Paying it Forward with Callie...

The Rules:
1. Be one of the first THREE to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me- something crafty or yummy, who knows?!
2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift-anything!- for the first Three bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send your THREE friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And remember, It's the Spirit and the Thought that Counts!
4. When you receive your gift feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!

If you are not one of the Top Three Commentators on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! So remember...it is good... :) Pass it Forward! And I might feel generous and send something to the first FOUR people so don't quit commenting at three :)

Quickly... I'm supposed to be working...

Not anywhere but here at home, but I have LOADS of laundry waiting for me to fold them (and they've been waiting for a LONG time...), bread that needs to be made, and contacts that need to be contacted.

It's a busy day.

So... in short, here they are, "just the facts, Ma'am".

Savannah: still in school, still loving it, but realizing that there are benefits to staying home on some days. Learning to so more chores at home, and finding out that cleaning the toilet isn't as fun as she thought it was to begin with.

Margaret, aka "Sweetie Pie": developing quite the vocabulary, but not quite able to say the "s" sound. Her friend Sam has an unfortunate name when the S is replaced with a D sound... Margaret now calls him "The friend with the name that We don't Say..." She's also learning the value of work, and cried last night when I told her that her chores were finished. We'll see how long that lasts. Today, she informed me that she needed to eat a banana because she's a monkey.

LeGrand: Cutting his FOURTH tooth, crawling all over the place, saying "da-da-da-da-da..." and laughing when Andrew says, "don't you mean ma-ma-ma-ma...?" He's also very much a boy and into almost everything. He keeps me on my toes. And out of my bed at night.

Andrew and Linda: working on advertising the photography business. People are still getting married, and the money that they're NOT spending on remodeling their homes, they are throwing some of it towards wedding pictures. So... visit www.lindastahrphotography.com to see what we've been up to! And Linda is looking very much to attending WICKED tonight!!!

And I think that's the catch up for now. I'll post more later when I have more time to say what I want to say.

Oh yeah... and did I mention that we're getting ready to install a wood cookstove in our kitchen? I am SOOOOOOO excited! And Andrew took the Pergo (Yuck) off of the dining room floor to find some beautiful, although a bit rough around the edges Fir floors! Can't wait to see what it ALL looks like!

Pictures will be forthcoming. LJ is demanding my attention now.

Check it out!

So I entered a writing contest the other day..., and while I didn't win, I did take an honorable mention! If you get the chance and want to read my little honorable entry, I'd love to share!

It's at my OTHER blog... the one I use to share creative thoughts and try to improve my creative writing skills... And, since it's not a blog that's been shared too much, I'd love it if you'd all read at least a little.

My creative outlet (other than the other things I do, that is,) can be found at Just a Thought. The article that won is: It Went REALLY Fast... For some reason, clicking on the article link is the best way to get to the article. You can access the blog by clicking on our "Blog, blog, blog, blog, blog link to "Just a Thought".

I get to display THIS



in the article that was honorable just for being honorable!

Enjoy!

We are NOT Amused

You, however, may well be. So, since I'm currently not finding humor in the loss of my new foundation and the most expensive of my make-up brushes, someone else is going to have to laugh for me.

Two days ago, I found Margaret playing in the bathroom. First clue: It's really quiet. Second clue: the water goes on and the response is, "I'm butting my teet!" Water off, and then, silence. Since Andrew and I were in the middle of a conversation with someone else, I didn't think anything of the fact that Savannah had gone up to bed and Margaret was still in the bathroom... Until 20 minutes later. That's when I realized that it was dead quiet in the bathroom and the light was still on. Going in to turn the light off, I find Margaret playing in the water with my most expensive makeup brush. Granted, I've had the brush for at least 10 years, (and used it twice...) but I recently re-discovered it's softness and have used it twice in the last week. So... after talking to Margaret about not playing with Mommy's makeup, (mind you, this is the third time in a week... the first time was with the "chapstick" that turned out to be powder foundation; the second was with something else out of my makeup box...) she went to bed and I tried to wash the lotion out of my brush

Today, I hear the water go on and tell Margaret to come out of the bathroom. Again, the teeth excuse. Then the water doesn't go off, and the Margaret noise is non-existent. So... I say again, "Please turn the water off..." and hear; "I am wating the tink!" This is never a good idea to let a three year old wash your sink. When I went to clean up the "soap" I discovered that she had emptied an entire bottle of my brand new matches my skin tone really well I'll be keeping the Mary Kay Lady in business foundation. And then, used the brush that I had rescued to "paint" the sink and the towel and the makeup box and probably herself with watered down foundation. I wasn't anticipating having to purchase foundation quite so soon.

