I'm A WINNER!

Lucky, lucky ME!  I entered a give-a-way over at Dawn's Comfy Corner (she's a fairly new blogger and buddy) and she sent me the news that I won!  And what a nice gift - it came in the mail yesterday and I'm so anxious to give them a try...  Seeeee?????

They are thick and absorbent and she made them very generous to scrub and wash all my dishes and pans!  Can't wait to use them.  I imagine I'll be gettin' to that shortly cuz I've got NO dishwasher other than myself and a sinkful of dirty dishes from breakfast!  Thanks so much, Dawn!  (Just noticed my "Butt Rub" seasoning for BBQ back there behind...  oops! - Promise that wasn't staged.)

In other news, my oldest son, Adam, is home for a few days to enjoy the farm, the tractor, AND most importantly - Fishing with his Pop (my daddy).  He said the rest of the spring is going to be very busy in the music industry and he probably won't be able to come home anytime soon after this.  EVEN THO it's supposed to rain torrents later this week/weekend.  He and Pop may have to find other things to do besides fish!  My middle son, the Kiwi son Josh, is a photographer, and he did some publicity shots of Adam last time they were home together...

 Josh is doing a great job, I think!  They took these photos down at the old train depot here in our town...

New topic...  about 3 years ago, a friend of mine gave me several starts of her white iris.  I spread them out in one of my flower beds behind the deck, and planted them and they've done really well at spreading and filling in and making new leaves.  They lived through our drought last summer, too.  I was about ready to pull them up and move them because in 3 years, they hadn't bloomed.  I thought maybe they weren't getting enough sun in their locale.  I even threatened them out loud that they were about to get yanked out of the ground if they didn't bloom this year.  Well, lo and behold...

THEY BLOOMED!!!

Think it was just time?  or think it was the threat???  Who knows, but I'm glad they decided to show their pretty faces!  Yes, they're all white, but I think I'll add some more colors to them.  I had intermixed them with some blue hydrangeas, but they died during the drought even tho I really babied them to no end.  So, iris it shall be!

Fruit trees are blooming their little hearts out...

My lovely onions.... Do you see some bare spots?  Well, my sweet little Gypsy decided to do some digging in the boxes.  I repaired as best as I could, but will have to get another bunch or so and fill in.  I can see some fencing in the near future around the garden, but that's okay.  The last 3 years, the coyotes ate most of my watermelons. Drat.  I've been asking for fencing since the first year, but THIS is the year for a garden fence!!!  Gypsy is one of those puppy dogs that buries her treats, her bones, her chewies, and goes back later when no one's looking to dig 'em up and eat 'em.  Another lesson from being a stray I suppose.

Kathy, you know what this means, doncha?  WAR ON GOPHERS!!!

Gypsy tries to dig them up, and if she finds one on a trap, she pulls the trap out of the ground and carries it off to eat the gopher.  Yuck.  (note to self - get worm medicine from vet...)  So... I've lost several gopher traps and at $6-$7 apiece can't afford that.  We've taken to driving a piece of rebar into the ground and wrapping a wire connected to the trap around the rebar to save our traps!  Works pretty good...

I've already caught two, and possibly 3 more that were eaten off the traps.

Ok, my peeps - love you all and I wish you the very best of weeks!  We have beauty outside right now, but rain is promised.  Only thing to deal with today is 30 mph winds!

Keep yer dress down!

Treasure Hunting... And Computer Woes

Good morning, friends...Another week and another Monday...  Ever feel like kicking the computer tower out the front door????  That's what I've been dealing with here at my office for the last week.  We got a bunch of viruses and trojans on our computer here.  It decided to just shut down and the viruses covered up all our programs and our 400+ customers and we came to a screeching halt! 

I won't even begin to tell you how mad and frustrated I was.  We had to do everything by hand. The computer was in the shop for 3 days.  They were able to save most of our files, EXCEPT our Customer files!!!  Well, since that happened, I decided to change self-storage programs to a more modern one, and I've got my assistant inputting all our current customers and all their information.  She's young and fast, and she's gonna have it done in a couple more days.

