LAST DAY OF MAY A GOOD ONE

The last day of May 2014 was a busy one for me.  Waking up a bit early as g-son thought he was late for school and in a groggy, sleepy headed panic at about 7:45.
By the time we got him assured this was Saturday we were all wide awake but it was time to get up by then.
We made it to market and got things set up before any customers showed up today.  G-son had his friend helping him with the computer games again.

They are becoming quite the pair !!
Daughter came out and helped sell during the busiest time this morning before going to Asheville to meet a friend for the afternoon.
Pawpaw and g-son left at lunchtime to go shopping and have lunch of his favorite pizza at Sam's Club.
I was left alone but business had ground to a complete halt by this time and the customers very few until closing time.
I stopped by the kids clothing sale my niece is giving at the Opportunity House on the way home. I found a few items for both g-son and little Evy.  Her and her mom shopped yesterday but I went back today to their 1/2 price sale.
They had a lot of merchandise for their first sale and it was all clean and good quality stuff. This is their website name, check them out and if you live in the area watch for notice of the next sale.

I stopped by Aldi and the Farm Outlet on the way home and made it here around 4:30.
#1 son came in right behind me from working all day. He stayed a little while and let g-son play with a construction game I bought him at the sale.
After they left hubbie and I watched the news then did chores, had supper and took a nice relaxing break out on the patio watching the sun go down. It has been a cool, only 73 degrees and cloudy day all day today.
This month of May has been a busy month of planting and getting into some new routines as business picks up at market. Our garden is beautiful this year and we are enjoying all the spring vegetables from it each day. The weather has been pretty tame around here with rain mostly when we needed it and periods of heat and cool during the month.  "Blackberry winter" passed without too much damage and temps only getting into the upper 30's a couple nights.
#1 son and d-in-love have been working Saturday jobs to pick up extra money and that gives hubbie and I extra g-son time which we love.
#2 son has settled into his newest home and seems to be very satisfied with this one.
Daughter is finishing up her first year of teaching high school and has started the online courses she needs to get her license along with all the other things in her busy lifestyle.
For hubbie and I this has been a pretty routine month and we have enjoyed the beginning of warm weather many nights sitting outside drinking our hot drinks and watching the sunsets. I went on a weight loss program suggested by my doctor and have already lost 12 pounds so I am happy about that, only about 10 more pounds to go to reach my goal.
This has been a good day and I am thankful to my loving Lord for all His graciousness each day.
Good Night and God Bless.

RELAY FOR LIFE FRIDAY

Well it's the last Friday of May and I'm not sure where this month went either as I say, I think, almost every month.
Today started off good as g-son now he is excited about all the things they are doing in these last weeks of school. He was also excited because he gets to spend the night with us tonight as mom and dad are both working early in the morning.
I had to make an extra trip to Walmart for some extra brown sugar for more caramel cakes than I had planned on to fill a couple late orders for tomorrow.
I went in through the garden dept. and found clearance price red roses,so this is what my one empty planter will contain !
Back home I did chores, had breakfast, then did my morning walk. Usually these walks are photo ops but today I didn't see a single thing to photograph.
I baked 12 caramel,2 chocolate and 2 blackberry wine cakes. 
Hubbie came home early due to one of his co-workers committing suicide this morning.  His boss closed their shop and sent everyone home.  This is the second man who has shot himself in our community in the last month. Both have children and wives that are left wondering "why" . It is also so sad in this case because this man's oldest daughter is getting ready to graduate high school. She goes to the school daughter teaches at and daughter said she was in one of her classes and is such a sweet and smart girl.  So sad !!!   Hubbie was pretty upset also as he and this man ate breakfast together and talked lots of days.
The rain started falling around noon today nice and slow and I was hoping it would cool down enough to keep the storms at bay but not so as we had some close thunder and lightening as the rain picked up in intensity throughout the afternoon. 
I picked up g-son today and we headed home to hunker down to wait for the storms to pass.
I spent the time sewing to further reduce the pile of cut-outs beside my machine.  I made these two aprons to make up for not getting in any sewing yesterday.

We did chores early so we could go out to the local high school to the relay for life fund raiser they are having tonight.
Daughter is in charge of some of the events and it was a great time for all.
It started out rally sad with the survivor walk which was led by a couple of current students, one senor and one freshmen, and a recent graduate who are all battling cancer types.
Here daughter and all the teachers join in the walk with these survivors.

This is daughter friend and fellow coach dancing with g-son.

We had a nice meal of BBQ and chips before we played the games.

He actually hit the target right in the face on his second try !

He got to every one of the games and won prizes at most of them.

