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!

I'm taking some sick days...

Send me some love ---- please ---- I've got the "crud".  I guess it's my turn, tho, I haven't been sick in quite awhile.  I think it actually started with allergies - can you believe the pear trees amongst others are BLOOMING.  We actually are having some pollen issues - just barely, but enough to make my alleries flare up into the crud.  Not working is NO fun when you're home sick, laying on the couch, watching the Animal Planet re-runs and stuffing Kleenexes up your nose to keep from dripping.  I've coughed until I think I'm gonna puke my lungs up.  I did call the Dr. today for some anti-biotics and cough syrup W/CODIENE.  So, if I start wandering off here, you'll know what's up.  Actually, wandering off to sleep sounds pretty good right now.  OK, anti-biotics, check. Vicks slathered on the chest, check. Vaporizor, check. New box of Kleenex, check. Couple of slugs of cough syrup, check, double check.  It's been about 10 minutes since I took it - when it is going to start working???  Cough, cough, sniff, slurp...

Our church threw a wonderful bridal shower for Josh and Lindsey this past Sunday afternoon.  They are off to a great start!  Thank the Lord for my extended "family".  It's such a blessing to have all those loved ones around to be there for you for whatever you need.  And it's also a blessing to give back to those same ones.  Josh's comment was, "Mom!  They really hooked us UP!"  They sure did, Josh!  We went by Josh's house later in the day, and those two had all their shower gifts strewn out all over the living room floor just looking and planning and dreaming.  Isn't love grand????  They are both so goo-goo eyed for each other!!  I'll try to post some pics of them soon - I don't have the pictures from the shower as they are on Josh's camera so... Here's one of their engagement pictures.  They are so cute!

Well, I'm gone - Off to bed, I think my super codeine cough syrup is kicking in and my typing is getting slower, so I'll go.  Wish me some sleep tonight, and thanks for letting me WHINE...  and don't forget -

Keep your dress down!

Palaverin' on and on about nothing in particular...

Well, let's see here.... .... what shall we talk about today???  Hmmmm.... I'm sorry I've been so out of it lately, blogging, I mean.  I've been in a funk, I guess - not enough time, too much to do.  Got alot of things on my plate right now with the wedding coming up and getting our house ready to put on the market - along with everybody else's.  Yeah, right - wish us luck with that one.  The painting is finished, the final clean-up begins.  Gotta get a storage unit or two from my office and stash some stuff in there.  Got tons to donate, throw away, and burn. 20+ years of stuff to do something with.

AND, to top it all off, the girl I hired to work the other three days besides my three days - well, let's just say I had to let her go and leave it at that.  So, I'm swamped again at work.  I don't need this right now. I've been interviewing some people this week, but so far -- nothing.  I had one real sweet little lady that might, might, might could do this job. She has to be only 98 lbs soaking wet, and I don't know if she could do any of the manual labor involved, cleaning out the occasional storage unit, driving the golf cart, hauling trash and junk to the dumpster - even getting these old storage doors up and down would be a stretch for her - they are heavy.  She's nearly 70, quick minded & spry - which isn't old (and getting younger to me everyday!) and she could do the office work, just not sure about the other part. Help!!!

Our church is throwing a big bridal shower for my son and his bride this Sunday afternoon, so I'm looking forward to that. What would we do without our church families!!!  So they'll be off to a great start!

I cannot believe what all is going on with all the protesting and hoopla up there in Wisconsin and Illinois and what was the other state???  Hey, some of you folks up in them parts - Tell us the REAL story!  Enquiring minds want to hear from someone OTHER THAN THE LIBERAL MEDIA!!!  Send us some links that tell what's going on!  I don't believe anything that I hear and see on the news anymore.  You can't depend on getting the unbiased truth from our media anymore!  It's such a shame to see what's going on all over the world right now.  Everybody's gone absolutely CRAZY!  Maybe it's the END-TIMES, people.  I'm ready, my family's ready - Lord, please come quickly!

