HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HAPPY  HALLOWEEN   2015   !!!!!!!!!!!

Woke to a cloudy morning on this Halloween market day. Of course I dressed for the occasion !!

Many of the vendors had on Halloween vest and sweaters today to make the market a colorful festive looking place. Too bad there were very few customers to notice !  We had a very slow day. I think there was so many other festivities around town everyone was out celebrating with their kids.  I am thankful for what I did sell as always.
I got a phone call from Re just as I started to pack up to leave market saying Aa had ran over one of their dogs with the skid steer while he was working ground to lay sod. He didn't know how bad he ran over him so they wanted to take him to the vet. Both kids were down for naps so hubbie went over right away and waited until I could get there to sit with the kids while they slept.
Unfortunately Cinch could not be saved, his back was broken and his pelvis was crushed so the vet put him down.  Sadly they buried him on their farm when they got home.
BB woke before they got home but EL was still asleep when I left.  Both the kids loved that old dog who would let them do anything to him and just lay there.  R. I. P. Cinch .
As I waited for them to get home I took this photo out their front window, they have such a beautiful place.

When I came home hubbie was mowing the lawn for hopefully the last time of the season. He had to blow it clear of all the leaves before he mowed and before the rain starts tonight to make the leaves a soggy mess.
I unloaded the van and put things away then got out cords for all my Halloween outside lights.

D-in-love took g-son and met some friends in Chimney Rock to trick or treat the stores tonight. He dressed as Darth Vader.

Re made EL the cutest airplane costume and BB of course was the pilot !!

Just as I finished the evening chores a light rain sprinkle started falling to dampen everyone's Halloween spirit.
We didn't have any trick or treaters venture this far off the road as usual but I enjoyed putting out the lights and at least both son's came by and saw them anyway !!   #1 son to borrow a suit jacket from hubbie for a funeral he is in tomorrow and #2 son to do some work on the internet. He and his girl friend Tiffany who also works for the post office both have next week off so they decided to go spend the week in sunny Florida. He was searching for a place to stay for a week about mid way down on the gulf side. After a couple hours of internet searching and phone calls we had no luck find a place for the entire week that was directly on the beach. We will try again tomorrow.
The funeral #1 son is in is d-in-love's maternal grandfather in Tennessee. He passed away Thursday. He's been sick for a very long time.

As I look back over this month it is hard to remember much that has went on as the month seems to have passed like a flash in the night. The month had a dramatic beginning with 1000 year rainfall amounts in many areas to our south and devastating flooding. Fortunately we only had minor flooding. Starting out rainy and ending rainy left this the wettest October in the last 20 years with double the amount of  normal rainfall for the month.
We made our Fall flea market trip to Pickens and I kept busy going to volleyball games daughter coached and even a class reunion.  I also canned some late garden vegetables along with apples.
We had our first freeze on the 19th of the month this year.  As d-in-love went back to work after having g-daughter my baby-sitting duties started the last two weeks of the month. Market was really busy this month and I am thankful for the added income.
As I look forward to a new month tonight I leave this one with a thankful heart for the love and care God has shown my family.
I pray that everyone had a safe and happy Halloween tonight !!!

And remember to set your clocks back tonight !!!!!

Good Night and God Bless.

GRATEFUL FRIDAY !!!

Early wake up call from d-in-love as she dropped g-daughter off at 7am.  G-daughter went back to sleep and I rested until it got daylight outside before doing the chores.  Next week it will already be daylight when they get here so I need to change my schedule so I can keep the animals, who don't recognize daylight savings time changes, on their same schedule.
She was insistent on helping with her first bottle !!!  "Just one more minute,Neena" !!!

After she went down for another morning nap I finished my morning activities including a walking video and then got things set up to begin baking after g-daughter's lunch feeding.
She is such a happy baby today.

While she watched I baked 12 caramel, 7 pound, 2 blackberry wine and 1 pumpkin. I had to stop and give g-daughter a bottle at 2:00 then continued baking until almost 4:00 before I turned the ovens off today.
As she sat in this little vibrating seat and happily watched my kitchen activities it brought the last 9 years back in a rush of memories of this exact same scenario with g-son. Here are some comparison pics with g-son in the green seat from October 2006 at 2 weeks old and g-daughter in the blue seat today at 7 weeks old.

As I looked at these pics I am humbled with thankfulness that God has blessed me with these two kids and even more  humbled just thinking that I am blessed to be doing the same things I did 9 years ago !!!
I am a blessed person and I stay in humble disbelief that my  God loves me this much !!!

After chores #2 son came  by to check all the fluids in his old truck and found things were okay so he is advertising it for sale. It is a good looking truck.

