LEAP YEAR MONDAY ENDS THE MONTH

 An extra day in this month payed off for me as I finally got my February goals met when I finished and filed daughter's taxes today. With all our taxes complete I can move on to March goals, finishing my next blog book, catch up my photo downloads, get more photo prints in albums and get my craft inventory at market back in the black with extras.
G-daughter arrived at 7am and spent a fussy morning not taking any nap time. Hubbie played with her while I got the chores done and had breakfast. I took her over for awhile while he went to get the paper and did some work outside.We think she is trying to cut some teeth on the bottom.
We switched off again in late morning so I could get some bonnets of all sizes cut out for my sewing time this week.
After an early lunch she finally gave in and went into a deep slumber for the afternoon. Hubbie went to work on some more of daughter's wood projects for her wedding and I did 3 loads of laundry and watered all my house plants upstairs and down stairs.
I took a hot tea break out in the sunroom as hubbie came in after finishing his projects.
G-daughter woke up in a much better mood and we all three sat outside on the front porch in the sunny 68 degree afternoon. The sun felt so good I would have loved to have taken a nap out there.
D-in-love came after g-daughter late today after going grocery shopping and then picking g-son up from his play practice at school after 5:00.
We did chores and had supper then watched a UNC / Syracuse basketball game which UNC won.
The weather today has been really nice but it is coming to a quick end with the naming of the "Q" storm today as it moves our way.

As this month ends with an extra day the memories of February 2016 are sweet.  February started out with my yearly mammogram appointment on the first day. This year it was clear with no call back so we celebrated by going shopping. G-daughter is spending 5 days a week with me this month as other g-ma deals with other g-father's leg amputation.

On the second day the ground hog did not see his shadow on a cloudy rainy day. Spring right around the corner ??????
As if right on cue the next day we had a major flood. The water was the highest its been since they built the new road.

I made the decision to give up my 2 extra market tables that belong to a neighbor that I have been paying the rent on for several years as my income from market sales continues to slid downward.
I moved all my crafts to daughter's 2 tables which she only uses when blackberries are in season.

We celebrated a wonderful Valentines Sunday as I taught g-son to play "jacks".

On the 15th we had a major ice storm but thankfully we were some of the lucky few who kept electric.

Basketball season ended at the end of the regular season for daughter's team after years of making the play-offs they fell short this season.
But basketball just got heated up for the family with g-son playing in his first season of rec ball as a 3rd grader. Every Saturday all the family that could get there watched his ballgames. He did pretty good for his first year.

It has been a pretty calm month for the rest of the family with no big news or changes so that is always a good thing.

The big news of the month was our pastor announcing his plans to take another job with the NC Baptist Association later in the spring.

All in all it has been a good month and I have spent many hours with this precious little girl who is growing up way to fast for me.

Thanking God for the grace He has shown all members of my family this past month and asking for His guidance as the new month begins.
God Bless and Good Night.

BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY

A different Sunday morning with hubbie not going in early to teach Sunday school class. Since daughter was going to be gone for maybe three Sunday's in a row she got a friend to take the class today.
We got lunch well underway before we left.
It is a really nice sunny quickly warming mid 40's morning as we headed out to church at 10:30.
Church was good from 1 John 1:5-10.
Lunch was pork loin from the crock pot, mashed potatoes, green beans,corn,glazed carrots in the pressure pot and biscuits.  #1 son's family and Aa and the kids were our guest today.
After everyone left to go home and get naps hubbie and I relaxed on this beautiful mid 60's afternoon.
He watched a race on TV but I had to get out and feel the warm sunshine on my face for a while so I sat out on the front porch and dreamed of warm spring weather !!!

After g-daughter got her nap they all came up for some sunny day games. G-daughter was getting her first lengthy outside time and she was loving riding on mom's back.

Flash and Annie thought she smelled pretty good also as they checked out the next toddler they would need to protect.