Off on another tangent here - talking about end times... I was doing some blog-hopping last night late, and I ran across this website.  Now, one of the blogs I was reading had linked up to this website, and I wish I could give credit, but I don't know which one it was, so sorry.  http://www.backyardfoodproduction.com/  Have y'all ever seen this?  On YouTube, also, Marjory Wildcraft from central Texas does a 4 part video all about growing your own food.  She and her family raise their own food.  She talkes about gardening, composting, stocking up, how our grocery bills may double in 2011, how the food prices usually run concurrently with the oil prices, the weather's effects on agriculture (not global-warming, y'all), etc.  It was SO informative, so timely.  Not to scare anybody, not a doomsdayer, just good information that we can all use.  It was SO good, and you can sign up for her newsletter.  I don't usually go for these things, but I made an exception here.  Check it out - listen to the videos - very interesting and very easy to understand.

OK, on a more personal note - my little chihuahua is aging.  She's 12, and while little dogs usually live longer than big ones, she's beginning to show some signs of age.  She's been the jumpin'est little thing you've every seen.  She jumps on the couches (I know some of you are cringing) and even our high beds to snuggle or sleep with us.  To watch TV, I usually sit on the left end of the couch.  There's a little space about 4-5" wide between me and the arm of the couch.  Bug will jump up there, put it into reverse, and back into that little space and park it until I get ready to go to bed.  Can't you just hear  the "beep, beep, beep" as she backs it up?  I usually make that sound for her as she's reversing her caboose into her little warm hole there by me. If she thinks I'm too close and she doesn't have enough room, she'll push on me til I move over...

ANYWAY, got sidetracked there...  She can't jump anymore.  She waits by the couch or the bed and looks at us pitifully for some help up.  She doesn't understand.  The vet says she's got a bit of hip dysplasia.  Didn't know little dogs could get that, but I guess they can.  She's not putting much weight on that leg, just steadies herself with that back left foot.  When she runs around to potty, she runs on 3 legs.  And she's doing okay but I just hate to see that.  The vet gave me some anti-inflamatories, and they help, but it's not going to go away.  It'll come and go for awhile, maybe for a long while, but it won't go away.  Sad.  A couple of her teeth have had to be pulled, too.  Makes it harder for her to chew. I love me some Bug.

I ran across this photo below at Sand Flat Farm in late summer just remembering the warmth and the sunshine and looking forward to it again soon.  Makes me so happy!!! 

And, another beautiful sunset here at the farm and another lovely ending to a wonderful day here in Texas.  I feel so blessed.  Thank you Lord for eyes to behold your glorious and magnificent handiwork!!!!

Y'all have a great day, and as always ~~~

Keep your dress down!

"Best Girl"

I'm back for just a quick little post here.  Life is just SO busy right now trying to get the house painting finished up, etc.  I think I need a vacation...

While cleaning out some cabinets, etc., we ran across some cute little photos of our youngest, our daughter, who is now 22. Now we have scads of photo albums, but I guess these were loose in a packet or something. Princess told me I never do a post on her, so I'm going to show  you these sweet little things - please indulge me.... they're in no particular order.... (you know, she used to cringe whenever I wanted to put her on my blog! Go figure!)

Above - At the beach in Florida...

Above - our new puppy Cookie...

Above - Soccer days - I designed their shirts as well as some of my son, Josh's shirts.  My husband always coached, so we let the kids make up the team name and mascot.  Josh's team was the "Lizards" cuz that's what he was into.  Princess was into anything "horsey".  Little girls...

Our cat had kittens, and our kitties got to take many a ride in the doll buggy...

Her bestest friend (to this day) Kelly...

I always loved this picture of her in her little yellow bumblebee bubble suit that I smocked!!! I even made her a hairbow with a bumblebee on it!

See why Josh's soccer team was called the "Lizards"?  We had two iguanas, several snakes, a king scorpion, and a tarantula as pets.  I was voted 'MOM OF THE YEAR' by all my church friends...We kept frozen pinky mice in the freezer to feed the snakes and mealworms in the fridge... See how Princess is sidling away from the iguana???

Trying on big brother's boots...

She fell asleep on the way home from church, and I just let her sleep without changing her clothes... kept those bows in her hair, rather on her head, with a dab of school glue - it just washed right off.  'Course, then she started pulling them out and left little bald spots on her head. I switched to headbands with bows on them then...