Why can't she just stick to playing with my shoes?????????

Today, she's NOT a Sweetie Pie.

The latest and greatest...

Since I'm sitting in the office freezing my socks off, and I have a few minutes while LJ sleeps... thought I'd put a little update in. For the record, the only reason I'm freezing my socks off is because it's wicked cold outside and has been snowing all morning. That and the fact that the windows in this room are 80 years old and let in all of the cold! (and it's around the corner from the wood stove, and apparently, heat doesn't travel as well around corners.)

That being said, all is well in Stahrville. Andrew is working 60 hour weeks at the temple, I am working 40 hour weeks at the same location. The only days we actually see each other for more than 45 minutes is Monday (when I am apparently a distraction at work - and yes, I'm flattered... Still.) since we both work at the same time and in the same location - I mean, building... and Sunday when we get to spend ALL day with each other! Saturdays we do get a little more time together, but we're both so tired from everything that's happened during the week that our date night Saturday went something like this:
A nice, romantic dance in the living room; Ordered in Chinese Food that Andrew went to go pick up; and then we snuggled on the couch to watch "Night at the Museum" and barely made it through the credits. I think I remember the first night's worth of work. We woke up when LJ started crying and needed some more food to fill his hollow leg.

We are, however, NOT complaining. I'd rather have Andrew working and being tired than not working at all. And it's good work that has possibilities. He's learning a lot about commercial work and even though it's something he's never really done before, he's a good hard worker, and that part of it shows.

As for the kiddos... LJ has now TWO teeth and is extremely mobile. He's working on the letting go part of standing up. I'm still not ready for this. He loves food of all sorts, and is mastering the art of eating green beans all by himself. So far, he's doing fairly well. He loves bread (thanks to Patience for the whole wheat bread recipe that really is quite tasty...) and just about everything else he can fit into his mouth.

Margaret is still going by her alter-ego "Sweetie Pie" and gets rather irate if you try to call her anything else. She tolerates "Margaret", but if you ask her what her name is she'll insist that it's "Wheatie Pie". And she's mourning the loss of her hair from her Christmas Hair cut. Even though I feel like I totally butchered that cut, it's the one that gets the most cute comments... She's now three, and still very into the dolls and Barbie phase. Her name for me is "Honey."

Savannah is doing marvelously at school. She is very into making and decorating cards for her friends and picking on Margaret. She is, however, getting better at NOT picking on Margaret and instead is moving towards teaching Margaret how do make and decorate things also. She loves to help me in the kitchen, and is a handy person to have around when my hands are covered in flour. I think this year will be spent in teaching Savannah some of the basics of easy cooking... She's lost at least 6 teeth and is still waiting for most of them to come back. She is getting better at Reading, although she's still not as enthusiastic about it as I am (or was... still trying to figure that one out...) but whatever enthusiasm Savannah lacks for reading, she more than makes up for in her love of Math. (again... still trying to figure that one out - but she has inspired me to do a little better at the mental math. We add numbers on license plates to see who can get the answer the fastest.)

And that's the latest... I'll get some pictures posted one of these times - they're sitting on the camera right behind the computer - but I'm low on energy. Ask me about pictures next month...

Not ready for this yet...

So I am for sure not going to leave the kids with Andrew all day again. Don't get me wrong - he's a WONDERFUL father, and does a great job with the kids... HOWEVER - he teaches them things that I don't want them to do! Good things, but things I'm just not ready for yet.

Prime example: Two weeks ago, I came home from work to find that Andrew had taken LeGrand's pajamas off and he had discovered traction on our wood floor. He was crawling. And now, it makes no difference what he's wearing, he's figured out how to get around without worrying about the traction.

