!!! Happy Things !!!

Eating Lemon Lime Squares...two batches...

Going out to eat with my sister at Frisch's Big Boy and only bringing home suckers for my kids.

A day of gardening with J&J. We stopped at BP and Jesse swiped this bag off the shelf. They were good.

LOVE LOVE LOVE her. New books coming out...one was this past Tuesday, Water Bound and another August 31, Dark Peril. Seriously, if you love romance and paranormal, she's your girl.

First time buying Victoria Secret underwear in over 10 years. I LOVES them!

Baby cracks make me smile every time.

Jon's secret sauce for the BBQ chicken we fixed when Janne was here. It was delish!

Guy just makes me happy. He's such a solid cat and with such an attitude. He'll be my feature Handy Hooker picture for August up above.

I love her, Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, just a little bit too. Her cookbook is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Jon's attempts at cooking always make me smile. This recipe called for 1/4 of a cup of milk. He did 1 1/4 cup. His zucchini bread he made last week called for 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder and he put in 1 teaspoon. He cracks me up.

Hope you guys like the new layout. I've added a few features like the personalized header above and there are boxes you can click below the post telling me without commenting (though I LOVE comments) what you think of the post and the side bar is a bit different. If you are not listed in my blog roll and have a blog, pop me a message and I'll add it.

Peace and Thursday's are All About the !!!'s!!!

It's Okay, Cause I Said So...

Fellow blogger, Amber with Airing My Dirty Laundry...One Sock At A Time, or something like that...crap, I've forgotten the exact wording. Link is good, though. She saw an article in a magazine, Glamour(?) and started a It's Okay Tuesday. Great idea and since I got nothing but b****ing and belly-aching from work after four days off....

It's okay to point out to your husband on your anniversary weekend staycation, the 50some year old big boobed buxom blonde, bikini wearing, tan, perfectly coiffed and make-up covered lady in the YMCA pool. AND to say "They are fake." AND to say "That is her husband, the one with the gray hair.".

It's okay to stand and listen to your In-Laws bicker and when your MIL comes to you to commiserate, you don't, instead tell her thems the breaks and THANKS, MIL, cause I married your husband. Great job on raising your boy.

It's okay to fart in the garden and then smile really big when your son says, "Mom! You smell good! What perfume did you put on?". That s*** don't stink.

It's okay to want to run and hide every time people start talking about pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. Even though you love all three, the five day late start of Flo scared the crap outta you and you really really really know you don't want no more babies right now. It is better to live with a bag over my head on this one. Or condom. Or some form of protection.

It's okay to get annoyed at Wish Lists, Shower Lists, Want Lists and all those Registry things. Really? Like I'd totally send you something handmade and send it with love, but asking for things, consumer things just cause, is annoying.

It's okay to have entered 20 book giveaway contests.

It's okay to go out and buy Christine Feehan's latest book Water Bound.

It's okay to ride that car's butt. Here is when it is okay: NEVER: Even when it takes the car 4 miles. FOUR MILES to pass a semi, when the car is in the fast lane and the semi is in the middle lane and you had decided not to go around the semi in the slow lane cause there was merging traffic, but then you realized it had been FOUR miles beyond what your patience could endure....So laying on the horn as you pass the POS that finally merged over in front of the semi. Well, the horn cures all ailments. I may or may not have been doing 95 mph before I realized how steamed I really was. I sucked a quarter of a tank of gas just gunning the Blazer. Damn those V6's. Please don't tell Jon and I blame the loss of patience on the 20 minute wait I had just endured trying to go 0.25 miles. It won't happen again.

It's okay to have knit and crocheted all weekend and then not blog about it on your crafting blog because you thought corn was better news. I also made a pair of leg warmers for a friend's little girl to match her pretty princess leotard she is getting.

Thems the news! It is all okay in my world. Somedays.

Peace and Peace Out! Giveaway ends tomorrow!!! It is a Twofer Tuesday!

Cornacopia

Knee high by July has been the refrain running through my head since the beginning of July. We were blessed that the corn was more than knee high and had tasseled by early July.

While some of the ears yielded corn that looked like an old man's teeth, the corn itself was sweet and juicy. Plucking single kernels off the cob and nibbling...well, it happened during the shucking.


We made inappropriate jokes about the shapes and odd ball corn we got. James and Jesse even dubbed the corn, funny corn.