So I thought everything was all fixed this morning, got to work, and the printer/fax/scanner program had to be re-installed.  The computer guys stored all the software inside the stupid PC tower, and we had to take it apart to get to the software CDs.  Then,  WE COULDN'T GET THAT DAD-BLAMED SIDE PANEL BACK ON!!!  I guess I'm on stress overload - I was so mad I could feel my blood pressure go up and you know, when I get mad I wanna cry.  But I didn't.  Instead, I walked around my office saying ugly hateful things to my computer AND to the geek squad.  I did call and tell them I thought it was kinda dumb to store those CD's inside the tower and that THEY could come to my office and put this stupid thing back together.  I guess they could tell I was put out.  One of them volunteered to come.  I hung up the phone and made one last attempt.  There were some little doobers that appeared to be bent that I straightened out and then it snapped back into place.  Whew.  I called 'em back and canceled their trip over here.

OK, calm down, Vickie.....OK, I'm calm now......

New topic ---

Treasure hunting!  Now, some of you may think this is silly BUT...  There's a  couple of spots on our land way back up in the woods near the creek and the pond where we knew the folks that lived here long, long ago had used as a dumping place. That's just what people did.  There was no garbage service.  People burned what they could, but glass and tin cans and metal they just dumped.  Now, to look at this area, you'd never know it had been used as such.  But Tony and I had run across a couple of old items in this particular area just digging around and so we felt like this was the spot that his long-dead relatives had used.

Well, Sunday afternoon, in nearly 70 degrees temps and bein' a blue-bird day, we got a couple of digging tools and went down to that area and started poking around.  We unearthed decomposed metal and rusted out tin so bad that it crumbled.  AND old glass bottles.  Old medicinal bottles, perfume bottles, salve and ointment bottles, fifth of whiskey bottles (Old Uncle Claude liked his whiskey - drank a glass before bedtime each night and lived to be 97), all kinds of old soda bottles - some of which I'd never heard.

Some were broken, (some of the oldest and coolest), some still had lids on them, some of the lids were rusted out.  It was such fun!  We had us a frog-gigger with a long spike on it and could poke around in the dirt until we heard a "clink" and then start digging!  Sometimes just a big think piece of glass, sometimes the whole bottle.  They made glass real thick back long ago, didja know?

One of the most interesting bottles was a Chattan**ga Medic*ne Co. green bottle of McElr*e's Wine of C*rdui.  Now, this was a tonic for ladies supposedly from a recipe used by the Cherok*e Indians.  It was called a "regulator" for women's menstrual ills of all kinds.  Even supposed to get rid of tumors, fallen uteruses, and all kinds of fun women's stuff. This old medicine company originated back in 1897 and this magical elixer was a best seller!  They also put out a black draught and some other things, and even as late as the 1980's had some more modern items that are still in use.  Wish I had me some of that Card*i right now!

I'll show you a picture of some of our bottles.  Tony even got out the tractor and we scooped up several layers of dirt to go through and look.  He said, "Here, let me take your picture with some of your bottles to put on your blog".   So I let him.  Here's a few of my bottles.  Thought they'd be neat to clean up and stick a flower in them or just group them together somehow.  This picture is unedited in anyway since it came from my phone...

Ok, here's me in all my glory with my rake, frog-gigger and dirty bottles.  Doesn't look much like treasure, does it?  Well, it was fun.  Hayley called me and asked what we were doing and I told her, and she said, "Yuck".  When I told her it was kinda like a treasure hunt to find one not broken and how old and cool they were, she said then "SAVE ME SOME!  Don't find them all!"  haha!  It's all in how you look at it! 

Well, friends, I'm outta here.  Sorry I've not been posting often lately.  Just too, too busy, and too much going on with sick ones and holidays and traveling to Memphis and stupid computer problems.  Take care of yourselves and know that you are all a special part of my life!  I'm so glad you're there!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! busted...

Ok, people.  I promised you pictures of our costumes (which by the way we thought turned out GREAT!) and pictures you're gonna get, altho they are very poor quality.  Sorry 'bout that.  My son took them with his Iphone in low light and that's about all we could do at that moment.  See if you can guess who we went as???
The first person who guesses who BOTH of us are gets a prize!  I haven't decided what kind of prize, but you get a prize nonetheless!  You have to get BOTH of us right.