This was six weeks after she was born and I had our pictures made.  I made all Josh's smocked outfits and button-on knickers and shorts, too...

What's that grimace for?  Think she's getting squeezed??  Brothers were SO proud of baby sister!

This photo of my husband with our daughter makes me cry every time I see it.  He wanted a little girl SO badly!  The photographer used this picture as one of his ads... Princess was and still IS her Daddy's Baby Gal.  He still calls her that. She's had him wrapped around her little finger all these years and probably always will.  I know I think MY daddy still hung the moon and will do anything for me...

This is the face you get when  you say "SMILE"!

My sister's lovebird perched on her shoulder.

Princess and Kelly again in their ballet recital.  Can you guess their song?

Why, "Rubber Ducky", of course!

Rememer Pound Puppies?  This one had babies in its tummy.

Duh, these photos are not in order, told you.  Princess had fun dressing our kittens up in her doll clothes. Don't know if the kittens had fun or not!

And last, but certainly not least, my daddy and his catch!  That fish was pert near big as the Princess!

You know, when she was little I always called her "my best girl in the whole wide world", and she called me "the best mom in the whole wide world".  It gradually shortened to "best girl" and "best mom".  It's so sweet to hear her say or write on a card even now that she's grown, "best mom"!!!

Thanks for lookin'!

Keep your dress down!

More snow...

WOW - two years in a row - this is unbelievable!  Who'da  thunk it???  This is the wildest weather I remember in a long time here in Texas!  Last week, I missed a couple days of work because of icy road conditions, and today at the farm it was in the upper sixties.  We worked outside for a couple hours after church and lunch. I snapped a few pics the other day of the snow at the farm.  Indulge me, won't you?  This is such a rarity down here, I have to document it for those years when we don't see any!

Lots of tracks in the snow in my garden area.  Can you tell what these are???

CROWS!  I tell you what, we got lots of crows.  Last year, they picked my purple hull peas out of the ground before they sprouted, they poked little holes in my cucumbers and pumpkins.  I need to station one of my kids out back with a pellet gun or some bird shot.  When I get some electric run out to the garden shed, I can leave a radio on.  That'll keep em away some.

Just a little snow left around the garden shed. 

Lookin' towards the back of the house ...

Mr. Jasper is following me around...

I sorta liked the way the shadows were laying across the ground...

Went down the pond on the Mule and we still had some ice on the pond and snow around. 

A little trek through the woods.  It's amazing how much you can SEE in the woods when there's snow on the ground.

Now, I don't know if you can tell what this horse is doing.  Our neighbors behind us whose house burned down... The ice is melting off the stable roof, and this horse is catching the drips.  This was so cute!  I watched him for several minutes.  He turned and looked at me, and then went back to catching the drips off the icicles!

Jasper was so glad to have his people come outside and play with him. I just love his eyes - they are kind of turquoise-y.  He's so sweet.  He rears up on our legs like a dog and grabs our hands so we will pet him.  He tells me he's lonesome, but I reminded him that he HAD a playmate, Alice, but he kept chasing her onto the house and up into the big oak tree and so we let her go live with my future daughter in law.  I'm sure Alice is loving Miss Lindsey.  Alice gets to snuggle with Lindsey on the couch, and I think she gets to sleep with her, too!  I don't think she'd wanna trade back, do you???   ; )

I've gotta call a plumber tomorrow.  One of our pipes froze at the farm.  There was water standing in the bathroom around the sink.  I sure  hope it's not under the house, cuz we'll have to take all the skirting off the house and it's going to be a big headache to get to the pipes.  There's minimal crawl-space under there.  I dread getting into all that mess...

Hubby watched the Super Bowl while I dozed a bit.  Sometimes we have friends over or go to others' houses, but today we just chilled at home.  Hotdogs and Klondikes - how does that sound for Super Bowl fare?  It was purty good.  We didn't really have a favorite team.  It's not as much fun when the Cowboys aren't there, and they ain't been there in a few years.  I'm kinda disappointed in them. Oh well.

Have a great week, my dear friends!  I'll try to get around to visit everyone soon. I've been working alot - my other office person has been out sick.  I hope she'll be back this week AND leave her sick germs at home!