A rousing game of "H-O-R-S-E" got a little physical,  haha, it always does for us !!!!

G-daughter looks like she is going to be an animal lover. She wanted to get hold of Cayenne the horse so badly.

I have no idea what is going on in this pic between pawpaw and g-son. There was no target practice today !!!

A g-daughter selfie haha !!!!!!!

We played outside until chore time and everyone went home.
Hubbie and I experimented some tonight with different free TV ideas. We are canceling our Direct TV because they raised the price again making it right at $100 a month. It is definitely not worth that much to us as we don't even watch that much TV.
If anyone would like to share their ideas about this subject I would very much appreciate all the info.
Thanks in advance.
Normally this would be the recap post at the end of February but this is a leap year so we have one more day before we bid farewell to this years February.
This has been a wonderful Sunday filled with family and a merciful, wonderful Savior.
God Bless and Good Night

DECENT SALES DAY AT MARKET

Thicker ice on the water pans this morning as winter is not letting go just yet.
Hubbie and I made it to market on time and found a customer waiting for a nice start to a pretty good sales day.
We got the manaquin hubbie made dressed with a new bonnet and apron set I made this week. Now I need a smaller one to display my smaller aprons and bonnets on to stand beside this one !!

 This new display is sure upping my bonnet sales as I sold two today and now need to cut out some more of each size and get them made !!

I had a decent sales day even with the cooler than expected day the weather wizards forecast. At least it was sunny.
Hubbie left soon after we got set up to go to g-son's basketball game at 10am. His team lost badly again today. Hubbie said there was no sign of the team that scored 26 points last week ?????
G-son is on the foul lane closest to the goal facing the camera in this pic d-in-love sent me.

Daughter got to go to this game and g-daughter was glad to see her aunt T.

Daughter came to market after the game and spent the day with me until after lunch.
I left market and stopped by Aldi to pick up another of the little microwave pots I got Thursday as I love these to cook eggs and oatmeal in for breakfast.
I also stopped in Belks for their 85% off sale. I found several things and got very good deals only spending about $40 for over $200 worth.
I ran into several old friends in there and spent a lot of time visiting as well as shopping.
I made it home at 4:30 just in time to get unloaded and get into a pick-up basketball game with g-son , #1 son and hubbie !!!  I think I will have some sore muscles tomorrow, haha , but it was fun !!
After chores and supper hubbie and I watched a UNC / Virginia basketball game which Virginia won. I usually pull for UNC but I also like Virginia as I love the clean respectful way they play the game so I wasn't disappointed either way today.
We vacuumed the floors and then spent the rest of the evening relaxing.
Thanking God for a blessing filled day and for the love He gives me each day.
God Bless and Good Night.

TGIF AND UNDATED OLD PICS FOR THE MONTH

Hubbie took another  day off work to rest his aching back more so he was up early to help with g-daughter when she arrived at 7am.
She went back to sleep today at least for an hour !!  As she gets older she doesn't need those long naps . She plays happily in her playthings.
After chores and breakfast hubbie played with her while I baked cakes. I baked 3 caramel, 1 chocolate, 1 coconut, 1 pound and a butter almond cake that I cut into small squares to sell .
We tried one of the squares and it was really good.
After we all had lunch and g-daughter went down for her afternoon nap hubbie went outside to prune the muscadine grapes and other bushes in the cool mid 40's but sunny day.
While g-daughter slept I sewed my 1 item for today. I haven't made any of these jean aprons in quiet awhile but this was next on my cut out pile. I wasn't real happy with how it turned out but it is cute. I have to go downstairs to my industrial sewing machine to sew through this denim material.

