MAY ENDS WITH SHOCKING GOOD NEWS

A beautiful morning after a brief rain shower late last night seems so bright and awake as I head out to get chores done. After breakfast and devotions daughter came by after her doctor appointment.
She is 80% e-faced now but nothing else yet.
I went with her to check out a herb sale place but we didn't buy anything there. We went to an Amazon return warehouse and I found several great deals. I got a double stroller for both the baby girls , a new car seat for g-daughter R , a couple new baby gates , a cushion for my double chair in the covered patio and daughter got a bottle sterilizer. We had her Equinox packed full !

We came home just in time to have lunch together then she went home and I started baking.
I baked 6 caramel, 3 chocolate, 2 pound cakes and a pan of brownies .
I started house cleaning and changing out my decorations for the month with the last cakes were in the ovens.
June this year has a yellow theme and I love how it brightens the rooms.

About the time hubbie came in from work the sky clouded over but it looked like the rain was passing to the south of us so he got on the lawn mower.
With all the rain we have had lately it is challenging to keep the lawn mowed with the fast growing grass.
I did chores then the weekly paperwork and ended this month of May 2017 icing cakes.
As another month comes to an end I look back over this month with humble appreciation for the blessings God bestowed on the family this month. From new baby chicks to new calves to kids this month held many wonderful memories of fun with the kids and watching the amazing wonder of God's new creations as new life came about everywhere.

Even in the many blooms and the garden vegetables as we got our garden planted and started enjoying the early vegetables.
I have spent numerous hours filling out paperwork this month getting ready for  hubbie's coming retirement in July. I don't know how excited he is about retiring but I am excited to have all this paperwork finished !!!
It was a rainy month and that brought some challenges of keeping the lawn mowed and fighting the weeds in the garden. We celebrated one birthday this month as son-in-love Josh turned 37 and I had a wonderful Mother's day with all the kids present except Re who has been traveling back and forth all month to Ohio to be with her nieces on weekends.
G-son ended a successful soccer season with his team being the top team in the league and he is getting ready to finish up his 4th grade year at school.

 Daughter has had an uneventful month with her pregnancy and stopped working on the 26th of the month before final testing began. She is ready as we all are to welcome the newest little sweet girl to the family.
Daughter and I attended the Garden Jubilee festival on Memorial day weekend on the hot streets of downtown and found several good deals on plants. We also celebrated Memorial day with a cookout that all the kids made it to for the first time in many months that all 8 of them were together for a visit.
And the biggest news of all arrived on the last day of the month,today, in the judge finally handing down the verdict in the custody battle for Re's nieces that has dragged on since the trial in March and he awarded full custody to Aa and Re so she headed to Ohio to pick them up.
Wow how much their family grew overnight !!!!

As we say good bye to another month we turn our eyes toward Jesus and all the goodness He represents and the firm belief that His way will prevail , we just have to open our hearts and be receptive to His goodness. As a new month begins with much anticipated joy we are forever thankful for the blessings of  the just past month.
God Bless and Good Night

TUESDAY G-DAUGHTER DAY AND 2007 G-SON

An early morning wake up with g-daughter's arrival at 7:25 today. I got her breakfast then got ready to start my day.
She was happy to get to play school and ran right into her classroom and started playing with some balls with one of the teachers. she was the only one in her class this morning.
I came home and did chores then had my breakfast. I took a long walk and enjoyed the cloudy cool morning.After a short rest and devotions it was time to head back to town to pick up  g-daughter. She was on the playground and as I walked by I heard her called Neena, Neena  !!! She was jumping up and down and smiling soooo big !!!
As soon as we got in the car of course like always she was asleep. We came home and she slept long enough for me to have my lunch. She woke up and had some left over french fries and green beans for her lunch.She thinks she is big and calls this her chair , knowing it is where I always sit at the table.

She wanted to play in the balls but found it wasn't as much fun alone .

She tried to get Bernie to play !!!

We spent a lot of time outside on this upper 70's partly cloudy afternoon. She checked on the "baby shics".

Her climbing partner !!!

After d-in-love picked her up hubbie and I had a couple little projects to work on this evening. He hauled some dirt down to fill in some gulleys and try to keep the rain water from rushing down through the back yard and I finished this adult bonnet I started last week.

Here it is the next to last day of this month and I have one more decade year to post pics in. Back in May of 2007 I spent a lot time with this little guy. G-son was a joy to have around and watching his little personality take shape was so exciting.

Learning to eat baby food ???

Under the ever watchful eyes of a youthful Bernie.

And of course there was tractor driving lessons from Pawpaw.