Jesse and James helped with the picking, the shucking, the cooking (they put the ice cubes in the cooler to cool the corn down after it had been blanched), but they were not allowed to cut the corn off the cob. Jesse was extremely displeased.

So she nibbled on the corn while we did the cutting and the packing. Three rows of corn yielded 38 quart bags of corn. We have another three rows that will be ready in 2 weeks or so. Plenty of corn for the winter. Typically, we divide the corn between my MIL & FIL, Grandpa, The BILs and FILs and Jon and I. Grandpa's garden is pretty much a community garden. Jon and I seem to be the ones out there every couple of days checking. The tomatoes will be ready shortly and we have big plans on canning them. I'm excited!

Jon and I were at Walmart looking for a tomato juicer/pureer/colander thingie and Jon says "Grandma has one at her house." It is a legacy of hers that even now we still speak of her in present tense. As if she is still with us. Betty, pictured above, misses her mom so much and during the day of corn we often referred to Grandma as if she was still with us. I think she still is.

For posterity sake, here is the Handy way of preserving corn (According to my MIL):

1. Pick corn
2. Shuck corn. Make sure all the silkies have been removed.
3. Boil the corn.
4. Put corn in ice water
5. Cut corn off the cob. Jon and Dennie hold the corn and cut towards themselves. Whereas I will stand the corn on end in the flat bowls (flat bowls are a must. You don't want to be holding onto the bowl while cutting the corn.) and cut the corn off into the bowl.
6. Scrape the good juicy bits of corn missed during the cutting off the cob.
7. Mix it all together
8. Put into freezer bags (We used quart size because it is a good size for a family of four.)
9. Seal, flatten and put into the freezer.
10. When it is time to cook, just pop the frozen bag into the microwave in a microwave safe dish and zap till hot. The corn usually doesn't need too much butter or salt, cause it is that good.

:D

This was my first year of actually going from start (planting) to finish (freezing) with the corn crop. Lovely time! Love corn!

Peace and Don't Forget About The Giveaway!!!

Lovely Dreams

I dreamed of writing a blog post last night. During Jon and my anniversary weekend, I wasn't going to post, but here I am.

Hey, neighbors! Did you see we got curtains put up? Yeah! They are blankets though, so don't get too excited.

Jon's bright idea for Friday night was to blow up the air mattress and watch movies on the big screen. *ahemnakedahem*

While in theory a fun idea, the results were not.

Because there is the roll factor. The heaviest person (Jon) sinks further than the lighter person, thus resulting in the continuous rolling towards the heavier person.

To minimize this effect, I propped my butt against Jon's hip and braced myself in by wrapping two blankets around my legs and feet and propping my head on two/three pillows. It basically felt like I was sitting in an air filled lounge chair with a furnace on your butt.

I was comfortable until about 4am when I got up to go to the restroom.

Know how sneaky it feels to be up at 4am? I felt sneaky and while Jon was snoring away on the air mattress and I was sitting on the toilet, I had the epic idea of catching some zzz's all by myself in the real bed.

Only I was naked and had only thought to grab my pillow (why take the pillow to the bathroom?!) and the blankets were hanging on our windows and if I snuck back to get my blankets off the air mattress I might wake up Jon... All these thoughts whirled through my head at 4am on the toilet.

Is it weird I didn't think to put clothes on first? It did briefly cross my mind, but I was worried about waking the bunnies in my bathroom, since that is where I keep my night clothes.

Why at 4am I was all worried about waking people or pets is beyond me, but I was tiptoeing around trying not to make the wood floors squeak.

My plan did not work to catch some horizontal zzz's.

CURSES!!! Jon woke up and was gathering everything to go back to the real bed. Darn it!

So, I'm awake by myself on our second day of our anniversary weekend. Jon will probably sleep till 11am. I'm off to buy some yarn and start on a toddler dress that the pattern tells me can be finished in "one day". We will see.

Oh, and we totally forgot to bring Puppy in last night, so she spent the night outdoors and Jon left the bathroom open and Joey got out into our bedroom. I've had to chase him in twice. He thinks he's sneaky. His momma knows sneaky and sneaky don't work in this house.

Don't forget about the giveaway that ends next Wednesday! A crochet kit and homemade strawberry jam up for grabs!!!