He got sparkles in his hair and a rocket ship painted on his face.

We ended the night with a hilarious game of ping pong with pawpaw that I laughed until I cried during.   This was the first time g-son ever played this game but he picked it up pretty fast.

Someone surely had a great time and it was a great evening for hubbie and I just watching him be so happy !  The high school hosts this Relay for Life event each year and all the kids participate to raise money for cancer research.  This years event was very successful and raised over $13,000 for the cause.  Congrats all the teachers and students that give your time  and effort to such a worthy cause.

The rain had stopped when we went out to school and the sun was shining but to our surprise when we came out of the school headed to our van the rain was falling again and the dark clouds were back for the evening. We got a total of 6/10ths inch of rain for the day.

G-son was spending the night so we stopped by his house so he could tell his mom and dad goodnight before we headed home to get all the gook washed out of his hair and off his face !

Can you tell he is a tired little boy ?
He and Pawpaw were in the bed early but I had 12 caramel and 2 chocolate cakes that had to be iced.
I got to bed about midnight.
Thankful tonight for a wonderful family and the joys of being able to spend time with g-son.
Good Night and God Bless.

BUSIER MARKET AND UNKNOWNS FOR THIS MONTH

Having Hubbie off during the week is nice especially on a market day. He took g-son to school this morning to give me an extra few minutes to get things going for market. Plus he was there to help unload and set up at market. Although when I pulled into an empty parking lot I wondered why I needed him !
Sales were slow but all the orders got picked up and I sold a few extra things so my day all in all was a good one thanks to the Lord.
After market I ran errands and hurried along trying to beat the storms the dark clouds looked like they were bringing home.
Hubbie was in the bottom pasture bush hogging when I got home so I unloaded and put things away. It started to sprinkle rain just as I finished and hubbbie  came up the drive to get into the shed with the tractor before he got wet.
The rain shower didn't last long and the sun came back out to dry things out quickly.  I went back outside to finish planting my herbs and flowers I bought last weekend.  Got them all planted and some new planters fixed. I need one more perennial for a large pot in the back yard and I will done all excepting the watering chores for the rest of the summer !!
The rest of the evening was pretty normal for a Thursday.
To finish up the decade pictures for this month these are the "unknowns" for this month.

 This is the back of the picture of this man standing on a bridge.

Maybe someone can recognize some of these folks.

Getting to bed earlier tonight to rest up for a busy Friday.
Grateful to God for the blessings of today.
Good Night and God Bless.

BUSY WEDNESDAY

G-son's "Monday at the lake"  sunburn is slowly getting better as at least this morning he was able to rest the shoulder straps of his bookbag on his shoulders.
I did the chores and had breakfast while waiting for the sunshine to dry the grass from last night's 2/10ths inch of rain. Seems we are stuck on that amount of rainfall as this is the second day we have gotten that much.
As I walked I enjoyed the warm sun and fresh morning air.
I spent the remainder of the morning in my kitchen baking 12 caramel,4 chocolate, 1 coconut ,6 pound cakes and 2 blackberry wine cakes. I would expect this to be a slow week following the busy holiday weekend but I have 7 1/2 cakes ordered for tomorrow so it will be a good day for me anyway.
Hubbie called to say he was taking 1/2 day off to get a haircut and come home to get the grass mowed. The forecast is for heavy rains for the next several days after today.
He builds up days off where he works and then needs to use them or loose them each year about this time.
After a late lunch I planted some cucumber and zuchinni squash plants to replace the ones that the last cold snap killed. I need to replant the okra but decided to wait until we could till.
I picked up g-son and got him settled in with bacon and Texas toast, his after school favorite snack !
I got behind my sewing machine for my 30 minutes and made another towel apron.

One thing a day is better than nothing all week like I have been doing !!
I need to come up with another housecleaning plan because this one isn't working.  Seems my baking days are not good housecleaning days.
The storms went around us today with only distant thunder and lightening and a brief shower so we were among the lucky that didn't get hail.
I iced 6 caramel cakes and then took a back pain relieving break to watch the sun slip behind the mountains.

I spent the remainder of the evening standing over the stove cooking icing and icing caramel, chocolate and coconut cakes. I finished up about 11:00, watched the news and headed for bed so this post is written while waiting for customers to appear at market on Thursday and back dated.
Thanking God for sparing us the storms today and grateful for my daily blessings.
God Bless.

