Just one reason to be thankful...

to live in the country.
When you're standing on your back porch wearing a hoodie talking on the phone and what you think is a ladybug lands on your neck, only realizing when you brush it off and it stings that it wasn't a ladybug after all. Not knowing what kind of bee or where it went (possibly down your sweatshirt) you run for the door stripping off your shirt as you go...
Yep, happened to me last week! So, I'm thankful that I don't live in the city or I would've been fined for indecent exposure!

Not only did it happen once, but again yesterday!! This time I was taking advantage of the beautiful warm weather to rake leaves when I felt two stings on my back. Again, ran for the door stripping....guess I should also be thankful that no one was knocking on the front door as it's a straight shot view to the back door.

The leaves are going to have to wait for a cold day when the yellow jackets are gone!!

Explanation of my absense

I have went from a slow, relaxing, at home all the time country life to a fast-paced, on the go, somewhere to be, something to do all the time life!! I haven't gotten used to it. I'm enjoying it, but just haven't figured out a balance, yet.

I would've never dreamed that Little Man starting Kindergarten would be such a tremendous change for us. Well, it's really my fault. It all started when I filled out that volunteer form...

I have been really busy at school. It seems like every other day they're looking for someone for something! It's a lot of fun, though.

The week before last they had an all day party to celebrate last year's test scores. The principal had promised the students if they exceeded 100 on the cats testing she would throw a big bash. They got 102, so she planned an all-day event. They were supposed to have the party at the adjoining park to the school, but had to do it at school due to weather. I had the pleasure of doing karaoke. It was such fun!! The high school football coach sent over the team to help out. Let me just say that watching four big burly linebackers sing cheetah girls, Hillary duff and high school musical songs with the little ones was a blast!!

Last week, we went on a pumpkin patch field trip. I had never been to one before, so the night before I could hardly sleep from excitement. It ended up being a beautiful fall day and a great time.

We've been busy with other fall activities, like... a Halloween themed birthday party, festivals and even a wedding.

This week there will be trick or treating, of course and on Friday there is a fall festival at the elementary school that I went to as a child that we are planning to attend. I have a niece and nephew going there and my nephew has been nominated for prince of his class. My husband and I and even my brother have been prince and princess before. It's cute, the kids dress up and get little trophies and there is a king and queen crowned. There's lots of activities like a cake walk, face painting, game booths, etc.

Hopefully, we will get to go. Little Man came down with a fever last night. We went to the doctor today and a strep test was negative. His symptoms are flu-like, so that's a possibility. The doc wants him to stay home through Wed and if he's not better by then to bring him back.

This is the worst time of parenting...when your child is sick and hurting and you feel like there is nothing you can do....

Road Trip-Part 2

I think I left you at the Kentucky River...
We continued on our drive through the country roads. We passed many tobacco fields which is something we don't see a lot of around here anymore.


When I was a kid that was the big crop. As soon as we were big enough we helped. When it came time to set my job was usually driving the tractor. I was not very old and I couldn't turn it around, so when we got to the ends of the rows, my Grandpa would turn around to the next row for me. I didn't get to ride the setter until I was way up in my teens. I wasn't fast enough. Other jobs I had were topping it, which I really despised. I was actually kind of allergic and one year I was way out in the middle of the field, sneezing and carrying on and my eyes watered so much that my contact came out. It stuck on my cheek, so I didn't lose it, but it was a long way back to the house with only one eye.

One job I never had was cutting it. That was my brother's specialty. Man, was he good at it. I've helped hang it before, no higher than the bottom rail of course. Now, my favorite was stripping it. When I was little they always gave me the tips. My grandpa operated the baler. I loved to watch that thing smash it down and make a bale out of it.

Oops, kind of got lost on memory lane there...

Back to our travels...Little Man's favorite thing was all the bridges. He wanted pics of every bridge we crossed.

He really got excited when we got to the Ohio River. The road followed the water for a bit and he got to see barges.

Almost there...

The bridge in this pic crosses over to Indiana. My cousin works at a hospital there, so she's lucky to live close to a bridge.

At last, after a long one lane country road we arrive at the dead end to her cabin. She came out on the porch with her wet hair wrapped in a towel, carrying the baby as we pulled up.

After the excitement of meeting the new addition and a lot of passing him around to hold...

and getting to know her critters...

we got busy with the chinking.

As you can see we didn't get very far before we had to go. We tried to leave early enough to at least get back to familiar territory before it got dark. My aunt and uncle were staying the night to work on it the next day. I can't wait to see it all finished. He says it darkens a little after a couple weeks. It should turn to a sand color. I'm sure it will be beautiful then, but right now it looks funny to me...

Road Trip-part 1

We had a busy weekend here. We all took a road trip, except in two directions. The husband and his Dad headed South to visit his Uncle and work on some electrical problems he was having. Little Man and I headed North with my Mom to visit a long-lost cousin. Well, she's not really lost, we just don't see her much. My aunt and uncle (mom's brother) were going to visit her and chink her cabin that she recently bought, so we decided to follow them up. It was about a 2-2 1/2 hr. trip.



