SLOW JANUARY MARKET DAY

This morning was a sloooooooooooooow market day !!  Did have a couple orders and am very thankful for what I did sell. Winter is always a challenge in my baking business. If I bake too much that's not good because the restaurants I usually sell my left overs to are also slow this time of year, but if I don't bake enough then I have disappointed customers,hummpp !!  Strangly this morning I did sell the remainder of some small crocheted stars Christmas ornaments, the lady that bought them said she is already buying for next Christmas. That's what I call getting a head start !! Not to mention that it made for a $21 sale for me !!
After market I went by Lowe's to pick up a door alarm to put on the french doors downstairs. I woke up again last night and thought I heard something downstairs.
I was disappointed it isn't loud enough to wake us up so I'll have to get a louder one for down there and use this one on the french doors upstairs.
It has really been a nice day  mid 50's and sun but this evening the clouds showed up and the rain started about 8 tonight. We do need rain to dampen all the fire danger down.
These are some photo's I snapped this evening as I walked back to the house from taking the antibiotic pills down to #2 son's house for him to give to Flash.
These are the approaching clouds.

Before the clouds got here the moon was gorgeous. I hummed the tune "I see the moon and the moon sees me all evening" .

I love this last picture of the setting sun,looks like you could walk across the cloud mountains under the sun.

Hubbie and I had a relaxed evening tonight, he in his recliner,me with my 4-legged kids on the couch.

D-in-love called to say she got the cleaning job at church and starts Tuesday so that makes me full time babysetter again. I don't mind it because I love spending time with g-son and he is old enough now not to have to be watched every minute. Now we are just praying #1 son gets a job he has applied for so they can finally get back on a normal routine in their lives. His neck seems to be getting better and since he hasn't heard form the doctor about the bi-opsy we feel he's safe from that, thank the Lord.

Thanks again for all who offered up prayers on his behave .

Thankful tonight for today's blessings and for the rain to relieve the fire danger.

Good Night and God Bless.

SPRING LIKE JANUARY DAY

Woke to another warm, sunny January morning. After chores and breakfast I got back to my morning walks.
The clear blue sky was a stark contrast to the empty brown branches of the trees.

Even with the temperatures in the 50's,  the pond is still frozen over .

Snowball and Louie are enjoying the warm sunshine this morning.

As I walked I enjoyed the warmth and the quietness of the morning interupted only by the songs of the birds that spied on me from their hiding places as I walked along .

God's creations are so wonderful when I take time to notice, ahhhh, this is what these morning walks are good for, reminders of how wonderful God's love is !

I hated to stop walking today but duty called and I needed to check on Flash.

I found him acting like his old self ,wrestling with Annie and running around. I did get a quick look in his mouth and could not see anything but a small red bump under his tongue where the absess had been. So thankful he has dodged surgery at least for now. Hubbie picked up his antibiotic pills this afternoon and he will start them tomorrow.

I came home and got my baking started. I baked 18 layers, 1 pound and 1 wine cake before lunch.

I still had all the Christmas rugs on the floors so after lunch I vaccumed and put away all those. Replacing them with the old ones which hopefully I can replace soon.

I watered all the inside plants this afternoon and moved a couple things around in the living room. I still haven't gotten all the stuff back on the shelves but next week is another week !!

I checked out the estate sale I always go to but didn't find anything.

I also got my garden shed cleaned out and all Christmas is now put away.

Whew !! I got all my to do list complete for today,yea !!

Tonight I iced 6 caramel,2 coconut and 1 chocolate cake ,wrapped and labeled everything for market tomorrow.

I am wondering how market will be on this warm ,sunny Saturday.

Thankful for God's blessings today and the beautiful world He created for our enjoyment.

Good Night and God Bless.

FLASH'S TURN AT A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, POOR LITTLE GUY

Life is never boring for me it seems,but I love it (most of the time) anyway.
Just as my alarm was ending this morning my cell phone rang. Anytime I see #2 son's name on my phone I get nervous,he's not one for phone calls or to ask for help. Such was the case last winter when he layed very sick for days before he broke down and called us. Anyway when his name appeared I took a deep breath. He didn't sound quite right as he calmly asked what my plans were for today. He asked if I would check on his dog Flash.