I am going to have hubbie make me another smaller manaquin to display more aprons like these on.
When g-daughter woke up at 2:30 I fed her and then we played until mom came to pick her up at 4:00.
Just after they left daughter came by for a visit. She brought her baked goods by and had coffee and a nice visit before heading home.
Unfortunately Josh's grandfather has been moved into Hospice care today after suffering a very debilitating stroke. He has been sick for a very long time from an earlier stroke.  We are  praying for his family as they go through this difficult time.
After chores and supper I iced all my cakes and then determined to get our taxes finished and sent off worked on that until I got a headache tonight but they are done !!!  A nice refund from both made my headache feel much better !!
I was late blogging tonight but I need to finish the decade picture series for February with the undated old pics.
This is my uncle Anderson Holmes holding one of my first cousin's Don Cox.

And in this photo at a different time and location is my aunt Mary Ruff holding Don Cox.

This is my uncle Anderson Holmes who lost his arm in WW11  relaxing.

This is my uncle Anderson and aunt Hattie (mom's sister) Holmes's house out off 64 highway before you got to town. There is an ABC store now about where the house was located.

I remember spending a lot of time in this house with my aunts who loved me very much. My uncle died before I was born.  My aunt Mary moved into this house with my aunt Hattie .
I am ready for a nice long restful night tonight as my head clears of all the figures and questions from the tax work of the evening. Daughter's is the only tax form that isn't finished and hopefully Monday I can get it done bringing February "tax month" to a successful end.
Thanking God for a wonderful blessing filled day and asking for His comfort for Josh's mother and the entire family.
God Bless and Good Night

ERRAND DAY THURSDAY

Well g-daughter arrived early this morning with a totally different plan for today than usual. She was wide awake and had no interest in going back to sleep as she has always done. I put her in her little saucer and she played happily until 8:30 when she got hungry.
As I watched her I couldn't help but think how short the time will be until she is walking around and then in school and then, well I really didn't want to go that far !!!!  It is hard to believe she is already almost 6 months old !!!
I did the chores and got all the routine morning things done .
The sun seems to be winning the battle with the clouds on this cool 30 degree morning.

 I even got my one sewn item done with her watching the churning needle of the sewing machine closely from her little bouncy seat on the floor beside the machine. Another "full" apron to add to my inventory.

Hubbie called and said he was coming home to rest his back which has been hurting all week.  He stopped for a haircut on the way while g-daughter waited on her 11:30 bottle before we went into town to run the weekly errands. He wanted to go along and I welcomed the help carrying g-daughter around. (probably not the best thing for his hurting back !!)
Here in Aldi she is watching the price check out of each of our items really closely !!! She's learning young not to trust those machines !!!

We only had to go to Aldi and Walmart today and she was a really good girl in both as usual. I ran into Staples to get printer ink and she got a little antsy sitting in the car with hubbie but was happy as soon as we started moving again.
We got home for a late lunch for all three of us then she conked out for an afternoon nap while I worked on our taxes.  Whew my mind is a boggle of figures after a couple hours.
When d-in-love picked up g-daughter hubbie and I went to feed cattle. These two little guys wanted to help but they wanted to do it from the seat of a tractor and four-wheeler, typical kid farm help !!!

The snow was blowing around all evening and the wind is still pretty high making the mid 30's temps feel really cold.

After chores hubbie and I had supper.

 This is a radar image of the snow all around tonight.

When I let the dogs out tonight for their  bathroom break  the snow was collecting on the Honda top and all the bushes but none was sticking to the ground yet here. Who knows what we will wake up to in the morning !!
 Tonight  I looked up some more tax data for our return but decided I had too many numbers still floating around in my head to get back into the forms tonight.
Calling it a day and heading for bed listening to the wind whipping outside it will feel good to snuggled down under the warm covers.
Thankful for the blessings of this day and praying hubbie's back gets better quickly.
God Bless and Good Night

STORMY DAY

After a pretty sleepless night I was glad to see daylight come this morning to look out and see how much damage there was from the extremely high winds and thunder and lightening that brought the pouring rain that kept me awake.
I took these pictures right after d-in-love left g-daughter at 7 this morning . Not near as much water as I expected !!!

