Come spend the day with me!

Friday, December 5, 2008
4:32am: wake up, put a load of laundry in, let the dogs out. Crawl back into bed & watch the news until the alarm goes off.

4:50am: Alarm goes off. Drats!!!

5:15am: Roll out of bed...again. Make sure daughter is up for school.

5:25am: Get cozy on the couch and watch Channel 3 news until it is time for hubby to leave for work.

6am: hubby should leave now...

6:15am: hubby leaves for work.

6:20am: eat breakfast.

6:40am: get daughter moving...bus will be here very shortly. Bus may be late today, we got about 4-5" of the white fluffy stuff and big white flakes are still coming down!

6:48am: bus is here!

6:55am: write a new post on my blog.

7:15am: start thinking about getting to the barn to feed the 2 steers out there!

7:20am: need to get son up & moving before I go to the barn.

7:25am: to the barn I go!

7:30am: feed & water Brutus. talk to the cats. Feed Kumar, he has plenty of water in his stock tank. also need to shovel some manure from Brutus' pen. Give Brutus some hay.

7:50am: back in from the barn.

7:55am: get son to eat some breakfast.

8:00am: make sure son is eating breakfast!

8:05am: gotta pack son's lunch.

8:15am: quick run through-- does he have his boots, snowpants, hat, gloves, lunch, book bag...?

8:25am: Son needs to get out to the bus!

8:35am: the bus has arrived!

8:45am: get dressed, need to go to town to get daughter at school for an ortho app't.

9:15am: pack punchneedle stuff--need something to do during her app't. Has had her top braces since early September, getting bottoms put on today!

9:30am: head up to the high school to get daughter.

10:00am: arrive at school

10:10am: leave school

10:20am: arrive at ortho

11:15am: SHE IS DONE :)

11:25am: stop and get her some acetaminaphine.

11:30am: drop her back off at school

11:45am: ran an errand---can't say or daughter will know what she is getting for Christmas!

12:00n: ran another errand---can't say for son will know what he is getting for Christmas!

12:30pm: ran to Walmart, needed a few odds-n-ends!

1:45pm: arrive home

2:05pm: go to elementary school to give blood. I know it is a great thing to do, but I hate needles and have never done this before (yes, I am a lab tech!!). But son really really wanted this stuffed blood cell and if I gave blood he would get one. So needless to say, I signed up and now I feel like I am going to pass out and I have not even gotten to the school yet!

2:30pm: start all my paperwork for donating blood. My palms are sweaty, my pits are soaked, I feel light headed! But 2 good friends are also there at the same time. One has given, one hasn't either! We can do this together! The friend that has let's us know that it is nothing! Being a lab tech, I know what size the needle is...I am still afraid!

2:45pm: the needle is going into my arm...wow! I did not feel 1 thing! Jessi was right! I was so happy that Jessi was in the other chair facing me and was there to keep talking to me while the procedure was going!

3:30pm: It went great! I will do this again! Cody gets his little blood cell after all!

3:45pm: back home! And I didn't pass out! Whew!

4:00pm: back to the barn for evening feeding time!

4:25pm: back in the house

4:30pm: time to jump in the shower, have a Christmas party to go to!

5:45pm: let's get a move on, the party starts in 15 minutes!

6:09pm: arrive at the Christmas party!

6:30pm: eat a wonderful dinner! If you ever get a chance to go to Josephine's in Jefferson--go!! The food is great! The owners are wonderful!

7:30pm: time for white elephant! What fun! Bart ended up with a Texas Hold'em set..(that will be regifted!) and I got a little basket with 2 gingerbread cookies and a jar of jam! Yum!

9:00pm: time to leave. One of the party goers invited us back to their place for wine. I had the best peach wine!

11:00pm: arrive home! need to get to bed, tomorrow's schedule is even worse! Gotta take Brutus to the fairgrounds for weigh in and tagging for fair! We will be there from 8-2 pm and then off to another Christmas party!

11:30pm: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Getting ready for Christmas!