Today - I came home to find that Andrew had taught LeGrand a NEW trick. He now goes UP the stairs. We stay behind him so that he doesn't fall, but again... something I was NOT ready for him to learn. After all - the little guy is still in his sixth month of age! The girls weren't crawling until seven months; I'm pretty certain that it was closer to ten months when they decided to learn the stairs.

Add to the adventure of the stairs and crawling, I caught LeGrand climbing onto a box yesterday. May I say again... NOT READY FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!! I thought for sure I'd have a few more months to not worry about what he's getting into. I should really stop thinking.

And that other tooth? It's broken through. I wasn't ready for teeth yet either. He's such a little smarty pants. Next week I'm expecting him to be running. Possibly teaching a class at the local university. At the rate he's going, I wouldn't be surprised if he was standing on his own. He is pulling himself up onto things and standing there very well - if only he'd slow down a little bit. I'd be perfectly O.K. with that, I must admit.

As for the other children - Margaret is still a "wheatie pie", but now she's also a little Einstein. Savannah is getting marvelous grades in school and still loves it - although she has asked me when spring break is. I'm not sure if she's trying to get out of school, or if she thinks that we'll go somewhere during spring break.

In other - and more positive news - Andrew will be working at the Portland Oregon Temple during the closure. And so will I. We're trying to figure out what we'll do with the young ones during the possible overlap (and if there's not an overlap, we're trying to figure out when we're going to see each other over the three weeks of shutdown). Me, I'm just glad that he has work. Thank you for your continued prayers for and in our behalf.

Now to answer Patience's questions: During the ice storm, we had wind and the weight of the ice break multiple branches off of our gorgeous trees that line the driveway. They littered the driveway to the point that we couldn't use the majority of the driveway. They are now sitting on the burn pile waiting for us to be able to burn them. That's first. Second, I'm wishing that life could slow down a little too.

I do want to mention quickly how pleased I am that our children are so willing to help... Andrew and I took the family to the church tonight for Family Home Entertainment. We cleaned the building (mostly the bathrooms - which were stinky... and the chapel and the dirty drinking fountains), and the girls were such good helpers! Margaret and Savannah both just tagged along with us as we cleaned. I have memories of going with my family to clean the chapel - I'm almost embarassed to admit that I probably wasn't the greatest of helpers; certainly I was NOT as enthusiastic as my children were to help this evening. I'm sorry Mom and Dad... I'll do better next time.

And that's the news from Farm Stahronthehill... Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. And this particular Mom just wants the baby to stay the baby for a little longer.

What have we been up to???

Well... that's a loaded question! Since the last post that had any relevant information in it, we've had three holidays and a birthday. No one has gotten married or had any babies, (not in this family at least), and we all survived being without all of our power for a week.

That being said, perhaps I should start at the beginning.

After Thanksgiving, the computer (not so fondly named "The Beast) decided that it was done working, and didn't want to work any more. And it promptly turned itself off, and clicked at us when we decided that we wanted to make it work. Fearing the worst and that we had a hard-drive issue, nothing was done. After all, it does take some amount of the budget to make things like that work - and the budget wasn't allowing. So... we went of line. Strangely, I didn't miss it as much as I thought it would. It was terribly inconvenient, but I didn't miss the hours spent checking e-mail and surfing the news on the internet. I did miss not being able to update news of our family and/or checking to see what the rest of my family and friends were doing, but... I found I had a lot more time to do other things. Odd how that works, isn't it?

Then came December. While I hate to admit it, Christmas kind of snuck up on us. We did, however, have the Christmas tree BEFORE the night before Christmas. It sat on the porch for a week. Part of that week, it was literally frozen to the porch. We brought it in to thaw it out, and it was decorated on Christmas Eve. (Ian and Christen, where were you???) Now... lest the rest of you think odd thoughts such as "I know the inside of the house is cold (it really isn't), now they're cooling the outside too?" Turner had a major ice-storm. In fact, the trees that normally stand tall and proud, were hanging limp and not so proud. One of them did us the honor of bringing down our power line too. But, only partially so that we still had enough power to run the refrigerator and the freezer. Don't try turning on the toaster or any other appliance or turn on three lights though, try that and you'll lose power to the TV or whatever else you're needing power to. We are grateful that although we couldn't flush the toilet or shower or wash our hands or wash our dishes or do our laundry, we didn't lose the meat in our freezer. And we are greatful that Andrew's siblings all came for Christmas, therefore giving us a really great excuse (not that we look for excuses, mind you) to spend multiple days and nights at his parent's house. (Thanks for the room...) We are also extremely grateful and thankful for the wood stove that kept our house warm... when we were here.