Dear Jon,

Remember when we were teenagers? I liked you, you kinda liked me in a purely friend kind of way. I asked you to the Valentine Dance in 1996, you said no. Even though our friends had sent me a rose saying it was from you and I got up the courage to ask you to the dance after 7th period Band. I remember standing there by your locker, heart pounding and holding that rose I thought was from you. Your face was sympathetic when you realized what I thought and you gave me the easy let down by telling me you were going with another Sarah.

Then, three months later at lunch time, we were sitting with our group of friends and you looked at me and said, "So, where do you want to eat Prom night?". I didn't let you down so easily because I snapped at you, "I'm not going with you to Prom!". I was still pissed about the Valentine's Day incident.

We had a lovely time at Prom. Me with my puppy dog ear hair-do and you in your black cowboy boots.

Here is the thing, though. We went AS FRIENDS. You see where your hand is in this picture? Yes. Friends. Didn't even get the pleasure of being kissing friends. HUMPH!

Did you know I had already chosen you? You you you. You were busy though. So I graduated and hopped on the first semi rolling through our village. Luckily it was my dad's semi.

Apparently, the three week separation gave you time to think and you realized how much you missed me. Because I'd only been home a day or so when you came by with your dad's new pick-up truck and took me for a joy ride to show me it could do 100mph. Lord all mighty, He was watching over us that day. What were we thinking?!

Come July 1996, we were officially a couple.

I put up with things like the "mustache". What were you thinking?! And oh yeah, the time you cut off your fingers with the table saw. That was a rocking good time. Who smiles like this a few days after major painful surgery? Even today, I deal with the fact that you have a weird thumbnail because of the saw incident. And the pain you endure when the cold comes...I suspect one day, you'll lose those fingers to arthritis or frost bite. I'll be with you then too. It'll be okay, my eight finger man.

This t-shirt. I've put up with this t-shirt for 14 years. "I'm just a clean cut guy interesting in a filthy rich girl." Ya married me, babe. About as poor as you could get.

Now the years have been kind to us, but this THING you insist on putting up each year...it drives me crazy. The fact that I'm writing this blog and watching you draw up new plans for this year's crazy castle is a good indicator of my patience. I didn't even blink an eye when you told me that I may have to go out the back door, jump the 6 foot privacy fence and walk through the neighbors yard, and OH YEAH, walk around the block to find my car once you put this years castle up. Nope, I didn't even blink.

You've been good to me. Even the beard was okay. I was pregnant with our second child at the time, the pregnancy sex was good and well, I've learned to pick my battles with you.

I've taken the teasing remarks for every up-do I've had. This one especially made me look like I had a point on my head. Your smirk says it all.

Though it took you 5 years to actually marry me. Only 4 to decide you wanted to marry me. Three to realize I fight with your momma like all good daughters are suppose to. It only took you 2 years to realize I expected you to get your shit together, cause I was keeping you. (Which you did. You got a job as Sears and have been there for the last 12 years.) And it only took you a year to realize the depth of crazy you were getting yourself into by dating me.

Only 60% of the family on your side actually likes to me. 0.5% hasn't spoken to me in over 5 years. But I took them on, well, cause they are good people and I kinda sorta really really really wanted you.

Then there is my family...lets see. One has hit you, one has wished you dead and the others like ya just fine. Your percentages are looking better than mine. Go figure, Mr. Diplomat.

Well, honey, you kept me. Now on to the next 9 years. Leather is the gift of choice this year. You're gonna have to settle for a kiss and tickle, cause baby we be poor.

Love you, Hon!

Spice, the Rabbit

Last year, I blogged about Spice and the struggle we went through with her fly strike. She ended up with a horrific scar on her butt from the numerous staples that had to be put in to close the gaping 8 inch wound the maggots had eaten away leaving exposed flesh.

It was touch and go for several weeks as I pushed yogurt, baby food green beans, pineapple juice, medicines and tried to keep her safe warm and dry.

Daisy was assigned the duty of keeping her safe, warm and dry. Can you see Spice by Daisy's butt? At the time, Spice's buddy, Sugar was having health issues of his own, and I lost him just shortly after saving Spice's life after the fly strike. Then I lost Daisy. And my home seemed empty. So, I adopted to more bunnies, which I blogged about here. And a puppy walked into our lives, which I blogged about here.

