WOW the snow is building up in front of my window.  One day soon I'll have to get out the snow blower and take down the drift...I like to see out my windows and enjoy nature out of doors.  We've had a full 2 weeks, working, cooking, baking, cleaning, and enjoying the company of children & grandchildren.

These three keep us hopping and entertained!  What blessings they are to all of us. Looking forward to more in the future.

This gift from my sister-in-law actually lost very few buds in transition and I enjoyed the color and beauty of a Christmas cactus.  The challenge is now to keep it alive and see if it'll bloom again next year.

An earlier snow fall coated the orchard trees and it's been so beautiful.  Most of it gets blown off but a picture captures the moment!

So Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year from our family to you!

After all this time....

It's been several years since I've posted anything here...it's a little easier to put things up on FB, but when I feel long winded, I think of my blog.

We are all waiting for the arrival of Abe & my first grandchild - but not holding our breath.  This little Raban will make an appearance when he/she's good and ready, maybe a little over baked but well done!  It's a lesson in patience for all of us, a waiting on the Lord, a fruit of His Spirit!  It's exciting and a time of much prayer!

It's a surprise (the gender) so we wait and wonder, and enjoy this time of preparation.

A rose bush I received from hubby last year is outdoing itself with blossoms this year, out side, where I'm not in control of water and sunlight, and it's flourishing!

Wow..it's been a while since last post...and things have been busy good or good busy. I have lots of photos to share of garden produce that's been making it's way into my kitchen.

Spring 2011

Big Blocks Black Solid Colors

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summer time

here's some photos of my flowers...they are beautiful!

Reno's

Updates: Amanda helped me with a painting project, and I'm happy with the results. This is the 'new' entrance look. Here's a shot of the bathroom, with tiles going around the area for our toilet, and in the whole shower. Now it's up to us to finish with the door casings. Entrance floor, not quite finished in here yet, but getting there. The new flooring upstairs in the hallway.

spring clean up

Spring cleaning can mean many different things to different folks...around here on the farm, there's always work in the garden and flower beds to get them cleaned up for their brief time in the sun...and in the outlaying buildings there's sometimes an accumulation of garbage to clean up and sometimes things the dog has misplaced during the snow & wind. One springtime practice is to burn up the old, dead grass to see what's hiding underneath. You will see in this photo that is what we did...unbenown at the time, though. A simple garbage fire, left unattended, spread to take care of not only old, dead grass, but also the oldest building on our yard...the old log cabin (more correctly a barn) with 1 ft logs on 2 walls (which I was making plans for). The barn was behind the semi-trailer in this photo. This is the foundation (cement-work) of the barn...as cement doesn't burn, it's left now for me to 'make plans' or clean up. The fire spread quite far, and nearly got this "part's car" parked in the shelterbelt. And no one noticed the flames, the smoke or the fire until there was nothing left.

Well, what do you all think? This is my next project...maybe...if it costs too much to get a professional to do it. I need the name of someone who's good, but not too expensive. This back piece is clean and thus doesn't show why I would get this re-upholstered, but the front is very dirty and kind of the wrong color & fabric for our entrance 'deacon's bench' .

winter storms

Here we thought our spring was coming, what with all the water and lakes rising on our back yards...but this looks a lot like winter to me! We were getting alot of water around us, nearly closing off the roads, but with this freezing and new snow, it's all a beautiful white again. Inside we've been keeping it warm and cozy...and so grateful we didn't have to drive alot or be somewhere important. On another note, with spring (suppose to be coming) I've been in a painting mood and here's what been changed.

February's job!

So I thought I would try my hand at quilting...a good friend of mine does it and my sister does it...but it's not just sewing and cutting right I'm finding out. Looking at this photo you can't see all the mistakes, and while I am not discouraged from doing it again, I am thinking I'll find a different pattern and bigger pieces next time. It's not done yet...need to buy the fiber fill and quilt it to the backing which is a nice flannel...and NO, there's no grandbaby that I'm planning for...I think this one will go in the crib we'll have at home when the time is right.

Lost Wages!!! But not mine!

Well, all of you are probably thinking...another vacation???? It sure helps to shorten the winter a bit, but part of me is thinking, it should be spring already! This going back and forth from winter to summer to winter to spring isn't working right with my mind. Enough with the snow...I'm ready for something else again. I think you'd say "I'm spoiled"...and you'd be right!!

But it's been a dream of Abe's to see Hoover Dam...and so we tagged on a few days of sight seeing and soaking up the sun and being lazy. I was somewhat blown away by the vision and execution of the dream in the building/construction of Hoover Dam. Anyone into that kind of stuff, should go see it and the 'building video' we got to see...impressive. We also headed out to the Valley of Fire State Park and it was lovely...half way into the walking around and I started wondering if all the tunnel or holes we were seeing were snakes' caves...yikes...suddenly the car seemed like a good place to be!!! We stayed at a very nice resort...offered many good activities and rides to places...and very comfortable accommodations...just too bad the weather didn't co-operate as I had hoped...temps stayed in the low 50's Fahrenheit...but it was sunny most of the time...so we did get in some time at the pool.