BACK IN THE ROUTINE

UHHHGGGG!!!  It's always hard getting back in the regular routine even after just one extra day off. G-son was not a happy camper this morning as he got back in school after the long weekend.
I made a trip to Walmart on the way home after I dropped him at school.
After chores and breakfast I got the laundry started then did some housecleaning.
The sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds all day.  I took a nice walk this afternoon before I picked up g-son.
He had a doctor's appointment to get a second treatment on the plantar warts on the bottom of one of his feet so I dropped him at home where his dad had just gotten off work early to take him.
The warts are almost completely gone after just one treatment so the doc said he probably wouldn't need any more after today.
I stayed true to my intent of sewing at least 30 minutes each afternoon and made this towel apron when I got home.

I would have gotten two of these made but I experimented with a new idea to put the waistband on and ended up having to take it all out and do it the old way !!
I went outside to pot some more of my new plants and heard the thunder in the distance getting closer and closer. The sky to the south was very dark.
I planted my new Rosemary plant before the raindrops started to fall.
We really never got much rain and the thunder and lightening stayed to the south and west of our area. Our hardest rain came after dark as we heard it pounding the metal roof.
I had a precious little visitor this evening while mom went to a staff meeting.
She had to make sure her new toy basket was totally empty before she cold play with anything !

She is beginning to take several steps now especially when she doesn't think about the fact that she is walking on her own.  At one time today she walked from one toy to the other without even a wobble.
She just hasn't got her confidence up fully yet but she is getting there quickly.
We all had supper, she still eats very good and is enjoying feeding herself more and more.
She helped with the chicken feeding chores tonight, she likes to scatter their corn and watch them all gather around.
After her mom picked her up, hubbie and I  sat outside to watch the storm that was again passing to the west and south of us.  It hailed bad at hubbie's work this afternoon before he got off.
Thank the Lord we haven't had any hail or severe storms at out place today.  The sun was putting out one last cloud covered glow as it silently gave way to the thick clouds.

Bro-in-law Marty and sis-in-law Sandy came by after a clothes hanging rack to use at their daughter's used kids supplies sale this weekend. I have had this rack since my traveling craft show sale days. It is a really nice huge rack.  I hope they do a good business this weekend.
Sis-in-law had to have shoulder surgery so she can't drive or lift anything at all with that arm yet.
Had a relaxing evening and am very grateful to God for the wonderful blessings that were sent my way today.
Good Night and God Bless.

THANKFUL MEMORIAL DAY 2014

I started to say Happy Memorial day to you but decided this is not a really "happy" day.  As families of fallen soldiers all over the country continue to grieve the loss of their loved ones in the continuous war to protect our freedom  I thought it better to just say "THANK YOU".  To those brave soldiers who have lost their lives or gone on before us and to their families.
The picture above is of a honoring ceremony at one of the local cemeteries where my father-in-law is buried. He was a veteran of WWII.
My day started off with work in the garden as soon as chores were done this morning.  #1 son had some time to help with the heavy cattle panels we are using this year for our beans to climb on.

These were a whole lot quicker to get up and they are heavy duty so they won't sag.  We just hope they don't all blow over and pull up the beans !!
I pulled some weeds to give the chickens and replanted some cucumbers that got killed in the last cold spell. Even though the temperature didn't get below freezing the okra and cucumbers couldn't take the upper 30's temps.

The Sillies were very thankful for the fresh green weeds.

After lunch hubbie and I went over to a shoe store on hwy 191 where we usually buy all our shoes. He got a pair of work boots and I got a pair of dark tennis shoes to wear next fall and winter.
We stopped at the feed store on the way home to pick up some chicken feed and get some okra seed.
They had sold completely out of okra seed. I guess lots of folks have the same problem I do !!
At home the clouds started to roll in and look very threatening.  I planted some of the plants I bought over the week end while hubbie planted some gourds seed.   The rain started and ran us under the porch to sit and watch the storm as it passed to the west of us and dropped down the mountain giving us only a light shower.
All the kids are coming for a cook out this evening so we moved the grill under the outside patio. Guess we will just leave it there as it seems every time we need to use it the rain comes.
Everyone came around six this evening and we grilled out steaks and hambugers  along with some baked beans that Rebekah had made , twice baked potatoes that d-in-love made, a fruit salad and dip that daughter made, and some homemade strawberry ice cream that churned on the porch while we ate, yummmy !!
A great way to end a long weekend.

Feeling very blessed tonight !
Good Night and God Bless.

BEAUTIFUL MORNING, STORMY EVENING

A beautiful morning today.  I did chores and got ready for church. I was one of the greeters this morning so I had to be in my spot early.
Rebekah sang this morning to open our service and Evy was very attentive watching her mom and wanting to clap along with the music as daughter held her.