Now, on to the whole busted party...

Tony and I had the best time getting ready and ran around all day Saturday getting props and costume parts.  I had made a 32 oz bowl of "crack dip" and crackers and chips we had everything all ready to go.  Adam and his girlfriend took a few pictures of us (Jena has some better ones on her camera) and they laughed at us the whole entire time we were getting ready, and then just hee-hawed when we made our big debut.  It WAS pretty funny actually...

So we loaded up in the truck and I sat the bowl of dip on the dashboard so I could step up and haul myself into the truckseat.  Seatbelt in place, hoping nobody could see us in the dark truck.  Tony steps on the gas.

WHAP!   The dip bowl falls - you guessed it - upside down in the floor of the truck!!!  I shrieked and he slams on the brakes.  Thank goodness for Glad clingwrap!  It made a mess inside the bowl and wrap, but it did not come out of the bowl!  My new favorite product!  OK, so I set the bowl in my lap and we take off again.

We have to stop at the Dollar General store to let me get some bright red lipstick.  Luckily there were only a handful of folks in the one we stopped at.  When I walked in (I was hoping nobody would see me)  the checkout girl stared at me all the way down the aisle, and a looked at her and just said, "Don't ask."  But I did smile at her...  I got several weird looks.

We drive across town to the home of our friends and as we're driving up to their house, we could not see any cars and the houselights were not on.  We were puzzled.  I happened to have J's phone number and I called her and asked where the party was?

J said, "Vickie, the party was last night."

"WHAT?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

J started laughing.  "No, we had it last night.  We just thought ya'll had something come up that you couldn't make it."

"But J, you thought all night that we were just 'flakes' and didn't show up when we'd already RSVPed."

"Well, I know you got the invitation, didn't you?" J asked.

"Yes and it said New Years Party, so we assumed it was tonight."

How stupid did we feel!!!!!  The date was on the invitation, and we were on time, just a day late!!!!  I can't believe we did that!  And Tony even looked at the invitation Saturday afternoon to make sure of the time!  Well, anyway, you'd think a New Years Party would be on New Years Eve, right?  I guess not - we'll have to check our dates on EVERYTHING next time!!!

SO.............................our costume party that we'd SOOOOOOO looked forward to was a complete and total BUST for us.  But you know what?  We had fun getting ready and laughing at each other and laughing about what happened.  I'm sure we'll take some ribbing from our friends about this, but so what!  It was something different and we had a good time anyway!

Then we came home and ate frozen pizza and watched a movie with Adam and Jena and went to bed before midnight.  Happy New Years to the Fears!

And a Happy New Year and a blessed new year to YOU all my blogging friends that I love so dearly!!!!

Don't forget to enter your guesses!

Pumpkin Pie, Anyone? Cinnamon Buns?

Yummmmm.....Smell that pumpkin pie?  Those cinnamon buns and the wonderful smells of Autumn?  I do!  I'm surrounding myself with homey, cozy, spicy scents from Good Neighbor Candles - You know - Becky at Hospitality Lane?   I have meaning to order some of her luscious soy candles for months  and I figured since it was Autumn  and those are my favorite smells, NOW was the time!   I received my candles a few days ago, and thought I should show you all what she sent, and then you can turn pea green with envy til you order some for yourselves!!!

Look at these yummy candles.  I ordered some Pumpkin Pie Spice, Cinnamon Buns and Autumn Spice candles.  Think I'll be using them exclusively this fall!  Thank you so much Becky!  They all got here in perfect shape and I started using them as soon as they arrived.  Can't decide which is my favorite yet...

Above, one candle burning on my pie safe next to my little homemade spice cabinet that old Uncle Claude built for his wife.  Uncle Claude built this little farmhouse, the pie safe, and this little cabinet.

On my farm table, this candle has three wicks so it gives off a great scent . My rooster likes it alot and thinks it really brings out his good side...  He sits there with my cornicopia. 

Anyway, Becky, thanks so much for such a wonderful product - I know you made these lovingly and with great pride and I really am enjoying the soy candles.  And thanks for all the little extra "goodies" you tucked in my box! 