I spent the evening icing cakes and getting things ready for market.
It has been a nice day today with sunshine and mid 60's temps but rain is coming tomorrow night for a couple days keeping things moist.
More and more grateful everyday to a loving, living Lord.
Good Night and God Bless.

GOOD MARKET DAY AND UNDATED PICS FOR OCTOBER

Market was surprisingly busy today. I almost sold out of everything except caramel cakes before the day was over. The weather is still dreary but no rain has fallen out of all the clouds, at least not yet !!
I had time to work on my next blog book a little while at market. It is nice to have it on my laptop so I can work at different times.
After market I ran the regular errands and made stops at Sav Mor , Aldi and Walmart to pick up groceries and baking supplies. I also picked up a grilled chicken salad at Chic-fi-la on the way home to have for an early supper.
I made it home at 4:00 and had everything unloaded and ate my salad before hubbie got here from work.
#2 son came by for a visit and to look some things up on the internet.
I did chores after he left just as #1 son came up to his and hubbie's shop to work on #2 son's old truck that he bought. He replaced the part that was broken and then he and hubbie took the truck back to #2 son's house. I think he is going to try to sell it and get a newer truck.
There was a beautiful sunset tonight as the clouds were finally clearing the sky.

 A little later the reds moved in !!!

G-son had a science fair at his school tonight. He looks like "Sid the science guy" in these glasses.

He's with two of his buddies,Zach and Nicholas. They won a candy prize tonight.

And here he is with Zach and both their baby sisters , who just happened to have on the exact same outfit tonight.  Cute, Cute !!!

Looks like they all had a great time !!
To finish up the October decade pics I need to get the undated ones on here. My mom's older sister named Carol lived in Michigan most of her married life. This is her home there.

My mom's youngest sister Mary was visiting here.

Here is aunt Carol and aunt Mary.

And aunt Carol with husband Bob Warner.

Aunt Carol with her first born, daughter, Veronica.

Some of mom's family.  This is the picture hubbie said looks like it was from the movie Deliverance !

I can't believe there is only 2 more days in October and another month of this year will be history. Time is zipping by and some days when it's time for bed it seems I just got up !!!!
I always try to remember to thank God for the blessings of each day no matter how fast time seems to go by.  Each day I try to remember just how blessed I truly am !!!

Good Night and God Bless

OVEN REPAIR STILL A PUZZLE

A great way to start the day, feeding this little angel her breakfast.

 Well really it was more on the time of brunch because after her mom brought her at 7:00 on her way to work she went back to sleep and didn't wake up until almost 10:00.
That gave me time to get all my regular morning things done and then relax and feed her.
After she ate she sat in her swing and watched me do my walking video. She thought that was really something to watch me walking around the room in front of her.
After she went back to sleep I baked cakes. I only had 2 pound cakes, 2 chocolate and 1 blackberry wine cake to bake today and the oven repair man who is coming today said he would be here between 1 and 3 this afternoon so that all timed out well for a change.
G-daughter woke up to have her lunch just before I had mine. She is such a happy baby !!!!

She went back down for another nap while the oven repair man was here. This is the same man that came last time and said he had never seen an oven like mine and had never worked on one before.
The lady that postponed the appointment last time told me a out and out lie about why she was postponing it. She said I needed a senior repairman and there would be one available on this date not on the date scheduled a couple weeks ago.  So when "Danny" showed back up and reasserted he was not a senior repairman I knew she had lied.
Anyway I told him it would do no good to install the parts that came in the mail as now the upper oven was once again doing the same thing as it did before they were both worked on and the same parts were put in both. After I told him about the first man calling someone who evidently knew something about these ovens he also made a phone call. This time with the breaker thrown he was instructed to check the heat probes and one of them was reading a crazy reading so now they are ordering new probes and will come back Nov. 10 and put them on.  At least there is still no charge for all this and if they keep replacing parts they are bound to hit on the correct one sooner or later and if it's later I'll have virtually a new oven when that happens.  He also told me again not to expect any new appliance to last more than 5 to 7 years before it started giving trouble, oh boy!!!, my oven is 5 years old !!!
After he left I fed little missy again and then played with her for awhile, well as much as you can play with a 7 week old !!!!
I think she likes her Pawpaw !!!!!