I briefly shared that Puppy has tried to kill my rabbits and cats. She cannot be trusted. If we ever buy property with space to raise more animals, I will have to find another home for Puppy. She would slaughter chickens, rabbits, goats, cats and any other animal I brought home. It wouldn't be fair to them or to her to keep her...or to me and my sanity. For now, though, we live in town and Puppy leads a life of leisure in our back yard, watching people over the six foot privacy fence, keeping in the gossip news with the neighbor dogs and just generally being a happy-go-lucky dog...like she should be.


Another thing I haven't shared is that for the past several months I've had a rabbit living in my bathroom. The rabbits have their own room off the kitchen and between the garage, what most people would call a mud room. Unfortunately, with the damage done to Spice's butt and her geriatric age, she isn't able to keep going in a litter box and she pees and poops willy nilly all over the place and then lays in it. Thus resulting in urine burns on her butt and back legs. I would Betadine her butt, keep her confined for a few days and then put her back with the other buns, because she thrives on the company. This has gone on for months with no issues.

Then Saturday...The horror and heartbreak cannot be conveyed at seeing her tossed like a ragdoll by my kids. I called Jon at work and sobbed to him to come home and put her down. I thought her back had been broken. My kids were wailing "We didn't mean to!!!". And they didn't. It is my job to teach them and I knew part of the process with pets and teaching young ones is that sometimes the pets get hurt inadvertently. The kids spent their Saturday in their room until Jon got home and I cleaned cleaned, cleaned and prayed prayed prayed. Spice had been with me for 10 years and she had a will to live and a heart so sweet.

I was sure she was dead or close to death, but she decided to stay with me. This is a picture from Sunday night. I've put Joey in with her to help clean up the urine out of her fur, clean her eyes, keep her warm and fuel her will to live. Joey is doing a beautiful job. When I went in Monday morning, they were spooning. Bunny spooning is the cutest thing ever.

The kids have been banned from my bathroom and they have both said sorry to Spice.

It is always a juggle to keep peace in a home with 2 kids, a husband, one crazy Puppy, three rabbits and 2 cats. Thanks to the forgiving nature of all, we survived and lessons were learned all around.

Life isn't always happy and I hesitated to share the story. Cat lovers would say I'm a horrible pet owner because I let my cats outside. Now my rabbit has been harmed. I've wanted to strangle my dog for mauling my rabbits and cats. At the end all, though, they lead a great life and I love them. I just don't humanize them and I think that is where the division happens.

This is me and my life. Thems the breaks.

Peace and Bunny Love Lives On!

Don't forget about the giveaway! Even if you don't crochet, the jam is worth it. :D

Sneak Peek and Giveaway!

'Cause I had an awful Saturday.
'Cause I love ya!
'Cause I want you, yo momma, yo daughter, yo son, yo daddy to learn how to crochet.
'Cause I am celebrating my 9th wedding anniversary this week.
'Cause I bought it with you in mind...

I'm giving away this crochet kit. I've looked over the patterns...very cute! It comes with patterns, crochet hooks and a little skein of yarn...very cool! You know you are jealous of my mad skillz. Wait. Maybe not. I've not crocheted in a while. Scratch that. You know you need to learn a crafty skill. Yes. There we go. YOU NEED. I provide. :D

Just comment below telling me how your weekend was and what you have planned for this week to enter. Giveaway ends July 28th. I will also be tossing in a jar of my homemade strawberry jam. NOMS!


Sneak peek at something I'll share with you later this week. Pretty cool, huh?

Peace and Keep Hooking!

Keeping it Real for My 32 before 33

1. Go see Wicked the musical-Done

2. Eat thai-Dammit! Janne and I forgot to do it. We will go eat Thai in Dallas.

3. Dye 2000 yards of yarn-Nope, still sitting there.

4. Knit A scarf-Done and Summer loved it

5. Learn how to use PhotoShop-Slow process, but I did correct a family Christmas picture from last year.

6. Sew a Quilt-Nope. I've asked my MIL for some of Grandma's clothes to repurpose for this quilt. She is still in the process of going through stuff and I suspect she isn't quite ready for me to cut up the clothes for the quilt or to give the clothes to Goodwill. Grandma had three closets and a basement of clothes. She loved clothes.