 I moved g-daughter's swing back into the hall outside my bedroom door in case one of the big Oak trees blew over on the other end of the house. Thankfully that didn't happen and unbelievably we kept our power when all around us trees were blowing down and power poles were just breaking off with the high winds. Got this pic from the local TV station, g-daughter and I spent the day safe inside today.

 When I turned the weather on TV I saw a scary scenario shaping up for today as the winds were continuing to get stronger and the thunder storms kept rolling through our area with very heavy downpours of rain and tornado warnings were close to us.

  I got my sewing in this morning and made one full apron. By posting pics on here of my sewing projects it helps keep me in check and encourages me to get at least one item finish per day.

G-daughter evidently didn't like the new location of her swing and only cat napped this morning instead of her usual hours long morning sleep.
We had an early lunch and she is getting to the point of wanting to do things herself, like grabbing the spoon with a death grip that I have to pry loose finger by finger. She thinks it is very funny to get her carrots and cereal all over everything !!

She did take a pretty good afternoon nap while I worked some on hubbie's and my taxes. Seems I always run into a figure that I have to find so I didn't get very far today before I needed the mileage from hubbie's truck and he wasn't in it so I had to wait until he got home.
After d-in-love picked g-daughter up and headed home I got a quick nap before hubbie got in from work. I felt like I could have slept right through the evening and woke up tomorrow morning I was so tired. But no time for that much sleep !!!
I did chores and the wind was still scarily strong but we saw only a few limbs blown around the yard and all the chairs in the outside patio blown over so far .
The temperature is dropping like a rock this evening, from the low 60's of earlier today into the 40's by chore time.  There was another 1 & 3/10ths inch of rain in the gauge , bringing the total from this storm to close to 3 inches.
This is a picture from the high school looking toward our house this evening of a beautiful rainbow that ended the day.

I did weekly paperwork and then hubbie and I watched a basketball game between UNC / NC State which UNC won before calling it an early evening.
I am looking forward to a good quiet night hopefully .
God is so good and I thank Him so much for the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night.



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

RAINY DAY AND 2006 MEMORY

After getting g-daughter settled into her swing to continue her morning sleep I went back to sleep again for a little while to sleep off another dose of Nyquil from last night. I hate taking this stuff but I need to sleep to help get over this cold .
At least the rain has stopped for me to get outside and get the chores done this morning. After breakfast I sewed some making this matching apron and bonnet set to go on my new manaquin hubbie made for my market display.

I also got some housework done before g-daughter woke up at 11:00 ,she is also sleeping off her head cold this week I think without the help of Nyquil !!!
After we both had lunch and got in some play time she got sleepy again.
During this afternoon nap I worked on daughter's taxes.
I will be glad when all this tax work is completed so I can get some other things done like finishing a blog book and continuing my photo projects.
D-in-love picked up g-daughter at 4:00 and I rested until hubbie came home from work about 45 minutes later.
We did chores early to beat the rain that is headed out way from the winter storm , Petros, that was named today.

This storm has already caused multiple tornadoes in the south as well as snow blizzard conditions in the north. Our area is under a flood and wind watch for the next couple days. I already poured 1& 1/2 inches of rain from the gauge this evening.
Even in the cold rain EL and BB both had to sit on Pawpaw's tractor this evening after he put out hay for the cattle.

Everywhere you look there is ankle deep mud today and I think it is going to get much worse before it gets better.

Thankfully in February of 2006 it wasn't rainy and muddy as #1 son's house arrived and he was doing the finish grading around it.

I was at work when they pulled it up the steep driveway and didn't get to take any pictures of that .
Hopefully this storm won't be so bad for us and I send out prayers for all those who have already been affected by "Petros" and for all those in his path in the coming days.
Thankful for the blessings of this day. Always remember a day hemmed in prayer is a lot less likely to unravel !!
God Bless and Good Night