Happy 4th Birthday, KT!!!

KT turns 4 today!  There's no big party this year since we're all waiting for little Joss to arrive, but her mamma made a gorgeous cake for her the other day, and her dad made supper for us all on the grill. She got a new pair of red cowgirl boots from Mimi and Grumpy.   Love you, KT Bug!

Sydney's Vet Appointment

Sydney had her final puppy shots on Friday -- she weighs 20.6 pounds now!  

A new new chicken house!

John's decided we need an even bigger chicken house, so he got started right away and is in the midst of construction.  This will be a different design, completely enclosed.  I'll post up occasionally as he moves along....I haven't been able to help much because I've had a horrible reaction to the cedar pollen this year -- awful.  So poor John's been almost totally on his own. (He may even like it better that way -- I ask too many questions! ha!)

This summer!!!

I wish I had HBO, only for this....

Spring is coming....

Dad's Birthday

Today my dad would have been 91 years old.  I'm thinking of you today, Dad!

Here he is at Landa Park, probably around 1947 or 48

Movie Review --- Lone Survivor

I'll admit right off that I didn't want to go see this movie.  I just knew it was going to be hard to watch, and I'd much rather watch something that's scifi, or chick-flicky, then watch real life pain. I'm kind of a wuss that way.  But John's been wanting to see this since we heard about it, and I only reluctantly went along with him, vowing to "not watch" the parts I knew were going to upset me too much. [And, selfishly, now John owes me a chick flick. Ha! Let's see if that works.]

But I'm here to tell you, you can not NOT watch this movie.  Once you get to know these men, and the movie does a great job of getting us to CARE about what happens to them right off the bat, you can't not be there for them throughout the film.

They carefully start the movie by showing how hard it is to pass the SEAL training, which was definitely a good idea -- you know that these guy's are the toughest of the toughest, and not just any foot soldier being sent into harm's way.

I was impressed by the job done by these Hollywood actors.  Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch (John Carter!), Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster should all be up for awards.  They were magnificent. I'd like to think that the real men that they portrayed would be proud of how they looked on film. I read that Taylor Kitsch and Mark Wahlberg, and the director Peter Berg, worked at a discount on this film -- only taking the minimum required salaries.  That says a lot about how dedicated they were to getting this film made.

There's so much I could say about this on the political side of things, but I've vowed to keep this blog out of politics, so you will have to imagine what I'd like to say.  Suffice to say, I came out of this movie angry. I should say A N G R Y! And more determined than ever.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

Can. Not. Wait.

January Food Challenge

My January resolution?

I made a challenge to myself to spend the entire month only eating food from our freezer and pantry -- not buying anything new except the usual few things that we don't store, like milk or eggs, etc.  So far so good!

To start out the month, I pulled out a big bag of turkey that John fried at Thanksgiving -- and we've had several meals made out of that.  I made a delicious turkey pot pie the other night, and tonight we're having turkey hash!

We may be eating lots of veggies by the end of the month, but hopefully I'll have cleaned out some room in the both freezers!  It's kind of fun to figure out what to make out of what I find as we uncover what's buried in there.

I also have lots of food in the pantry that may be getting close to their expiration date (we found some canned fruit that had expired two years ago in their yesterday! ha!) (no, Colleen, we didn't eat it -- it went in the trash.) So we're going to go thru all that stuff throughout the month too.

January Wreath

 I've had these white foam snowflakes for about three years, packed away in a box of "stuff" (yes, I have many boxes of stuff...don't judge me!)  So I hot glued them in about three layers on a wire backing, then added some snowflakes that were meant as table scatter (I guess that's some new thing people of putting on tables now, because I'm seeing lots of this stuff lately.)

 I had a few plastic larger snowflakes that I hot glued on.  I was going to use a white bow, but after I put it on it just didn't look right, so it's gone.  I like the simplicity of it this way.  Now, let it snow!!!

Getting ready for Joss!

I had the honor of making Joss's blankies recently.  Colleen ordered the materials that she wanted, and I spent a day making two blankets for her.  They turned out really well, if I do say so myself.  I've worked with Minky before, so I knew it would take some extra work to keep it from slinking away, but its so very soft. I love it.

Cute little foxes and elephants!