It's probably time again to update this page...I can't say that I've accomplished big things, just many little things...like sewing some skirts for our daughters, baking, cleaning, sorting & eliminating junk, organizing my projects in order of importance to me or pleasure in finishing...not sure about which it is. We haven't taken pictures recently and haven't gone away, just spent time working away at what needs doing. We've had some good family times, entertaining some, and looking at the next week, we'll be hanging out in one waiting room or the other a bit more. Here's a cute shot of from a couple of years ago...isn't she lovely?

taming of the shrew

Have you ever read the book or seen the movie? Well, neither have I...but it fits this blog....as Janine is finding she has roommates in her residence. She's been able to catch them on film as they are not afraid of her...apparently shrews can not see well, but their hearing is suppose to be exceptional...they must like her music for they come out to play when it's on. So some traps were purchased and as you can see, there was some success in catching three of them...they get stuck on the sticky pad and can't run away and when placed outside, they freeze to death...so humane and clean. And the seed (bait) is left for others to be lured with. Ingenious!!!!

Mexico 2008

Here's a photo of the resort we stayed at...it's the Mayan Palace in Neuvo Vallarta..this view is from the pool looking up at the hotel. We had clear skies everyday all day long. They had put up metal art nativity sets in several locations...I was impressed that it wasn't all Santa Claus and snowmen (artificial of course). Abe amongst some bougainvilleas...we saw white ones, yellow ones, pink ones, fushia ones, red ones, orange ones, blue ones, purple ones...isn't he cute?

Christmas 2008

Wow!!! We've been busy and not...here's some pics of our time away. We left December 12 and drove to Minneapolis, stayed the night and then flew out early Saturday morning, arriving at noon in Peurto Vallarta. We stayed there till Christmas Eve, leaving at noon and flying into Minneapolis by 4 p.m. We drove till Fargo and stayed the night, driving home the rest of the way on Christmas day. The whole family was with us in Mexico , and we had a great time. Here you can see some of the kids playing in the ocean...we really enjoyed the body surfing, and for our son-in-law, it was a first time. The waves were best in the afternoon, and we all got our fill of sea salt...blegh!!!

Hoar Frost painting by God

Can you see all the brush strokes? It looks like feathers...we see this almost every morning, after a colder night, on the window of our patio door. I think it's beautiful!

Winter and Christmas

wow...time flies when you're having fun....well, even if you're not...I'm going from Thanksgiving to Christmas in one blog...that's pathetic but real. I'm putting in some pictures of a past holiday to give you all something to drool over...we are taking the family to Mexico...same resort as in these pictures, for our Christmas/winter holiday. We all very excited. And I baked pappanate (peppernuts) like my grandma's today...enjoy!!Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Thanksgiving

Wow...what a holiday! We had the family home for awhile, and we got some work done and some catching up of our lives done and some eating...good eating! I tried out a few new ideas...a little bit different from the norm and it worked. Potatoe salad became garden salad; duplicated a yummy salad from D.MichaelB.'s restaurant which turned out really well; turkey in the tinfoil wrap instead of plastic bag; cranberry/orange stuffing instead of stove top; garlic mashed potatoes instead of plain m. potatoes; and even a new pumpkin pie recipe and EVERYTHING tasted delicious!!!! Amanda was a big help in the kitchen Monday morning...and a walk later helped the digestion.These are the apple, rhubarb, and pumpkin pies...I use about 3/4 of the recipe of flour as whole wheat flour and cane sugar for healthier pies. They still taste delicious!! These are pumpkin/coconut loaves...great breakfast or snack. They turned out really good.

Albertsville

Well, since last entry...our vacation to Clear Lake...I've been busy again. My sisters and I went on a shopping trip to .....yep, you guessed it...Albertville's Outlet Mall. We shopped, and shopped, and picked up some great bargains, and had a good time connecting with each other again too. It's not that we live far apart, but our busy lives keep us from seeing each other oftener, and we make it a priority to spend a day together every spring and every fall, just this fall it was an extended get-together for this trip. We left Thursday after work, staying in Fargo for the night, and driving the rest of the way Friday, arriving around noon. We got some good time in Friday and all day Saturday; and drove home Sunday. God blessed us with great weather for the drive there and for the shopping. The rain started as we were leaving to come home, and it ended before we got home. A little excitement for us was having a slow leaking tire Sunday morning, but we found kind young man who was willing to change it for us. I don't have any pictures of the experience, just memories in my head...not much sleep, so they might get fuzzy with time. I'm glad to be home and happy with my time away. While I was gone, Janine ruled the roost; the twins had an experience loosing their tailpipe and Abe & Matthew finished combining our soybeans. We are finished with the harvesting but have some fall field tillage left to do and the garden still to clean out. Even though we've had a couple of frosts, someone's been faithful in covering up the produce still out there.

Clear Lake, Sept. 2008

Well, last week was our family's summer holiday, and it being end of September, it was more fall than summer, but we all had a good time. Clear Lake was beautiful as always....