This is #2 son's baby and he is a truly pampered dog. This morning when he went to let him outside he found a lot of blood on the floor and on Flash. He said he looked everywhere trying to figure out where it was coming from and found it was coming from his mouth but he wasn't really throwing up.The blood was just streaming out in his salava. He said he was already 45 minutes late for work and for me to call him if I couldn't find what was wrong.

I hurried through chores and headed to son's house. Flash met me at the gate just like normal and didn't seem sickly but still had a thick stream of blood coming from his mouth. As I looked into his mouth the smell of the drainage almost made me sick. I saw a large swelling under one side of his tongue,so much that his tongue was pushed out the other side of his mouth.

I came back to the house and called the vet. Then loaded up Flash and headed to the their office. I really appreciate my vet because anytime you call with an emergency they say come ASAP.

They took Flash straight back and the doctor was there imediately. The diagnosis didn't take long. He has a clogged salavery gland and it has gotten infected and absessed,hence the vile smelling drainage.

The absess had burst or maybe been biten as it got between his teeth but that was a good thing because at least they didn't have to lance it surgerically. He gave Flash a shot of antibiotics and another of  cortizone to improve his appetite and make him drink water,although until this swelling goes down I don't know how he will do either. If the absess doesn't go down by tomorrow afternoon they will have to operate and remove the infected gland. He had a fever of 103 so he wasn't feeling to well when we left after all the poking and prodding.

As soon as I dropped him off at home he tried to get a drink of water but couldn't lick with his tongue in the side of his mouth. He just went into his bed on his heated pad and went to sleep which is probably the best thing he could do.

I came home and ate lunch,then got ready to run some errands in town. I checked on Flash on the way out and he seemed to be feeling better already.

I ran all my errands and picked up baking supplies along with a few groceries. I got things put away at home just in time for hubbie to come home from work and say we needed to go pick up daughter's jeep at the shop because she was working late as gym supervisor tonight.

Her jeep has been leaking antifreeze and it had some small part that was loose,it only cost $25 to have it fixed.

I left hubbie there to pay and pick it up and headed home to quickly do chores before dark. It is amazing how fast the daylight length is getting longer. I was able to get everything done and the chickens all shut up before it got really dark.

Today has been a really nice sunny 50 degree day. It has felt good to be without a big bundlesom coat.

Up date on #1 son, his neck is still swollen and red but he says it is a little better today and hasn't hurt  as bad and he can turn his head a little today without turning his whole body. Maybe this is the start of his healing,I pray so. Thank all of my blogger friends for the prayers. I know for sure prayer works !!

Checked on Flash and #2 son tonight and Flash was eating a can of dog food and the blood stream has stopped.When I looked at the absess it is significantly smaller so maybe he will avoid the surgery.

Tonight I am wondering what tomorrow will bring ?  2012 so far has been an interesting year for our family.

Grateful to God for the strength He gives me each day along with His gracious blessings.

Good Night and God Bless.

THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT

I have been a brave lady today !! After chores and more de-decorating this morning after lunch I did it !!
I went from this.....

To this......

Yes I decided to have my hair cut !! I've been toying with the idea for awhile now and the final decision was made when the top of my head started getting really sore from having all my hair pulled up in a bun all the time. So today I went to see a friend of mine who happens to be a beautician.I had a picture from the internet of the cut I wanted, but she said your hair isn't going to look like that because you have thick hair and also I won't cut your hair that short. As she has long hair like mine (used to be)

she said I should wear this cut awhile which is still long enough to pull up if I want to but short enough to take the weight off my head. So with our compromise here is the result.

I like the cut I just don't know how much styling it will take to keep it looking good.

I worked the rest of the afternoon outside getting all the decorations down and put into the shed for the next 11 months. I have a lot of decorations and when I get them all boxed up I often wonder why I do this ?

The answer ............BECAUSE I LOVE THIS SEASON  !!!!!

Tonight as I look around the living room it looks so empty and drab !