D-in-love came after her at 4:00 and she was glad to see her mom after having a bit of a tummy ache later this afternoon.
Hubbie rested when he got home, he is either having sinus pain or tooth pain under one of his eyes and it is making him not feel well at all. We are hoping it is just his sinus acting up with the change in the weather.
I was busy putting things back into place after the repairman and wrapping the cakes I baked this morning.
After chores and supper I worked in my office on weekly paperwork and paid bills. Most month end bills are a juggle and this month is no different.
I finally got everything finished about 8:30 and got to watch the end of Survivor while I iced the 2 chocolate layer cakes.
Today started out rainy but this evening it was nice and the temps got in the mid 60's for a warmer day. I emptied another 1 & 3/10ths inches of rain from the gauge this evening.
Grateful for the blessing of g-daughter as I looked at her today and thought what a little miracle these babies are and how perfectly they are shaped and molded by the loving hands of our Heavenly Father.
Good Night and God Bless

RAINY DAY ACTIVITIES

Rain pounding on the metal roof woke me this morning. As I dawned my rain gear to head out to do the chores I slipped and sloshed through a muddy waterlogged yard . The hens didn't even come out of their nice warm dry houses. The dogs came out of their lots and headed straight for the covered front porch to lounge for the day.
After I had breakfast I did an indoors exercise tape trying to get back into the habit of some exercise time each day. This will be easier when g-daughter starts getting here on a regular schedule starting tomorrow morning as I will be starting my day an hour earlier.
I turned the crock pot full of apples into some nice spiced sugar free apple sauce.

I did housework until it was time to go pick up g-son from school. His mom had a dr's appointment today.
Just as I started out to school the rains picked up and it poured.

 The umbrella  carrying principle as she calls out names to line up for pick-up. Everyone has a card that goes on your rear view mirror with the name of the child you are picking up on it for her to see.

When we got home I got g-son some Ramon noodles, bacon and cookies ready for his after school snack.
Soon Re brought EL and BB by to stay while she went to a meeting at the hospital. These three get along very well.

Wonder what this conversation is about ????

Mom soon came after g-son and then dad came after EL and BB leaving hubbie and I to again slosh through evening chores in a pouring rain. I emptied 1 & 1/2 inches from the gauge tonight.
Daughter's team's volleyball season came to an end tonight as they lost to AC Reynolds HS in Asheville. They have had a great season. This is a pic tonight of pre-game warm-ups.

I saw this pumpkin carving online today and wondered how anyone would have enough time and patience  to carve a pumpkin into a castle. Wow !!!!

Hubbie watched TV tonight while I blogged then we both headed for an early bedtime as he doesn't feel great and I have to get up an hour earlier in the morning to greet this little precious gobblin who turned 7 weeks old today !!!

It's been a raw day outside with temps in the upper 40's and wind and rain making it very uncomfortable.
Thanking God for the blessings of this day and still praying for the families involved in the shooting death of the little girl yesterday.
Good Night and God Bless

RAINY MONDAY

Well the weather people were right on as this morning it is drizzling and much cooler.  Re called and said she was just going to keep the kids home this morning as she had seen her mom and sisters who have been visiting for the week end off and it was already 10am.
Hubbie and I went to Tractor Supply for chicken feed and bird seed early as I didn't have any corn to feed them this morning and they were following me around like little starved puppies even though I filled their laying crumble feeders to the brim.
It is a nasty dreary day and looks like it is apt to stay that way so I started inside work when we got back. Hubbie can't stay inside so he went to stack some fire wood in the shed.
I did 4 loads of laundry and went through some of the baby clothes d-in-love passed this way for me to use with g-daughter and washed them.
I also worked in my office going through some things that have landed in there when I didn't have time to put them in their proper places. I always find things I had forgotten when I do this so there is always a surprise.
At chore time we only had 2/10ths inch of rain in the gauge but the hard rains are suppose to start tonight.
What better way to spend a rainy evening than heating up the kitchen and filling it with the aroma of caramel apple jam !!!
I have some of the Hoover apples left and have had intentions of making this new recipe for a couple weeks now.
It smelled wonderful while cooking.

This looks exactly like the recipe photograph even thought they probably used light brown sugar and I used dark brown sugar, the recipe didn't specify. Anyway it does taste as good as it looks !!!!

I told hubbie we were going to have to eat a lot biscuits this winter to use all this jelly I made. I sliced the remaining apples and filled a crock pot to cook overnight for yummy applesauce.
Back in October 2005 #1 son was hard at work on his land clearing and getting his septic put in with the help of friends Bob and Chad.

As this wet cold day comes to an end I see alot of "blue" showing up already around the country so we are fortunate to just be getting rain.

I'll end with this photo d-in-love sent me of the grands tonight !!!  I thank God every day for the chance to be a part of these two little lives and love watching them grow up.

Also praying tonight for the families involved in a tragic accident this morning when a 2 year old little girl was shot and killed when a 20 gauge shot gun was discharged in the home of her babysitter.
The husband and owner of the gun worked with my #1 son for several years. May God comfort all involved.
Good Night and God Bless.