As I look at these pictures and think about what g-son looked like this afternoon running around when he came with d-in-love to pick up g-daughter I can hardly believe this has been 10 years ago.  How did he get so big so quick ???
We spent the evening relaxing and getting an early bedtime.
Thankful for the wonderful blessings of the day and for the endless love of Jesus Christ.
God Bless and Good Night.

THANKFUL MEMORIAL DAY 2017

Memorial day breaks clear,sunny and warm .
I did chores and then hubbie and I had breakfast deciding what out agenda for the day would be.
We drove to Asheville to Davis Furniture Outlet to check out small recliners but the price was still too high for us even there.
We came back to the Tanger Outlets to check out the holiday sales.

We didn't find much that we needed there and made our way to Southern States for chicken feed. By this time the clouds were starting to bank up around and the wind was blowing like it was blowing a storm in.
Our last stop was at Aldi for a couple things for our cook-out today.
When we got home we got things put away and then started getting things ready for the cook-out. I also got a load of laundry started.
While we shopped #1 son's family also did some shopping and g-son got his first lawn mower. He is old enough now to start doing work and they have a small yard so this will give him a good start.

All the kids were coming at 5:30 and we decided to try it outside as the storms so far have went below our area.
We set up small tables outside so it would be easy to grab things and get out of the rain if it started. We got out the ball cage and this pool for the kids.

They had a good time playing together.
G-daughter wore her cowgirl hat and came in saying "yee-haw" !!!

We had ice cream cones for the kids for dessert and they all loved it.

Pawpaw and the littles !

All the kids made it today and had a nice visit. This is the first time in a long while that all 8 of the kids were together.
We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers to go with potato salad, baked beans,cole slaw and all the fixins for hotdogs and hambugers. Re brought strawberry pie for dessert and everyone ate their fill.
All the  kids had so much fun together today. G-son talked his uncle D into a game of "netless" volleyball.

When Pumpkin the cat showed up he got the attention of all the 2 littlest ones.

The rain started about 7:00 and we grabbed things and got everything inside before it got wet.
Hubbie and I did chores while the kids visited.
It was a wonderful time of fellowship and food and I am thankful for the opportunity to get everyone together.
We had fun but this is a very sad day for many folks who have lost loved ones fighting for the freedoms we have in this country. This is a day of remembrance of all the brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their country and the people in it. Thank you doesn't seem to even scratch the surface of  our gratefulness to these brave souls.

God Bless and Good Night

SUNDAY FLOWERS

Well I didn't get my wish for a quiet night of slumber after all as about 2:30 the thunder and lightening woke me up and kept me awake for a while before the storm moved quickly through our area only leaving 3/10ths inch of rain in the gauge this morning.
As I did chores slipping and sliding around in the mud this morning it was still totally cloudy and looked like more rain any minute.
Church was good today continuing the "life saver" series in Mathew 5 with the last verses about loving your enemies.
Lunch was BBQ , corn on the cob, green beans,boiled potatoes and slaw with strawberry shortcake for dessert.
#1 son's family and Aa's family were our guest. The kids had fun reconnecting.
After everyone left I planted all the flowers I bought yesterday. Here is the plants in their new homes. This is one I have never heard of but decided the price of  $2 was right to try it.

I fed my love of Coleus for the $1 price tags on these.

More $2 deals on this Licorice plants and Pineapple Mint.

And this new really pretty Golden Mint.

More $1 deals were a Geranium in each of these 4 colors.

These were my most expensive purchases at $3 each. The jumbo leaf and frilly leaf Coleus along with this Lantana that reminded me of the barrel planter my mother always planted some of these plants in each year when I was growing up.

As you can tell I didn't spend too much money at the festival yesterday but I think I got some pretty plants.
After I got everything planted hubbie and I walked down to #1 son's house to see his new mulch bed around his front porch. G-son was just having fun doing what boys so !!

We came home after playing with the kids a few minutes and did chores and then relaxed for the evening.
Thankful for the blessings of this day and for all the love my Heavenly Father showers down on me each day.
God Bless and Good Night

GARDEN JUBILEE 2017

An hour earlier than most Saturdays start time today to get to market before all the parking spaces at market are taken up by Garden Jubilee shoppers. That's one drawback of having a business in town when things are going on downtown but we hope to draw some extra business from the extra shoppers. Some of our vendors don't even come in on these days but sometimes these are very good sales days for me.
We got set up and had a fairly busy early morning with market shoppers not wanting to get caught in the crowd of the festival.
Daughter brought fresh out the oven breads in about mid morning . Josh is not feeling well so she was late getting started today.
Sales really slumped in the late morning but the hot sunshine did up my craft sales for the day as several folks bought bonnets to protect the kids and them from the hot sun on the street.
Daughter left to go home and check on Josh then she came back at 2:00 to walk up on the street with me.
We loaded all the baked good crates in the back and took the big wagon out of the back seat and were on our way.
Our first disappointment was at the herb booth we always buy our herbs at . They had doubled their prices and the plants were smaller. Nicer plants could be bought at other booths for the same price.
We did manage to find a wagon full of plants and flowers but I forgot to take a pic of all our purchases.
The clouds moved in and cooled it off thankfully as we walked from one end of the street to the other.