Our Italian Tree - insprired by my heritage on my mom's side!

Our Pewter Tree--this was started by my Longaberger ornament collection, but many other pewter ornaments have been added. This picture does not do this tree justice! It has white lights, pearl garland and pewter ornaments with some red poinsettias here and there!


My Christmas decorating is well underway! I only have 2 rooms left to finish! I have the pewter tree in our den. In our dining room, I have the Italian tree and the John Deere tree. In the kitchen, I have a small Polish tree. In the living room I have the miniature Hallmark tree along with a tree that just has Hallmark garden themed ornaments. Next week we will go cut down a live tree that will go in the living room and has all of our other Hallmark ornaments. My son has his full size tree up and a table top one. My daughter has a full size horse themed tree up in her room and a table top horse themed tree. In our upstairs hallway, we have what we call our "Gaga & Popi" tree. What is that, you ask? Well, when my hubby's grandparents moved here from Michigan, I bought them a pencil tree for their apartment and every year I would go over and put it up for them. When they had both passed away I knew I had to put a tree just like that one in memory of them. So I went out and bought a tree and just happened to find all the same ornaments that i had used on their tree! So now we have a "Gaga & Popi" tree! In my bathroom, I usually have a blue themed tree, but this year the lights died and I did not want to wait to go and buy more...I wanted to get it up right then and there. So it is a hodge podge tree this year! In my bedroom will go the snowman tree and a new tree---my Bill Hixson ornament tree! ( I got the pleasure of meeting him the night before we left for Savannah!-I bought a bunch of his ornaments and he signed them!!) All my trees have started out as 4' trees and as I accumulate more ornaments,they grow to 7' trees! I have a tree down in our family room that is all handmade ornaments that people have given me or that I or the kids have made! I am also adding an OSU tree in there this year since the room has an OSU theme to it! Gosh--did I forget any trees???
I just love decorating for the holidays! I owe that to 2 special people that have touched my life! On my dad's side it was my Aunt Joanne. She always had the most festive house at Christmas! We would go over there on Christmas Eve (more about that story later--I will let you know my childhood memories soon!). Anyway..she had colorful Christmas lights EVERYWHERE! I can still picture her mantle and her nook in her kitchen! I always thought "when I grow up this is how I want my house at the holidays!" She will always have a special place in my heart! I miss her and wish she was still here to see my home!
My other inspiration is my Aunt Jo on my mom's side. She is a wonderful person! I loved going to her house on Christmas Day! She always had the most awesome tree you can ever imagine! I can still see it....I loved the chocolate ornaments she would hang on it! I happened to find them last year at World Market and was able to put them on my tree for my kids! It brought back many wonderful memories! I also remember all her pine cone wreaths she had hanging! They were gorgeous! And I remember a wreath that was made out of paper cones and the paper had little squares cut out of them! It was neat!
As you can imagine, I have lights and garland anywhere you can put lights and garland! I do not even have to turn on any regular lights! Nothing is more magical that sitting in the glow of holiday lights! And they must be colored! White lights are pretty, don't get me wrong--but I use those the rest of the year! It is the colored lights I remember as a child!

Today, I am jotting down everything I do for the day and tomorrow I will chronicle my day for you! I am one busy person! Come spend a day with me!

Until tomorrow....

Savannah, Georgia!

One of our "Horse Crazy" photos!

Spanish moss hanging from a tree downtown Savannah!