7. Do a Craft Gathering at my house-Nope. I dream of this often and in my mind it is in our future home.

8. Create cute packaging for my knit/crochet gifts-Nope. Still percolating on this idea.

9. Send a Surprise Gift-Done. I sent my mom Gin Raisins.

10. Create an Outdoor space on the Patio featuring this-Nope

11. Buy pewter buttons and clasp from The Rams Horn-Nope

12. Make Vodka pie crust-Nope. I did buy vanilla beans, vodka and jam jars to make vanilla extract. It is on my epic To-Do list.

13. Meet another author-Nope. I've been haunting the bookstore websites trying to find a good one to go to. I really want to go to an author sighting for one I've read, not just to go because it is a famous author. On a side note, Jean Auel, who wrote the Clan of the Cave Bear series, is in her seventies and I'd so love to meet her. She is releasing the 6th and final book in the Earth's Children series, The Painted Caves March 29, 2011. HOW EXCITING!!! The best little late BDAY present EVAR!!!! Holy crap, you do not know how excited I am!

14. Make a sock-Nope. I don't think I want to do this one. I'm still in denial about how awesome socks are to knit and I think I want to keep that pretty little cloak over my head.

15. Make James and Jesse afghans for their Cherry twin beds-Nope. I bought the yarn. James has black and yellow for Transformer Bumblebee and Jesse has brown and pink yarn.

16. Print and frame 5 photos for my house. Print and frame family photos for the family wall.-Nope

17. Buy handmade soap and crochet soap holders for them-Nope

18. Make a knit/crochet calender (buy their calender)-Nope

19. Grow my rabbits greens, parsley, turnip greens, kale, etc.-Nope

20. Attend Country Living Fair-Scheduled for September 24th

21. Visit my Grandma-This one will be late. I'll be going in June of 2011

22. Make my Dad an afghan-I made my dad a picture blanket instead.

23. Make my Sister her shawl-*sigh* Nope

24. Make a felted purse-Yes! I've done four or five.

25. Photograph a rainbow, sunset and sunrise-Nope, nope, nope

26. Carve a pumpkin, grow my own pumpkins! Who wants to pay 49 cents a pound?-The pumpkins have flowers and we are hopeful they will yield at least a few.

27. Make a new cookie a month-Nope. I suck. I bought the cookie cookbook and never got to making it.

28. Travel to The Gathering-The Gathering is in September in Denver. I'm not going to make it. There is another in June for Ravelry members, I'll see how that works out with my trip to Iowa.

29. Get a puppy (SHSHSHSHSHSH! Don't tell Jon) Funny how preplanning a post works in my favor. It's like I'm making things happen by saying them out loud.-We still love puppy, but the rabbit and cat killing instinct has gotten worse. She is so friendly, but not a great fit for our home with rabbits and cats.

30. Make a craft video-Nope. Gonna get on this one.

31. Have 10 new blog readers-I should have documented how many I had then...Currently have 41 followers.

32. Eat at Chop House to celebrate one great event!-Nothing yet. We need to celebrate...Wait! Our anniversary is next week, we will go then. :D

I have a 25% success rate. That is 75% failure after 8 months. Gonna have to kick myself in the butt. I have this list and my epic To-Do list...It's gonna take some humping. You know, I've got to-do lists from years ago that have items marked as never not done, I don't know why I could manage to succeed at this. But lists make me happy, so get er done!

DSLR Snuggie

Two things: DSLR Snuggies are pretty cool and I got my new lens. :D


There are two Snuggies on my camera. While I LIKE the idea of a felted colorful cover for my camera, the practical applications aren't quite good. Problem 1 the fact that felted wool sheds for a while. Not so good to have all those fibers up in the camera's business. Wear and tear will get the wool to stop shedding so much. Problem 2 is that the cover is only useful when the camera is in my bag, not so useful while taking pictures. Which ties into, when I'm toting the camera slung over my shoulder the cover is AWESOME to keep the LCD screen from getting scratched, smeared or otherwise damaged. It is just a PITA when I get ready to shoot.

The lens is pretty awesome. The angle isn't wide enough for me, but I'm okay with getting another lens for those wide-angle shots. Otherwise, it is a slight adjustment to have two focusing rings on the lens, but it is a HUGE bonus to be able to do Macro with a 28-135mm lens.

Now anybody wanna tell me why my 8gb SD card won't read in my computer, but my 512mb will? Problems problems problems.

Oh, and James caught a massive fish...AGAIN.



How would you like that beast looking up at you from the water? He could eat your hand.