I did weekly paperwork tonight and even some end of the year work.

#1 son came by this evening and said the specialist he went to this morning thinks his swollen neck is a bacterial infection in the lympth node. He drained it and no pus was there so that is a good thing as that means it isn't in his bloodstream. He also biopsied it to check to make sure there is no cancer. This upset son as he never thought of any thing like that but the doctor said he didn't think there was anything to worry about as cancer usually doesn't swell and hurt.

 I'm still asking for prayers if you don't mind just in case and prayers for healing even if it isn't cancer. Thanks to all of you advance .

May God take son in His healing hands once again.

Good Night and God Bless.

ICY COLD MORNING AND DERMATOLOGY EXAM

A cold morning brought icy roads,closed schools and many unlucky early morning commuters.

I haven't heard of any injuries around here from all the wrecks but  folks like this driver sure tore up a lot of automobiles last night and this morning.

Hubbie got up and made it to work only a few minutes late around 6 am with no trouble but lucky for him not many folks are on the roads at that hour.

#2 and #1 son also made it to their work places around 7 am. Since schools were closed daughter waited until about 9 before she got to work. The snow had blown off the steep hill out of her housing development. As for me I did the chores , broke ice in water buckets for the first of many times today and gave everything extra feed to fend off the cold winds that are still howling this morning.

After breakfast I started laundry and continued with putting away my Christmas things. I have them all in their plastic storage boxes except for the outside decorations which I'm waiting until the wind dies down to get down. All the boxes are stacked in the sunroom ready to be taped and carried to the storage shed.

After lunch I had my yearly skin check at the dermatologist and I knew I had another squamous cell starting on my leg.

So now I have a ring of blisters where he froze not only this one off but another small one just above it, youchy. When he found the first one in the past years he said the diagnosis was actually Bowens desease which is a surface skin cancer desease and we would have to vigilantly watch for them as they appear. So far they have only been on my lower legs. They look like pink candy stuck to my skin,they are so bright so they are easy to identify. This one came up last summer and he said today was not in cancerous stage yet.

I was very thankful he didn't find anything else today.

The high temperature today was 27 and the wind is still blowing. I have broke ice on the chickens water 3 times today hoping they would grab a drink before it froze back. We have heaters in the stock tanks for the cattle but the chickens aren't so lucky. I gave them another extra feeding this evening and they acted very appreciative.

Sadie my older tri-color Aussie spent last night inside downstairs and will be there again tonight. Annie, my red Aussie doesn't like being inside the house so we put extra bedding in her nice warm dog house and she is fine.

They both got warm suppers tonight. The wind is not as bad tonight as it was last night but the temperature is already 20 at 10:30 and is supposed to get in the mid teens tonight.

D-in-love had an interview for the cleaning job at church tonight and is hoping for the job.

#1 son came by to pick up some things this evening and his neck is no better and he said it is still hurting pretty bad. He has an appointment with a throat specialist  tomorrow morning.

I am heading for the Air-Borne tonight as I have been sneezing all evening and felt like I was going to get a migraine all afternoon. Maybe it was just hating to go to the doctor because the headache never came and the feeling like it was coming left after I got home from the doc's office !

Big change coming for me tomorrow , hope I'm happy with it , details later !!

Grateful to God for the blessings of the day and praying for His guidance tomorrow.

Good Night and God bless.

FROM EARLY MORNING EMERGENCY TO SNOWY EVENING ,YEP THIS IS JANUARY !!