22 lb. Tom Turkey...looks done to me :)

What a beautiful place! We went to Richmond Hill, GA for Thanksgiving. It is a tradition. We stay with my husband's brother & his family. This year...the WHOLE gang went down! It was fantastic! God love my sister-in-law for putting up with all of us. 20 of us in all! And we all stayed at their lovely home! My husband and I along with the 2 kids got there on Sunday before Thanksgiving. My in-laws came in on Tuesday. And the rest of the family arrived on Wednesday. Here is how the whole trip went:

We left early Saturday morn...like 6am. We drove to Charlotte so that I could spent an evening with my very bestest friend Beth (Old Tyme Design--check out her cool blog!). She was at the Southern Christmas show so I got to do a little shoppin'!! We try to get the hotel before the OSU/Mich game so that Bart & Russ can watch the game, but this year it was an early game...so needless to say, I had to hear football onthe radio! Anyway Beth came over to our hotel to have dinner with us and we exchanged our Christmas gifts! Boy---she knows how to spoil my kids! She gave them a "He Fartsalot"....he can fart Old McDonald! (Everytime I turn around someone is squeezin' his thingy and making him toot!) anyway...it was a short but sweet visit! Then Sunday we got to Savannah around 1pm.

We just chilled out...baked cookies! Teri made great pasta! Then we crashed...went to bed by 8pm....I wanted to watch "24-Redemption but fell asleep as soon as I sat down! I was whipped! Monday morning, we went downtown Savannah! We always eat lunch at The Lady & Sons, owned by Paula Deen! DELICIOUS! If you ever get a chance to go to Savannah----GO!!! What an awesome town! You have to do the "On/Off" tour at Old Savannah Tours! And of course you have to eat at The Lady & Sons....get there right at 11am! Or you will have to wait hours! And you can not miss River Street! and then there is City Market! There is just too much to list! okay...back to my trip! So Monday we also ran to Bass Pro Shop & Camper's World! My hubby was in his glory there----we pulled in and they were taking a $260,000 motor home to get gas and asked if we wanted to ride along and then let him DRIVE!! I was a basketcase! He was in love---and not with me :) no----we did not buy it! But we can always dream!

So back to the house...I made my chicken casserole for dinner and hubby made an awesome salad! I promised my Godchild I would help her make Berry Blue Clouds...a jello dessert! They did come out pretty cool! Tuesday, I took my daughter and 2 nieces shopping and out to lunch while hubby, son & my brother-in-law ran some other manly errands! Tuesday when we got back, the girls and I made 4 pumpkin rolls. My mother-in-law got there and made an apple pie and cherry pie---God Bless her...she made her crust from scratch! I made 4 pumpkin pies and guess what....I rolled out the ol' Pillsbury crust! Thank God for Pillsbury! Then everyone else got there Wednesday. My hubby had to make his wings in the deep fryer. I made the sauces. We made 30 lbs. of wings! I made terriayki, hot, BBQ, & Butter garlic. I also threw together Beth's awesome beans!---Maybe she'll post the recipe on her blog!!

We also got some of the casseroles put together on Wednesday and cut up everything for our stuffing. Needed to make Thanksgiving as stressfree as possible! So we wake up on Thanksgiving...have a couple of casseroles to finish....a 14 lb turkey to fry and a 22 lb. yard bird to bake in the oven! Time to stuff the bird----the bird got all cleaned out after I went to bed on Wednesday. So he comes out of the frig...brother-in-law stuffs him and has an enormous amount of stuffing left...I tell him to stuff the front too. He asks "Where?" I say, "Under that flappy thing!" "Here,?" he points...."YES!!" So he lifts it up.......STILL FULL OF GIZZARDS! So he had to finish "cleanin' out" ol' Tom Turkey and finish stuffing him! I was laughing! I got the biggest kick out of it! I said, "Didn't you wonder where they were last night?" LOL LOL LOL!

Anyway....we got everything cooked and dinner was fabulous! We all added our own little tradional dishes! It was a colaboration of traditions! Another funny story...my sister-in-law made this pineapple cheddar cheese dish...very good! She asked how everyone liked it...and one brother-in-law says, "I didn't get any"...we all pointed out that he did and already ate it...he said, "No, that was my cheesy potatoes!"...so we teased him the rest of dinner about his "Cheesy Potatoes"!!

After dinner my mother-in-law got everyone together for a family photo! She got all the girls a "Horse Crazy" t-shirt to wear and all the guys wore black t-shirts. My kids were crabby because they had not gotten any sleep for 3 days...busy staying up with all the cousins! So they were refusing to get dressed....I was mad at them....needless to say, I'll be surprised if we are all smiling in ours!