Andrew's birthday was a formal affair - all of his siblings and their respective spouses and his parents came for a formal dinner - all dressed up too! A huge thank you to Dad and Doug and Matt for coming early and helping with the mess that used to be our trees...

January 1st, the children went to new primary classes - Savannah to CTR 8 (she's looking forward to having Grandpa or Grandpa or Dad baptize her (it changes every time you ask her - and we're thinking that we'll just let Dad do the honors; we do, however, have 11 months to figure that all out.), Margaret is still in Nursery, but she's the oldest in her class - she'll be three in two weeks. Margaret has decided, for those who HAVEN'T heard, that her name is no longer going to be Margaret. She is "Wheatie Pie" to anyone to will listen. (Rough translation: Sweetie Pie) We're not sure where she picked that up, but since she is indeed adorable (all of the kids are...), we're going with the flow. We still call her Margaret, but reverting to Sweetie Pie works well when she's studiously ignoring us. I think it's a defense mechanism. Pick a new name and only respond to it and no other name. A great thought if you don't tell other people what your new name is...

LeGrand is just moving way too fast for my own desires. He started doing the "Army Crawl" sometime in mid December, getting very frustrated because he couldn't really go anywhere... and then, discovered exactly why. Mom kept leaving those nasty socks and long pajamas on! Cover the toes and the knees on a wood floor, and it's nigh impossible to get traction. Leave it to Dad to help figure that part out while Mom is at work. And now, he's decided that he doesn't need to have naked knees to move forward. He's bound and determined to go places. AND - to make things a little more interesting around here, He's in the process of cutting his SECOND tooth. I wasn't ready for either event. That being said, at least he's a huge fan of solid food. His favorites being fruits and smashed potatoes. Not always separate.

Oh yeah... and did I mention SLEDDING?? Margaret is a huge fan. Savannah too - but since we were sledding in the near dark, those pictures didn't turn out. Thanks to the "ARCTIC BLAST 2008", we had a marvelous WHITE Christmas and snow enough for sledding at least twice. What a marvelous time.

And now... I think that just about catches us up.

We're BAAAACK!!!

Thanks to Best Buy, a gross overpayment of some truly terrible auto insurance (and I'm not kidding about the terrible part... by which I do NOT mean that the insurance was good, as sometimes the words nowadays mean the opposite of what they actually mean...), and sheer desperation.



And that brings me back to the original point of this post. We're back on line. And had a wonderful Christmas holiday and marvelous December; and, while January has been a little stressful, it has indeed been good. We are truly blessed in all that we have and do.

Pictures and commentary to follow. For now, I'm going back to cleaning the kitchen and trying to figure out why our "sick" children are staying home from church when they're bouncing around the house so well. I think I'm the sick one - after all, I AM the one without energy... Oh well. I actually feel GRAND - despite the lack of energy. Wait... is it energy, or motivation? I'll let you figure that out...

Been a while???

Yes, indeed, it has. And don't hold your breath for thinking that there will be more frequent posts for another while. Our computer has crashed. We're hoping it's just an electrical problem with that room of the house, since the light decided it didnt' want to work. Bulb works wonderfully. Light doesn't. So... here's a quick 5 minute update.

In addition to getting ready for and celebrating Thanksgiving, having a successful open house and another successful enrichment and still ANOTHER successful bazaar and now getting ready for Christmas (not ready yet...)... The Portland and Salem areas of Oregon are experiencing a wonderfully white week. Not sure if it's going to be white for Christmas, but here's to dreaming...

We've had snow all week. I LOVE IT! I even like that our school district didn't keep our kids home from school all week like other districts did. Our kids had a 2-hour delay every day, but they still had school.

