GOOD BYE MARCH 2016

Wow I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow last night I was so tired. It felt good to get to sleep in at least a little this morning before the dogs wanted out to greet the day. Well that's not exactly what they wanted out to do but we'll call it that !!!
After chores on a misty rainy cloudy morning I had a leisurely breakfast. The forecast was that the rain start this evening but I guess Mother Nature had other ideas !!
I went in my office to catch up the weekly paperwork and pay bills. While I was into the paperwork I realized this is the last day of March so I did monthly paperwork as well. March at market was a slow month but at least it is steadily getting better each month.
Re called and said EL now has the stomach flu bug that BB has been dealing with and she was very sick. Bless her heart that is not an ideal way to spend her birthday !!
This little beauty turns 3 years old today and we will celebrate at a later date when the flu bug has made an exit. HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  EL !!!

After an early lunch I headed into town to run the weekly errands and pick up some groceries.
I met daughter at Tractor Supply where I was picking up chick starter for the first chick hatch of the season which hopefully is coming this week end.
We then went to Sam's Club to upgrade my cell phone. I got an I-phone 6s which is quite an upgrade from my old I-phone 4. I choose the rose gold color !!

Unbeleiveably this took over an hour !!!
After we left there daughter and I went to a check out a high end consignment shop in Fletcher but didn't find any thing we wanted.
Back home she dropped off some things from her closet cleaning of earlier today.
After she left hubbie and I did chores early to try to get between the heaviest rain showers. There is 3/10ths inch of rain in the gauge from the on and off rain that has been the norm all afternoon.
We are pretty fortunate here to only get rain from this storm system as our southerly neighbors are watching March go out like a lion with strong storms,tornadoes and flooding.
In places they are welcoming the rain because the first drought monitor of the year shows that there is some dry places already.

Worked on getting my new phone updated tonight as well as caught up on my blog book reading. I received my 15 th volume of my blog book in the mail today and am so sad to not be able to use this publishing site anymore. These books are so nice.
As we bid March 2016 good bye it has been a pretty good month with some really nice warm weather that brought out the spring colors a bit early. After some snow showers on the 3rd the temperatures have been mostly above average for the month.
Josh took daughter on her first cruise to celebrate the end of her coaching for this season and they had a wonderful time. She has been busy with wedding plans as well as doing some spring cleaning.
Day light savings time began on the 13th and didn't bother me as much as usual thankfully as g-daughter arrives each morning at 7am. I also helped Re out by watching EL and BB on several Mondays after she worked all night. I made time each day for some sewing to try and catch my craft inventory at market up. We celebrated 4 birthdays this month as #1 son turned 33 on the 1st, Re turned 30 on the 25th, daughter got a year older on the 26th to reach 31 and little EL turned 3 on the 31st to cap off a birthday month for the family !! We had a very nice Easter celebration with the kids excitedly searching for goodie filled Easter eggs. We ended the activity of the month on spring break week with shopping trips and a Pickens flea market trip. God has been good to the family this month and we are looking forward to what His plans are for us next month.
Thanking God for the blessings of this day and for His protective arms always.
God Bless and Good Night

PICKENS FLEA MARKET DAY

A very early alarm this morning jarred me out of the short sleep that I got when my head stopped up and my throat started hurting after I went to bed last night. I probably didn't go to sleep until close to 2am and the wake up call sounded at 6am this morning. This is our spring trip to the Picken's Flea market and since daughter is looking for several things for her wedding we were on our way early.
After early chores with the chickens and dogs looking at us like we had 2 heads at this time of morning hubbie and I were on our way to pick up daughter and g-son (who spent the night with his aunt T).
We were on our way to Pickens by 7:15 as the sun rose over this cool 37 degree morning.
The flea market was getting really crowded when we got there but there were lots of sellers today.
We made our way around trying to scan over as many tables as we could.  It was a cold start this morning even this far south our coats and hoods felt good for  awhile.

G-son loves to bargain hunt and warmed up fast to all the things on the tables that looked interesting to him.

D-in-love and Re and all the kids made it down to the market a couple hours later and they quickly found bargains and began loading their vehicles.
This was g-daughter's first flea market trip and she enjoyed it very much.

 Daughter found several of the things she went looking for and we were loaded down with old buckets, mirrors, cups , a rocking chair and lots of other goodies.

G-son found lots to do while we shopped !!

We headed back to the cars about noon as all the sellers started packing up their goods and getting out of the sun and dust.

This is the back of just our SUV and both girls had thier's packed full also for a successful flea market trip.

