Odds and Ends

Well, there is still no "official" Friday's Feast this week. I read that the chef has been having some virus issues with her computer. Bummer... I really look forward to doing those little quizzes each Friday. It gives me something fun to look forward to as I wake up.

The sweet corn has come in around here. The kids and I drove up to a local farmer's market place the other day and got a dozen ears. Oh, are they yummy!! The neighbor's chicken has been enjoying it as well. Every time that we cook some to eat, the kids insist that we cut some off of the cob for little Meg.

On Sunday, Amanda and Shasta participated in the pet parade at the fair. It was so much fun... We had given a bit of thought about it before, but it wasn't until Miss B called and filled us in on the details that we decided to go for it... of course, that was about 15 minutes before we needed to leave. We dressed Amanda up in one of her favorite dresses and put a big matching ribbon around Shasta's neck. They both looked so "pretty in pink". They won Reserve Champion in their class! Amanda was so excited. She talked about it for days and days. Here are a couple of pictures of the girls:



And, here are some of the other participants:






Last night, I attended my first quilting class at a local quilt shop. It was a blast! I am so excited about it. I was able to get a lot of cutting done for my project... but, I do still have some homework to do. I guess that I have to get through the weekend first.

Gotta go for now... Doug's mom and her husband are coming over tomorrow. We'll be having James' birthday party on Sunday. The house doesn't look ready for visitors yet. Hope that I can make some progress today... a LOT of progress!

Fun on the Farm

The kids and I had a great time yesterday at our local county fair. Farm Fun Adventure Day was held yesterday. You can read more about it here. A photographer from the paper took some pictures of the kiddos working on their craft. I haven't seen the paper today, so I don't know if it made the final edit or not... It was very hot, but the kids hung in there like troopers. As a matter of fact, after refueling with some milk and cookies, we headed back out into the sweltering heat for another couple of hours. We watched part of the 4-H Dog Show and went back through a few of the animal barns. I think that they had the most fun looking at the chickens. Since we have become so acquainted with our neighbor's chickens, it was fun to compare and contrast the different breeds.

On a somewhat related note, here are some pictures from earlier this month when we went up and picked cherries at Mom and Dad's house. The cherry pie that I baked was deemed "the best cherry pie" that Doug had ever had! And, of course, I had to include a picture of Shasta sleeping off all of her busy activity. Shouldn't I be the one sleeping on the couch after baking that pie?

Enjoy...

The Graduate

We have an "official" graduate of the local PetSmart's Beginner training class! Last night, Shasta passed her final exam with flying colors. She then was able to participate in the graduation parade, complete with Pomp and Circumstance playing over the loudspeaker, around the store. She received a certificate and a gift (a big bag of doggie bone treats)... and, the best part was when she was able to put on the mortar board and pose for a few pictures. Here they are... don't laugh too hard.

Shasta with her graduation present:


Donning the mortar board:


Shasta's "official" graduation photo:


Hawk's "official" graduation photo:

It's Friday - Wahoo!!

Time for a Friday's Feast. There wasn't one last week because of the birthday of our Great Nation! I'm sure that all two readers of my blog really missed it. LOL! Here is this week's feast. Enjoy!


Appetizer:
When was the last time you had your hair cut/trimmed? Saturday, June 7th... yes, of this year. As a side note... I just LOVE to have my hair done. The whole experience is just so relaxing... having someone else wash it, dry it... Oh, I love it! It's one of my very few indulgences these days.

Soup:
Name one thing you miss about being a child. I miss the stress-free lifestyle - no worries, all fun and playtime! I am still able to play with my kiddos and read books and play outside... just like being a kid. But, when all of that ends, I still have the adult responsibilities of running a house and keeping things going for the family.

Salad:
Pick one: butter, margarine, olive oil. Olive oil for certain... gotta stick with that since I'm on the "healthy" kick right now.