Their ALL NIGHT fish on Friday night yielded 5 fish. They let the two smaller fish go and brought these three beasts home. James caught the two and Josh caught the smallest one on the right. He said it was the biggest fish he'd ever caught, so the trip was worth it. That evening I got a text around 11:30pm asking me to come bring them more stringer lines to hold the fish, but I missed it and my FIL ended up being "dragged" from his bed to bring the boys more supplies. He stayed till 2:30am with them. HA!

Last night, James woke me up at 11pm to come out to the garage to take pictures of Jon cutting up the catfish James caught yesterday. Originally, Jon has refused to butcher the fish saying they weren't ready to see it yet. We've been catching and releasing, but James and Jesse insisted they were ready to see how the fish gets cut up into fish filet's. I then dreamed of fish all night. Not a happy camper this morning. J&J did fine while Jon cut up the catfish and wanted a piece to give to our cats. Guy and Whiz didn't like fresh catfish. We are having fried catfish for dinner tonight. Who is taking bets that the kids take one bite and don't like it? Actually a more accurate bet would be which child will eat it and which one will not. ha!

Peace and Hooking on this Baby Kimono!

Worm Holder

James caught a fish. According to Jon and the scale, the fish weighed 35 lbs. It is as tall as James and has a nice fat belly on it, but I've been questioned about my facts. The good news is that we still have the fish. They caught it at the pay lake and Jon brought it home in a Tupperware container in the front seat of my Blazer and put it in Grandpa's pond. He did that on June 25th and the channel cat hasn't floated up, so it is a good bet, he's still there and we have a chance to reweigh him. Just to keep the facts as accurate as possible.

James insisted I print an 8X10 of the above picture for him to hang in his room. It took him an hour to reel the guy in. He was pretty stoked about it.

Tonight, they (Jon, James and Josh) are going to the pay lake again for an all night fish. James is insistent that he fish all night with Daddy. I asked him what I was going to do at home by myself and he said, "You can watch your movies in peace and quiet.". Smart boy. It's going to be interesting to see if James makes it through the entire night. He says he's going to try his hardest to fish all night. He's pretty intense about it. Is this normal for little boys and fishing?


The video below is 2 minutes long and is Jesse putting the worm on the worm holder all by herself. I just confessed I'm going to let my 5 year old stay up all night and fish, and now I'm going to confess that I let my 4 year old handle sharp objects. I'm really proud of them for doing the things they do. I'm glad I'm along for the ride and get to witness all their amazingness.

Things I Hate

I hate the fact that I haven't shared a finished object with ya'll in what feels like F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

I hate that I put on my blush this morning and smelled piss. Then realized it was my blush brush that smelled like pee. Then I forgot about it and now I'm at the office and realize I still have urea on my face. *sigh*

I hate when other people wear my socks. This goes way back to about age 13/14. I despised it then and I'm still not sharing my socks well with Jon. He wore them fishing. Do I need to say more?

I hate that I'm whining on a Thursday.

Here is my smack on the butt...My to-do list...I did it yesterday during a work meeting. Really, how long does it take to discuss the uses a 6 foot space of grass could have?! Five men...30 minutes. It sucked. I would have rather talked about fishing.

Anywho, here it is...

• Alpaca scarf
• Finish 2nd Pink and White armwarmer
• Finish Betty's Green blanket
• Make vanilla extract
• Figure out what to do with all those skeins of Pink and Brown yarn
• Finish Orange scarf
• Blog about dishrags
• Felt the Flower Bag
• Felt the 2 DSLR Snuggies
• Finish Capelette
• Finish DK Flying Triangle shawl
• Dye Shawl
• Put the edging on the Purple Go-To Scarf
• Baby giftsX2
• Picture Collage for Mommy Cards
• Dad Picture Fleece Blanket
• MyPublisher Album
• Mommy Cards
• Blog about Leather labels
• Check Delivery of Lens
• Blog about Bingo Book
• Check Delivery DVD Car Charger
• Check Delivery of Fleece Blankets

The lens is coming tomorrow. Via FedEx and I haven't got a soul to sign for it when it comes to my house. I'm going to be haunting the FedEx office Saturday morning. I mentioned my lens broke, right? Yeah. It did. Apparently there are a finite amount of actuation's on my Canon lens. I did not know that. It makes sense though, since it has a motor that runs the auto focus. Unfortunately the manual focus is pretty jacked too, so I haven't been taking pictures. I'm like a drug addict going through withdrawal without my camera.