We stopped at Arby's where we always eat lunch and then met d-in-love up the road and she followed us over to Columbus, NC where hubbie and daughter had teeth cleaning appointments with their dentist starting at 3:00.
While they were in the dentist office d-in-love and I and the kids went thrift store shopping then stopped at this old school play ground to let g-son play with some of his flea market purchases.

He is flying a helicopter in this pic in front of the old school. Look at that beautiful blue sky !!

There was a slide and monkey bars on the playground.

G-daughter just enjoyed the warm sunshine and being outside !!!

This was a beautiful place.

Hubbie and daughter came to find us after they were finished and we headed home. We dropped daughter off and unloaded all her goodies.
When we got home the dogs were very glad to see us and get their supper. We unloaded the few things we bought and then did the chores.
Supper was a protein bar and hot tea tonight.
As I look at the news and weather it is clearly spring time. With tornado warnings , flood warnings and thunderstorm forecast I am thankful for today's sunshine because it looks like tomorrow might be a different story.

I am very tired and sore tonight with my last two days of walking and shopping quickly catching up with me I am looking forward to that heating pad and bed tonight for sure !!!
Thanking God once again for safe travel today for all the family and for all the other blessings along the way that I always silently say thankful prayers for as I go.
God Bless and Good Night.


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"CATCH UP" DAY TWO NOT SO SUCCESSFUL BUT LOTS OF FUN

Up and out to begin day 2 of spring break catch up week !! After chores and breakfast daughter came over and we picked up g-son who was bored sitting at home with his sick mom and headed out to Sam's Club for me to get a new phone. When we arrived there was no one at the cell phone desk and when I asked for help they said no one would be there until after 2:00 today, booo !!!

We left there and went to Walmart to pick  up a few things and let g-son spend some money that was burning a hole in his wallet.
We came home, dropped g-son off at his house to pack a suitcase while daughter took Josh some arch supports she had picked up for him this morning and I ate lunch at home. G-son was at my door in less than 20 minutes with his suitcase packed to spend the night with his aunt T .
I fixed him some lunch then we played outside with the air frisby he bought until daughter got back. We all went to the Asheville mall to shop for wedding day and rehearsal dinner dresses for daughter and I.
We shopped at Belks, Dillards, JC Pennys , Sears and some smaller shops along the way. We mixed our shopping time in with some things g-son wanted to do and it worked out perfectly as he was a really good boy all day. Loved the escalators !!!

He wanted to do the trampoline jump and that smile was worth the time it took to do this !!!

 He worked up a good appetite for sure !!!

 It was almost 7:30 when we left the Asheville mall. I headed home and daughter and g-son went to watch Josh play a volleyball game in another part of Asheville.
In the dress shopping I did find a very nice comfortable dress to wear to the rehearsal dinner but no luck with a dress like I want to wear on the wedding day.  Daughter had no luck finding what she wanted to wear to the rehearsal so not a very productive day but a very very fun one to get a chance to enjoy g-son all by himself which he said he really enjoyed.
We left little sister home to take care of her sick mommy  as she turned 29 weeks old today. Thankfully d-in-love is feeling much better tonight.

 Grateful to God tonight for the safe travel of this day and for all the wonderful blessings he sent my way.
God Bless and Good Night.

CATCH UP WEEK MONDAY

Up early to get ready for this "spring break" week, at least it is that for all the school kids and employees but for me it should be called "catch up" week !!!
There are several things I have been putting off that I need to take care of this week.
Today is a regular Monday since hubbie is off and I need to get laundry and some clean up work done.
Re worked last night so EL and BB are coming to spend the day with us also.
I was outside doing chores when she brought the kids this morning.
They settled in for breakfast and a morning of fun. I got laundry started and then we went outside to enjoy this beautiful clear day.

It is already in the low 60's this morning but there is a breeze that is making it feel a little cool.
The kids begged to go outside so about 11:00 we thought it was warm enough for that.
They enjoyed swinging.....

Sliding........

And just being outside on a beautiful day. This Pear tree is "snowing" blossom petals !!!

EL brought tears to my eyes in this picture as she waved off my help climbing the ladder and said "in 10 minutes I'll be all grown up"  !!!!   She doesn't realize just how true that statement is !!!!!

After over an hour of hard playing we headed inside for lunch of left overs before naptime.
I can't get lunch fixed fast enough for this little "moo moo" !!!