Hotter'n Blue Blazes...and Other Goin's On

I know, I know, we're all hot.  Wow, this summer's been a doozy, hasn't it!  Even up in the northeast, they've been sweatin'.  Even as I type, I'm settin' here waitin' on the A/C guy to come fix my A/C.  It's blowin', but it's not cold.  The inside temps are steadily climbing just as the outside ones are.  And it's only 10:42 in the morning.  I have the ceiling fans on and my box fan right here beside me trying to just stay still until he gets here.

Daughter and BF came home this weekend - she's in a wedding this afternoon and gone to town to get foo-foo-ed up and she's busy with all that while BF went to run errands with my husband.  BF plays football - he's a big tall guy - and hubby has a couple of he-man jobs to do here at the farm that will take more muscle than he himself has got, so he's going to take advantage of BF being here.

I have to thank all of you who have expressed their sympathy and concern for our friends, Helen & Erin, who lost their daughter Kayla two weeks ago.  I really appreciate your love and prayers and kindness and I know that our friends did, too.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!  The Lord is showering His lovingkindness upon them daily!  What would we do without the Lord AND our friends and loved ones??? I just don't know!

(several hours later...)  OK, we're back in the COOOOOL now.  It was the flux capacitor on the A/C. No, really it was!  "Back to the Future"???  Hint-hint??

Anyway, the garden's gone, the yard is gone, all the jelly is put up - 8 pints of grape from my two little two-year old vines, 2 1/2 doz pints of plum and a dozen peach preserves.  Put up only a little corn - 4 gallon bags of ears - small ears, but they DO taste good.  And boo-koo's of pickles.  Oh yeah, about a dozen quarts of tomatoes or stewed tomatoes or tomatoe juice,  8 quarts of purple hull peas, 10 quarts of green beans, and several gallon bags of pinto beans.  Do you know that down here, purple hull peas are like black gold?  I told Tony that we should raise those babies.  The farmers' markets are charging $10-$12 a sleeve for shelled peas - not sure if a sleeve is 1 quart or 2.  Maybe 2.

Here's a picture of my sunflower seeds still on the flower.  They were beginning to fall off and into the garden. The birds were picking them out. Next year, I guess I'll have rogue sunflowers in my garden again!

My dead corn patch...

My dead tomatoes...

My beautiful sycamore tree - I love this tree - it's beautiful against a blue sky

Hoping for rain (which we didn't get) - turned everything kinda orange-y. Wierd...

After one brief shower, the hay pasture greened back up - it looked great for a few days...

I did not re-touch these photos with color - promise - these clouds were awesome...

End of another hot summer day with no rain...

I HAVE to show you this --- My daughter has become quite a fan of the shabby, farmy, rustic look.  Look what her BF built for her apartment.  She was whining about not have any end tables...

Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?  She's been wanting a windmill for something.  She thought he'd forgotten her birthday.  He's been secretly working on this for her!  What a sweetheart!  He's built her a nice TV stand and a nice big heavy desk for school.  He's always happy to build for her whatever she wants!  She thinks he's a keeper.

Well, folks, guess that's all for now.  We're taking daughter and the BF and maybe my son & his wife out for dinner this evening to celebrate daughter's birthday AND

Hubby and my 33rd anniversary!  Take care &

Keep your gown down!!!

Taking a Little Break

Hello my dear ones ~~~  Just a quick stop to let you know that I'm going to take a little blogging break.  With the wedding drawing near, my mother in law laid up with a broken leg/hip in the nursing home, trying to get the household moved and cleaned out, work, and all the other busy-ness in my life happening right now, blogging has definitely taken a back seat.  I DO so miss you all, but I know you'll be there when I can come back and visit.  Hopefully, I'll be back to visit from time to time, do some reading and catching up and will have lots to tell you and lots of wedding pics to show  you in a few short weeks.  But for now, I have to slow 'er down and do what I need to do.  If you need to contact me, do it by email.  Don't forget about me!!!

Keep your dress down people!  Or let it blow up if your bootie looks this good! Me?  I let mine blow up all the time!  JK....

source: http://www.cwomen.com/marilyn-monroe.html

HEY THERE, ARE Y'ALL STILL THERE??? I AM ...

