We never got above freezing today. 

Why do I make smoothies on cold days? 

My guys like them and we always have them in the freezer.

So make some today and ENJOY!

 SMOOTHIE recipe HERE 

Fruit Smoothies

UPDATE:  NO CAVITIES!!!  No talk of Braces!!!  Yea LM!! We are SOOO proud of you!!

Little man and I went to AR this last week for Thanksgiving. It’s the first time he has ever celebrated Thanksgiving. I haven’t in about 15-20 years. I’m sure you are wondering why, and it’s a long story but anyway, we did this year. We went to my sisters and had a great time.
I’m getting ready for 3 craft shows. I don’t think I’ve ever done one, but we are having one for the HS support group and two at our HS Extension. We have a few things to sell…

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera-$2.50

LM and I re-potted Aloe Vera plants yesterday. Do you need an aloe vera plant?  I’m hoping someone does. I have 3 pots of it and it was growing like crazy, I needed to get rid of some and thought this was a great way to do it.  I saw on Facebook not too long ago that a friend of mine that burned her wrist. I told her ALOE VERA and she didn’t have any!! So I’m hoping to spread some around! 

 I have made paper clip bookmarks—Pinterest idea.–

Paperclip Bookmarks-$.50

 Bookmarks, w/ beads and charms….these are a few samples…I have a lot of different ones.

Beaded/charmed Bookmarks $3.00 or 2/$5.00

 Bracelets…I can’t get the pic here, so go to my facebook page..I have a pic there.  Looking for the link, I hope to get it up soon.

I made a few of these bracelets a little larger and 2 exactly alike because I had the idea …I don’t like long sleeves hanging on my hand, I always push them up to ¾  length and sometimes use rubber bands to keep them up (hiding them in the fold).  Well, now I have a “sleeve bracelet” and if it happens to show, it will be pretty instead of a rubber band….would you be interested in something like this??  I don’t know how well it will go over.

I really like to do this stuff,  just don’t know if I can sell it.  I spend money, make a bunch and sell only a few.  I guess I could open an ETSY store, but there are so many, I feel like mine are not Special…. Ho hum. Guess I’ll just make them and what I don’t sell…maybe I’ll give away on my blog!  That’s an idea.  My last craft show is the 7th so we will see if I sell anything first.

Time to feed the boy some breakfast. I hope you all have an easy transition getting back into the swing of things this week.. It’s always hard for me!

Oh and Lori, I had a great time visiting you and the family. Thanks for having me!  We love you!

Tell me…would you be interested in any of my stuff at a craft fair?? 

 What do you think of the prices?

My son has decided he needs to put Dobie in a glass trophy case, as his head is about to fall off and he’s getting old. (Dobie is his Teddy Bear that he’s had since birth… Never 1 night without him by his side. All vacations, first plane trip, major Dental appt.,  almost left him at Aunt Lori’s once). Everyone who knows Caleb well, knows Dobie, too).

Sad day for me as well. :’-(

Dobie was a gift from  Granny & Pawpaw. They brought him to Caleb the first time they saw him.  (Caleb was a couple of days old).

I’ve never coerced Caleb to quit sleeping with him, I’ve always thought, “We sleep with our spouses, why can’t he have someone to sleep with, too”??

I bought an identical Dobie for him when he was about 4 years old…just in case Dobie ever got lost or dirty….ha, he knew right from the start that that wasn’t the same thing! He calls “her”….”New Dobie”. 

Dobie has has many major repairs…I even sewed his leg on backward once. It still shows!

 But alas, his head is about to fall off and he’s getting threadbare.. . I was not expecting Caleb to wake up this morning sad, telling me he needed a “Glass Trophy case”.  Why do you need a “Glass Trophy Case”?  “For Dobie”…tears in his eyes…almost made me cry, too.

Here’s to Dobie…the best Teddy Bear (friend) a guy could ever ask for!!

Do you have a story about a long lost (stuffed) friend?

Your kids? 

 You??

**Stay tuned for updates…I have more pictures, I think.

This is a picture of our driveway last week.

Just testing to see how all this works from my iPhone.
What do ya think???

I live about 45 miles east of Sparks/Prague (epicenter was 4 miles east of Sparks). I felt the one at 2:00 am Saturday morning, 4.2…I woke up to the bed shaking and an odd noise, but I had been in a deep sleep. I had never felt an earthquake before and it took me a few seconds to realize what it was. I just laid there until it stopped. Then wondered if I should look at my iphone/facebook and see if anyone else was talking about it. I didn’t and wish I had. I dreamed and thought about it the rest of the night. Very scary. My husband and son never felt a thing. When I did get up I saw that people had been posting about it all night.
Saturday night, we were settling down for bed when the 2nd one hit—5.6. I was in bed and I heard it before I felt it. I got up saying, EARTHQUAKE! My son said it was “lulling” him to sleep. My husband & I stayed upstairs and kind of just looked at one another until it was over. 15 min later, my son was asleep. (he’s 10). I think that is the busiest I have ever seen facebook…I was up after midnight talking and updating with my Oklahoma friends. I think everyone (that was up) felt it! Even some of my cousins in Kansas.

I felt thunder last night and thought it was going to be another earthquake…I wonder when I will stop feeling this way? I really don’t want to experience it again!!

I have said, “I’ve never felt an earthquake before, I think it would be neat to feel a very slight one….”.

Well, I have now and it can stop!” I don’t like it!

Hope you are safe….did you feel it? Tell me what you think about it, even if you didn’t….have you ever experienced one??