Today started very,very early when the phone rang at 1:30 am. Now I always dread to pick it up, at this time in the morning, no news is good !!! And it wasn't as #1 son was on the other end. His neck that had been hurting earlier and what he thought was a pulled muscle was now a swollen mass, he was having trouble swallowing and in so much pain D-in-love was taking him to the emergency room. They dropped g-son off here on their way.
G-son had gotten fully awake in the blast of cold air and he just wanted it to be morning so he and pawpaw could play his new operation game !
He was also upset I think at his dad having to go to the hospital so he wanted me to put my arms around him and "protect him" so after about an hour of consoling he went back to sleep.
Just about that time the phone rang again and d-in-love said they were still in the process of running test but they thought son had a very infected lympth node in his neck.
Thankful and very tired I finally got back to sleep about 4 am.
When I got up this morning one of my 4-legged kids, Dolly  was limping badly and yelping each time she went up or down a step. My guess is that sometime during the night g-son probably kicked her bad hip. She has been trembling all day in pain even with the doggy asprin I gave her but tonight as I watch her sleep in her little bed beside the computer the trembling has stopped so maybe the pain has eased off.
I spent the day taking down Christmas decorations with the help of g-son who was very sad to see Christmas season end. He wanted to leave the tree up for just one more party !
I let him take off all the ornaments from the tree and put them in their boxes which he really enjoyed.
Now the naked tree adorns my living room once again !
Hubbie went over to daughter's house to replace some insulation that was missing from around her water lines under her house because the cold weather is here.
#1 son and d-in-love came by to pick up g-son and he looked okay but his neck is still swollen from his adams apple all the way around to the back of his neck. I've never seen anyone's neck look like that and he said it wasn't near as bad as it was early this morning. I'm really glad I didn't see that!

Brrrrrr!!!! Winter has arrived in all her glory this evening as the snow is flying and the wind is puffing and at 11:00 it is 19 degrees.

After a moderate snow fall the roads are terrible and there are accidents everywhere this evening.
This is the back yard around 10:00 tonight.

Yes this is the third year in a row that my Christmas decorations have gotten snowed on !!!

About an hour later it looked like this outside,wow, wonder what we'll wake up to ????

 Listening to that waind howl my heart goes out to the animals that must brave these frigid wind chills that are already in the singel digits.
I'm headed for bed early tonight to catch up from last night so hopefully this will be an uneventful night.
I pray that no one gets hurt on the slick roads as they try to get to work in the morning.
Grateful for God's will that son's ailment was not a more serious one  and for the blessing of healing.
Good Night and God Bless.

FAMILY FUN ON NEW YEARS DAY

On this first day of 2012 I stayed home and spent the morning cooking. I cooked our family traditional pork, collard greens and black-eyed peas lunch and had it ready when  everyone got here.

Black eyed peas for luck, collard greens for wealth and pork for health or never going hungry has been a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. 

I had preparations for another meal going on as well as this one in getting food ready for the evening meal with Hubbie's family for our late Christmas celebration.

I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen and getting presents wrapped for all the kids as well as entertaining g-son who wanted to stay with me this afternoon while everyone else had errands and things to do.

He played outside in this beautiful weather that feels like spring.

He loves to cimb in this magnolia tree,do you see him framed in the opening ?

 He spent the afternoon anxicously awaiting his cousins visit.

Here he makes sure the manger scene characters were all in place for the last time.

Finally it was time and everyone arrived .   There was lots and lots of food and good fellowship with family. G-son and his cousins played and played. Then they opened their presents and had some new things to play with.

Even the newest member of the family was enjoying himself with all the excitment going on.

My new little great nephew E is only 4 months old this Christmas.

Having a tea party !!!

My 14 month old great nephew came but after a short while  got sleepy and missed the whole party.

We all decided we need to get together more often as the kids now have so much fun together.

After everyone left hubbie and I cleaned up the kitchen and put all the left overs away and now as I turned off the Christmas tree lights for the last time this year I feel finally that the holidays are truly over. I love this season and am always sorry when it is over and it's time to put away all the beautiful decorations. But I have to admit I am looking forward to settling back into a regular boring routine for awhile.

The weather is changing as I type this tonight as I can hear the winds howling bringing in the promised coldest weather of the season. The next several days are going to be stark reminders that it is, after all winter time as temperatures will struggle to get above freezing during the day and fall to near single digits at night. I just heard the weather wizard say the "s" word for maybe tomorrow night and Tuesday morning.

As I did chores this evening I took this photo of the first sunset of 2012.

And this is the reflection on the clouds in the eastern sky.

The first day of 2012 has been a wonderful one for me and my family and I pray that we will have many more days just as wonderful as the year progresses.

Glory be to our loving Lord in all that I do.

Good Night and God Bless.