Main Course:
If you could learn another language, which one would you pick, and why? I think that I would have to say Spanish. Why? Well, I would be able to fluently sing along with the Wiggles when they sing "Ensalada de Fruit de Fresca". And, I would be able to understand what the waiters are saying when we go to the authentic Mexican restaurants around here. If on the other hand, I could pick two new languages, the other one would have to be Italian, due to my Italian heritage. When I was little, my grandmother tried to teach me a few words in Italian... none of them really stuck. Well, maybe a couple... grazie, ciao...

Dessert:
Finish this sentence: In 5 years I expect to be… in pretty much the same place that I am now. The kiddos will be 10 and almost 8. I will still be staying at home... tending to them and all the critters. I will be 43... I guess that right now, I am in a pretty secure and non-changing life phase, which is perfectly ok by me.

Catching Up

Wow! I'm not sure where the time has gone. Apparently, I haven't posted a new entry since June 30th... Well, I know for certain that we have been extremely busy... Not sure where to start.

We had a splendid Fourth of July weekend. On the Fourth, we spent some time with two awesome families. We had a lunchtime cookout with my friend, Lowell, and his family. We hadn't seen them for probably close to a year. Well, Doug sees Lowell every week at golf... but, anyway. We went over, had a great meal and got to visit and catch up a lot. The kids had a fun time playing together, also, James was in seventh heaven, as he was the only boy. At one point, the girls picked him up and were carrying him around. He loved it! Later that day, we met up with our neighbors and went to our local parade... then back home to chat and sit around the campfire... and then off to our local fireworks (which were a huge bust).

On the fifth, we hosted a cookout at our place. Mendi, Dean and Anzie were in town, so they were able to attend along with Dean's Mom. My Mom and Dad came... and our aforementioned neighbors came over also. It was a house full! But, boy was it fun. We really do need to host get-togethers more often. At nightfall, the neighbor boys put on quite a fireworks display for us. It was the end to a wonderful celebration.

Our new neighbors moved in on the fifth. We've talked with the mom and daughter a couple of times. They seem like very nice folks. I thank God for bringing us nice neighbors. I know that he had a hand in it, since the mom is a Methodist minister. LOL!

The past week has been one of ups and downs. Mom went to her doctor for a checkup and got a good report... However, she had to do an overnight oxygen test, and it seems as though it didn't go as well as she had thought... She'll find out more today when she goes in for another test - this one a walking/oxygen test.

Darwin the duck flew the coop early in the week. We were all saddened by his disappearance. We all kind of expected him to leave sometime, just not so soon. Well, yesterday morning we received a call from the neighbors... and Darwin had returned! He spent the day sleeping in his pool. He must have had quite the adventure. As if that part of the story (his departure and return) wasn't neat enough... there is more to it! Our neighbor was at work yesterday and was chatting with her previous boss. She told him the whole story about Darwin's adventure. When she got done, he looked at her and said, "Your duck has been at my house." This man has a home on a large pond not far from where we live. He has a flock of ducks... and the last couple of days, there had been one extra. Low and behold, when he went home for lunch yesterday, he did a head count... and the extra duck wasn't there anymore. Miss B (our neighbor) and her sons banded Darwin last evening so that if he did fly away to her boss's home again, they would be able to tell for sure. As we were over there visiting last night, Darwin enjoyed some fresh worms and double-impatiens blooms from James and Amanda. After his snack, he took a bath in his pool... and all of a sudden hopped out, looked around, stretched his legs... and took off flying to the East (where the boss lives). It will be interesting to get a follow-up report to see if Darwin arrived there... It was a bittersweet event to see him fly off... kinda sad, but really kinda cool. Amanda was able to see him depart. I think that it helped her put all the pieces together, too...

I called the "Call Before You Dig" folks yesterday. They should be arriving any day to spray-paint nice little dots all over our backyard. As soon as that gets taken care of, Doug can begin digging the big hole for our little pond! I'm sure that he's excited about that...