I'm still here!  I'm still alive!  I got over my "crud" finally.  (thank you Vee for checking on me...) I'm just busy-busy with the house, the wedding AND...

Hubby's mom fell AGAIN, and broke the same leg/hip that she broke in April of last year!  Bless her heart, with her memory problems, she forgets or refuses to use her walker and she fell last Thursday in her bathroom at the Alz. care home and now is in the hospital.  They did major surgery to repair her leg/hip and had to replace the pin with another longer pin and screws and cables - Oh, I don't know what all.  I hate it so badly for her!  It's hard to help her understand what's going on and why she's hurting.  I think she'll be in a nursing home for a couple of months while healing and we'll see what to do from there.  They've got her on pain meds right now, so she's groggy, but I'm hoping that she'll be feeling better soon.

And the wedding... well, lots of you know what we're dealing with here.  April 30 is coming up very soon, and as usual, I'm running behind, and still have lots to do for the rehearsal dinner, etc.  It's coming together and it's going to be beautiful. I can't wait!  I could have searched the world over and I couldn't have found a better match for my son - well, of course, you dummy!  God brought them together so I had nothing to do with it!  If you knew our lives you'd know this is a "God" thing!  I love this sweet young lady SO much!

I DID find another gal to help at my office so that's a HUGE relief for me.  I hope she likes it here.  She's really doing well, and I hope to keep her for a long time.  She's young with two little girls (but her mom keeps them for her). Normally, I wouldn't want to hire someone with kids cuz they're always calling in sick, but since they stay with their grandmother, it's a little different.  We'll see what happens!

I'm SO anxious to get out in my garden!  There just hasn't been much time. I was hoping to get out there and get some seed beds in last weekend, but life happens, and family comes first so...  maybe in another week or two.  It's still early to some of you, but I'm chompin' at the bit here.  I usually already have my potatoes in, already have my onions in, and beginning to get peas and beans in the ground.  My fruit trees have already flowered and are leafing out as well as the rose bushes.  The daffodils are fading away, and believe it or not - we've already seen the crane flies and a few mosquitos on the muggy nights. 

We have a huge old oak tree that spreads out over our deck and back yard and the birds have eaten all the little berries off of it and have pooped seeds all over the deck.  Problem is, they stick like glue and I may have to get the power washer out to get all those seeds off.  They're stuck all over the metal chairs, too! Besides, the mistletoe just falls and drops pieces of itself all over the place, too. So messy!  The clovery grasses are coming up everywhere with little purple flowery thingies and the lawnmower is in the shop! Our yards need a haircut already!

I found a little bitty turtle in my hydrangea bed, but went back later and it was dead. I wondered if the crows brought it over there or something. I thoroughly detest the crows.  Do you know they can take the lid off a garbage can and rummage through the trash and make a big ole mess on the ground!!!  I sat and watched 'em do a while back and they disappeared about the time I appeared with my son's pellet gun.  Shoot!

All this to say that SPRING IS WELL ON ITS WAY here at Sand Flat Farm!  And I'm smilin' and so happy about it!  Now if I could just find some time to get out in the garden...

PS - I've read several good blog posts on all the tragedies happening across the Pacific Ocean from us in Japan.  It's so sad.  If you haven't been by her blog, Debbie at Of His Pasture had a great post today about Japan, a wonderful book about a brave Christian woman, and letting God watch over her kids while they are in Japan.  Stop by there and check out this post.  After you do that, jump over to my other Debbie's blog, Wisdom, and read her post about not panicking in these troubled times and that what happened in Japan is just History in the Making.  We are to put our trust and faith in the Lord.  His children do not have to worry about these things.  Both of these posts today helped me put into words what we should be doing and what we should be praying about.  I am so thankful to have met so many Christian women friends in blogland that I can count on to lift me up daily.  These gals are just two of them.  Thank you one and all for your encouragement and your prayers.  I thank God for you all.  Have a great week, my lovelies!