They both took good naps this afternoon while I took Dolly to the groomer and finished weekly laundry. Hubbie cleaned the smoker and went to daughters to pick up the discarded things from her spring garage cleaning project !
 Daughter came over this afternoon to play with the kids a few minutes. They enjoy her sooooo much.

After Re picked the kids up sis-in-law Sandy came over and the three of us went up to Grand Highlands to map out a plan for the wedding reception.
We have a good plan for the placement of things now .
This is the new wedding site since the original chosen site has tennis courts on it now.

Inside the huge building for the reception.

After we left there we stopped by my cousin Sharon's house to see all the things she has to loan out for the wedding and ask her to direct the wedding, which she was very happy to do .
Two things marked off this week's "catch up" list !!
When we got home hubbie was already gone to his weekly Deacon's meeting so I did chores and then had a protein bar supper with a cup of hot green tea.
D-in-love took the grandkids to a scheduled photo session this morning and the pictures turned out really great.

These are some great looking kids , even if they are my grands !!!

Unfortunately after the photo session d-in-love went to the doctor thinking she had a sinus infection and tested positive for the flu, booo!!!!  Not a good way to spend spring break week for sure !!!
To start the week off we also have the "T" winter storm brewing in the west as Toro heads across the country expected to bring cooler temps and rain to our area by weeks end.

I am tired tonight but after a day of being careful not to strain my sciatic nerve my back isn't hurting tonight for the first night in several so for that I am thankful.
God is so good and always ready to bless us in any way He can if we only love Him enough to faithfully ask !
God Bless and Good Night

HAPPY EASTER HE IS RISEN !!!

A soggy Easter morning dampened all the sunrise services today, even the top of Chimney Rock was shrouded in fog with no chance of a beautiful Easter sunrise this year.

 But no rain or fog or anything else can dampen my joy today because my precious Savior rose from His grave on this day in history to reside beside the Father on His throne in Heaven forever and ever.

With my sciatic nerve still very painful and hubbie's back hurting once again we decided to fore go our church service this morning and watch a TV service from our heating pads !!!
After a nice lengthy morning in bed we crawled out and got our day started. Hubbie had gotten up very early to get the smoker started for our Easter ham and a couple butts to be frozen for later before he came back to bed.
After chores we got the other foods started. A neighbor at market gave me a small bunch of flowers she had left yesterday and they made a nice addition to my Easter table. Thanks Mary Jones !

We had potato salad, corn, baked beans, green beans,slaw,sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs,biscuits and Re brought baked asparagus and a lemon cake with strawberries and cream for dessert.

 It was all very good. #1 son's family, Aa's family, Daughter and Josh joined hubbie and I for our Easter lunch.
The kids got Easter baskets of candy from hubbie and I.

It was hard for them to eat lunch with the big tub of stuffed Easter eggs waiting to be hidden when they were finished. Thankfully the rain ended earlier after leaving only 2/10ths inch in the gauge so the grass was only wet and there was no mud so we could hide and hunt outside.
Daughter, Josh, Aa and #1 son did the hiding and the kids couldn't wait to get at the hunting !!

This one was being carried last year but dove right into the fun this year !!

 Egg hunting is serious business for these two !!!

 And here is g-daughter the one being carried this year !!!   I can hear her now saying "just wait till next year" !!!

Now for the surprises inside !!!

It was a very very fun Easter for these guys and that made it fun for all watching the smiling faces as they compared and traded and got along so well on this thankful day.
EL and BB went home for naps and g-son begged me to go outside and play with the new rackets and foam ball he got for Easter from me. So with my back eased off a bit we played in the yard. This smile and hearing him laughing and having fun takes all the pain away !!

While we played g-daughter, d-in-love and #1 son took naps inside and hubbie put all the food away and then helped Aa band and tag a new calf that was born this morning.
After everyone went home hubbie and I took the 2 butts out of the smoker and put them in the freezer.
We did chores just before the rain started again. It isn't a heavy rain and we need more but only received another 1/10th this evening. Maybe it will dampen the pollen some anyway.
Tonight was a relaxing evening of more March madness basketball games to see who made it to the final four. UNC beat Notre Dame to make it in and Syracuse (another ACC team) beat Virginia to make it in with Villanova and Oklahoma who won their games last night.
I am getting in bed late again tonight and need to get back on my early bedtime schedule even if it is spring break week.
Tonight my heart is full of love for my God who gave the greatest gift ever given and then lifted His son from the grave to reign beside Him forever to save us from our sins with His grace and love.
God Bless, Good Night and Happy Easter .   HE IS RISEN !!!!!!!!!!!