Church was good with the sermon from Galations chapter 5.
Everyone made it to lunch except #2 son who is golfing in Cashiers today with friends.
Aaron was planting soybeans just out the road so he took a lunch break and came to eat with us.
After lunch the sky got dark and we could hear thunder in the distance but daughter, d-in-love and I decided to brave the weather and head back up to the garden jubilee.
Thankfully we just had a light rain for a few minutes on the street and the bad storms went around town. We pretty much had the street to ourselves in places as I followed them down the street.

We bought more herb plants and I found a couple Moon Vine plants that I overlooked yesterday. The prices were better today as the rain ran most of the crowd away and the festival ended today at 5:00.
Hubbie said we got a really bad storm here at the farm while I was gone that dropped an inch of rain in just a few minutes with lots of thunder and lightening.
Looks like the weather pattern is getting into a summer pattern a little early this year at least for the next week.

Hubbie and I had a nice restful evening, he watched a race on TV and I watched the birds in the back yard !!
Grateful for my Heavenly Father's love tonight as I strive to glorify Him in all that I do.
Good Night and God Bless.

GARDEN JUBILEE

UGGGG!!!!!   An earlier than usual alarm jingling this morning along with g-son's appearance to spend the day with us while his parents took some extra Saturday work rudely interupted my peaceful slumber this morning.
I hurried through chores and we were on our way more than an hour earlier than usual.
The parking lot was already beginning to fill with street vendors and early Garden Jubilee shoppers.
I had a very good day of sales today with the extra traffic though market.
G-son was again the "man of the hour" as he played games and taught Cora how to play.

He is becoming a regular and everyone looks forward to seeing him each Saturday.
He reluctantly left with his Pawpaw around lunchtime.  They had several stops to make on their way home.
I stayed steadily busy all day. This is a picture of my table used in our facebook advertisement today.

Daughter came in about an hour before closing and helped me load things up and close down.
A friend met us as market closed and all three of us made our way up on the street to the Garden Jubilee.  We had a wagon this year and another carrier to pull and we managed to fill up both of these and still had to carry a few things !!!   I had no hands to make pictures and didn't think about taking a picture of our purchases which consisted mostly of herbs and a few $1 flower deals.
I have them still in my wagon so a picture will be coming !!  These are some pics from the local newspaper.

I loved this little pond set up on the street. I would love to have one of these to relax by.
I did have to wonder if the work of setting this up was really worth it ????
After spending over three hours walking from one end of the street to the other we pulled, and dragged our purchases back to the cars.
Although my feet were already hurting I had to make a stop at Aldi and Ingles before getting home at about 6:15,whew !!!
I unloaded , did the chores and had supper. Rebekah and Evy came down for a visit .   Hopefully her and d-in-love and daughter will get to go back to the jubilee tomorrow afternoon.
Thanking God for a wonderful day filled with many blessings.
Good Night and God Bless.

LEARNING TO FLY

We had a last minute dilemma just before we headed out the door for school this morning. I always turn the TV off and send g-son to the bathroom to brush his teeth and use the toilet right before we head out.  He must think about what is coming up in his day while he is in there because this is the time the "melt downs" usually occur when he remembers he has forgotten something.
Today it was a homework paper, left behind on the couch at home because it only had a few letters on one side of it and his dad thought it was a blank paper.
"Worst day ever" emergency was averted when we went in his house and got the paper on the way to school.   We were almost late but I told him if he walked fast he could make it. The last time I saw him he was walking very fast toward his classroom.
Back home I did morning chores, had breakfast, took a nice walk and took time to watch these baby Bluebirds as they fledged for the first time today.

Saw at least three of these little guys that left the house hubbie made for them in front of the barn.
It was fun to watch them stretch their wings before they finally took off to the tops of the fence post then to a nearby Walnut tree where they chattered to each other and I'm sure to parents that were watching close by.
As I continued my walk I spotted this beauty in the grass.

After looking up a spotted moth I found out this is an Eight Spotted Forester Moth. Another of God's intricate creations with exactly four spots on each wing.
I spent the morning baking cakes , I baked 12 caramel, 1 coconut and 6 pound cakes.  The garden jubilee is uptown tomorrow so it brings alot of traffic through market.
After lunch I took a vitamin D break and pulled weeds in the garden for the chickens. They are always grateful for a green snack during the hot afternoon. It was 86 degrees here today under bright sunshine.
A busy evening with chores and early cake icings so we could get things all ready to load so we can get an early start to get a good parking place at market.
Thanking God for His wonderful creations that give our eyes a glimpse of the beauty of our Heavenly home.
Good Night and God Bless.