SLEEPY TUESDAY

I was surprised this morning when g-daughter RL came into the bedroom calling my name. Guess I hadn't heard my alarm or the girls driving through the yard.
I need to start getting into bed earlier as about 6 hours of sleep the last couple nights is catching up with me quickly.
I did chores and then took RL to pre-school. She was the first one there today and we were actually a couple minutes late ??
Back home I fed IR her breakfast and then had my oatmeal and coffee.
IR went down for a long morning nap and hubbie went outside to work in the wood pile for awhile. I worked in my office. I shredded old 2007 papers until the shredder motor gets hot then I turned it off and cleaned while it cooled. It is interesting to look back at what we were doing in 2007 as I shred these memories. I was cleaning church and doing really well selling Avon back in that year plus the Curb Market and baby sitting g-son.
Hubbie and IR rode with me when I went back to pick up RL and then we stopped at Ingles and he sat in the Honda while RL slept .
We came home and had lunch then fed IR her lunch.
I went back to work in my office and came out a little later to find this !!!
RL is still sleeping soundly after an active morning at pre-school.

And these two ...... well it is just that time of day !!!!

I went back to my shredding and cleaning until RL woke up about 2:30. I got her a snack and then we all watched some Sesame Street on TV.

Daughter came in first and then d-in-love came after RL and went home to get groceries in the frig.

Daughter stayed and waited on #2 son and Tif to come by so she could download and print some forms for his bank loan on the house he is buying.

By the time they got all of that done g-daughter IR was crying hungry so daughter had to stay and feed her before she went home. Today she is a big 33 weeks old and all smiles about it !!!

Hubbie and I went out to get the chores done. Aa brought some extra hay rolls over for the cattle in our pasture today and hubbie helped unload them.

After we got everything fed and settled in for the evening we came inside to relax for the night.

A new winter storm Liam has been named and is set to bring us a lot of rain over night tonight and into tomorrow.

Today started out sunny and warm but clouds moved in after lunch and it looks like it could rain any minute this evening in the mid 50's temps. Looks like we are going to get a good soaking and maybe some flash flooding with the ground still saturated from this past weekend's rain.

I am blogging early and am determined to get into bed early tonight.

Thankful for the blessings of a wonderful day and for the grace of a loving God.

God Bless and Good Night.

KID FILLED MONDAY

Monday morning off to an early start with the arrival of both g-daughters. Both girls seem to be feeling better today with only a very loose cough and some nose running issues. It was good to see the sun rising over the mountains this morning instead of the snow flurries that were predicted.

I did chores and then took RL to school. I was glad to get back home after coming upon a pretty bad accident on my way home that had just happened but all the drivers were out walking around.
I spent the morning doing laundry between getting IR her breakfast and having my breakfast.
I also started my yearly shredding of a year of receipts so I can change the files in my office around and have all the tax stuff handy.
I picked up RL and she went straight to sleep after eating her chicken nuggets.
Hubbie carried her inside and then IR and us had our lunch then  I did more laundry.
RL took a good almost 2 hour nap today and seemed to feel much better this afternoon.
Love these two as they begin to interact with each other.

About 3:00 Re brought AD, CO and BB over to stay while she and EL took some outgrown things to sell at a swap market in Greenville SC.
RL is always so excited to see "the kids" coming and can't decide who she'd rather be with the girls or BB ???

 Haha , they were yelling to each other into the walkie talkies sitting this close together !!!!

This little girl was pooped out and this is all she wanted to do this evening.

Even grandson wanted in on the fun when he came in from school .

Daughter and d-in-love left with the grandkids and hubbie and I took turns getting the outside chores done and watching the remaining kids.
I fixed them chicken filets and French fries for supper and Re and EL came in just in time for EL to get to eat some also.
After they left and we were putting the toys away I remembered a rolled up note AD had brought to me.  As I opened it and read her 1st grade words I was reminded why hubbie and I do what we do with all these kids.  Sometimes when friends and family our age ask what we are doing in retirement and we say "babysitting" they look at us as if we are crazy and some of them even tell us they are sure not going to do that.
But when I look into the faces of any of these kids and into the innocent eyes that smile back at me or read a note written from the heart of a 6 year old I have to laugh and say "who's the crazy ones now" ????

No place we would rather be or nothing else we would rather be doing and I feel humbly blessed that we are able to take care of all these little miracles and hope to be blessed with enough time to watch them grow up.

Thankful for the blessings of good health .

God Bless and Good Night

ICY SUNDAY

Well after I was awakened by pouring rain on our metal roof about 5am I was definitely wondering what the morning daylight would bring.
I could still see the pouring rain out the window when I hit my Sunday morning 8am snooze button. As I watched the window I could see big globs of something falling with the rain.  I snuggled back under the warm covers for a few more zz's and then did my stretches before I got up.
An ice coating covered everything outside now and the rain was still coming down.
Hubbie browned some ground chuck and I got all the fixins for a big pot of vegetable soup ready and we put it all in the big pressure pot and turned it on.
The rain slacked a little and I ventured out to let the chickens out and get them fed. I slipped and slid all around as even the frozen water covered ground was very slick. I wished I had a video of the hens when they came out of their houses slipping and sliding all around. The ice casings were not thick enough to bring power lines or tree limbs down thankfully around here but it did create some pretty sights.

