollar Tree during Christmas. Simple add ribbon and viola! A cute magnet board. Insert you favorite picture, Mother and I cuddling when I was very little!! Too cute again and so simple!




I've also crocheted 2 beanies for The Man, which i didn't take any pictures of. Again I found a very simple pattern and made one in about a day.

You will probably notice that there's not anything for my niece. That's because The Man voiced his opinion and told me NOT to make her a quilt. He had something else in mind and we both agreed to go with his idea. So I'm starting over on her main gift but will continue with the little things I had planned. I will post them when they are finished and safely in the hands of my sister-in-law. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise by posting them before she sees them!!!

I am child and husband-less today. The Man is off cutting wood and Gabbie is with her grandmother. I will be finishing up all my cleaning for the up coming weekend. my in-laws are coming in from NC, Poppa and Step-Mommie from Ohio, and Mabel from Bama. Yes another family weekend!!! Gotta love them. Hopefully I will get some baking done. The Man wants some cookies and I always bake for my father-in-law. Its tempting to sit and craft though. I'm gonna hurry and get it all done so maybe, just maybe, I'll have a bit of time to craft in peace.

Well, I'm off!! I'll see you after my weekend, hopefully I'll have some pictures to show off!! Until next time!!

Monday, August 29, 2011

A New Leaf


I did something yesterday that I haven't done in months.... I got on the scale!! While it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it was still bad. So now its day one of getting healthy. There's really no excuse, its not like I'm working. LOL!! I'm not one of those No Carb dieters. As a bio major I know you need carbs to remain healthy. My problem is moving! But like I said, there's no excuse. So I've promised myself that I will move, in some fashion, 30 minutes a day which I can split up in 15 or 10 minute intervals. No eating after 8pm at night and I truly need to get back to drinking more water during the day. I find myself downing a liter at dinner time because I'm so thirsty. I'm also going to eat breakfast, which I did while I was pregnant and have since gotten out of the habit. Nothing drastic, just sensible changes.

Not much planned for today. We got the majority of the cleaning done yesterday so I'm going to focus on the guest room today and getting this darn sewing done. The Man will be heading out to help our friend again. I think he's gonna stop and help my grandfather as well. So it will be Gabbie and I today. Hopefully she will take a couple good naps ;) Tomorrow we are going to wrap up the Airstream clean up. Its been rough and I know its not 100% (that would probably require a professional, in my opinion) but it will be ok for Poppa and Step-Mommie when they get in. I still have to wrap up their laundry as well which I'll be working on the remainder of the week along with washing sheets and good stuff like that.

As for the rest of the week, I believe there will be more peach butter, more cleaning, more sewing, and may throw in a couple craft projects. Who knows, only time will tell!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Milestones

It has been a busy week here. Miss Gabbie decided to crawl and is now into everything. To top it off, Friday evening she stuck my finger in her mouth and, to my surprise, I felt a tooth!! I can't see it yet but I can feel it and it has broken through the gum. Of course in turn she's a bit fussy. She's ok during the day when her attention can be diverted but the past couple of nights have been rough. I haven't slept much!! I feel so helpless when I know she's hurting. Its horrible but its something I better get used to. So if any of you mom's have any helpful hints on making teething as pleasant as possible, please feel free to pass them on.

Friday Gabbie and I spent the day with my Mother and Grandmother. We did a bit of shopping and had a blast!! I wish I could have bought some things but I know exactly what I want when we have some money rolling in!! We went to Old Time Pottery and let me tell you... I could have spent a fortune!! I love all the fall stuff that they have!! The Man got some down time while we were gone to study for his test coming up in September. In turn, I got "me" time yesterday. The Man is helping a good friend with some home maintenance projects and Gabbie went to her grandma's. I was going to work on my sewing but I found this project while surfing and just had to make one.

The one on her blog is a bit fru fru for me (I'm not much of a flower person)so I had to find something else to stitch. I came up with this...




I took the angled view so that you can see the different colors in the tree, it's not solid orange! The Man even liked it!!! It was pretty easy, I just drew the outline on the pegboard and dove right in. I want to make a couple more to swap out when the seasons change! It was fun too. I watched a couple good movies and it was done.

So now I still have sewing to finish but I know that I can get it done. I will be working on that today and tomorrow. I should probably get going, need to get a bit of cleaning done since I didn't yesterday. Until next time!!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

A Sense of Accomplishment

Good Morning! Don't know why but I feel good today. The past couple of days have been full of accomplishment. Yesterday I bit the bullet and went to the health department to get Gabriella and I on WIC. Not my finest hour but the benefits will help us immensely. It was funny. You always hear horror stories about how the staff are rude and stuff. I guess they realized that I wasn't the average joe because no one was rude to me. The head nurse who filed the paperwork for us was extremely helpful. I had lots of questions and I guess it was obvious that I had no clue what I was doing. The nurse helped a lot. We talked about the colorful people she encounters on a daily basis and I confessed that I never thought I'd be in my current position. She assured me that's what these programs were there for; people in my situation that need a bit of help. It felt much better after talking with her and the other staff. They answered all my questions and told me exactly what to do when I got to the grocery store. I commented on the large amount of food that we can get and the woman replied "That's where your tax dollars go, use them." Very true!!! So I came home with my head a bit higher. I know that we won't have to spend too much at the grocery store now although coffee and creamer are not on the program.....darn!!!!