And now we're getting ready to celebrate my favorite time of the year... the season where we celebrate the Birth of Christ. I love this time of the year. Even when there isn't snow. Granted, snow makes it that much better, but for now... I revel in the thought of Christ.

May this new coming year bring all the blessings we need. And... lest I forget... Here's to hoping that we have a white Christmas!

Breathing Room

I've fallen off the earth. At least that's what it felt like this past week.

Crazy me, I decided to do a private craft bazaar here at the house. And I started mostly from scratch. Then, one thing after another, and the funds that I was planning on using to get materials went to something else, and I finally got started on my crafty adventure on MONDAY. So... my week was filled with fudge making, jam making, vinyl board making, vinyl block making, photo card making, no house cleaning, no laundry cleaning and very little dinner making. Add to that a 5-6 hour shift at the temple cleaning, and I was busy. Sometime in the middle of all that mess, my sister called to ask if I would put together a PowerPoint presentation on Ukraine, someone else called to ask if I would sing in church on 30 November, someone ELSE called to see if I would play my violin for TWO different events, and I'm in the middle of planning for Enrichment on 2 December. AND, I'm sure there's something else I've agreed to that I can't remember. I think my brain died.

On the plus side, the open house was well attended (despite the fact that there was poor visibility due to fog AND a baptism in our ward...) and I had a great time. I don't remember much of it except the Christmas Punch (no, there was nothing in the punch that shouldn't be in the punch - it was very non-alcoholic...), but since I fell asleep on the couch, I'm assuming that I had a good time.

Oh yeah. I finally got my web site up and running. You can have your own private showing of some of the things that I sell by going to Linda Stahr Creations. Enjoy!

AND... here are a few photos of LeGrand and Margaret... and me. My friend, Kristin Bell took the pictures, I think they're fabulous.

LeGrand's Latest...

LeGrand has a new trick. His new favorite thing is both endearing and frustrating. Endearing because he just gets such a kick out of it; frustrating because he likes to perform when I'm trying to change his diaper.

Two weeks ago, LeGrand started rolling. Not just the "I'm a little off balance and this is the only way I can be balanced again" rolling, but the actual "I can reach it if I just twist my body and... come on bum! It's time to move!" rolling over. And he likes to roll over after he gets his diaper off. But... who can resist the smile and giggles when he's done? Of course - he thinks it's a game that Mom will roll him BACK over and smile and giggle at him... I'm not helping, am I.

In other news, LeGrand tipped the Wii scales last night at 15.2 lbs... Mom tipped them at much higher. (No, we don't have a Wii. Wii want a Wii...) He is a staggering 28 inches tall. Pretty soon, he's going to be taller than Margaret... He wears anything from 6 months to 12 months - depending on the brand. He's growing faster than I think I want him to.

How long would YOU last?!

I'm always looking (even though I really shouldn't be) for new ways to waste time. Some of them take mere seconds from my busy day, others take hours and should just be thrown away. As I was browsing (or stalking if you prefer) blogs, I found this excellent time waster. My friend in Alaska writes an awesome blog, Scribbit, and I found this waster there. This is for all of you who can jump high, run fast, beat things up, or run away as fast as you can. Good luck.

I could survive for 54 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Created by Bunk Beds.net

Tag... I'm taking it.

So my sister, Patience, who has a great blog (Mastny Family) tagged me. Actually, she tagged anyone who reads her blog because she wants to know more about anyone who reads her blog. Since I'm not sure what she knows about me, I'm responding. Who knows. Maybe you'll find something out about me too! Maybe I'll find something out about me...

First (she was tagged twice, therefore I get two tags to respond to...): Six random things about me.

This is probably the hardest, since other people can probably give random facts about me better than I can give random facts about me... but here goes.