Then this week I made her a warm little bonnet that I found online...I had fun sewing this up! I used a real soft little print and fleece for the lining...I have no idea where the woman who made this gets sherpa?? But the fleece works fine, I think.

Next up I'm making a few burp rags.  Just staying busy!

We grew our own luck this year....

...wonder if that will give us extra, extra good luck?  These are those Red Ripper Cowpeas that we grew in the big back garden last spring and dried.  I soaked them all day and cooked them up using a Hoppin John recipe that I found.

 Oh, my....these were so very good! Definitely use the dash of cayenne pepper, it gives it a bit of flavor.  So, this was our supper on January 1st.

Spending a day with KT Bug!

I'm so glad that KT's school was closed for Christmas eve, because we got to spend most of the day with her.  We had the usual fun and a trip to the library, plus KT brought her new car that Santa brought her.  She drove that thing all over the place.

I tried to put up the video that I took of her on her car, but it wouldn't download. Frustrating.....

Another little Christmas celebration!

Last Saturday we got to spend the evening with the Hoyts, the Wren's and meet Katie's new friend, Jason.  We had a great evening -- and I didn't even have to cook! They brought along some
delicious BBQ.  So glad we got to see those little Wrens too! That Addie is growing like a weed, walking pretty well.  Angie and Michael have a big place out in the country now, and Angie is planning a vegetable garden this spring.

Happy New Year!

We had a nice quiet New Year's eve this year.  John and I had an all appetizers meal and watched a couple of movies -- we both made it to midnight, but just barely!  I wish a wonderful 2014 to everyone!

Uncle JR brought over some sparklers a few days before the new year.

Sydney is growing!

Our little girl is definitely growing...she was  10.2 pounds when we took her in to the vet at 11 weeks, and was 15.4 pounds when she had her next appointment at 14 weeks old.  She's mostly house trained now, hasn't had an accident since Christmas day (she got a little excited when we had so much company...poor baby.)

Christmas 2013

Oh my gosh, I haven't posted since December 18th! I can't believe I've let this go so long....my only excuse is that we have a new baby in the house (a baby of the puppy variety!)

 I'm going to put up just one long post to cover our very busy Christmas week.  I told John tonight when I downloaded all my photos, I just didn't take enough pictures this year, I just wasn't focused on it this year. 

First, JR and Ashley arrived via train on the Friday before Christmas, very early in the morning.  They really seemed to enjoy the two day train ride here, so John and I have resolved to try a trip that way one day.  We met them for breakfast that morning - they looked great!

JR and Ashley at the Magnolia Pancake House

JR came out the next morning and made kolaches for us -- meanwhile I had already started a batch of sweet rolls, so we both worked in the kitchen that day -- Colleen and KT came out to visit and KT got a lesson in making kolache rolls from her Uncle.

My hot chocolate with kolache roll for breakfast the next morning!

On Christmas morning we had breakfast with Jeff, Colleen and KT at their home -- this has become a tradition for the past three years!  KT got to show off everything that Santa had brought her, and she had quite a few wonderful things from that jolly old man!

 KT showed me the cookies and milk that she left for Santa - he ate most of them!

KT showing off her new tricked out car (Hello Kitty!) and dragon costume!

Then we had Christmas lunch at our house -- a great bunch.  Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy came, too, along with the Hoyts, with Katie who was in town for the holiday, and our niece Adrienne, and Ashley's dad and sister also came along.  

Those of us who were still here in the late afternoon....

 

 KT made us a garden stone with her 3 year old hand!

 Ashley's sister, Karoline, is in the business of making craft ice creams - she brought us a couple of samples! Delicious - her ice cream is very creamy.  We all took a couple of spoonfuls and wish her well in her new endeavor!

 KT showing off yet more gifts! She was totally overwhelmed with gifts this Christmas.

Seat belt pet!

JR and Ashley had to leave on Thursday, the day after Christmas, so we met her dad and sis for lunch that day before they had to get to the airport.  Wish they could have stayed for much longer (or forever, ha!) but I'm glad they got to come for the holiday.

I don't know about you, but I think Christmas just whizzed by me this year. Might just be my age, time is just speeding along.  I want more time to stop and think, please!
More posts tomorrow -- I have lots to catch up with!