And then Friday morning we packed back into the car for our drive back north to the cold snow! As much as I love the south, I gotta have my snow! Especially this time of year!

It was fantastic having everyone together for the first time in ages!

hey that leads me to another GREAT recipe!! My sister-in-law got me hooked on this many Thanksgivings ago! It has become a tradition! It is a recipe from her Grandma B!!

Pear Salad

1 lg Lime Jello

1 lg can pears, reserve juice

2 (3oz.) cream cheese

1 tub cool whip

Combine juice & water to equal 2 C. Boil; dissolve jello. Add pears (cut up into smaller pieces) and cream cheese. Blend. Fold in cool whip. Refrigerate until firm. YUM-MO!!! I can not eat enough of this stuff!!

Great Recipe for Christmas Morn!

With Christmas just 24 days away, I HAVE to share a great recipe for Christmas morning! It is for Overnight French Toast! Just whip this up sometime on Christmas Eve, leave it in the frig overnight and when you wake up Christmas morn, pop it in the oven and when you are done opening all your goodies from Santa, you will have a delicious breakfast to eat! This recipe is so yummy!! Enjoy!

Overnight French Toast

8 lg. eggs
3 C milk
1 T vanilla
1 t cinnamon
1 t sugar
2 T butter
1 loaf french bread

Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Slice bread into 1/2" slices and arrange in dish to fit snug with sides touching. Beat eggs; add milk, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar. Pour over bread. Cover with foil and put in refrigerator. Needs to be made at least 4 hours ahead of time. Can be made up to 36 hours ahead!!
Before baking, uncover dish and dot with butter. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until puffy. Serve with syrup!

Kumar

This is Kumar. He is our dairy steer. My son raised 2 dairy beef feeders for 4-H this year and could only take 1 to the fair. So now we have this one to finish raising. Can you guess what Cody named his other dairy beef feeder?? Harold. As in 'Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.' Well, I guess eventually they could go there....at least he has a sense of humor about it! He gave them their names thanks to our ag agent who always called the two from the previous year, Ham and Burger. So then Cody thought Hamburger... White Castle....Harold and Kumar!!! The down side to that....when we went to Florida last spring, we passed a White Castle. Of course my hubby & kids were JUST tickled....I was ready to barf! And so we HAD to stop. I'm sorry for those of you that like WC, but I think the burgers are like little pieces of bland cardboard stuck in a mushy bun! PUKE PUKE!
So anyway, we have Kumar. He LOVES to eat the tails off my mother-in-law's horses! Poor horses! Well actually they love it!! She had chicken fence installed around the pen so he could not get to their tails....now they back up to the gate-- ON PURPOSE!! They love it! I feel terrible, they have stubby, scrappy looking things hanging behind them! Hopefully one day soon our own barn will be done and he can come next door to our house!

Oh The First Snowfall of the Season...

What a change from the fall photo above! We had our first major snowfall on Monday, November 10! We woke up to this beautiful white stuff! There is nothing more exciting than the first snowfall! And as a tradition for the last 10 years, I ALWAYS ALWAYS call my good friend Beth and play Karen Carpenter singing "The First Snowfall of the Season!" It's tradition! I started doing it 10 years ago when we moved out here. She moved to North Carolina 3 years ago and I still do it! I love snow when I can stay home and watch it out the window! Living out in the country makes it even more beautiful! Looking over to the woods and seeing it accumulate on the branches....the bright red cardinals coming to the feeder....the wind creating snow ponies out in the fields....

Although I must say...when we lived in the city, we would bundle up and put our daughter on a sled and pull her around the neighborhood with the big fluffy flakes falling around us. That was fun too! But I still think winter out here in the country is unforgettable! I am sure the kids will grow up with many great memories to share!