1. I've been to the top of Mt. Whitney, highest point in the contiguous United States. It took me roughly 12 hours to the top and back again. I'd do it again if I had the chance.
2. I stubbed my toe really hard about 6 weeks ago, and I'm STILL waiting for the toenail to fall off. It's a really pretty purple color still...
3. I like living on a farm and eating by lamplight and heating (and cooking on) a wood stove. I don't ever want to watch during the slaughter process though - it sounds really gross.
4. I buy ALL my shoes from the kids section when I buy new shoes -they're cheaper, and I get more comments on how cute they are (maybe I should avoid the velcro and princess shoes...).
5. I buy almost all of my kids' clothes at Goodwill or DI or another thrift store.
6. One of my favorite things to do is grocery shop. I could spend HOURS there - when I don't have my children with me...

And now - the second tag. It's a question and answer thing... and you'll get to know more about Andrew too... we'll see how well I know my spouse...

Q: Where did you meet your husband? At a barbecue that a friend of mine was hosting.

Q: How long did you date before you were married? We dated for 6.5 months. Apparently short dating and engagements run in our family.

Q: How long have you been married? 3.5 years

Q: What does he do that surprises you? Yesterday, he dunked one of LeGrand's diapers. And he also told me that he would do the laundry. (We use cloth diapers - to alleviate any confusion on why Andrew would be dunking a diaper that we were going to throw away anyway...)

Q: What is your favorite feature of his? I love that he's a good, hard worker. Plus, he's "handy with a hammer" (That's what Savannah claims - and it's true!)

Q: What is your favorite quality he has? Andrew has the ability to do whatever he wants to do - and do it well. He built a fence and roofed a canning kitchen and slaughtered a hog - all things that he wasn't raised doing...

Q: Does he have a nickname for you? Well... up until last Friday, he just called me Linda. Last Friday my name became Mud when I put a hole in the side of his truck hitting the mailbox - almost immediately after he told me NOT to wreck the truck. I'm hoping to make the transition BACK to Linda soon. Actually - he still calls me Linda, but I sure felt like my name ought to be MUD!

Q: What is his favorite food? Mexican. Although we have had Chinese take out more than twice in the past three months...

Q: What is his favorite sport? Andrew doesn't really have a favorite sport. He likes to watch the playoffs of just about everything (although I've never seen him sit down to watch bowling or golf or rouchambeaux...)

Q: When and where was your first kiss? On the doorstep of my apartment on our third (I think) date.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? One of the things we like to do is have very heavy snowstorms in a cup from Dairy Queen, more than anything though, we just like spending time together.

Q: Do you have children? We have rechargable batteries. Three of them. They don't sleep - they recharge.

Q: Does he have any hidden talents? Andrew makes really good omelets and fabulous breakfasts!

Q: How old is he? He'll be 30 on December 29.

Q: What is his favorite type of music? Some good, old fashioned Hank Junior! Or other old country music. He also likes Frank Sinatra. I know - not the most likely combination.

Q: What do you most admire about him? His ability to hold our family together when the going is tough.

Q: Who said "I love you" first? I did. On accident. I was talking to him on the phone, and when we hung up, I said, "O.K. I'll talk to you later. Love you. Bye." Kind of like I do when talking to my Mom. It was a habit that I just have never broken. After I hung up the phone and realized what I'd said, Andrew called me back to verify what I'd said. And I realized that I did, in fact, mean it.

Q: Will he read this? Probably not. There are no pictures. Andrew likes to see the pictures and doesn't really care what it says.

And lookie there. I answered all the questions without having to consult Andrew! I hope I got them all right!...

It's the Great Pumpkin! RRRRRUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or at least get a really great scared face.

I haven't decided if it's the thought of being left in with all those pumpkins that terrifies LeGrand; if it's the color ORANGE; if his feet are cold, or if The Great Pumpkin is coming, and he doesn't look good...

At any rate, this picture makes me laugh. Hard. I shouldn't laugh at my son's apparent terror... I just tell myself it's the picture I'm laughing at - not the terror.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins - Everywhere!

Yesterday, I took LeGrand and Margaret to a pumpkin patch. I had ulterior motives. The obvious first being that I wanted to buy some pumpkins, and I didn't want to go to the store to do that. Pumpkins were $1.00 each. Any size, all for a buck. I bought 10. I'm going back today to buy another 26. NOT that I need that many pumpkins, but while at work at the temple, we were discussing what we'd done during the day, and my excursion to the pumpkin farm came up. I'm getting pumpkins for everyone so that they can do their own carving. I draw the line at sticking my hand into someone elses pumpkin goo. Works well for me, I end up with 26 ones... and the vending machines only take ones... Yay me!