A Haven for Vee

Just had to stop in to ask for your prayers and thoughts for our dear blogging buddy, Vee (A Haven For Vee).  Her dear sweet mother passed away quite unexpectedly on Saturday the 15th.  And not too long after the passing of her grandmother.  What heartache she must feel.  I ask that you remember her in your quiet times.  I've known her for several years now, and she's a lovely, caring friend with a tender heart and a kind word for everyone.  And she cares deeply for her family.  Keep her in your prayers and stop by when she's ready and offer your encouragement.  Thank you ~~~  Vickie

Merry Christmas to All My Blog Buddies!!!

We'll be Christmasing for the next few days at least, but I wanted to check in and wish you all a wonderful season of home, family, friends, giving, peace, joy and love for the Savior as we remember His Holy Birth. God gave us the best gift of all - His precious Son, and this gift was totally free - just because of His great love while we were still sinners!  It's almost too much to comprehend!  Rejoice, Rejoice and praise His Holy Name!!!  Sending my love and best wishes to you all for a spectacular Christmas and a Happy New Year!

And Merry Christmas from Alice, the washing machine cat!!!

And it's a chilly 78 degrees here today!!!

PS - Edited to add - NOPE IT'S 81 DEGREES HERE!!!

Part 1 - Akumal Vacation August 2010

Ok, my lovelies, HEEEEERRRRRREEEE we go!  I've got about half of my Mexico photos edited, so I'm gonna have to do 2-3 different vacation posts. Hope you won't mind. I won't talk much, just show you my photos. K???  We left August 2, and flew to Cancun, rented cars and drove another hour or so to Akumal, which is south of Playa del Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsula. Our friends have a luxurious vacation home on Yal Ku lagoon on the corner of the ocean and lagoon. It's beautiful as you'll see and the views are amazing.

Following are photos of our group, snorkeling in the lagoon, laying out by the pool, eating, eating and eating some more, and some of the places we went - our favorite restaurant Lol Ha, also La Lunita, and Que Onda.  The house is absolutely beautiful. If you'd like to visit the Mexican Riviera, please check out their home, Villa de los Suenos (or Casa de los Suenos) on LocoGringo.com.  Its a wonderful vacation spot with lots to do in the area.  There's Xel Ha - a beautiful snorkeling park with all kinds of things to do, the Mayan Ruins at Tulum, horseback riding, diving, etc. ....... More to come in the next post - visiting Tulum!!!

Just being lazy...

Hanging out and sleeping by the pool....

View from the 3rd floor roof where you could sleep under the stars...

Our kids...

Lol Ha Restaurant...

Evening looking out from Lol Ha...

Looking from Lol Ha...

Lol Ha on the beach....

Dusk at Turtle Bay Lagoon...

Walking along the beach (we did alot of that)...

Tuesday is fresh market day!!!

Know what these fruits are?  "Pitaya" also called 'dragon fruits' . They come from a cactus - You peel them and slice them up with sugar and water and make 'agua fresca' with them. They look and taste similar to kiwi except they are white inside with little black seeds.  Yum!

We had lots of fresh avocados, peppers, cilantro & tomatoes and onions for guac, and mangos, limes, pitalla, pineapple and mamoncillos (little grape-like clusters except they had a hard shell and a large pit)

Mamoncillos (source)

"AKUMAL" means 'place of the turtle'.  You see turtle stuff all over Akumal.  Hayley and the others were able to see sea turtles snorkeling in the lagoon (the KIDS were snorkeling, NOT the turtles)!  That was a real treat!

Eating at La Lunita...

Our kiddoes again...

Photo op!

Chili relleno stuffed with shrimp, crab and cheeses!

Gift shop at Akumal community...

This fellow hasn't been eatin' very well...

Sunrise at Yal Ku lagoon from Villa de los Suenos...

My family all tanned, relaxed and happy.  It sure was hard to leave!!!

Next post - the Mayan ruins at Tulum, more beautiful ocean photos AND something special ---- a Diving Adventure with underwater photos of our guys scuba diving!!!!

Thanks for visiting Mexico with me.  It was hard to pick from 719 photos which ones to show you.  I had so many I wanted to show you all.  I only made them Large and tried not to comment much so as to keep it short.  Thanks for hangin' on!!!  See ya next time!