My blueberries and grape vines have a protective covering this morning.

Some of my bushes are not so pretty and leaves me wondering if they will be able to straighten back up.

The frozen ground can't absorb any of the rain as fast as it is falling.

After this and looking at my Honda completely encased in ice hubbie and I decided not to venture out to church this morning so we watched a sermon on TV from a church in SC.
Our pastor had already sent out a notice that all early morning activities were canceled and only the 11am worship would be held.
D-in-love was the only one who made it to church today.
#1 son's famly, Aa's family and #2 son made it to lunch of the delicious soup with biscuits or cornbread.
Everyone went for seconds and some thirds the soup was such a hit on this damp cool day.
And g-daughter RL liked my home made grape jelly on her biscuit.

The rain stopped leaving 1.5 inches in the gauge and the sun did manage a short appearance this afternoon with temps in the mid 40's to at least thaw all the iced coverings away from everything.
Hubbie and I had a relaxing afternoon watching some old TV shows on Netflix before heading back out to get the evening chores done.
We are resting tonight getting ready for a busy week and wondering what we will wake up to in the morning with more predictions of snow flurries and black ice with mid 20's overnight temps.
Thankful  for the blessings of this day.
God Bless and Good Night.

GETTING READY FOR ANOTHER WINTERY BLAST

Brrrr !!!  18 degree morning and water pans frozen solid this morning , grrrr !!!
We made it to market on time but customers were slow to come in but as the temp warmed so did customer traffic and I had a decent day after all.
I'm not bored at market these days as I try to catch up on all the market business that I as a board member needs to know and become familiar with.
We are out of our signature cookbooks and I need to check on re-ordering some of those.
Hubbie hung around until about noon and had a cup of the corn chowder that one of our vendors made for lunch today.
He left to come home and get our supply of firewood carried in to use through a supposedly snowy, icy, rainy day tomorrow.
I left market on time and stopped at Aldi to pick up a few things on the way home. I noticed that there was very few parking spaces but it didn't hit me until I saw there were no shopping carts available that everyone was "snow shopping" . This was my shopping cart as I dragged it around the store behind me. Thankfully I didn't need much today.

I made it home at 3:00 and hubbie helped me get things unloaded and put away. It is 32 degrees now and falling so this could be a very interesting night of precipitation.

We are under a winter weather advisory for ice mostly but who knows if the predictions will be correct with this system or not .

This is the ice and snow predictions at the 6:00 news time.

We did chores tonight and then settled in for a relaxing evening of watching basketball games. We watched Virginia beat Syracuse and then watched UNC win against Pittsburg.

G-daughter IR had to make a second trip to the doctor today but still no flu and no ear infection either . Daughter took her back because she had a really rough night with her breathing and cried most of the night like something was hurting.

Daughter also feels like she might be getting the strep throat that son-in-love has so they all stayed in today to rest. IR was doing better tonight. 

Tif is now sick with a bad cold hopefully it doesn't turn into something else.

This is a really scary sickness season as so many folks a dying this year.
Thankful for as always for the blessings of this day and very thankful to God for keeping his arms firmly around all the family as we battle this sickness season.
God Bless and Good Night.

GROUNDHOGS ALL SEE THEIR SHADOWS TODAY !!!!

Only one grand daughter this morning as daughter decided to stay home with IR today to hopefully get her feeling better.

I did the chores then took RL to pre school to have fun on another pajama day.
I came home to have breakfast and hubbie and I both felt very strange not having IR here. He went outside to cut down the Black Knot infested Plum trees and do some more trimming around the yard of limbs that broke during all the freezing temps and wind this winter.
I cleaned house this morning and then after we had lunch I started working in my office cleaning off my cluttered desk. Since February is always tax month in my world I need to get things straightened out so I can get to work on taxes.
I worked until almost 4:30 and my back was killing me from sorting papers for so long but I got everything sorted through that was piled on my desk top.
I stopped and rested with a cup a hot green tea and watched the early news.
The temperature today has got up to 32 for a very chilly but sunny day. When I went out to get the chores done all the waterers had a thin layer of ice already on them. Tonight's low is expected to hit the upper teens so there will be thick ice in the morning to deal with. I filled the cooler inside the feed shed with water so I will have some to use in the morning without carrying it all the way from the house.
Of course the groundhog down in Bat Cave named Greta saw her shadow along with all the other groundhogs in the area today so that means 6 more weeks of winter weather !!!!

I relaxed for a while tonight then got things ready for market.  Hopefully more customers will come through tomorrow than did Thursday.

But with the winter weather predictions for tomorrow night and the extremely cold temps I'm guessing tomorrow will be another really slow market day.

Thankful for the blessings of this day and praying for guidance in all that I do.

God Bless and Good Night

HELLO FEBRUARY

February began on a hectic busy typical Thursday morning as hubbie and I scrambled to get routine things done along with getting things loaded and ready for market with two little spectators who are too young to understand why this day is any different than any other day for them.
RL holding IR isn't the same as it used to be with the size of IR now she almost completely covers RL !!