The second reason we went is because I finally decided it was time to get my picture get taken. No, you won't find those shots today - my friend Kristen (not my friend Kristen in MO) took the pictures, and she's going to get them to me later. You'll find my pictures here probably sometime next week. And I wanted to take some pictures of Margaret and LeGrand.

It was a happy time... most of the time.

Margaret loved climbing on the massive pile of pumpkins - LeGrand wasn't so sure about the whole thing. Margaret was intrigued by the fact that her feet kept getting stuck. "Mom! I am tuck! My peet are tuck!!!"

Oh, to be two again and not worry about squishing the squash... And LOOK! It's that ever elusive when the camera comes on smile from Margaret!

Deep Freeze

Not much exciting has happened. EXCEPT for the fact that we've finally got a chest freezer. And yes, if I were to be crazy enough to stick my chest in it, it would freeze. I think I finally feel like an adult. When I was a kid, I thought that you had to have a super huge freezer in order to be a great adult. Now that I have one, I'm certain that it's not the case. Having a freezer just makes for more room for ice cream. Which we currently don't have any of. What a shame. I'll have to fix that. Soon.

Instead, this wonderful freezer that we have came from Sears and had to be special ordered. Yes, it's special. The thing gets down to -10! So if ever I really miss those cold winter days in Alaska, I'll just go climb into the freezer and ask someone to moniter the door until I want to get out.

What else do I find wonderful about this freezer? Well... not only does it have three baskets that hang on the top to put Sausage and Bacon, Beef Steaks, and Hamburger in; it has dividers that divide up the bottom of the freezer into either squares or rectangles - to suite our needs. It makes organizing extremely easy. No more of the digging and freezing your little toosh off just to get that last package of bacon! Now, the bacon is in its own little basket - shared only with sausage...

I am in food storage heaven.

Pressing Matters...

Did I say matters? I meant APPLES!

So, for the past few weeks I have been up to my eyeballs in various sorts of canning projects. One week we made Apple Pie filling and Grape Juice and Prune Juice and Canned Plums and Canned Apples and Apple Sauce and Apple Juice and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting as well.

Last week, however, I took a break from the canning and picked apples. One of the nice things about living in the country is that there are PROBABLY a few places to pick apples - either that, or neighbors who are kind enough to give you apples. Fortunately for me, there are both. Add to that some wonderful friends who love picking things too, and you've got a party!

A friend of mine found an orchard that had u-pick apples for 35 cents a pound. GREAT price, since in the store the same apple type is selling for well over a dollar. So, we went. The intent was to fill the back of a pick up truck with apples. Mind you, I was NOT about to PAY for that many apples, since that's a lot and I don't think his scale would have been able to handle that weight - but instead, we asked if we could pick up the apples from the ground.

How could this be? Well... we have hogs. We just didn't tell him that we only have 3 hogs, and that we were planning on squishing the juice out of the apples before giving them to the hogs. So... graciously, the orcharder (sort of like a farmer, only without the animals...) allowed us to pick apples off of the ground (and for his graciousness, we promised to come back next year and we also bought some apples - 110 lbs worth as a matter of fact...). Filling the back of the truck took the better part of the day - and I only wish I could have seen the look on Kristen's husband's face when she came home with their pick up full of apples...

That was Friday. Saturday, the fun began. And when I say fun, I mean work being fun...

A few weeks ago we purchased an apple press.

An OLD apple press.

And, after Andrew re-built the barrels and the tray that goes underneath it, we had the press up and running on Saturday! The end result? 55 gallons of delicious, crisp apple cider. (12 of which we gave away to those who helped in any way possible.)

The freezer is coming on Thursday. Until then, we have the majority of the cider in the refrigerator downstairs on the coldest possible setting (and we're keeping the door closed to keep the cold in...) and the remainder is in two of the three freezers we have downstairs. We've talked about opening a little roadside stand - but making cider is too much work to sell it for $6.00 a gallon - which is what the other stands are selling theirs for.