All the snow really put me in the mood for Christmas! And I was excited to see that XM Radio started playing their holiday music 24/7 on Channel 34! You can guess where I have my dial set! I am hoping to start decorating any day now! I'll keep you all posted!

Whoa!

Oh what fun!! I did something unexpected today! I rode a horse!! I dropped my son Cody off at a friend's house and his friend's mom had her two horses saddled up! She asked Cody if he wanted to ride but he said no. So she asked me!! It has been a year and a half since I have been on a horse. We rode around their property. Oh how relaxing! There is nothing better than to be able to leisurely ride around and enjoy the scenery on a horse!

That leads me to a story...I have always been afraid of horses! Why, you ask? Well....you ever notice how they kind of have that Orca eye? You know the eye I am talking about! That movie Orca where the whale just stares at the people on the boat before attacking them!! YIKES!! Whenever I see a horse's eye--I immediately think ORCA!! Well....when my daughter Tori was little, she wanted to take horse riding lessons. Okay. So I signed her up and took her to the stable. We walk to the door and Oh Holy Crud, the lady we are supposed to see is ALL THE WAY DOWN AT THE OTHER END OF THE STABLE! And all I could see were ORCA eyes EVERYWHERE! All the horses (and all the kings men...just kidding) had their heads hanging out the stalls looking at us! And I had to walk the entire length to get to that lady. Take a deep breath, I kept telling myself! I have to do this for my daughter! So I stayed right in the middle of the aisle and tried not to look at those darn Orca eyes! Tori is in her glory--"Look mom! Look at this one...Look at that one!" God, please get me to the other end of this stable! Well lo and behold, Tori decided she wasn't taking lessons unless I was taking them! So...needless to say, I ended up taking riding lessons! And I really enjoyed it! Now that Orca eye doesn't bother me! As a matter of fact, last year we went to Mohican Wilderness for vacation and our package deal included trail riding. My daughter and I went EVERYDAY! We had a blast!

Meet Zoe & Blue!

This is our Blue Heeler named..what else....Blue!! She is about 4 years old and sleeps with her tire! And yes---she sleeps with it in her mouth! She is goofy! We got her through a local benefit auction. She was so ugly that she was cute! I fell in love with her instantly!

Blue also has a "suckle binky"! She carries this blanket around like Linus! She doesn't chew it, but she will suckle it. She will not go to bed unless she has suckle binky! If we go up to bed, we have to open the bedroom door and tell her to go get suckle binky or she will whine all night! Blue is my shadow! I can not do ANYTHING without her! They say that blue heelers develop a strong bond with 1 person in the family...I am that 1 person! She is great with all of us, but she has to be touching me at all times. If I sit on the couch, she has to lay on my feet...as I am typing this blog, she is under the table on my feet. When I sleep at night, she curls up against me and if I move...she moves with me!

This is Zoe! She is our 11 year old black lab. What a sweetheart she is! My husband was working second shift when we first moved out into the country. At the time we had a dalmation named Siren. Well, I'm driving down the road and just a couple of miles from our house there is a sign..."Black Lab Puppies for Sale!" Oh---I just had to stop...and you know once you see a puppy there is NO TURNING BACK! The kids were in love with her too! They were 3 and 1 at the time. Zoe just caught our eye out of the whole litter! Well, you know what happened next! We bought her! Tori held her in her lap...oh the look on her face on the short ride home! Siren was not too happy with us...but they became great friends! At about midnight, Bart comes home from work...as he walked in the door, this little pudgy black ball of fur runs to greet him and attack his feet! "What is this??!!" he exclaimed....I said, "Duhhhhh, it's a puppy!" He named her Zoe. She still gets all excited when she hears his truck pull in after work!

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Can you believe it??? 50 days until Christmas!! I am soooooo excited! Many thanks to Beth for helping me get that adorable count down tree on my page! For those of you that do not know me...I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I have a full size Christmas tree in EVERY room! Each one has a theme! And now let me tell you a story....