Another accomplishment was Tuesday when I took this 27 pounds of peaches.....

And turned it into this.....

6 pints of spiced peach butter and 16 half pints of peach preserves, minus the ones we ate. Yep....accomplishment!! So my totals for the season thus far are 16 half pints and 15 pints of sweet pickle relish, 13 half pints of blueberry jelly, 1 quart of blueberry juice(for more jelly), at least 10 quart bags of tomatoes, 30 quart bags of sweet corn, 42 quart bags of Dixie lee peas and its not even apple season yet!!Not bad at all! And let me say that the peach butter is out of this world!! Can't wait to eat that this winter. Next on my list is freezing butternut squash for Miss Gabbie, applesauce, and of course, apple butter!!! Thank God that we have a local apple orchard where I can buy all in bulk!

I wonder what I'll accomplish today?! More yard work I think. Mother wants The Man and I to help her mulch her house now. So I think we will be packing up Gabbie and heading to her house for the day. It will be nice to get out of the house, something I don't do very much anymore. I think tomorrow I'm going to try and wrap up these sewing projects. My in laws are coming in next weekend and I have to have a BUNCH of stuff done by then. I'm just about finished with the purses for my sister and cousin-in-law. Then I have a couple little things for them to use up the rest of their fabric. Gonna do some zippered make-up bags and little things like that. Then I have several projects for my niece, Emily. Although I better just focus on the main one and then move on after that. I'm getting carried away!!! I want to make her all the things I wanted to make for Gabbie when I was pregnant!!! I just couldn't because I was pregnant!! Like I said, I'm going to start with the main one and as soon as its finished I'll move on to the next. I have a funny feeling that everything I make for Gabbie, from here on out, I'll be making another for Emily. I'm still trying to figure out if I should do all Emily's stuff in pretty, light, and feminine or bright, fun, and cheery. What do you think?

Speaking of Gabbie...look out world, she's about 2 steps away from crawling or walking which ever happens first. She's pulling her self up and all that good stuff. We have to lower her crib because I found her half standing up in it this morning! YIKES!!!! She's scooting along though and getting into a lot more than I'd like. Time to baby proof the house. God give me strength and patients with this!!! Every day she does something new, learns something new, develops something new. Its truly amazing to watch her learn and discover. She never fails to amaze me.

Well I better have one more cup o' coffe and get going. Lots to get done and then we have to go to Mother's!!! Oh, I think I hear a tractor outside. Looks like we will have hay bales when we get home. I'll make sure to show you! Until next time!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Before and After

Well, once again an unplanned event came up. Friday evening The Man decided he wanted to join Mother and Step-Dad on their trip down to visit Mabel. So we woke up extra early and headed down to Birmingham to surprise Mabel. She, Mother, and I spent a couple hours shopping while the guys and Gabbie played video games. We had a great steak dinner on the grill and some awesome extras courtesy of Mabel. It was a great day until the drive home. Its a 3 hour drive and for some reason it seemed so much longer than that. We finally got home at midnight. Needless to say we spent the majority of yesterday recovering.

Here are the pictures I've promised. First the Before of the yard





And After....





It's amazing what a days hard work will do. Now for Friday night's shots.






We basically just sit around a fire, if its not 100 degrees, eat, and drink a couple cold beers. I've spent many nights like this since I was a child and fortunately, Gabriella enjoys it just as much as I do. She loves watching the fire and spending time with her family.

Today I plan on cleaning, laundry, and hopefully finishing up some sewing. I also need to spend a couple hours applying again. Neither of us have heard anything and we are both starting to get truly discouraged, especially The Man. Some days I wake up and I can't believe we are in this situation. I hope and pray that something comes around soon. Well, I better get going. Until next time!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Random Home Improvement


So Mother came over the other morning and instead of working on cleaning the house, she wanted to tidy up the outside. Mother can't stand being inside so I really wasn't surprised by this. I was surprised, however, by what she wanted to do. She wanted to do some major work, which we did, and lay down some mulch, which we did, alot of mulch!! I don't have the pictures uploaded yet but I'll get the before and afters up asap! Needless to say it looks great! So, that's what we've been doing the past 2 days and because of that don't have much to report.

Tonight we are at my grandparents house for dinner and a fire. I plan on taking pics to show you all just how we spend our Friday nights around here. Tomorrow its cleaning since I didn't get any done as planned! Oh well....that's my mother for you. I just wanted to check in and let you know what we've been up to. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post tomorrow morning. Until then!!!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Good Morning!



I'm just a posting fool!! I was up early and figured I'd show you another quick creation inspired by Step-Mommie. Isn't it cute?! Love that fabric! I learned one valuable lesson with this one: if you don't drop your feed dogs then it doesn't turn out quite as planned. Oh well!! I won't do that again!

So I'm sitting here, snuggled up cause its 63 degrees outside and we have all the windows open. I've got a cup o' coffee in my fave mug and yesterdays mail that I can finally read, yes, it's a poultry catalog. What's in a poultry catalog you ask, well poultry. Babies! Yes you order specific breeds of chickens, turkey, ducks, etc and when they hatch, they are shipped to you. How cool is that!!! So I'm dreaming about my future chickens and drinking coffee in the amazing weather. Its a great start to, hopefully, an even greater day.

Mother should be here soon so I'll leave at that. Until next time!