Daughter and I had a strawberry slushie from Danny McConnell's  booth , the farmer we buy strawberries from.

We saw lots of neighbors and friends as we walked.
We made it back to the cars and got everything loaded up and headed out of town about 4:15.
I had to make a stop at Aldi for baking supplies and groceries then made it home at 5:00 for a long day !!
Hubbie who had worked outside in the heat all day and me rested for a while and watched the news. It was hard for me to keep my eyes open after my earlier than usual wake up and the heat of the afternoon.
I did chores, had a salad for supper and caught up my blog early so I could get into bed early tonight.
Since I haven't felt good this entire week I am really feeling tired tonight and looking forward to a long night of slumber. Hopefully the forecast storms won't disturb my sleep.

Thankful to God for a wonderful day filled with blessings.
God Bless and Good Night

BYE BYE BUTTERCUPS

Up and out on this beautiful but cool,49 degrees morning. I love waking to the sound of the birds chatter outside my bedroom window.
After chores and breakfast I took a nice walk and enjoyed breathing in the fresh cool air . I feel like I am moving slower this morning from all this head and throat cold that seems to be getting worse.
I started taking my Airborne gummies again this morning so maybe they will help with my energy level as the day goes on.
Hubbie is taking another 1/2 day off to catch up on the gardening and bush hogging since it has rained so many days and the weeds have gotten far ahead of us.
He got on the tractor and bushhog first and took care of all the buttercups in the upper pasture. The lower pastures are still to wet to get in with a tractor.

I had an early lunch then started baking cakes. I baked 6 caramel, 3 chocolate, 3 pound, 2 coffee cakes and 2 pans of brownies. While the last cakes were in the ovens I started my sewing project for the day but didn't get finished before the cakes got done.
The nice sunshine called me loudly and I spent about an hour soaking up the vitamin D it provides.
Hubbie has worked all day in the garden and I went up to help. I pulled weeds and made the chickens very happy. We put up the green bean trellis as they are starting to put out runners.

#1 son came up to borrow a wheelbarrow and helped carry the big panels into place.
 Hubbie and I worked until choretime ripping all the paper feed sacks apart and putting them between the rows.
We came inside and had supper then I started icing cakes and getting ready for market while he washed the eggs.
I got into bed around 11:30 to call it a day. I need to get an hour earlier start in the morning to beat the crowd of Garden Jubilee goers to a parking spot close to market.
Thankful for the blessings of this day .
God Bless and Good Night.

COOL BUT DRY DAY

Wow !!!  Sunshine this morning as I got up early to let the dogs out for a potty break at 7:00.

I got chores done and got to market on time thankful for a nice sunny but cool morning.

Hubbie had to finish some of the business I started yesterday at the central office this morning so he came by market and brought the papers and helped me unload and get set up.

Market was pretty slow today but I am thankful for all that I did sell as always.

Another meeting up with hubbie right after market at our bank to have some of the retirement papers notarized and then on to the regular errands of picking up baking supplies and groceries at Aldi and Walmart. I made it home at 4:15 and got things unloaded and put away.
The clouds have moved back in and are making me doubt we are going to have a day without rain.
We watched the news and then did the chores as the sky slowly cleared to give us a dry , sunny day but a cool one at 65 degrees and tonight the low is going down into the upper 40's so we will need to shut the windows !!!
The blue sky looked so pretty with the fleeting clouds this evening.

As I walked down the drive I spotted this white Egret stalking his supper tonight and loved the reflection in the flood waters of the bottom pastures.

Hubbie spent the evening working up at the shed on a place to get Sadie penned up out of the rain and away from the other dogs as Flash has started being really mean to her for some reason this evening?
I pulled some weeds and emptied standing water out of things so they could dry out before coming inside to more retirement paperwork.
Looks like we are going to get back to more normal temps and more rain over the holiday weekend.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for the strength God blesses me with each day.
God Bless and Good Night