In the meantime - if we can get more apples, Andrew is up for turning the crank!

Phonics...

Savannah has been excelling in school; particularly as a reader. The other day we were on our way to school and Savannah said to me: "Mom, I know what those buttons there say."

Not wanting to miss out on what she might have to say, I said to her: "Oh yeah? What do they say?" Her response was classic: "AM and FUMM." And then came the kicker... "Mom, what's a FUMM?"

I was tempted to tell her it was the last part of the phrase the giant says when playing hide and go seek with you, but I didn't think she'd get it...

"Fee Fi Fo Fumm..."

Overheard...

So I've been listening to Savannah and Margaret lately as they play. Sometimes I intervene, and sometimes (like today) I wait to see what will happen. The following is an actual conversation between Margaret and Savannah.

M: "Banana, may I play wit your baby?"
S: No.
M: NANA! I ted, may I play wit your baby!?
S: No, Margaret. I'm playing with it.
M: Nana... (and then, holding up her fingers) One... Two... Bee... Pour... Bive... Tix... Seben...
M: MOM! Nana won't let me play wit her baby!

I quickly went out to the garage and shared that laugh with Andrew.

And then, with Savannah out of the house and Margaret in the bathroom, I hear this:

M: MOM! Tome twickly! I need you! I drop penny in toilet and it is in the way! I need to go bathroom!! Please tome help me! It is in the way! I tannot pee! The penny is in the way!

It should be noted here that Margaret had been in the bathroom for about 5 minutes, sitting... and I was at the point of telling her that she probably should just get up and try again later. Guess she just needed some thinking time...

Putting on a rubber glove, I went to her assistance. After which she said - talking to herself, I'm assuming since there was no other person in the bathroom... "All better. I finally did doe to dah bathroom... no penny in dah way..."

Sometimes it's hard for me to keep a straight face. It's better not to.

The Circle of Life...

For some, seems to revolve a lot quicker than for others. Now, I'm not talking about the mortality of people here, I'm talking about the fact that we seem to live in the Turner Triangle of Cats.

Seriously. We have had six cats on our property since December, and of those six, we have one. And we just got her Wednesday. Cat number 1, Sam, disappeared while we were in Coeur D'Alene, ID. He was an excellent mouser. Cat number 2, Tiger, disappeared the day after LeGrand's baby shower. Cat number 3, Oreo, disappeared the day after we got him. Cat number 4, Princess Tiger Lily (not named by me, by the way), disappeared two weeks after Oreo. Cat number 5, Kitty Cat, got hit by a car yesterday, and is still lying in the driveway. Don't ask me why - I don't know.

Who hit her? I don't really know. I have a sneaky suspicion that she was up under my car and the car poifed her out when I got close to the end of the driveway. Either that, or she ran out into the road and was hit and then somehow ran back to the driveway. OR... I could just own up to the fact that I may have run over the cat. How? I don't know. All I know is that I looked out the window and saw this little kitty who had just lost her ninth life. There is no more.

Cat number 6 is currently (I hope) hiding under the porch where she has been since we got her. We have seen her in the past 24-hours, but I haven't ventured outside yet this morning to verify her continued existence. Perhaps we need a full grown cat instead of a kitten...

Margaret seems to think that our squished cat is lying down and taking a "map". It's the longest nap I've ever seen a cat take! And it beats her walking around the house saying, "Our tat dead. I want to play with our dead tat..." (ALSO heard around here when she finally saw that the "tat" wasn't moving...) We're NOT letting her play with it.

So why do I write about such a morbid topic? I'm searching for suggestions on keeping cats alive in the Turner Triangle. At first I thought it was the chicken (I mean... Kitty) hawks. Then I thought that perhaps there's a coyote who likes cats... Now, I'm beginning to think we're just plain cursed and doomed to have mice around for the remainder of our lives. We're praying that this new cat stays. And we're not naming her. I've noticed a pattern: name the cat, and the cat disappears. Seriously. We have NO IDEA where they're going. There's not been evidence of cat pancakes, they just one day are gone. Vanish. Into thin air. Gone. Good thing it's not the baby...