UPDATE: We had ANOTHER earthquake tonight!! 4.7
What is really weird is that we are also having tornadoes and tornado watches in the state. My friend coined the word “Thunderquakes”.
When I first heard it, I thought “thunder, the rain has finally reached us”….NOOO… Earthquake!!! This is just really weird and it can stop anytime! I just wonder if HE’S trying yo tell us something???
Y’all have a safe night!! Tornado and flood watches for us… No such thing as an earthquake watch or we would probably be under that, too!!

               About 5 years old

 I won’t tell you how old she is, but I will tell you that she will ALWAYS be older than me!!

When I think of her, I think of her smile and laugh.

 We have had so many fun times over the years.

We have also had many sad times over the years.  

She has always been there for me. 

She is a mom to 3 beautiful daughters. 

A grandma to 7 grandchildren.  She is always there for them and they have a very close relationship. 

She is a devout Christian.

 Every Sunday she invites people (via Facebook) to come to their church to worship with them and always offers to feed them lunch.

She is a secretary at an elementary school.  I think she has to have the patience of Job for that job!

My oldest sister, Kim, and I couldn’t ask for a kinder, sweeter sister than Lori.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 

I Love you!!

We had a coyote taking our chickens.  How, you ask, did we know it was a coyote?? After about 3 chickens, in as many days,  had been attacked (feathers all of one color in certain places) my son came into the house after going to feed them one morning. He was panting….”That is the SCAREDEST I’ve been in my WHOLE life!!!”, he said.  “What happened?”, I asked.  “A coyote was chasing the dogs and I was trying to scare it away from them”, he said.  Come to find out, he was only about 20 yards from the coyote. My DH decided to get a “critter cam”. (If this is a trademark or something, I don’t know it, so hopefully I won’t get in trouble for using that term).  Since  the coyote is gone, (never got a pic of it). My husband decided to set it up to watch the many deer that come to the plot he planted to feed them.  Following are some pics taken from the “critter cam”.  We don’t hunt deer, we like to watch them.  Although, we are not opposed to eating them, we may HAVE to one day, but for now, we just like to give them a “safe place”.  My brother-in-law has furnished us with deer meat and we LIKE it, sorry Taylor, but I really do.  (Taylor is the “lumberjackswife”. She has a really funny blog…click on her name and go read it!  It will make you laugh).

Buck, 4 pt? 10-11 taken with "critter cam"

Buck 10 pt? taken with "critter cam" 10-11

Whitetailed Deer 10-11 (nighttime)

 More pics of other critters around her.

"Lisa"...Named after Lisa Douglas from "Green Acres" 08-11

                  My other “CRITTERS”…..

DS, Dolly, Wishbone and Jake 10-11

Dolly 10-11

 

 Remember I told you how HOT and DRY this summer was??  Here is a picture of our “Top Pond”.  My guys used a dip net to save the 60-80 fish that were in it.  They took them to the “Bottom Pond” that had a little more water in it.  When this pond is full, you can barely see the rocks around the edges.

"Top Pond" 08-11

I’m going to post a new recipe later today, that my Bonus Daughter gave me.  MMMM, I made them yesterday. They are called “Power Balls”. They remind me of  “No Bake chocolate cookies”. Only they are with sunflower seeds, honey, craisens….my husband thinks I need to bake them. They do look like unbaked cookies. No flour, egg or butter, though.  Go to the “recipes” page or I will have a link to CLICK HERE.

I guess that’s all my news for today…Have a GREAT week end!!

It looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Not just for small children, but High Schoolers, too!

Click  to go to Dynamic 2 Moms..

We have had so much going on but nothing to interesting to write about.

We got a kitten and named her Dolly. 

She is very sweet and affectionate to the dismay of DH. 

 He wants a cat for a “mouser”–NOT a pet!  It’s funny when she climbs on his lap for a rub. 

Weather has cooled down…that’s the best thing that has happened in a while. We’ve had a little rain, but not near as much as we need, in fact we are in a HIGH RISK fire danger today and tomorrow.  Wednesday we may get rain and much cooler temps for a few days. Week end looks BEAUTIFUL!

My husband has kept some of the garden alive, we are still picking squash, okra, watermelon and tomatoes.  We didn’t get any squash this summer, but now they are producing.  Might have frost this week so it will pretty much be history after that.  Oh, I dried some Basil yesterday, too.  Amazing how 5 dehydrator trays make 1- 2 cups of dried basil. 

I made a BIG pot roast last week and after 1 leftover meal, we decided to freeze small portions with gravy (Brown package type) and put into vacuum bags. I think my DH (Dear Husband) will enjoy these with leftover potatoes and bread for those cold blustery days he doesn’t want to go get lunch on work days.

We tried the Bertolli Soup that’s found in the Frozen section of the grocery store the other night. It is really good. I will add some veggies and maybe lentils the next time we eat it.  It is a really fast and easy dinner.  A little garlic bread on the side and voila…dinner. this was the best “pre-made” soup I’ve ever tried.

  Have you seen PINTEREST?  My sister invited me. It looks like fun, but I’m still figuring it out.  I tried to put the app on my iphone, but it’s not working very well.  It always says that I am “timed out”…what’s up with that?   

Speaking of iPhones…have you tried the games…Words with Friends or Hanging, what about Crossfingers or Unblock Me.

 They are alot of fun!  Let me know if you like tham. 

Want to play a game with me?  Comment or send me an email.

Did I tell you I am teaching a Holocaust History Class?   I’ve never taught High School students, but I think it’s going okay. We all are learning.

Homeschooling my son is going good. He’s a great student and learns pretty fast. 

Well, that’s all for now.  Hope to see you soon, but I can’t promise anything!