I had to promise my husband that I would not bring home ANY more Christmas trees. (sob sob sob)....but I promised.....(sob sob sob). Well....one year, I went out on New Year's Day morning after gettin' my ol' crown roast & sauerkraut in the oven....I was in Walmart and there was this cart full of Christmas trees. I must have had "I LOVE CHRISTMAS TREES" written on my forehead because the Walmart worker just had to mention to me that these tress were being taken up front and marked $5.00.....YES--- FIVE DOLLARS!! (They were $180.00 trees). Well, now you have to remember that I made my loving husband a promise... NO MORE CHRISTMAS TREES! Darn it, darn it, darn it....what WAS I thinking when I made that promise...so I said, "no thanks." Well I started walking around....and started thinking....I go back to the lady with the trees and said, "DID YOU SAY $5.00??" Because maybe I misunderstood her and then I would not feel bad if they were $50.00! She said, "Yep--$5.00, we want to get rid of them!" Oh Gosh-----"Alright, I'll take one...." She takes it up front for me. Well---I am not one to pass up a good deal....so when I get up front...I tell her, "I'll take another one!!" (HOLY CRAP---what am I thinking???? Now I have not one but TWO new Christmas trees!) So I pay for them....I am trying to get these huge things in my vehicle and guess what happens??? Then local newspaper is taking MY picture! The photographer comes over to get my name so I ask him to help me get these huge things in my vehicle. Now I proceed to go home. Well---knowing I am going to be busted when my picture is in the paper, I have to tell my husband. So when he asks what I bought...I start out by telling him about the $180.00 trees for $5.00. You know you have to tell the original price first because they can not hear once you say "I BOUGHT..." So he says, "Well for that price, did you buy one?" I was honest and said, "no........I bought TWO!" (My plan was to get them home and unload my car the next day after he went to work...by the following year, he would not even notice the extra trees!) So he helped me unload them. Thank goodness, because there was no way I was going to move those boxes! We did end up donating one of the trees to our local playschool. We decorated it and then raffled off a fully decorated tree. So in the end, it all worked out!

So as I begin to start decorating all my trees, I'll keep you all posted! I may even start next week! I love to have it all done before Thanksgiving!

Meet Brutus!

This is our newest addition! He is my daughter's 4-H market steer. Isn't he just the cutest darn thing you've ever laid eyes on?? She just got him a week and a half ago. He was born in March. And boy does he talk! Just ask Beth (Olde Tyme Marketplace)! I bring my phone out to the barn and call her so that Brutus can talk to her! She could not believe her ears! And he is such a sweetheart! My daughter is going to have alot of fun raising him! It is always hard to see them go at the end of fair week! I'll post photos of him as he grows to be about 1100 lbs! I'll post more animals too! You have to meet Kumar, our dairy steer and our dogs and cats! I have lots to share! I also love to do punchneedle and am in the process of getting some patterns copyrighted....so if you love to punchneedle----stay tuned! I'll be sharing those soon too! You never know whatcha'll find here!

Welcome!!

Hi!! I hope you enjoy my blog! I just want to share with all of you all the great experiences I have here in the country! I have so much to share and hope that you stop by often! I grew up in a small city in Northeastern Ohio. Keep stopping by and I will tell you all kinds of stories! After my husband and I got married, we bought a cute little house 5 doors down from where I grew up. (Actually it was about all we could afford!) Anyway-he was raised in the country and always said we would live out in the country some day. Well about 7 years after we were married, we built a house in the country....well actually it was in BFE!! After we moved out there and my city friends started driving out to see me, they all thought I was CRAZY! I do not think any of them had ever seen an Amish buggy before because that was all they kept talking about! Everyone kept asking my husband how I liked being out in the middle of nowhere. Everyone was worried that I would not adjust. Well let me tell you....if they could see me now! They would not believe their eyes. They should have been here the day the vet came out to castrate and dehorn the calves! Oh---I have soooo many stories to tell you all! Keep stopping by and I'll start tellin' stories!

I am all new to this...so I will try my best to add photos and all that good stuff!