It was a very pretty drive. We spotted a few barn quilts on the way. I love those.

We stopped on the side of the road to see a steam-powered sorghum mill that a friend of my Uncle has on the bank of the Kentucky river.

This is the view behind the mill of the KY River.

This is where I'm gonna have to leave you for tonight. I started this earlier today and then had to stop to pick up Little Man. Then, between picking up my Dad who just had kidney stone surgery a few days ago and bringing him home with me to have dinner and taking him back...homework...finding addresses for my soon-to-be sister-in-law for her wedding invitations...cutting out a couple hundred little squares from tissue paper for Little Man's teacher, etc.... I'm beat!

I'll pick up where I left off in the morning.

Eat your spinach!!

Why?

So you'll have big muscles like Popeye!!




Little Man had told me he ate spinach for lunch. I really didn't believe him, but a couple nights ago my husband wanted to do the cooking. He asked Little Man if he wanted to help. They made salmon patties and spinach. I could hardly believe my eyes when my child was slurping up spinach. He would shovel this huge forkful in and make a gulping sound. Later, he revealed what the big exaggerated gulping was for....he was doing like Popeye does.
Every so often while eating he would say Look at how big my muscle's getting. I'll be able to pick up that refrigerator when I eat all this. All the while flexing his muscle for us to see.


I asked him if any of the other kids at school eat their spinach. He said no, I tried to tell them to so they'll be strong like Popeye, but they wouldn't listen.

I don't think I've giggled that much during dinner in a long time.

Just a little rambling...

I'm thinking that right now I'd rather be here....

This is my painting from art class this past Thursday. What I'd give to be laying on that beach right now!

It's been awhile since I've posted. Not much has changed. My vehicle is still broke down. Rodney is supposed to be replacing the fuel pump right now. I'm very fortunate that I have a terrific Mom and Step-dad that loaned me her truck to drive. I feel terrible about putting them out for this long, but we couldn't fix mine until we got the funds for it.

I just haven't been in the mood much for posting. My step-dad has this saying that he uses quite often..." It ain't gonna get no better." He says it jokingly, but this past week I've felt that way. It all started with the truck, which was the worst possible time for something like that to happen for financial reasons. Then, to make money matters even worse we find out that my husband didn't get the job that he was supposed to get. So now, we're back to square one, well, actually we're not even there because now we're indebted to our parents. Rodney's Mom says that it just wasn't meant to be. I believe that and I believe that God has something better in store for us, but it's hard to hang on to that when you're down. If you're like me you start thinking how it just can't get any worse. That's when I have to go back and read the book of Job and remember that yes, it can.

There are a couple jobs coming up that Rodney could take. A few of his past co-workers that all have their own companies have some work in the near future. They all involve travel, which at this point we can live with, but I'm not sure that he'll get to. One of the other "bad timing" things was a jury duty summons. He can't do a job out-of-town if he's on jury duty.

I apologize for being such a downer, but it's just been one thing after another for the past couple weeks. I promise I'm thinking happy thoughts now and next time I'll have something good for you. (Which reminds me I need to get those cookie recipes from Mom)

Spicing things up!

Do you have more tomatoes than you know what to do with? Well, if not maybe you should find some, because on a cold winter's day a little bit of chips and salsa sure warms a cold body.
We love salsa. We eat it year round. Chips are one of the staples of our grocery list. I would really love to learn to make them homemade to go with our homemade salsa.
Some of you may have a much better recipe, but this is the one we follow and everyone loves it. Well, actually we have two, one from a friend and one from an aunt, but they are only slightly different. I'll give you both.

Salsa
1 gal. diced tomatoes
6 green bell peppers
4 onions
1 tbsp. red pepper (dried)
1 c. vinegar
1/4 c. salt
4 oz. jalopeno peppers
1/4 c. sugar
2 sm. cans tomato sauce
Cook until soft. Put in clean sterilized jars. Makes approx. 12 pints

Salsa
1 gal. crushed tomatoes
6 green bell peppers
4 onions
6-8 jalopeno peppers
3 cayenne peppers
2 cans tomato paste
1 cup vinegar
1/4 c. salt
1/4 c. sugar
Remove tomato peels. Chop sweet green peppers, onions and hot peppers, add to tomatoes. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cook until salsa is boiling and all ingredients are tender. Ladle into hot jars and seal. Makes approx. 6-7 quarts.

Whether we use one recipe or the other we chop our tomatoes as we like our salsa on the chunky side. Also, we process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

Even if you have never canned anything before this is really simple to make and delicious.

Updates: My vehicle is not fixed yet, but we do know what's wrong now. It needs the fuel pump replaced. I'm not sure how soon we can get that done. My mom loaned me her truck today. I'm picking her up from work this afternoon and she's going with me to the PTO Open House tonight. She helped make cookies for me to take. She made some kind of maple something and it is to die for. I'll share the recipe as soon as I get it from her. That meeting better get here soon or I'll have eaten them all!!!