What else? See all the planned blog posts? I've even got three drafts waiting plus the ones mentioned above that I've gotta write. One draft I'm going to toss, another I'm saving because it is really really personal and I'm not up to sharing quite yet, and the third one is a video of Jesse, which I will share soon.

Peace and Hook on Thursday!

Today

Today is a day of remembrance. A year ago today, I rushed through my days work and headed to my friends home not sure what I would be able to do. I just knew I had to be there. Not sure if I spoke much or if I shared anything, but I did what I've done in many people's lives. I stood as a sentinel. Remember the elf stories of the trees that stood for hundreds of years and saw all, knew all, witness the passage of time and the lives that passed by? That is the picture that is in my head this morning. The most I could offer this time last year was to stand with and be a witness. The grief wasn't mine to grab onto. I felt it was within me to be the support, to acknowledge and hopefully see the passage of time and the lessening of the pain.

Today, they have a Ryder. He was born six days ago to my friends, Ryan and Beth.

I hope that today they hold and hug their two little ones. I cannot think of anything else to do. Today, I feel as though I hold my breath, praying for the quick passage of time.

Yesterday, from the backseat I heard the following:

"Buckle up, James! Remember Rylee's best friend?"

A year ago, I kept the fact that Levi had passed away from my children. They didn't attend the funeral and I never talked to them about a child dying. Not sure why. My sadness may have been too much. I didn't want them to see me cry, so I said nothing. Jon did the same.

In the way of kids, though, J&J talked with other kids and found out that Levi had died in a four-wheeler accident. In the way of children they processed and applied it to their lives.

Today isn't about me or my kids or my family. Today, we remember Levi. Our hearts are with with the Jones' family. Lifting them up in prayer and love. We love. Always love.

Family Pictures

You might remember my family picture that I sent out for Christmas time? It was semi-okay. Let me tell you, though, my family pictures rarely turn out perfect. Above is about as perfect as I could ask for, so I'm eating my words. The only exception would be Jesse's double chin, Jon's scruff, my veiny hands and James squint. I'm loving it!


It took some ugly ducklins to kiss before I got the perfect shot. Or ear licking. Or weird tongue something or other happening...

Ut oh! This one was my fault. Jesse can sense her momma acting goofy a mile off. The girl feeds off me.

But THIS! This she did not get from me. She got it from her Nanny. My sister. Her Aunt Nanny.

Peace and Hope You Had A Great 4th!

Randoms

Jesse now jumps into the pool BY HERSELF. Huge strides for her. The life vest helps with her confidence and the noodle is just another prop for her to feel like she can jump into the pool. I remember being like this, there were certain elements that had to be in place before I felt I could do something. James on the other hand is just balls to the wall boy. Oh and I put on a bathing suit for the first time. I looked like a marshmallow with hearts.

Janne and I dropped the kids off with Jon at Pine Hill lake and went and had lunch at Chipotle and shopped for books. Then I felt guilty, so I called Jon and asked for them back and we took the kids swimming at the pool. Jon FTR, told me that he likes it better when the kids are there with him fishing. I told him he is an odd father that he would rather the kids go with him fishing than using fishing as a getaway. He laughed and said, "It's four more poles in the water when they are there." The kids LOVE fishing and I am thankful they all enjoy it.

Janne and I ate at PF Changs. I had the Moo Goo something or other and Janne had Sesame Chicken. We then went to the bookstore, then headed to the pool and sat poolside sunbathing for 3 hours. She read her entire book and I read 357 pages of mine. It was a divine day. I put on my other bathing suit, you know, the one I can wear when kids aren't around. Then realized as I walked out to the pool I may have left the sticky strip on the bottoms and ran back to the bathroom to check. I then realized my bottoms were reversible and had no sticky strip. I'm a goon.

Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these... Guy is not amused.

I ate/am eating lots and lots of lemon lime squares. I love them. I crocheted 11 dishcloths. I'll have to post about them.

As insane as this looks, it is divine. It is fajita seasoned fried chicken breasts with Monterrey jack and spinach on a bed of refried beans and topped with salsa, sour cream and fresh guacamole, all on a tortilla shell. I got it off of Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen website. Good stuff.

I'm having a blast with my sister this week. Love love love having her hang with us all week.

Peace and I Made A DSLR Snuggie!