At least the temps stayed around freezing overnight so there was no ice breaking this morning while getting feeding chores done.
I dropped RL off at her pre-school as she was really excited about being in her pj's for pajama day and she got to take a favorite stuffed animal in with her.
IR clapped and chattered from there to market where hubbie was waiting to help unload and get things inside.
IR is still not herself and was still coughing and didn't eat much breakfast. Connie, was late getting in to pick her up as she had a dead battery in her car.
AD came in to do her virtual classes while Re ran an errand and then she and hubbie held down the business while I along with the treasurer for the market board went to the bank to put my name on the bank account but we didn't get it done because they needed the minutes from the annual meeting and we don't have them yet from the previous secretary.
When we got back we had a short board meeting approving two new vendors and putting in an amendment to one of our rules.
I took minutes of our board meeting which has never been done by the previous secretaries but is a necessary duty I believe.
I plan on trying to put more of a business spin on things than has been in precious boards.
Hubbie left to make our Sam's Club errand and then he had a dentist appointment to get his teeth cleaned at 2:30.
I left market at 2:00 and dropped a bill off at the PO on my way home making only one more stop for gas and a stop by Re's to drop off some hangers her mother-in-law dropped by market.
With the weather forecast I have no idea if market will even be open Saturday so I have no plans for baking yet.
This is the forecast snow map for in the morning.

Every other time we have expected not to get any more than a dusting we have had a lions share of icy roads and snow so who knows if they will get this one right.
Whatever falls will hang around with the high tomorrow only getting to freezing and then more wintry mix predicted for Saturday !!  Welcome February !!!!!!

Hubbie got a good report at the dentist and we both got chores done a bit early with the threatening look of the clouds already darkening the evening sky.
We had a restful evening just waiting to see what the weather will bring.
Thanking God for the blessings of this day and for the grace of another month of joyful living.
God Bless and Good Night.

GOOD BYE JANUARY

This last day of January 2018 started early with the arrival of both g-daughters. After we got them settled in I went outside to get the chores done. An 18 degree temp meant more ice breaking and longer chore time.
I took RL to her preschool and was surprised at how many icy spots were still on many of the roads I traveled.
After I dropped her off I stopped in the co-op to check to see if they had gotten their Elderberry extract in yet. The girl working there took my name and number and promised a call when it came in but for some reason she didn't sound very sincere.
Thankfully I stopped because they had a shelf nicely restocked of it and I bought 2 bottles, enough to get me through this winter and to have a spare in case I need more at a different time.
I only take about a tablespoon a day but this stuff seems to boost my immunity .
I got home just in time to feed IR as she isn't feeling well at all this morning with a nasty cough and no appetite.

I took her temp under her arm and it was 99.8 so I gave daughter a call. She called the doctor and they made an appointment for 1:40 to give her a flu test to make sure if she does have the flu they can treat it early.
I changed out all the furniture covers and vacuumed this morning. I also did another load of end of the month laundry.
Daughter came after IR and then hubbie and I collected all the trash and recyclables to do the dump run today since we needed to go to Walmart anyway.
Daughter met us at Walmart and we picked up a vaporizer for IR who thankfully doesn't have the flu but probably just a cold virus and has two more teeth popping through.
We also picked up some shelves for Re that were too big for her SUV and delivered them to her house on the way home.
We rested for about an hour before chore time when we got home and got things put away.
After chore time we loaded up all Re's hens that have stayed with us the past year and took them back to her along with an extra rooster I had.
When we got home we set out the live trap in the big hen lot because we think we have another egg thief in there and set up the game camera in the back yard because the security camera caught an intruder last night that we can't figure out what is since the picture isn't  very clear.
The temperature got up to 49 degrees today but we are expecting another mid 20's night to end this month.
The first month of 2018 has been a definite wintry one this year with very cold temps beginning the month. We started this year as always with the family here for our traditional ham hock, black eyed peas, collard greens and corn bread lunch for health , wealth and luck in this new year.
We had to help daughter and son-in-love move out of their house before their closing date of the 19th of the month.
We had extra kids many days as schools were closed several times with icy roads and a snow that stayed for almost a week with extremely cold temps.
We also had a near flooding rain and high winds that knocked out power to many in the county but fortunately we kept ours.
All three grand kids have fought sickness most of the month along with most of us adults as we seemingly keep passing things around.
#2 son and Tif have tentatively found a new house that is just being built up on Davis Mountain on the other side of town but are waiting for it to be finished to make a final decision.
Daughter and son-in-love have got settled into the 1 bedroom apartment they rented and are still looking at modular home prices.
I got elected to the 5 member board of control at the Curb Market and was elected secretary by my four fellow board members.
We ended the month being treated by daughter and son-in-love to a trip to Clemson to watch UNC play Clemson in basketball.
The month also ended with a huge triple event moon.

Thankful that God blessed our family with another month of grace and love and we look forward to what He has in store for us in February and beyond.
God Bless and Good Night